Manual Flatten

[r.grandmaison]

At times FLATTEN works great for, well, flattening a drawing. But there are times when it bombs out for various, expected reasons. So, a great trick is to learn how to manually control the objects in a drawing to manually flatten them. By judicious use of QSELECT and Properties Manager you can quickly manually flatten a drawing as well.

Open Properties Manager.
Use QSelect to select
Apply to: Entire Drawing
Object Type: Line
Property Type: (just ignore it, use any value)
Operator: SELECT ALL
Examine the Z start and end values and modify all start and end Z values to "0".

Do the same thing for Circles and change the Center Z to "0".
Do the same thing for Arcs and change the Center Z to "0".
Do the same thing for Plines and change the Elevation to "0".

Cheers,

Robert

[Comach]

No disprespect intended Robert - but this tip looks surprisingly similar to advice offered to an enquiry on May 3rd about "Non CoPlanar Lines" in the Autocad General forum!!

[r.grandmaison]

No disprespect intended Robert - but this tip looks surprisingly similar to advice offered to an enquiry on May 3rd about "Non CoPlanar Lines" in the Autocad General forum!!

No disrespect at all- I'm just rambling off some of the tips I teach others that are coming immediately to mind here! (I didn't read the other thread and certainly not plagerizing someone's tip if that's what you're suggesting!) I can tell you that I've been teaching AutoCAD, beginning and advanced classes for over 12 years now- and I'm also an Architect (C22127) and a CAD Manager at a Structural Engineering firm- so I've been around the block more than a few times and have seen both novices and experts surprised to learn new tricks, from the most simple to the most advanced ones. I'm just sharing what I find valuable and important! I didn't invent any of this, just passing it along from my own experience and my own education.

If I'm covering old ground and you think I'm posting needlessly, just ask me to stop!

Cheers,

Robert

[Comach]

Your definitely not covering old ground - it is always a useful resource for both experienced and novice users to refresh on known and new techniques.

Cad is an environment where we are continually learning new tricks and techniques either by ourselves or by the very helpful advice of others, therefore it is considerate to pass this on to help others.

Just for the record, I have also been working with Autocad for a while - 21 years now, not exclusively but also - Pafec Dogs, Prime Medusa, Microstation, PDMS, PDS, ProCadam, ADT, Autoplant, MDT, Cad Duct, Inventor, Multi-Steel and Map - not necessarily in that order.

My apologies.

[zoomharis]

I've been teaching AutoCAD, beginning and advanced classes for over 12 years now

I have also been working with Autocad for a while - 21 years now
Feel great (and nervous too) to be with guys like you.

Thanks for the tips.

:)
har!s

[r.grandmaison]

Feel great (and nervous too) to be with guys like you.


Don't be nervous! Think of your nervousness for what it is, excitement! People often get the two confused!!! I've been using AutoCAD for over twenty-five years now and still learn things. We're all in the same boat, just with different rowing capabilities! :) One of the reasons I enjoy teaching is because it helps me to learn as well. I'm never surprised anymore when a student, brand-spanking new to AutoCAD, teaches me something because they come to it from a totally new perspective that my many years of using it can't give me anymore!

Cheers,

Robert

[andy.manninen]

Your definitely not covering old ground - it is always a useful resource for both experienced and novice users to refresh on known and new techniques.

Cad is an environment where we are continually learning new tricks and techniques either by ourselves or by the very helpful advice of others, therefore it is considerate to pass this on to help others.

Just for the record, I have also been working with Autocad for a while - 21 years now, not exclusively but also - Pafec Dogs, Prime Medusa, Microstation, PDMS, PDS, ProCadam, ADT, Autoplant, MDT, Cad Duct, Inventor, Multi-Steel and Map - not necessarily in that order.

My apologies.

I wouldn't feel bad about posting a tip that has already been submitted, the list is huge, and if you don't keep pounding the same tips into our heads how will we be able to remember them?
Good work,
:Cheers:

[r.grandmaison]

...My apologies.

Apology not accepted, because none is necessary! :) We all come to this venue to get help and to be of help. We wouldn't be here if we didn't like sharing the knowledge we've acquired over the years. And knowledge of specific tips and tricks isn't always unique, there's bound to be a lot of repetition of old material- but what's old for someone is new for someone else. I've been using AutoCAD for about a quarter of a century and still I learn new things, sometimes the simplest of things at that! :) I'm sort of a "johnny-come-lately" to this forum and I don't mean to come-on too strong, but I do enjoy helping others learn. I wouldn't teach AutoCAD after my "day job" at a local junior college if I didn't really enjoy it.

[I do bring other qualifications to using AutoCAD as well, I am an architect who does use it to do production and design work. As a CAD manager at a structural engineeering firm (day job) I regularly handle (read dozens if not hundreds) of files weekly created by all kinds of designers/architects with a wide variety (read horrible to excellent) of CAD skills and knowledge. I'm also a former Geology major and English major, so I can understand and speak Civil and Geotechnical stuff as well. I play electric bass, inconvienience marine life in my living room (salt water reef tank), extensively remodelling my own house, render with VIZ, model in AutoCAD, have taught Inventor, VIZ, Accurender, MAX and I think my students would all speak highly of my skills and patience. Some of my writings have been published, and I've had some of my artwork/architecture/sculpture/theory published in magazines as well. In addition to that, if you bring up the AutoCAD Easter Egg in any of the past releases in the last ten years you'll probably find my name in it. ;) ]

Hopefully that brief introduction and list of credits may help to ease your mind, or anyone else's that I'm not trying to steal anyone's credits/props!

Cheers,

Robert

[robert.1.hall72202]

Wow, stepping off the deep end here.

I know there are some well qualified cad persona roaming these boards and I am waiting for somebody to post another tips n tricks book.........SOOOOO who has em?

Teach a class? Please post.........me hungry.

[Wanderer]

to be repeating myself here from some other threads (http://forums.augi.com/search.php?searchid=467002)... don't forget that sometimes, rather than an elevation, an object might will have a 'thickness' in the 'z' direction, and that can be fixed using the same type of method \/
At times FLATTEN works great for, well, flattening a drawing. But there are times when it bombs out for various, expected reasons. So, a great trick is to learn how to manually control the objects in a drawing to manually flatten them. By judicious use of QSELECT and Properties Manager you can quickly manually flatten a drawing as well.

Open Properties Manager.
Use QSelect to select
Apply to: Entire Drawing
Object Type: Line
Property Type: (just ignore it, use any value)
Operator: SELECT ALL
Examine the Z start and end values and modify all start and end Z values to "0".

Do the same thing for Circles and change the Center Z to "0".
Do the same thing for Arcs and change the Center Z to "0".
Do the same thing for Plines and change the Elevation to "0".

Cheers,

Robert