AutoCAD Platform Customization. Ambrosius Lee

name for the new group and press Enter.

      3. Drag and drop layers from the Layers list onto the new group to create an association between the layers and group.

      A property filter in AutoCAD on Windows can be created by following these steps:

      1. On the Layer Properties Manager, click New Property Filter.

2. When the Layer Filter Properties dialog box (Figure 2.9, top) opens, enter a descriptive name in the Filter Name text box.

      3. In the Filter Definition grid, set the properties you want to filter on. Click OK.

Figure 2.9 Creating dynamic filters based on layer names and properties

      If you are using AutoCAD for Mac, do the following to create a dynamic filter:

      1. On the Layers palette, click New Dynamic Layer Group.

      2. When the New Dynamic Group dialog box (Figure 2.9, bottom) opens, enter a descriptive name in the Group Name text box.

      3. In the Match Any Of The Following Rules section, set the properties you want to filter on.

      4. Optionally, click the + (plus) button to add properties to the filter.

      5. Click Create Group.

      Creating and Using Layer States

      Layer states allow you to take a snapshot of the current layers in a drawing. The snapshot includes the layers that currently exist in the drawing and their current property values. Any new layers added to a drawing are not automatically added to an existing layer state because they did not exist when the layer state was created. When a layer state is restored and new layers exist in the drawing, you have the option to turn off any layers that weren't saved with the layer state.

After you make changes to the layers in the drawing for editing, plotting, or display purposes, you can return the layers to their previous properties by restoring a saved layer state. Layer states can be beneficial when you receive a drawing from a client and want to make sure that the layers are just like they were when you received the drawing before sending it back to the client. You can create layer states in AutoCAD on Windows by using the Layer States Manager dialog box (see Figure 2.10) or with the State option of the – layer command. The Layer State Manager does not exist in AutoCAD for Mac, so you need to use the State option of the – layer command.

Figure 2.10 Saving layer states allows you to later restore the visibility and properties of the layers in a drawing.

      The following steps explain how to create a layer state in AutoCAD on Windows:

      1. On the ribbon, click Home tab ➢ Layers panel ➢ Layer States drop-down list ➢ Manage Layer States (or at the command prompt, enter layerstate and press Enter).

      2. When the Layer States Manager (Figure 2.10) opens, click New.

      3. In the New Layer State To Save dialog box, enter a name in the New Layer State Name text box. Optionally, enter a description. Click OK.

      4. Optionally, click Edit to edit the layers and the properties that are being saved with the layer state. Make the edits in the Edit Layer State dialog box and click OK.

      5. Click Save and then click OK.

      If you are using AutoCAD for Mac or want to create a layer state from the command prompt in AutoCAD on Windows, do the following:

      1. At the command prompt, enter -layer and press Enter.

      2. At the Enter an option [?/Make/Set/New/Rename/ON/OFF/Color/Ltype/LWeight/TRansparency/MATerial/Plot/PStyle/Freeze/Thaw/LOck/Unlock/stAte/Description/rEconcile]: prompt, type state and then press Enter.

      3. At the Enter an option [?/Save/Restore/Edit/Name/Delete/Import/EXport]: prompt, type save and then press Enter.

      4. At the Enter new layer state name: prompt, type a name for the new layer state and then press Enter.

      5. At the Enter states to change [On/Frozen/Lock/Plot/Newvpfreeze/Color/lineType/lineWeight/TRansparency/plotStyle]: prompt, type a property to change and then press Enter, or simply press Enter if you don't want to make any changes to the new layer state.

      6. Press Enter again to end the – layer command.

      A layer state after it is saved can be restored by doing one of the following:

      • In the Layer States Manager, select the layer state you want to restore and click Restore (Windows).

      • On the ribbon, click Home tab ➢ Layers panel ➢ Layer States drop-down list and select the layer state you want to restore (Windows).

      • At the command prompt, type -layer and press Enter. At the Enter an option prompt, type state and press Enter. At the Enter an option prompt, type restore and press Enter. At the Enter name of layer state to restore or [?]: prompt, type the name of the layer state to restore and press Enter. Press Enter again to end the – layer command (Windows and Mac OS).

      Creating and Managing Annotation Styles

      Annotation styles play a significant role in the communication of your design to those who will sign off on the project or be involved in manufacturing. AutoCAD supports four primary annotation styles that affect the appearance of text, dimension, table, and multileader objects. The following sections explain the basics of creating and editing these annotation styles.

      Text Heights

      The height at which any text should be created is based on where the text will reside: model space or paper space. Text created in model space (using the Model tab) is commonly scaled up because the objects represent real-world objects that are being designed and drawn at full scale and then are scaled down when plotted or printed to fit on a sheet of paper.

      Text at a height of 3/16″ (or 0.1875 inches) is very small in model space if you normally use a plot scale of 1/8″ = 1′-0″ or 100:1 for your drawings. The text would be plotted at about 0.0019 inches high, or basically a dot on the drawing. To get an acceptable size for your text in model space, you take the text height you want the final text to appear, say 3/16″, and multiply it by the expected plot scale (1/8″ = 1′-0″ is equal to 96). So you take (3/16) × 96 to calculate the final text height of 18″ to be used for text in model space. On the other hand, 18″ is way too large for text in paper space. Here, you would use the actual text height of 3/16″ since you commonly plot or print a layout at a scale of 1:1.

      Things can get complicated even further if you plot parts of your drawing at different scales since your text would not look the same when plotted at a scale of 1/4″ = 1′-0″ as it would at 100:1. The issue of dealing with multiple plot scales in a drawing can be addressed with one of two solutions:

      • Use different layers and create multiple text objects at different heights; then control which objects should be displayed in a viewport at a specific scale or when the drawing is plotted. Managing multiple layers and annotation objects was once the only choice, but it is still the common choice for some companies.

      • Use annotative scaling to dynamically scale text up or down based on the scale at which the object is being viewed through a viewport or plotted. I discuss annotative styles and annotation scaling in the section “Annotative Styles and Annotation Scaling” later in this chapter.

      Text Styles

      Text styles are used to define how text within a drawing will look or behave when created, but not what the contents of the text will be. For example, a text style defines which font will be used to control the appearance of the characters within a text object, if the text is