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Trace Command

15 REPLIES 15
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Message 1 of 16
chrisDwhite
7040 Views, 15 Replies

Trace Command

Has this command been replaced with an alternative?

Chris

15 REPLIES 15
Message 2 of 16
nestly2
in reply to: chrisDwhite

Autodesk undefined TRACE in AutoCAD2012.  To redefine it, enter REDEFINE at the command line, followed by TRACE

Message 3 of 16
robin.ollis
in reply to: nestly2

That gets it back but only temporarily. I have to redefine it every time I restart AutoCAD.

 

I operate on AutoCAD Architecture 2017. Is there a way to bring it back into my menus permanently so I don't have to keep redefining it ?

Message 4 of 16

Have you tried the SKETCH command? It's similar.


Warren Geissler
Drafting Manager Denver Water
_____________________________________________

Please ACCEPT AS SOLUTON if this works
(...and doesn't melt your computer or cause Armageddon)

Message 5 of 16

The sketch command seemed more freehand.



What I like about trace is that I can draw straight lines but at a fixed width and color until I decide to change the parameters.



I prefer this to polylines.


Message 6 of 16

Groovy - in that case edit your ACA.MNL file (usually in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2017\Support\en-us) and add the line (command "redefine" "trace")


Warren Geissler
Drafting Manager Denver Water
_____________________________________________

Please ACCEPT AS SOLUTON if this works
(...and doesn't melt your computer or cause Armageddon)

Message 7 of 16
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: nestly2


@nestly2 wrote:

Autodesk undefined TRACE in AutoCAD2012.  To redefine it, enter REDEFINE at the command line, followed by TRACE


I don't know about 2017 that the OP is using, but in 2016 here, I don't have to Redefine it, but simply prefix it with a period/decimal:  .TRACE.

Kent Cooper, AIA
Message 8 of 16

Good catch @Kent1Cooper ! I forgot that to execute an UNDEFINED command you only need to prefix it with a period. You can even put that in your PGP file as a shortcut.


Warren Geissler
Drafting Manager Denver Water
_____________________________________________

Please ACCEPT AS SOLUTON if this works
(...and doesn't melt your computer or cause Armageddon)

Message 9 of 16

So I closed AutoCAD, found the file, made a backup copy of the original, opened the original in notepad and added (command "redefine" "trace"), parenthesis and all at the bottom of the file.



When I tried to save it as the .mnl file it told me access was denied. I have admin rights to my laptop so I don't think that's the problem. Any ideas ?



Any ideas. I do see in your other response, Warren, that I can execute trace by entering it as ".trace" at the command line if I understand you correctly ?



I will research the PGP file option as well as I am not familiar with those.


Message 10 of 16

Editing the file in place is often not allowed - you have to save it to a new location, then copy it over the other one (WHY Windows allows that but not in-place editing is beyond me). @Kent1Cooper had an easier suggestion - just use a period in front of the command to use it. If you edit your shortcuts (ACAD.PGP) file you can add a shortcut like "TRA" and have the command be .TRACE. Your EXPRESS TOOLS menu has a Command Alias editor to do this.


Warren Geissler
Drafting Manager Denver Water
_____________________________________________

Please ACCEPT AS SOLUTON if this works
(...and doesn't melt your computer or cause Armageddon)

Message 11 of 16
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: robin.ollis


@robin.ollis wrote:
What I like about trace is that I can draw straight lines but at a fixed width and color until I decide to change the parameters.  I prefer this to polylines.

The same is true of Polylines, so I don't see the advantage.  And Polylines have other really significant advantages.  The result is one thing, as compared to Trace making a bunch of independent pieces.  They use less memory.  You can easily and instantly change the width if you want it different [you can change the width of Traces, but it's far from easy and instant], and you can change the width of individual segments and/or the ends of segments separately.  You can include arc segments.  You can have segments that are a different width at one end than at the other.  You can change the width in mid-command, whereas with Trace you need to end the command, start it up again, and give it a different width.  You can see what you're getting fully as you go, as compared to Trace which doesn't draw in the segment before the one you're currently picking the end of, until you've given it the latest point [because the bevel at the end of the previous segment is determined by the direction of the current one].  You can Extend them and Trim them, and use them as Extend and Trim boundaries.  They can have non-continuous linetypes.  You can't accidentally change their width by mistakenly grabbing a grip and pulling it elsewhere [which on a Trace will usually result in not just different but varying  width].  You can move a vertex by pulling one grip, and that intersection and the adjacent intersections [and ends when applicable] will "clean up" automatically, whereas with Traces, you would need to Stretch the whole intersection area, and depending on the details that will usually change the widths and  end shapes of one or both of the Traces involved.  You can Close them, even long after they're drawn [you can "close" a Trace while drawing by picking a last point the same as the first, but that intersection won't be beveled as others are].  And there are probably some more I haven't thought of....

Kent Cooper, AIA
Message 12 of 16
robin.ollis
in reply to: Kent1Cooper

Thanks for the input Kent.



If I want to move a 100 mm width polyline to a different place how can I grab one of its corners so that I can snap it to an object at the destination I want to move to ? The normal grips/snap points are on the center line of the polyline segment and not on the corners.



I found that if I copy paste the polyline the insertion/base point is automatically at the lower left corner (unless I copied with a different base point I guess) which is great. However if I am not very careful and drop it short of the destination object when placed the only accurate placement option is to delete and try paste again.



Is there a snap setting that could improve this situation ?


Message 13 of 16
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: robin.ollis


@robin.ollis wrote:

.... The normal grips/snap points are on the center line of the polyline segment and not on the corners.

I found that if I copy paste the polyline the insertion/base point is automatically at the lower left corner (unless I copied with a different base point I guess) which is great. However if I am not very careful and drop it short of the destination object when placed the only accurate placement option is to delete and try paste again.



Is there a snap setting that could improve this situation ?



Yes, well, if the edges are what matter, that's a different story.

 

You can use the COPYBASE command [Ctrl+Shift+C] to specify a base point other than the lower left corner of the extents.  But are you doing this between different drawings?  If within the same drawing, don't copy and paste via the Windows clipboard, but use the COPY command, in which you always get to specify the base point of the displacement.

 

There's no way to Snap directly to the edges of Polylines with width, as far as I know.  You could position a 100mm-wide one using a vertex grip, and then Move it 50mm, or if the positioning is at a right-angle and orthogonal corner, @Anonymous,50 [either or both positive or negative as appropriate].  Other than that, there is something you might try:  PLWtoOutline.lsp, available here.  With that, resulting zero-width Polylines trace the edges of the original's width, and you can Move them together with the wide one, using the zero-width ones' grips, which will get you the corners you want.  Read the rest of that thread -- mine works only on global-width Polylines, but there's another one that purports to do variable widths.  [Whether such an approach is more cumbersome than the Trace-based approach, you would have to decide.]

Kent Cooper, AIA
Message 14 of 16
robin.ollis
in reply to: Kent1Cooper

Thanks Kent.



Please tell me more about "If within the same drawing, don't copy and paste via the Windows clipboard, but use the COPY command."



I find that "Ctrl+C" is really quick. The COPY command seems to require a lot more key strokes and clicks.



Is there a downside of using the Windows clipboard ?


Message 15 of 16
Kent1Cooper
in reply to: robin.ollis


@robin.ollis wrote:
....
I find that "Ctrl+C" is really quick. The COPY command seems to require a lot more key strokes and clicks.
Is there a downside of using the Windows clipboard ?

Yes -- the very situation you describe, having the reference location [i.e. the base point by which to place the copy], in relation to whatever you selected, always be the lower left corner of the extents of it all, which often has no meaningful relationship to anything.  So if the accuracy of where it ends up matters, you often have to place the copy and then Move it to where it really should be.  If it's more than one thing, you then have to re-select all of them, because "last" gets you only one of them, and "previous" gets you the ones you made the copies from, not the new ones.

 

Maybe you work in situations where exactly where a copy of something(s) ends up doesn't matter very much, but I certainly don't -- accuracy is essential.  You can use COPYBASE instead of COPYCLIP [Ctrl+Shift+C instead of Ctrl+C] to get accuracy, but that does require all that nasty "extra work" that COPY does [i.e. specifying a base point for the displacement].

 

As for keystrokes, since I Copy things far more often than I draw Circles, I have changed the C command alias to call up Copy [and CR for Circle].  C & space is about as quick as Ctrl+C.

Kent Cooper, AIA
Message 16 of 16
gotphish001
in reply to: robin.ollis

You could always get a mouse with a few extra buttons if you want to knock a few keystrokes off. I have move and copy plus a few other commands macroed to extra mouse buttons. Shift on the mouse is also amazing.  Once I draw in some construction lines, I can draft with one hand on the mouse and my other hand in my pullover pocket, leaning back in my chair for pretty good stretches. 



Nick DiPietro
Cad Manager/Monkey

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