AutoCAD
by: Beth Powell
AutoCAD
Five Commands You Can’t Live Without
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e all are creatures of habit and most likely use some of the same commands over and over. Maybe you use some of my top five favorites described in this article. Hopefully, you’ll learn at least one new command here.
1. CONSTRUCTION LINE (SPECIFICALLY THE OFFSET OPTION) Whether you use the ribbon or a toolbar, you’ll find the construction line command with the draw tools. You can also type XLINE. This command has been around for many years now. Note: If you use AutoCAD® Architecture or AutoCAD® MEP this command will react slightly differently. There is no difference with AutoCAD® Civil 3D®. The construction line command differs from a line or polyline in that a construction line is infinite in both directions. So no matter how large or small the drawing is, you can have a reference line that you won’t see the end of in the drawing.
When you need a line to use for construction and later erase, it’s often difficult to see the line under your other geometry. That is exactly why the construction line works so well. My personal favorite option in the construction line command is the Offset option. 10 www.augi.com
From the command line you can type “O” for Offset or choose it from the drop-down menu of your dynamic input. It works just like the Offset command in your modify tools. Let’s say you have a rectangle. If you use the Modify version of the Offset command it will offset the entire rectangle. But if you use a construction line offset you can offset only one side.
2. CONVERT TEXT TO MULTILINE TEXT (EXPRESS TOOLS) Before we had the Mtext or multiline text tool, we had Dtext or single line text. The difference in the two is that single line text has to be edited one line at a time. Mtext wraps and works very similar to Microsoft Word. If you open a drawing where there is more than one line of single line text, you don’t have to suffer with editing or moving one line at a time. March 2011