by lee ambrosius - hyperpics: resources for the autocad

©2005 HyperPics LLC. All rights reserved.

March 17, 2005

by Lee Ambrosius

Table of Contents


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What’s Not New Can Be Good Too................................................................................................... 1 1. Drawing File Format ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Customization Compatibility................................................................................................... 1 3. Side-by-Side Install ................................................................................................................. 1 4. Multiple Versions of AutoCAD Help can be Running ........................................................... 1 5. Operating System Support....................................................................................................... 1 6. Migrate Custom Settings ......................................................................................................... 2 7. Express Tools .......................................................................................................................... 2 8. New Features Workshop ......................................................................................................... 3 9. Customer Error Report (CER) Tool ........................................................................................ 4

Environment Tools ............................................................................................................................. 5 10. Drawing Recovery Tool .......................................................................................................... 5 11. Using Search in Windows Explorer to Find Text in Drawing ................................................ 5

Heads-up Design Changes.................................................................................................................. 6 12. Dynamic Input ......................................................................................................................... 6 13. Recent Input............................................................................................................................. 7 14. Command Line Changes ......................................................................................................... 7

Annotation and Dimensioning ........................................................................................................... 8 15. Dtext ........................................................................................................................................ 8 16. Mtext........................................................................................................................................ 8 17. Fields ....................................................................................................................................... 9 18. Dimension Style .................................................................................................................... 10 19. New Dimension Objects........................................................................................................ 12 20. Flip Dimension Arrows ......................................................................................................... 12 21. Hatch...................................................................................................................................... 13 22. Tables .................................................................................................................................... 15

Block Enhancements......................................................................................................................... 16 23. Uniformly Scale Option......................................................................................................... 16 24. Can’t Explode Block Option ................................................................................................. 16 25. Preview Icon in Insert dialog box.......................................................................................... 16 26. Improved Attribute Extraction Wizard.................................................................................. 16 27. Lock Position Property for Attributes ................................................................................... 18 28. Dynamic Blocks .................................................................................................................... 19

Drafting Enhancements.................................................................................................................... 22 29. Join ........................................................................................................................................ 22 30. Offset ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Table of Contents


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31. Layer Manager....................................................................................................................... 23 32. Copy....................................................................................................................................... 23 33. Chamfer and Fillet ................................................................................................................. 24 34. Trim and Extend .................................................................................................................... 24 35. Rotate and Scale .................................................................................................................... 25 36. Stretch.................................................................................................................................... 25 37. Find........................................................................................................................................ 25 38. ImageFrame ........................................................................................................................... 25 39. Rectang(le) ............................................................................................................................ 25 40. Multiline Edit......................................................................................................................... 26 41. Multiline Style ....................................................................................................................... 27 42. Modifying Multilines............................................................................................................. 27 43. Properties Palette ................................................................................................................... 27 44. Ignore Z value........................................................................................................................ 28

Customization.................................................................................................................................... 29 45. Tool Palette Enhancements ................................................................................................... 29 46. Toolbar and Tool Palette Locking......................................................................................... 30 47. Getting User Input Changes (AutoLISP and ActiveX API).................................................. 30 48. Temporary Overrides............................................................................................................. 30 49. CUI (Customize User Interface)............................................................................................ 31 50. WorkSpaces ........................................................................................................................... 32 51. ActiveX API .......................................................................................................................... 33

Keeping an Eye on the Task............................................................................................................. 42 52. Editing Scale Lists ................................................................................................................. 42 53. Forgot a Command’s Name, Now What? ............................................................................. 42 54. Smooth Transition with Zoom and Pan................................................................................. 43 55. What am I selecting? ............................................................................................................. 43 56. New Calculator Feature ......................................................................................................... 44 57. Using Values from QuickCalc in Text Fields ....................................................................... 44

Sharing with Others.......................................................................................................................... 45 58. 3D DWF Publishing .............................................................................................................. 45 59. Previewing Line Merge ......................................................................................................... 46 60. External Reference Notification ............................................................................................ 46 61. Sheet Set Enhancements........................................................................................................ 46

How do I do that?.............................................................................................................................. 50 62. QuickStart Links.................................................................................................................... 50

Table of Contents


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63. Subscription Aware ............................................................................................................... 50

New Commands ................................................................................................................................ 51

Modified Commands ........................................................................................................................ 52

Commands Removed/Discontinued ................................................................................................ 54

New System Variables ...................................................................................................................... 54

Modified System Variables .............................................................................................................. 56

System Variables Removed/Discontinued ...................................................................................... 56

Summary............................................................................................................................................ 56

What’s New in AutoCAD 2006


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It has been about one year ago since AutoCAD 2005 first started shipping and about two years for AutoCAD 2004. Autodesk is holding good on its annual release cycle in favor of not doing extensions which they found people were not installing and using anyways. The new AutoCAD 2006 is packed full of large enhancements in many areas and many small tweaks to the software. Many users will find the small tweaks will impact their everyday tasks in a very positive way. Below is a break down on many of the items that I have found in AutoCAD 2006.

What’s Not New Can Be Good Too 1. Drawing File Format – There are no changes to the drawing file format so it is backwards

compatible with both AutoCAD 2004/2005. This helps to make migration easier from AutoCAD 2004/2005 to 2006.

2. Customization Compatibility – Unlike the move from AutoCAD 2002 to 2004, customization

should work with very little effort from AutoCAD 2004/2005 to 2006. This means ObjectARX files are binary compatible between versions which should help protect software add-on purchases that were made with the jump to AutoCAD 2004. This does not guarantee that the developers of the software will allow the software to run under AutoCAD 2006 without an additional upgrade fee.

3. Side-by-Side Install – AutoCAD 2006 can be installed side-by-side with any of the AutoCAD 2000+ based products, AutoCAD 2004 based products and AutoCAD 2005 based products. This allows for easier migration and supporting of the software in a multi release environment.

4. Multiple Versions of AutoCAD Help can be Running – For many years now even with Side-by-Side support you could only run Help from one version at a time. So if you launched Help from AutoCAD 2002 and then tried to launch Help from 2004 it would only flash the 2002 Help in the Task Bar and not launch the 2004 Help. With 2005 and now 2006 they have renamed the Help file from “acad.chm” to “acad162.chm” (or “acad161.chm” for those using 2005) to avoid this problem.

5. Operating System Support – AutoCAD 2006 does not support any of the Windows 9x operating systems, Windows ME, Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4. You need to be running Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Home or Tablet PC Edition with the latest Service Packs to get the most out of the software.



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6. Migrate Custom Settings – The Migrate Custom Settings interface that was first introduced with AutoCAD 2005 is back once again. This tool is great for migrating custom settings that the user might have setup under a previous release. It is run the very first time after the new version has been installed. It looks at the local machine to find out what versions of AutoCAD are available to migrate settings from. It will go all the way back to AutoCAD 2000 up through 2005. It will only look at same applications, so you can only migrate settings between AutoCAD versions and not AutoCAD and a vertical product like ADT.

7. Express Tools – Express Tools are back for another round in AutoCAD. There haven’t been any changes that I have noticed, but the nice thing is that they are now part of the install for AutoCAD instead of being separate. This will make the installation process go much smoother.



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8. New Features Workshop – If you are not new to AutoCAD you might remember the Learning Assistant that was introduced back in AutoCAD 2000i. The tool was used to introduce you to both new and old features in the software. The tool then disappeared from the package for a release and was reintroduced as the New Features Workshop in AutoCAD 2004. The layout of the New Features Workshop is designed to help new and existing customers from previous releases to understand some of the new features in the release. The feature can be disabled at the time the install is done, but with the information that is found in the feature it would be silly to do so unless space is an issue.



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9. Customer Error Report (CER) Tool – The AutoCAD Error Report tool is present in AutoCAD 2006 and has been helping Autodesk to improve the product. They are using the crash reports to help make their product more and more stable with each new release. Unlike the one built-in Windows XP, the information is sent directly to Autodesk about the problem that was encountered in the software. These reports also help to identify critical crashes and get updates out in the form of Service Packs. This feature can be turned on and off via a System Variable called REPORTERROR.



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Environment Tools 10. Drawing Recovery Tool – There is a new drawing recovery tool that is launched the next time

AutoCAD is launched after it encountered a fatal error or crashed. It allows you to quickly open any drawings that were open when a crash happened. It also allows you to open any backups that might be available for the drawing too.

11. Using Search in Windows Explorer to Find Text in Drawing – If you are a user of the

search feature in Windows you will be happy to know that Autodesk has implemented the ability to search text and custom drawing properties in a drawing for a text string. This includes the following object types: Text, Mtext, Attributes, Tables, and symbol table names like a Layer name.



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Heads-up Design Changes 12. Dynamic Input – Dynamic Input is a leap forward in what AutoCAD has to offer for Heads-up

Design. Autodesk include some Heads-up Design features way back in AutoCAD 2000 with the ability to display Command Line options via the right-click menu and also to have command context sensitive menus based on what type of command was running or what objects were currently selected. Dynamic Input is the next evolution of Heads-up Design. It brings much more than the command options from the Command Line up to the current location of the cursor. Rather it brings a majority of the information from the Command Line to the cursor. This allows the user to truly focus on designing in AutoCAD, and not having to look and watch the Command Line.

There are a couple different components to Dynamic Input that affect the way you use the feature. These two components are the pointer input and dimension input. Pointer input is used to display command prompts and options at the cursor’s location on screen. The options are available via either the right-click menu like before or from a popup menu.

Dimension Input is used to display and interact with the creation process via input fields that allow you to specify things like width and angle.



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13. Recent Input – The recent input is a new addition that expands upon the Command History feature that has been in AutoCAD since release 2000. If you are in a command that expects a point you can use the up and down arrows to recall a previous picked point, or you can select a previous point from the Recent Input option under the right-click menu.

14. Command Line Changes – With the introduction of Dynamic Input, it is now possible to

save even more screen real estate by being able to close the Command Line window. You can undock the window or use the key combination Ctrl+9 to close the window. Now the question is, will you be able to close it. For the most part the Dynamic Input will give you all the information that you will need to about the current command in progress. So the Command Line will start playing a lesser role in the user interaction part of AutoCAD in the future.



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Annotation and Dimensioning 15. Dtext – Dtext has gotten a small make-over in this release with it now taking advantage of the

in-place editor that is used for Tables and Mtext. This also means that Dtext now has access to some of the features of Mtext like some of the tools available via the right-click menu. Since the new in-place editor is used, as you type you actually see what the final result looks like including the justification of the text object.

16. Mtext – Like the previous releases of AutoCAD, Autodesk has improved the functionality of Mtext further. This release includes a true in-place editor which we first saw with Tables in AutoCAD 2005. You can even find a set of formatting tools on the editors floating toolbar which allows for accessing options that were available on the right-click menu. Along with some editor enhancements, Mtext now supports Bulleted and Numbered Lists too.



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17. Fields – Fields which were first introduced in AutoCAD 2005 have gotten a little more muscle with AutoCAD 2006. With the introduction of Dynamic Blocks and Formulas for Tables there were bound to be some improvements in this area. Below is a summary of the new Fields that are now available in AutoCAD 2006 over what was already available in AutoCAD 2005. Field name Description BlockPlaceholder A place holder for a value that is populated with the

corresponding property after the block has been inserted into a drawing. The Block Reference properties that are available are: Block Unit, Color, Layer, Linetype, Linetype scale, Lineweight, Name, Object name, Plot style, Position, Rotation, Scale X, Scale Y, Scale Z and Unit Factor.

CurrentSheetCategory

Returns the category property for the sheet.

CurrentSheetIssuePurpose Returns the purpose property for the sheet.

CurrentSheetRevisionNumber Returns the revision number property for the sheet.

CurrentSheetSetProjectMilestone Returns the project milestone property for the sheet set.

CurrentSheetSetProjectName Returns the project name property for the sheet set.

CurrentSheetSetProjectNumber Returns the project number property for the sheet set.

CurrentSheetSetProjectPhase Returns the project phase property for the sheet set.

Formula A formula in a field is similar to that in MS Excel. You are able to do mathematic operations (add, subtract, multiply…), Sum, Count, Average and reference other Cell values.



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18. Dimension Style – There have been some easy to handle changes to Dimension Styles in this release. This first thing that you might notice when you run the Dimension Style Manager the first time is that it has been rearranged a little bit. It is actually a little easier to find things now and the changes was necessary to handle some of the new features in this release for Dimensions. The big layout change is around the Lines and Arrows tab in AutoCAD 2005. This tab has been broken out into two separate tabs entitled “Lines” and “Symbols and Arrows”. The Lines tab contains settings that are for Dimension and Extension lines. As you can see from the image below it is nicely laid out and has a nice flow to it. Some of the new settings that are under this tab is the new ability to have different Linetypes for each extension line and one of the other new features of Fixed length extension lines.



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The Symbols and Arrows tab contains settings that are Arrowheads, Center marks, Arc length symbol and Radius dimension jog. The two new settings Arc length symbol and Radius dimension jog are used for the two new Dimension commands DimArc and DimJogged. These two new commands are created to support the two new Dimension objects that these commands are used to create. The remainder of the tabs have been left unaltered in this release.



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The following image shows the settings to use different Linetypes with each Extension Line and the Fixed Length property in action. Unlike other Dimension Style settings you won’t find any new system variables that will handle these values.

19. New Dimension Objects – As I mentioned under the Dimension Style section there are two new Dimension Objects introduced in this release. The two Dimension objects are an Arc Length Dimension and a Jogged Dimension. These objects are created using the new DimArc (DAR is the alias) and DimJogged (DJO is the alias) commands.

20. Flip Dimension Arrows – There is a new option to flip the side an arrow is on a Dimension line.

This can be great when you want to force which side an arrow is displayed on. The command is available from the right-click menu when a Dimension has been selected. The command that is responsible for this is AIDIMFLIPARROW and to flip the arrow you just select on the Dimension line near the arrow that you want to flip.



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21. Hatch – There has been some nice new features and enhancements that have been introduced with Hatching in this release. The first thing that is obviously a noticeable change with Hatching in AutoCAD 2006 is the new dialog box layout. There is no longer the three tab design as it has been for the last couple of releases since AutoCAD 2004. The Advanced tab has been removed and the settings have been placed on a roll-out like many of the advanced settings for plotting have been in the Plot dialog box. To display or hide the advanced Hatch settings you simply just click on the button with an arrow on it located in the lower-right corner of the dialog box.

There are a couple other nice new features for working with Hatch as you might be able to tell already. There is a new option to specify the origin for the Hatch object. This determines how the Hatch pattern fills the boundary. Before you had to modify the System Variable SNAPBASE to get this affect and then you had to remember to change it back after while. This can now be done in the Hatch dialog box using the settings in the lower-left corner of the dialog box.



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Another nice new feature is the ability to select many different closed areas in the drawing and have AutoCAD automatically create separate Hatch objects for each closed area. This can be great for working on large drawings. The settings are located just above the Draw Order settings.

Another change to the Hatch dialog is when viewing a Custom hatch pattern only the name shows up and not the whole path like it did before. The path is still viewable via a Tool tip. There have been some changes to the commands themselves in this release. Autodesk has mapped the Hatch command to opening the dialog box and not run at the Command Line. The –Hatch command is new to allow you to Hatch in script files or AutoLISP programs, and allows you to have access to many new features that weren’t available at the Command Line before. Command: -Hatch Current hatch pattern: ANSI31 Specify internal point or [Properties/Select objects/draW boundary/remove Boundaries/Advanced/DRaw order/Origin]:



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22. Tables – Tables have been improved to display a cell indicator around the top and left sides, much like the column and row names in MS Excel. This is an important new feature if you work with the new formulas that are accessible through the Fields dialog box.



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Block Enhancements 23. Uniformly Scale Option – I know for myself I have always wanted to make sure the blocks that I

created were only allowed to be scaled equally in all directions, instead of letting the user specify different X, Y and Z values. This is most likely something that a CAD Manager will use and implement to make sure blocks remain with in the companies CAD Standards. The option can be found with in the Block Definition dialog box that is used for the commands BMAKE, BLOCK and BMOD.

24. Can’t Explode Block Option – The ability to set a block to not being allowed to be exploded is another one of those small tweaks in blocks that will be very helpful. Just like the Scale uniformly property, this one will most likely be used by CAD Managers as well or those in the company that are trying to enforce CAD Standards.

25. Preview Icon in Insert dialog box – Not a huge leap forward, but a nice item to see finally added to the Insert dialog box is the ability to get a preview of a block that has already been inserted into the drawing.

26. Improved Attribute Extraction Wizard – After many releases of the Enhanced Attribute Extract

command being available, Autodesk has decided to tweak the command. There have been many great new enhancements to the interface and the output formats. I will cover the interface changes first and then what has changed with the output formats. The order of the interface has been changed up a little to allow for a much more logical approach to extracting the attributes out of the drawing. For instance, you select that you want to work with a template or start from scratch right up front instead of half-way through the command. Some of the other improvements that you will find in the Attribute Extraction wizard in this



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release is the ability to extract attributes from a Sheet Set, Create a Table as one of the output formats, include External References in the block count and do a full preview of the extract results. Along with all that there is now the ability to quickly update the counts in a Table if that is chosen as the output format.

It is great to finally to be able to extract attributes and to place them directly in a Table object, but what is even nicer is that there is an option to have an icon placed in the status bar of AutoCAD when the table data needs to be refreshed. AutoCAD maintains a link to the data and automatically refreshes the table when something in the original data has changed. This is great for handling attributes that might have changed after the last extraction or updated.



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27. Lock Position Property for Attributes – Have you ever wanted to create an attribute for you block, but not want it to be moved? It is now possible to lock an attribute so it can’t be moved, this can be good for things like callouts or even title blocks. The property can be found in the two commands used to create attribute definitions, –ATTDEF and ATTDEF. Command: -attdef Current attribute modes: Invisible=N Constant=N Verify=N Preset=N Lock position=Y Enter an option to change [Invisible/Constant/Verify/Preset/Lock position] <done>:



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28. Dynamic Blocks – Blocks have been around for a long time in AutoCAD and just about everyone uses them in one shape or another. But what happens if you take a technology that Autodesk created back at the end of the late ‘90s called Actrix and combine it with AutoCAD. The result is Dynamic Blocks, which is by far one of the things that will forever change the way you look at creating blocks. Dynamic blocks are going to be one of those things that will take a little bit of tinkering with and a little bit of time to implement, but in the end it will be worth the time and effort. I come from an Architectural and Facility Planning background and can see this feature quickly impacting both these areas. Just imagine you currently have a bunch of door blocks in your library to represent maybe a 30”, 32” and 36” door. Doors are available in a left and right hand swing and even some have a reverse swing option. So you currently might have 12 blocks to do this today. With Dynamic Blocks you could do all of this with one. Ok so that is Architecture, but what about Mechanical. You could create a block that represents several different bolts in plan view or a block that might be capable of displaying a top view or a side view in the same block. The possibilities are truly endless and once you mix a dab of customization in the mix you will have a very powerful combination.



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To pull this off Autodesk introduced a new Block Editor tool that allows you to quickly navigate content of the block as if you just opened it in a new drawing window, actually it is a new drawing window with a special toolbar along the top. In this environment you will be able to specify parameters for geometry in the block and then specify an action. You can do things that you might have only dreamed possible before. It is now possible to create an action that allows you to move nested geometry or rotate it a round a base point. This one affects the single reference of the block and not al the other ones like it in a drawing. So you could create a block with a desk and chair and be able to move the chair independently in the block, but it is still one single block.

The parameters are used to specify the type of grip that can be used to edit the block after it has been inserted into a drawing. Once the parameter has been placed in the Block Editor you then assign the corresponding Action to the Parameter. When you assign the Action you will be prompted to select the objects that should be acted upon when the grip is clicked and edited. Not all Parameters operate like normal grips where you can stretch or move objects, some display a popup list of visibility options. This allows you to create a single block that can be used to represent many different types of valves for instance. You can click on the grip and select a different one from the popup menu. The original geometry is toggled to invisible and the new geometry is now visible.



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Drafting Enhancements 29. Join – The new Join command allows you to piece back together objects of similar kind into a

single object. The objects must be inline of each other in order for it to work. So if you are working on a drawing that has two different lines that are touching and going in the same direction you can create them into a single line. This command works on Lines, Arcs, Polylines, Splines and Elliptical Arcs. Along with joining two objects together it is also possible to convert an Arc or Elliptical Arc to a Circle or Ellipse. Command: join Select source object: Select arcs to join to source or [cLose]: Select arcs to join to source: 1 found 1 arc joined to source

30. Offset – The Offset command is a very powerful modify tool in AutoCAD for reading things like

Walls, Parallel lines and even threads on a bolt. The command just got a little more muscle with the additions of two new command options. The first command option is the ability to Erase the original object after the new object has been created. The second option is the ability to assign the newly created object to either the Source objects layer or the Current layer. There are also options to Undo the last Offset and a Multiple option to keep offsetting to either side.



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31. Layer Manager – AutoCAD 2005 introduced a new Layer Manager and a different way to work with Layer Filters. With these changes also came a new column in the Layer Manager to see if a Layer I s currently being used in a drawing. This property caused some performance issues with how fast the Layer Manager would open and Autodesk listened by allowing it to be your choice as to if the Status of a Layer would be checked or not in this release. There is a new option located in the lower-left corner of the Layer Manager to control this feature. The option is entitled “Indicate layers in use”.

Along with the ability to control whether AutoCAD now scans for the Layers that are in use when opening the Layer Manager, there has been a slight change with Layer Filters. There is a new system variable that gives you some control over how Layer Filters are affected when opening the Layer Manager. This system variable is called LAYERFILTERALERT. It has 4 potential settings and they are as follows.

0 - Layer Filters are loaded like they were in AutoCAD 2005. 1 - All Layer Filters are deleted when opening the Layer Manager and no warning

message is provided. 2 - A message box is displayed when the Layer Manager is being loaded and allows you

to choose to delete all the filters before they are loaded into the Layer Manager which can slow it down a little bit to a lot based on the number of Layer Filters in the drawing.

3 - A message box is displayed upon the opening of the drawing and gives you the chance to remove all Layer Filters at that time.

32. Copy – The Copy command now has an Undo command option that can be used to undo the last

copied object(s). Command: copy Select objects: 1 found Select objects: Specify base point or [Displacement] <Displacement>: Specify second point or <use first point as displacement>: Specify second point or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: u



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33. Chamfer and Fillet – Both the Chamfer and Fillet commands have been updated to include a new Undo command option. The Multiple option for both commands has been altered in the command prompt. Before it was the letter “u” that activated the Multiple option and that has been changed in AutoCAD 2006 to be “M” now. This change also affected the Method command option of the Chamfer command. The letter “M” no longer can be used to run the command option Method, but rather the letter “e” must be specified. Command: fillet Current settings: Mode = TRIM, Radius = 0.0000 Select first object or [Undo/Polyline/Radius/Trim/Multiple]: Command: chamfer (TRIM mode) Current chamfer Dist1 = 0.0000, Dist2 = 0.0000 Select first line or [Undo/Polyline/Distance/Angle/Trim/mEthod/Multiple]:

34. Trim and Extend – The two commands Trim and Extend are opposites of each other, but they

share similar command options. Both of these commands have been enhanced to include Fence and Crossing command options. There is no difference with these two options from previous releases, except that they are being listed in the command prompt. I would imagine that this is to help new and existing users that might not be aware of how powerful that these two selection methods can be with these two commands. If you didn’t know about it, now you do. These two selection methods can help to reduce the number of individual objects that you have to pick on screen, and in turn speeding up the process. Another change to these two commands is at the initial object selection prompt. Instead of selecting the objects that you want to use at cutting edges or boundary edges you can simply press the Enter key and AutoCAD will use an object in the drawing for this option. It doesn’t seem to degrade performance from what I can tell on the drawings that I have been testing it on either. The last change that I can see is that there is an Erase command option for the Trim command. It just allows you to remove objects from the drawing without exiting the command. Command: trim Current settings: Projection=UCS, Edge=None Select cutting edges ... Select objects or <select all>: Select object to trim or shift-select to extend or [Fence/Crossing/Project/Edge/eRase/Undo]:



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Command: extend Current settings: Projection=UCS, Edge=None Select boundary edges ... Select objects or <select all>: Select object to extend or shift-select to trim or [Fence/Crossing/Project/Edge/Undo]:

35. Rotate and Scale – The two commands Rotate and Scale both have a new command option

called Copy. This command option is available after the base point has been specified. This allows you to create a copy of the objects that you have selected to rotate or scale instead of altering the original objects. Command: rotate Current positive angle in UCS: ANGDIR=counterclockwise ANGBASE=0 Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 6 found Select objects: Specify base point: Specify rotation angle or [Copy/Reference] <0>: Command: scale Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 3 found Select objects: Specify base point: Specify scale factor or [Copy/Reference] <1.0000>:

36. Stretch – The Stretch command has been enhanced to allow for multiple crossing windows to

select objects. 37. Find – The Find feature has found a new trick in this release. It is now possible to use wild

characters in search strings. This means you can use an Asterick (*) to represent any number of characters, a Question Mark (?) to represent a single character or a Pound (#) symbol to represent a digit 0 – 9.

38. ImageFrame – The ImageFrame command has a new option in this release. In AutoCAD 2005

you had the option of turning the frame On or Off. When the frame was displayed it would be plotted as well, which wasn’t always a desirable side effect of this behavior. AutoCAD 2006 has the same two options that AutoCAD 2005 had, but has a new option that allows the frame to be displayed on screen and ignored when plotting.

39. Rectang(le) – The Rectangle command has a couple new command options to help the creation

process of a rectangle. These new options are called Area and Rotation. Area is great if you are



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creating rooms in a building and need them to be of a specific area. Rotation allows you to specify a new angle to create the Rectangle at. So instead of creating the Rectangle and then rotating it into position, you can now rotate the Rectangle in-place during the creation process. Command: rectang Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: r Specify rotation angle or [Pick points] <0>: Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]:

40. Multiline Edit – The Multiline Edit command has been updated to have a much cleaner and

easier to understand dialog box interface. Below on the left is what the dialog box looked like from AutoCAD 2005 and the new dialog box that is in AutoCAD 2006 is on the right.



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41. Multiline Style – Just like the Multiline Edit dialog box got a new face lift, so did the Multiline Style dialog box. It has been changed up to improve functionality and work flow. I am glad to see that Autodesk has been taking a look at improving Multilines a little bit in this release and hope there will be more to come in the future. Below is an image of the dialog box from AutoCAD 2005 and the one on the right is from AutoCAD 2006.

42. Modifying Multilines – I’m sure you’re wondering what’s next; I have already covered the new

layout of the Multiline Edit dialog box and the Multiline Style dialog box. Well those crafty folks at Autodesk decided it would be a good idea to include the ability to Trim and Extend Multilines after all these years. Could it be possible after all these years and since AutoCAD R13 that Multilines are becoming more useful? Truly time will tell and maybe we will see the ability to use curves in a Multiline in the next release.

43. Properties Palette – There have been some changes and additions to the Properties Palette

because of new objects being introduced to AutoCAD in this release. Two of the big changes is the ability to obtain the value for the Area of a Hatch object and that the properties for a Dynamic Block are exposed in a roll-up called Custom when a Dynamic Block is selected.



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44. Ignore Z value – AutoCAD 2005 introduced an option that allowed for ignoring hatch objects when using Object Snaps. AutoCAD 2006 continues these small tweaks with an option to ignore Z values when using Object Snaps. This can be a very slick way to make the current command use the current value of the system variable ELEVATION for the Z value. The setting can be found on the Drafting tab of the Options dialog box or controlled with the system variable named OSNAPZ. This behavior only affects picked points and not typed in coordinate values.



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Customization 45. Tool Palette Enhancements – Tool Palettes have been one of the newest features in recent

releases of AutoCAD that all users of AutoCAD can use in everyday drafting. Tool Palettes were first introduced with AutoCAD 2004, and helped to many accessing blocks and other types of tools much easier. Fast forward to AutoCAD 2005 and once again Tool Palettes are enhanced with Tables and the ability to have Command Tools among other changes. Now with AutoCAD 2006 some additional features are added to Tool Palettes to enhance the feature even further. You are now able to edit the common properties of several tools at one time. This allows you to change properties like Layer and Color for these tools. The common properties will vary based on the types of tools selected for editing. Along with being able to edit multiple tools you are able to organize tools on a Tool Palette with Separator lines and simple Text labels. The final update to Tool Palettes is to support Dynamic Blocks and their custom properties.



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46. Toolbar and Tool Palette Locking – Have you accidentally dragged a toolbar when you went to select a button, or maybe you wanted to make sure a Palette remained in a specific spot on the screen. AutoCAD 2006 allows you to choose between locking the location of Toolbars or Palettes so they can’t be moved on screen. This can be achieved through a couple different methods and in the User Interface (UI). The first is by using the new Lock icon located in the status bar area of AutoCAD. The other method is to use the Lock Location under the Windows pull-down.

47. Getting User Input Changes (AutoLISP and ActiveX API) – If you use methods or functions like GetPoint or GetCorner you will have to watch out for the new behavior of ignoring the Z value. So if you want the Z value to come through other than the current elevation value you will need to add a check for the current OSNAPZ system variable to your code. This change seems to affect AutoLISP, VBA and ObjectARX equally.

48. Temporary Overrides – Temporary Overrides are a very interesting concept and you will find

some more useful than others. Temporary Overrides do exactly what they sound like; they disable a feature for a certain period of time and are used while a command is running. To use a Temporary Override you press and hold a key down while you want the feature active. So for instance, while you press and hold down the Shift key the orthogonal behavior will be inverted. So if it is On it will be turned off while the key is pressed in. Once the key is let go, the original state will be restored. Temporary Overrides can be customized through the Customize User Interface (CUI) tool. By default there are 23 active Temporary Overrides that ship with AutoCAD. You can tell when you are using a Temporary Override by a small arrow pointing down next to the cursor. If you don’t see the icon or it doesn’t seem to work the



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TEMPOVERRIDES system variable might be set to 0 instead of 1.

49. CUI (Customize User Interface) – Have you ever thought about learning to customize and

create your own custom pull-down menus? Maybe you tried in the past and just couldn’t quite make it all work together. Well Autodesk might have just changed the way you think about customizing AutoCAD forever with the in Customize User Interface or CUI tool in AutoCAD 2006. In previous releases of AutoCAD it was possible to make your own Toolbars and Accelerator Keys, but everything else took some tinkering and working outside of the AutoCAD application. The new CUI tool allows you to work in a graphical interface, which will be very different for many of us that just loved to whip open Notepad and crank through the creation of new menu sections. You can still do that, but it will be a much greater challenge now to a Notepad wizards as the file format has been changed to XML this go around. This change will hopefully allow more people to enjoy the benefits of customizing Pull-downs, Toolbars, Temporary Keys (New), Accelerator Keys and many other items all from a graphical interface. The nice thing about the new CUI tool and format is that you create a macro once and use it in many of the different menu sections. This allows to reduce the number of changes they you might have needed to do in previous releases when you had a Toolbar button and a Pull-down menu item that did exactly the same things. Some of the other features that are new to customizing the User Interface is the introduction of WorkSpaces which I will cover in just a little bit and the ability to associate an icon to a pull-down menu item. The icon that is used for the pull-down menu item is the same one that is used with the Toolbar button. The icon is actually assigned to the command’s macro instead of related to the Toolbar button like it was in previous releases.



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50. WorkSpaces – WorkSpaces are a new concept in AutoCAD, but it is kind of based on an old idea that has already existed in the software for some time. WorkSpaces are similar to profiles except they are responsible for controlling the display of Toolbars, Menus and Dockable Windows. They allow you to layout several different groups of User Interface elements and give them a name that can be used to reference the layout. So you could create task based WorkSpaces that contain the tools that you might need. This allows you to maximize the amount of room that you have available for the drawing editor. Once again you use the CUI tool to create and manage WorkSpaces, along with a WorkSpace Toolbar and WORKSPACE command.



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Command: workspace Enter workspace option [setCurrent/SAveas/Edit/Rename/Delete/SEttings/?] <setCurrent>:

51. ActiveX API – The changes to the ActiveX API are additions to support many of the new features in this new release.



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There is a new class (object) called AcadDimArcLength that is responsible for the Arc Length dimension. Below is a breakdown of the properties, methods and events in the class (object). Properties AltRoundDistance DimLine2Suppress OwnerID AltSuppressLeadingZeros DimLineInside PlotStyleName AltSuppressTrailingZeros Document PrimaryUnitsPrecision AltSuppressZeroFeet ExtensionLineColor Rotation AltSuppressZeroInches ExtensionLineExtend RoundDistance AltTextPrefix ExtensionLineOffset ScaleFactor AltTextSuffix ExtensionLineWeight StyleName AltTolerancePrecision ExtLine1Point SuppressLeadingZeros AltToleranceSuppressLeadingZeros

ExtLine1Suppress SuppressTrailingZeros

AltToleranceSuppressTrailingZeros ExtLine2Point SuppressZeroFeet AltToleranceSuppressZeroFeet ExtLine2Suppress SuppressZeroInches AltToleranceSuppressZeroInches Fit SymbolPosition AltUnits ForceLineInside TextColor AltUnitsFormat FractionFormat TextGap AltUnitsPrecision Handle TextHeight AltUnitsScale HasExtensionDictionar

y TextInside

Application HasLeader TextInsideAlign ArcEndParam HorizontalTextPosition TextMovement ArcPoint Hyperlinks TextOutsideAlign ArcStartParam IsPartial TextOverride Arrowhead1Block Layer TextPosition Arrowhead1Type Leader1Point TextPrefix Arrowhead2Block Leader2Point TextRotation Arrowhead2Type LinearScaleFactor TextStyle ArrowheadSize Linetype TextSuffix CenterPoint LinetypeScale ToleranceDisplay DecimalSeparator Lineweight ToleranceHeightScale DimensionLineColor Measurement ToleranceJustification DimensionLineExtend Normal ToleranceLowerLimit DimensionLineWeight ObjectID TolerancePrecision DimLine1Suppress ObjectName ToleranceSuppressLeadingZero

s



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Properties continued ToleranceSuppressTrailingZeros ToleranceUpperLimit VerticalTextPosition ToleranceSuppressZeroFeet TrueColor Visible ToleranceSuppressZeroInches UnitsFormat

Methods ArrayPolar GetXData Rotate ArrayRectangular Highlight Rotate3D Copy IntersectWith ScaleEntity Delete Mirror SetXData GetBoundingBox Mirror3D TransformBy GetExtensionDictionary Move Update

Events Modified

There is another new class (object) called AcadDimRadialLarge that is responsible for the Jogged dimension. Below is a breakdown of the properties, methods and events in the class (object). Properties AltRoundDistance ArrowheadSize JogLocation AltSuppressLeadingZeros ArrowheadType Layer AltSuppressTrailingZeros Center LinearScaleFactor AltSuppressZeroFeet CenterMarkSize Linetype AltSuppressZeroInches CenterType LinetypeScale AltTextPrefix ChordPoint Lineweight AltTextSuffix DecimalSeparator Measurement AltTolerancePrecision DimensionLineColor Normal AltToleranceSuppressLeadingZeros

DimensionLineWeight ObjectID

AltToleranceSuppressTrailingZeros DimLineSuppress ObjectName AltToleranceSuppressZeroFeet Document LinearScaleFactor AltToleranceSuppressZeroInches Fit JogLocation AltUnits ForceLineInside AltUnitsFormat FractionFormat AltUnitsPrecision Handle AltUnitsScale HasExtensionDictionar

y

Application Hyperlinks ArrowheadBlock JogAngle



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Properties continued OwnerID TextHeight ToleranceJustification PlotStyleName TextInside ToleranceLowerLimit PrimaryUnitsPrecision TextInsideAlign TolerancePrecision Rotation TextMovement ToleranceSuppressLeadingZeros RoundDistance TextOutsideAlign ToleranceSuppressTrailingZeros ScaleFactor TextOverride ToleranceSuppressZeroFeet StyleName TextPosition ToleranceSuppressZeroInches SuppressLeadingZeros TextPrefix ToleranceUpperLimit SuppressTrailingZeros TextRotation TrueColor SuppressZeroFeet TextSuffix UnitsFormat SuppressZeroInches ToleranceDisplay VerticalTextPosition TextColor ToleranceHeightScale Visible TextGap

Methods ArrayPolar GetXData Rotate ArrayRectangular Highlight Rotate3D Copy IntersectWith ScaleEntity Delete Mirror SetXData GetBoundingBox Mirror3D TransformBy GetExtensionDictionary Move Update

Events Modified

There is a new class (object) called AcadDynamicBlockReferenceProperty that is responsible for the properties of a Dynamic Block. Below is a breakdown of the properties in the class (object). Properties AllowedValues ReadOnly UnitsType Description Show Value PropertyName

There is a new Enumerator that is used for Block Scaling and is called AcBlockScaling. Constant Name Value acAny 0 acUniform 1



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There is a new Enumerator that is used for the Arc Length Symbol and is called AcDimArcLengthSymbol. Constant Name Value acSymAbove 1 acSymInFront 0 acSymNone 2

There is a new Enumerator that is used for the Dynamic Block Reference Property Unit Types and is called AcDynamicBlockReferencePropertyUnitsType. Constant Name Value acAngular 1 acArea 3 acDistance 2 acNoUnits 0

A couple new constants have been added to the Enumerator AcEntityName and are for the new Dimension objects. Constant Name Value acDimArcLength 44 (&H2C) acDimRadialLarge 45 (&H2D)

There is a new Enumerator that is used for the justification of a Multiline Style and is called AcMLineJustification. Constant Name Value acBottom 2 acTop 0 acZero 1



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All of the constants under the Enumerator AcViewportScale have been replaced. The old constants seem to have been removed all together and are not just hidden. The new values are much different than before. Below is a sampling of these values as there are well over 100 of them. Constant Name Value acVp1 through acVp100 2 through 101 acVpCustomScale 1 acVpScaleToFit 0

To handle the new changes to the AcadAttribute class (object) a new class called IAcadAttribute2 has been introduced. I have listed the change in the table below. Name Type LockPosition Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadAttributeReference class (object) a new class called IAcadAttributeReference2 has been introduced. I have listed the change in the table below. Name Type LockPosition Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadBlock class (object) a new class called IAcadBlock3 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type AddDimArc Method AddDimRadialLarge Method BlockScaling Property Comments Property Explodable Property IsDynamicBlock Property Units Property



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To handle the new changes to the AcadBlockReference class (object) a new class called IAcadBlockReference2 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type ConvertToAnonymousBlock Method ConvertToStaticBlock Method EffectiveName Property GetDynamicBlockProperties Method InsUnits Property InsUnitsFactor Property IsDynamicBlock Property ResetBlock Method XEffectiveScaleFactor Property YEffectiveScaleFactor Property ZEffectiveScaleFactor Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadExternalReference class (object) a new class called IAcadExternalReference2 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type InsUnits Property InsUnitsFactor Property XEffectiveScaleFactor Property YEffectiveScaleFactor Property ZEffectiveScaleFactor Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadHatch class (object) a new class called IAcadHatch2 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type Area Property Origin Property



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To handle the new changes to the AcadMInsertBlock class (object) a new class called IAcadMInsertBlock2 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type ConvertToAnonymousBlock Method ConvertToStaticBlock Method EffectiveName Property GetDynamicBlockProperties Method InsUnits Property InsUnitsFactor Property IsDynamicBlock Property ResetBlock Method XEffectiveScaleFactor Property YEffectiveScaleFactor Property ZEffectiveScaleFactor Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadMLine class (object) a new class called IAcadMLine2 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type Justification Property MLineScale Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadModelSpace class (object) a new class called IAcadModelSpace3 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type AddDimArc Method AddDimRadialLarge Method

To handle the new changes to the AcadPaperSpace class (object) a new class called IAcadPaperSpace3 has been introduced. I have listed the changes in the table below. Name Type AddDimArc Method AddDimRadialLarge Method



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To handle the new changes to the AcadTable class (object) a new class called IAcadTable2 has been introduced. I have listed the change in the table below. Name Type RegenerateTableSuppressed Property

To handle the new changes to the AcadUtility class (object) a new class called IAcadUtility2 has been introduced. I have listed the change in the table below. Name Type SendModelessOperationEnded Method SendModelessOperationStart Method



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Keeping an Eye on the Task 52. Editing Scale Lists – Have you had that one scale that just isn’t part of the standards found in

AutoCAD, or maybe you just don’t want to go through all the standard scales to work with the 5 or so that you do use on a daily basis. There is a new feature in AutoCAD that allows you to edit the list of scales that appears in the Plot dialog box, Viewport toolbar and several other places in AutoCAD. You can give scales names like Plan view or site view which is very different from past releases with you had to refer to them by their actual scale. One of the downsides is that the listing is stored in the Windows Registry and isn’t exported through AutoCAD Profiles which makes it hard to set them up on several different machines.

53. Forgot a Command’s Name, Now What? – AutoCAD 2006 goes above and beyond previous

releases when it comes to accessing commands. Has there been a time you remembered the first couple letters of a command or an alias, but couldn’t quite remember it all. So you might have ended up yelling down the hallway to your neighbor or maybe you dug around on the Internet or in the online help system. You won’t need to do that anymore. It is now possible to type the first characters for a command and then by pressing the Tab key you can cycle through all the loaded aliases, system variables and core AutoCAD commands (or even the ones defined in AutoLISP) with in the current session of AutoCAD.



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54. Smooth Transition with Zoom and Pan – Have you ever found yourself lost in a drawing after performing a zoom operation in AutoCAD? Really it doesn’t surprise me if you have had one of these moments from time to time, and if you are new to AutoCAD you might have this feeling more often than someone that has been using AutoCAD for years. To resolve the problem of here then there, Autodesk has introduced a feature called View Transition. This affects and changes the here and then there affect when doing a Zoom Window. It helps to keep your orientation in the drawing. For those that just want to get our work done fast and don’t mind this affect, there are options to adjust the transition rate and having the ability to disable the feature all together. Many of the Zoom and Pan commands take on this new behavior by default.

55. What am I selecting? – AutoCAD has some very slick ways of giving you feedback when you

are selecting objects or are about to select objects. The first form is in a new feature called Roll-over Highlighting. Roll-over Highlighting is exactly what it sounds like. When you move the mouse over something it gets highlighted. The image below shows the new options to control this feature.

Along with the new Roll-over Highlighting you now get feedback in the form of a filled area when using ether a Window or Crossing operation. This allows you to quickly identify on screen what objects are going to be affected before they are even selected. In the image before the crossing operation is on the left with the green fill and the window operation is on the right with the blue fill. As you can see you can quickly identify what is in the selection window.



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56. New Calculator Feature – Have you ever tried to use the Cal command in AutoCAD, if you have you sure might think to yourself that there has to be a much better way to work with a feature like this. Even though the Cal command is very powerful, you must say that it sure is dated though. Over the last couple of releases more and more people have been using applications outside of AutoCAD and then re-typing the value back into AutoCAD. Hopefully, those days are over with the new Quick Calc interface. Not that the new interface covers all needs and wants, it is a step in the right direction and will serve many peoples needs.

57. Using Values from QuickCalc in Text Fields – This is a nice feature and is a subset of the

functionality of QuickCalc. This new feature allows you to use mathematical expressions or global constants in text boxes and dialog boxes. This feature is called CalcInput. For example, you could type =4*2.2567 in the Linetype Scale property in the Properties Palette and then press the END key to have it evaluated. After the END key is pressed the expression will be evaluated to 9.0268 and be placed into the field.



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Sharing with Others 58. 3D DWF Publishing – AutoCAD 2006 ships with a preview version of the new 3D DWF

Publishing tools. This toolset allows you to generate 3D DWF files that are very lightweight and usable with very little effort for your clients to use over 2D DWF files. In order to get the commands to work from in AutoCAD you need to install the feature during the installation process of AutoCAD. Once it has been installed you use the 3DDWFPUBLISH command to generate the 3D DWF file.



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59. Previewing Line Merge – The Line Merge feature that has been not been available for previewing a drawing. Print preview will now respect the Line Merge setting if it has been setup for the plotter before hand.

60. External Reference Notification – The External Reference Notification balloon has gotten a

slight make-over, but it does leave more to be desired though. The change to the balloon in AutoCAD 2006 eliminates one step, but can cause an undesired side affect though. The link in the balloon now will reload the Xref automatically when clicked, but it will do a reload on all the Xrefs attached to the drawing. That means all of the Xrefs that are marked as Unloaded are reloaded into the drawing.

61. Sheet Set Enhancements – There have been some enhancements made to the Sheet Set Manager

that make it much more functional this time around. I following list outlines that many changes in the Sheet Set Manager for AutoCAD 2006.

• The Sheet roll-up on the Sheet List tab now has a “Refresh sheet status” button that will

update all the sheets in the Sheet Set. If a drawing has been opened since the Sheet Set was last refreshed it will display a new lock icon in the lower-left corner of the sheet icon. The Sheet Set Manager by default will refresh automatically every 60 seconds. The time interval can be adjusted via the SSMPOLLTIME system variable.



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• Multiple Sheets can be selected and opened for edit or as read-only via the right-click menu.

• Multiple Sheets can now be imported which will make setting Sheet Sets up faster and more

efficiently.

• Sheet Set Publish Options have been tweaked to include three new options called Sheet set information, Sheet information and Block information. The dialog box has also been re-laid out too.



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• Renaming Sheet has been improved to allow you to rename a drawing file to the Sheet’s title automatically. It is now possible to navigate forward and backward through the Sheets in a subset.



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• The contents of the View List tab can be displayed in two different ways. These two ways are by Category or by Sheet.

• The Sheet Set Properties has been expanded for a Sheet Set to include a new category called

Project Control. The properties that are available under this section are Project number, Project name, Project phase and Project milestone.

• The Create Sheet Set Wizard has a new option called “Create a folder hierarchy based on subsets”. This helps you to manage your files just like you see them in the Sheet Set Manager.

• When creating a new subset you now have an option called “Create folders relative to parent

subset storage location.”. What this allows for is to create a new folder on the drive located in the same folder as the subset or Sheet Set. Then any new Sheet that is added to the Sheet Set Manager they will be created in the folder that corresponds to the subset by default on the drive.



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How do I do that? 62. QuickStart Links – QuickStart Links are hyperlinks that are placed on some of the new and

existing features found in AutoCAD. After you click on one of these QuickStart links the New Features Workshop will open with the related topic. Some of the places you can find these QuickStart links is the CUI, Sheet Set Manager, Fields dialog box, and Drawing Recovery Palette to name a few.

63. Subscription Aware – The new Subscription Aware feature allows you to access two specific

areas on the Subscription website without getting access from the individual(s) that manage the account in your company. These two areas are the Technical Support and the e-Learning Catalog. To access the subscription site content through AutoCAD, you use the menu items under the Help pull-down. These items will connect to the subscription website and see if you are eligible and under contract.



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New Commands

3DDWFOUT 3DDWFPUBLISH AIDIMFLIPARROW AI_INVOKENFW BACTION BACTIONSET BACTIONTOOL BATTORDER BAUTHORPALETTE BAUTHORPALETTECLOSE BCLOSE BCYCLEORDER -BEDIT BEDIT BGRIPSET BLOOKUPTABLE BPARAMETER BSAVE BSAVEAS BVHIDE BVSHOW



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BVSTATE COMMANDLINE COMMANDLINEHIDE CUI CUIEXPORT CUIIMPORT CUILOAD CUIUNLOAD DIMARC DIMJOGGED DRAWINGRECOVERY DRAWINGRECOVERYHIDE EATTEXTEDIT EATTEXTUPDATE GRADIENT -HATCH JOIN QCCLOSE QUICKCALC RESETBLOCK -SCALELISTEDIT SCALELISTEDIT VTOPTIONS WORKSPACE WSSAVE WSSETTINGS

Modified Commands

ACADBLOCKDIALOG -ATTDEF ATTDEF -BHATCH BHATCH BLOCK BMAKE BMOD BOUNDARY BPOLY CHAMFER COPY



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+CUSTOMIZE CUSTOMIZE DDATTDEF DDEDIT DDIM DDINSERT DDLMODES DDRMODES DDSELECT DIMEDIT -DIMSTYLE DIMSTYLE +DSETTINGS DSETTINGS DTEXT EATTEXT EXTEND FIELD FILLET FIND HATCH -HATCHEDIT HATCHEDIT IMAGEFRAME -INSERT INSERT LAYER LIST MARKUP MENU MENULOAD MENUUNLOAD MINSERT MLEDIT MLSTYLE MTEDIT -MTEXT MTEXT MTPROP OFFSET OLDMTPROP



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+OPTIONS OPTIONS OSNAP -PAN PROPERTIES +PUBLISH PUBLISH QLEADER RECTANG RECTANGLE ROTATE SCALE SETVAR SHEETSET STRETCH -TABLE TABLE TABLEDIT TBCONFIG TEXT TOOLBAR TOOLPALETTES TRIM UNDO ZOOM

Commands Removed/Discontinued

-RMLIN RMLIN

New System Variables

BACTIONCOLOR BDEPENDENCYHIGHLIGHT BGRIPOBJCOLOR BGRIPOBJSIZE BLOCKEDITLOCK BLOCKEDITOR BPARAMETERCOLOR



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BPARAMETERFONT BPARAMETERSIZE BTMARKDISPLAY BVMODE CALCINPUT CENTERMT CLISTATE CMDINPUTHISTORYMAX CROSSINGAREACOLOR DRSTATE DTEXTED DYNDIGRIP DYNDIVIS DYNMODE DYNPICOORDS DYNPIFORMAT DYNPIVIS DYNPROMPT DYNTOOLTIPS ENTERPRISEMENU FULLPLOTPATH HPINHERIT HPOBJWARNING HPORIGIN HPORIGINMODE HPSEPERATE INPUTHISTORYMODE INTELLIGENTUPDATE LAYERFILTERALERT LOCKUI OSNAPZ PREVIEWEFFECT PREVIEWFILTER QCSTATE RECOVERYMODE SELECTIONAREA SELECTIONAREAOPACITY SELECTIONPREVIEW SHOWLAYERUSAGE SSMOPENREFRESH SSMPOLLTIME



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TABLEINDICATOR TEMPOVERRIDES VTDURATION VTENABLE VTFPS WINDOAREACOLOR WSCURRENT

Modified System Variables

MTEXTFIXED

System Variables Removed/Discontinued

Summary This list contains many of the changes and new features found in the new release, but I am sure there are some additional ones in the software that I have not come across and identified yet. This document will be updated periodically during the first couple of weeks after the final shipping copy is released.

by lee ambrosius - hyperpics: resources for the autocad

Documents