Drawing Tools

To access the Drawing Tools, click on the Draw tab, and then select the Drawing Tools tab.

The Drawing Tools interface has three tabs on the right side: Common Commands, Common Text, Common Blocks.

 

Common Commands Tab

The Common Commands Tab contains a list of all the commands needed to draw or edit elements within your drawing. This list of commands is editable. You can select the Edit List button to open the Edit AutoCAD Commands window. Here you can edit the existing commands, change the order, add new commands or delete commands. This is a handy tool for storing commands that you may not use daily, but you want to have access to. 

Double-clicking on an item in the list will activate that command. You can then follow the instructions in the Command-Line to use the command. 

Editing the Common Commands List

To modify existing commands or add a new command to the list, select the Edit List button at the bottom of the section. This will open the Edit AutoCAD Command window. 

Add a New Command

From the Edit AutoCAD command window, first, select the column you would like to add the command to. In the Caption property, enter the name that will be displayed in the list. In the Command property, enter the command as it would be entered into the command line. For example, the Text command is TX, so entering in TX in this property would activate the Text command. Selecting the Add Command button will add the new command at the bottom of the list. Selecting the Insert Command button will insert the new command below the command that is highlighted in the window. 

Delete a Command

Select a command you want to delete from the list of commands on the left side and then select the Delete Command button. 

Common Text Tab

The Common Text tab contains predefined text that is often needed while creating submittal drawings. At the bottom of this tab, you have the option to control the text rotation and add a leader to point to a specific location on your drawing. 

To add text to the drawing, first select the type of leader and rotation for the text. Then double-click on the text you would like to add and then pick a point in the drawing. If you have a leader or arc leader option selected, you will first pick a point where the arrowhead will be placed and then another point where the text will be placed. 

1. Select leader for text. 
   
2. Select text rotation. 
   

Add a New Common Text 

Select the Edit List button under the Common Text list to display the Edit Text window. To add a new item to the list, type in the text in the text property and then select the Add Text button. Changing the text property for the selected item will change the text next time it is used in the drawing. 

Common Blocks Tab

The Common Blocks tab contains commonly used 2D blocks that can be added to your submittal drawings. These include symbols, drawing labels, cabinet details, and 2D appliance blocks. To add a block to the drawing, double-click the block you want to add and then pick a point in the drawing to place the blocks. Some blocks may have attributes that you can edit by typing "ET" into the command line and then selecting the block. An edit attributes window will be displayed that will allow you to type in the content that will be added to the block. 

Add a New Block

You can add your custom blocks to this list by selecting the Edit List button. In the Edit Blocks window, add the name that will be displayed in the Caption property. In the AutoCAD Drawing Name property, enter the name of the AutoCAD drawing you want to use, or you can select the Browse button to browse to the file on your computer. The Meta File Name property will be the picture that is displayed when the block is selected. There are four options that you can turn on for the block when the block is being added to the drawing. Check the appropriate options. Selecting the Add Block button will add the new block to the end of the list while using the Insert Block button will place it below the item that is currently selected in the list. 

1. Enter a name for the block. 
   
2. Enter the drawing name or browse to the drawing file and select it. 
   
3. Enter the metafile name or browse to the metafile and select it. 
   
4. Select the options you want available when inserting this block into the drawing. 
   

Storing the DWG File

When using common blocks, Microvellum will look for the dwg file in two locations. First, it will look to a folder name CommonBlocks inside the Microvellum Data/Graphics folder. So the location on disk is Microvellum Data/Graphics/CommonBlocks. It it can't find the drawing file in that location, it will look for the drawing file inside the MicrovellumGraphics database. 

The Common Text and Common Blocks tools use the current layer in AutoCAD.