AutoCAD Mouse control and the Command Line

Since this blog is about AutoCAD and More, I figure I'd better start writing about AutoCAD things.

Some of the most overlooked efficiency tips are probably Mouse control and the Command line. So, taking a couple pages from my Weekly Planner, available in the Apps store from Autodesk Exchange, here are some Mouse and Command line tips.

MOUSE CONTROL

You pick objects with the left mouse button. What else can you do with your mouse?  Assuming your settings are set as described in the Assumptions page of this planner, you can do the following.

With the Mouse Wheel:

· Double click the wheel to Zoom Extents.

· Hold the wheel down and move the mouse to PAN.

· Hold Shift+Wheel (in that order) and you can Orbit (for 3D drawings).

· Hold Wheel+Shift (in that order) and you PAN vertically or horizontally as if ORTHO is on.

· Roll the wheel forward and backward and you zoom in and out respectively. (Tip: Set the ZOOMFACTOR variable to control how fast you zoom in and out with the wheel.)

With the Left Mouse Button:

· Single click to select objects

· Shift+Left click to deselect objects

· Doubleclick to edit objects. (Tip: You can customize how the doubleclick edits objects in the CUI.)

· Pick one or more objects, then hold down the left mouse button to drag/move those objects.

With the Right Mouse Button: (Depending on Right Click Customization under Options > User Preferences)

· Click the right mouse button (or Enter or Spacebar) to bring back the last command.

· Click the right mouse button (or Enter or Spacebar) during a command to end the command.

· With objects selected, Right click brings up a pop up menu full of pertinent editing options.

· Select objects, then hold the right mouse button to drag and move or copy objects.

· Shift+Right click while in an editing command will bring up the OSNAP menu.

· Right click in the command line for a pop up menu. This is an easy way to access Options.

· Right click and hold for a pop up menu containing useful commands.

If you have a multi button mouse such as one of the many available gaming mice, you can program those buttons to be just about anything. I like programming a few of the buttons to be F3 (Osnap toggle) and F8 (Ortho toggle) as well as Escape.  Get a Razor Naga mouse and the world of AutoCAD commands is literally at your finger tips, well, thumb tip. It has 12 programmable buttons on its side.

COMMAND LINE

Watch your command line while issuing commands. Even if your an old pro, you may notice something you've never known was an option.

Examples:

· Check out all the command line options when drawing a RECTANGle. You can create a rectangle with chamfered edges and control the poly line width.  You can set it's size by total area, width & height, and give it a rotation angle.

· Watch the command line when doing simple things like COPY or ROTATE. Did you know you can make copies while rotating?

· UNDO has a lot of options that can be useful. Set UNDO marks to come back to, UNDO the entire drawing if you want to.

· Dimensioning has some neat things too.

· ZOOM to All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object.

Pay attention to the command line and a whole new AutoCAD world may open up to you.

These command line options may be put to good use in custom palette or toolbar commands and script files.

Many people scrunch up their command line to just one or two lines. They are missing a lot of information while they are drafting.  I like mine with four lines. 

To see what commands and information has gone by, press F2 to see the command line history (Text Screen). Press F2 again to close the command line history.

With 2012 and above, as you type in the command line, a list will appear that shows what commands or settings are possible that begin with the text you are typing.

Thanks,

Lyle