The command CHSPACE is an awesome tool! It allows you to select an object in a layout tab (paper space) and put it in Model Space while automatically scaling by the viewport’s scale factor. Read more »

Just like ORTHO, you can quickly find and draw at an angle with POLAR. Typically you will find POLAR under your command line. Right-click on it and select “Settings…”

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Murat Senel has written an excellent article on drawing with OTRACK (object snap tracking)…

Happy Monday!

Let’s say you have a piece of text that you want to automatically display the current date. Adding a field to text is the easiest way to do it. Read more »

I have to be honest. One of the first things I do when I receive a drawing from someone is type DIMREASSOC on the command line to reset dimension text values. The reason for this is because I don’t like drawings that contain dimensions that are overridden with text values that don’t match the distance being dimensioned. Read more »

I am lazy. So lazy in fact that I use Multilines (command: MLINE) to draw pipes in 2D. In my field (Civil Engineering) I draw pipes a lot. We have a standard pipe schedule that shows the inside diameter, wall thickness, and outside diameter of common concrete and ductile iron pipe sizes. This is a great reference, but when it comes time to draw the pipes in 2D, I have to draw the centerline of the pipe, offset 1/2 the outside diameter of the pipe on each side, and then delete the centerline. This is way too much work! So I decided to setup Multiline styles for every pipe in our schedule and save them in our standard drawing template. Read more »

Today’s tip is a drafting shortcut that I’ve been using for a long time. It’s a tip that I think saves a lot of time. Read more »

There are quite a few ways to accomplish this and I am going to show you a little trick to find area in acres quickly. The reason I am writing this is to show you some of the capabilities AutoCAD has when it comes to doing calculations. Read more »

I hope you had a good weekend. As promised today I will talk about using Pi in calculations.

You can call up Pi in the CAL command by simply typing “pi” (without quotation marks). Read more »

Did you know that AutoCAD’s CAL command has a memory? It does. Read more »

You can easily calculate the square or square root of a number in AutoCAD. Read more »