AutoCAD 2004 Customization Tutorial: Creating a
New Tool Palette
By Alireza Parsai,
May 22, 2003
AutoCAD 2004 users can create their own tool palettes with
favorite blocks and hatch patterns. The following tutorial
explores some of the methods to create tool palettes.
1.
Start AutoCAD 2004.
2. If
Tool Palettes window is not visible press Ctrl+3 to enable it.
3.
Click Properties icon. In shortcut menu, select New Tool
Palette [Figure 1].
Figure 1
4. In
the name box of the new palette, type Favorite Blocks
[Figure 2]. Then press Enter. A new empty Tool Palette will be
created.
Figure 2
5.
Start DesignCenter. You may press Ctrl+2 to view DesignCenter
window.
6.
Click Favorites icon [Figure 3].
Figure 3 -
Click on image to enlarge
7. On
the right pane double click DesignCenter shortcut icon.
8. On
the left pane click the + sign beside DesignCenter folder
[Figure 4].
Figure 4
9. On
the left pane select Home – Space Planner.dwg.
10. On
the right pane double click Blocks icon. The right pane
will show all the blocks available in this file [Figure 5].
Figure 5
11.
Select all the blocks on the first row.
12.
Make sure that Favorite Blocks is the current Tool Palette. The
current Tool Palette title is in boldface.
13.
Drag and drop the selected block to the Favorite Blocks
Tool Palette. The blocks will be added to the Tool Palette
[Figure 6].
Figure 6
14. On
the left pane of DesignCenter select Kitchen.dwg.
15.
Follow similar procedure as steps 10 – 13 to add more blocks to
the tool palette [Figure 7].
Figure 7
16. In
DesignCenter window click the Favorites icon.
17. On
the right pane right-click the "acad.pat" icon [Figure 8].
Figure 8
18. In
the shortcut menu select Create Tool Palette of Hatch
Patterns. A new Tool Palette called acad will be created.
The palette contains all hatch patterns in acad.pat [Figure 9].
Figure 9
19.
Right-click on the palette title. In shortcut menu select
Rename Tool Palette [Figure 10].
Figure 10
20.
Rename the palette to Hatch Patterns Library.
About the Author
Alireza Parsai is the founder of cadpanel.com. He is a
mechanical engineer with more than 12 years experience with
AutoCAD. Alireza is an Autodesk Authorized Author, the AutoCAD
consultant for Al Khawarizmi Institute, a contributing editor
for Augiworld magazine, a writer for CAD Digest, an instructor
for AUGI Training Program, and an elected speaker for Autodesk
University 2002. He has written 7 books in Farsi, 3 booklets in
English, and more than 30 articles for different magazines and
newsletters. You can reach him at
alireza.parsai@cadpanel.com or visit his website
www.cadpanel.com.
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