At last, real rectangles in AutoCAD

You have been waiting for real rectangles in AutoCAD for years.

The wait is over!

Here is how it works:

Draw a floating viewport in paper space.
Copy/paste it in Model space.

That's it!

You've got a real rectangle, you can change its length and heigth and its
center in the properties window, and you can change its size by grip
editing:

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Patrick EMIN http://www.CADxp.com
The french CAD portal

 

WOW! That is incredible. I can't believe that AutoCAD let's you do this,
since the MVIEW command is not allowed in modelspace. It sure does work
well though, even with clipped viewports. The only problem is that you
can't rotate the "rectangle." You can rotate the clipping boundary.

Very clever Patrick.

Dan

 

And how do Autodesk "rectangles" list as in the property window? )
Autodesk's rectangles don't have a length and height, wich is curious for
rectangles, mine do.
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Patrick EMIN http://www.CADxp.com
The french CAD portal

 

Try making a 1 unit box into a block, then insert at any X, Y scale
factor... now you have a rectangle, that can be rotated and know the
dimensions.

 

that is much more useful, and easily incorporated into a lisp routine called
"rectangle".

i'm too lazy to search (its monday after all), but i wouldn't be surprised
to see one out there already somewhere.

 

How are snaps handled in an unevenly scaled INSERT? Perp, nea, etc?

 

PERP doesn't work, but ENDpt and MIDpt work fine.

 

It is NOT a rectangle, it still lists as a viewport and can result in auditable erros when moving between different releases. It seems a dangerous toy to build into drawings that may pose a serious problem as a future legacy issue. I'd avoid using it, as it's benefits do not outweigh the potential problems.

 

just fine, if you draw it with lines, not polylines (2005).

 

....or "heavy" polylines, IIRC.

 

Not only can you not rotate it, but try copying it in model space....it
doesn't work.


"Dean Saadallah" <info from pendean> wrote in message
LOL

You cannot rotate to any angle, and it LISTs as a viewport: before anyone
takes this to heart without thinking, beware of the obvious ramifications
for the future.

 

And a copy protected object! Whaooo! I could'nt imagine my finding had so
many interesting ramifications...

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(o)-(o)
---ooO---(_)---Ooo--------------------------
Patrick EMIN http://www.CADxp.com
The french CAD portal

 

Yeah, that's a neat idea, but it's still not grip editable (stretchable).
You have to re-insert the block at changed x,y,z coordinates.

Xolo
Try making a 1 unit box into a block, then insert at any X, Y scale
factor... now you have a rectangle, that can be rotated and know the
dimensions.

 

Huh?

The Properties palette allow one to modify/see the block's x and y scales
anytime.
(One of the main points of Tracy's method.)
(One can edit thus several blocks at a time, too, if necessary.)

No, not grip editable - but not usually needed for this exercise.

BTW, I also like to include a point (node) on layer Defpoints at the center
of the block (the handle point). (So when it happens to be in an XREF, I
can still snap to the node (since snapping to _ins won't work in this
instance)

Best regards,
David Kozina

 

That is an interresting find. I am always more impressed with an old
AutoCAD feature which I did not know over a new feature.

Have any of you tried out the new AECPOLYGON command in ADT? I find it to
be closer to what you may be looking for in a "rectangle", but still not
quite perfect. You would still have to pick all four points to draw the
rectangle, but when completed and then selected it uses some cool new grips.
There are now grips on the midpoints of all segments making for an
interresting new way to edit shapes. Also, the angles of adjacent segments
are untouched, rather it will lengthen or shorten other segments because of
an edit.

Jeffrey K. Ries