Setting Up Architectural Desktop to Act like Standard AutoCAD


Many users who have Architectural Desktop 2005 (ADT) would like to use this book to learn AutoCAD 2005. However, the interface to ADT is quite different from AutoCAD. Still, underneath the ADT menus and palettes lies the basic AutoCAD program discussed in this book. If you have Architectural Desktop 2005, the following instructions show you how to set up a shortcut on your Windows Desktop to launch standard AutoCAD 2005.

You'll need to create a profile and then set up that profile to use AutoCAD 2005 settings. You must save the profile as a file on your hard disk. You can then create a desktop shortcut that uses the new profile to launch AutoCAD 2005.

First create a profile for standard AutoCAD 2005:

  1. In Architectural Desktop 2005, choose Format   Options or enter Options at the command prompt.

  2. Select the Profiles tab. Note that there are two Architectural Desktop profiles already in the list, one for Imperial and one for metric. Select Add To List.

  3. In the Add To List dialog box, enter AutoCAD 2005 in the Profile Name text box; then click Apply and Close. If you like, you can add a description in the Description box before clicking Apply and Close.

  4. Select AutoCAD 2005 from the Available Profiles list and then click Set Current.

The AutoCAD 2005 profile is now the current one. Any changes you make to AutoCAD will become part of the new profile. The Architectural Desktop profile will remain untouched.

To set up the AutoCAD 2005 profile, you need change the ObjectARX setting in the Options dialog box, and then unload the Architectural Desktop menu and load the standard AutoCAD menu:

  1. Select the Open And Save tab. In the ObjectARX Applications group , select Command Invoke from the Demand Load ObjectARX Apps drop-down list. Click Apply and then click OK.

  2. Enter Menuload at the command prompt.

  3. In the Menu Customization dialog box, select the Menu Groups tab. In the Menu Group list, select a menu and click Unload. Repeat this until the Menu Group list is empty.

  4. Click the Browse button. In the Select Menu File dialog box, select Menu Template (*.mnu) from the File Of Type drop-down list.

  5. Locate and open the Acad.mnu file.

  6. Click Load. You'll see a warning message telling you that the menu source files will be overwritten. Click Yes. Then click Close in the Menu Customization dialog box.

Everything is set up for standard AutoCAD 2005. The next thing to do is to export the Auto- CAD 2005 profile as a file on your hard disk:

  1. Choose Tools   Options or enter Options at the command prompt. Then select the Profiles tab.

  2. Select AutoCAD 2005 from the list and click the Export button.

  3. Save the profile as AutoCAD 2005.arg . By default, it is saved in the My Documents folder.

  4. Back in the Options dialog box, click OK. Then exit Architectural Desktop.

    Warning  

    In step 3, you can save the AutoCAD 2005.arg file anywhere , but unless you accept the default location of the My Documents folder, you must make sure that you specify the location in step 4 of the next exercise. AutoCAD will automatically look in the My Documents folder for the AutoCAD 2005.arg file.

The final operation you need to perform is to create a shortcut that tells AutoCAD to load your AutoCAD 2005 profile instead of the ADT profile:

  1. Make a copy of the ADT shortcut. Right-click the Architectural Desktop 2005 shortcut and select Copy.

  2. Right-click on a blank spot on the Desktop and select Paste.

  3. Right-click the copy of the ADT shortcut and select Properties.

  4. In the Target text box, change the value to read as follows :

    "C:\Program Files\Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005\acad.exe"/t "acad.dwt"/p "AutoCAD 2005.arg"

    The /t is a command switch that tells AutoCAD to use a specific template file, which in this case is acad.dwt. The /p is a command switch that tells AutoCAD to use the AutoCAD 2005.arg profile when starting AutoCAD. Click Apply after you've made the change to the Target text box.

  5. Click the Change Icon button and then click Browse in the Change Icon dialog box. From here, you can select a different icon from the Change Icon dialog box.

  6. Click OK to exit the Shortcut Properties dialog box. Then right-click the shortcut copy again and select Rename.

  7. Rename the shortcut to AutoCAD 2005 .

Double-click your new AutoCAD 2005 desktop shortcut to start AutoCAD 2005. The title bar will still show Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005, but the program will behave like standard AutoCAD 2005. You can still start the full version of Architectural Desktop by using the Architectural Desktop 2005 shortcut.




Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005
Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005
ISBN: 0782143407
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 261
Authors: George Omura

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