AutoCAD grips have come a long way over the years. With the addition of the polyline mid-point grip, I can’t live without them.

If for some reason, your grips are not behaving correctly, here’s how to get them back to “normal”

PS – “Normal” for me is <2>

Here is the description provided by the System Variable editor:

Controls the display of grips on selected objects.

Value Description
<0> Hides grips
<1> Displays grips
<2> Displays additional midpoint grips on polyline segments

To adjust the size of the grips and the effective selection area used by the cursor when you snap to a grip, use GRIPSIZE.

Note: This setting is saved in the registry and not in the drawing. There have been times when I have opened a drawing and I thought that the grip settings changed on me. It was more likely changed because of a LISP routine or something that I used.

~Greg

Here is a happy song to help your Monday. It has helped me

Sorry it is not AutoCAD related…

~Greg

My first blog post on this blog [found here in Nov 03 2010] was about making your status bar icons display as text. When you have the icons displayed, you end up wasting time hovering over an icon and waiting for text to display to make sure that you are about to toggle the correct button like POLAR or OTRACK. And we even pointed out that the Ribbon makes use of text so that we can easily see what tools are displayed and how this fits in with that thinking, it fell on deaf ears… And sadly,  with the release of AutoCAD 2015 they took this ability away.

We warned Autodesk about this and told them about the seriousness of taking these seemingly simple letters away. I even showed the size comparison from 2014 and 2016 to show that there wasn’t much size difference.

But they “done-did-it” for the second year in a row!! and they tried to show use that they have “improved” the status bar by having it “self wrap” which had the opposite effect and made us even more mad.

And today on April 1st, there are reports of massive riots and looting around the world because people want Autodesk to give back the text option.

photo from http://www.inspirefirst.com/2011/08/10/photoshoplooter/

It seems from the live reports seen online and on TV, people are breaking down store fronts and taking cookies for some reason. Some rioters have even come back to the scenes from which they just stole the cookies, and then stole milk…

Police believe that the mastermind of these riots is shown below. If you happen to see this individual, proceed with caution and do not approach him if you happen to have any cookies in your possession. He tend to go into fits of rage around them for some reason

http://regretfulmorning.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cookie-monster.jpg

And to think – all of this could have been avoided if Autodesk simply provided Status Bar text as an option. Be careful out there…

~Greg

If you were wondering, Yes there is a LISP routine to accomplish the same thing found [here] by Lee-Mac. But here is how you can do the same thing using the “Edit Block In-Place” option of editing blocks.

Sometimes it is nice to be able to draw objects  that will eventually be added to a block without having to draw them in the block editor. Shown below, there is a circle and line (green) that needs to be added to the block (cyan).

Here’s how:

Here are the steps to add these objects to the block.

• Select the Block
• Right Click
• Choose “Edit Block In-Place”

Note – if this option is greyed out then set the variable BLOCKEDITLOCK to <0> zero

Verify the Block from the list and click OK.

Notice that editing a block in-place is using the REFEDIT command…

Shown below is what the Block and its surrounding objects look like. The Block’s objects are shown normal while the surrounding objects are dimmed.

Once in the REFEDIT command, you can use the command REFSET which has an “Add” & “Remove” option. These options are easily accessible from the ribbon, Simply select the corresponding button to add or remove objects.

Once objects are added to he block, they are no longer faded.

Once you are done adding or removing objects you can save these changes or discard them by using the buttons in the ribbon shown below.

You will be asked to verify the changes – Click OK

Now your edits have been saved you can see them in your block.

Have you ever opened a CADWorx piping drawing only to find a bunch of center lines where your 3D piping should be? (shown below)

• Use the CADWorx command CONVERTSOLID to make these single lines display correctly. This tool can also be found on the ribbon at: CADWorx Plant I tab > Setup Size/Spec panel > “3D Solids” tool” (Shown below).
• Select the objects that you want to display correctly. I used ALL <enter>…

After the tool does its magic, you should see the piping components displayed correctly.

One issue that I have noticed on a few drawings is that the next time I open the drawing, I have to run the command again…

Besides Civil 3D users, I know of no engineering firm that uses annotative text or dimensions in Model Space. I tend to teach people how to use it so that they know how. But I also teach them how to place text as dimensions in a layout tab since that is what I know most companies use and I don’t want the person to be thrown into a scenario where they don’t know how to do one or the other.

If you do answer “YES” Please explain how other disciplines (Structural. Electrical, mechanical) deal with your annotative text & Dims displaying in their model?

When you enter T <enter> at the command line, it starts the MTEXT command and you normally see “abc” prompt

When you enter MTJIGSTRING in the command line, you are able to enter ten characters to welcome you when you start typing MTEXT.

But luckily you can customize it (shown below)

Since the new DIMension command (which I love) has kind of changed the way we do dimensions, here is how you apply an angular degree that is more than 180°.

It has been about 5 years since I first posted about how to do this [here] so it is about time for an update.

Here’s how: TIP: READ THE COMMAND LINE!!!!!

• Dim <enter>
• Select “Angular”
• Specify the  Vertex
• Pick one end of a line
• Pick the end of another line end
• Pull away and place the dimension

This tip requires that you (or someone else) has Microstation. To be honest, the only thing that I know how to do in Microstation is open a DGN file (Microstation file) and either  do a “Save as” > .DWG or use the batch processor that is within Microstation to convert a bunch of DGNs into DWG files.

Side Note: I wish that AutoCAD had some sort of batch utility that was built into the program like Microstation has. Notice in the screen shot below there is both a “Batch Converter” and a “Batch process”… (hint hint Autodesk)

• Go to the “Utilities” menu and select “Batch Converter”

Refer to the picture below to set the following:

• What files are to be processed.
• What file type you want the DGN to be convert to (in this case – “DWG”)
• What folder the .DWG files should go into.

When the dialog box named “Save As DWG/DXF Options” opens – there are some Microstation settings that you will need to configure in order to get the desired results of your .DWG files – Like how Microstation handles references and attachments. And I think I remember someone saying that Microstation can have multiple Model Spaces…

Refer to the below Screen shot and adjust as you find necessary.

Once the settings have been set, you can save these settings for future use if this will be an on-going process for a project.

Click the top button and then the bottom “Convert” button and watch it chug away…

Note: if you don’t get the desired results in the DWG files, you may need to adjust the settings in the above dialog. It might take some trial and error…

I hope this helps or is at least a starting point for some of you.

~Greg

If you are tired of opening a drawing and being surprised why some settings are not what you’d think they should be, The new feature called the “System Variable Monitor” or SYSVARMONITOR is now your friend and has your back.

You no longer have to worry about handing off your drawing and then have it come back with someone else’s settings applied to it:

There is a downfall to this new tool – playing practical jokes on coworkers on Aprils fools day wont be so easy…

When you open a drawing that does have some AutoCAD variables that are different than what they normally are or how you’ve defined them to be, you will see a notification in the command line as shown below in image 1. To see what the variable is that has been changed and also give you a chance to reset the variable, use the command SYSVARMONITOR (image 2)

A dialog box will appear (as shown below).

1. Shows the variable(s) in the list that are not set to their “Preferred” setting.
2. Shows the current value to which the variable is set.
3. Lets you quickly reset any variables in the list to the “preferred” values
4. Displays what the “preferred” value is defined to be.

You can add variables to this list as you see fit.

One variable that I like to have consistent is ATTDIA which controls whether a dialog appears when editing attributes. If this is turned off(which I can’t stand) the attribute prompts are shown in the command line only.

Shown below is how to add your variable to this list.
Note – you can also turn on a prompt so that if one of the variables changes, you will get a balloon-type of warning…

Digging a little deeper about how these settings can get changed by one person and then when you open them on a different computer, these settings seem to stay with the drawing.

It is because some variables do stay with a drawing.

for example: when you are in the “OPTIONS” dialog box, when you see a yellow & blue .dwg icon next to a setting, these are variables that are saved in that drawing.

Another place to easily check where a variable is saved is by using the System Variable Editor (SYSVDLG). Some variables are saved in the drawing or in the Registry or even not saved at all. This also a great place to see what the other values of a variable could be since not all variables are 1 or 0 (zero).

The routine illustrated below is from Alan Thompson found HERE at CADTutor.

This routine lets you select a block and place a multileader that contains the name of the block. The arrowhead or leader point is automatically placed at the block’s insertion point. So if you would like to change the placement, you can do so afterwards.

Please refer to the above link of the source where Alan posted the code for any questions or comments and also giving him a “thank you” in regards to the routine.

Following up on the previous post – The routine illustrated below is also made by Alan Thompson found HERE lets you select a block and place a multileader containing the Block’s description (see below for “block description”)

Use the command BDESC2ML to start

Example of Block Description to Multileader:

Quick explanation of block description:

When you first create a block using the “BLOCK” command (B <enter>) you are given the option to enter a description of the block as shown below in the “Block Definition” dialog box.

If you already have a block in-place in the drawing but do not have a block description, you can add it by using the command BMOD <enter> This will launch the Block definition dialog box as if you were creating a block. You can also get to this dialog box by simply entering B <enter> at the command line.

Once the dialog box appears:

1. Select the existing block’s name from the dropdown list.
2. Add the desired block description under the “Description” area. Then click “ok” and update the block

This tip is simple yet helpful in displaying more of a file name that might be obscured by the upper right “Info Center.”

All that you have to do is simply collapse the arrow next to the search field that says “type a keyword or phrase”

Note that both AutoCAD and Revit are shown. This search area (Info Center) is similar in most Autodesk products

Hopefully, today’s tip will help you AutoCAD “newbies” and you “old schoolers”
The POLYGON tool in AutoCAD creates “Simple Polygons” that are symmetrical.

The Polygon tool is located on the Home tab > Draw panel > next to the RECTANGLE tool there is a pull down arrow, under that list is the POLYGON tool.

• Command line version: POLYGON <enter>
  Command Alias: POL <enter>

Method One: Making  a Polygon From a Center point – Out (like a circle)

• Once the tool is launched, you are asked to “Enter the number of sides:” of the polygon
• You are then asked to “Specify the center of the Polygon.” You can do this by simply picking a point in the drawing area.
• Then you are asked if the polygon should be “Inscribed” or “Circumscribed“. This may be confusing for new users but it also trips up users that are “old pros” that have been using AutoCAD for a long time.
• The last prompt is “Specify the radius of the circle:” which sounds confusing because it sounds like you are now creating a circle somehow…

Shown below are some examples that illustrate Polygons in relation to a circle. The circle and the Polygons share the same center point and the same radius. This illustration hopefully makes it easier to understand the prompts and which part of the polygon rests at the “radius” point. I also have to give the AutoCAD team kudos for adding a description after each option (Inscribed & Circumscribed) in newer releases of AutoCAD. It used to just ask you to specify an “I” for Inscribed or “C” for Circumscribed.

The arrow shown below that is labeled “Distance” shows the center point (back end of arrow) and the radius (at the arrow end).

Inscribed & Circumscribed polygons with the same center point and the same radius

• Inscribed:
  When you specify the radius of an inscribed polygon, you are defining where a corner of the polygon will be placed.

• Circumscribed:
  When you specify the radius of a circumscribed polygon, you are defining where the midpoint of one of the edges or segments of the polygon will be placed.

COOL TRICK

The “Cool Trick” that is mentioned in the title is something that is sometimes overlooked. It is an option that we glance over when the POLYGON command is launched. It is the “Edge” option. This is especially useful when creating a circumscribed polygon. Instead of specifying a center point and a radius, you define the length and angle of an “edge” of the polygon.

• Define the Edge’s Angle & Length:
  Watch the Dynamic Input as the angle and length are entered to define the edge.

• Referenced Object:
  Shown below is simply an angled line with a distance and angle that I don’t know – but I want my polygon’s edge to be that length and at that angle Quickly…

The Coolest trick is using the edge option to make a square. You simply tell it to make 4 sides – then pick 2 points and voila you have a square!!!

A very good question was asked in in the comments section of the following post about creating custom hatches [found here]. That post was about creating custom hatches using lines within a 1×1 square and then having the ability so save that custom hatch pattern to its own file and copying the contents into the bottom of your ACAD.PAT file that is located in your ACAD support path. The hatch pattern LISP routine was originally posted at Cadalyst.com 10 years ago and still works great (see why I like LISP so much) it can be [found here].

The question was basically – Why wont this routine work even though I am using nothing but lines and they all fit into the 1×1 square?

I was sent the file that had the linework and I had the same results.

Here is a snap shot of the desired hatch pattern.

During the SAVEHATCH portion of the routine it showed errors in the command line history of “invalid angles”…

So I tried changing UNITS and “Angle Type” but I still got this error and gave up on trying to figure that out.

Welcome to Express Tool SUPERHATCH!!!

First make a block of the objects that you want to define your hatch pattern.

Then launch the SUPERHATCH command. Also found on the Express Tools tab > Draw panel > Super Hatch

(Note: there are many options and ways of using this tool so I would suggest looking into the various options by hitting the F1 button after launching the tool)

Super Tip: One of my favorite uses of this tool is that you can make a hatch pattern out of curved objects!!!

There is also a great video by Lynn Allen demonstrating how to use SUPERHATCH and applying images as a hatch [found here]

The prompts for using a block are shown above and are listed below:

• Select “Block” from the Super Hatch menu
• Select the block name from the “Super Hatch – Insert” dialog box and click “OK”

(The next few prompts are similar to inserting a block)

• Specify an Insertion point:
• Specify the X scale factor:
• Specify the Y scale factor:
• Specify the rotation angle:
• Is the placement of this BLOCK acceptable? <Yes>
• Specify block [Extents] First Corner <magenta rectang>:
• Other corner:
• Specify an option [Advanced options] <Internal point>: Pick inside of enclosed area to apply the hatch
• hit Enter

Notice that after the hatch has been applied that it is now a “group” and not a true hatch. So if you decide to modify the boundary, it will not be “associative”

Near the beginning of the year a blog post here showed the links to Autodesk’s AutoCAD for Microsoft Windows and Mac’s Shortcut keys (Aliases). They have now made available a list of shortcut keys to Autodesk Inventor and Revit. Below are the links:

• AutoCAD Windows
• AutoCAD for Mac
• Inventor
• Revit

~enjoy

Here is one of the quirky things that AutoCAD does that might throw you for a loop. It involves “Tracking” whether it is “Object Snap Tracking” or “Polar Tracking” they seem to behave differently when Dynamic Input is turned onn or off. This is especially true for Object Snap Tracking. I have heard it said and taught, that these functions DO NOT work when Dynamic Input (DYN) is turned off. I am here to show you that they do.
When Dynamic Input is toggled on (as shown below) when you establish the reference point which has the green “glyph”, you pull away and see the dashed line and enter your tracking distance and you are just fine.

DYN Mode turned on OSNAP Tracking

The trouble seems to be when Dynamic Input is turned off and you establish the same reference point. You see the green “glyph” and dashed line as you pull away, but when you enter the distance at the command line, the dashed line goes away making you think that you are unable to use Object Snap Tracking without DYN turned on.

The think that is happening is that the “focus” goes from the drawing area and then on to the command line. And don’t worry, it isn’t broke – all that you have to do is enter your distance AND PAUSE. Then re-establish the focus in the drawing area where you were by simply lining your cursor back into line where it was until you see the dashed line AND THEN HIT ENTER (shown below).

Object Snap Tracking Working without DYN turned on

The same can be said of using Polar Tracking. But it is easier to see that it works as opposed to using Object Snap Tracking. See if you can notice the difference below.

DYN turned on with Polar Tracking:

DYN turned OFF with Polar Tracking:

AutoCAD batch scripts can be powerful by themselves, but if you couple that with the ability to apply them to a multitude of drawings then it can be really powerful. I first saw the power of scripting while using the “Core Console” in 2013 and made a post about it found here. But then realized that there was some limitations and one in particular was its inability to process OLE objects.

Script Pro is still pretty nice, but from my testing a batch processor called “Hurricane” I have grown fond of its built-in functions and scripts. There is a new version available called “Hurricane MX” but I have only used the older one which is just fine for me.

So I decided to try a batch of drawings using Hurricane and sharing the results with you.

A sneek peek into my “custom” script simply shows that the script loads a lisp routine (just to spice things up)

Shown below is the folder of drawings to be processed.

Shown below is the main interface of Hurricane. It is somewhat straight forward but takes time to get to learn just like everything. Specify the files (individual or entire folder)

Build the script in the ‘User Script” tab by selecting some pre-made scripts found in the “User Script List”. If you plan on selecting multiple pre-made scripts – DONT FORGET TO CHECK THE APPEND BUTTON.

As shown below, the program builds a single script containing all of the steps that you define for the drawings that you selected to be processed.

NOTE – That you need to have a drawing currently open for the process to start. Just don’t have one of the drawings in the list of drawings that you are wanting to process open.

The results are shown below

And as a big relief – the drawing that contained an OLE object came out just fine.

Just in case you need to convert a 3D Revit model to 3D AutoCAD, here ya go. It is very simple but remember to click one button to make sure you work with ACAD solids…

Here is a snapshot of the Revit model:

3D view of Revit model

With the Revit model open, Click the Application Menu (“Big R”) > “Export” > “CAD Formats” > Select “DWG“.

In the “DWG Export” dialog box – Click on the ellipsis (button with 3 dots) to open the “Modify DWG/DXF Export Setup” dialog box.

• Click the “Solids” tab
• Select “ACIS solids“
• Click Next

Click “Next…” to continue

Define the folder where you would like the new DWG to reside and also give it a new name if desired. You can also define what DWG version to process it as. Click OK to proceed with the conversion.

In the lower left of the Revit screen you will see a status bar showing you the progress of the conversion.

Once it is done, notice the new DWG. I will warn you that the Revit File to DWG conversion will make the overall file larger. The Revit file used in this example was 58mb and after the conversion to DWG was 70mb.

Now you can edit the converted file – Also note that the objects are AutoCAD solids.

As I have been making my transition to Revit I have a few tips that you might find helpful even though there are plenty of other Revit blogs and resources to visit – I promise to keep this blog as AutoCAD-focused as possible but keep in mind that I am making the transition to Revit but my heart is truly in AutoCAD and these tips are for when you, as an AutoCAD user find yourself in the “World of Revit” and need some help.

I currently work for a structural engineering firm in Denver using Revit and occasional use AutoCAD. When I open Revit 2014 and newer, the various Revit “flavors” are all in one package. This package used to be called “Revit One Box” but that name faded away and it is simply called “Revit”.

When you open Revit in its default “out-of-the-box” settings the first panel of the ribbon is the Architectural tab – which is just fine if you are and Arch person. But for others like us Structural or MEP folks, it would be nice to be able to open Revit and have it open to the discipline in which we work. Thus the tips for today.

Simply Hold the CTRL button down and then drag the Ribbon tab to the front of the ribbon so that it opens when you open Revit. This also allows you to reorganize the other ribbon tabs that you have. Just be aware if your have many ad-ons, this could be messy, but worth it.

And to be honest, the lack of controls in Revit make me miss AutoCAD that much more everyday – like the CUI and customization… But Revit has its strengths in just doing what it does without having to need extra add-ons as much…

enjoy
~Greg