W/o tapping into the Mechanical/Architecture/Civil addons. I'm looking for just AutoCAD solutions.
Q: Is there a way to utilize Balloons like you can in Inventor for Parts Lists? i.e. I make a block and embed a attribute of Part Number. Then with a separate balloon or block, I'm able to display that attribute. If this works, then the same could be done with a Parts List or BOM.

Someone suggested a xref, but that would mean my blocks would have to have that Part Number predefined and I can't count of that.

Extra info if you want to read:
I'm interested in the Inventor FDU environment, apparently it works well with ACAD Mech and/or Arch, but I'm not familiar with either product. I'm trying to make these 2D blocks as a main solution until I can figure out if FDU will work for our needs & apparently you can link 2D blocks for 2D representations and I fear if I embed commands/tools from either of those, I could ruin something. (FDU=Factory Design Utilities) Maybe I'm limiting myself too much? It's hard to decide with this many software packages. Maybe someone here has good enough experience across ACAD, Mech and Arch to advise me? If not, NP. I'll keep focusing on the vanilla branch.

I do all my dimensions and notations in model space and it drives me crazy to then find out that something is cut off and now maybe the viewport doesn't fit so I need to add another sheet. It's tedious and frustrating.

To help with this I draw rectangles inside the viewport with text for the sheet & section number so I know where & what they are in model space. This works but is still another something to manage.

I'm drawing architectural willwork and cabinetry so having the VPs located and labeled really helps our bench guys who are building the stuff since they use a DWG viewer to check other dimensions. I started just doing it for myself but now that I've started I can't stop.

Does anyone have any better ideas for what I'm doing?

It would be sweet if there was a way for AutoCAD to just project into model space the outlines of the viewports with the sheet numbers included. Even better would be if that projection could then take you to its paper space location. I've been a good boy this year so maybe I'll ask Santa for this.

I have school work which includes a lot of lines overlapping each other so I wanted to know if it is possible to draw a line and only show a part of the start and end of the line via a command, linetype etc. or do I have to do them all manually. E.g i have point A and point B so I want to draw a line between them. Instead of it looking like this: A---------B, I want it to look like this: A-(empty space here)-B.

I am an artist looking into technical illustration using cad as a base. Mostly like instruction manuals would anyone have a good example cad file that I could maybe use as a base to practice with. I'm pretty new to cad, still learning the basics.

So I received a .dwg file from a client that they use to print the pdf drawings. However, i am trying to recreate the plot style they used.

Question:

1. Do i have to make my own plot style to recreate their drawings? This .dwg file is organize but have 50 layers.

2. Is it possible to combine monochrome and greyscale plot style?

3. The problem i am getting is, when i print in greyscale some of the lines i want is too light. When i print it in monochrome the whole exterior elevation turns black.

NOTE: My experience level on autocad is beginner level. Right now, im just having issues printing it as the same way they printed it.

Recently upgraded to Autocad 2025, We typically only give each Annotative block 1 scale such as 1/2"=1'-0", but after upgrading, the legacy blocks we've always used have now started adding 1:1 annotation scales by default no matter what scale they are inserted on. This messes with the display of the attributes. If I try and delete the scale from the object it immediately gets added back in. And yes, Autoscale is off and it happens in every drawing. Attributes are not annotative, and making them annotative and adding the scales we want to use does nothing. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I am working with a custom template I put together. I created two blocks: a title block, and a revision block. Of course I managed to screw up everything. The joys of being self-taught, I guess.

It started going wrong when I left the units in inches rather than mm. I also defined all of my attributes in basically random order, which I learned causes them to be in random order in the attribute editor. I made the same mistakes with the title and rev blocks.

I managed to fix the title block. I don't remember now what I did to get the units correct, but it had the effect of making the title block 25.4 times bigger. That's not a big deal to me: I'll be using this template for ladder schematics so all of my drawings will be NTS, and the title block scales appropriately when I change paper sizes. I used battorder to get the attributes in the order I want them in. Fine. That works well now: when I create a new drawing using that template the title block comes up how I want it to.

But the rev block is still a mess. When I insert it, it comes in tiny and I have to manually scale it to get it to fit properly into the title block. I know it's a units problem because to make it fit I have to scale it by 25.4 If I open the rev block in the block editor before inserting it into the drawing and scale it there, then it will insert at proper scale but only in that drawing; when I try to use it in the next drawing it's tiny again. Same thing with the order of the attributes: I can fix it in a given drawing and it will behave itself, but when I try to use it again in another drawing it'll be a mess again. Scaling the block is annoying but not too bad - it's like three mouse clicks and a couple of keystrokes. But correcting the attribute order every time is a time-consuming pain in the ass.

Any ideas where I'm going wrong? I'm happy to post / send a blank dwg created from that template if that will help. Thanks!

ETA - I'm using AutoCAD Electrical 2022

I have an existing hatch (.pat) style file that's close to what I need BUT it needs an extra line added, how do I do that?

I know you can open the .pat file in notes and edit/paste the coding into to it. But what do the coding mean? How do you know what to change? And changing the right set of codes?

(Reddit isn't allowing me to attach the photos to this post, so I'll see if I can via comments).

Hey everyone!

I hope someone here can give me a hand with this. I’ve got some mechanical plans in PDF format that were originally hand-drawn, meaning they’re scanned raster images. Now, I need to get them into AutoCAD, but manually tracing everything would take forever since there’s a lot to draw.

I tried using tools like Scan2CAD to convert the raster PDFs into vector .dwg files, but the output wasn’t great. The lines were poorly converted, and fixing the result would take almost as much time as drawing everything from scratch.

Do you know of any reliable methods or tools to streamline this process? I’d love to find something that gives me a better starting point—cleaner lines, correct scaling, or even partial automation would help. Any tips, workflows, or recommendations for software that you've had success with would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I've been working as a drafter for a year now but was wondering how to progress. I'm self taught through YouTube and my boss. Where I have issue is getting a BOM right the first time. We build the structures for billboards and bolt counts and cut lists can get crazy. I use block count for the bolts but have to manually add them. I use a dynamic block that is just a line for a cut list and put it on a layer specific to each steel shape then data extract the distance and count of each block. I've learned how to add lisp programs and have had chatgpt help me write some. I've seen in other CAD or bim software that this can be generated more easily. How have any of you handled this?

It's not perfect. Sometimes theses a back and forth to correct and error check. But the AI will try to fix the code until it does work.

Last thing I tried was asking it to write code to convert all survey figures to polylines at a zero elevation.

Took a few fixes, but eventually worked. Now it's a Button Macro.

Sorry if this is unclear, but autocad has a move shortcut that goes like this: click a line or object and the vertexes pop up as 'grips', or the little blue boxes. If you click on a blue box, it allows you to drag the vertex around. if you hit space bar after clicking the grip, it triggers the move command, allowing you to quickly move things around. I am wondering if there is a shortcut like this for 'copy'. As in, when I click a vertex, is there a key I can hit that triggers the copy command?

Thanks!

EDIT: I think somebody answered correctly, then deleted their comment! When using the move command through the vertex/spacebar method described above, just hold control while clicking the new location, and it will copy instead of moving. Getting a bit complicated, but still faster than the copy command IMO!

FIX : i fixed it by taking the section profile (basically the line that makes the shape), then I duplicated it above it a few millimiters, then close on both side and JOIN command the polyline. From that, I was able to extrude.

I want to THICKEN that blue corrugated surface : https://prnt.sc/oleDY_NRkWv6

When I try, it says "object intersect itself" I tried :

• smaller thickness
• exploding object and merging again

None work and I'm out of idea. I need to turn that surface into solid.

Hi all! I run a Fab Lab at a high school, and I’ve got a student who’s about to turn 18. He wants to work in CAD, however, our local VoTech no longer has a cad program. I’m self taught, and I’ve been teaching him how to use AutoCAD and inventor. Our plan is to make a portfolio of parts and drawings to present to potential employers. Is this a good route to take? Would you hire someone who’s a bright student, but has no formal training in CAD?

See comment

Does anyone know how to convert a autoCAD file to SBV for a Shopbot?

edit: or maybe a better question how can I import a CAD file to use on the shopbot

Does anyone actually read these? Running 2023 autocad and half the time I try to join 2 more more polylines the program completely crashes. Been sending reports for 6 months now and it sure seems like they're immediately being filed in the circular cabinet.

When I drag to select a bunch of stuff, anything thats not directly in my view gets deselected, it randomly switched to this and I'm not sure what setting it is to fix it. Anyone know?

With AutoCAD LT 2024 and beyond now supporting LISP I've been looking to automate some common functions in our office. I've had success reverse-engineering existing LISP code, but am having trouble finding decent reference materials to build my own. AutoCAD's site and forums have helped, but it would be great to have a concise reference for command syntax, DXF codes, etc.

Since LT doesn't include Visual LISP I'm mostly using Notepad, so debugging (and learning) is a challenge. I'd appreciate any pointers to tutorials that might help a beginner-ish coder.

Hello I am a first year mechanical engineering student, I own a laptop that can run autocad and a 2024 ipad air m2.

Sadly my laptop's motherboard got broken and needs replacement, fixing the motherboard is not worth it and I am saving to buy a new laptop for the next years.

My question is: can I use autocad to a good extent on my 2024 ipad air m2?

ps: the reason I am making this post is bc all the other posts about this are dated before the release of said ipad.

thanks in advance

I have a drawing that's been split up into 2 layouts and I need to combine both layouts, however, the viewports for both are 1:100 and 1:75 respectively.

Both have dimensions placed on paper space on the viewport itself, is there a way for me to scale up the 1:75 dimensions to 1:100?

Is it as simple as just scaling and using a reference point?

Howdy howdy. Long-time CAD user here. Been doing this a while, so I'm worried I may be overlooking some newer tools to help in large-scale civil layout creation. I'm wondering if anyone here has an efficient process for creating named views in model space to allow for insertion through sheetset manager. I'm often dealing with what I would call medium size civil projects (maybe 40ish viewports doubled-up into 20ish layouts), but have some projects incoming that will be much larger and want to get an efficient process down.

My typical procedure would be: use mview to create a polygonal viewport, get it scaled/rotated correctly at the beginning of the alignment, get layering situated to my liking (mostly in model w/ no viewports overrides), then copying out the viewport and moving within the viewport along the alignment. I repeat this process to the end of the alignment(s). My legends, notes, and titleblocks are typical...so it's just a matter of duplicate layout - modify vp - duplicate layout - modify vp, etc.

I've known that named views exist, but abandoned the idea of using them a while back due to the rectangular shape constraint (please tell me if I'm incorrect here). Polygonal viewports are pretty much the deal-breaker. I've got a project that just came through that will be 11 miles long. For me, that means about 58,080ft @ 400ft/view = roughly 145 viewports to setup. Of course, some will be shorter, taller, or obscure shapes depending on an intersection or bend in the road, thus the need for polygonal viewports.

Does anyone have a process that works best for them to make this process painless? I'm already using sheetsets for our automated titleblock fields and would also like to somewhat automate our "secondary" sheet titles and matchlines based on alignment stationing. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Also, I'm using AutoCAD Map3D 2024, not Civil3D.

There are times that my boss decides we should revcloud a certain annotation, that may occur thousands of times in a document. How can I automate this for example:

Revcloud every instance of the word 'reveal'

I've been using autocad for about 15 years. I'm self-taught, but I'm looking to expand my knowledge and work on my best practices.

Are there any good free or paid classes that anyone can recommend?

I am a land surveyor, so anything in that direction would be ideal.

my company does Data Extractions to create BoMs by extracting attributes w/ part #s from blocks. However, it seems that there can only be 1 attribute per block that makes it to the bill of materials... does anyone know if its possible to have 3 separate attributes(3 different part #s) that can be extracted from 1 block w/ out having to make 3 separate blocks?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: it will extract the 3 extra part numbers but it when it spits out the data it creates all new columns

I'm curious to hear from CAD drafters in Canada about how you're navigating the industry these days. What is your typical salary, and what software do you primarily use? What is your field of study and the type of work you're involved in. If you will consider adding any skills or certifications to enhance your career prospects and income, what would it be?

Hi everyone. I am new to AutoCAD Electrical. Sometimes I get stuck while practicing, then I try to look for any tutorial or solution posted on the internet to resolve them. One such recent issue is that, some tabs are missing in the menu bar. And I am not able to find a specific solution with my issue. I would like to hear your ideas on resolving this issue. Below is thedescription of my issue.

When I started using AutoCAD electrical for the first time, tab such as "Schematic" was present in the menu bar. But, today I noticed that some tabs including "Schematics" are missing in the menu bar. Then I searched on the internet to identify the reason and a way to fix it. In one of the solutions, it is said to " click on the gear icon at the bottom and check the type of workspace currently in. If it is "Drafting and Annotation" workspace, we need to choose the "ACADE & 2D Drafting Annotation." Accordingly I checked the current workspace, and it is currently in "Drafting and Annotation", but unfortunately "ACADE & 2D drafting and annotation" option is missing. But other options such as "3D Basics" and "3D Modelling" are available. I couldn't find any specific solution for this issue on the internet. I highly appreciate you help in resolving this issue.

I just found out that once the visibility state box is open i can press the first letter of the state name to change to it. I'd like to be able to open the visibility state box for my dynamic block with a key instead of clicking on the drop down. Is that even possible?

So I use viewbase from time to time in my drawings but every time you make one its creates this .idw file in the same folder as the .dwg and sometimes when I have a lot of them it clogs up the folder. Ive verified that you can delete the .idw files without any problems in the .dwg, but when you reopen the .dwg it will generate the .idw files again.

Is there a way to have Autocad delete these automatically when the .dwg is closed?