Using Named Objects

One of the things that can make AutoCAD a tough nut to crack is the somewhat cavalier naming conventions used in the program's documentation. For years, things like lines, arcs, and other graphical items were called entities, but more recently, they started being called objects. Fair enough, but object has also long been used to define certain non-graphical components of a drawing — things that you'd hardly consider to be objects at all — and those are the kind of “named objects” I describe in what follows.

Layers are one example of a named object. The layer table in a given drawing contains a list of the layers in the current drawing, along with the settings for each layer (color, linetype, on/off setting, and so on).

Named objects don't appear as graphical objects in your drawing. They're like the hard-working pit crew that keeps the race cars running smoothly behind the scenes. The named objects you're likely to use the most include

• Layers (covered in the section “Putting it on a layer,” earlier in this chapter)
• Linetypes (covered in the section “Accumulating properties,” earlier in this chapter)
• Text styles (see Chapter 13)
• Table styles (see Chapter 13)
• Multileader styles (see Chapter 13)
• Multiline styles (not covered in this book; see the online help)
• Dimension styles (see Chapter 14)
• Block definitions and xrefs (see Chapters 17 and 18)
• 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.

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 drawings.

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.

Figure 6-11: The AutoCAD DesignCenter palette.

The three tabs just below the DesignCenter toolbar control what you see in the tree view and content panes:

• Folders: This tab shows the folders on your local and network drives, just like the Windows Explorer Folders pane does. Use this tab if the drawing you want to copy from isn't currently open in AutoCAD.
• Open Drawings: This tab (current in Figure 6-11) shows the drawings that are currently open in AutoCAD. Use this tab to copy named objects between open drawings.
• History: This tab shows drawings that you've recently browsed in DesignCenter. Use this tab to jump quickly to drawings that you've used recently on the Folders tab.

The Autodesk Seek Design Content button on DesignCenter's toolbar links to parts libraries that are available on Autodesk's Web sites. (Autodesk Seek is also accessible through the new Content Explorer, which I introduce you to in Chapters 1 and 2.) Autodesk Seek is essentially an online catalog of building products. Browse the offerings to see whether any of the online libraries can be useful in your work.

The toolbar buttons further refine what you see in the tree view and content panes. A few of these buttons toggle different parts of the panes.

The following steps outline the procedure for using DesignCenter to copy named objects from one drawing to another. See the next section, “Copying layers between drawings,” for a specific example.

1. If it isn't already open, switch to the Ribbon's View tab, find the Palettes panel, and click DesignCenter to open the DesignCenter palette.

   You can also press Ctrl+2 to open this palette.

2. Select or load the drawing(s) whose content you want to view or use into the navigation pane on the left.

   If the source drawing is already open, you can access its content from the Open Drawings tab. If the source drawing isn't open but is stored on your hard drive or network, click Load on the DesignCenter toolbar and navigate to the file's location in the Folders tab.

3. In the Open Drawings tab (if the source drawing is currently open) or the Folders tab (if the source drawing is not open) of the tree view pane, click the plus sign (+) beside the source file to expand the list of named object categories.

   The list of named object categories appears in a list in the tree view pane on the left and as icons in the content pane on the right.

4. In the tree view pane, select the category of named object you want to copy.

   The content pane now displays the individual named objects within the named object category. For example, in Figure 6-11 (shown previously), the Layers category is selected in the tree view pane, and icons for each named layer are shown in the content pane.

5. In the content pane, select the items you want to copy. Right-click and choose Add [Symbol] (or Insert Block if you're copying block definitions) or simply drag and drop them into the drawing area.

   Use Shift or Ctrl to select multiple named objects.

Copying layers between drawings

The previous set of steps outlines the general procedure for copying named objects from one drawing to another by using DesignCenter. The following steps show a specific example: copying layers from one drawing to another. You can use the same technique to copy dimension styles, layouts, linetypes, table styles, text styles, or any of the named objects shown in the tree view pane in Figure 6-11.

1. Open the drawing that contains the layers you want to copy (the source drawing).
2. Open the drawing to which you want to copy the layers (the destination drawing).

   If you already had both drawings open, make sure that you can see the destination drawing. If you can't, click Switch Windows in the View tab's Windows panel and choose the destination drawing in order to bring it to the foreground, or tile the windows, as shown in Figure 6-12, by clicking Tile Vertically in the same Windows panel.

   

   Figure 6-12: Copying a layer from one drawing to another.

3. Click the DesignCenter button on the Palettes panel of the Ribbon's View tab or press Ctrl+2.
4. In the DesignCenter palette, click the Open Drawings tab.

   The DesignCenter tree view pane on the left side of the palette displays a list of drawings that you currently have open in AutoCAD.

   You can also use the Folders tab, the Load button, or the Search button to load a drawing into DesignCenter without opening it in AutoCAD.

5. In the tree view pane of the DesignCenter palette, click the plus sign (+) next to the name of the source drawing that you opened in Step 1.

   A list of symbol categories that you can copy, including layers, appears in the tree view pane.

6. Click Layers in the list in the tree view pane.

   The display in the content pane at the right changes to show the individual layers that are stored in the source drawing.

7. Click and drag the desired layer or layers from the content pane of the DesignCenter palette into the window containing the destination drawing that you opened in Step 2, as shown in Figure 6-12.

• To see your favorites: Click the DesignCenter toolbar's Favorites button.
• To return to a favorite: Double-click its shortcut in the content pane.