Ch 4: Editing Entities

AutoCAD 2012and

AutoCAD LT 2012 Essentials

By Scott Onstott

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Selection Methods• Click to select• Implied windows• Crossing windows• Shift-select to remove from set• Remove objects mode• Add option• All option• Previous option• Last option• CPolygon, WPolygon, and Fence

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Selection Cycling• Toggle on selection cycling mode on

application status bar• Making ambiguous selection invokes

Selection window• Hovering the cursor over items in the

Selection dialog box highlights the items on the drawing canvas

• Selection cycling makes it easy to select exactly what you are looking for in crowded drawings

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Selecting Similar Objects• Click a single object, right click and choose Select Similar from the

shortcut menu• All similar objects are immediately selected• Type SE within the SELECTSIMILAR command to access its

Settings dialog box where you can determine degree of similarity that triggers selection

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Copying Tips• Copying multiple items is accomplished through

careful selection of base and second points• Use object snap to maintain accuracy• Object snap tracking can also be useful in

tracking points that are not on objects, but are aligned with existing objects

• Use Ortho mode or Polar mode to copy items at set angles

• Use the Array option to space objects evenly or fit a number of objects in a set space

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Reference Options• The Rotate and Scale commands have

Reference options• Use Reference mode to rotate or scale

relative to another object• By clicking two points to specify a reference

angle you can orient or scale objects graphically, without using exact numbers

• Use Reference option to match the rotation and/or scale of one object with another

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Arrays• The ARRAY command is completely new in AutoCAD

2012• Arrays produce associative objects that can be edited

later on• Create rectangular and polar arrays

• Edit or replace objects within the array

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Trim and Extend• Trim and Extend are opposite

commands• Both can be invoked from the same

command prompt• Hold Shift while in TRIM to EXTEND

and vice-versa• Accepting the default of <select all> to

select all objects as potential cutting or boundary edges is very efficient

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Offset• Offset can create new geometry• You don’t have to know the offset distance

to use offset; pick two points to “set” the offset distance graphically

• Select the object you wish to offset• Pick the side (above, below, left, or right)

you wish to offset the new object• There is an Erase option that allows you to

automatically erase the source object after offsetting if desired

Ch 4: Editing Entities

Grip Editing• Select an object or set of objects• Click one or more grips (hold Shift to select multiple)• Press the Spacebar to cycle through STRETCH, MOVE, ROTATE, SCALE,

and MIRROR commands