Common CAD Questions and Answers
1. I can only select one entity at a time. How can I select multiple entities at once?
Command: PICKADD
Controls how entities are added to a selection set.
Can be set to one of the following values:
0 = PICKADD is turned off, the most recently selected entity becomes the selection set and previously selected entities are no longer part of the selection set.
1 = PICKADD is turned on. Each entity selected is added to the current selection set.
2 = PICKADD is turned on. Each entity selected is added to the current selection set. If the Select command is used, keeps entities selected after you stop using the command.
2. I want to select an entity and then run a command, but each time I have to re-select it a second time after the command. How do I stop having to select entities twice?
Command: PICKFIRST
Determines whether you select entities before or after issuing a command.
When turned on (set to 1), you select entities before issuing a command.
When turned off (set to 0), you select entities after issuing a command.
3. Each point in my drawing has two ID numbers, elevations and descriptions in different sizes and colors, how do I get rid of them?
Command: IPN
[MsPoints | IPN | IPN/IPD/IPE]
Independent Point Numbers - Use this to display another point number next to your point node. It is meant to be used in areas where you have a group of points located close together. Sometimes when you zoom in you can’t easily identify the dots that correspond with a particular point number. This is where you could toggle on the IPN.
4. Every time I add labels to my lines, it adds point numbers too. I don't want the numbers added, how do I stop this?
Command: CNF_EDIT_TOGGLES
[MsTools | System Toggles | General Settings | AutoAdd Database]
This toggle controls the database during the labeling of bearings and distances. If ON, then each line and curve will be added to the database as it is annotated. Points will be drawn into the MicroSurvey CAD drawing at each end, point numbers will be added, and the line or curve will become part of the MicroSurvey CAD database. If the toggle is OFF, then the bearings and distances are NOT connected to the lines. If you move the points, the bearings and distances will not update automatically.
Go to MsTools | System Toggles | Switch to General Settings |Uncheck "Auto Add Database"
5. In MSCAD, whenever I select a line or an arc a dialog box pop up that stops me from continuing, how do I stop this from happening?
Command: TOG_GRIPS
[MsPoints | Defaults | Grips Icon]
If grips are ON, then single-clicking any entity will display the grips.
If grips are OFF, then single-clicking an entity will have various effects depending on the entity being clicked, and some system toggles, including:
Text (except for Point Labels) – Quick Text Edit dialog.
Point Node or Point Label – Single Point Editor (or Active Coordinate Editor, depending on your system toggles)
Line – CAD Lines Dialog
Arc – CAD Curves Dialog
Depending on your workflow, you may need to view this information.
Or you may not require this information and wish to skip this stage, therefore keeping grips ON.
6. The annotations on my drawing are either tiny or large and overlapping. How can I adjust the size of the labels?
Command: MS_RESCALE
[MsPoints | Store | Re-Rescale Complete Drawing]
This option redraws the entire drawing at the scale factor you enter. All lettering sizes are re-computed. All point coordinates are re-stored. All MicroSurvey Lines, Symbols, Bearings, Distances, Point Numbers, Descriptions and Elevations are erased and redrawn. AutoMAP Blocks are also erased and redrawn at the new scale. Lines are re-trimmed to the correct distance back from the symbols.
Enter your desired Scale Factor, then all the Descriptions, Point Numbers, Elevations, Bearings, Distances and AutoMAP symbols will be re scaled based upon their defaults and the new drawing scale you have entered.
This command will only change smart entities, not CAD annotations.
7. I imported an image but it is pixelated or blank, how can I fix this?
Command: FASTIMAGEDRAW
It's possible that images are images are not displaying in full resolution or are appearing blank. If this is the case, change the FASTIMAGEDRAW variable:
Determines the device used for drawing images. Set to one of the following:
0 = Adeko Raster is used to draw images, which has slower performance but uses less memory.
1 = Teigha is used to draw images, which has faster performance but uses more memory.
2 = Adaptive mode automatically chooses the best device for the current drawing.
For large images, it is recommended to always use 0 as default.
8. The box on the cursor to pick an entity is tiny, I can barely see it. How do I make it bigger?
Command: PICKBOX
Specifies the target height for entity selection in pixels.
Values range from 0-50
Value 5:
Recommended Value 20:
9. When I edit points or labels, I'm getting XX on both sides of the units, how can I get this to stop?
Command: CNF_EDIT_TOGGLES
[MsTools | System Toggles | CAD Drawing Controls | Disable XX database warning]
Points created in our Active Coordinate Editor . When you attempt to use a simple copy-paste routine with a point, the new copied point will not be in your Database, and therefore will be displayed with "XX#XX" as a warning that the new point is a simple CAD entity, and not in your Database
Other routines that will cause the XX's to show up, such as:
- Copy-Paste routine
- Remove Bearing from Line Database
- Remove Distance from Line Database
- Moving the line, but not the points
After you have been warned about items being de-linked from the database, this is easy to clean up using Find and Replace. Run the FIND command and enter XX in the Find what: dialog and click on Replace All. This will replace all instances in the drawing that contain XX as text, and deletes it, as shown in the picture below.
In MSCAD 2023 | MsTools |System Toggles | CAD Drawing Controls | Disable XX Database warning
We recommend keeping this feature off by default.
10. After performing an import, everything in my drawing disappeared except for two tiny dots. Help!
This is what can happen when entities that are in different datums are included in a CAD file and the drawing is zoomed to extents. Don't worry, you haven't lost any data. In the example above, IPNs have been turned on so that we can see our main drawing is in a State Planes coordinate system and shown near the top of the drawing. Grips have been turned on and a CAD file from an architect is selected to show how another CAD file was inserted close to coordinates 0,0 and appears close to the bottom of the screen. Zoom in on the two areas to determine which is which. Depending on the needs of your project you may need to transform the State Planes coordinates to the Architect Datum, or you may need to transform the architectural information to the State Plane datum.
11. An architect has provided me with a CAD file and when I try to stake it out in the field all distances are exactly 12 times or 1000 times greater than I was expecting.
It is common for drawings produced using architectural units to require a rescale before they are suitable for staking out using either meters or feet. See this article on using the Drawing Rescale Wizard.
Louise Anderson
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