Lazy Command: SuperHatch

This Express Tools command may not be new to some of you but I thought I would share anyway. Type the command SUPERHATCH on the command line and you will get this: Read more »

Quickly Redirect XREF Paths

It’s happened to all of us. You receive a zipped up set of CAD files from someone, you open a layout drawing that contains XREFs, and all the XREF paths are broken. Well never fear, there is a lazy way to redirect all the XREF paths in a drawing. Here is how I make it happen. Read more »

Automatic Scaling of Blocks, Images or XREFs

When Autodesk released AutoCAD 2007 I noticed that when I inserted a block or XREF it would sometimes scale up or down in a way I didn’t expect. After a little digging in the help file I found these system variables: INSUNITS, INSUNITSDEFSOURCE, & INSUNITSDEFTARGET. Read more »

Raster Design Object Enabler

I found out that installing Raster Design Object Enabler for Map 3D or Civil 3D allows MrSID images to be inserted directly into AutoCAD through Map 3D’s image insert command (MAPIINSERT). I use it to directly insert georeferenced ortho photos in MrSID formatĀ into my drawings. This is really nice because instead of using another piece of software to cut out the ortho to insert, I can directly insert the lightweight MrSID image directly and clip it to my desired area. Read more »