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AutoCAD Productivity

UCSICON Options

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #146
Originally published: June 2016

The 2D UCS iconEvery five years or so I address the UCS icon, so here's your next installment.

General Insights

Note: There's an article on how to dimension 3D objects in Michael's Corner, January 2013. You will find more information on manipulating the UCS icon in that review, too.

See all the articles published in June 2016

Michael's Corner

Between 2003 and 2016, Michael Beall (and one or two guests) wrote almost 600 articles for CADTutor. The focus of these articles is AutoCAD productivity, and although some of them are now more than a few years old, most remain relevant to current versions of AutoCAD. The article above is just one example. Check out Michael's Corner for a full listing.

Tip of the Day

Using Imprint to sub-divide faces

Imprint in actionThe Imprint command (Modify ❯ Solid Editing ❯ Imprint Edges) gives the first impression of nothing more than adding graffiti to solids. Upon closer investigation, however, we find that it actually modifies the face on which it is placed, effectively sub-dividing it. Sub-divided faces can then be extruded using the Extrude faces command (Modify ❯ Solid Editing ❯ Extrude faces).

Procedure

  1. Create a box.
  2. Draw a line on one of the faces.
  3. Imprint that line on the solid.
  4. Use Extrude faces to extrude the sub-divided face.

To generate this modified part with Boolean operations would not be difficult but, as we all know, speed and accuracy are the name of the game. The procedure describe above can be auto-executed with the command macro:

^C^C_line;\\;_solidedit;b;i;\last;y;;;f;E;\;\\;;

The UI could benefit from some advanced programming, but if one pays attention to the Command Prompts, it's not so bad.

Note: This tip relates to versions of AutoCAD before 2007. Although the technique works with 2007 and above, the same operation can be achieved more easily using the Presspull tool.

Today's tip is by SEANT

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