974 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

Summary

This chapter explained how to create script files to automate repetitive commands. You read about the following:

Creating script files that contain commands, options, and values in command-line format

Running script files from within a drawing or when loading AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT

Creating slides from the display in your viewport and creating a script file that displays several slides, one after another, thus resulting in a slide show

Organizing your slides into slide libraries

In the next chapter, you read about how to create your own linetypes and hatch patterns.

976 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

The second line of the linetype syntax is its definition. With simple linetypes, you’re limited to dashes, dots, and spaces, which are measured in units and shown as follows:

A dash is indicated by a positive number.

A dot is indicated by a 0.

A space is indicated by a negative number.

Each item is separated by a comma, there are no spaces, and the maximum line length is 80 characters.

Each line must start with the letter A.

The following definition creates a line with two dashes of 0.25 units, followed by two dots, all separated by spaces of 0.1 units.

*seeingdouble, Future hedge line A,.25,–.1,.25,–.1,0,–.1,0,–.1

STEPS: Creating a Simple Linetype

1.Create a drawing using the acad.dwt or aclt.dwt template.

2.Save your drawing as ab31-01.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

3.In Windows, choose Start Run. Type notepad and click OK to open Notepad.

4.Type the following:

*3dotsandadash, temporary fencing A,.5,–.25,0,–.1,0,–.1,0,–.25

5.Press Enter after the last line. Save the file as ab31-01.lin in your AutoCAD Bible folder and close Notepad.

6.In your drawing, choose Layer Properties Manager on the Layers toolbar, and then click the New Layer icon. Name the new layer tfence. Set its color to red.

7.Click Continuous in the Linetype column to open the Select Linetype dialog box. Click Load.

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8.In the Load or Reload Linetypes dialog box, click File. In the Select Linetype File dialog box, find ab31-01.lin in your AutoCAD Bible folder, choose it, and click Open.

9.Back in the Load or Reload Linetypes dialog box, choose 3dotsandadash and click OK.

10.Again, in the Select Linetype dialog box, choose 3dotsandadash and then click OK. The layer tfence now shows the correct linetype. Click Current and then click OK.

11.Start the LINE command and turn on ORTHO. Draw any line to see the linetype. Save your drawing. The linetype should look like Figure 31-2.

Figure 31-2: The 3dotsandadash linetype.

Creating complex linetypes

A complex linetype includes either shapes or text in the linetype definition. Figure 31-3 shows an example of each.

Complex linetype definitions are similar to those for simple linetypes, except that they add a definition for a shape or text.

Figure 31-3: Complex linetypes include shapes or text.

Shapes are covered in the next chapter. At this point, you only need to know that shapes are contained in files with the file extension .shx.

The first line of the linetype definition is the same as for simple linetypes. The second line of the definition can contain all of the same features as those for a simple linetype. However, you add the special shape or text definition in square brackets:

Syntax for shapes: [shapename,shxfilename,details]

Syntax for text: [“text string”,textstyle,details]

details refers to an optional series of rotation, scale, and offset specifications that you can add to the definition. Table 31-1 describes these specifications.

978 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

The following complex linetype definition uses a shape and has no details:

*TEMPFENCE, FENCE SHAPE AND DASH A,.5,–.25,[FENCE,”C:\AUTOCAD BIBLE\FENCE.SHX”],–.5

The specification for the shape is simply part of the rest of the definition that includes a dash and spaces before and after the shape. The shape is enclosed in both commas and square brackets. The first part of the shape definition is the name of the shape (which is defined in the shape’s definition file), and the second part is the name of the shape file. In this case, the shape file is not in the support file search path, so the entire path needs to be specified. Don’t forget to use quotation marks around the shape file name if the folder name or file name contains embedded spaces.

Tip Note that the space after the shape (created with the –.5 code) is larger than the space before it (created with the –.25 code). You need to allow for the space that the shape takes up. This is largely a matter of trial and error, but if you know the shape definition well, you can make a good estimate. When you go back and change the linetype definition (if your first trial was an error), don’t forget to reload the linetype (using the Load option).

The following complex linetype definition uses text and has no details:

*TFENCE, DASH & TEXT A,.5,–.25,[“TEMP FENCE”,FENCE],–1.5

Again, the specification for the text is placed within a linetype definition that includes a dash and spaces. The first part of the text definition is the text string, which is always in quotation marks. The second part of the definition is the text style. As with the previous linetype definition containing a shape, the space after the text is larger than the space before in order to leave enough room for the text.

You must define the text style in the drawing before you load the linetype.

Table 31-1 lists the details that you can add to both the shape and text parts of complex linetype definitions.

Table 31-1: Optional Details for Shapes and Text in Complex Linetype Definitions

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* Although using an absolute rotation of 0 might sound like a good idea for complex linetypes with text, if you use the linetype at varying angles or on curves, you may find that the text shifts to an undesirable location due to the text’s justification point.

Here is a definition that includes a shape with a scale and a Y offset:

*TEMPFENCE, FENCE SHAPE AND DASH

A,.5,–.25,[FENCE,”C:\AUTOCAD BIBLE\FENCE.SHX”,S=.025,Y=-.07],–.5

This shape definition scales the shape to 0.025 of its original size. This results in the linetype shown in Figure 31-4. Of course, in order to scale the shape, you need to know its original size. You can use the SHAPE command to insert a shape and get an idea of what it looks like. In this case, the shape’s original definition is much too large for a linetype and needs to be scaled down.

Figure 31-4: The TEMFENCE linetype.

The shape definition also moves the shape in the minus Y direction by 0.07 units. This centers the shape nicely within the linetype.

By including more involved shapes in a complex linetype and not much else, you can create a linetype that is, for all practical purposes, a series of shapes displayed one after the other. You can create some interesting effects in this way.

You can find several complex linetypes at the end of the acad.lin or aclt.lin linetype definition file. Look at their definitions and try them out to get ideas for your own complex linetypes. The Express Tools installation (in AutoCAD only) has a command, MKLTYPE (choose Express Tools Make Linetype) that automatically creates linetypes, even complex ones.