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AutoCAD Productivity

Rotate with the Copy Option

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #135
Originally published: August 2014

Grips don't get a lot of respect, but they are really quite powerful [See ‘The Lost Art of Grips’ in Michael's Corner March 2005], and the introduction of multifunction grips a few versions ago [Covered in Michael's Corner in July 2011 & April 2012], really kicked 'em up a notch.

However, what I want to mention here, is the Copy option of the Rotate command (…which is a similar feature when using grips, if you were wondering about the relevance).

Chairs to copy and rotate

In the following exercise, the chair arrangement must be completed on all four sides.

How to Copy with Rotate

  1. Launch the Rotate command, select the objects to rotate, then press [Enter].

  2. To pick the middle of the conference table, Shift + Right-click and click Mid Between 2 Points, then click two diagonally opposed corners to specify the rotation basepoint between them.

  3. Click the Copy option (or enter C if you have a version prior to AutoCAD 2013).

  4. Turn on Ortho if necessary, then click to rotate—and copy—the selected objects!

Chairs copied and rotated

See all the articles published in August 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

AutoCAD Expert

Are you an expert in AutoCAD? Well according to Autodesk you aren't, well not unless you tell the program otherwise. The EXPERT system variable (default 0) can be changed so that annoying "Are you sure?" commands will go away. Here is the list and what they do:

EXPERT = 0
Issues all prompts normally.
EXPERT = 1
Suppresses "About to regen, proceed?" and "Really want to turn the current layer off?"
EXPERT = 2
Suppresses the preceding prompts and "Block already defined. Redefine it?" (BLOCK) and "A drawing with this name already exists. Overwrite it?" (SAVE or WBLOCK).
EXPERT = 3
Suppresses the preceding prompts and those issued by the LINETYPE command if you try to load a linetype that's already loaded or create a new linetype in a file that already defines that linetype.
EXPERT = 4
Suppresses the preceding prompts and those issued by UCS Save and VPORTS Save if the name you supply already exists.
EXPERT = 5
Suppresses the prompt, "That name is already in Use, redefine it?" issued by the -DIMSTYLE Save option when you supply the name of an existing dimension style.

Today's tip is by Sean Nesbitt

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