Summary of CAD drawing tips and questions

Thread Content

Summary of CAD drawing tips Summary of CAD drawing tips – Drawing Question: What preparations are needed before starting to draw? Answer: Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay chopping wood. Like hand-drawing, computer drawing also requires some necessary preparations. Such as setting layers, line styles, annotation styles, target snapping, unit formats, drawing boundaries, etc. Many repetitive tasks can be prepared in advance using template files such as ACAD.DWT, so that they can be used right away when starting a new drawing. Question: What scale is good for drawing in AutoCAD? Answer: It is best to draw at a 1:1 ratio; the output ratio can be adjusted as desired. Drawing scale and output scale are two different concepts. When exporting, if \"1 unit of output = 500 units in drawing\", it means the output is done at a scale of 1/500; whereas if \"10 units of output = 1 unit in drawing\", it means the output is enlarged by a factor of 10. There are many advantages to drawing at a 1:1 ratio. First, errors are easy to spot, as drawing based on actual dimensions makes it simple to identify any unreasonable dimension settings. Secondly, marking dimensions is very convenient; the software measures the values itself, and if a mistake is made in drawing, it can be detected by looking at the dimension values (of course, the software also allows setting the dimension scaling, but it still requires extra effort). Third, when copying partial graphics between different drawings or using blocks, since the scale is 1:1, it is easy to adjust the block size. Fourth, it is very convenient for assembling drawings from part drawings or for breaking down assembly drawings into part drawings. Fifth, there is no need for complicated calculations of scaling up or down, which improves work efficiency and prevents errors that may occur during the conversion process. Question: What is the use of layers? Answer: Making rational use of layers can achieve twice the result with half the effort. When starting to draw, some basic layers are set up in advance. Each layer has its own specific purpose, and the advantage of this is that by creating just one graphic file, it is possible to generate many of the required drawings; modifications can also be made specifically to each layer. Question: What are command aliases? Answer: To make it easier to enter commands and avoid having to remember their full English names, command aliases (ALIAS) can be used to replace them. Entering C is equivalent to entering the CIRCLE command, while L is equivalent to the LINE command. Command aliases can **speed up the input of commands and improve drawing efficiency. Experienced users usually use their left hand to type commands and their right hand to click the mouse. Command aliases are set in the ACAD.PGP file, which can be edited using any text editor. AutoCAD provides the ALIASEDIT tool for modifying command aliases, allowing for interactive editing of aliases through a dialog box. Question: Before drawing, must the drawing limits (LIMITS) be set properly? Answer: When drawing a new diagram, it is best to set the drawing boundaries according to national standard sheet sizes. The graphic boundaries are like the size of a drawing sheet; when drawing, one works within these boundaries, making everything clear at a glance. It is convenient to print the diagrams drawn according to the interface, and automatic batch output of diagrams is also possible. Of course, some people are used to drawing multiple diagrams in a single graphic file, in which case setting diagram boundaries doesn’t make much sense. Question: After dimensioning, small white dots sometimes appear in the drawing and cannot be removed. Why? Answer: When dimensioning in AutoCAD, a DEFPOINTS layer is automatically created to store information such as the locations of the dimension points; this layer is usually frozen. For some reason, these dots sometimes appear. To delete it, first thaw the DEFPOINTS layer before deleting. But note that if a point associated with a dimension is deleted, the corresponding dimension will also be deleted. Question: *I’m used to the full-screen crosshair in R12, but the cursor in R14 is very small. What should I do? Answer: You can click on the menu Tools\preferences\point device and set the cursor percentage to 100% (the default is 5%). The CURSORSIZE system variable can also be modified directly in the command line. Question: Is target snapping (OSNAP) useful? Answer: It’s very useful. Especially when drawing mechanical drawings that require high precision, target capture is the best tool for accurate positioning. Autodesk also attaches great importance to this; with each version update, the performance of the target capture feature improves significantly. Never use the cursor line to pinpoint a location directly, as such points cannot be very accurate. Question: Why aren’t the drawn profile lines or dimension lines continuous line styles? Answer: The hatch lines and dimension annotations created in AutoCAD can all have line type properties. If the current line type is not a continuous line type, then the drawn profile lines and dimension lines will not be continuous lines. Editor’s question: How to use the “Cancel Command” button on R12? Answer: The default key for canceling commands in R14 is the “ESC” key. If you are used to using “Ctrl+C” in R12, you can click on Menu Tools\Preferences\Compatibility\Priority for accelerator keys\AutoCAD Classic; this will allow you to use “Ctrl+C” to cancel commands, while the “ESC” key will still remain functional. Question: How to cut multiple line segments at once? Answer: When the TRIM command prompts you to select the graphics to be trimmed, the common selection methods of window and crossing are not supported. When cutting multiple line segments, multiple selections are required to complete it. At this point, the fence selection method can be used. When the trim command asks you to select the graphics to be removed, enter “f”, then draw a dashed line on the screen and press Enter; all the graphics that intersect with this dashed line will be deleted. Similarly, for the EXTEND command, entering F when prompted with \"select object:\" allows multiple entities to be extended at once. Question: Why did the deleted lines reappear? Answer: The most likely explanation is that several lines overlap each other. This is a common problem for beginners. Additionally, when a center line or dashed line remains a continuous line regardless of how the line width ratio is changed (after REGEN), this is usually also the reason. Question: How to quickly switch layers? Answer: Click the “Make objects’ layer current” button on the “Object Properties” toolbar (the button on the far left of the toolbar), then select any object on the layer you want to switch to in the drawing area; the current layer will immediately change to the layer containing the selected object. Question: How to handle manually drawn drawings, especially those with many previously hand-drawn engineering sketches? Answer: Scanning the drawings into a computer might be a solution. But note that the graphics processed by AutoCAD are vector graphics, while scanned drawings result in raster graphics. Due to this difference in nature, although the graphic files generated from scanned drawings can be inserted into AutoCAD, they can only be viewed and not edited. There are also some vectorization tools that can convert raster images into vector images, but due to technical limitations, the efficiency and quality of such conversion are not satisfactory. The author has tried various such tools, with disappointing results. (If there’s time to do that, it’s better to redraw it.) Save Question: How can I reduce the file size? Answer: After the graphic is completed, use the PURGE command to remove unnecessary data, such as unused blocks, layers without entities, as well as unused line styles, fonts, and dimension styles. This can effectively reduce the file size. Generally, thorough cleaning requires PURGING two to three times. Additionally, by default, writing to R14 is done in append mode, which is faster. If disk space needs to be freed, the ISAVEPERCENT system variable must be set to 0 to disable this incremental saving feature, so that the file size is reduced upon the second save. Question: How to set up the auto-save feature? Answer: Set the SAVETIME variable to a smaller value, such as 10 (minutes). The default save time in AutoCAD is 120 minutes. Question: How to restore automatically saved graphics? Answer: AutoCAD saves automatically saved drawings in AUTO.SV$ or AUTO?.SV$ files. Find these files, rename them to the corresponding drawing file names, and they can be opened in AutoCAD. Generally, this file is stored in WINDOWS’ temporary directory, such as C:\WINDOWS\TEMP. Question: How can data be recovered if an accidental save overwrites the original image? Answer: If it was saved only once, change the file with the BAK suffix to have a DWG suffix as soon as possible, and then open it in AutoCAD. If it is saved multiple times, the original image cannot be restored. Question: Why does the prompt appear in the command line instead of showing an Open or Export dialog box? Answer: The AutoCAD system variable FILEDIA is used to control the display of the file list dialog boxes. Setting FILEDIA to 1 will cause these dialog boxes to appear; if FILEDIA is set to 0, you can still get a dialog box to show by entering a symbol “~” in response to the first prompt for the command you have selected. Of course, when calling a file operation command from a batch command or an AutoLISP/ADSRX/ObjectARX application, a command-line prompt is required, and no dialog box should appear. Question: Why isn’t the date and time of a file updated in the file browser when it is saved? Answer: Autodesk has identified this issue; it only occurs in the Win95B operating system, and has never appeared under Win95A or Windows NT. As a temporary solution, the system variable ISAVEPERCENT can be set to 0 in AutoCAD R14, causing AutoCAD to rewrite the entire drawing content every time it is saved. This may prolong the saving time, but it ensures that the file date is updated correctly. Font question: Why can’t Chinese characters be displayed? Or did the entered Chinese characters turn into question marks? Answer: The reason may be: 1. The corresponding font does not use a Chinese character font, such as HZTXT.SHX, etc ； 2. There are no Chinese font files in the current system ； The shape files used should be copied to AutoCAD’s font directory (usually ...\FONTS\) ； 3. For certain symbols, such as Greek letters, the corresponding font file must also be used; otherwise, they will be displayed as ? Number. Question: How to resolve the issue of garbled Chinese characters when opening R12 files in R14? Answer: When using R14 to open an R12 file, garbled characters appear even if the Chinese font file is selected correctly, because R14 and R12 use different code pages, DWGPAGECODE. You can download the code page conversion tool wnewcp from AutoDesk’s homepage. After running wnewcp, first select the “R11/R12” checkbox, then click the “Browse” button to choose the file or directory to be converted. Next, select the new code page (ANSI) and click “Start Conversion” to begin the conversion. After the conversion, Chinese characters will be displayed correctly in R14. The code conversion tool DWGCODE.EXE provided by Tianzheng can also be used for code conversion. If these tools are not available, open the graphic file to be converted in the R12 environment, enter DWGCODEPAGE in COMMAND mode, change its value to ASCII, and then save the file. Batch modification can be achieved using the SCR command set file or through LISP programming. Question: Why can’t the height of the entered text be changed? Answer: When the height value of the font being used is not 0, the DTEXT command does not prompt for entering a height when writing text; as a result, the height of the text created in this way remains unchanged, including dimension annotations created using that font. Question: How to change an existing font format? Answer: If you want to change the size, font, aspect ratio, spacing, tilt angle, insertion point, etc., of existing text, it is best to use the “Properties (DDMODIFY)” command (provided that you have already defined various text formats). Click the “Properties” command, select the text you want to modify, press Enter, and the “Modify Text” window will appear; then select the items you wish to change. Question: Can system fonts be used, such as SimSun or KaiTi? Answer: Although ACADR14 can use *.TTF Chinese font files, such fonts consume a lot of CPU time; on computers with lower specifications, the display speed (for example when using the real-time scaling command) is extremely slow. It is recommended that computers with lower specifications use *.shx files. In Hanzi *.shx files, it is recommended to use the HZ*.shx font files provided by Daheng or Haochen for ACADR12; however, the absence of such fonts on different machines can cause issues with the display of Hanzi characters. Of course, using the system font in small amounts for aesthetic purposes is also acceptable. Menu Question: Why are the button icons on the toolbar replaced by smiley faces? Answer: When AutoCAD cannot find the path to the button bitmap file, these button icons in the toolbar or toolbox will be replaced by a smiling face. This may occur after the toolbar has been customized, and the menu template file (MNU) has been edited manually. In this case, a text editor can be used to open the menu source file (MNS) and the menu template file (MNU). The customized toolbar section from the MNS file can be copied and pasted into the MNU file. Then, the old MNS, MNC, and MNR files can be renamed or deleted. Finally, the MENU/MENULOAD command is used to load the MNU file; AutoCAD will recompile the menu files, creating new MNS, MNC, and MNR files, thereby resolving the problem. Additionally, this issue can also occur if the bitmap file is not in AutoCAD’s supported paths. Please make sure that the support path in the “Preferences (System Settings)” dialog box includes the directory where the bitmap file is located. For example, if you move a button from a customized toolbar to a toolbar in AutoCAD’s standard menu, you must edit the button file so that the bitmap file is saved in a supported path. It can be done following these steps: 1. After moving or copying an icon to a different menu toolbar, keep the toolbar dialog box open, and right-click on the icon to edit it. 2. In the button properties dialog box, select the “Edit” button. 3. In the Button Editor dialog box, select the Save as button and specify a bitmap file directory on a path supported by AutoCAD. 4. Close the button editor, then select the Apply button in the button properties dialog box. Finally, close AutoCAD and restart it. Question: How to localize the menu? Answer: Under WIN95/98, use an editor such as Notepad to open the acad.mnu file in the support directory, change the English command names inside it to Chinese, save the file, and then exit. Then enter the “menu” command in R14 to load the acad.mnu menu file, and the drop-down menu will change to Chinese. If there is a already localized menu file, it can be used directly. Printing Question: Why do the PLOT and ASE commands only produce prompts in the command line, without any dialog boxes appearing? Answer: The AutoCAD system variable CMDDIA is used to control the display of dialog boxes for the PLOT and ASE commands; setting CMDDIA to 1 will resolve the issue. Q: The quality of the printed image is very poor; there are differences in gray levels along the lines. Why? A: This situation is usually related to the configuration of the printer or plotter, its drivers, and the operating system. Generally, the problem can be solved by considering the following points. 1. When configuring a printer or plotter, is the error jitter switch turned off? ； 2. Are the drivers for the printer or plotter correct, and is an upgrade needed? ； 3. If AutoCAD is configured to output using the system printer, reconfigure it by using the ADI drivers provided by AutoCAD for various printers and plotters ； 4. For different models of printers or plotters, AutoCAD provides corresponding commands that allow for further detailed configuration. For example, for printer series that support the HPGL/2 language, the command “hpconfig” can be used” ； 5. In the AutoCAD Plot dialog box, set the correspondence between pen numbers and colors, line types, and pen widths ； Assign the same pen number to different colors (preferably 1), but the line style and pen width associated with that pen number can vary. Some inkjet printers can only support pen numbers from 1 to 16; if the pen number is too large, printing will not be possible ； 6. Is the pen width set too high, for example, greater than 1? ； 7. If the operating system is Windows NT, an updated NT patch package (Service Pack) may be required. Question: After installing R14, there are no fonts available in MS WORD. What’s going on? Answer: The reason affecting the MS WORD font is related to a virtual printer called Phantom AutoCAD OLE/ADI, which is installed on R14 as part of the system. The Phantom AutoCAD OLE/ADI virtual printer enables R14 to print or draw raster graphics through the new ADI driver. In a typical R14 installation, this option is not included; this virtual printer is created only in a full or custom installation. Sometimes it is even set as the default system printer without any notification. Based on the \"what you see is what you get\" principle of Microsoft Office software, the font used in MS WORD documents is determined by the system’s default printer. In other words, the font displayed on the screen should be the same as or similar to the font used for printing. Windows first looks for a suitable screen display font based on the printer’s print font. If no matching font is found, or if the printer driver does not provide information on screen fonts, Windows will choose the screen font that is closest to the printer’s font. If the Phantom AutoCAD OLE/ADI virtual printer is set as the default system printer, MS WORD will only have two font options: modern and plotter. In the Windows system, by designating the correct system printer as the default printer, the fonts in MS WORD can return to normal. If there are no other printers in the system, a Windows printer should be configured first in the “Printer Settings”; even a “logical” printer will do. One thing to keep in mind is that you must not modify the properties of the Phantom AutoCAD OLE/ADI virtual printer, nor should you delete it arbitrarily; otherwise, it will affect the output of raster graphics and OLE objects, and may even cause the system to crash. Question: Is batch printing possible? Answer: Method 1: First, output the graphics to a PLT file, and then use a batch file in DOS to print the PLT files in a specified directory in batches. Method 2: R14 has dedicated external functions that enable multiple graphic files to be sent to one or more printers or plotters, based on different printing configuration files, thereby achieving batch output of graphics. These two methods are more flexible, have fewer chances of errors, and are therefore more efficient. Select Batch Plot Utility in the AutoCAD program group. Question: The lines in AutoCAD drawings pasted into a Word document come out too thin when printed. What should I do? Answer: Cutting and pasting AutoCAD drawings into an MS Word document seems to work quite smoothly. But when the document is printed, those AutoCAD graphic lines become very thin, resulting in a poor appearance. We provide users with the following solutions: 1. Use the PostScript printing driver in AutoCAD to configure a PostScript printer. 2. If the background color in AutoCAD differs from that in MS Word, for example, the default background color in R14 is black, then you need to change AutoCAD’s background color to match that of MS Word. 3. Run the PLOT command and select to save the plot to a file. Set the brush width in the Brush Settings dialog box. 4. Start a new diagram and enter this.eps file using the PSIN command. 5. Then cut and paste the graphic into MS Word. There is another method: in AutoCAD, convert the lines into PLINE lines, set the width, and then copy and paste them into WORD. Question: Why can some graphics be displayed but not printed? Answer: This situation occurs if the graphics are drawn on layers automatically created by AutoCAD (DEFPOINTS, ASHADE, etc.). Entities should be avoided on these layers. In ACAD, TIFF monochrome images with transparent backgrounds can be set to be transparent in CAD as well. Increasing memory can resolve printing and display issues. My computer has 768M of memory; I’ve inserted raster images of around 100M in size, and although the display is a bit slow, it’s still possible to use them. 1. Open the image in Photoshop, and from the menu bar select “Image” → “Mode” → “Grayscale”. 2. Once again, select “Image” → “Mode” → “Bitmap” from the menu bar, and set “Method” to “Use” and the “Threshold” to 50%. 3. Save as TIFF and exit. Such TIFF files are monochrome, and any color can be set in CAD. 1. Why, when using Ctrl+C in AutoCAD to copy objects, the copied objects are always far away from the mouse cursor? How should this problem be solved? In CAD’s clipboard copy function, the default origin point is at the lower left corner of the graphic. It is best to use copy with a base point, so that the desired base point can be specified. Base-point copying is a product of the requirements of CAD combined with the WINDOWS clipboard. This command is available in the “Edit” menu or in the right-click menu. 2. I have always used the Fangsong font for my text descriptions, and when outputting, the size of the characters is roughly the same as that of letters and numbers. But some symbols are unavailable. And it takes up a lot of space. I’ve tried other fonts, but the difference in size between letters and numbers is too great. I would like to ask everyone what font to use. There’s also how to change the font style of certain characters in the text entered, so that they remain as a single unit when moved. Use multi-line text. 3. How can I measure the length of multi-segments and polylines with arcs? Just use the list command! 4. How to divide a geometric shape into equal parts? How to divide the interior of a rectangle into N×M smaller rectangles equally, or divide a circle into N equal parts, or divide any angle equally. The divide command only divides line segments equally; it cannot divide other geometric shapes in the same way. Direct equal division geometric shapes do not have such a function. But can’t you still divide a rectangle into equal parts if you divide each of its two sides into M and N equal segments respectively? 5. What command can be used to quickly cancel a previous command? I mean, undoing things – typing “u” over and over again is quite troublesome. Is there a way to go back to the state of things from the last saved command? Actually, it has already been available in CAD. It is the UNDO command; “U” cannot be used. Please check the prompt after the UNDO command: Command: undo Enter the number of operations to undo, or you can use the UNDO option in the command line to undo multiple operations at once. “\"Start\" and \"End\" define a set of operations as a group, while \"Mark\" and \"Return\" are used in conjunction with abandoning all operations to return to a predetermined point. If you use \"Back\" or \"Number\" to cancel multiple operations, AutoCAD will regenerate or redraw the drawing as necessary. This will happen at the end of UNDO; therefore, entering UNDO 5 will regenerate it once, while entering u u u u u will regenerate it five times. UNDO is ineffective for some commands and system variables, including those used to open, close, or save windows or drawings, display information, change the display of drawings, regenerate drawings, and output drawings in different formats. 6. What to do if it takes a long time to find the range when filling with hatch? When using hatch to fill areas, people often struggle to locate the desired range, especially when the DWG file is quite large. The method I usually use is to apply the layiso command to isolate the layer on which the boundaries of the area to be filled are located; this allows me to quickly find the area that needs to be filled using hatch. When filling with hatch patterns, the main lines need to be closed; it’s a good idea to use the LayISO command first to isolate the layer on which the lines of the area to be filled are located. In fact, many people don’t pay much attention to the issue of defining the boundaries of the filling pattern – there is a setting for boundary sets available in the Advanced tab. The so-called boundary set refers to the set of objects within which boundaries are to be searched; the default setting is the “current viewport,” so when there are many objects on the graph, the process becomes slow. In this case, you can create a new boundary set, which will allow the system to find the boundaries much more quickly within that range. Of course, this boundary set should be relatively easy to obtain. 7. How to switch the stacking order of layers? AutoCAD does not have a layer stacking order; it only has objects that are in front and those that are behind. 1) Front and back are relative concepts; therefore, this approach is necessary only when you have a specific need (for example, to place the layer containing the Hatch objects at the back, and the layers containing axes, columns, and wall lines at the front in order to display the outer contours). 2) Generally, we apply this operation only to these objects on certain specific layers; thus, you can select objects by layer and then adjust their order by moving them forward or backward. 3) If you really want to arrange the objects according to your own custom layer order, there is a program that can do this: it’s available for download from the LayerManager pro download center (or on its website at www.layermanager.com). What about the tracking methods for versions 8.14 and 2002? For example, the drawing tracking feature in R14 seems to have changed in version 2002; although it still serves as a tracking function, it’s not easy to use. I wonder if other experts have encountered this issue while using it. Object tracking in versions after 2000 is much better than that in R14 – it’s much more convenient! It can also be used in conjunction with the polar axis, which is not possible with R14’s tracking. It seems your understanding is incorrect. In 2002, by typing “tk” when selecting points, it’s possible to keep tracking them, just like in R14. In fact, with 200x along with PolarSnap and AutoTracing, it’s almost unnecessary to type “tk” directly in order to perform tracking, and it’s possible to track a large number of specific points (e2002). 9. In 2002, a table was created, containing various data, letters, and numbers. How can we make them align in the same way as in Word 2000? There is a simple way: use multi-line text (MTEXT) for each column of data, and the alignment can be adjusted through the properties of the MTEXT window. There are many techniques; experiment with them on your own. (lmlmss) 10. How to change the red text in the attached figure to gray (simple method)? Use the method of modifying block attributes (battman). This command is from 2002 and 2004; the R14 command is located under the \"Modify\" menu, under Object--Properties---Global. 11. Since there is an explode command, what command is used in the reverse direction? Instead of using the “Block” command, the “GROUP” command can achieve a similar result; the key is to learn it*. It depends on what object you are decomposing. If it is a polyline, it can be merged after being decomposed. “The “GROUP” command can be used to accomplish this. 12. Why is my CAD2000 stacking button unavailable? To use stacking, first, there must be stacking symbols (#, ^, /), and second, the content to be stacked must be selected before the operation can be performed. 13. How to draw 3D polyline? I don’t think CAD200X has such a feature? (Only available via toolbar) It is not available on its default toolbar. You can use it in the “Drawing” menu, or type 3dpoly using the keyboard. If used frequently, the toolbar can also be customized. I’m sorry, sz-gg, but I still want to thank you for your enthusiasm! I asked the wrong question. I want to try stretching a surface shape—like an equilateral triangle—along a 3D polyline/or 3D spline curve. Since I couldn’t stretch it repeatedly along the 3D spline, I thought: if I could draw a smooth 3D polyline, maybe it would be possible to stretch it? So, what I want to draw are smooth 3D polyline shapes. This task cannot be accomplished. 3D polylines can only consist of straight line segments. Of course, if the length of the line segment is short enough, it becomes nearly smooth. So some small programs use this method to perform 3D stretching. However, as you said, stretching a triangular cross-section will cause distortion. 14. Does everyone know how to turn the line drawn with L into one drawn with PL? Use the pedit command to edit polylines, which includes a Join (J) option. 15. The lines drawn in model space are dashed lines, and they remain dashed lines when printed. But why do they turn into solid lines when printed in the layout? How do I print dashed lines in a layout? It is estimated that you once changed the linear scale, using the \"scale to paper space\" method (which is the default method in CAD). Try unchecking the box next to “Scale to paper space” in the line style settings dialog box. 16. There is a problem with the scale of line styles in paper space: the line styles set in model space do not appear in paper space! There are two scenarios: if it is sufficient to have the line style appear correctly in paper space, without considering its display in model space, then I think you can simply change the line style scale back to its original value. If you want it to look good in both paper space and model space, you can simply uncheck the box next to \"Scale to Paper Space\" when setting the line type scale. psltscale——0 is fine. It is best to draw at a 1:1 scale in model space; otherwise, editing will be very troublesome! 17. Why do colored lines still appear as dashed lines after using a print style sheet? How should it be set up? There are two ways to set up printing; if it is color-related printing, the print style settings in the layer manager cannot be changed. Another is naming the print style. 18. Someone used the Chinese version of ACAD2000 to create over 140 drawings for me, as revisions to the as-built drawings. A considerable portion of the lines in this drawing are thickened using PLine polylines. When I tried to print it using ACAD2000 in Chinese version and ACAD2002 in Chinese version, the PLine polylines did not appear as thick lines; however, the thick lines defined using Line straight lines (as well as other curved lines) on the layers were displayed as thick. I tried various printing settings, but the problem persisted. What can be done to ensure that when the line width of the PLINE is set to a value other than 0, it is printed at that specified width? If the width of this polyline is too small, no width effect will be produced. (If drawing in millimeters and setting the polyline width to 10, when printing at a 1:100 scale, that corresponds to 0.1 millimeters.) ) Therefore, the width setting of polylines must take the printing scale into account. When the width is 0, it can be set according to the object’s properties (just like other objects). 19. I used AUTOCAD 2000 to create the drawings, with thick lines created using PLINE and a line width of 0.25. When printing at R14, the lines appeared thin; the thick lines were not printed as intended. I tried changing the line width to 0.3, but that didn’t work either. Finally, setting it to 0.35 resulted in proper printing. Why is this? Changing the line width for each drawing is quite tedious. Is there a setting in R14 that can resolve this issue once and for all? Printing should not be done using such methods; instead, the print pen width should be used for setting the line widths. Under R14, the line width is defined based on color; this line width is not affected by scale, and its value is expressed in millimeters. The line width is set in the print dialog box. PL lines are usually used during modeling; for creating planes, a colored single line is sufficient. When printing, if different scales are used, the width of the PL lines must be adjusted accordingly based on those scales. Your diagram probably has an issue where the line width does not match the output scale. It is still recommended to use a color pen with adjustable line width for printing. For inkjet printers, setting the pen width by color will result in colored lines being printed. Change the pen number to 7, and it will print in black. 20. Previously, when I ran the solprof command, multiple contours could be displayed in the viewport. But these past two days, I’ve noticed that my CAD2004 fails to display the outlines when running the same commands. But it can be selected and printed. I’m not sure whether there are some parameters that I accidentally modified, or if it’s due to some other reason Doing this is equivalent to projecting the contour four times. The system uses freezing the layer in a new viewport (PV). This kind of work can be done in a different way. You can directly copy the model in the model space, adjust its orientation, then move it to the layout to set the outline. In this way, the four objects can be projected at once. 21. What are domains, blocks, and solids? Is it possible to combine several solids into one solid, so that this combined solid can be selected all at once? A domain is a two-dimensional area created using a closed shape or loop. A block is a collection of objects that can be combined to form a single object (or what’s known as a block definition); for example, one drawing can serve as a block within another drawing. There are two meanings for “solid”: one refers to the basic tangible elements that make up a graphic, while the other refers to three-dimensional objects. For three-dimensional solids, “Boolean operations” can be used to combine them; for more general solids, “blocks” or “groups” can be used for combining them. 22. Please explain custom pattern fill files in AutoCAD 2000. There isn’t a separate pattern file for each fill pattern; the files that define the shapes of these patterns are ACAD.PAT and ACADISO.PAT, which are located in the SUPPORT directory. Patterns are created by defining different line types and corresponding angles. It’s possible to create fill patterns by referring to ACAD.PAT and ACADISO.PAT and saving them as PAT files, but not any pattern can be used – for instance, arcs are not allowed. 23. A brief analysis of the DXF file format: DXF stands for Drawing Exchange File – it is an ASCII text file that contains all the information from the corresponding DWG file. Although it is not in ASCII format and thus has poor readability, it allows for fast creation of graphics. Even when using files from the same version, DWG files created on different types of computers (such as PCs and their compatible machines, as well as SUN workstations with different CPU architectures) cannot be exchanged. To overcome this limitation, AutoCAD introduced the DXF file format, which uses ASCII encoding; this enables different types of computers to exchange graphics by sharing DXF files. Due to its good readability, DXF files can be easily modified and programmed, allowing for editing and alteration of external graphics. 24. How do I enter polar coordinates (angles) in 2.5D drawing? This phrasing isn’t very precise – are you referring to 3D drawing (since some books call drawing that includes elevation and thickness on top of the traditional 2D method \"2.5D\"), or are you talking about axonometric drawing (CAD has an isometric drawing function)? If it’s an axonometric drawing, then it’s not two and a half dimensions. When entering coordinates to draw an axonometric diagram, the angles for the three orthogonal directions are 30 (210) degrees, 150 (330) degrees, and 90 (270) degrees respectively. As shown by @100 prn (yxc), a plot.bat (batch) file can be created; its contents are as follows (zhynt): copy 1% lpt1/b. In the file association settings, specify that the plt file should be opened using plot.bat. From now on, simply double-clicking a plt file will allow direct printing. 48. How can the “local” opening function be implemented? The R14 format cannot be opened in partial mode; version 2000+ allows this (yxc). No graphic file was selected in your image, so partial opening cannot be enabled. If you need to open it in partial mode, consider converting it to the R15 format. 49. How can one reverse the orientation of a drawing in model space so that, when viewed in paper space, the horizontal axis is the Y-axis and the vertical axis is the X-axis? I’ve seen drawings done this way, but I don’t understand how it’s done. The UCS command, where the three points correspond respectively to the new origin, the point on the positive X-axis, and the point on the positive Y-axis. Place the point in the positive direction of the new X-axis directly above the new origin, and place the point in the positive direction of the Y-axis to the right. 50.Is OLE an abbreviation for a certain word? If so, what word is it? OLE (Object Linking and Embedding, the acronym for the full English name) integrates distributed objects and data into a single application in a certain way, allowing them to be processed by both the application in which they are currently located and the application that originally created them. Related to ActiveX, COM. OLE is a technology that was implemented quite early in Windows, and its interface is also relatively simple. Based on OLE, OLE2 has now been developed; specifically, it will be a very thick book. 1. Regarding the “mirrtext” system variable: It controls whether text is mirrored when using the “mirror” command. 0 = No mirroring (default value); 1 = Mirroring. 2. Regarding the “acad.pgp” file in the CAD installation directory: It is possible to customize it by modifying the shortcuts for various commands in this file, thereby making it easier to remember CAD commands. 3. Remember some common shortcut keys in Windows, such as Ctrl+C for copy and Ctrl+X for cut. 4. When drawing, use the left hand to operate the keyboard and the right hand to use the mouse; enter shortcut commands via the keyboard (by modifying the “acad.pgp” file so that the commands entered consist of just one or two letters). Try to avoid using the mouse to click on icons to enter commands, as this will improve drawing efficiency. 5. The mbuttonpan parameter can also be set to 1, so that pressing the middle scroll wheel acts as a PAN movement command; real-time zooming and panning functions can be achieved using the middle scroll wheel, and the crosshair that appears at the point where the mouse is clicked can be eliminated by using the BLIPMODE command with the value OFF. 6. Double-clicking the middle scroll wheel allows for full-scale zooming. 7. Regarding the “TEXTFILL” system variable, it can be used to change whether the printed text is hollow or solid: 0 = hollow, 1 = solid. 8. The settings for the middle mouse button control the response of the third button or slider on a pointing device. Command line entry: MBUTTONPAN 0 – Supports actions defined in .mnu menu files. 1 – Allows panning when the button or slider is held and dragged. Command line entry: zoomfactor – Initial value: 40; an integer value is accepted, with valid ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the greater the increment caused by each movement of the mouse wheel back and forth. 9. The background color of the graphics drawn in CAD and pasted into other documents is white; this can be changed by setting the system variable wmfbkgnd to 0. 10. The keyword c for the array option is an unpublished keyword – the well-known keyword for creating arrays is , while c is an unpublished keyword whose function is to specify the angle between elements when creating circular arrays, rather than the total angle. By using c, everyone has an additional option when programming. I. Common p commands: -array to select an object: Enter the array type; P to specify the center point of the array or: Enter the number of items in the array: Specify the filling angle (+= counterclockwise, -= clockwise): Should the objects in the array be rotated? : II. Special c commands: -array to select an object: Enter the array type; C to specify the center point of the array, or: the angle between items (+= counterclockwise, -= clockwise): ----------------Pay attention here! ! ! Number of items or -(number of fills): ----------------And here too! ! ! Should the objects in the array be rotated? : Previously, it was also possible to specify the angle between items using option p, but it was a bit more complicated. Here’s some help regarding arrays: · If an angle is specified but the number of items is not specified, or if the number of items is specified but 0 is entered as the angle, or if ENTER is pressed, AutoCAD will prompt you to enter the angle between the items: Angle between items: Specify angle. · If the number of items is specified but 0 is entered as the angle, or if ENTER is pressed, AutoCAD will prompt you to enter a positive or negative value to specify the direction of the array: Angle between items (+= counterclockwise, -= clockwise): Enter a positive integer for counterclockwise rotation, or a negative integer for clockwise rotation. 11. A recommended method for rotating and copying: CAD2002 does not have a tool for rotating and copying, so I created one myself: ^C^C_select;_auto;\_copy;p;;0,0;0,0;_rotate;p;;\. 12. In CAD, the space bar not only serves the same function as ENTER but also allows you to repeat the last action performed, making it very convenient to use. 13. Using the TRIM command: This command can be tricky, especially when you need to use one line to cut through multiple lines – cutting them one by one takes a lot of time. In such cases, you can enter ‘f’ (fence) to change the selection mode, then draw a line to cut through all the lines at once. Cut through the chaos with a swift blade, haha, that’s great! 14. To select one of the overlapping lines, use Ctrl + left mouse button; if you want to change the selected line, click the left button again until the desired object is selected. 15. Experience with the TRIM command: Everyone probably uses the TRIM command frequently. The usual way to use it is as follows: select the TRIM command, choose the object whose edges are to be trimmed, select the object that is to be cropped, and then finish the command. Here are a few usage tips: 1. When prompted to select the cutting edge, you can use the right button (or Enter) to respond directly; then you’ll be asked to select the object to be cropped. At this point, you’ll find that all the edges on the graphic have been considered as cutting edges. (The above method eliminates the need to select the cutting edge; in at least 90% of cases, this approach fully meets the user’s needs, and I am no longer accustomed to selecting the cutting edge). 2. When prompted to select the objects to be clipped, enter the parameter “F”; this allows you to draw a straight line on the screen, and all objects that intersect with this line will be considered as the objects to be clipped. This command is very useful when many clips need to be made at once; it’s just unclear why this parameter isn’t mentioned in AutoCAD’s prompts or documentation. 3. When prompted to select the object to be trimmed, hold down the Shift key while selecting the object; this will temporarily convert it to an EXTEND operation (this feature is very useful when frequent switching between the TRIM and EXTEND commands is needed, and it seems to have been available since version R2002). The above usage also applies to the EXTEND command. 16. A quick tip for exporting JPG files directly from CAD. Have you tried to obtain JPG image files directly from the CAD platform? Let me teach you a little trick now. As we know, the CAD platform does not have a function to output files in JPG format through its commands. However, have you noticed the option to publish online under the File menu? Just use \"Publish Online\" \\"Create New Web Page\", then follow the instructions: select JPEG as the image file type, and complete the remaining steps as guided. In the resulting web folder, you will find the JPG image file you wanted. In CAD2002, select \"Print\" from the toolbar, then choose \"PublishToWeb.pc3\" as the printing device; select the output file directory and name to generate a .jpg file. 17. Another use for the Trim and Extend commands: when prompted to select the object that will serve as the trimming boundary using the Trim command, press Enter – the system will then use all the graphics as the boundaries for trimming. The extension command has the same function. 18. Drawing tips: 1. To create something quickly, use the “W+Space” command – specific to Tsinghua Tianhe. 2. Regarding “fence” (which means fence in Chinese), it is known to work with the “cut” command; it also works with the “extension” command. This is explained in the English version of CADR14’s help documentation, but not in version 2002. 3. To offset a graphic by a certain distance, first select the graphic that needs to be moved, then enter the desired distance. 4. If an access hatch and its cover need to be at a certain angle, use the “3D Operations” – “Align” command under “Modify”. 5. If you don’t select the cutting line when cutting, clicking the right mouse button selects everything! 6. Changes to a specific layer in the drawing: “Tools” – “Quick Select...”; I think this is a good option! 19. How to reduce the size of AutoCAD files: When a graphic file is modified multiple times, especially after inserting various blocks, its size increases, which in turn slows down the computer’s performance. You can remove unnecessary blocks, fonts, layers, annotation styles, line styles, etc. by selecting Utilities > Clear from the File menu; this will also reduce the size of the graphic file. 20. Regarding problems with AutoCAD not functioning properly, simply delete the cdila directory (which is hidden) in the root directory of drive C, and then re-register the program.