Original Article Date: March 2007
Updated: December 2010
Contributed by Hilton Quinn, here’s a great tutorial discussing the AccuDraw Bump Toolsetting keyins to boost your productivity.
As you may know, you can use the AccuDraw shortcut ~ to bump the first item in the tool settings dialog from one option to another. For example, when using the Place SmartLine tool, you can use it to quickly and easily bump the Segment Type from Lines to Arcs and vice versa.
So, this is cool, but how can you change the Vertex Type the same way? Well, it’s easy when you know about the other accudraw bump toolsetting keyins. Let’s take a closer look.The accudraw bump toolsetting keyin has the ability to drill into the tool settings dialog to adjust various settings. This is accomplished by appending a numerical option value that corresponds to a specific option field in the Tools Settings dialog. For example, for the Place Circle tool:- Option 1 toggles the Method between either Center / Edge / Diameter- Option 2 is for toggling the Area to either Solid / Hole- Option 3 toggles the Fill Type between None / Opaque / Outlined- Option 4 sets the Diameter/Radius toggle.- Option 5 sets toggles between Radius / Diameter
To incorporate these settings as AccuDraw shortcuts, locate and edit Shortcut.txt manually, or follow these instructions:Ensure the focus is in the AccuDraw keyin window and press the letter ? to open the AccuDraw Shortcuts dialog.
Select the New… button, enter a convenient shortcut key and description. For the command enter accudraw bump toolsetting x where x is an option value as described above. Click OK to save the changes.
Although ideally suited to be used with drawing tools, these keyins also work with modification tools such as Change Text Attributes. In this case, there are about 20 options that adjust the settings in the Tools Settings dialog.
By adding and understanding the power of these keyins, you should definitely see an increase in your productivity. Have fun!
AskInga Article #311