Lynn Allen

AutoCAD Tips & Tricks for Civil Engineers

Cadalyst columnist & Autodesk Technical Evangelist

The New Sheet Set Manager (SSM) organizes for You!

Simplified:
Drawing organization right click plotting Transmittal sets Archiving

Standards compliance Everyone stays in sync with the project New DST file format

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Keys, Keys, Keys

Clean Screen (Control+0) Double click on the toolbar handles to float Control+R to cycle through all of your viewports

Control+A to select all the objects in your drawing

Control to cycle through objects Tab to cycle through object snaps Navigate through layouts with Control+PageUp and Control+PageDown

Hold down right mouse button to clear grips

Shift for more than one hot grip Shift to remember distances and angles in gripmode Arrow up and down through commands

Control+Tab to cycle through open drawings

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Everyday Timesavers
New OSNAP (keyboard modifier) Midpoint between two points (M2P/MTP) Zoom to Object(s) Maximize Viewport Revcloud new Calligraphy Option

Delete Named Layer Filters

Right Click Customization Trim/Extend Shortcut (enter to select cutting edges/boundaries)

CAL Geometric Calculator

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

4 Autodesk Confidential

Secret System Variables

SYSVDLG friendly dialog box for your system variables MAXSORT maximum number of named objects AutoCAD will sort MTJIGSTRING MTEXT sample string MBUTTONPAN Third button accesses OSNAP menu OSNAPHATCH controls OSNAPS with hatch patterns PEDITACCEPT turns off extra prompt in PEDIT PLINEGEN Tells Linetypes to traverse across vertices TASKBAR Open drawings appear on the taskbar UCSFOLLOW tells the UCS icon to change to the plan view whenever the UCS is modified XREFTYPE set attachment or overlay as default

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Bhatch Tips
With Bhatch, you can:
Assign draworder to hatch objects Hatch an area with a boundary gap Trim a hatch to a new boundary

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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MTEXT Tips
Supports a background mask
New Symbols Click outside of dialog box to exit command quickly MTJIGSTRING System Variable TEXTTOFRONT command

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Awesome Express Tools

Reset Dim Text Value SuperHatch Layer Walk Burst Make Linetype Edittime Flatten Overkill (Deletes Duplicate Objects) Layer Delete and Layer Merge Change Space/Align Space

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Embed Drawings into PPT!

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Powerpoint Steps:
Insert Object
Right Click on Control Icon DWF Viewer Control =>Properties

Select the DWF

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Startup switches
Target - "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005\acad.exe
/b /t /p /v /nologo /layout /nossm /set run a specific script file template file profile view name starts AutoCAD without logo screen displays a specific layout in a specified drawing file turns off the Sheet Set Manager displays a specific sheet set

For more info: look up Customize Startup in help file or visit www.cadalyst.com

Autodesk Civil 3D 2005

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Easter Egg

Shift+Ctrl+pick
Autodesk Civil 3D 2005
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AutoCAD 2005

lynn.allen@autodesk.com www.autodesk.com/lynnallen
Autodesk Civil 3D 2005
13 Autodesk Confidential