Gil's CAD Clues

I'm sure everyone is either at AU or keeping up with everything from AU with your preferred social media, but here is a quick Civil 3D t...

Occasionally I work with a lot of layers and a lot of xrefs and it gets pretty annoying when I am scrolling the the layer properties manager...

Okay, This is not a real command.  This handy little lisp command will deploy three commands at once, _setbylayer, _Purge, and _audit.  Grea...

No, it’s not the same as Layer Isolation, it’s object isolation. You can isolate one or more objects even if they are located on a different...

Ever wish you could just change that darn block to an xref? Just deploy the command, select the block, and then map the xref. This tool work...

Fields can add dynamic text to your drawing and make updating faster and more productive. A number of fields can be added to your text. Anyt...

If you hold down shift and your middle mouse button, you are able to rotate the object in 3D view.

Action recorder is one of my favorite little tools for doing mindless drafting. All it does is record your moves and commands in AutoCAD and...

With the AutoCAD ribbon, it's sometimes hard to find tools you use all the time.  Adding a new tool to your Quick Access Toolbar is just...

If you ever need to close AutoCAD quickly just use the Express Tool QQUIT . This will save and close all of your drawings and then close dow...

A value was added to WipeOutFrame in the new AutoCAD 2014.  If you give the value of 2 the wipeout frame will display, but not print. Wi...

I quick way to find out more information about a command is to do a internet search for it.  Now there is a fast way to do a search from Aut...

If you are a fan of the original array dialog box then array classic is for you. Just type in ARRAYCLASSIC into the command line and you wi...

From the beginning of time AutoCAD only draws arcs and angles counterclockwise, but in The newest version of Autodesk products allows you to...

I am loving the new drawing file tab in AutoCAD, but sometime you need some more space. You can toggle drawing tabs on and off by using a co...

If you are running thru your drawings and exploding dynamic blocks (which I do not endorse) try using the BURST command instead. This will ...

I find there are a lot of people that love single line text in AutoCAD, I am not one of them. That helps me love this command more and more ...

 The command Classiclayer will pull up the old layer manager.  Just like the good old days! Command:_Classiclayer

Audit is a amazing command that helps clean up errors in your drawing. When I have a number of problems with a drawing this command is typic...

This little tool help you restore to your previous later status.  Very helpful when you have a large number of layers in you drawing. Comm...

No this is not a command that keeps your layers on ice, but one that freezes (turn off) the selected layer in the current view. Command:_L...

One of my favorite new features in AutoCAD 2014 is the ability to merge layers while inside the layer properties manager. I think this has b...

If you find yourself spending hours just scrolling in and out of your drawings try adjusting the ZOOMFACTOR! Simply type ZOOMFACTOR into th...

I have to deal with a lot of surveys at work and occasionally I have a surveyor override the properties of an object to something other than...

Autodesk announced today that it will start offering a "Pay as you Go" option to most of there design suites. Find out more i...

Purge is a quick and simple way to remove a number of unused linetypes, layers, hatches, and other things. This is a great tool to keep your...

Block count is a quick way to list and count the blocks in a drawing. Enjoy! Command:_bcount

A quick and simple way to view one or more 3D objects in a drawing is to use Object Viewer.  Once you have the objects you wish to view righ...

NCopy is nice little tool that allows you to copy an object from a xref or a Microstation underlays.  Okay now for that bad news about this ...

If you ever get tired of the pop-up balloon notifications that show up in the lower right hand corner of AutoCAD, just use the variable TRAY...

Change space is a quick tool that I use all day everyday, because I end up drawing stuff in paper space that needs to be in model space.  Th...

Yes I am talking about three commands in one! The move, copy & rotate commend allows you to do all three commands to the same object. Tr...

Autodesk has introduced a digital magazine. Autodesk Infrastructure Magazine , is a digital magazine that will show you how companies are us...

If you ever wanted trim and extend in the same command, you are able to do so by hold down the shift key to change trim to extend and vic v...

If you are a fan of the service ifttt.com (if this then that), then you will be happy to know we have the perfect recipe for you to enjoy. G...

This is an Autodesk Exchange app that I came across and I have found very useful and so have many of my coworkers. Drawing Tabs is a plug-in...

For those of you that are remodelers, interior decorators, or maybe you just want to rearrange some furniture. You might want to checkout th...

This is one of my favorite tools inside AutoCAD, I use it all the time in Civil 3D and if you are not using it on a daily basis then you sho...

Autocad WS is being replaced with the new mobile and web application call AutoCAD 360.  The update is available for download on your ...

We talked about the new Autodesk logo back in March , but did you know that Autodesk has a redesigned website?  The redesign makes it faster...

There are times we need to import a PDF file into our drawings, sadly almost every time the reference PDF file slows down our drawing.  We...

The new Autodesk logo was released on 02/26/2013.  The new logo makes me want to learn how to do origami.  You can read more about th...

AutoCAD WS hits 11,000,000  download between iOS and Android. Do you use AutoCAD WS? If you have not downloaded it yet, give it a...

This is a great tip I found just the other day, and I use it more then I use polyline. Command: _addseleced This command allows you to a...

1. Autodesk 360 Mobile This is a great application for keeping up with data located on the Autodesk servers. iOS: Download Android: Dowl...