The Mad Cadder

Making Invisible Attributes Visible

When creating attributes, a user has several options: Invisible, Constant, Verify and Preset. Each one of these Modes performs a different task. The Invisible mode controls whether the attribute is shown in the drawing.

At times, the user may want to see all the contents of the attribute including the tags that are invisible. To do this, the user can utilize the ATTDISP command. This nifty command turns on or off the visibility of all the attribute tags.

For this command to work, you must have attributes in your drawing that contain invisible tags. On the command line type ATTDISP. You will then see three options: Normal/ON/OFF. Each option offers something different.

ON, will turn on the visibility of all the attributes. OFF, will turn off the visibly of all the attributes, including those that are stipulated to be Constant, Verify or Preset. Normal, will turn off the invisible tags and leave the other modes as is.

Turn off/on the grey background of a FIELD

The visual difference between a FIELD and MTEXT or DTEXT is the grey background mask that automatically appears behind the text. The grey background mask does not print. It is just an indicator for the user. If you find this grey background mask annoying, you can turn this off by using the FIELDDISPLAY system variable.

On the command line type FIELDDISPLAY:

<0> Turn off grey background mask

<1> Turn on grey background mask.

The default value is <1>.

Ideas Realized with AutoCAD 2006

Everyday drafting will never be the same with the new AutoCAD 2006. On March 22, 2005 the product will begin shipping and the new features will allow a user’s ideas to become reality. The application will help you realize your ideas and capitalize on speed, efficiency and control of your project from start to finish. AutoCAD 2006 will set a new standard for CAD.

This will be the 20^th release of AutoCAD. No small feat for a product whose life cycle changes so dramatically. AutoCAD 2005 introduced many powerful tools, like the Sheet Set Manager and Tool Palettes, which are now becoming part of the industry standard. The new features of AutoCAD 2006 in collaboration with its existing robust tools will bring a new level of efficiency and power to everyday tasks.

Migration has become simple so that a user’s existing customized AutoCAD environment will still be useful in the new version. The new GUI (graphical user interface) allows for “Heads up Design”, less time spent looking back and forth between the drawing area and the command line. Annotation functionality has been improved along with block data extraction. Reduce time spent creating multiple variations of the same block. Dynamic Blocks in AutoCAD 2006 help reduce the overall size of a user’s block library and allows for quick changes to blocks within a drawing.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the new features of AutoCAD 2006 and how your ideas can be realized.

Since AutoCAD 2006 has maintained the same file format as AutoCAD 2004 and 2005, migrating menus and toolbars is easy. What if a user had customized these items in an earlier version? Transferring customized menus and toolbars from older version of AutoCAD has been made simpler using the new Migration Tool in 2006. Menus and toolbars as far back as AutoCAD 2000 can be brought into the new application. The Migration Tool will make the transition to future releases of AutoCAD routine. This means the migration method will automatically update AutoCAD in the future and therefore reduce the implementation time of new releases.

Shifting your eyes back and forth between the drawing area and the command line is a very difficult task for new users. Even for an experienced user this can cause a loss of concentration and therefore less focus on the task hand occurs. The command line is now duplicated on the graphics cursor (crosshair). The user can turn the command line on or off to increase the drawing area and have fewer distractions.

The innovative Dynamic Block authoring tool allows a user to quickly and easily convert existing block into active smart blocks. Imagine having one block for a light fixture that can be quickly modified to represent many fixture size variations of the same block. Or, one table block that can be stretched to adhere to client changes and revisions. One block to produce many. This greatly decreases the size of a user’s block symbol library.

Other notable features include:

• Improved MTEXT – numbering and bullets
• Enhanced Tables – automatically updates according to design changes and formula calculations
• Enhanced Hatching – adjust the origin of a hatch and display its area for cost and material estimates
• Graphical Calculator – a palette with menus, a conversion tool and other functions
• And much more……

AutoCAD 2006 was developed with the end user in mind. It helps them produce more in a shorter amount of time. This level of efficiency and functionality has never been seen within any previous version of the program. The developers of this release have really listened to the users and produced a product that is more focused on drawing creation and project completion.

For more interesting articles about the CAD and CAM industry visit: http://www.imninc.com/solid/

Double-Click Text, Blocks, Attributes or anything else!

Since the release of AutoCAD 2002, double-clicking (left mouse button) an object will perform an action. For example, if you double-click a piece of text, either DTEXT or MTEXT, the text editor will appear. When you double click a block the "Edit Block Definition" dialogue box appears, it is just like using the REFEDIT command. When you double click on a simple object like a LINE or a  RECTANGLE, the proprties palette appears. This is controlled by a system variable called DBLCLKEDIT. The variable has two options, ON or OFF. By default this variable is set to <ON>.

So if by chance, your double-click stops working, check the DBLCLKEDIT system variable to see if it is turned ON.