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You also see the Workspaces toolbar when you open AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT for the first time. I explain workspaces in the next section. If you don’t want to use this toolbar right away, you can close it until you need it.

Configuring and Using Workspaces

A Workspace is a configuration of toolbars, menus, and dockable windows (palettes and the command window). You can create workspaces so that you can quickly switch from one configuration to another. For example, when you are drawing in 3D, you might want the Solids toolbar displayed. On the other hand, when you are creating, organizing, and saving blocks, you don’t want that toolbar; instead, you might want the DesignCenter and Tools palette displayed.

Creating and modifying a workspace

The easiest way to create a workspace is to display toolbars, menus, and palettes the way you want them, and then choose Window Workspaces Save Current As. In the Save Workspace dialog box, name the workspace and then click Save. You can use this same method to modify an existing workspace. Make the changes and choose the current workspace in the Name drop-down list of the Save Workspace dialog box. Click Save, and then Click Yes when asked whether you want to replace the workspace.

If you want to make sure that you don’t forget anything, you can use the Customize User Interface dialog box. This method lets you pick and choose from the complete list of menus, toolbars, and dockable windows. Follow these steps:

1.Type cui to open the Customize User Interface dialog box.

2.In the Customizations In pane, double-click the Workspaces item to expand it.

3.To create a new workspace, right-click the Workspaces item and choose New Workspace. Then choose the new workspace to specify its settings. To edit an existing workspace, choose that workspace. The Workspace Contents pane appears to the right.

4.In the Workspace Contents pane, click the Customize Workspace button. The result is that all the menus and toolbars in the Customizations In pane now have checkboxes next to them.

5.To add (display) or remove (hide) toolbars and menus, expand those items. Check or clear checkboxes to specify which toolbars and menus you want to display or hide for that workspace. Don’t forget to expand the Partial CUI Files item so that you can specify the toolbars and menus for those files as well. As you add or remove items, they appear or disappear from the list in the Workspace Contents pane.

6.To specify the details of how each item should appear, click the item to show its properties in the Properties pane, where you can edit such properties as the location of a toolbar, its orientation (floating or docked), and its X and Y position. You can’t edit menu properties.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1133

7.To specify dockable window settings, which don’t appear in the Customizations In pane, double-click the Dockable Windows item in the Workspace Contents pane. Choose any window to edit its properties in the Properties pane.

8.To save your changes, click the Done button at the top of the Workspace Contents pane.

9.Click OK to close the Customize User Interface dialog box.

Switching between workspaces

To switch between workspaces, choose Window Workspaces and choose from the list of saved workspaces. You can also choose a workspace from the Workspaces toolbar.

If you make changes to the interface display, such as displaying a toolbar, this change does not automatically become part of the workspace. However, AutoCAD remembers that last state of the interface, and if you close and re-open AutoCAD, that toolbar is displayed.

You can specify that you want to save changes to the interface display to the workspace. Choose Window Workspaces Workspace Settings to open the Workspace Settings dialog box. Choose the Automatically Save Workspace Changes option and click OK. If you want to choose which changes are saved, keep the default Do Not Save Changes to Workspace option, and manually modify the current workspace, replacing the current one, as explained in the previous section. You can also use the Workspace Settings dialog box to organize the list of workspaces, by changing their order in the list.

You can control AutoCAD’s settings (but not AutoCAD LT’s) with profiles, which are different from workspaces. I discuss profiles later in this appendix.

Configuring AutoCAD

AutoCAD has many options and settings that you can modify to suit your particular needs. Because you usually configure AutoCAD once when you first install, and only go back to these settings occasionally, it is easy to forget them. Knowing the available options is worthwhile; sometimes these options can make your life so much easier.

Customizing the status bar

You can customize what appears in the status bar of the AutoCAD window. For example, if you never use lineweights, you can remove the LWT button on the status bar.

To customize the status bar, click the down arrow at the right end of the status bar to display the status bar menu.

Click any item to hide the item if it’s checked, or to display the item if it isn’t checked. For each additional item, you need to click the down arrow again to re-open the menu.

Configuring options

You configure AutoCAD using the Options dialog box. Choose Apply to configure a setting and keep the dialog box open. Choose OK to configure a setting and close the dialog box.

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The Files tab

The Files tab lets you configure search paths, as well as specify file names and locations. You’ll probably most often use the Support File Search Path, which contains a listing of the folders that AutoCAD uses to search for menus, fonts, linetypes, and hatch patterns. Rather than add your customized menus, hatches, and so on to an existing support folder, you can create a folder especially for these files and add the folder to the Support File Search Path.

The default location for support files is the first listing under the Support File Search Path item. This location may vary, depending on your operating system. However, you can also use

Program Files\AutoCAD 2006\Support or Program Files\AutoCAD LT 2006\Support, which is listed as one of the support locations.

As you click an item in the main listing of the dialog box, you see an explanation at the bottom. To edit the item, double-click the item or click the plus sign to the left of the item. You can then click a sub-item and remove it, or click Add to add a sub-item. Click Browse to find a folder or file rather than type it. When you’re done, click OK.

The Display tab

The Display tab, shown in Figure A-2, contains settings related to the display that you see on your screen.

Figure A-2: The Display tab of the Options dialog box.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1135

The Windows Elements section determines whether you see scroll bars, the screen menu, large toolbar buttons, and tooltips. (The screen menu is not available in AutoCAD LT.) You can also set the colors and fonts for the various screen elements. For example, by clicking Colors, you can change the background color of the Model or Layout tabs.

The Layout Elements section creates display settings for paper space layouts. Most are checked by default. You can set the following items:

Uncheck the Display Layout and Model Tabs option to eliminate the tabs at the bottom of the drawing area. You might want to do this if you never use layouts.

Uncheck the Display Printable Area option to hide the dashed line that you usually see around a layout. The dashed line represents the margin of the paper and, therefore, shows you the printable area.

Uncheck the Display Paper Background option to avoid seeing the edge of the paper and the gray background. This setting makes a layout tab look very much like the model tab. If this item is checked, you can uncheck the Display Paper Shadow item to get rid of the shadow effect that makes the paper look like it’s slightly above the surface of the gray background.

Check the Show Page Setup Manager for New Layouts option to display the Page Setup Manager when you click a new layout tab.

Uncheck the Create Viewport in New Layouts option to display layouts with no viewport. This setting is useful if you always want to set up your own viewport configurations.

The Crosshair Size section sets the size of the crosshairs as a percentage of the entire screen. The default is 5. You can type a new number in the text box or drag the slider bar. To create crosshairs that cover the entire screen, use a setting of 100.

The Display Resolution section sets arc and circle smoothness (also accessible using the VIEWRES command), the number of segments in a polyline curve (the SPLINESEGS system variable), rendered object smoothness (the FACETRES system variable), and contour lines per surface (the ISOLINES system variable). The last two items are not available in AutoCAD LT.

The Display Performance section offers settings that you can use to increase display speed. For example, several settings affect the way AutoCAD displays raster images. You can turn off FILLMODE, which applies solid fill in wide polylines, donuts, and hatched objects. AutoCAD LT has only the text boundary and solid fill items.

The Reference Edit fading intensity setting applies to objects during in-place reference editing. This setting affects how much objects that you are not editing are faded, compared to objects that you are editing. The default is 50 percent. For more information, see Chapter 19. This setting applies to AutoCAD only.

The Open and Save tab

The Open and Save tab, shown in Figure A-3, contains settings related to opening the program and files, as well as saving drawings.

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Figure A-3: The Open and Save tab.

The File Save section specifies the default drawing type and whether or not a thumbnail preview image is saved. You can see this preview when you want to open a new drawing and set the view to Preview. You can separately specify thumbnails for sheet sets.

Setting the Incremental Save percentage enables you to control when AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT saves the entire drawing, as opposed to just your changes — an incremental save. The default is 50 percent, which avoids too many long, full saves.

In the File Safety Precautions section, set the default time between automatic saves. The other settings in this section are:

Create Backup Copy with Each Save: By default, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT create backup drawings whenever you save a drawing. Backup drawings have the same name as your drawing, but with an extension of .bak. Although you probably spend some time erasing these drawings, they can be very useful if a drawing becomes corrupted. You can change their extension to .dwg and open them as drawing files. However, you can also turn off this feature. Unfortunately, you can’t control where the backup files are stored.

Full-Time CRC Validation: Check this item if data that you import is becoming corrupted and you suspect a hardware problem. A cyclic redundancy check performs a validation during the importing process and can help you troubleshoot this problem. (AutoCAD Only.)

Maintain a Log File: Keeps a log file that records the contents of the text window. Each time you work in AutoCAD, the new material is added to the end of the existing log file, and so you should periodically edit or delete material from the log file. Use the Files tab to control the log file location.

File Extension for Temporary Files: Sets the file name extension for temporary files that are created while you’re working. By default, the extension for these files is .ac$. Use the Files tab to control the temporary file location.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1137

Use the Security Options section to set options for passwords and digital signatures. See Chapter 26 for more details. AutoCAD LT doesn’t include the password feature.

In the File Open section, you can set how many of the most recently used drawings you want to see at the bottom of the File menu. The default is nine, which is also the maximum setting. You can also choose whether or not you want to see the full path in the drawing listing.

In the External References (Xrefs) section, you can turn on and off demand loading of external references. When the Retain Changes to Xref Layers setting is checked (which it is by default), any changes that you made to xref layer properties and states (such as freezing a layer) are saved. When you reopen the drawing containing the xref, these changes are retained. Finally, in AutoCAD only, you can set whether the current drawing can be edited in-place when someone else is referencing it. For more information, see Chapter 19.

In the ObjectARX Applications section (AutoCAD only), you have settings related to ObjectARX applications and proxy graphics created by ObjectARX applications. ObjectARX is a programming interface for creating applications that work with AutoCAD. By default, the application is loaded when you either use one of the application’s commands, or open a drawing containing a custom object created by the application. You can further restrict when the application is loaded to reduce demands on memory. In the Proxy Images for Custom Objects drop-down list, you can control how custom objects created by an ObjectARX application are displayed.

The Plot and Publish tab

The Plot and Publish tab, shown in Figure A-4, contains settings related to plotting and publishing, including plot style table settings. Later in this appendix, I explain how to configure a plotter.

Figure A-4: The Plot and Publish tab.

In the Default Plot Settings for New Drawings section, you set the default plotter/printer for new drawings and whether or not to use the same settings that you used the last time you plotted. As soon as you create plot settings for a drawing, those settings are saved with the

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drawing. Click Add or Configure Plotters for access to the Add-a-Plotter Wizard and existing plot configuration files. If you use a template, the plot settings in the template take precedence over the settings here.

The Plot to File section sets the default location for the file when you plot to a file. The Background Processing Options section determines whether plotting and publishing occur in the background (so that you can continue to work) or in the foreground. The Plot and Publish Log File section specifies whether to create a log file specifically for plotting and publishing operations.

In the General Plot Options section, you can choose whether to keep the paper size specified on the layout tab or use the plotter’s default paper size when you change plotters. You can also decide whether AutoCAD alerts you and creates an error log when the drawing is spooled through a system printer because of a port conflict.

In the same section, you can set a value for the quality of plotted OLE objects. You can choose from Monochrome, Low Graphics, High Graphics and Automatically Select. The default is Automatically Select. Check the Use OLE Application When Plotting OLE Objects check box for the best quality when plotting OLE objects. Check the Hide System Printers check box to repress the display of Windows system printers on the list of printers in the Plot and Page Setup dialog boxes, so you that can’t inadvertently print to your printer instead of to your plotter.

The Specify Plot Offset Relative To section determines how plot offsets (which you set in the Plot dialog box) work. Click the Plot Stamp Settings button to specify what you want to include if you add a plot stamp when plotting.

Click the Plot Style Table Settings button to decide whether to use color-dependent or named plot styles for new drawings, and choose a default plot style table. You can also set default plot styles for layer 0 and objects. Click the Add or Edit Plot Style Tables button to go to the Plot Styles folder where the plot style tables are stored. You can then double-click the Add-a-Plot Style Table Wizard to create a new table, or open an existing table for editing. For more information on plotting and plot style tables, see Chapter 17.

The System tab

The System tab contains a number of settings that affect how your computer works with AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, as well as some general settings. Figure A-5 shows the System tab.

In the Current 3D Graphics Display section (AutoCAD only), you choose the display driver that you want to use. The default is the HEIDI display driver that comes with AutoCAD. Click Properties to set the properties of the display driver.

In the Current Pointing Device section, you choose Wintab Compatible Digitizer ADI 4.2 if you have a digitizer. If you have a digitizing device, you can choose to accept input from only the digitizer, or both the digitizer and the mouse.

In the Layout Regen Options section, you can choose to cache the model and layout tabs to avoid regenerations when you switch among the tabs. (AutoCAD only.)

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1139

Figure A-5: The System tab.

In the dbConnect Options section (AutoCAD only), you can choose whether to store the index of database links in the drawing file to enhance performance during Link Select functions. You can also choose to open database tables in read-only mode; however, you won’t be able to edit them.

AutoCAD LT has a User Name section that contains your name and organization. This is derived from the information that you provided at installation. You can change this name. The REVDATE command, which is available only in AutoCAD LT, uses this name to place a time stamp on your drawing.

In the General Options section, you can do the following:

Enable Single-Drawing Compatibility mode to disable the Multiple Document Interface so that AutoCAD can only open one drawing at a time. (Do this only if you’re having problems with existing AutoLISP programs and other customization.)

Turn off the display of the OLE Properties dialog box when inserting OLE objects into AutoCAD drawings.

Bring back dialog boxes that have a Don’t Display This Warning Again check box (that you checked).

Tell AutoCAD to beep (or to remain silent) when it detects an invalid entry.

Determine whether AutoLISP loads acad.lsp into every drawing that you open. By default, this box is not checked, meaning that only acaddoc.lsp is loaded into every drawing. (AutoCAD only.)

Disable long names for layers, dimension styles, blocks, linetypes, text styles, layouts, UCS names, views, and viewport configurations, for compatibility with prior releases.

Decide whether or not to display the Startup dialog box.

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In the Live Enabler Options section, you can decide when you want to check for object enablers. Object enablers let the user display and use custom objects in drawings, even when the application that created them is unavailable. For example, if you send a customer who is using Release 2000 a drawing with associative dimensions, that customer can use an object enabler to view those dimensions.

The User Preferences tab

The User Preferences tab, shown in Figure A-6, offers a variety of preference settings.

The Windows Standard Behavior section

In the Windows Standard Behavior section, you can disable the shortcut menus that appear when you right-click in the drawing or command areas. Then a right-click is equivalent to pressing Enter.

Figure A-6: The User Preferences tab.

Choose Right-Click Customization to open the dialog box shown in Figure A-7.

At the top of the Right-Click Customization dialog box, you can turn on the time-sensitive right-click feature.

With time-sensitive right-clicking, a quick right-click is equivalent to pressing Enter. For example, it repeats the last command, or ends the LINE command (and other commands that require Enter to end). A longer right-click (hold your finger on the mouse slightly longer) opens the shortcut menu. You can specify the length of time required for the longer rightclick, which is 250 milliseconds by default.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1141

Figure A-7: The Right-Click Customization dialog box.

In the Default Mode section, if you haven’t turned on time-sensitive right-clicking, then you can choose the Repeat Last Command option to return to the Release 14 functioning of the right mouse button. In the Edit Mode section, you can choose the Repeat Last Command option to disable the shortcut menus only when one or more objects are selected, but no command is in progress. When you do this, right-clicking automatically repeats the most recent command. In the Command Mode section, you have three choices if you haven’t turned on time-sensitive right-clicking:

Choose the ENTER option to disable the shortcut menus whenever a command is in progress. You then have to use the keyboard to choose command options.

Choose the Shortcut Menu: Always Enabled option to always have the shortcut menu available.

Choose the Shortcut Menu: Enabled When Command Options Are Present option as an in-between option. The shortcut menu is now available when the command has options, but when the command has no options, right-clicking is like pressing Enter.

Click Apply & Close to close the Right-Click Customization dialog box and return to the User Preferences tab of the Options dialog box.

The Insertion Scale section

In the Insertion Scale section of the User Preferences tab, you can specify default units for inserted objects (source contents units) and drawings (target drawing units) when dragging objects into a drawing from the DesignCenter or i-drop. When you don’t use the INSUNITS system variable (saved in your drawing), this setting determines the units to apply. You can choose anything from inches to parsecs!

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The Fields section

In the Fields section, you can turn on and off the gray border around fields. (The border doesn’t plot; it just indicates to you that the text is a field.) Click the Field Update Settings button to specify when fields are automatically updated. By default, they update when you open, save, plot, eTransmit, or regenerate a drawing. AutoCAD LT, which doesn’t have the field feature, only includes the ability to turn the border on and off. (AutoCAD LT can read fields created in AutoCAD drawings.)

Hidden Line and Lineweight Settings

Click the Hidden Line Settings button to specify how you want to show hidden lines. I discuss these settings in Chapter 21. Click the Lineweight Settings button to open the dialog box shown in Figure A-8. For more information on lineweights, see Chapter 11.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1143

The Priority for Coordinate Data Entry and Associate Dimensioning sections

In the Priority for Coordinate Data Entry section, you specify which has priority: running object snaps or keyboard entry. By default, keyboard entry has priority except in scripts, and so you can use running object snaps when picking points on the screen, but override them when you want to type in coordinates.

In the Associative Dimensioning section, choose whether you want new dimensions to be associative, and thus automatically adjusting as their associated objects change size.

The Hyperlink section

In the Hyperlink section, you can disable the hyperlink cursor (which appears when you pass the cursor over a hyperlink) and the hyperlink shortcut menu, as well as the hyperlink tooltip that appears when you pass the cursor over a hyperlink.

The Undo/Redo section

This section has only one setting: you can choose to combine consecutive zooms and pans into one command when you use the U or UNDO command. You may do several zooms and pans together, but you probably don’t want to step backward through each one individually. This feature is on by default and is new for AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006.

The Drafting tab

The Drafting tab, shown in Figure A-9, includes AutoSnap and AutoTrack settings.

In the AutoSnap Settings section, you can disable the marker (that visually indicates each object snap), the magnet (that draws the cursor to the object snap), and the tooltip (that says which object snap you’ve found). By default, the aperture is not displayed with AutoSnap markers because the combination can be confusing. You can also choose a color for the AutoSnap marker. By default, the marker is Color 31, which shows up nicely against the default black screen. If you change the screen to white, you probably want to change the marker to a darker color. You can also change the marker size by dragging the control bar.

In the Object Snap Options section, you can turn off the option to ignore hatch objects. By default, you cannot snap to hatch objects. If you want to snap to hatch objects, uncheck the check box. You can also choose the new Replace Z Value with Current Elevation option (AutoCAD only) to specify that object snaps use the current elevation for the Z value instead of the Z value of the object snap’s point on the object.

In the AutoTrack Settings section, you control the visual elements for AutoTracking:

Uncheck the Display Polar Tracking Vector check box to disable the vector that appears when you move the cursor along a polar angle. You still see the tooltip.

Uncheck the Display Full-Screen Tracking Vector check box to see only a localized vector when using object snap tracking — the vector appears between the acquired points, instead of crossing the entire screen. (AutoCAD LT doesn’t offer this choice.)

Uncheck the Display AutoTrack Tooltip, (or Display Tracking tooltip in AutoCAD LT), check box to disable the tooltip that tells you which object snaps you’ve tracked.

In the Alignment Point Acquisition section (available only in AutoCAD), you can require pressing the Shift key to acquire points. You might do this if you find yourself acquiring points by accident, which can result in annoying tracking vectors.

You can set the aperture size for picking an object snap. However, the aperture box is off by default. (You can turn it on in the AutoSnap Settings section, as previously described.)

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Figure A-9: The Drafting tab.

Click the new Settings button in the Drafting Tooltip Appearance section to open the Tooltip Appearance dialog box. Here you can set the color, size, and transparency for tooltips. You can also choose to apply these settings to all tooltips or only to the Dynamic Input tooltip.

The Selection tab

The Selection tab contains settings that control how you select objects. This tab is shown in Figure A-10.

Figure A-10: The Selection tab.

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 1145

The options in the Selection Modes and Pickbox Size sections, which customize object selection, are discussed in detail in Chapter 9. The options in the Grips and Grip Size sections are covered in Chapter 10.

The Selection Preview section lets you specify what happens when you pass the cursor over an object to see what object you would select if you clicked your mouse. I cover this section in Chapter 9. This feature is new for AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006.

The Profiles tab

The Profiles tab, shown in Figure A-11, enables you to create user profiles. AutoCAD LT does not offer this feature (or the tab). A profile is a group of settings, most of which you set in the Options dialog box. It can include all settings that are saved in the Windows Registry. Settings that are saved in the current drawing (indicated in the Options dialog box by the blue drawing marker) are not included in a profile. If you share your system with someone else and you each want to store different settings, or if you want different settings for different projects, you can create a profile and make it current when you open AutoCAD.

Figure A-11: The Profiles tab with the default and one custom profile.

Whatever settings you create with the Options dialog box are automatically part of the default profile, which starts out with the exciting name of Unnamed Profile. Here’s how you create a new profile:

1.Click Add to List to open the Add Profile dialog box. Type in a profile name and description and click Apply & Close. This adds a new profile that is a duplicate of the current profile.

2.On the Profiles tab, click the new profile and choose Set Current.

3.Go through the other tabs and make the changes that you want. Be sure to click Apply on each tab.

4.Click OK to close the Options dialog box.