In today’s article, I pick out 5 useful CAD commands beginning with I and J that you might not want to miss out on. Let’s take some time to go through them!
IMAGE
In urban planning, aerial photographs of a construction site are often used as references to create contours of roads, buildings, and landscapes nearby. With the IMAGE command, you can easily attach and manage image files of various formats, such as JPEGs, PNGs, and TIFFs.
Steps:
- Input [IM] and press Enter to invoke the Image Manager dialogue box.
- Click “Attach” and select a local image file.
- Define its path type, insertion point, scale, and rotation angle.
- Click “OK”.
Then you can trace over the images for future references.
INTERFERE
If you work in the piping industry, the term “collision detection” must not be alien to you. To give you a clear idea of how the objects you’ve designed might collide with one another, the INTERFERE command is here to detect and highlight the overlapping part of two sets of 3D objects.
Steps:
- Input [INF] and press Enter.
- Select the first set of solids and press Enter to confirm it.
- Select the second set of solids and press Enter to confirm it.
- Input “Y” and press Enter to create interfering objects.
- Input “Y” and press Enter to highlight the interfering objects.
Then, the overlapping part of these two sets of solids will appear.
[su_spoiler title="Tip" open="yes" style="fancy" icon="chevron-circle"]If you want to continue selecting the next pair of interfering objects and highlight them, input “N” after step 5, press Enter three times and repeat steps 2-5. If not, just input “X” and press Enter to end the operation.[/su_spoiler]
INTERSECT
In ZWCAD, there are 3 types of Boolean operations - union, subtract, and intersect. As for the INTERSECT command, it helps you extract the common part from two or more overlapping 3D solids, surfaces, and regions.
Steps:
- Input [IN] and press Enter.
- Select the overlapping objects and press Enter.
After that, the intersecting part of different objects will be kept and the rest deleted.
With it, you can create objects with irregular and unique outlines.
INSERT
Generally, floor plans of residential buildings are made up of similar units facing different directions. Such units are usually the same block inserted multiple times. (
Learn about blocks here!)
Now, you might ask, how to place them in different directions? Well, INSERT can play a part! This time-saver allows you to insert a block or file in the current drawing while modifying it by defining its insertion point, scale, and rotation angle.
Steps:
- Input [I] and press Enter.
- Select a block or an external drawing.
- Define its insertion point, scale, and rotation angle.
See? It’s really convenient to generate layouts of buildings by inserting existing blocks.
JOIN
How would you define the boundary of an irregular object? Using lines and curves? Fair enough. However, although they can well simulate the actual shape, they are divided, so you will have a hard time selecting, moving or copying the contour. That’s when JOIN, as its name implies, can help you turn those objects into one.
Steps:
- Input [J] and press Enter.
- Select the objects you’re joining and press Enter.
Then, the objects can be connected to form a complete one.
[su_spoiler title="Tip" open="yes" style="fancy" icon="chevron-circle"]If some of the properties of the objects that you’re choosing are identical, Smart Select can help! (
Click to see how) The purple line segments in the GIF above are of the same layer so that I can select them all at once with Smart Select.[/su_spoiler]
“I”magine how much faster you can design with the aid of these CAD commands beginning with I and J! If you're interested in CAx tips, tricks and all that “j”azz, “l”eave a comment and subscribe to our blog!
