AutoLISP Routines

The standard RECTANGLE command only draws rectangles aligned to the current UCS. To get one at an angle you have to draw it square and then rotate it, which means knowing the angle in advance. SKEWBOX takes three points instead. What SkewBox does The first two points define one side, so its direction sets the rotation. The third sets the depth, measured … [Read more...] about SKEWBOX LISP: Draw a Rectangle at Any Rotation

STARTUPBUILD builds your acaddoc.lsp — the file AutoCAD runs automatically for every drawing you open. Pick your routines from a multi-folder file browser and it writes the loading expressions for you. What StartupBuilder does Start here when deploying a LISP library to a team. It is the difference between “load these forty files by hand” and … [Read more...] about STARTUPBUILD LISP: Build Your acaddoc.lsp Automatically

Run SPYGLASS and a green ring follows your cursor. Sweep it over the drawing and every object it touches reports itself in a floating label: type, layer, colour, linetype, lineweight, and whatever else is relevant — radius for a circle, length for a line, area for a closed polyline, the full attribute list for a block. What SpyGlass does No clicking, no … [Read more...] about SPYGLASS LISP: Live Object Inspector With a Cursor Ring

SPANTAG labels each selected object with its own length, as a live field placed at the object’s midpoint. Select a run of lines and polylines and every one is labelled, sitting on its own midpoint, rotated to run along the object. What SpanTag does Because the labels are fields rather than typed text, stretching the geometry updates every figure … [Read more...] about SPANTAG LISP: Label Every Object With Its Own Length

SMARTBURST explodes blocks while keeping their attribute values as text — a better behaved replacement for the Express Tools BURST command. SMARTBURSTALL does the same and follows nesting to any depth. What SmartBurst does Five things it fixes about Express BURST, each of which is a real defect rather than a preference: Invisible attributes stay … [Read more...] about SMARTBURST LISP: A Better Behaved Replacement for BURST

SHRINKWRAP generates closed polylines outlining any selection of objects — including text, blocks, hatches and dimensions, which the BOUNDARY command alone cannot trace. What ShrinkWrap does The usual reason for wanting this is to build a wipeout, a clipping boundary or a hatch region that follows the true silhouette of a group of objects rather than a crude … [Read more...] about SHRINKWRAP LISP: Outline Any Selection of AutoCAD Objects