Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published July 2011

AutoCAD 2012's Associative Array

OK, this is classy. So, back in the day, AutoCAD LT had the Array dialog box a full version before it was included in the ‘big dog’. And although the Array dialog box has been sufficient for the last several versions, somebody decided that it needed an overhaul… and they brought their ‘A’ game. It should be a candidate for ‘Trick your Command’ or something equally cool. The Array routine is now associative (think dimensions with grips, and when you edit an associative array, it comes wrapped in a contextual tab with a side of multifunctional grips (covered in this month's Power Tool).

To unpack this critter, we'll do a simple rectangular array to point out the various features, and you can take it from there.

How to Create an Associative Array

1. Create a rectangle with the dimensions of 1.5″ x 3.5″.

2. On the Modify panel [Home tab], click Rectangular Array, then select the rectangle and press [Enter]. Move your cursor in any direction to view the dynamic placement of the rectangles.

3. To create a simple line of rectangles, albeit with specific values, complete the prompts as shown below:

   Specify opposite corner for number of items or [Base point/Angle/Count] <Count>: B

   Specify base point or [Key point] <centroid>: Pick the lower left corner of the first rectangle

   Specify opposite corner for number of items or [Base point/Angle/Count] <Count>: Press [Enter] for the <Count> option.

   Enter number of rows or [Expression] <4>: 1

   Enter number of columns or [Expression] <4>: 8

   Specify opposite corner to space items or [Spacing] <Spacing>: [Enter]

   Specify the distance between columns or [Expression] <2 1/4">: 6

   Press Enter to accept or [ASsociative/Basepoint/Rows/Columns/Levels/eXit] <eXit>: [Enter]

But wait, there's more!!

After completing the Array command, when you click on one object in the array, the entire array is highlighted and you see — in order of appearance — (1) multifunction box grip, (1) arrow grip, and (1) multifunction arrow grip.

In this exercise, you adjust the spacing between items and the quantity of items in the array using grips. This exercise also takes advantage of the Dynamic Input mode, available on the Status bar.

How to Adjust an Associative Array

1. Enable the Dynamic Input feature, then click on one of the rectangles of the array created in the previous exercise to display the three grips.

2. To change the spacing between each item in the array, click the arrow grip displayed on the 2nd item in the array to display the current spacing.

3. Type 10 for the new distance between items, then press [Enter]. As you may have noticed, you can also manually adjust the spacing.

4. To decrease (or increase) the total number of items in the array, click the arrow at the end of the array to display the current number of columns.

   

5. Enter the desired number of columns for the array, then press [Enter]. You may also simply move your cursor to dynamically display the column count.

That is just the tip of the Array iceberg, but hopefully you now see the potential of this newly updated command.

Note: To disassociate the items in an associated array, use Explode.

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