AutoCAD Mechanical is very much an under utilised tool. Rich in content, it is a pity that a lot of people will open it, look at all the strange buttons and then customise it to look like normal or vanilla AutoCAD.
Some might say ah yes but AutoCAD is easier and quicker, but have you looked in depth into what is under the hood or just under that familiar button you always click on? Then you tell me what is easier and quicker.
Let’s quickly look at the Draw panel. It’s the same as the normal AutoCAD…or is it.
If you click on the rectangle command you will not see ellipse or polygon but a myriad of ways to create not just rectangles but squares as well!!
The input choices for the start point would be either first choosing your Basepoint, Midpoint of Base, Midpoint of Height or Center of the Rectangle or square.
This next step would be to specify the following for the rectangle shape
- Full base length and full height length
- Full base length and half height length
- Half base length and full height length
- Half base length and half height length
This next step would be to specify the following for the square shape
- Full base length
- Half base length
So you have drawn the rectangle but OOPS! I drew it in the wrong place. What would you do in AutoCAD. Select the object, click on move, select your base point and then click on where you would like to position the object.
That’s a lot of clicks!!
In AutoCAD Mechanical all you ned to do is double click on the rectangle you have just drawn and then recreate it where you want it. It remembers which method you used to draw the object and after it deletes the original rectangle that was inserted in the wrong place.
