Tips and Tricks

The DATAflor Hotline questions are often asked how certain tasks in the area of ​​design are to be solved. The answers to these frequently asked questions are documented in this chapter.

Create block

When creating your own block, keep the following points in mind:

  1. Draw the objects on the Layer 0, because then the block in the drawing is automatically inserted on the current layer and the correct Features takes over.

  2. Note the units when creating a block. When using the values ​​in meters, make sure that for Block unit Meter is also selected.



    Otherwise there is a risk that the block will not be inserted in the correct size in the new drawing.
    If necessary, check the units in the options (command OPTIONS) and in the drawing units (command UNIT).

  3. Is it a block that in variable size to be reused, then rebuild the block in size 1 × 1. When inserting the block you can then choose any value for the scaling specify.

There are two methods you can use to create drawing files for later use as a block:

  • Create and save a complete drawing file with Save or Save as.
  • Saving selected objects from the current drawing to a new drawing with the AutoCAD command WBLOCK.

Either method creates a traditional drawing file that can be pasted as a block into other drawing files. The command WBLOCK recommended when you want to create different versions of a symbol as separate drawing files, or when you want to create a drawing file without closing the current drawing.


Create hatching without boundary

You can with DATAflor CAD define a hatch boundary based on boundary points.

For example, you can show that a large area in a drawing is filled with a pattern by filling only a small area of ​​that area, as shown in the following illustration.

defined points for defining the hatching boundary

Functionality

You start the command - HATHby typing it on the keyboard. Select the option Draw the boundary out. Now you can determine whether the boundary of the polyline should be retained after the hatching has been created. In the example above, the boundary is not retained. Then you specify the points for the hatching boundary and then select the insertion point for the hatching.


Shortcuts and key combinations

With the help of shortcuts and key combinations you can work much faster with CAD. Commands are called up with just one or two letters, and key combinations save searching for the function on the screen.

command shortcut
STRETCH DE
INSERT ON
COPY KO
CIRCLE K
LAYER MANAGER LA
LINE L
CLEAR LO
MANSFEN MA
MEASURE UP ME
MTEXT T
OFANG OF
OPTIONS O
POLYLINE PL
RECTANGLE RE
REGEN RG
SHARP GS
SCALE V
REFLECT SP
SPLINE SPL
SUPPORT SU
PERFORMANCE UM
VARIA V
CONNECT VB
MOVE S
OFFSET VS
ZOOM ZO
feature shortcut
Ortho mode F8
Object snap F3
Object snap track F11
Dynamic input F12
Fast properties Ctrl + Shift + P
Changing selection Ctrl + W