Did you know that, going all the way back to AutoCAD 2000, you can quickly copy objects within a drawing or between drawings without even launching a command?
Simply select the object you want to copy and then click and hold the right mouse button as you drag the new geometry into position. When you release the right mouse button, a right-click menu displays the following options: Move, Copy, Paste as a block, and Cancel. This method does not provide the accuracy of grips and object snaps but it is a quick alternative if you aren’t concerned with placing the geometry at a precise location.
You can use similar functionality to copy geometry from one drawing to another. For example, I have a drawing of a 2D framing elevation that includes blocks of the beam cross-sections. I want to use those the blocks as profiles in my 3D drawing.
First, I open both drawings in the AutoCAD window and then from the Window menu, I select Tile Horizontally.
After zooming into an appropriate location in each drawing, I select the beam cross-section blocks from the Frame Elevation drawing and then right-click and continue to hold down the right mouse button as I drag the geometry into the 3D drawing
When I release the geometry in the 3D drawing, AutoCAD displays the following menu options: Copy, Paste as a block, Paste to Orig Coords, and Cancel. In my example, I chose Copy Here because I wasn’t too concerned with the exact location of the blocks in the new drawing.
I have found the Paste to Orig Coords option useful in many situations. For example, if you have two drawings of the same floor plan and you want to copy the lighting layout from one drawing to the other. Assuming the existing geometry in the second drawing (walls, etc) was based off the same coordinates as the first drawing, when you paste to original coordinates, the lighting geometry will automatically insert into the appropriate location.
I also use Paste to Orig Coords for quickly replacing an old title block with a new one. For example, if you have a bunch of drawings with an old title block, you can open all of them and open one drawing with the new title block. Tile all the drawings. The geometry in each of the drawings may not be very legible when they are tiled but it doesn’t matter. In each of the drawings, select and erase the old title block (you may have to purge its block definition if the new one has the same name). Then you can select the title block from the new drawing and right-click drag and drop into each of the other drawings. If you select Paste to Orig Coords (again assuming that the original coordinates in the first drawing are appropriate for the other drawings), the titleblock will automatically insert at the same location.
Subscribe
