Simplify your CAD Drawing with Special Marks For Your Eyes Only
To simplify a complex CAD drawing, make your own special marks to help you navigate the various drawing parts. Here’s an example of how . . .
Thoroughly Know the Subject Material in your CAD Drawing
A CAD designer-tech-drafter-artist should have a thorough knowledge of the subject material that he or she is drawing, and constantly be seeking to add to that knowledge.
Consider the Reader of Your Drawing
Drawings are essentially a form of communication. A CAD professional should always be considerate of the person who will be reading his or her drawing, and make the drawing as legible as you can. Here are some general rules . . .
Polylines are your friends
Polylines are your friends. If you make more use of them, and learn more of the tricks and features of using them, you will, I believe, come to appreciate their many advantages…
Disabling the Irksome F1 Key
Disabling the Irksome F1 Key
Disabling the F1 key in AutoCAD avoids accidentally opening the Help feature when trying to hit the ESCAPE key, eliminating a common irritation. Here’s how to re-map the F1 key to a “harmless” function . . .
Use Rays to speed up alignment tasks
Using the Ray tool in CAD to create or check alignments between views has many advantages over using normal lines. One is the speed with which you can create a large number of rays. Another is the ease of erasing the rays after you’re done . . .
Use a system to simplify and speed up your work
Repetitive CAD tasks can be carried out faster and more accurately if you have a system to apply to the work. What type of system works best? That depends on the task. Generally, a system works best when there are many similar or identical tasks that can be grouped together . . .
Conquering CAD Clutter Using Big Round Numbers
A common cause of lost speed in CAD is being mired in a complex, high-density drawing with so many objects crammed into so little work space that it’s hard to maneuver. In this tip, I will focus on one highly effective technique that I developed. I call it: The power of big even numbers. Here’s how it works . . .