Settings that need faster access

[ambrozac]

I've been promoting this for a while, but hasn't caught on. It would be better programmed within CA, but until that happens, it really is a good alternative. All this program does, is avoids typing a lot of keys and needing to open dbx's. You can see in the picture, where you can use either hot keys (2 letter, without Enter and pressed sequentially),an icon, or both. As an example, you can program Concentric Jump with "CJ" and it will auto open the dbx to the correct spot and all you need do, is type your number and enter. Sequence as follows cj12 (enter).

You should be able to program most, if not all that was asked for in this thread, except for repeat last command. I haven't tried that. Anyway, you can change all your defaults, text sizes, turn layers on/off...all without having to open a dbx. Use either hot key, icon, or both. If not mistaken, I believe you may still be able to use a single key, but have to hold the key down, until it kicks in. Check here if interested. I doubt you would get much support, but so far, I haven't needed any.

[WendyWelton]

Why does it have to be all of one?
Some things will be faster with the mouse..
And other don't get used that much to matter..
P and H are not that close together for my typing..

Allen,

PH for me is easy to remember. For you, something else might work better. Hotkeys right now are customizable, so I assume if we talk the Chief Peeps into two letter ones, that they will be customizable also.

Folks who are happy with buttons on screen would not be losing them.

[Allen42acj]

Hi Wendy
It is easy to remember but not that easy for me to type.
I would rather have the letters closer together on the key board.
C H = Copy hold

Have seen you use hot keys and even using 5 keys to my 2, I think you would be faster typing than me.

[BREEZE WOOD]

- Have not read all the posts so if mentioned already... The parallel tool can not be reset without first selecting an object - chose side or all to change - If setting is changed dbx closes- must then reselect object. - The tool should have direct access for changing setting... if possible i guess.

[Doug Park]

If we put in multiple key keystrokes we would probably not limit it to 2. I've seen several very powerful text editors from way back that allowed 1, 2 or more keystrokes to be assigned. There is no reason to require enter except in cases, such as hitting tab to type in numbers, to say you are done. We do this already for entering the distance a mouse moved. While it isn't identical to ACAD, it is very similar in the keystrokes required.

Wendy asked about painter modes. What I was referring to was the layer painter that we have right now for changing layers. It seems like many of the cases mentioned for repeat last command were things like break, make parallel etc. that you want to apply to many different objects by single clicking on them after establishing what you want to do.

All this talk about the ability to more quickly manipulate CAD seems also to be directed toward cleaning up elevations. So it seems to me that if we do more work on making the elevations cleaner and more accurate that is a much greater time savings than trying to shave fractions of a second out of highly repetitive operations.

It has also been my observation that if given a really simple tool that takes 100 clicks to do a task vs. a more complicated tool that takes 10, people will usually use the 100 click option. I've observed numerous times where people could have used group select with a filter turned on to select a bunch of stuff and then in a few strokes change it, but instead select each item 1 at a time and repeat the same editing dozens of times. I'm sure that most of you aren't doing this, but there are some areas that I suspect aren't being used as effectively as they could simply because they aren't well understood or are new.

For example multiple copy was greatly enhanced in X1 yet I rarely see any posts on it's use. I suspect this is due to it's lack of use rather than it being perfect and not requiring any improvement. I have observed on several occasions where a feature was added in one version and then the next version everyone starts talking about it as if it's a new feature. Snapping is another area where there is huge hidden power. Another area is the cases where we have a right click creation or editing behavior that isn't all that obvious.

As these items are learned and become habit you can improve your efficiency, often quite significantly. I would encourage everyone to spend at least an hour a week learning new techniques. That hour invested in learning can pay off very quickly in making you more efficient. For the really creative among you think about how you can do tasks more efficiently than you do now. You might be surprised at what you come up with.

And keep the suggestions coming. Some of these will likely not show up in X2, X3 or even X4, but over time the best ideas will get incorporated as we move forward. We often want to put something in but can't do so easily until the underlying design is changed. Sometimes the underlying design changes take a couple of versions to finish. For example, when I started we wanted to go to a single file. We started work toward this in version 7 and finally got the feature in V10. Please be patient with us as we move forward as some things take more time that we would like.

[lbuttery]

It has also been my observation that if given a really simple tool that takes 100 clicks to do a task vs. a more complicated tool that takes 10, people will usually use the 100 click option. I've observed numerous times where people could have used group select with a filter turned on to select a bunch of stuff and then in a few strokes change it, but instead select each item 1 at a time and repeat the same editing dozens of times. I'm sure that most of you aren't doing this, but there are some areas that I suspect aren't being used as effectively as they could simply because they aren't well understood or are new.



Having a script language like VBA would be very nice for these situations.

Thanks for your observations and thoughts.

Lew

[Kelly K]

Doug,

You are absolutely correct about the filtered group select. I use it, but not like I could. I've struggled with the new methodology to do so; I constantly alt select and erase things that I don't want erased. This feeds my irrational fear of erasing something I don't realize I have until it is too late. This of course is my problem and I am starting to get better at it.

Taking a hour to learn something new about Chief is way to good of advice. I think I better ignore it; least I lose my masochistic urge to struggle.

Kelly

[WendyWelton]

I've observed numerous times where people could have used group select with a filter turned on to select a bunch of stuff and then in a few strokes change it...

I love Select Same. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on exactly what I usually need to select as a group!

I would love Select Same to work on text, dimensions & cad.

If I select text and then activate Select Same, I would to then be able to select all text, all text of a certain height, font, layer and/or other property. I would also like to be able to select all text-like things, including text, dimensions and call-outs, if they are the same height, font, layer and/or other property and group change common properties.

Some kind of painter would be nice, but still means clicking clicking clicking.

The reason I would like this in particular is that I go from a preliminary set at 1/8"=1'-0" to the full set at 1/4"=1'-0" on every single project. I often "hard code" my dimension text and arrow sizes. I often have a set of room names, interior dimensions & sf that I need to copy, put on another layer and change size - to go from my Web set where I need them at 12" high to my printed preliminaries where I need them at 7" high to my final where I need them at 4 1/2" high - all living in the same file.

I very very very frequently wish I could select all cad lines that are on the same layer or have another property in common - and to do it without the added time of stopping to define a layerset with only that visible, or freezing layers, etc....

Select Same is a wonderful tool - but it needs to work on more.

Select Same is also a tough list to look at. I would like to see it be either alphabetical - or better yet - a tree structure with grouped items - or best yet, let us develop our own tree and group things as we like them.

[WendyWelton]

For example multiple copy was greatly enhanced in X1 yet I rarely see any posts on it's use. I suspect this is due to it's lack of use rather than it being perfect and not requiring any improvement.

Yes - love it, use it all the time - it's my "offset" command.

But - here's some feedback. It's way way way too easy to go crooked when I most often want to be at 0 or 90 degrees. I would like a way to have Multiple Copies "included angles" be only 0 and 90, perhaps as a toggle.

I'll be using it in detailing, to copy and offset a line 3/4" of an inch - if I don't slow down (slowing down is a bad thing - by definition, means adding time) and zoom in, I'll end up crooked, and therefore not the 3/4" I want.

[WendyWelton]

Hey Doug,

How would a variable number of keys for hotkeys work? If you only want to use Z for Zoom, how would it know you were done, and not be waiting for something like ZA for Zoom All?

[nicholasnz]

For example multiple copy was greatly enhanced in X1 yet I rarely see any posts on it's use. I suspect this is due to it's lack of use rather than it being perfect and not requiring any improvement. 

"I'd be lost without this one Doug, use it constantly - best thing since bubble gum"

[Glenn Woodward]

If we put in multiple key keystrokes we would probably not limit it to 2. I've seen several very powerful text editors from way back that allowed 1, 2 or more keystrokes to be assigned. There is no reason to require enter except in cases, such as hitting tab to type in numbers, to say you are done.

Doug and Wendy,

I didn't want to confuse things, but Visual Cad allows both 2 letter and 3 letter shortcuts - mostly they are 2 letter though. You abviously can't use a 3 letter shortcut that has the same first 2 letters the same as a 2 letter shortcut.
You cannot use a single letter shortcut (although you could assign a macro that consisted of a 2 letter shortcut to 1 key, or icon, or menu item - all menus are also customisable).
The program knows as soon as you type the second letter that it is a shortcut. If there is no 2 letter shortcut nothing happens. If you then type the third letter that is a shortcut, the program recognises that.

AND, I also didn't mention that it is really easy to string commands together in a script to automate tasks.