How to improve CAD drawing efficiency
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How to improve CAD drawing efficiency: With the use of CAD and CAM in industrial production, it is essential for engineers to be proficient in AXCAD. However, even if one knows how to use it, slow speeds make it unsuitable for practical applications. So how can we increase the speed? Drawing on the learning experiences of many predecessors, I will briefly discuss several methods for improving speed. I. Become familiar with the use of basic operation commands/shortcut icons in AXCAD. Most people are aware of this; as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. No discussion. II. Modification of shortcut keys As everyone knows, the LINE command can be simplified to L when entered in COMMAND. Open AXCAD, navigate to Menu ==» Tools ==» Customize ==» Shortcut Keys. Note that the left column shows the full form of the abbreviated commands; you can modify these as needed (of course, using English abbreviations that you are familiar with). The right column displays the default commands, so please do not change them arbitrarily. I believe this will help increase your speed to some extent. III. Operations on Graphic Snap Points Have you used snap points? When you click on a shape with the left mouse button, many boxes appear on it; these are the grip points. Some basic editing operations can be performed by controlling the grips. Such as basic operations like COPY, MOVE, and changing the layer on which the graphic is located. Moreover, different graphics have their own special operations. For example: Lines have an extension function. IV. Excessive use of editing commands It is easy to understand that for graphic designers, 60%–70% of a drawing involves editing, while only 30%–40% is dedicated to actual drawing. In terms of graphic composition, there are only two types of elements: straight lines and curves. Curves, in turn, are formed by cutting out many circles, so a graphic is ultimately composed of straight lines and circles. In this case, to create a drawing, one only needs to first draw circles or lines and determine their positions, and then carry out a series of operations such as OFFSET, TRIM, FILLET, ARRAY, CHAMFER, etc., to shape the graphic. For the drawing of a bearing, for example, only two perpendicular lines are needed; subsequent operations such as OFFSET, FILLET, and CHAMFER can then be used to accurately create the bearing’s diagram. V. Use blocks to simplify drawing tasks. AXCAD provides you with many standard components, technical specifications, and a library of graphics – make good use of them.
Having learned it, for those who started learning CAD after version R14, there aren’t many who can remember the commands needed to draw diagrams. I just don’t like using commands. 1 Hold the mouse in the right hand and place the left hand on the ESC key. 2 Unable to remember commands: (
I feel the same way; remembering so many commands is a bit annoying, which is why CAD2008 seems less user-friendly than 2004. :loveliness:
That makes sense, but the commands are complicated!
Shortcut command name; * represents the full name of the command. For example, CO – *COPY: after entering the shortcut command, type a comma followed by the full name of the command that it replaces. Commands in AutoCAD must be prefixed with an asterisk. Appendix: Common Shortcut Commands
(I) Letter-based commands
1. Object properties: ADC, *ADCENTER (Design Center; “Ctrl+2”) CH, MO *PROPERTIES (Modify properties; “Ctrl+1”) MA, *MATCHPROP (Property matching) ST, *STYLE (Text style) COL, *COLOR (Set color) LA, *LAYER (Layer operations) LT, *LINETYPE (Line type) LTS, *LTSCALE (Line scale) LW, *LWEIGHT (Line width) UN, *UNITS (Drawing units) ATT, *ATTDEF (Property definition) ATE, *ATTEDIT (Edit properties) BO, *BOUNDARY (Create boundaries, including closed polylines and regions) AL, *ALIGN (Align) E*T, *QUIT (Exit) EXP, *EXPORT (Export to other file formats) IMP, *IMPORT (Import files) OP, PR *OPTIONS (Customize CAD settings) PRINT, *PLOT (Print) PU, *PURGE (Clear junk) R, *REDRAW (Regenerate) REN, *RENAME (Rename) SN, *SNAP (Snap to grid) DS, *DSETTINGS (Set polar tracking) OS, *OSNAP (Set snap mode) PRE, *PREVIEW (Print preview) TO, *TOOLBAR (Toolbar) V, *VIEW (Named view) AA, *AREA (Area) DI, *DIST (Distance) LI, *LIST (Display drawing data information)
2. Drawing commands: PO, *POINT (Point) L, *LINE (Line) XL, *XLINE (Ray) PL, *PLINE (Polyline) ML, *MLINE (Multi-line) SPL, *SPLINE (Spline) POL, *POLYGON (Regular polygon) REC, *RECTANGLE (Rectangle) C, *CIRCLE (Circle) A, *ARC (Arc) DO, *DONUT (Donut) EL, *ELLIPSE (Ellipse) REG, *REGION (Region) MT, *MTEXT (Multiline text) T, *MTEXT (Multiline text) B, *BLOCK (Block definition) I, *INSERT (Insert block) W, *WBLOCK (Define block file) DIV, *DIVIDE (Divide equally) H, *BHATCH (Fill)
3. Modification commands: CO, *COPY (Copy) MI, *MIRROR (Mirror) AR, *ARRAY (Array) O, *OFFSET (Offset) RO, *ROTATE (Rotate) M, *MOVE (Move) E, DEL key *ERASE (Delete) X, *EXPLODE (Explode) TR, *TRIM (Trim) EX, *EXTEND (Extend) S, *STRETCH (Stretch) LEN, *LENGTHEN (Lengthen line) SC, *SCALE (Scale) BR, *BREAK (Break) CHA, *CHAMFER (Chamfer) F, *FILLET (Fillet)
Usage of AutoCAD 2000 shortcut commands: PE, *PEDIT (Edit polyline) ED, *DDEDIT (Modify text)
4. Window scaling: P, *PAN (Pan) Z + Space + Space, *Real-time scaling Z, *Zoom in Z+P, *Return to previous view Z + E, *Show full view
5. Dimensioning: DLI, *DIMLINEAR (Linear dimension) DAL, *DIMALIGNED (Aligned dimension) DRA, *DIMRADIUS (Radius dimension) DDI, *DIMDIAMETER (Diameter dimension) DAN, *DIMANGULAR (Angle dimension) DCE, *DIMCENTER (Center dimension) DOR, *DIMORDINATE (Point dimension) TOL, *TOLERANCE (Dimension tolerance) LE, *QLEADER (Quick leader) DBA, *DIMBASELINE (Baseline dimension) DCO, *DIMCONTINUE (Continued dimension) D, *DIMSTYLE (Dimension style) DED, *DIMEDIT (Edit dimension) DOV, *DIMOVERRIDE (Replace dimension system variables)
Text: Single-line text input; MTEXT: Multiline text input
(II) Common CTRL shortcut keys
【CTRL】+1 *PROPERTIES (Modify properties)
【CTRL】+2 *ADCENTER (Design Center)
【CTRL】+O *OPEN (Open file)
【CTRL】+N, M *NEW (Create new file)
【CTRL】+P *PRINT (Print file)
【CTRL】+S *SAVE (Save file)
【CTRL】+Z *UNDO (Undo)
【CTRL】+X *CUTCLIP (Cut clip)
【CTRL】+C *COPYCLIP (Copy clip)
【CTRL】+V *PASTECLIP (Paste clip)
【CTRL】+B *SNAP (Snap to grid)
【CTRL】+F *OSNAP (Object snap)
【CTRL】+G *GRID (Grid)
【CTRL】+L *ORTHO (Ortho mode)
【CTRL】+W *Object tracking
【CTRL】+U *Polar tracking
(III) Common function keys
【F1】 *HELP (Help)
【F2】 *Text window
【F3】 *OSNAP (Object snap)
【F7】 *GRIP (Grid grip)
【F8】 *ORTHO (Ortho mode)
Entering codes, special symbols, and their meanings:
%%0~32: Empty symbol
%%123: Left curly brace
%%33: !
%%124: |
%%34: “ Double quotes
%%125: } Right curly brace
%%35: #
%%126: ~
%%36: $
%%127: ° Degree
%%37: %
%%128: ±
%%38: &
%%39: ’ Single quote
%%130: α
Entering codes, special symbols, and their meanings:
%%40: ( Left parenthesis
%%131: β
%%41: ) Right parenthesis
%%132: δ
%%42: * Multiplication sign
%%133: i
%%43: + Addition sign
%%134~137: Empty symbol
%%138: , Comma
%%138: 0 (Superscript); m%%138=m0
%%45: - Subtraction sign
%%139: 1 (Superscript); m%%139=m1
%%46: . Period %%140 2 (superscript) m%%140=m2 %%47 / Division sign %%141 3 (superscript) m%%141=m3 %%48~57 0~9 Larger font, connected dots in between, connected dots in between, connected dots in between %%64 @ %%58: Colon %%148 9 (superscript) m%%148=m9 %%61 = Equal sign %%163 △ %%59 ； Semicolon %%149~157 1~9 Font size is small %%60 < Less than sign %%158~162 Empty symbol %%65~90 26 uppercase letters from A to Z %%c φ %%91 %%u _ Underline %%94 ^ %%o — Uppercase underscore %%95 _ %%96 ’ Single quote %%97~122 26 lowercase letters from a to z %%62 > Greater than sign %%164 ▽ %%63 ? Question mark %%165~200 Empty symbol
(I) Letter-based commands
1. Object properties: ADC, *ADCENTER (Design Center; “Ctrl+2”) CH, MO *PROPERTIES (Modify properties; “Ctrl+1”) MA, *MATCHPROP (Property matching) ST, *STYLE (Text style) COL, *COLOR (Set color) LA, *LAYER (Layer operations) LT, *LINETYPE (Line type) LTS, *LTSCALE (Line scale) LW, *LWEIGHT (Line width) UN, *UNITS (Drawing units) ATT, *ATTDEF (Property definition) ATE, *ATTEDIT (Edit properties) BO, *BOUNDARY (Create boundaries, including closed polylines and regions) AL, *ALIGN (Align) E*T, *QUIT (Exit) EXP, *EXPORT (Export to other file formats) IMP, *IMPORT (Import files) OP, PR *OPTIONS (Customize CAD settings) PRINT, *PLOT (Print) PU, *PURGE (Clear junk) R, *REDRAW (Regenerate) REN, *RENAME (Rename) SN, *SNAP (Snap to grid) DS, *DSETTINGS (Set polar tracking) OS, *OSNAP (Set snap mode) PRE, *PREVIEW (Print preview) TO, *TOOLBAR (Toolbar) V, *VIEW (Named view) AA, *AREA (Area) DI, *DIST (Distance) LI, *LIST (Display drawing data information)
2. Drawing commands: PO, *POINT (Point) L, *LINE (Line) XL, *XLINE (Ray) PL, *PLINE (Polyline) ML, *MLINE (Multi-line) SPL, *SPLINE (Spline) POL, *POLYGON (Regular polygon) REC, *RECTANGLE (Rectangle) C, *CIRCLE (Circle) A, *ARC (Arc) DO, *DONUT (Donut) EL, *ELLIPSE (Ellipse) REG, *REGION (Region) MT, *MTEXT (Multiline text) T, *MTEXT (Multiline text) B, *BLOCK (Block definition) I, *INSERT (Insert block) W, *WBLOCK (Define block file) DIV, *DIVIDE (Divide equally) H, *BHATCH (Fill)
3. Modification commands: CO, *COPY (Copy) MI, *MIRROR (Mirror) AR, *ARRAY (Array) O, *OFFSET (Offset) RO, *ROTATE (Rotate) M, *MOVE (Move) E, DEL key *ERASE (Delete) X, *EXPLODE (Explode) TR, *TRIM (Trim) EX, *EXTEND (Extend) S, *STRETCH (Stretch) LEN, *LENGTHEN (Lengthen line) SC, *SCALE (Scale) BR, *BREAK (Break) CHA, *CHAMFER (Chamfer) F, *FILLET (Fillet)
Usage of AutoCAD 2000 shortcut commands: PE, *PEDIT (Edit polyline) ED, *DDEDIT (Modify text)
4. Window scaling: P, *PAN (Pan) Z + Space + Space, *Real-time scaling Z, *Zoom in Z+P, *Return to previous view Z + E, *Show full view
5. Dimensioning: DLI, *DIMLINEAR (Linear dimension) DAL, *DIMALIGNED (Aligned dimension) DRA, *DIMRADIUS (Radius dimension) DDI, *DIMDIAMETER (Diameter dimension) DAN, *DIMANGULAR (Angle dimension) DCE, *DIMCENTER (Center dimension) DOR, *DIMORDINATE (Point dimension) TOL, *TOLERANCE (Dimension tolerance) LE, *QLEADER (Quick leader) DBA, *DIMBASELINE (Baseline dimension) DCO, *DIMCONTINUE (Continued dimension) D, *DIMSTYLE (Dimension style) DED, *DIMEDIT (Edit dimension) DOV, *DIMOVERRIDE (Replace dimension system variables)
Text: Single-line text input; MTEXT: Multiline text input
(II) Common CTRL shortcut keys
【CTRL】+1 *PROPERTIES (Modify properties)
【CTRL】+2 *ADCENTER (Design Center)
【CTRL】+O *OPEN (Open file)
【CTRL】+N, M *NEW (Create new file)
【CTRL】+P *PRINT (Print file)
【CTRL】+S *SAVE (Save file)
【CTRL】+Z *UNDO (Undo)
【CTRL】+X *CUTCLIP (Cut clip)
【CTRL】+C *COPYCLIP (Copy clip)
【CTRL】+V *PASTECLIP (Paste clip)
【CTRL】+B *SNAP (Snap to grid)
【CTRL】+F *OSNAP (Object snap)
【CTRL】+G *GRID (Grid)
【CTRL】+L *ORTHO (Ortho mode)
【CTRL】+W *Object tracking
【CTRL】+U *Polar tracking
(III) Common function keys
【F1】 *HELP (Help)
【F2】 *Text window
【F3】 *OSNAP (Object snap)
【F7】 *GRIP (Grid grip)
【F8】 *ORTHO (Ortho mode)
Entering codes, special symbols, and their meanings:
%%0~32: Empty symbol
%%123: Left curly brace
%%33: !
%%124: |
%%34: “ Double quotes
%%125: } Right curly brace
%%35: #
%%126: ~
%%36: $
%%127: ° Degree
%%37: %
%%128: ±
%%38: &
%%39: ’ Single quote
%%130: α
Entering codes, special symbols, and their meanings:
%%40: ( Left parenthesis
%%131: β
%%41: ) Right parenthesis
%%132: δ
%%42: * Multiplication sign
%%133: i
%%43: + Addition sign
%%134~137: Empty symbol
%%138: , Comma
%%138: 0 (Superscript); m%%138=m0
%%45: - Subtraction sign
%%139: 1 (Superscript); m%%139=m1
%%46: . Period %%140 2 (superscript) m%%140=m2 %%47 / Division sign %%141 3 (superscript) m%%141=m3 %%48~57 0~9 Larger font, connected dots in between, connected dots in between, connected dots in between %%64 @ %%58: Colon %%148 9 (superscript) m%%148=m9 %%61 = Equal sign %%163 △ %%59 ； Semicolon %%149~157 1~9 Font size is small %%60 < Less than sign %%158~162 Empty symbol %%65~90 26 uppercase letters from A to Z %%c φ %%91 %%u _ Underline %%94 ^ %%o — Uppercase underscore %%95 _ %%96 ’ Single quote %%97~122 26 lowercase letters from a to z %%62 > Greater than sign %%164 ▽ %%63 ? Question mark %%165~200 Empty symbol
I recommend memorizing commands. Do you find memorization difficult? Actually, it’s not. It shouldn’t be difficult to see which commands you use frequently, right? Then with that shortcut, after trying it for three days, one remembers it because they become proficient.
Thank you to all for your lively discussions and sharing. Study hard*.
I started using R12; I’ve also seen the previous R10 version. I believe that to improve drawing efficiency, the most important thing is to remember some common shortcut keys, and one can also set up their own convenient shortcut keys!
This post is quite valuable. What’s lacking in the forum right now are posts like this. Encouragement!
There are just a few commonly used shortcuts; you can set them up easily. It’s impossible to remember all the commands, so in such cases it’s fine to use the commands shown in the diagram. The only advantage of 2008 over 2005 is that it has a merge command, which is very convenient.
Thank you for sharing, but there seem to be too many shortcuts to remember!
When using it frequently, it’s better to define your own set of shortcuts. Here’s my own set, hehe: A, *ARC AD, *ATTEDIT AA, *AREA AG, *ALIGN AP, *APPLOAD AR, *ARRAY AT, *ATTDEF AV, *DSVIEWER B, *BLOCK BD, *BOUNDARY BR, *BREAK C, *COPY CA, *CAL CC, *COPY CE, *CIRCLE CF, *CHAMFER CT, *CUTCLIP CR, *COLOR D, *DIMSTYLE DA, *DIMANGULAR DB, *DIMBASELINE DC, *DIMORDINATE DD, *DIMDIAMETER DE, *DIMLINER DG, *DIMALIGNED DR, *DIMRADIUS DS, *DSETTINGS DT, *DIST DV, *DVIEW DVD, *Divide DZ, *LEADER E, *ERASE ED, *DDEDIT ES, *ELLIPSE EG, *LENGTHEN EX, *EXTEND ER, *LAYER EE, *LINETYPE F, *LINE FC, *POLYGON FD, *OPEN FE, *FILLET FG, *PLINE FGE, *PEDIT FW, *LINEWEITH FS, *OFFSET FT, *FILTER G, *GROUP Q, *Circle R, *ROTATE RA, *RAY RC, *Revcloud RD, *REDO RE, *REGEN REE, *RENAME REC, *RECTANG RR, *MIRROR RS, *PROPERTIES RW, *REDRAW SA, *SAVEAS SV, *SAVE SD, *DDSELECT SS, *HATCH ST, *STYLE T, *TRIM TB, *TOOLBAR TE, *TOLERANCE TT, *TEXT TTT, *MTEXT V, *MOVE VV, *UNITS VW, *VIEW W, *MATCHPROP WB, *WBLOCK WE, *WEDGE X, *EXPLODE XA, *XATTACH XB, *XBIND XC, *XCLIP XE, *XLINE
You can remember those commands pretty well in just one day! ! ! :lol
You can jot down some of the commonly used commands