IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog

Switching Layers Automatically in AutoCAD

Most AutoCAD designers use layers to manage their different drawing object types.  Drawing annotation objects such as notes, dimensions, multi-leaders and hatching are placed on different layers than the actual part objects.  So during the process of creating a finished drawing, you will be switching layers frequently.  AutoCAD has many great layer control commands but you still have to execute them.  I want to tell you a method of switching layers automatically when various objects are placed.

To demonstrate this process I will be switching layers automatically from the current layer to the dimension layer and back when a linear dimension is placed.  I will use the Tool Palette to accomplish this magic.  The first thing to do is create a new palette tab to place your commands on.  Right click on any existing tool palette tab and select New Palette.  Give it any name that makes sense to you and your ready to add commands.

  The easiest way to add the Linear dimension command to your new tool palette is to first place a linear dimension in a drawing.  Next select the dimension and then right click and drag the dimension to your new tool palette.  Remember you must drag the dimension by any point EXCEPT a grip.

Next you will right click on the Linear Dimension icon on the tool palette and select Properties. 
In the Properties dialog, set the Use Flyout to No and the layer to your drawing dimension layer.  If you want all dimensioning commands to be available from this palette, leave the Use Flyout at the original value but my command will just be for Linear dimensions.  Select OK to finish.

You are  now ready to try the automatic layer change routine.  Set your current layer to say Object or any layer other than Dimension.  Draw a rectangle in model space and make a paperspace viewport so you can place some dimensions.  If you use annotative scale in model space, set your scale so you can easily see your dimensions.  Select the Linear dimension command from the Tool Palette and voila, the dimension is placed on the dimension layer and when the command finishes, the current layer is returned to being active.

 

The same process can be applied to text, hatches, and multi-leaders to automatically switch to the palette object assigned layer, place the object and then return to the current layer.  This method of switching layers solves two problems.  Trying to remember to switch layers for different objects and the boring task of having to do it all the time.

Get Picky in Inventor

When you are working in Inventor files, whether it is a part, assembly, drawing or presentation file, you have to select objects on the display screen.  Inventor has selection filters available in all the file types to help you select the correct object the first time.  You may not have realized there were different types of selection filters since Inventor defaults to the most used ones automatically when a file is opened. 

Selection filters are selected using two methods in Inventor files.  The first is from the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).  Below is the selection filters from an Inventor assembly file. 

The second method is by holding down the Shift key and pressing the mouse right button.  The same selection list is displayed.  The only difference would be that this method also displays other context sensitive menu options on the bottom of the menu.

This blog article is not long enough to go over each selection filter so I recommend you try them out for yourself in all types of Inventor files.  I would however mention a couple that are very important to increasing productivity and decreasing frustration.  Starting with Inventor parts, in an assembly model if you select a part in the graphic display, it highlights in the browser which ideal to identify parts.  Also the right click command of "Find in Browser" are available to move directly to the part that is highlighted.  This same functionality can be achieved in a part model for selecting and highlighting features.  Shift right click and select "Feature Priority" and the pick a part feature in the graphic display.

In an assembly file, select one or more parts in the display then Shift right click and choose "Inverse Selection" to de-select your selected parts and select all others in the assembly.  This can be paired up with the "Isolate" command to quickly hide object not relevant to the current editing operation.

Another one of my favorites is to select one or more parts in the display, Shift right click and select the filter "Constrained To" to highlight all the components that have an assembly constraint to your selected part(s).
In an Inventor drawing my favorite are the Custom filters that can be configured to select most any type object in the drawing.  First select the "Edit Select Filters" and choose any of the three filter lists.  They are all the same list but since there are three by different names, you can have three custom selection lists at all times.  Your configurations are saved so you can use your configuration while editing an Inventor drawing now and in the future.

Choose the type objects you desire from each filter list with a check, then select "OK" to save.  Shift right click to then select the desire filter list to execute against the drawing.  Just a note here that most of the select filters only work if you window the area you wish to apply the filter. 


So get "Picky" when you need to select objects in your Inventor models and drawings and increase your productivity and probably your CAD experience.

Part Templates - 3D Pull Snap Settings and Initial View Extents

In this post we are going to look at some things that add more sanity to our daily life by making us only marginally more productive.  Why?  Because throughout your time using Inventor the little stuff adds up to minutes, hours, days.  These tips probably fall into the minutes category over the course of a year, so its more for my sanity of daily operation.

Starting new part files sometimes has the nuisance of not being zoomed out far enough to see the sizing of the part that you want to build.

This is a quick fix in your part templates.  Decide what your 80/20 is on the overall size of parts you make and adjust the setting in the Document Settings of your English and/or Metric part file.  This setting is on the Modeling Tab and you are looking for Initial View Extents.

The next setting to look at refers to your usage of the Heads Up Display tools in the graphical canvas for Inventor.  We want to be able to set a value for the increment that makes more sense for how we model.

Every 1/4 of a millimeter seems a little too tight for me most of the time and I would like my angle snap maybe a little bigger too.  This setting is also on our Modeling Tab as well.

These little settings don't really add up to much but think about, make the changes in your template and maybe your days will be a little less click or drag heavy for you and your design team.

Hold Down the Ctrl Key When Selecting Polylines

We all know what the Shift key allows you to do after you have selected objects in AutoCAD.  That's right, it allows you to deselect objects from your selection set before you continue with your command.  If you have never tried this before, do it now.  This blog is about the benefit of holding down the Ctrl key when selecting segments of a polyline.  My example has a rectangle on the left and a multi-segment polyline on the right.  Of course we all know a rectangle is a polyline unless you exploded it.

My task is to remove the top line of the rectangle and make sure the remaining object is a polyline.  There are a number of ways you could do this.  One would be to use the Polyline Edit (pedit) command with the Edit Vertex / Break option.  Another would be to explode the rectangle, remove the line and use Polyline Edit to join it back together. 

I offer another method.  Hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the polyline segment and then execute your favorite command to delete an object.  The segment is removed and the remaining segments are still a polyline.  By the way, any selection method will work except using a Fence.  You can select multiple segments also with the same result.  Of course you can cheat and select non-contiguous segments. 

 

This process works a little different on a multi-segment polyline.  If you select one or more segments in the figure on the right you may may end up with two polylines.  It depends on the draw order of the original polyline and which segments you select for removal.  Oh well, you may still have to use the Polyline Edit command to Join them back together

I tried using the Ctrl key with other commands such as Move and Rotate with mixed results. Try the Ctrl key when working with polylines and see what you can discover.

Linear Diameters - Quicker Drawings and Model Modification

The other day I was asked how to place diameter symbols on dimensions that show a revolved modeling feature so that the user didn't have to modify it with each dimension.

Well we can do this a couple different ways, we can simply add a diameter override to each dimension (boring and you will give yourself repetitive click syndrome).

We could aslo just add a dimension style that has a prefix of the diamter symbol for the entire style and you just use that one when you want.

We can also force a Linear Diamter by right clicking the dimension when placing it, but it will create a slightly different look to it than the above image.  If that is what you want, awesome!  You can stop reading and get drawing.  I have one more way after this, so just indulge me and read on a little further to see how we can control this from the very beginning of part modeling.

Inside a new part sketch you have the option to use Centerlines and Linear Diameters to accomodate the visual design intent that aids in the initial design as well as design changes to the model.  Once you have your rough profile sketched out for your revolved feature.  Now with the General Dimension tool, start by selecting what your axis line would be and then select the line you want to put a diameter to.  Then right click and select the toggle for Linear Diameter.

To save some time, you can make your axis line a Centerline type and then all your dimensions from this line will automatically be Linear Diamter type.

Once these exist in the model its very easy to simply reuse them in the drawing environment.  Once you have your placed views, right click on one of them and use the Retreive Dimensions command.  Here you can select which Linear Diameters you want to expose to the drawing side.

Now, not only do we have the correct dimensioning scheme, we can also modify the modeling dimensions right from the right click menu.  This way we don't have to go back to the original model to make those modifications.  Beware, you should also understand where your model is used in case your change will affect assemblies or adaptive parts.