Express Tools In Autocad 2000

• Express Tools Autocad 2000
• Express Tools In Autocad
• Autocad Express Tools Install
• Express Tools Download Autocad 2002

Complete list of all AutoCAD commands CZ/EN/DE/FR/IT/ES/PT/PL/RU/HU/JP

Oct 03, 2002. These tools were dubbed 'Express Tools' in AutoCAD 2000, and a couple of the original contributors to the Bonus Tools eventually became full-time Autodesk programmers, with a single mission-to create additional Express Tools. This team (comprising mainly three people) set out to listen carefully to the users, by attending user groups, combing. Feb 27, 2001.

Current AutoCAD Express Tools commands:

• ACADINFO(2000)
• ADDVARS2SCR(2004)
• ALIASEDIT(2000)
• ALIGNSPACE(2000)
• ARCTEXT(R14)
• ATTIN(2004)
• ATTOUT(2004)
• BCOUNT(2000)
• BEXTEND(R14)
• BLOCK?(R14)
• BLOCKREPLACE(2004)
• -BLOCKREPLACE(2004)
• BLOCKTOXREF(2004)
• -BLOCKTOXREF(2004)
• BREAKLINE(2004)
• BSCALE(2004)
• BTRIM(R14)
• BURST(R14)
• CDORDER(2004)
• -CDORDER(2004)
• CHT(R14)
• CHURLS(2004)
• CLIPIT(R14)
• COPYM(2004)
• DATE(2000)
• DCPROPS(2000)
• DIMEX(R14)
• DIMIM(R14)
• DIMREASSOC(2002)
• DWGLOG(2000)
• EDITTIME(2005)
• EXC(2000)
• EXCP(2000)
• EXF(2000)
• EXOFFSET(2004)
• EXP(2000)
• EXPLAN(2004)
• EXPRESSMENU(2000)
• EXPRESSTOOLS(2000)
• EXTRIM(R14)
• EXW(2000)
• EXWP(2000)
• FASTSEL(2004)
• FLATTEN(2004)
• FS(2004)
• FSMODE(2004)
• FULLSCREENOFF(2000)
• FULLSCREENON(2000)
• FULLSCREENOPTIONS(2000)
• GATTE(R14)
• GETSEL(R14)
• IMAGEAPP(2004)
• IMAGEEDIT(2004)
• IMAGEOVERLAP(2000)
• LAYOUTMERGE(2004)
• -LAYOUTMERGE(2004)
• LAYVPMODE(2004)
• LMAN(R14)
• LSP(R14)
• LSPSURF(2004)
• MKLTYPE(2000)
• MKSHAPE(2000)
• MOCORO(R14)
• MOVEBAK(2004)
• MPEDIT(R14)
• MSTRETCH(R14)
• NCOPY(R14)
• OVERKILL(2012)
• -OVERKILL(2012)
• PACK(R14)
• PLJOIN(2000)
• PLJOINMODE(2000)
• PLT2DWG(2004)
• PROPULATE(2004)
• PSBSCALE(2004)
• PSTSCALE(2004)
• QLATTACH(R14)
• QLATTACHSET(R14)
• QLDETACHSET(R14)
• QQUIT(2004)
• REDIR(2004)
• REDIRMODE(2004)
• -REDIRMODE(2004)
• REPURLS(2004)
• REVERT(2004)
• RTEDIT(2000)
• RTEXT(2000)
• RTEXTAPP(2000)
• RTUCS(2004)
• SAVEALL(2004)
• SHOWURLS(2000)
• SHP2BLK(2004)
• SSX(R14)
• SUPERHATCH(2004)
• SYSVDLG(R14)
• TCASE(2004)
• -TCASE(2004)
• TCIRCLE(2004)
• TCOUNT(2004)
• TEDIT(2000)
• TEXTFIT(R14)
• TEXTMASK(R14)
• TEXTUNMASK(2000)
• TFRAMES(2004)
• TJUST(2004)
• TORIENT(2004)
• TREX(2004)
• TSCALE(2004)
• TSPACEINVADERS(2004)
• TXT2MTXT(2000)
• TXTEXP(R14)
• VARS2SCR(2004)
• VPSCALE(2004)
• VPSYNC(2004)
• XDATA(R14)
• XDLIST(R14)
• XLIST(R14)
• -XLIST(R14)

30 Jun, 1999By: Lynn Allen
By the time you read this article, I'll have spoken to more than 2,000 usersabout the new features in AutoCAD 2000. I'm always guaranteed one huge sigh ofrelief when the audience realizes that their beloved Bonus Tools are still aliveand breathing in AutoCAD 2000 (but now known as Express Tools). They've also beenadded to and improved upon.

You may remember back in March, Jeff Bradley wrote an article covering theAutoCAD Express Tools for R14 ('AutoCAD Express Tools, Volumes 4 and 5,'pp.48-52, March 1999). These tools were available free of charge to VIPsubscription holders or for a fee at www.autodesk.com/expresstools. The programmers, who originallypulled together the Bonus Tools, were permitted to carry on and create otherextra cool commands to help the everyday AutoCAD user-hence the creation of theExpress Tools. I was delighted to read the aforementioned CADENCE articlereviewing these utilities because I am constantly surprised at how few users knowabout these awesome commands. They cleverly help you accomplish everyday tasks inways that vanilla AutoCAD does not. Do I sound like an Express Tools cheerleader?I admit it. I am. All I know is that when I do a presentation on the ExpressTools, I'm greeted with one round of applause after another-and that's enough toconvince me I'm on the right track!

Let's move on to the good stuff: those free Express Tools that come in AutoCAD2000. Autodesk tuned up the existing Bonus Tools and added a few of the existingExpress Tools to create the new Express Tools pulldown menu. Unfortunately,you'll still have to do a Full install to get these tools (why does Autodeskalways hide them from us?), or choose the Custom option and be sure to check theExpress Tools box (whichever works for you).

Last year, I wrote a four-month series in Circles and Lines discussing all of theBonus Tools in complete detail ('It's BonusTime! R14 Layer Bonus Routines,' April 1998; 'It's Bonus Routines Time, Again-The TextBonus Tools,' May 1998; 'AutoCAD R14Bonus Tools, Part 3,' June 1998; and '72 Bonus Tools, The Final Chapter,' July1998). This time around, I'm only going to cover the new Express Tools and BonusTool enhancements.

Figure 1. The Express pulldown menu offers you an organized list of bonusroutines from which to choose, including an Express Tools FAQ.

Figure 2. Using the Toolbars dialog box, you can select the variousExpress toolbars you want to display.

Figure 3. Using the Layer Manager: Restore Options dialog, you can choosewhich layer properties to restore.

Express Tools Autocad 2000

Figure 1 shows the new Express Tools pulldown menu, which displays right beforethe Window menu. If you've installed the Express Tools but the menu doesn'tdisplay, simply type Expressmenu at the command prompt. If, for some reason, youtry using any of the Express Tools and you're rudely greeted with 'Unknowncommand,' you can type in Expresstools at the command prompt, and this willensure they all get loaded. If you're a toolbar junkie, you can get to theExpress Tool toolbars by executing the Toolbar command and selecting themenugroup called Express. Next, simply check the toolbars you want to display. Now we're ready to begin our tour; we'll go through thepulldown menu one category at a time.

Layers
By far the most popular of the original Bonus Tools commands was the LayerManager (LMAN command). Since we constantly find ourselves turning layers on andoff and freezing and thawing, the Layer Manager provided a simple method ofsaving a snapshot of your current layer settings to a named state. One newimprovement to this command includes the ability to rename existing named states(rather than the previous awkward method of making a copy with a new name andthen deleting the original to get the same result). You'll also find anadditional Options button that provides additional control over which layerproperties get restored. For example, now you can choose torestore just the Freeze/Thaw status of a saved layer state, rather than all theproperties.

Two brand new commands have been added to the Layer options: Layer Delete(LAYDEL) and Layer Merge (LAYMRG). Layer Delete is a very powerful (anddangerous) command. If you've ever wanted to Purge a layer but the AutoCAD PURGEcommand wouldn't let you (even though you knew you didn't have any objects onthat layer), then this command is perfect for you. It deletes any layer (exceptfor your current layer, 0 and defpoints)- believe me, it takes no prisoners. Notonly will the layer be removed, but all objects and references to that layer aswell. You can type in the name of the layer or simply select an object on thelayer. To key in the name of a layer, you have to key in the letter T first.

Command line: LAYDEL

Select object on layer to delete or [Type-it/Undo]: T

The command is kind enough to issue a friendly warning if the layer is referencedby block definitions, and it will ask you to give one last acknowledgement beforethe layer's final demise. I encourage you to look before you leap here!

Have you ever had objects on two separate layers that you now wished could bemerged into one-and the extra layer deleted? Layer Merge to the rescue! (And innot quite as violent a way as Layer Delete.)

Command line: LAYMRG

Select object on layer to merge or [Type-it/Undo]:

Selected layers: CONST

Express Tools In Autocad

Select object on layer to merge or [Type-it/Undo] :

Press .

Select object on target layer or [Type-it]: CONST2

********Warning********

Be aware that there are 2 block definition(s) that reference the layer(s) you aredeleting.

The block(s) will be redefined and the entities referencing layer CONST will bechanged to reference layer CONST2.

You are about to permanently merge layer CONST into layer CONST2.

Do you want to continue? [Yes/No] : Yes

Redefining block FRED

Redefining block ETHEL

Merging layer CONST into layer CONST2.

All entities that were on layer CONST have been moved to layer CONST2, and layerCONST is deleted. In a nutshell, you'll select the layers you want to merge firstand the target layer last. You will once again be warned if you have blocks thatreference the merging layers as shown above. On completion, objects on themerging layers will be transferred to the target layer, and the merged layerswill be deleted.

There's nothing new in the Block options, so we'll proceed to the Express ToolsText enhancements.

Text Enhancements
Remote Text (RTEXT) is perfect for those of you who've wanted to add a plot stampto your drawing. You can also use it to link to an existing text file. This way,as the text file updates, so will the RTEXT within the AutoCAD drawing. I like tothink of it as an external reference for text. Let's take a look at the RTEXTcommand sequence.

Command: RTEXT

Current settings: Style=Standard Height=0.2000 Rotation=0

Enter an option [Style/Height/ Rotation/File/Diesel] :

Style, Height and Rotation are used to control the look of the resulting textthat displays on the screen. File and DIESEL control exactly what displays on thescreen. If you select File, you'll be asked for the name of an ASCII text file.You'll find that as you modify and save the text file, the RTEXT updates as well.The next drawing regeneration updates the RTEXT object.

For those of you familiar with DIESEL, you'll love the capabilities found here.If you aren't familiar with DIESEL (which I suspect most aren't), I'll provide acouple of examples with which you can work. I want to put a plot stamp on mydrawing that contains the drawing name and date last modified. I'm sure many ofyou would find this quite useful. By selecting the DIESEL option and inputtingthe following text, you'll get exactly that.

$(getvar,dwgname)

$(edtime, $(getvar,date),MO/DD/YYYY)

I know it's scary looking, but it's sooooo powerful that I strongly suggesttrying it out. More information on this can be found in the AutoCAD Customizationguide and the Express Tools HELP function under RTEXT.

Figure 4. This is the result of using RTEXT to create a plot stamp.

The resulting RTEXT using the above DIESEL string is shown in Figure 4. You canalso edit the text using the RTEDIT command. I did notice that if you cancel outof the command prematurely, the objects are left highlighted and you'll have tore-edit the object or regenerate to fix it--no big deal but a tad annoying.

If you explode the RTEXT object, you'll get MTEXT. You might plan on doing thisshould you need to send your drawing to someone who doesn't have RTEXT (Release14 user sans Express Tools for example).

Figure 5. The Text to Mtext Options dialog offers several text choices.

Text to Mtext (TXT2MTXT) is great for converting old DTEXT strings into one MTEXTobject. If you've ever needed to change the width of a paragraph of dtext, youknow how difficult that can be. Most just delete the text and reenter it in theMTEXT dialog box. TXT2MTXT makes this change simple and fast. Simply select thestandard text/dtext strings, and they'll automatically be converted. You'll alsofind a dialog with a set of additional options. The Helpfunction falls short here because it doesn't explain or acknowledge thisadditional dialog box. Simply put, AutoCAD will default to sorting them from thetop down, or you can also sort them yourself by manually picking them. You canturn off the automatic word wrap (though that's probably the reason you're usingthis command to begin with).

You'll also find tremendous improvements to the TEXTMASK command. This verypopular Bonus Tool from R14 frustrated many users because it was difficult toremove the mask and didn't plot correctly if you mixed Paper Space masks withModel Space objects. I received tons of emails regarding this; that shows me thatmany of you needed this technology, but couldn't get it to work properly.

The new TEXTUNMASK command addresses the former issue. There's a new optionavailable in the overhauled PLOT command to address the latter. The reason PaperSpace textmasks wouldn't plot over Model Space objects is due to the fact thePaper Space objects always printed first. Thus, your textmasks ended up below theModel Space objects...oops! Now, under Plot options in the PLOT dialog, you'llfind a checkbox that says Plot Paper Space objects last.

You'll also find a new Masktype option in TEXTMASK. You can control what type ofmask covers your text. The three options are Wipeout (as before), 3Dface andSolid. The 3Dface option works great on 3D options because they'll hide objectsduring hidden-line removal. The Solid option permits you to control the color ofthe actual mask (the color dialog box will appear prompting for a color).Remember that the standard textmask uses the background color to mask objects.See the prompt sequence below.

Command: textmask

Autocad Express Tools Install

Current settings: Offset factor = 0.5000, Mask type = Wipeout

Select text objects to mask or [Masktype/Offset]: m

Mask type currently set to Wipeout

Specify entity type to use for mask [Wipeout/3dface/Solid] :

I only made it part way through the new Express Tool commands. Next month, I'llset out to cover the rest of them. If you're interested in finding out more aboutall of the Express Tools you can do so by going to www.autodesk.com/expresstools.

Fond Farewell
On behalf of all the users who have appreciated the Bonus/Express Tools over theyears, I'd like to say an official goodbye to Dominic Panholzer who helpedspearhead and develop many of these valuable tools over the years. I know thatAutodesk is going to miss his user insight (since he used AutoCAD for yearsbefore joining Autodesk), the user group community will miss his devotion (heserved as San Francisco User Group president) and I'll miss him as my friend andcolleague.

Express Tools Download Autocad 2002