Lynn Allen, CADENCE columnist and worldwide Technical Evangelist for AutoDesk in San Rafael, California, speaks to more than 15,000 users each year. For the past eight years she has written a monthly column in CADENCE magazine called "Circles and Lines." Lynn started using AutoCAD® software with Release 1.4, over 16 years ago, and has taught at the corporate and collegiate level for 13 years. A sought-after public speaker with a unique comedic style, Lynn is always one of the highest rated speakers at AutoDesk University®. Her latest writing endeavor is AutoCAD 2002 Inside and Out

Excellent Editing

This is an excerpt from Lynn Allen's Top Ten Tips for AutoCAD 2002. To obtain a copy, please contact your Autodesk Authorized Reseller.

It seems like we spend more time editing than we do drawing. In fact, the Properties commands (DDCHPROP and DDMODIFY) were some of my most frequently used commands in AutoCAD Release 14. And though it was easy to change the properties (such as layer, color, or linetype) of a selected group of objects, changing anything other than properties was a real chore. For example, if you needed to change the radius of seven different circles, you'd have to enter DDMODIFY seven times!

The new Properties command in AutoCAD 2002 is even easier to use than the Properties commands in Release 14, and the following features make it much more powerful:

• You'll find the new Properties command just about everywhere: on the Modify and Tools pull-down menus, on the Standard Toolbar, and in several of the right-click shortcut menus. My personal favorite for turning the Properties dialog box on and off is Control + 1. You can keep the dialog box docked on the side of your screen or move it around as you like.
  
  
• After you select the objects you want to edit, you can edit any geometry the objects have in common. For example, when you select circles and arcs, you can change the standard properties as well as the radius, center point, and so on. You can even select many different types of objects and then use the drop-down list in the upper left corner of the dialog box to isolate a specific type of object. Imagine the possibilities! Suppose you need to verify that all the text in your drawing is a specific height. You simply window the entire drawing and select "text" from the drop-down list. All the text properties appear in the dialog box, and you can see immediately if there's an offending text string.
  
  
  Figure 1: Easily edit common geometry of selected objects in the Properties dialog box.
  
  You can use the new Quick Select button to refine your selection set. For example, you can use it to work only with circles
• that have a radius larger than 2, only with text that has a height less than 1, or only with the red circles and the blue lines.
  
  
  Figure 2: Refine your selection in the Quick Select dialog box.
  
  
• With the Select Objects button you can use all the standard selection options, such as Last, Previous, Fence, Crossing Polygon, and so on.

Take the time to get to know the powerful new Properties command. It will make editing a breeze!

Top Secret Command for Editing Your Blocks

It's not uncommon for us to need to update our block definitions from time to time. You probably follow the same procedure we've all followed for years: Insert the block on the "0" layer... explode it... make the necessary changes... go back into the block command, redefine it... make sure you use the same insertion point or all of the previously inserted blocks will move, and so on. Redefining an existing block is not a very exciting task, tedious at best.

Enter the REFEDIT command to save the day. This awesome command came to us in AutoCAD® 2000 with the chief goal of permitting the editing of attached external references. As it turns out, it's a fantastic block editor as well. Most of us didn't think to try it out on blocks, even though technically blocks are referred to as references as well. To follow along you need a previously inserted block that you're willing to make some minor modification to.

From the Modify pull-down menu select In-place Xref and Block Edit. Interestingly enough, few of us have ever thought to use REFEDIT on blocks, and yet it's mentioned right there in the Modify pull-down menu... but then who has time to sit around and read those menus anyway? Select the block you wish to edit and then you will see the dialog box found in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Reference Edit dialog box.

If the displayed block is correct, click okay to exit the dialog box. You will be asked to select the individual components of the block again for editing—simply put a window around the intended block and press an extra enter. Now you will find yourself in an interesting situation. Everything in the drawing will be grayed out except for the block you're working on. This makes it easy to see what you're working with and keeps everything else out of the way. You will also find that the block has been temporarily exploded and sent back to its original layer for your use.

Figure 2: The REFEDIT toolbar.

You will see the REFEDIT toolbar as shown in Figure 2. Even if you're a toolbar hater (I know you're out there) do not get overly ambitious and close this toolbar. We're going to need it to complete this command and I'm sure you don't want to end up in REFEDIT limbo. Make the appropriate modifications and/or additions to the block and then select the last tool in the toolbar with the tooltip "Save back changes to reference" as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Use the last button in the toolbar to save your changes.

If you happen to make a mistake and want to cancel out of the entire operation, on the toolbar select the "Discard changes to Reference" button.

After modifying the block, you will get a nice friendly warning dialog box informing you you're about to redefine your block. Click OK to complete the procedure, and Presto! Your block has been redefined and all of the existing blocks have been updated to reflect the changes you made. No need to worry about the insertion point, REFEDIT will pick the same insertion point for you automatically. It just doesn't get much easier then that.

Give it a try—you'll never go back to the old method ever again!