Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Layouts (see Chapter 5)
When you use commands, such as LAYER, LINETYPE, and DIMSTYLE, you're creating
and editing named objects. After you've created named objects in a drawing, AutoCAD
DesignCenter or the new-in-2012 Content Explorer give you the tools to copy them to
other drawings.
Donald Trump might think otherwise, but you
can
have too many properties
(at least in AutoCAD). You may have created layers or loaded linetypes, text, or di-
mension styles that you end up not using. If you think you may have some of
these superfluous named objects in your drawing, the PURGE command can help
you get rid of them. Click the Application button to display the Application Menu.
Choose Drawing Utilities, and then Purge to open the Purge dialog box. You can
click the plus sign (+) beside each category and purge individual items, or you can
click Purge All and get rid of tons of stuff at once. Visit the online help for more
about purging.
Using AutoCAD DesignCenter
DesignCenter is a dumb name for a useful, if somewhat busy, palette. (At least they
didn't call it DesignCenter Manager!) The DesignCenter palette is handy for borrowing
data from all kinds of drawings. Whereas the Properties palette (described in the section
“Managing Your Properties,” earlier in this chapter) is concerned with properties of
graphical objects, the DesignCenter palette deals primarily with named objects: layers,
linetypes, block definitions, text styles, and other organizational objects in your draw-
ings.
The DesignCenter palette (shown in Figure 6-11) consists of a toolbar at the top, a set of
three tabs below that, a tree view pane on the left, and a content pane on the right. The
tree view pane displays a Windows Explorer-like navigation panel, showing drawing files
and the symbol tables contained in each drawing. The content pane usually displays the
contents of the selected drawing or symbol table.
