Mouse settings: add Osnaps to your mouse options, look online for CAD help

CADalyst, March, 2004 by Mike Tuersley

I read in December's CAD Clinic how you can make a Logitech mouse show the shortcut menu. I recently changed from a Logitech to a Microsoft IntelliPoint mouse. Now to access my Osnap drop-down menu I have to use the combination right mouse click. Is there a way to return this to a single-click command?

--W.T. (Bill) Martin, Voyageur Panel

The December article dealt with the mouse button not being set properly in Windows and, therefore, affecting AutoCAD. Starting with AutoCAD 2000, Osnap access from a right-click isn't possible. To do this, you need a Logitech mouse that you can customize. From information I can gather, IntelliPoint has fewer options than the Logitech. There are some options, though.

If your IntelliPoint software lets you customize the buttons, look for the option of setting it to the F11 or F12 function key. Then refer to the AutoCAD Clinic archives, "Osnap Shortcuts" in January 2002. In this article, I detailed how to get the Osnaps to run from the F12 function key. Also, see if you can select Macro and place this code for the value: $P0=SNAP $p0=*

You could set the AutoCAD variable MBUTTONPAN to 0 and use the mouse wheel click to access Osnaps. This turns off the real-time pan feature, but you can still right click and select Pan.

Or you can use your Osnap toolbar. Keep it docked at the top of the drawing area and it's only one click away.

Discussion forums

As you may have noticed, more and more discussion forums are available online and are fast taking the place of Help columns such as the CAD Clinic. Cadalyst now has one devoted to CAD questions (select Discussion Groups at www.cadalyst.com). Most CAD companies have their own as well.

For the next two months, we'll feature some interesting questions and my responses from various discussion forums. For quick answers to your CAD problems, I encourage you to check out some of the featured forums. In future months, watch for more programming tips and tricks in this column.

Tool Palette Block Rotation

I like the Tool Palette feature that inserts blocks in the specified layer every time. But I want to be able to eyeball the rotation angle (or snap the angle perpendicular to a line, etc.) after I select the insertion point. I saw your posting on the AUGI Forum (www.augi.com) that suggested writing an AutoLISP routine for doing this. I have many blocks on my Tool Palette and don't want to write a routine for every block on the palette. Is there an easier way? Instead of specifying a particular angle in the Properties dialog box, you should be able to specify user input that you are prompted for every time you insert the block.

--from Cadalyst CAD Questions forum

This is core functionality now. Either download and install the Tool Palettes extension if you have a subscription to AutoCAD or upgrade to AutoCAD 2005 (available March 22, 2004, at the time of this writing). As seen in figure 1, the option to rotate is available for you. Autodesk does listen to its user base!

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

CUSTOMIZE DESIGN CENTER?

Is it possible to put Web page links in AutoCAD's Design Center, possibly in the Design Center online section?

--from AutoCAD 2004 newsgroup, http://autodesk.autocad.2004

There's currently no way to customize the Design Center Online tab. However, you can set up a folder that contains the Web page links you want. Use the Folder tab to browse to it. When you double-click on one, your Web browser fires up and takes you to that Web page.

Mike Tuersley is lead applications engineer and lead consultant at Imaginit Technologies (www.imaginit-tech.com).