Home » Technology » AutoCAD Design » Links for the AuotCAD user

Links for the AuotCAD user

© Jonathan Jonas

Today we are going to focus not on a specific area of AutoCAD, but rather hit upon some of the nifty things that can be found online for the AutoCAD user.

First off, I don't know about you, but I sure hate not having a gravel hatch, not to mention a decent hatch for tile roofs and stone walls. Instead of giving up and drawing these things by hand, take a look at: CAD Resource You will find a zip file that contains both acad.slb and acad.pat. (It's at the bottom of the page) The problem is that it is for ACAD r13. However you can easily fix this by changing the new acad.pat file from:

*ANGLE, Angle steel

0, 0,0, 0,.275, .2,-.075

To:

*SOLID, Solid fill

45, 0,0, 0,.125

*ANGLE, Angle steel

0, 0,0, 0,.275, .2,-.075

This will make it just like your r14 Hatch command, only it adds about 70 new hatches to the end of the slide library. Note: always backup your existing files before you modify or overwrite them!

Next is the mail list called ACADNEWS. To subscribe simply send mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AUTODESK.COM and place in the body of the message: SUBSCRIBE ACADNEWS. They send out an email about every other week.

Also on the net is a slide card for keeping track of text heights, paper sizes, dimension variables, etc. It's a really handy little tool that I carry with me to many of my jobs rather than take along a ton of notes and stuff. CAD Card

Need a book on AutoCAD? Try going to a site of mine that works in association with Amazon.com's AutoCAD selections. This site has already been gone trhough to weed out the older r12 and r13 stuff still on sale and leave you with the newer r14 books over at Amazon.com. This site also contains most books in print on 3D Studio Max as well as many Eco-Architecture that I find interesting.

How about a stop at the AutoCAD Clearinghouse? It's probably the largest collections site on the net.

Now, since all of you are on computers, you should know about Viruses and how to protect yourself from them. Of course you may think you'll never get one, but think different. I've been hit far too any times not to know better. Here's the link to Norton Anti-Virus and also good is the Virus Myths Page, so you know which are real viruses and which are just a hoax.