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Create Custom AutoCAD Commands and Toolbars

From the Trenches: Looking for an easier way to access your custom LISP routines? This user-written tutorial will walk you through the toolbar creation process.

Have you ever needed to create your own toolbar or command in AutoCAD? Maybe you have some custom LISP routines you been using for years, and you need to add them to your current version of AutoCAD. Sometimes a toolbar may be an easier way to get to those custom routines — and creating one is a simple process. (Note: This tutorial was created with AutoCAD 2009, but the process is virtually identical through more recent releases.)

Almost all commands will now allow linking an icon. So to start, we need the icons, and a folder to store them in. The icons must be in BMP format, and 64 x 64 pixels will work fine. You can use Microsoft Paint to create them. As for the folder, check out Tools > Options > Files to see where AutoCAD looks for the icons.



Next is the folder where your LISP files or scripts are located. These need to be in the support path, and can be on a local drive or network location if you want to share them (the same goes for the icons). Keeping them separate from the program files/AutoCAD directory makes it easier to upgrade or do a repair, because you don't have to worry about them being deleted during an uninstall.


Once your icons and folders are ready, start in the Customize User Interface (CUI): Type CUI in the Command line to open it. First create a new CUIX file (again, this is one of the safe ways to keep your custom toolbars/ribbons/etc. from being deleted and to allow sharing). Expand the CUI and click on the Transfer tab. On the right side, click on the icon to create a new Customization file, choose Save As, provide a name for the CUIX, and set the location in the folder you have listed in your Options Support files.

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Learning 3D Is No Cakewalk — and I Can Prove It

CAD Manager's Toolbox: It's easy to speculate about how long it will take users to transition from 2D to 3D, but how can you be sure?

A few months ago I had a chance to speak with a group of senior managers who theorized that it would be easy for their CAD department to go to 3D mechanical CAD. They reasoned that learning curves would be short and everyone could get up to speed quickly because the software was so easy to use — after all, that's what the product literature said. They also reasoned that almost all the design errors they were accustomed to seeing would disappear, because 3D is so much more accurate than 2D.

I alternated between laughing and crying as I tried to convince them of how wrong their perceptions were, but no matter what I said, it fell upon deaf ears. Then it struck me: a way to definitively prove that transitioning from 2D to 3D CAD takes time, training, and patience. See what you think about the approach I recommended:

1. I started with the premise that if 3D is so easy to learn, users should be able to master it in 30 days. A motivated user who actually wanted to learn 3D would be selected to prove this; he or she could simply download a demo software version and get started immediately.
2. I argued that a medium-complexity job — neither the easiest nor the hardest — would be a good place to start using the new system. If 3D is so simple, why not take on something a little more challenging, I reasoned.
3. To define success, I decided that the user would have to produce the same level of prints and other design documentation that the CAD department would have created using AutoCAD, but using the new 3D system instead. That would indicate that the design job was completed and ready for production.

After this 30-day test program was completed, the management team came to the following conclusions:

• It would take a lot longer than 30 days to learn the software.
• Engineers/designers needed training to learn proper software usage.
• It would require examination of standards/procedures to produce prints from the 3D system — the 2D prints don't just pop out perfectly dimensioned and annotated.
• Sending 3D data files to machine tools, viewers, and laser cutters is totally different than working with AutoCAD files.
• If even the motivated test user needs more than 30 days to learn the system, then those who are skeptical and resistant will take even more time.

Turns out that the 30-day trial experiment drove the management team to all the conclusions I was trying to convince them of in the first place. Now they not only understand the situation better, they also view me as a more credible source of advice.

This approach worked so well for me that I'm positive it'll work for you, too. Try it when discussing 3D training and migration problems with your management team!

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