Tag: design

  • Save And Close All Open AutoCAD Drawings

    Save And Close All Open AutoCAD Drawings

    Recently, I found myself having 10-15 AutoCAD drawings open at the same time and wanted to close them all.

    An easy way to do it is with two commands.

    To do so, first you type SAVEALL at AutoCAD’s command line and all the open documents are saved. Secondly, the CLOSEALL command follows that will close all the open drawings.

    But… I wanted something more automated. So I wrote a small script that combines those two commands into one that will automatically save and close all the drawings.

    Here’s the script:

    (defun c:SCALL ()
      (command "SAVEALL")
      (command "CLOSEALL")
      (princ)
    )

    That’s all. The file is named SCALL.lsp and the command to run it is also “scall” typed at the command line of AutoCAD.

    If you want to know how to load an AutoLISP script in AutoCAD you can read this small article that teaches you step by step what you should do.

  • ProgeCAD – A true AutoCAD alternative

    As Estimator/QS I often have the need for quick and accurate measurements. The main tools I use are AutoCAD and MS Excel.

    As it is well known Autodesk stopped selling AutoCAD as a program and it charges it as a service. That means that every year you have to pay an amount to Autodesk to use its service. It is a trend the latest years and the result is that the user doesn’t own the program if he/she decides to stop paying for the service.

    That led me to search for an AutoCAD aternative that could be user friendly to an AutoCAD user, would have the same commands and the almost the same interface. Also, I was searching for a program that supported native DWG files to be sure that I would not have any conflict with files produced from AutoCAD.

    There were many programs that I tried (ie BricsCAD, NanoCAD etc) but decided to stick with ProgeCAD for many reasons. (more…)

  • Things I don’t regret buying: Logitech M500 corded mouse

    logitech128I was looking for a mouse to use for CAD drawing and general use on my computer. I didn’t want to spend much money on a Blue-tooth so I decided to go corded. The M500 caught my eye and I decided to buy one. (more…)

  • AutoCAD LT? No way, even if it was free…

    autocad-lt-2017-badge-150x150Some years now, Autodesk combines the classic AutoCAD edition with the release of one cut edition, the AutoCAD LT.

    Someone would expect that the difference would only be one dimension and LT would only be an AutoCAD with 2D features. But, this would be a great story if it was true… (more…)

  • AutoCAD 2017

    autodesk-autocad-2017_-min

    Recently, I updated my AutoCAD from 2014 edition to 2017. Although there were other great versions in between 2014 and 2017 I decided to skip them for many reasons. But, with 2017 I was amazed.

    It’s not that I use the most of AutoCAD. I don’t know yet how it performs in rendering (I think that Autodesk changed the rendering machine in a previous version) and it is something that I will find out. It is that the new version is polished and it comes with some upgrades that every drafter would appreciate. (more…)

  • Polyline Undo (AutoCAD)

    Let’s say that you are in a polyline command and you just pressed on a wrong point. Don’t panic. There’s an easy solution that it doesn’t require to stop the polyline command and lets you undo. (more…)

  • Proper way to rotate things in a drawing (AutoCAD)

    Some times there is a need to rotate things in our drawing so they would be aligned with something else (for example an arrow aligned with some lines so it will indicate some kind of direction). (more…)

  • New job demo

    My role at my new job is to create the “as built” designs of the new optical fiber cables that are being placed all over the northern Greece. This includes the collection of information that I have to put on the drawings, the land surveying work on the field and finally the design itself. All the job is being done by me except the surveying fieldwork (land surveying renderings also done by me).

    So take a look: (more…)

  • Autocad Part 3 play around (dice)

    This is a small 3D I’ve made and rendered it with nXt rendererdice_1

  • Autocad 3D part 1 (click to see more pictures)

    Recently I got in touch with AutoCAD after a long time… A very long time…
    I did some 3Ds to demonstrate my skills, in case of any job opportunity. So here are some 3Ds and renderings I’ve made…

    coridor_nxt_9 (more…)