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Michael’s Corner

Michael BeallMichael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

October - One-derful!!!

It's a God-thing.

I had no idea that 14 years ago I would be given the opportunity to make an impact on the professional lives of so many. Only God knew what was ahead, and hopefully, the contributions I have made through Michael's Corner have equipped many of you to be more productive and a bit more savvy using AutoCAD. And apart from all the AutoCAD bashing that is going on, I'm sure it has a long life ahead.

So, in an effort to keep the AutoCAD fires burning, here's what I have for my final installment…

…A reminder on how to customize your hot keys
…Three Power Tools — one for Zoom, one for editing, and one for Layers
…Two Odd Spots — one for Layers and one for Hatching
…Buried text treasure
…And how to Search 14 years of the Archives

As for what's ahead for me, I will continue to present a variety of AutoCAD sessions — Fundamentals, Intermediate, Customizing, Updates, and 2D & 3D. I will also keep training CAP Designer, 20-20 Worksheet, Visual Impression (those three from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.), and some Revit Fundamentals. Next year I'm looking forward to being very involved in training CET (from Configura, Inc.) when Herman Miller joins the growing number of manufacturers embracing this software that is being touted as the ‘Future of Space Planning’. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with Donna, my lovely bride of 30 years. When this posts, we'll probably be within days of going on our 30th Anniversary vacation to the Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson; Ee-Hah! We had such a good time when we went for our 20th, we figured we'd do it again!

Ah, and I'm hoping to have The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition out before snow flies.

And with that, Mike drop! …so to speak.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

This month's articles

Change F1 to ESC
Smoother Zoom
Stretch with Extension
Lock Layers with a Crossing Window
Layer Columns & Hatch Background Color
Text Frame on Mtext

From the Vault

Originally published September 2007

Applying an Image to 3D Objects in A2008

Create New MaterialRecently I had the opportunity to do some training for Standard Textile in Cincinnati, OH, and since they have this great site where you can download fabric swatches in JPG format, I thought it would be helpful to understand the fundamentals of adding textures to 3D objects.

The main player will be the Materials palette. You will need to have a drawing with a 3D object in it in order to go thru this exercise. The process will work on a 3D Face, but you may also want to take a look at my coverage of 3D Orbit in February 2006, or my article on the A2007 command Presspull in December 2006. Either one of those will enable you to get to the point of getting some 3D geometry created. Also, if you don't have a swatch to use, click here to download some of the .JPG files like the one I am using in this exercise.

Instructions to Apply a Material Image to a 3D Object

  1. Open the Material palette ToolsPalettesMaterials, then click the Create New Material button. Enter a Name and a Description for this material, then click OK. You will see another ball show up in the Preview area and the name of your new material listed in the dropdown list.
  2. The A2008 Materials palette has several headings. Collapse the Material Editor heading and the next one is Maps. In the Diffuse Map area, click the Select Image button, then navigate to your desired image (valid types are TGA, BMP, RLE, DIB, PNG, JPG, JPEG, TIF, GIF, PCX), then click Open to display that image name in the dropdown list. You will also see the image mapped to the sphere, but it may not be discernable.
  3. If you're using one of the provided JPG files, expand the heading for Material Scaling & Tiling. Click the icon to Lock the Shape of the Map, then set the Scale Units to Inches. You can experiment with the size of the tiling of the image - and depending upon your object - set the size in either the Width or the Height field and see how it looks.
Material Scaling & Tiling
  1. In order to see the result of the application of the image to the object, you will need to open the Visual Styles Manager palette, ToolsPalettesVisual Styles.
  2. From the Visual Styles Manager, double-click the style named Realistic to assign that visual style to the drawing window.
  3. Now, from the Materials palette, in the preview of Available Materials in Drawing, drag and drop the sphere representing your newly created material onto the objects in the drawing!
Drag and Drop Material

That should keep you busy during your lunch hours for the next week or so…

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