LT On-line: Lesson 131 Apr, 2001 By: Mark Middlebrook
Select and edit objects
Page 1: Edit Styles
In AutoCAD and
AutoCAD LT you spend a lot of time editing-far more than drawing objects
from scratch, in fact. That's partly because the design and drafting process
is iterative by nature, and also because it's easy to edit objects cleanly
in a CAD program.
AutoCAD LT inherits
many editing tools from AutoCAD. Some of these methods differ from those
found in illustration or diagramming programs. Many differences are the
result of backward compatibility, but many come from the exacting demands
of CAD. Many CAD drawings contain lots of closely spaced, overlapping,
and squeezed-together objects. CAD programs have to provide flexible,
but precise, ways to let you select and edit objects.
Because you'll spend
a lot of time selecting and editing objects in AutoCAD LT, it's worth
improving your efficiency at these tasks. Small gains in object selection
and editing efficiency result in large gains in your overall CAD productivity.
The procedures described here work with AutoCAD LT 98-2000i and AutoCAD Releases 14-2000i. The descriptions assume that you use the default selection configuration settings, as shown in figure 1. You'll find these settings in the Options dialog box (in AutoCAD and LT 2000/2000i) or the Ddselect and Ddgrips dialog boxes (in AutoCAD Release14 and LT 98). You can make AutoCAD object selection work very differently by changing these settings, but if you do, you will probably find this lesson pretty confusing! I recommend that you stick with the default settings, at least until you understand how they work.
AutoCAD LT offers two main styles of editing: command-first editing and selection-first editing. Within the selection-first editing style, you can choose to use actual, named commands or direct manipulation of objects without named commands. Here's a review of these editing styles:
editing (a.k.a. verb/noun editing): Choose a command, then select
the objects you want to apply the command to (figure
2). This is the classic AutoCAD editing style, and the one that most
drafters use. It's the most consistent and flexible method in AutoCAD
LT, but some users find it backwards at first.
Selection-first editing with named commands (a.k.a. noun/verb editing): Select objects, then choose a command to operate on those objects (figure 3). From AutoCAD's point of view, this editing style is a backwards variation of command-first editing. Selection-first editing works with some but not all commands.
Selection-first editing with grips (a.k.a. grip editing): If you
select an object while no command is active, you can directly manipulate
it by pushing around the little squares that appears in (figure
If you plan to edit
a lot, and learn only one AutoCAD editing style, it should be the command-first
style. You can perform just about any editing operation with this style,
and it gives you many object selection options. In addition, it's worth
knowing how to do selection-first editing with grips, which is a bit more
efficient in some situations, especially in crowded drawings.
Select and edit objects
Page 1: Edit styles
Page 2: Object selection for all editing styles
In her easy-to-follow, friendly style, long-time Cadalyst contributing editor and Autodesk Technical Evangelist Lynn Allen guides you through a new feature or time-saving trick in every episode of her popular AutoCAD video tips. Subscribe to the free Cadalyst Video Picks newsletter and we'll notify you every time a new video tip is published. All exclusively from Cadalyst!