AutoCAD® 2009 For Dummies®

Chapter 10. Get a Grip on Object Selection

In This Chapter

• Using command-first editing

• Selecting objects with maximum flexibility

• Editing with grips

Editing objects is the flip side of creating them, and in AutoCAD, you spend a lot of time editing — far more than drawing objects from scratch. That's partly because the design and drafting process is by its nature repetitive and also because AutoCAD makes it easy to edit objects cleanly.

Note

When you edit objects in AutoCAD, you need to be just as concerned about specifying precise locations and distances as you are when you originally create the objects. Make sure that you're familiar with the precision techniques described in Chapter 7 before you apply the editing techniques from this chapter to real drawings.

Commanding and Selecting

AutoCAD offers three styles of editing:

• Command-first editing

• Selection-first editing

• Direct object manipulation (grip editing)

Tip

AutoCAD refers to command-first editing as verb-noun editing and to selection-first editing as noun-verb editing. When you see this terminology — for example, in the Options dialog box or the online help system — don't worry, you haven't dropped back into your fifth-grade English class!

Command-first editing

With command-first editing, you start a command and then select the objects on which the command works. This style of editing may seem backward to you at first unless you're a longtime AutoCAD user. Command-first editing works well for power users who are in a hurry and who are ...