autodesk.blogs.com: We all want to get more done in less time so that we can go home early, Sorry - so that we can concentrate on value added tasks, such as Designing or Engineering ;)
The trouble is, experimenting with different ways of achieving the same task with AutoCAD can be time consuming and disruptive.
In this post I want to pass on five simple tips that will help you to produce your AutoCAD drawings quicker, without having to invest a lot of time up front.
4 comments:
I really appreciate anything that will make autoCAD go faster, especially since I am not that intuitive with it yet. These tips are some things I already do just because of the set up, but I really like the idea of making a physical cheat sheet and putting commends that I use often but don’t have committed to memory quite yet. My one major qualm about the ‘tips and tricks’ is “Rest your pinkie on the CTRL key. Now rest your forefinger on the S Key. Make this the default position for your keyboard hand at rest.” No one’s hand is that small or that dexterous to have that be a comfortable resting position. Ever. If anything, it’ll just make your hand cramp up or twist something. I wouldn’t recommend it as a resting position, but more of a reflex to hit save after every shape is made. I’m sure autoCAD will get faster with time and practice, and I will be sure to try these out.
AutoCAD is a wonderfully useful tool once you understand how to use it, and get fast at it. Until then, it is the slowest, most unnecessarily complicated program which crashes constantly and makes you want to cry. Some of these tips I have figured out from constant use and playing around with the program such as the fact that you do not need to type in the whole word in order for you to find some commands. Also, my AutoCAD has created its own “regularly used list” from what I type in most often. Knowing that the spacebar and enter key do the same thing is not that helpful especially since I am touch type so the enter key is just a touch of the pinky away. For people who haven’t figured out these little tricks already, this is very helpful and will definitely make them faster at AutoCAD, but alas I have figured out most of these tricks.
These tips were really useful, and I’m glad that most of them were things that I didn’t know. My favorite section was the one on effectively using layers. I got a lot better at using them when we had to make a gazebo for Dick, but they still got confusing at times because of how many there were. I’ve never used the quick access toolbar, but once I start CADing again I’m going to try to experiment with some of the stuff discussed in the article so I can make my workflow even faster. I also thought that the ability to isolate things in layers is really handy, although I don’t know when I would ever need to do it. The only thing that he talked about that was a bit weird was his finger locations for ctrl-s. It’s not a very comfortable position, and it’s also not effective for mac users. A much better habit to be in is middle finger on Q and index finger on S (QS is the quicksave command). It takes an extra keystroke, but the keys are very close so it’s a natural motion. Also, it works on both macs and PCs, so it’s a good habit on both platforms.
I’ve been using AutoCAD a lot lately for laser cutting projects and just for visualizing deigns graphically. It is an amazing tool with great accuracy and I’m really getting comfortable using it. With that in mind these simple tips and tricks are extremely useful to me. Sure I figured out some of them on my own/knew them already, but any small way to save time can be useful especially in our industry where there is always more to be done. Out of the tips he shares I think the simplest ones might also be the most useful to me. I’ve never really learned to type properly, so I’m not quick on the keyboard and set finger positions seem uncomfortable to me, so jumping around the keyboard to enter a command has always taken a second longer. These quick routes to commands (like L for line A for arc and so on) are in turn really useful because they can save me excess finger movement that wastes time. Using the spacebar instead of enter is also a huge time saver I plan on implementing, since I’ve always had to stretch my fingers slightly more to hit the enter key, while the spacebar is big, easy to hit, and extremely familiar to me from playing computer games as a child. No these tips aren’t groundbreaking but they’re solid ways to cut a few strokes per command and ultimately save some valuable time in the long run.
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