To find and erase wipeout objects, start Qselect and specify Raster Image as the Object Type.

Caption: If you’re looking for wipeout objects, use Qselect to find all raster images.

AutoCAD will select all raster images.

If you have other raster images besides wipeouts in your drawing, see if you can narrow the selection by specifying additional search criteria. Or remove the other raster images from the selection set before deleting it.

If you use the Rectangle command to draw rectangles by picking two corner points, it’s time to explore some of the other options in the command. To start the command, type Rec at the command prompt or select Rectangle from the Drawing toolbar. AutoCAD asks you to Specify first corner point. It also presents some other options: Chamfer, Elevation, Fillet, Thickness, Width.

The Fillet option, as you might guess, create a rectangle with filleted corners. If you select this option, AutoCAD will ask for a fillet radius.

Caption: Examples of filleted (top) and chamfered rectangles created with the Rectangle command.

Likewise, selecting the Chamfer option will produce a rectangle with chamfered corners. You are prompted to select the first chamfer distance for rectangles, then the second. The Fillet and Chamfer options can eliminate the need to launch a separate command to do the filleting or chamfering.

Width simply changes the rectangle’s lineweight. The Thickness and Elevation options may be useful if you’re doing 3D design.

Once you respond to the prompts to the option you select, AutoCAD will again prompt you to Specify the first corner point. Once you do that, you’ll be prompted to Specify the other corner point. This prompt also presents some additional options: Area/Dimensions/Rotation.

The Area option lets you specify an area, and AutoCAD will do the necessary calculations to produce a rectangle with that area. Once you enter A, or area, AutoCAD asks you to specify your desired area. The next prompt is Calculate rectangle dimensions based on [Length/Width]. Once you select either length or width, AutoCAD will prompt for a value for that.

The Dimensions option lets you enter the rectangle dimensions rather than the value for the second point.

The Rotation option lets you set a specific rotation for your rectangle. Rotation is from the first point you pick to define the rectangle.

You can use more than one of these options on a single rectangle. For example, you might give your rectangle a rotation of 30 degrees and an area of 40 units. You can also use them in conjunction with the options that accompany the Specify first corner prompt. For example, the sample drawing below is a filleted rectangle with a lineweight of 3 rotated 30 degrees.

Caption: You can combine the various rectangle options as you wish. The example above is a filleted rectangle with lineweight of 3 and 30-degree rotation.

Note that the values you set for various options will become the default values.

If you want to adjust the position of your dimension text in relation to the extension line, open the Properties palette. Select the dimension and right-click. In the shortcut menu that appears, select Dim text position, then either Move text alone or Move with leader. You can now reposition the text as you wish.

Caption: Select a dimension and right-click to access options for moving the dimension text.

You can also look in the Properties palette under Fit. Select Text Movement and change it to Move text either with or without a leader. 

If you want to change the color of a portion of dimension text, you’ll need to explode the dimension. You can then select the portion and select a new color.

Caption: If you want multicolored dimension text, you need to explode the dimension.

If you keep the text as dimension text, you can have only one color.

Caption: Dimension styles allow only one text color choice.

If your AutoCAD 2010 or 2011 license becomes corrupted, you can reset it and go through the activation process again to get things back to normal. First, make sure AutoCAD and any other Autodesk products are not running. Find the adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data file. If you’re running Windows Vista/7, look in C:\Program Data\FLEXxnet\. If you’re running Windows XP, look in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet. Rename the adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data file to something like adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data.old. Restart AutoCAD and activate it again. The file contains all product activation data for 2010/2011 products, so if you are running multiple Autodesk products, you’ll have to re-register them all.

If your system crashes during one of the following activities, suspect a faulty or outdated video driver:

• Switching between applications
• Locking your system with a password
• Opening the Task Manager
• Activating a screen saver
• Docking and undocking a laptop
• Waking from Sleep mode
• Waking from hibernation

In particular, AutoCAD users running Windows XP on a system with an NVIDIA video card have reported crashes. To fix the problem, check the NVIDIA web site (www.nvidia.com) for updated drivers--ideally one at version 259.57 or later. Don’t worry if the driver doesn’t display as certified by Autodesk.

For non-NVIDIA drivers, download updated versions by typing 3Dconfig at the AutoCAD command prompt. You must have Windows administrator privileges and have User Account Control disabled.

Click on the Check for Updates button in the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box.

Caption: Select Check for Updates to check for availability of an updated performance tuning database. You will need an Internet connection for this to work.

You’ll receive an alert if a newer version of the graphics card and driver database used for performance tuning is available. Select Yes if to install the updated database. Once the update is complete, a message appears to inform you that your performance tuner is up to date.

Next, select the View Tune Log button in the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box. This will tell you whether your graphics card is certified and list your current driver.

Caption: The Performance Tuner Log provides data about your graphics hardware and settings.

If the current driver is not the latest, you can visit the Autodesk certification site to download the latest version. Search for your graphics card and operating system. In the results, find the most recent driver. If it’s marked with a blue arrow, you can download and install it directly. If there’s no blue arrow, expand the driver details and download from the Comments field. If you can’t download from the Comments field, go to the vendor’s web site and search for it there.