Retaining Selection Between Operations

[howard.patterson]

Hello,

I'm using Autocad 2006 and there are many times where I need to select an object or a number of objects and perform several operations such as move, mirror, stretch, rotate, etc. in succession. However, when I perform one operation Autocad automatically deselects all of the objects and I have to select tham all over again to perform the next operation and so it goes. Some other CAD packages I have used in the past retain a selection until the esc key is pressed (for instance) so that multiple operations can be performed on the same objects. It would be incredibly handy to me if Autocad could be set up to retain a selection until told to deselect it but I have been unable to find anything in the help file regarding this topic. Does anyone have an idea if this is possible and how to do it?

Many Thanks,

Howard

[stelthorst]

I don't know how to retain a selection set but have you used the previous command?

For example, If you want to move and rotate several objects:
Pick move and select your objects
Move the objects and select enter
Pick rotate and instead of selecting objects type p (for previous)
This should highlight your previous selection set and then you can perform your rotate.

Just a thought,

[howard.patterson]

Thanks, Scott, that seems to work in general and I will use this technique. It's a shame that Autocad doesn't allow retaining the selection set since this seems more intuitive and simpler to me than having to do the commands in succession with extra key strokes in between. But in my experience Autodesk has never put a high priority on streamlining the interface and extra keystrokes are rampant. I appreciate your help.

Howard Patterson
Member of Technical Staff
General Dynamics
Scottsdale, AZ

[jaberwok]

How difficult is typing -

p [enter]

?

If you want to get more complicated you will need to learn (at least) to assign a macro to a toolbar button.
I'd say stick to the easy way; it's worked pretty well for the best part of 30 years.

[r424andy]

There is also an express tool called move copy rotate (MOCORO)

[mmccarter]

IMHO it would be more cumbersome to have the selection set from a previous command remembered everytime.
How often do we perform a command on the exact same group of objects compared to using a the next command on a totally different set of objects? Having to press escape or something similar to cancel the previous selection set would be very annoying. Maybe a cvar to swap between the current mode and one which selects the previous objects by default with out having to go through all that really annoying (:P) hassle of typing P followed by enter would be a way to do both.

Current method is just fine I reckon, P-> Enter is second nature to most AutoCAD users.

[cadtag]

If it's going to be the same objects for multiple operations, and especially if there's a probability you'll be modifying other objects in between the steps, you can always us a bit of commandline LISP.

At a command prompt or selection set prompt, type in (setq SS1 (ssget)), and then pick any objects you want by any method. When you're done, there's now a selection set created that can be accessed anytime you need to in that drawing session. When you want to get back at them, just key in !SS1 at a selection set prompt in any command, and the group of objects you previously identified will be selected.

cheers