Here is a list of some useful tips, tricks and reminders that may benefit you in your AutoCad drafting endeavors. Feel free to submit more for posting by emailing me at
cabarban@syr.edu.
Did You Know...
...you can freeze the viewport scale factor of any particular viewport?
Go to PS. Single-click on the viewport in question. With the viewport selected, Right-click. In the pop-up dialogue box, select the Display Lockedoption and choose Yes. Follow the same path to unlock the viewport.
Did you know...
...you can set the insertion point of a block from WITHIN THE BLOCK'S DRAWING FILE at any time?
At the command line, type "BASE" and pick a point with the mouse. Or, if (0,0,0) is already set as the default base point, you can move all of the elements drawn in the block's drawing file to the (0,0,0) point, to simplify later insertions.
Did You Know...
...that you can make the elements displayed within a viewport plot with lines hidden?
In PS, pick the viewport with your mouse, then right-click. Select the Hideplot option from the popup dialogue box, and choose Yes. This will generate a hidden line plot for that viewport.
Don't forget...
...to be sure to make Layer '0' current when inserting an Xref to your drawing.
Consequently, be sure that Layer '0' is ALWAYS 'Thawed' and 'On' in all viewports. This will help prevent portions of your drawing from disappearing when you make a plot.
Don't forget...
...the "freeze/thaw" and "on/off" commands behave differently in controlling a block's visibility.
You make layers within a block invisible by freezing or turning off those particular layers. The easiest way to make a block invisible is to freeze its insertion layer.
You make the whole block invisible by freezing the insertion layer. Merely turning off the insertion layer will not result in invisiblility unless the block is comprised entirely of elements on the same insertion layer.
Turning On/Off or freezing one of the layers nested within the block will do just that.
Don't forget...
...only elements drawin in MS can be XREF'd.
If you perform an Xref, and the result is that you can not see the item, it is possible that you inserted a drawing that was drawin in PS.
And Doug...
...be sure to do a "Save as..." when creating a new drawing file from the Template drawing files.
Failing to do so will result in the template files being corrupted with job-specific data.