The Mad Cadder

Lock the display of a Viewport Part II

There is another way to lock the display of the viewport:

1. Select the viewport.

2. Right-click, choose Display Lock --> Yes

I would like to thank Donna Stelzer for this tip.

Lock the display of a Viewport

One of my biggest pet peeves is an AutoCAD operator that does not lock the display of a viewport in Layout (paperspace). It is very annoying when another user double-clicks the middle of a viewport to make a change in model space but zooms and changes the scale.

To prevent a user from changing the scale of a viewport use the Display Lock option in the Properties of the Viewport:

1. Select the viewport.
2. Open the Properties.
3. Scroll down to find Display Lock (default is NO)
4. Change the NO to YES.

Now, if you were to double-click inside the viewport and zoom, you are still zooming the paperspace, not the model space. This prevents a user from messing-up the scale.

Disable the Communication Center

WARNING! Changes made to the registry may cause damage to your operating system. Perform the following task at your own risk.  This blog is not liable for any damage or corruption to your computer related to any article published.

Annoyed by a constantly resident satellite program called "Communication Center" (WSCommCntr1.exe)? If you want to prevent it from running, here is what you do:

1. Start button-->Run--> regedit.exe

2. Search for the following location: HKEY_LOAL_MACHINE-->SOFTWARE-->AUTODESK-->R16.1-->ACAD-301:409-->CADMANAGER CONTROL-->COMMUNICATION CENTER

3. Right-click on "EnableCommunicationCenter" and choose modify.

4. Change the value data from 1 to 0 (zero).

5. Perform step #4 on the following as well: "EnableNonPatchNotifications" and "MaintenancePatchNotificationOption"'

That's it! Restart your computer and voila, WSCommCntr1.exe is not running.

I would like to thank John Deer for this posting.

Double-clicking MTEXT or DTEXT not working

Since the release of AutoCAD 2002, double-clicking either MTEXT or DTEXT would automatically open the text editor. This elevated the old "DDEDIT" or "ED" command to edit text.

Sometimes, this option stops working. If this does occur, check the system variable DBLCLKEDIT. This should be set to ON.

Setting Temporary Dimensions for Walls in Revit

During the placement of a wall a temporary dimension will appear showing how far away you are from the closest wall or object. The temporary dimension from a wall will always measure from the centre of the wall not the inside or outside face by default

I know that when picking the WALL command you can choose the LOC LINE for wall centre or exterior face for example, but this is for the wall you are about to place, not the temporary dimension that appears while placing the wall.

For example, I would like to place a new interior partition 10' from the inside face of another wall that it 4" wide. I would have to type in 10'2" to place the wall because I have to factor in that the measurement is from the centre of the wall and I must include half the width of the wall.

How can I set the temporary dimension to be on the face not the centerline?

Solution - Settings > Temporary Dimensions > Faces

Combine Zoom and Pan as one for Undo/Redo

UNDO/REDO are very powerful commands, until it comes to zoom and pan. Do I really want to undo/redo every little zoom or pan? NO!

In previous versions of AutoCAD, ADT, or ABS, the UNDO/REDO command applied to each instance of zoom or pan. In a typical drawing a user zooms or pans around hundreds of times, there is no easy way of undoing or redoing a string of consecutive zooms or pans.

Now in AutoCAD, ADT and ABS 2006 the ZOOM and PAN command can be combined into one UNDO/REDO. You can use the new "Combine zoom and pan commands" which is located in OPTIONS. This will combine consecutive zoom and pan operation into one, so you can UNDO/REDO in one step.

Go to TOOLS-->OPTIONS-->User Preference Tab, then select the "Combine zoom and pan commands" under the Undo/Redo section.

Find drawings using MS XP Search

In a typical CAD environment, you might create or accumulate thousands of drawing files. Searching for a specific drawing within a CAD users enormous library of files can be a very daunting task. Without a well planned filing system or naming convention, it can be difficult to locate a drawing created in the past. The most commonly used tool to locate a drawing file is the "Search" that is found within the operating system, like MS Windows XP.

This tool has been used for years to locate files by name, but what if you forget the name? What do you do then? With the release of AutoCAD 2006, you can now use Windows Explorer to search within drawing files for specific text or phrases.

In the Windows Explorer application (My Computer), click on the SEARCH button on the top menu. Place the text or phrase within the "A word or phrase in the file" field. Windows will search within all DWG and DXF files for the text or phrase you specify.

Controlling the grips to stretch centered MTEXT

The beauty of MTEXT is that you can manually adjust the text width by grabbing a grip and resizing (stretching) the text. This can still be done in AutoCAD 2006, but when the text has a justification of CENTER, the resizing also moves the center origin of the entire MTEXT.

To re-size the MTEXT when center justified, AutoCAD expects the user to use the Ruler in the In-Place Text Editor. Therefore a user must double-click the text, adjust the ruler and exit the editor. This is way too many steps for me!

Therefore, to revert the MTEXT grip stretching back to the way in was in the past you must change the value of a system variable. This new variable can only be found in AutoCAD 2006, it is called CENTERMT which is set to 0 by default. This system variable controls  how grips stretch  multi-line text  (MTEXT) that has a centered justification.

0 -  When stretching the MTEXT with grips, the center grips also moves in the same direction.

1 - When stretching the MTEXT with grips, the center grip stays in place while the text is re-sized.

Automatic Layer Filter Delete

Layer filters are a great tool to organize the many layers that are created by an AutoCAD user. The drawback to Layer filters is that they do increase the size of the DWG file. I had a friend send me a DWG file once that was 2 MB in size. The DWG contained only one line, drawn on layer 0 and had been purged and audited of any blocks or errors. The reason for the large file size, was that he had roughly 800 Layer filters.

Layer filters are associated with objects or blocks. If a block is set to a layer that is in a Layer Filter and the block is copied from one drawing to another, the Layer filter will also be copied over. To remove all the layer filters within the over-sized drawing, I used an old LISP routine called LAYERFILTERSDELETE.

Autodesk has now recognized that layer filters have become more of a problem then a useful tool. Therefore, with the release of AutoCAD 2006, a new system variable is available that will automatically delete layer filters when the drawing contains more that 100 of them.

The system variable is LAYERFILTERALERT. With this variable, you have better control on when and if layer filters should be deleted. By default, this variable is set to <2>. The following outlines what all the options do:

0 - Off

1 - When Layer Manager is open, deletes all filers, mo message is displayed

2 - When Layer Manager is open, displays a message that states the problem, recommends deleting all filters and offers a choice.

3- When the drawing is opened, displays a message that states the problem and offers to display a dialogue box where you can choose which filters to delete.

Revert back to the old DTEXT editor

By default in AutoCAD 2006, the DTEXT command works differently compared to earlier versions. It is now known as "In Place" DTEXT. To revert back to the old DTEXT, use the system variable called DTEXTED.

On the command line type: DTEXTED. Changed the system variable from the default 0 (zero) to 1 (one).

0 = Displays the In Place Editor

1= Displays the Edit Text dialogue box.