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Michael’s Corner

Michael BeallMichael'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…

October - One-derful!!!

It's a God-thing.

I had no idea that 14 years ago I would be given the opportunity to make an impact on the professional lives of so many. Only God knew what was ahead, and hopefully, the contributions I have made through Michael's Corner have equipped many of you to be more productive and a bit more savvy using AutoCAD. And apart from all the AutoCAD bashing that is going on, I'm sure it has a long life ahead.

So, in an effort to keep the AutoCAD fires burning, here's what I have for my final installment…

…A reminder on how to customize your hot keys
…Three Power Tools — one for Zoom, one for editing, and one for Layers
…Two Odd Spots — one for Layers and one for Hatching
…Buried text treasure
…And how to Search 14 years of the Archives

As for what's ahead for me, I will continue to present a variety of AutoCAD sessions — Fundamentals, Intermediate, Customizing, Updates, and 2D & 3D. I will also keep training CAP Designer, 20-20 Worksheet, Visual Impression (those three from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.), and some Revit Fundamentals. Next year I'm looking forward to being very involved in training CET (from Configura, Inc.) when Herman Miller joins the growing number of manufacturers embracing this software that is being touted as the ‘Future of Space Planning’. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with Donna, my lovely bride of 30 years. When this posts, we'll probably be within days of going on our 30th Anniversary vacation to the Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson; Ee-Hah! We had such a good time when we went for our 20th, we figured we'd do it again!

Ah, and I'm hoping to have The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition out before snow flies.

And with that, Mike drop! …so to speak.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

This month's articles

Change F1 to ESC
Smoother Zoom
Stretch with Extension
Lock Layers with a Crossing Window
Layer Columns & Hatch Background Color
Text Frame on Mtext

From the Vault

Originally published May 2004

Layout Tools: Change Space

In a recent visit to one of my customers in Los Angeles who recently jumped from R14 to A2004, most of their existing drawings had the title block down in model space, along with all the revision information, labels and callouts. The best way to grab the stuff in model space that you now want in paper space is to use the Change Space feature from the Layout Tools collection available from the Express menu (this one is not on an Express toolbar).

The best part of this feature is that it keeps the objects at the same display factor when you move them from one space to the other.

To move objects in model space to paper space, do this:

  1. From a layout tab, activate the desired viewport in which you can see the objects in model space that you want to transfer to paper space.

Note: If applicable, set the appropriate plot scale in the Viewports drop-down list prior to launching this procedure.

  1. While in the viewport, select Express/Layout Tools/Change Space to launch the Chspace command.
  2. Select the objects to transfer from model space to paper space, then press <ENTER>. At the completion of the procedure, AutoCAD switches to paper space at which point you can now move the transferred objects to the desired location in paper space.

You will also see a notice similar to the following:

79 object(s) changed from MODEL space to PAPER space.
Objects were scaled by a factor of 0.0500 to maintain visual appearance.

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