m a t e r i a l
Architectural Drafting
Using AutoCAD
Creating and Adjusting
Tool Palettes
The Tool Palettes window, shown in Figure 1, provides a quick way to access
blocks, hatch patterns, drawing and editing tools, external references, and other
drawing content. The Tool Palettes window is divided into tool palettes, each
indicated by a tab along the side of the palette. You can create tool palettes with
customized settings. For example, you can store blocks with a variety of different
scale settings and object properties.
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tool palettes:
Collections of
related blocks,
hatches, and other
tools arranged in a
visual palette format
for quick selection.
Figure1.
Auto-hide
Properties
Active tab
(palette)
Blocks
available
in palette
Scroll down
to access
more tools
Additional
palette tabs
Figure2.
The transparency
level of the Tool
Palettes window
can be set in the
Transparency
dialog box.
Move to adjust
the transparency
of the window
Move to adjust
the transparency
when hovering
over the window
Figure3.
Select to
where the
settings
are applied
Tool
appearance
settings
Figure4.
Right-click on
a drawing in
DesignCenter and
select Create Tool
Palette to create a
new tool palette
with the name
of the drawing
file. All block
definitions in the
drawing become
tools in the palette.
Selected file
If you have multiple drawing files in a folder and want to create a tool palette
that consists of all of the blocks combined from all of the drawing files, navigate
to the folder in the tree view area of DesignCenter. Next, highlight and then rightclick on the folder and select Create Tool Palette of Blocks. A new tool palette
appears in the Tool Palettes window with the name of the folder.
DesignCenter, first select the folder where the file resides in the tree view area of
DesignCenter. Then, drag the file from the content area onto the tool palette. When the
file inserts into a drawing from the tool palette, it becomes a block in the drawing.
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Activity 1
1. Start AutoCAD if it is not already started.
2. Start a new drawing using your Arch-Template.dwt template or the ArchTemplate.dwt template available from the student Web site.
3. Open DesignCenter and move it to the left side of the drawing area.
4. Open the Tool Palettes window and move it to the right side of the
drawing area.
5. In DesignCenter, open the Folders tab and navigate to the AutoCAD
Sample\DesignCenter folder.
6. In the content area of DesignCenter, right-click on the House Designer file
and select Create Tool Palette from the shortcut menu.
7. Create a new tool palette and name it My Blocks.
8. In DesignCenter, select the Home-Space Planner file in the tree view area.
9. In the content area, double-click on Blocks to display the blocks in the
Home-Space Planner file.
10. Drag as many blocks as you wish from DesignCenter onto the My Blocks
palette.
11. Close DesignCenter. Do not save the drawing.
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Figure5.
Right-click
to display
the shortcut
menu
Figure6.
B
to the new group, select the tool palette in the Palettes: area and drag it to just
below the group name in the Palette Groups: area. Figure6 shows examples of
tool palette groups.
You can access tool palette group editing options from the shortcut menu
displayed by right-clicking on a group name in the Palette Groups: area. Select
New Group to create a new tool palette group within the selected group, or a
subgroup. You can also rename or delete the selected group. If the selected group
is current in the Tool Palettes window, the Delete option is not available. Select
Set Current to switch the Tool Palettes window to display the selected tool palette
group. To remove a tool palette from a group, right-click on the tool palette in the
Palette Groups: area and select Remove. You can also drag the tool palette from
the Palette Groups: area to the Palettes: area.
After closing the Customize dialog box, you can switch between tool palette
groups by picking the Properties button on the Tool Palettes window title bar.
The tool palette groups list at the bottom of the shortcut menu. See Figure7.
Figure7.
Setting a tool
palette group
current by picking
the Properties
button.
Tool palette
groups
Current group
Select a tool palette group to make its tool palettes available in the Tool Palettes
window. The All Palettes option makes all tool palettes available in the Tool
Palettes window.
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Figure8.
Tool palette
export and
import options
box displays. This is a standard save dialog box. Navigate to the folder to store
the file, name the file, and pick the Save button.
To export an individual tool palette group, right-click on the group name in
the Palette Groups: area of the Customize dialog box and select Export. The
Export Group dialog box displays. This is a standard save dialog box. To export
all tool palette groups to an XGP file, right-click in a blank area of the Palette
Groups: area and select Export All. This also opens the Export Group dialog box.
In either case, navigate to the folder to store the file, name the file, and pick the
Save button. The tool palettes within the group do not export with the group.
To import a tool palette, open the Customize dialog box and right-click in the
Palettes: area and select Import to open the Import Palette dialog box. This is a
standard open dialog box. Locate the XTP file and pick the Open button. The
tool palette is available in the Customize dialog box.
To import a tool palette group, right-click on an existing group name or in the
empty area below the groups in the Palette Groups: area of the Customize dialog
box and select Import. The Import Group dialog box displays. Locate the XGP
file and pick the Open button. The tool palette group is available in the Customize
dialog box.
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Figure9.
AThis palette contains elevation and plan views of doors. Visual grouping by adding
a header will help distinguish the elevation views from the plan views. BRight-click
between the tools where you want the header added and select Add Text from the
shortcut menu. CHeaders have been added to group the tools.
Select
to
add a
header
or
dividing
line
A
Copyright by Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Headers
added
C
Creating and Adjusting Tool Palettes10
right-click on the header and select Delete. To delete a dividing line, right-click on
it and select Delete. You can move a header or dividing line within the palette by
picking on it, holding, and dragging it to the new location.
Activity 2
1. Start AutoCAD if it is not already started.
2. Start a new drawing using your Arch-Template.dwt template or the ArchTemplate.dwt template available from the student Web site.
3. Open the Tool Palettes window.
4. Right-click on the title bar and select Customize Palettes from the
shortcut menu.
5. Create four new tool palettesDoor, Window, Details, and Notes.
6. Create a new palette group named Architectural Residential.
7. Drag the Door, Window, Details, and Notes tool palettes into the Architectural
Residential tool palette group.
8. Close the Customize dialog box.
9. Display only the Architectural Residential tool palette group in the Tool
Palettes window.
10. Save the drawing as act-2.
Figure10.
AThe Tool Properties window for a block tool. BThe Tool Properties window for a
hatch pattern tool.
Tool
icon
for
block
name appears in the Name: text box. You can enter a description for the tool in the
Description: text box if necessary.
The specific properties displayed in the Tool Properties dialog box depend
on the selected tool. For a block tool, Insert is the first category. See Figure10A.
The Name setting lists the name of the block in the source drawing file that will
insert. It has to be the exact name of a block definition in the source file. The
Source file setting identifies the location and name of the drawing file in which
the block resides. To modify this setting, highlight Source file and pick the ellipsis
() button. This opens the Select Linked Drawing dialog box, which allows you to
change the source drawing file.
The Scale setting specifies the scale of the block in relation to the block definition size. By default, the Auxiliary Scale value is None. Setting the value to Dimscale
or Plot scale overrides the Scale setting. The Dimscale option specifies the scale of
the block as the value entered in the Use overall scale of: text box in the Fit tab of the
Dimension Style dialog box. The Plot scale option specifies the scale of the block as
the value entered in the Scale: text box in the Page Setup or Plot dialog box.
The Rotation setting specifies the rotation angle used when the block inserts.
The Prompt for Rotation setting determines whether a prompt asks for the rotation angle when inserting the block. The default setting is No. The Explode setting
determines whether the block explodes when inserted. The default setting is No.
The first category in the Tool Properties window for a hatch pattern is Pattern.
See Figure 10B. The settings in this category correspond to the options in the
Boundary Hatch dialog box.
The Tool Properties window has identical property settings in the General
category for blocks and hatch patterns. These are the Color, Layer, Linetype, Plot
style, and Lineweight settings. As with other object properties, you can modify
these settings to produce different results when inserting a block or hatch pattern
from the Tool Palettes window.
Activity 3