I’ve to provide a really particular due to all the nice people at Sybex, particularly Willem Knibbe, for engaged on and serving to to get this undertaking off the bottom after just a few years of speaking about it. The subsequent two individuals I wish to thank are Mary Ellen Schutz and Dassi Zeidel, the event and manufacturing editors on this e-book; you two made positive I stayed on monitor and delivered a high-quality e-book. I additionally need to thank Liz Welch (copyeditor), Candace Cunningham (proofreader), and Ted Laux (indexer) for the work you all did on this e-book.

Due to all the oldsters at Autodesk, who put within the lengthy hours and are devoted to the work they do on the Autodesk® AutoCAD® product. I can not overlook a number of the most vital people on this e-book, my technical editors: Rebecca Afshar, Craig Black, and Richard Lawrence. Rebecca Afshar carried out the technical edit for Half I, “AutoCAD Platform Customization:

Consumer Interface and Past.” Rebecca has spent a few years as each an teacher and consumer of AutoCAD; all of this expertise helped to make this e-book even higher. Craig Black carried out the technical edit for Half II, “AutoCAD Platform Customization: AutoLISP. ” I’ve recognized Craig for almost 20 years and first met him whereas attending an AutoLISP® session on the native Autodesk Coaching Heart, the place he was an teacher.

Craig is a glorious AutoLISP programmer and was a terrific asset as a technical editor on this e-book. It’s at all times a pleasure to collaborate with Craig and this e-book was no completely different.

Final however not least, Richard Lawrence carried out the technical edit for Half III, “AutoCAD Platform Customization: VBA.” Richard is a superb buddy who I met a few years in the past at Autodesk College. He’s a passionate and pushed consumer of AutoCAD and is at all times seeking to enhance the best way he makes use of AutoCAD. Being a technical editor is rarely the best job, nevertheless it is likely one of the most vital and I recognize what you all did to make this e-book higher

Introduction 

Welcome to AutoCAD Platform Customization: Consumer Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Past. Have you ever ever considered customizing AutoCAD solely to assume it’s not for you since you’re not a programmer? In that case, you aren’t alone, as there are numerous those who join customization with programming. Nevertheless, customization isn’t the identical as programming, however programming might be thought of a type of customization. Whereas utilizing one of many supported programming languages might be helpful in implementing customized workflows and new instructions, there are numerous easier methods to extend your drafting effectivity in a shorter time frame.

AutoCAD helps a variety of customization options that you could study and start to leverage in minutes, which might led to improved CAD requirements and a lower within the period of time it takes to finish a job. I, like many others, even your self more than likely, have custom-made AutoCAD with out even realizing it. Have you ever ever created a brand new layer, textual content fashion, or block? Likelihood is fairly nice that you’ve created a number of of these objects earlier than. You might need even saved these objects in a drawing template (DWT) file so they might be accessible every time a brand new drawing was created.

Whilst you may not have considered these as types of customization, they’re certainly just a few of the fundamental drawing customization options that can be utilized to reinforce the out-of-box AutoCAD expertise. Drawing customization impacts the looks of and settings in a drawing file or drawing template (DWT) file, and will type the cornerstone of your organization’s CAD requirements. Usually when individuals consider customization although, they generally consider software customization, which accommodates the assist recordsdata that AutoCAD makes use of in addition to the instruments within the software’s consumer interface. Software customization isn’t depending on which drawing is presently open, however which consumer profile or workspace is likely to be present.