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Intro Tailoring
2005

AutoCAD's
Environment

Shortcuts
& Command

Toolbar
Interface

Making Custom
Menus

Making Line
Types

Making Hatch
Patterns

Creating Scripts

Learning Diesel
Expressions

AutoLISP
Programming

Tool
Palettes

Cal &
Quickcalc

Understanding
DXF

Field Text
Codes

Best-selling book all about AutoCAD 2005 - recently updated!

Tailoring AutoCAD is a popular book updated specifically for AutoCAD 2005 by Ralph Grabowski. Includes many new features unique to AutoCAD 2005.

About Tailoring AutoCAD 2005

Tailoring AutoCAD 2005. The customizing e-book by Ralph Grabowski covering AutoCAD 2005.

  • Expanded 260-page e-book :
  • Unique to AutoCAD 2005
  • Understanding DXF files.
  • Using the Cal command.
  • Adesk undocumented commands!
  • New Shortcut keystrokes
  • Customize Tool Palettes
  • The book features
  • More tips!

As with all of our e-books:

  • Updated for AutoCAD 2005 with 2005 icon marking new items.
  • All illustrations in full color.
  • Formatted for printing on standard 8.5×11 paper.
  • Margins designed for three-hole punching.

Table Of Contents For:
tailoring AutoCAD 2005

Chapter 1: Introduction to Customizing:

The Many Ways of Customization.
Shortcut Tips. Tip #1: Placing Arcs. Tip #2: Placing Text. Tip #3: Replacing Text. Tip #4: Using PostScript Fonts. Tip #5: Template Drawings. Tip #6: Fast Custom Drawing Sheets. Tip #7: Collapsing Multilines. Tip #8: Changing Layers. Tip #9: Quick Trim. Tip #10: Get the Big Picture. Tip #11: Install Express Tools 2005. Which Customization?.

Chapter 2: Customizing the Environment:

Starting AutoCAD. Tutorial: Using Command-line Switches. /b Switch. /c Switch. /nologo Switch. /p Switch. /r Switch. /s Switch. /t Switch. /v Switch.
Changing Window and Layout Elements. Tutorial: Changing Screen Colors. UCS Icon. Command Line Font & Transparency. Keyboard Shortcuts.
Toolbars and Command Line. Menus and Tablet.
Tutorial: Setting and Restoring Profiles.
Tutorial: Support File Paths. Search Path Options. Support File & Working Support File Search Paths . Device Driver File Search Path. Project Files Search Path. Menu, Help, and Miscellaneous File Names. Text Editor, Dictionary, and Font File Names. Print File, Spooler, and Prolog Section Names. Printer and Plot Support Files. Automatic Save File Location. Color Book Locations. Data Sources Location. Drawing Template Settings. Tool Palettes File Location. Log File Location. Temporary Drawing File Location. Temporary External Reference File Location. Texture Maps Search Path. i-drop Associated File Location.

Setting Templates for New Drawings. Tutorial: Specifying the Template File. Tutorial: Creating Your Own Template File. Tutorial: Importing Layers 2005.
Drafting and Selection Preferences. AutoSnap Settings. Grips Settings.

Chapter 3: Command Aliases:

Shortcut Keys. Shortcuts New to AutoCAD 2005. AutoCAD’s Default Accelerator Keys. Tutorial: Defining Shortcut Keys.
The.pgp File — Aliases. Alias Format. Alias Rules. Aliases Defined by Autodesk. Creating New Aliases. Tutorial: Alias Creation by Dialog Box. Tutorial: Alias Creation by Hand.

Chapter 4: Toolbar Macros:

Customizing Toolbars. Rearranging Toolbars. Tutorial: Dragging Toolbars. Tutorial: Toggling Toolbars. Tutorial: Changing Toolbar Buttons. Tutorial: Changing Button Size. Tutorial: Drawing Icons.
Tutorial: Writing Toolbar Macros. Simple Macros. Advanced Macros. Toolbar Macros Are No Panacea.

Chapter 5: Menu Macros:

Loading (and Unloading) Menu Files. Loading Menu Groups. Loading Menu Bar Items. Menu File Types.
Your First Menu. Tutorial: A Single-Command Menu. Section Labels.
Menu Metacharacters. Shortcut Menu Aliases.

Your Second Menu. Tutorial: Loading .mnu a Second Time. Adding More Menu Macros. Adding Options to Commands. Using Coordinates in Macros. Making Macros “Official”. Canceling a Previous Command: ^C. Adding Keyboard Shortcuts: &. Separating Macros Visually: --. Adding Submenus: ->. Right-Justified Text: \t. Grayed-out Item: ~. Adding a Checkmark: !.. Waiting for User Input: \. Providing Input to the User: ^H. Writing Really Long Macros: +. Repeating Commands.

Toolbars, Accelerator Keys, Image Tiles, Tablet Overlays, and the Screen Menu. Toolbar Customization. Custom Shortcut Keys. Image Tiles. Tablet Menus. Screen Menu.

Chapter 6: Linetypes:

Commands Affecting Linetypes. System Variables that Affect Linetypes. The Special Case of Polylines.
Customizing Linetypes. Tutorial: Making Linetypes with -Linetype Command. Tutorial: Testing the New Linetype. Tutorial: Making Linetypes with MkLType 2005. Tutorial: Making Linetypes with a Text Editor.
Simple (1D) Linetype Format. Line1: Header. Line 2: Data.
Complex (2D) Linetype Format. Text. Text Style. Text Scale Factor. Text Rotation Angle. Text Orientation. Text Offset Distance. Embedding a Shape. 3D Linetypes.
Tutorial: Attempting a Parallel Linetype. Alternatives to the Parallel Linetype.

Chapter 7: Hatch Patterns:

Where Do Hatch Patterns Come From? Associative and Non-associative Patterns. Hatch Patterns and Gradient Fills.
Creating Custom Hatch Patterns. Tutorial: Creating Patterns with Hatch. Tutorial: Creating Patterns with BHatch. Tutorial: Creating Patterns with SuperHatch.
Understanding the acad.pat File. Comment and Header Lines. The Hatch Data. Tips on Creating Pattern Codes.
Adding Custom Patterns to the Palette.

Chapter 8: Shapes & Fonts:

About Shape Files. Tutorial: Creating Shapes.
The Shape File Format. Header Fields. Definition Lines. Vector Codes. Instruction Codes. 0/000: End of Shape. 1/001: Draw Mode. 2/002: Move Mode. 3/003: Reduced Scale. 4/004: Enlarged Scale. 5/005: Save (Push). 6/006: Recall (Pop). 7/007: Subshape. 8/008: X,y Distance. 9/009: X,y Distances. 10/00A: Octant Arc. 11/ 00B: Fractional Arc. 12/00C: Bulge Arc. 13/00D: Polyarc. 14/00E: Flag Vertical Text Flag.

Chapter 9: Script Files:

What are Scripts? Script Files. Drawbacks to Scripts. Strictly Command-Line Oriented.
Script Commands and Modifiers. Script. RScript. Resume. Delay. Special Characters. (space). ; (semicolon). ’ (apostrophe). * (asterisk). Backspace. Esc.

Chapter 10: Diesel Expressions:

The History of Diesel. What Diesel Does. Brief Listing of Diesel Functions. Math Functions. Logical Functions. Conversion Functions. String Functions. System Functions.
Jumping Into Diesel. Diesel Error Messages. $?. $(func)??. $(func,??). $(++). Debugging Diesel.
Diesel Programming Tips.
Diesel in Menus. Reusing Toggle Code.
Diesel in AutoLISP. Via the setvar Function. Concatenate Two Diesel Strings. Via the MenuCmd Function.

Chapter 11: AutoLISP Programming:

The History of AutoLISP.
The AutoLISP Programming Language. Simple AutoLISP: Adding Two Numbers.
AutoLISP in Commands. Remembering the Result: SetQ.
AutoLISP Functions. Math Functions. Geometric Functions. Conditional Functions. String and Conversion Functions. External Command Functions. Accessing System Variables. GetXXX Functions. Selection Set Functions. Object Manipulation Functions. Advanced AutoLISP Functions.
Writing a Simple AutoLISP Program. Why Write a Program?. The Id Command. The Plan of Attack. Obtaining the Coordinates. Placing the Text. Putting Them Together. An Alternative to LISP Programming.

Writing a Simple AutoLISP Program, Cont’d. Sprucing Up the Code. Conquering Feature Bloat. Wishlist Item #1: Naming the Program. Wishlist Item #2: Saving the Program. Wishlist Item #3: Automatically Loading the Program. Wishlist #4: Using Car and Cdr.
Saving Data to a File. The Three Steps. Step 1: Open the File. Step 2: Write Data to the File. Step 3: Close the File. Putting It Together. Wishlist #5: Layers. Wishlist #6: Text Style.
Tips in Using AutoLISP. Tip #1: Use an ASCII Text Editor. Tip #2: Loading LSP Code into AutoCAD. Tip #3: Toggling System Variables. Tip #4: Be Neat and Tidy. Tip #5: Suppress That nil. Tip #6: Read-Write-Append File. Tip # 7: Quotation Marks as Quotation Marks. Tip # 8: Keep Variables to Six Characters. Tip #9: Tabs and Quotation Marks.

Chapter 12: CAD Management:

CAD Standards. Tutorial: Create the Standards Drawing. Linetype Standards. Layer Standards. Dimension Style Standards. Text Style Standards. Tutorial: Save the Standards Drawing. Tutorial: Apply the Standards. Tutorial: Check the Standards.
Employing Tool Palettes and DesignCenter. DesignCenter. Tool Palettes. Tab Customization. Icon Customization. Palette Customization. Titlebar Customization.
XTP File Format. XML Metacharacters. Tool Palettes XTP. XTP Section 1: Header. XTP Section 2: Tool Data. XTP Section 3: Palette Data.

New Chapter! Chapter 13: Calculations with Cal:

Cal Functions, Adding Two Numbers, Performing Calculations Transparently, Architectural Calculations, Converting to Inches, Converting Between Units, Format of acad.unt File, Geometric Calculations, Cvunit - Acad.unt, Converting Angles, Vector Calculations, Using AutoLISP and System Variables, Remembering Result, Reading System Variables, Some Additional Functions, Conversion Functions, w2u, u2w, r2d(ang), d2r(ang), Vector Functions, nor, vec, vec1, Coordinate Functions, cur, xyof, xzof, yzof, xof, yof, zof, rxof, ryof, rzof, Geometry Functions, ang, dist, dpl, dpp, ill , ilp, pld, plt, rad, rot, Shortcut Functions, dee, ille, mee, nee, vee, vee1

New Chapter! Chapter 14: Understanding DXF:

DWG and DXF File Formats, Miscellaneous Comments, DXF Format, Object Properties, Header Section of DXF Files, Group Codes, HEADER Section, Version Numbers, CLASSES Section, TABLES Section, BLOCKS Section, ENTITIES Section, OBJECTS Section, THUMBNAILIMAGE Section, EOF

New Chapter! Chapter 15: Field Text Codes:

Creating Field Text, Field, MText, AttDef, Dimensions and Leaders, Available Fields, Changing Field Text, Double-click, Properties, Customizing Field Text Updates, UpdateField, FieldEval, FieldDisplay, —— and ####, Creating Custom Field Text, Copying and Pasting Code, Tutorial: Modifying Field Codes, Field Codes, Format Codes, %tcn — Text Case, %lun — Linear Units, %dsn — Decimal Separator, %aun — Angular Units, %lwn — Line Weight units, %qtn — scale Factor, %ctn — ConverT, ptn — PointTs (xyz coordinates), .n — decimal places, %prn — display PRecision, %fnn — File Names, %byn — BYtes (file size), href - Hyperlinks, Date & Time Format Codes, Objects and Property Names

No Appendices

About the author:

Ralph Grabowski has authored and coauthored 80+ books on CAD management, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Generic CADD, IntelliCAD, MicroStation, TurboCAD, VDraft, Visio, HTML, and VRML. He is the editor of two e-newsletters, upFront.eZine and IMAGINiT.eZine, and maintains a Weblog.

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