Kate Morrical s s and Tricks for Using AutoCAD LT 2011 This table of contents is interactive! Clicking on the section title or page number will bring you right to that section. The User Interface 2 The Drawing Window 2 The Ribbon 2 Quick Access Toolbar 3 Transparency 4 For Layers 4 For Objects 4 For Images 5 Display and Plotting 5 Hatches and Gradients 6 Creating Hatches 6 Hatch Properties 7 Editing Hatches 7 Polylines and Splines 9 Polylines 9 Splines 9 Join 9 Object Visibility, Selection, 10 & Creation Hide and Isolate Objects 10 Add Selected 10 Select Similar Objects 11 Selection Cycling 11 Additional Time-Savers 12 External Reference Highlighting 12 Default Scale List 12 Ignore Missing SHX Files 13 Text Orientation in Linetypes 13 New to AutoCAD LT 2011 14 Quick Dimension 14 Layer Previous 14 Sketch 14 Learning s 15 Welcome Screen 15 Online Help 15 Windows 7 Compatibility 15 Additional s 16
The User Interface AutoCAD LT 2011 offers a variety of user interface enhancements that enable you to work with greater ease and efficiency. The Drawing Window The default model space background color is now a dark gray, although you can easily set it to the color of your choice from the Display tab of the Options dialog. This document has interactive links. the user interface The traditional dot grid has been replaced with horizontal and vertical gridlines to more closely represent engineering graph paper. Red and green lines extend from the origin to represent the X and Y axes. The UCS icon has been updated and simplified. By default all the axes are white, but a checkbox in the UCS Icon Properties dialog enables you to display a different color for each axis: red for X, green for Y, and blue for Z. The new Navigation Bar includes the Pan, Zoom, and SteeringWheel functions. You can use the menu at the bottom to choose which of the three tools to display. The Ribbon A new pull-down menu has been added to the ribbon cycle button at the end of the list of tabs. It contains three ribbon display options, including the new Minimize to Panel Buttons. This option condenses panels into large icons. Hovering over the button causes the panel to expand, similar to the behavior you see when the ribbon is minimized to panel titles. You can still display the dotted grid by checking one or more boxes in the Grid Style section of the Snap and Grid tab of the Drafting Settings dialog. Use the CUI editor to control whether the Navigation Bar is displayed in a particular workspace. If you choose an option from the pulldown, clicking the button then alternates between that option and the full ribbon. To return to seeing all options, choose Cycle through All from the pulldown menu. Continued on next page > 2
A Content panel has been added to the Insert tab, containing links to Design Center and Autodesk Seek. On the View tab, the Windows panel now includes User Interface and Toolbar controls that let you easily toggle the display of the Navigation Bar, the Text Window, and Toolbars. Meet and greet with your community on AutoCAD Exchange. The Status Bar controls have been removed from the Windows panel, but are still accessible from the status bar itself. the user interface Customizable ribbon functionality in the Customize User Interface dialog box is enhanced to include new Fold panels. As you change the size of your AutoCAD LT window or add and remove panels from a tab, Fold panels resize horizontally to fill the available space. You can set the default, minimum, and maximum sizes for a Fold panel in the CUI editor. Quick Access Toolbar The default Quick Access toolbar now includes a Workspace pull-down menu and the Save As command in addition to the familiar commands like New, Open, Save, and Plot. Right-click on any command icon or pull-down on the ribbon to add it to the Quick Access toolbar. 3
Transparency AutoCAD LT 2011 includes a new property that enables you to apply transparency to objects and layers in the same way you apply colors, linetypes, and lineweights. s Need help? Peer support is available in the discussion forums. transparency For Layers In the Layer Properties Manager, a new column for Transparency is available in model space and layouts, and a column for Viewport (VP) Transparency is available in layouts and floating model space viewports. The Layer States Manager, the Layer Filter dialog, and the Layer Translator have also been updated to reflect the new transparency property. The default transparency value is 0, and you can set it as high as 90. For Objects You can set transparency by layer, by block, or individually for an object, just like color or linetype. Setting a transparency value for an individual object overrides the layer transparency setting for that object. You can access object transparency from a number of places: the Properties palette, Quick Properties, or the ribbon. The new CETRANSPARENCY system variable sets the transparency property for new objects. 4
For Images In earlier versions of AutoCAD LT, images had a setting, also called transparency, that controlled whether the background of a bitonal image was clear or opaque. This property has been renamed to background transparency to distinguish it from the new transparency property. You can apply both background and object transparencies to images in AutoCAD LT 2011. transparency Display and Plotting A button has been added to the status bar to enable you to temporarily turn off transparency display, similar to the behavior of the lineweight display button. This does not affect plotting. However, you also have the option to turn on transparency when plotting. The Plot and Page Setup dialogs both include a checkbox for transparency. Transparent plotting is turned off by default, because transparency is rasterized for plotting and can slow down plotting in certain situations. 5
Hatches and Gradients Creating Hatches When you start the Hatch command, a new contextual ribbon tab provides easy access to all hatch and gradient options. Join the Autodesk User Group International community on augi.com. Gradient hatches are now supported in AutoCAD LT 2011. Look for them in the pattern list. hatches and gradeients When using the pick points method of creating hatches, simply passing your cursor over an eligible area shows you what the hatch would look like if you clicked there. You can also see the result of each click as you pick points or objects in the drawing. Even though it looks as though a hatch was created as you clicked, it will not actually be a separate object unless you have the Create Separate Hatches option on. 6
Hatch Properties Hatches now support a background color in addition to line color. This enables you to create the effect of layering hatches in one object. You now also have the option to set a hatch s layer before you create it. You can choose either to use the current layer or to pick one from your drawing. Get educated! Visit Autodesk University Online. Like color, pattern, and other hatch properties, layer is a persistent setting during your drawing session. hatches and gradeients Editing Hatches When you select a hatch, the Hatch Edit contextual tab automatically appears, replacing the old dialog. A new center grip enables you to move the hatch or change its origin, angle, or scale directly. You can view the available options by hovering over the grip, and choose an action directly from the list. You can also left-click on the grip and press CTRL to cycle through the different behaviors. Icons next to the cursor indicate the active function. Continued on next page > 7
Non-associative hatches have corner and middle grips in addition to the center grip. Those grips enable you to stretch, add, or remove vertices, and to convert segments from lines to arcs and vice versa. For the latest news on AutoCAD LT, subscribe to the LT Unlimited blog. hatches and gradeients Send Hatches to Back is a new command in AutoCAD LT straight from the AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) wishlist. Available on the Modify panel of the Home tab under the Draw Order flyout, this command sends hatches under all other geometry in the drawing. The new system variable MIRRHATCH enables you to mirror hatches and retain their orientation. When it is set to 0, mirroring hatches maintains their original angle. When MIRRHATCH is set to 1, the hatch angle mirrors along with the rest of the objects. MIRRHATCH is set to 0 by default. 8
Polylines and Splines Polylines In addition to the familiar grips at each end of a polyline segment, there are new secondary grips at the midpoint of each segment. All polyline grips are now multifunctional, similar to the grips for non-associative hatches. You can hover over a grip and choose an option from the menu that appears. Primary grips are used to stretch, add, or remove vertices. The options for secondary grips are Stretch, Add Vertex, and Convert to Arc (or Line). Splines You can now define splines using fit points or control vertices (CV). For Fit splines, you can specify start and end tangencies, tolerance (how close the spline must come to the fit point), and knot parameterization (controlling the shape of the curve as it passes through the fit point). The only option when creating CV splines is Degree, which controls how many bends the spline can take in a given span. Follow Kate Morrical on Twitter. You can also left-click on the grip and press CTRL to cycle through the different behaviors. Icons next to the cursor indicate the active function. CV splines are intended for use with 3D NURBS (non-uniform rational b-spline) surfaces. polylines and splines Splines also have multi-functional grips, enabling you to switch between Fit Point and Control Vertices, add and remove points, edit end tangent directions, and refine vertices. The options visible in the grip menus vary depending on whether fit points or CV are displayed. The Spline Edit command has a new Edit Vertex mode, enabling you to add, move, or remove control vertices. You can also add a Kink, or a sharp corner, to your spline with the Spline Edit command. Join You can now use the JOIN command to connect lines, arcs, polylines, 3D polylines, helixes, and splines. The objects must all be contiguous (in other words, they must share a common endpoint), but they do not need to be coplanar. You must select the most complex object first usually a spline. 9
Object Visibility, Selection, & Creation Hide and Isolate Objects You can now control object visibility independent from layer visibility. The Object Visibility tools are accessible from the right-click menu, whether or not you have objects selected. Do you have questions? Ask the Expert on AutoCAD Exchange. A light bulb icon on the status bar turns red to indicate that a drawing has hidden or isolated objects. A yellow light bulb indicates normal object visibility. Object Visibility, Selection, & Creation When you use the Isolate Objects tool, only the selected objects remain visible in the drawing. All other objects are hidden. Alternatively, when you use the Hide Objects tool, the selected objects are hidden. You can use Hide and Isolate multiple times to efficiently display only the objects you need. When you re finished, restore the normal view with the End Object Isolation tool. Add Selected With Add Selected, you can quickly create a new object in your drawing based on the properties of an existing object. For example, if you select a polyline, right-click, and choose Add Selected, AutoCAD LT automatically launches the PLINE command with basic object properties including color, layer, linetype, linetype scale, plotstyle, lineweight and transparency preset to match the selected object. By default, the hide and isolate setting for objects is not saved when you close a drawing. When you re-open the drawing, the visibility of all objects will be controlled by the layer visibility. You can use the system variable OBJECTISOLATIONMODE to have isolated or hidden objects persist between drawing sessions instead. 10
Select Similar Objects Use the new Select Similar tool to quickly create a selection set consisting of objects that match the properties of one or more selected objects. Access Select Similar from the right-click menu when objects are selected. Entering SELECTSIMILAR at the command line enables you to access the Settings dialog, where you can specify which properties to use when creating the selection set. If more than one box is checked, all those properties must match in order to consider two objects as similar. Object Visibility, Selection, & Creation Select Similar also enables you to select more than one object and create the matching selection set accordingly. For example, if you select two circles on different layers and run Select Similar, AutoCAD LT selects all the circles on both layers. If you select a circle and a line instead, AutoCAD LT selects all the circles on the same layer as the selected circle and all the lines on the same layer as the selected line. Selection Cycling Easily select overlapping objects with Selection Cycling. When you try to select an object that is near to or overlapping other objects, AutoCAD LT displays a list of all the nearby objects. As you pass your cursor over an object in the list, the relevant object in the drawing is highlighted. To select an object, left-click on an item in the list. The PICKADD system variable, which controls whether each selection set replaces the current set or adds to it, is now set to 2 by default. This means that you can use the SELECT command and objects will remain selected after the command ends. Toggle Selection Cycling on and off from the status bar. 11
Additional Time-Savers External Reference Highlighting Selecting an external reference now highlights that reference s name in the External References palette, enabling you to quickly identify references in your drawing. Likewise, if you select a file reference in the palette, the reference is highlighted but not selected in the drawing. Get more tips & tricks with AutoCAD LT videos on YouTube. additional time savers Default Scale List You can now save a customizable default list of metric or imperial annotation scales. This list defines the list of scales that automatically displays in all your drawings. To set the scale list in a drawing back to your default, use the Reset option in the Edit Drawing Scales dialog. 12
Ignore Missing SHX Files When opening a drawing, a new dialog gives you the option to ignore missing SHX files for shapes or fonts or specify replacements. If you check the box to remember your current choice, you won t be prompted again. To bring back this dialog, check its listing in the Hidden Messages section of the Options dialog. additional time savers And in the Text Style manager, text styles with missing fonts are now indicated with an icon. Text Orientation in Linetypes AutoCAD LT 2011 makes it possible to maintain linetype readability in any orientation. No matter the line, polyline, or spline direction and even for circles the text remains upright and readable. 13
New to AutoCAD LT 2011 In addition to gradient hatches, a few other long-time AutoCAD features are now supported in AutoCAD LT 2011. Quick Dimension Quick Dimension, on the Dimensions panel of the Annotate tab, enables you to quickly create a series of baseline or continued dimensions for selected objects. Visit AutoCAD LT online for the latest product updates. After selecting objects, additional options enable you to choose the type of dimensions created Continuous, Baseline, Radius, etc. new to autocad LT 2011 Layer Previous Layer Previous enables you to undo the most recent set of changes to layer properties. Sketch Use the Sketch command, available at the command line to create irregular boundaries or to trace with a digitizer. You can set the increment for recording points, choose the type of sketch to create (lines, polylines, or splines), and set the tolerance for spline-fit sketches. Left-click to start a sketching, left-click again to end. Repeat this as many times as needed to create multiple sketch objects. Press Enter to complete the command. 14
Learning s Welcome Screen The new Welcome Screen contains short videos to help you learn about key topics in AutoCAD LT. Links at the bottom of the screen provide easy access to more learning resources, including the New Features Workshop, the Learning Path, and AutoCAD LT Online Help. Object Visibility, Selection, & Creation Online Help The web-based Help system for AutoCAD LT 2011 includes not only the traditional help content but related information from the AutoCAD LT Knowledge Base, discussion groups, blogs, and the AutoCAD Exchange. Windows 7 Compatibility If you re not connected to the internet, AutoCAD LT will use a local version of Help. You can also go to the System tab of the Options dialog to choose to use the offline version regardless of your internet connection. AutoCAD LT 2011 is Microsoft Windows 7 certified. Upgrade your hard ware and operating system with confidence, knowing that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of AutoCAD LT 2011 software are compatible with and supported on Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. When you install AutoCAD LT on a computer with Windows 7, the TASKBAR system variable is automatically set to 1, enabling you to take advantage of the Aero Preview function. To use this, simply hover over the AutoCAD LT icon on the task bar until the previews appear. Then click on a drawing preview to make it active. 15
Additional s AutoCAD Exchange is the online destination for AutoCAD users and CAD managers to share tips, learn and network. additional resources AutoCAD LT www.autodesk.com/autocadlt LT Unlimited ltunlimited.typepad.com Discussion Forums discussion.autodesk.com AutoCAD Exchange autocad.autodesk.com AutoCAD LT on YouTube www.youtube.com/katemorrical Kate Morrical on Twitter www.twitter.com/katemorrical Autodesk University Online au.autodesk.com AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) www.augi.com About the Author As the Technical Marketing Manager for AutoCAD LT, Kate works closely with the AutoCAD LT Product Development & Marketing teams and with AutoCAD LT users through discussion groups, her blog, and events such as Autodesk University and AUGI CAD Camps. She has over 10 years of experience with Autodesk products, starting with Auto- CAD R14, and has been blogging about AutoCAD LT since April 2007. Kate is a licensed professional engineer in Maryland, and was employed as an engineer and CAD Manager for a 30-person office of a structural engineering firm before joining Autodesk. Autodesk, AutoCAD, and AutoCAD LT are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. 2010 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.