Ever need to the layer of all the attributes inside a block? Try: MODIFY >  OBJECT > Attribute > Block Attribute Manager > select the block > EDIT >  Go to the PROPERTIES Tab > Change the layer name > OK > APPLY Thanks to Robert at Northstar for this one Also, If you need…

It’s been a while, not because I am lazy but we have a lot (LOT) going on here right now. More about that in a month or so! Plus I’ve been traveling to Chicago, Boise, Idaho and Boston lately Need to convert a 2007 drawing to 2004? It’s easy (and free) and you don’t even…

If you have a dry system to calculate you might have gotten frustrated by AutoCalc setting up C=120 piping. A really quick way around this is to create new pipe types in HydraCALC/Utilities/Fittings that have the same properties as Sched-10 and Sched-40, but with a C-Factor of 100. That way you can set your schedule…

Hydratec delivers four plot style files with our software: Hydragray.ctb, Hydracolor.ctb HydraLayerGray.ctb (all color dependent plot styles) and Hydragray.stb (named plot style). These are found in the HES\HydraCAD\Ver50\Programs\Version5# folder, depending on your version of the software.  To use these files it will be necessary to copy them into the AutoCAD plot styles folder and then…

This is a quickie – Sometimes you want to refer to a point that just doesn’t exist. In the example below there is no intersection between the two lines drawn. Or is there? Lets say you want to pick the Intersection of the two red lines in that picture. When prompted for a point, pick…

If you use the same types of sprinkler heads in your jobs, consider setting them up in your template so they are available for each new job you start up. 1. Pick the Open command2. Set files of type at the bottom to be Drawing Template (*.dwt). This will display all of our templates.3. Pick…

Little known secret – Autodesk’s programmers hid ‘easter eggs’ in various versions of AutoCAD In AutoCAD 2004: Start the Color dialog (e.g. with the _COLOR command). On the Index tab, Ctrl+Left click on the color box 152 (the "Autodesk blue"). And, voila – Autodesk developer team presentation will run In AutoCAD 2005:      …

Once you have your palette(s) set the way you want them, you may want to be nice and share them with others. This will require and Export from you and an Import to them. But first you may want to combine them into a Group. Right-Click on the tool palette and pick Customize Palettes… This…

In our last episode I told you how to make your own tool palettes. Here’s how you can do more with them. You can control a number of things about how your block gets inserted from a tool palette. Right click on your block and pick Properties. This will give you the properties you can…

A quickee – A customer just had a problem where he clicks on an object to move it and types in 0,0 as its destination and the block doesn’t go anywhere. After some digging we found that the behavior seemed like he was typing in @0,0, indeed he saw this echoed at the command prompt…