AutoCAD For Dummies, 17th Edition

Chapter 10

Grabbing Onto 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 usually spend more time editing than drawing objects from scratch. That’s partly because the design and drafting process is, by its nature, subject to changes, and also because AutoCAD lets you easily edit objects cleanly.

Creating an object and then editing it can also be faster than doing it correctly the first time. In particular, placing a circle and then breaking or trimming it is often faster than fighting your way through all the Arc command’s options.

Specifying precise locations and distances is as vital to editing objects in AutoCAD as it is to creating them. Become familiar with the precision techniques described in Chapter 8 before you apply the editing techniques described in this chapter to drawings.

Commanding and Selecting

AutoCAD offers three styles of editing:

• Command-first
• Selection-first
• Direct-object (grip)

AutoCAD refers to command-first editing as verb-noun editing and to selection-first editing as noun-verb editing. When you see this terminology in the Options dialog box or the online Help system, for example, don’t worry — you haven’t ...