Autodesk AUTOCAD 2010 - Assembly instructions

AutoCAD LT

Kate Morrical’s Tips and Tricks

for Using AutoCAD LT 



User Interface

The User Interface

The user interface is possibly one of the

most important features in AutoCAD

LT®. It’s where you do all your

work, access all your commands, and

even make changes to settings. Several

improvements to user interface features

mean it’s easier than ever to ﬁnd your

favorite commands while leaving plenty

of room on the screen for your drawing.

The Application Menu

The big red “A” in the upper left-hand

corner of the AutoCAD LT window is

home to the Application menu. Formerly

known as the Menu Browser, the Ap-

plication menu has been streamlined to

provide a place for common ﬁle-related

tools. Here you’ll ﬁnd commands like

Open, Save, and Print, as well as draw-

ing maintenance functions like Audit

and Purge.

A search box at the top-right corner of

the menu enables you to dynamically

look through the entire CUI ﬁle for com-

mands, ribbon panel names, and other

ribbon controls. The lists of Recent and Open documents

can be accessed with two buttons at the

top of the left-hand side. You can choose



User Interface

to display icons or preview images, and

sort the lists by name, type, size, or

access date.

Look for separating lines on the

icons on the left-hand side of the Applica-

tion Menu, indicating commands that

you can launch without selecting from

the sub-menu.

The Ribbon

The ribbon, which was introduced in

AutoCAD LT , has been improved in

a few key areas for AutoCAD LT . It

still consists of commands organized into

tabs and panels, where each tab contains

multiple panels, and each panel contains

multiple tools. Now, though, the ribbon

has been updated to make it even more

ﬂexible and adaptive—and of course,

customizable.

With sticky panels, you can make the

tools on a panel available no matter

what tab is active. To turn a panel into

a sticky panel, simply drag it o the

ribbon into the drawing editor. Now that

panel will always remain visible, even if

its tab is not, until you choose to put the

panel back on the ribbon.



User Interface

The ribbon also responds to object

selection, displaying the tools that are

most appropriate for working with that

object. For example, when you select an

external reference, you’ll see the External

Reference contextual tab appear on the

ribbon. This tab contains features and

commands speciﬁcally for external refer-

ences, such as Edit and Clip. AutoCAD LT

 comes pre-loaded with several con-

textual tab states, and you can choose

the tab—whether a built-in one or one of

your own—that you want to appear for

each type of object.

Use the CUI editor to convert dash-

board panels from AutoCAD LT 

into ribbon panels that can be used in

AutoCAD LT .

Pressing ALT brings up visual

indicators of key combinations you can

use to activate ribbon tabs or individual

commands.

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar has also seen

its share of updates. The Undo and Redo

tools now include history support, so

you can see exactly what actions will be

aected.

You can easily remove a command from

the toolbar with an option on the right-

click menu. The right-click menu also

contains a separator tool to help you

organize your toolbar, and a toggle to

display the Quick Access toolbar above

or below the ribbon.



User Interface

In addition to the improved right-click

menu, a ﬂyout menu has been added

at the end of the toolbar. This menu

contains a list of command commands

that you can quickly add to the toolbar.

If you need a command that’s not on this

list, the “More Commands” option takes

you right to the complete Command List

in the CUI editor.

Use the CUI editor to create a

unique Quick Access toolbar for every

workspace.

Quick View Tools

The preview images for Quick View

Layouts and Quick View Drawings have

been enhanced to include a preview

image of Model space in addition to the

layout previews.



Block References

Blocks have been an important tool in

AutoCAD LT for many versions, and

they just keep getting better. New

commands in AutoCAD LT  make

working with dynamic blocks and block

attributes easier and more intuitive.

Test Block

Inside the Block Editor, a new Test Block

tool enables you to see the eect your

changes will have before you apply

those changes to every instance of the

block. It’s perfect for testing dynamic

parameters and actions. When you close

the Test Block window, you’re returned

to the Block Editor.

The Test Block environment can

be identiﬁed by its title bar and by its

contextual ribbon panel, which contains

a “Close Test Block Window” tool.

Action Bars

Actions in dynamic blocks are now

automatically grouped into bars, making

it easy to see which parameter they’re

associated with. Selecting an action high-

lights the related parameter, all aected

objects, and the selection window (for

stretch actions). Right-clicking an action

brings up a menu with options to delete

or rename the action, to modify its selec-

tion set, or to hide the action bars.

If you want to turn on the action

bars again, you can either close and

re-open the Block Editor, or use the com-

mand BACTIONBAR.

A new icon enables you to easily

identify which parameters have their

“Chain Action” property turned on.



Block Attribute Tools

AutoCAD LT  has taken a giant

leap forward in working with attributes

in block references by including two

features previously available only in

AutoCAD.

The Enhanced Attribute Editor provides

a convenient interface for changing the

properties of individual attributes, such

as color or width factor, in addition to

entering attribute values.

The Synchronize Attributes command,

or ATTSYNC, enables you to update a

block deﬁnition after you add or remove

attributes. This is a great command

because it lets you put new attributes

(or take out ones you don’t need) in

without aecting any data that already

existed in the block.

Parametric Drawing

AutoCAD® software now

includes the ability to create and

modify geometric and dimension-

al constraints, which help ensure

that speciﬁc relationships and

measurements remain persistent

even as objects are modiﬁed.

AutoCAD LT  cannot create

parametric constraints, but it

can view, use, or delete them if

they have already been created in

AutoCAD . This applies both

to constraints in the normal draw-

ing environment and to constraint

parameters in dynamic blocks.

Block References



External References

AutoCAD LT  provides a consolidat-

ed interface and increased ﬂexibility for

working with externally referenced ﬁles

in a variety of formats, including DWG,

DWF, DGN, PDF, and image ﬁles.

The Reference Panel

The Reference panel on the Insert tab

of the ribbon provides tools for you to

attach and modify externally referenced

ﬁles. You can control the display and

plotting of reference frames and turn

on or o the ability to snap to the refer-

enced geometry.

PDF Underlays

AutoCAD LT  addresses one of the

top Autodesk User Group International

(AUGI®) wish list requests by enabling

you to attach a PDF ﬁle to an AutoCAD

LT drawing as an underlay. You can work

with PDF underlays in the same way

you work with other external references

including DWG, DWF, DGN, and Image

ﬁles. You can even snap to key points

on PDF geometry using familiar object

snaps.

Clip

The ability to clip an external reference is

now fully functional in AutoCAD LT. Use

this tool to show only the portion of the

ﬁle that you need.

External References



Use the arrow-shaped grip on a

clipped external reference to invert the

clipping boundary.

Edit In-Place

In-Place Reference Editing, or REFEDIT,

is now included in AutoCAD LT .

This feature enables you to edit an

externally referenced drawing directly,

without opening it in its own window.

Open

Open Reference is another AutoCAD

LT  command that was previously

available only in AutoCAD. This tool

enables you to select a referenced ﬁle

and instantly open it in the appropriate

program for that reference type. Now

you can quickly open a referenced ﬁle

without having to list it, remember its

name, and browse your computer or

server to ﬁnd it.

External References



Geographic Data

If both the host drawing and the external

reference drawing have a geographic

location deﬁned, a new option on the

External References dialog box enables

you to locate the attached xref relative to

the host drawing using Geographic Data.

A similar option for blocks is available in

the Insert dialog box.

Unresolved References

When you open a drawing that has

unresolved references, a new tool helps

identify the missing ﬁles.

If you choose Update, AutoCAD LT

opens the External References palette

so you can re-path the missing ﬁles. If

you choose Ignore, the warning closes

and takes no action. If you always want

to ignore unresolved references, use the

checkbox at the bottom to stop the warn-

ing from displaying again.

This is a big improvement over previ-

ous versions, when you had to manually

search for missing references by checking

the command line when opening a ﬁle,

scouring the drawing for the text strings

identifying unresolved references, or

looking in the External References

palette.

External References

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