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AutoCAD Productivity

Use the INSERT Osnap on Blocks

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #134
Originally published: June 2014

A blockThe Insert OsnapIn Michael's Corner February 2013 I covered the use of the Insert object snap for text. It also happens to be the Osnap you can use for Blocks.

When you need to snap to the insertion point of a block, I don't bother to set it as an Osnap since it's such a seldom-used feature. When the time comes, simply Shift + Right-click to display the Osnap shortcut menu, then click Insert or use the ‘INS’ keyboard shortcut.

See all the articles published in June 2014

Michael's Corner

Between 2003 and 2016, Michael Beall (and one or two guests) wrote almost 600 articles for CADTutor. The focus of these articles is AutoCAD productivity, and although some of them are now more than a few years old, most remain relevant to current versions of AutoCAD. The article above is just one example. Check out Michael's Corner for a full listing.

Tip of the Day

2D Drawings from your 3D Models

Flatshot

Over the years, there have been various methods of creating 2D drawings from 3D models in AutoCAD. In the early days, we used export to DXB, a file format that is no longer supported. Then came the FLATTEN command. Now, there's a new command that's better than previous methods.

The FLATSHOT command creates a 2D block object of any view that includes 3D solid objects. There are a number of options including show/hide obscured lines and independent control over the colour and linetype of foreground and obscured lines. Flatshot works by projecting the lines of your current view, not UCS, onto a plane. This is a little more versatile than Flatten and doesn't seem to skew the dimension of the object, which Flatten is notorious for. It also has the advantage of leaving the original object as is. The only downside is that it seems to have problems with perspective views. Parallel projection views work perfectly.

Today's tip is by CromCruithne

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