AutoCAD 2005 for Dummies

A warm-up Stretch

In AutoCAD, stretching is the process of making objects longer or shorter. The STRETCH grip-editing operation is really a combination of stretching and compressing, but the programmers probably realized that STRETCHANDCOMPRESS didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

The STRETCH grip-editing mode works differently than the other modes. By default, it affects only the object with the hot grip on it, not all objects with grips on them. You can override this default behavior by using the Shift key to pick multiple hot grips. Follow these steps to get acquainted with using the STRETCH grip-editing mode to stretch one or more objects:

1. Turn off ortho mode by clicking the ORTHO button on the status bar until the button appears to be pushed out and the words Ortho off appear on the command line.

Ortho mode forces stretch displacements to be orthogonal — that is, parallel to lines running at 0 and 90 degrees. During real editing tasks, you’ll often want to turn on ortho mode, but while you get acquainted with stretching, leaving ortho mode off makes things clearer.

2. Select several objects, including at least one line. 

3. On one of the lines, click one of the endpoint grips to make it hot.

All the objects remain selected, but as you move the cursor, only the line with the hot grip changes. Figure 6-17 shows an example.

Figure 6-17: Dragging a line’s endpoint in the middle of the STRETCH grip-editing operation.

4. Click a new point for the hot endpoint grip.

The line stretches to accommodate the new endpoint location.

5. On the same line, click the midpoint grip to make it hot.

As you move the cursor, the entire line moves. Using the STRETCH grip-editing mode with a line’s midpoint “stretches” the entire line to a new location.

6. Click a new point for the hot midpoint grip.

The line moves to the new midpoint location. 

7. On one of the lines, click one of the endpoint grips to make it hot.

8. Hold down the Shift key, and then click one of the endpoint grips on a different line to make it hot.

Two grips on two different lines are now hot because you held down the Shift key and clicked the second grip.

  You can create more hot grips by holding down the Shift key and clicking more grips.

9. Release the Shift key and re-pick any one of the hot grips.

Releasing the Shift key signals that you’re finished making grips hot. Repicking one of the hot grips establishes it as the base point for the stretch operation (see Figure 6-18).

Figure 6-18: Stretching multiple objects with multiple hot grips.

10. Click a new point for the grip.

All the objects with hot grips stretch based on the displacement of the grip that you clicked in Step 9. 

11. Turn on ortho mode by clicking the ORTHO button on the status bar until the button appears to be pushed in and the words Ortho on appear on the command line. Repeat Steps 2 through 10 to see the effect of ortho mode on stretching.

  For most real-world editing situations, you’ll want to turn on ortho or polar tracking mode before stretching. Ortho mode is good for all kinds of drawing and editing tasks because it enforces a nice, rectilinear orderliness on your drawing. Chapter 4 describes how to use ortho mode to draw orthogonal lines.

Polishing those properties

When you think of editing objects, you probably think first about editing their geometry: moving, stretching, making new copies, and so on. That’s the kind of editing I cover in this chapter.

Another kind of editing is changing objects’ properties. As I describe in Chapter 4, every object in an AutoCAD drawing has a set of non-geometrical properties, including layer, color, linetype, and lineweight. Sometimes, you need to edit those properties — when you accidentally draw something on the wrong layer, for example. Three common ways of editing objects properties in AutoCAD are

? The Properties palette: This is the most flexible way to edit properties. Select any object (or objects), right-click in the drawing area, and choose Properties from the cursor menu. The Properties palette displays a tabular grid that lists the names and values of all properties. Click in the value cell to change a particular property.

? Layers and Properties toolbars: Another way to change properties is to select objects and then choose from the drop-down lists (Layer,Color, and so on) on the Layers and the Properties toolbars. See Chapter 4 for more information.

? Match Properties: You can use the Match Properties button on the Standard toolbar — the button with the paintbrush on it — to paint properties from one object to another. Match Properties works similarly to the Format Painter button in Microsoft applications. Match Properties works even when the objects reside in different drawings.

Chapter 7 A Zoom with a View

In This Chapter

• Zooming and panning

• Naming and restoring views

• Zooming and panning in paper space layouts

• Regenerating the display

One of the advantages of CAD over manual drawing is its capability of giving you different ways to view your drawing. You can zoom in close, zoom out to a great distance, and pan around. In fact, not only can you zoom and pan in your drawing, but in most kinds of drawings, you must do it frequently to be able to draw, edit, and view effectively.

Technical drawings are jampacked with lines, text, and dimensions. Zooming and panning frequently enables you to see the details better, draw more confidently (because you can see what you’re doing), and edit more quickly (because object selection is easier when there aren’t a zillion objects on the screen). This chapter covers AutoCAD’s most useful display control features.

Zoom and Pan with Glass and Hand

Moving your viewpoint in to get a closer view of your drawing data is called zooming in;