Do you ever use the transparent 'CAL command? It is probably one of those commands that you know, but use so infrequently that you forget about it. So why bother? How can it help? Here are some examples. Oh yeah, I'm not talking about the QuickCalc that runs in a palette - this post is strictly referring to the command line 'CAL command.

Example 1: Use it as a plain old calculator. At the command line, type ._CAL and enter an expression like 32/7 which will return 4.57142857. Okay, that was pretty easy and you didn't have to leave AutoCAD.

Annotative objects have been part of AutoCAD now since the 2008 release, but if you use them infrequently you may have some questions on how certain things work.

One question that I see frequently is related to the ability for annotative objects to have different locations based on the scale. In the example shown here, I have an annotative Mleader, shown in magenta in each viewport. One viewport is scaled 1"=10' and the other is 1"=50' (the actual scales are not important, but just note that they vary quite a bit in this example).

If you work on a particular project frequently, you can save a step by creating a desktop (or start menu) shortcut for launching AutoCAD, and have it automatically open the desired Sheet Set.

Here is how to do it.

• Copy the shortcut that you normally use
• Open the properties of this new shortcut.
• On the Shortcut tab, find where you can edit the "Target"
• Add the following to the end of the target: /set "path\name_of_sheet_set.dst" (of course, use the actual path and name of your desired sheet set.)
• Optionally, switch to the General tab and change the name of the shortcut to better fit its purpose.

Note that the field in which the target string is located is almost always too short to see the entire string. You could copy the existing string into notepad and then do your editing there so you can see the entire thing - then paste it back into the Target field when you are done.

This tip should work for any Windows based, AutoCAD based application, such as Civil 3D, shown in the image above.

For more information, including other startup shortcut switches, see Customize Startup topic in the AutoCAD documentation.

For most people, Tuesday was the starting day although there are several events on the days preceding Tuesday. As a disclaimer, I was invited by Autodesk as a media/blogger and Autodesk covered my registration and hotel costs. Special thanks to Angela Simoes, Senior Manager, Public Relations, Autodesk, for offering me this privilege.

One of the first signs in the hall that you are at AU.

Day 0 (Monday) started out with lunch,

Keep track of what's going on at AU2011 by following the Twitter feed. More to come later.

AU2011

Well, probably....if you are in the U.S. and unless you have to work on Friday or the weekend. I had planned on another informative AU2011 post today, but I'm finishing up work because I do have ZERO work days in between today and the week following AU.

So because time is short, I'll just leave you with Lynn Allen's latest AU Las Vegas 2011 Primer

This will be my seventh year to attend AU. Here is a look back at my past years using select photos. All images except the last three, are courtesy of Shaan Hurley.

If you are attending AU2011, there is a Flickr group set up where you can share your photos.

Ok, let's go to the full story to see the photos.

AU2011 is one week away. If AU2011 will be your first time at Autodesk University, here are some great tips and advice from the Kung Fu Drafter, Shaan Hurley, and Donnie Gladfelter

• Beginners Guide to AU - Part 1
  
• Beginners Guide to AU - Part 2
  
• AU Survival Tips
  
• A Geek’s Gadget Guide to Autodesk University.

If you are not attending in person, do you know about AU Virtual? AU Virtual has already started and there are already "Over 10,000 people from 100 countries ....registered and viewing classes on AU Virtual", according to #AutodeskU

If you are editing TEXT (not MTEXT), and the system variable TEXTED is set to 0 or 2, then you will be using the In-Place text editor. Although you can type in %%U to add underlining, there is no obvious way to remove it. I would guess most people would not even try the %%U since initially it shows up in the string while you are typing it in.

Anyway, you can use CTRL+U to toggle underlining (on selected text) in the In-Place Text Editor. Here is a partial? list of other In-Place Text Editor keyboard shortcuts.

• CTRL+F - Insert a Field
• CTRL+A - Select all text
• CTRL+V - Undo changes
• CTRL+O - Toggle Overscore on selected text
• CTRL+U - Toggle Underline on selected text
• CTRL+SHIFT+U - convert selected text to UPPER case
• CTRL+SHIFT+L - convert selected text to lower case
• CTRL+ENTER - finish editing
• CTRL+R - Find & Replace

(Those last four, courtesy @JustOpie on Twitter!)

If you prefer the older TEXT edit dialog, set TEXTED to 1.

Do you have any other Text Editor tips?

Submit your 3D CAD design and win a trip to San Francisco for two, plus $1000 in cash! WikiCAD and Novedge have teamed up to create this contest, and the judging is based on Facebook "likes" and Google "+1"'s. What could be easier?

For all of the details, check out the following two pages
Novedge press release
WikiCAD contest details