Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published April 2012

AutoCAD 2013 Command Line Features

As is the case every year about this time, blogs are New-Release heavy with coverage of the high-end improvements to the flagship product. But I'm more about the fundamental interface-related updates. And although it has been threatened in the past, I'm a fan of the good ole Command: line.

They have, however, changed the phrasing to something a wee bit more helpful, so you'll see "Type a Command" rather than the word "Command". That said, here are a few insights into what you can expect when you get your copy of AutoCAD 2013!

Customize Wrench (for the Command Line)

In addition to accessing Options, hang out on AutoComplete for a list of the settings for that feature.

The Display Icons setting will display the icon of the command, immediately preceding the command or variable.

You can set the Delay Time (in decimals of a second) for the AutoComplete feature, so it doesn't pop up so quickly.

Recent Commands

There's a very small little icon that looks like this, >_ and if you click it, it will list for you the last commands you launched (whatever method you may have used to launch them).

Colorful Option String

When you launch a command with options, such as Rectangle in this example, the options in the brackets are highlighted and each option letter is blue, by default.

Options Dialog Box Display tab

On the Display tab in the Options dialog box, click the Colors button. Now click Command line to display an extensive list of 'Interface Elements'.

…and yes, any similarity to LA Lakers colors in the example is purely intentional.

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