Learning Basic Commands to Get Started - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 52

square. This is called the pickbox . When you see it on the screen, it's a
sign that AutoCAD is ready for you to select objects on the screen. Also
notice the command window; it's prompting you to select objects.

2. Place the pickbox on one of the lines, and click it when it highlights.
The line changes to a dashed line to indicate that it is selected.

3. Repeat step 2 for the remaining lines.

4. Press ↵ . The objects are erased, and the ERASE command ends.

NOTE You've been introduced to two methods of selecting lines to be
erased: typing ALL ↵ and using the pickbox to select them. throughout the topic,
you'll learn other ways to select objects. the selection process is important in
autoCaD because you need to be able to select objects quickly and precisely.

Controlling How the Selection tools Are Displayed

When you move the cursor over an object, AutoCAD highlights the object. This is
called rollover highlighting . It tells you that clicking while the object is highlighted
selects that object. You have some choices as to how this highlighting appears:

1. In the Application menu, click the Options button at the bottom
(Application Menu ➢ Options) to open the Options dialog box.

2. Click the Selection tab. Notice the Selection preview area in the middle
of the left side (see Figure 2.17, right). Here you can activate or deacti-
vate the check boxes to control whether rollover highlighting occurs
when a command is running or when no command is running. If both
check boxes are checked, the feature works all the time.

3. Click the Visual Effect Settings button below the check boxes to open
the Visual Effect Settings dialog box (see Figure 2.17, bottom). There
are two areas: Selection Preview Effect and Area Selection Effect. The
Selection Preview Effect area controls how the rollover highlighting

Feel free to experi-
ment with these set-
tings until you find
a combination that
works for you.