Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 5 - VIEW CUBE

Starting with AutoCAD R13, DVIEW, the legendary command, became 3DORBIT in AutoCAD R12 and finally be formed to its most advanced state in AutoCAD 2009. Let us take a look at the form of ‘View Cube’ (Figure 1).

Figure.1 View Cube

To open the view cube, you have to run NAVCUBE command and choose ‘ON’ option. ‘3D Modeling’ have to be used as the workspace for the cube to be opened. Workspaces in AutoCAD 2009 allows ribbon (subject of the first article) to change according to the concept. For instance working in 3D, makes the ribbon equipped with 3D related commands. The last condition to open the view cube is that the view mode have to be any mode but not ‘2D Wireframe’. ‘Realistic’ mode is going to be used in the example figures.

You can do almost everything about view angle once the cube is being opened. Surfaces and corners of the cube is for passing the view angles that were set previously. For example, if you get close to the top right corner of the cube with the mouse, the corner will become active and upon pressing on it, a perspective view from that corner is being shown on the screen (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Corners and edges are placed relatively. So, they are updated according to the new view angle. Yet, FRONT, RIGHT, TOP expressions written on the surfaces implies the same view angle according to the coordinate system. In brief, corners and edges represent the perspective views and the surfaces represent plan views. View cube appearance and attribute also changes automatically with a change in the view mode (Figure 3). When you get the cursor near the cube, four arrows appears which is designed for changing the view modes. There are also circular arrows for rotating the view 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise. The home icon located on the top left corner is for going back to a view mode that is assigned before. You can change the view freely by pressing anywhere on the screen, holding the mouse button and moving the mouse. View Cube is a strong opponent for 3DORBIT which you are going to understand once you get used to it.
Figure 3

The capability of the cube is equipped generously with the right-click menu. Let us take a look at it (Figure 4).
Figure 4

* Home: Goes back to your assigned view angle.
* Parallel: Paralell perspective mode.
* Perspective: Real perspective.

Perspective with Ortho Faces: Changes the view of all faces according to the rules of real perspective mode if the current view is not set as plan view.

Set Current View as Home: Stores the current view mode and settings and assigns as ‘Home View’ (Pressing the ‘Home’ icon restores this view).

ViewCube Settings…: opens the cube settings.

A rather big window appears when you press the settings option (Figure 5).
Figure 5

You can edit the size and the opacity (in the passive mode) of the cube via the ‘Display Settings’. Also, the small ‘UCS’ menu below the cube can be turned off here.

‘When Clicking on the ViewCube’ holds a part of the important settings. If you do not want to see any ghosting effects during the view changes unclick the ‘Use view transactions when switching views’ option. The third option is used for locating the cube according to the UCS.

‘Restore Defaults’ button can be used to go back to the default settings which are the most suitable ones, I guess.

Compaerd with the 3DORBIT, the single disadvantage of the VIEW CUBE, which we examined in detail, is that the front and back of the view is being clipped. Yet, 3DCLIP command works much better compared to the previous one.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 4 – Layer Management and XREF Clipping

One of the most remarkable innovations of Autocad 2009 is the layer management window. It can be docked at the sides like the properties palette and kept open. That means you can use any command when it is open.

The modifications are updated instantly when you change anything in the new layer management window. Property columns can be freezed or turned on which is similar with the split option of EXCEL (Figure 1).
Figure 1

By doing this, the column is kept open without any change. You can open filter panel to provide more space. There is an advanced right-click menu. Almost whole processes (including layer isolate) can be done when you right-click on any layer (Figure 2).
Figure 2

These innovations seems like a retouch firstly but you are going to get used to them shortly. You can check this by using previous versions, for instance version 2008, after using Autocad 2009 for some time.

Let me mention about XREF Clipping now which is the second topic of this article. If the variable XCLIPFRAME is set to ‘1’ (i.e. turned on), the clipping border should be seen like a window. Once you select the window, GRIP boxes will appear at the corners. You can arrange the clipping area easily with this special feature of Autocad 2009 (Figure 3)
Figure 3

Also the clipping view can be inverted by the arrow located at the lower side. The clipping option in Autocad needed to be improved and finally, with the new version 2009, this issue is now solved.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 3 – Action Recorder

‘Action Recoder’ is one of the most attractive features of Autocad 2009. Macro recording function of Office programmes is brought to Autocad. This option did not mentioned earlier since the customization and improvement functions of Autocad is very strong and useful. Yet, software developers can not resist to user requests anymore and finally design the Action Recorder.

You can access the new feature from the first part of the Tools tab (Figure 1). Command:_ACTRECORD
Figure 1

You can record your repeating processes and use them again later. Let us now draw a square and record the process. Simply press the ‘Record’ button to start recording. Upon pressing the button, a small window comes up and a small red ball appears near the marker (Figure 2).
Figure 2

From now on everything done is being recorded. When a square with 300×300 units is drawn, the recording window should be the same with the one on Figure 3.
Figure 3

To stop recording press the ‘Stop’ button in the window and a menu window appears for naming and saving the recorded macro (Figure 4).
Figure 4

To discuss the details in the lower part , the most important point here is naming the macro in a way that it can be remembered easily later. Now, we have a recording ready to use however, it is nothing but a useless macro drawing squares again and again at the same point. Autodesk programmers surely be aware of this issue and improved a user-accessible mechanism. Let us take a closer look at the recording window (Figure 5).
Figure 5

As it can be seen, the start point of the square is recorded as absolute and the others are relatively. Thus, if the first point is set as a value given by the user, the rest will be run samely. It is very easy to do this. Simply right-click the first coordinate and select ‘Request user input’. The coordinate symbol changes immediately (Figure 6).
Figure 6

The only thing left to do is just running the macro. To do this, just press the ‘Play’ button located in the same window. The start point of the square is requested and the rest is done automatically. You can add messages to the list by right-clicking on the window and selecting ‘Insert user message…’. An annoying message appears like an error or something is occured J (Figure 7).
Figure 7

Messages can be responded as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. These can be very useful when you are using macros that draws multiple ojects.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 2 - Quick Properties & Quick View

Another new feature of AutoCAD 2009 is ‘Quick Properties’ options. If it is turned on, properties of the selected objects are briefly listed on the screen (Figure 1).
Figure 1

You can turn on the option by using status bar which is mentioned in the previous article or setting the QPMODE variable to 1 or 2. ‘1’ for turning on the option for all objects and ‘2’ for turning on the option for the objects you chose. You can also use ‘CTRL+SHIFT+P’ if you prefer. This little menu shows general properties of the object. Geometric properties of the object can be changed via this menu. You can access the advanced options of the ‘Quick Properties’ menu by right-clicking on the window frame and pressing ‘settings..’ (Figure 2).
Figure 2

You can edit the objects that will be included, where the window opens and the ‘automatic turn off ‘function. Normally, the menu appears near to the clicked point, but with ‘Float’ option its place is fixed. You can filter the object types that are going to be included in the ‘Quick Properties’ by accessing the ‘Customize…’ menu.

A similar feature to ‘Quick Properties’ is ‘Quik Layout View’ in AutoCAD 2009 (Figure 3).
Figure 3

You can access this feature via QVLAYOUT command or status bar. Turning this option on, adds whole list of layouts and models to the preview windows. Two small icons appear in the preview menu (when you hold the mouse on the file) for the plot and publish processes. A little and speedy layout view menu appears just in the middle below. You can permanantly turn those preview menus on by pressing the PIN icon in the menu. The plot options of the preview windows can be accessed by right-clicking as we did same in the LAYOUT TABS options earlier (Figure 4).
Figure 4

The last component of the Quick View series is Quick View Drawings menu. Samely, you can access the option by typing QVDRAWING in the command line or from status bar (Figure 5).
Figure 5

The whole drawings open at the moment are listed in the preview menus when the option is turned on. Upon holding the mouse on the drawing, small layout views are listed.
We think that these quick preview options can speed up the drawing. We are looking forward to hearing your experiences and comments.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 1 - New user interface

Although we have been using AutoCAD 2009 for months, we introduce you just now since its newly come publication permission. AutoCAD 2009 has a new great user interface which we know from Microsoft Office 2007. (Figure 1)
Figure.1 - The Ribbon

The showy menu placed on the upper side of the screen is called RIBBON as it is in the Office program. Actually DASHBOARD which we are introduced in AutoCAD 2007 is replaced with RIBBON. The command name is also changed as ribbon. The ribbon is separated into 6-8 tabs and each tab is also separated into panels. Tabs and their contents change according to WORKSPACES which provides an efficient usage.

Apart from visible parts of the panels, additional commands are also added to the expandable part. (Figure 2)
Figure 2

Upon pressing the PIN below, panel becomes fixed and stationary. In addition, alternative uses of some commands are prepared as FLYOUT’s and can be accessed from the little black triangle on the sides (Figure 3).
Figure 3

There is also a menu browser for those who are anxious about finding usual commands or missing old menus (Figure 4).
Figure 4

The browser can be accessed by pressing the big red A letter on the top left of the screen. It was pretty difficult to get used to the RIBBON when I first started to use Office 2007. But I am now addicted to it and never think about the old menus. I can easily say; the same situation is also valid for AutoCAD 2009. Yet, command search option of the menu browser is very attractive. If you have trouble with finding the command you want, just type it on the command search engine and enjoy the results (Figure 5)
Figure 5

The result is very impressive. The output also contains the user customized menus.

File preview is another feature in AutoCAD. The recently worked documents are listed in detail and a preview window appears when you hold the mouse on it (Figure 6).
Figure 6

You can add your favorite commands into the quick access toolbar (Figure 7).

Figure 7

This menu can also be customized. There are also useful arrangements in the status bar. We are going to mention them in detail in the upcoming AutoCAD 2009 articles. But here is the view (Figure 8).
Figure 8

Mostly used and a few newly come options are added to it. It can be changed according to the workspace. The complete state can be seen in Figure 9.
Figure 9 (taken from AutoCAD 2009 Preview Guide)