This are the Aliases I have modified to work the way I like it. I barely need to use any icons.Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I am a 95% command line AutoCAD user. With that I mean that when I work, I only use icons for 5% of the commands. TO be sincere I think the only reason why I still use those icons, is because I´ve been lazy to set up an ALIAS for them.
The question of using icons or entering the commands with the keyboard seems just a question of taste, but it is not. It is a question of speed. If you want to work fast, forget about using Icons, you should use keyboard commands. The work speed you can achieve having one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse is at least 5 times faster than if you have to move the cursor every time to click on an icon.
With that said, some everyday commands have no short alias to make them easy to access, that is why you might need to create your own aliases for those actions you use everyday aften.
For me, there is certain amount of commands I use everyday enough to need a short Alias. For me a good alias is either a single letter or two letters close to each other. THis makes those commands really quick to use, and your fingers soon remember where the letters are so you don't even need to look at the keyboard to enter them. This are the ones I modified in my acad.pgp file (remember that you can easily modify this file with the ALIASEDIT express tool)
- C, *COPY: just thing of how many times you draw circles and how many times you copy objects, to me having C as circle and CO as copy just makes no sense.
- CI, *CIRCLE: Because of the one before.
- CC, *NCOPY: THis is a useful command when woring with blocks or XREFs, I use it very often. See here what it does.
- LK, *AI_MOLC: Makes the selected object's layer active.
- LL, *LAYON: Turns ON all the layers that were Off
- LO, *LAYOFF: Turns the layer of the selcted object Off
- LU, *LAYTHW: Thaws all frozen layers.
- MM, *MATCHPROP: Matches the properties of an object to another one.
- R, *ROTATE: For the same reason I use C for Copy, R is used too often to be RO.
- RR, *RECTANG: Much easier than typing REC.
- WW, *WIPEOUT: I use wipeouts often enough to set a short Alias.
- XX, *EXTRIM: This is a useful very useful command. It cuts all lines on one side of an object.
If you think this is useful, you can download my acad.pgp here. See that since I am using AutoCAD Architecture, some commands are specific to this progam and might not work in plain AutoCAD.
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If you want REAL speed from a menu system, try turning on th eold DOS screen menu (Options -> Display -> Screen emnu).
ReplyDeleteThis uses no icons, and is totally context-sensitive. It automatically shifts to show the options for a command no matte rhopw the command was started, and therefore does not require the usual right-click to get th econtext menu for a command.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteI was trying the Screen Menu, but I just get a box on the right side of the screen with nothing in it, and when I use several commands nothing appears in it.
Note that I am using AutoCAD architecture 2009. Can you tell me what is it that you use thisScreen Menu for?
THanks for the comment anyways.
All what you talked about is good, keyboard commands fasten work, but the point is when you use another PC whose AutoCAD's commands are still original.
ReplyDeletefor example I use "c" for copy, and "ci" for circle in my PC, but if I use another AutoCAD in another PC, I forget to deal by the original commands (c and co).
Ammar,
ReplyDeleteI agree that configuring your own Aliases has a draw back when you go and use someone elses computer, but you can always save your acad.pgp and send it to your email account so if you need to work on another machine you can just configure it with your personalised commands