Express tools, what are those?
Some users may not know that an extra set of utilities is available to
install after the initial AutoCAD installation is complete. These
tools are also available to install with other products such as Map 3D as
well. You can also add them anytime after the initial install by
inserting the installation disk and choosing the Express tools installation.
Over the years Autodesk has offered these free with certain versions and not
at all with others. These tools are back and just as useful now as in
previous versions!
Once these tools are installed on your system, a menu titled Express will
show up at the top of your screen near the help pull-down typically.
These menu items are not supported by Autodesk directly, but support is
through email correspondence. In the coming year I will touch on a few
of these wonderful tools to help you along in your endeavors. If you
want to jump ahead a little, use the express tools help file to find out
more.
This week's tip for the Express tools is that there are command line only
tools available also! Most users that I have spoken to use
the pull-down menu items and don't realize that there are many powerful
tools available at the prompt only. See the help file under "Command
Line Only" to get an overview. A handy command line only utility is
the Flatten command, which will "print" 3D objects in your drawing to keep
their intelligence such as layer, line type and color.
