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Making AutoCAD A Little Easier To Use

The first thing you might notice about AutoCAD is that it doesn't use a .acadrc file. Typically most UNIX programs use a dot file that includes all the startup commands. This file allows the user to customize the program using his or her preferences.

To get around this, you can write a shell script that takes the place of the .acadrc file. This shell script should contain the following variables.

LD_LIBRARY_PATH

You should set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to /usr/lib/:/usr/local/lib:/usr/openwin/lib. This allows AutoCAD to find the required libraries. This is necessary if you want to run AutoCAD without using Sun's OpenWindows.

ACADCFG

This variable tells AutoCAD where to look for configuration files. AutoCAD needs a configuration file for each machine you want to run AutoCAD on. If it is the first time you've run AutoCAD on a particular machine, it will create a new configuration file for that machine. ACADCFG should be set to a directory in your account. If is not, AutoCAD will save the configuration file in the current directory. The files will be named acad.cfg_MachineName.

ACADSERVER

This variable must be set to ups.ecn.purdue.edu for AutoCAD to work.

ACADPAGEDIR

This tells AutoCAD where to put temporary files. This should be set to /usr/tmp/. Make sure to include the / AFTER tmp.

Create a directory where you will want to keep drawing files created from AutoCAD. Before starting AutoCAD, cd to this directory.

Example using C shell.

      #!/bin/csh -f
      #
      #So AutoCAD knows where to find the libraries
      #
      setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH  "/usr/lib: \
       /usr/local/lib:/usr/openwin/lib"
      #
      #This is where I keep ALL my configuration files
      #
      setenv ACADCFG $HOME/configs
      #
      #This is where the AutoCAD software lives
      #
      setenv ACADSERVER ups.ecn.purdue.edu
      #
      #This where I keep all my drawings
      #
      cd $HOME/drawings
      #
      #Command used to fire-up AutoCAD
      #
      exec  /usr/unsup/acad11/acad/acad

Some other files of interest are:

acad.dwg

This file contains all the drawing defaults, such as drawing units, layer settings, etc.. Keep this in your working directory. All new drawings will be created using acad.dwg as a starting point.

acad.lsp

This file contains any AutoLISP programs that you would like to use. This file is loaded when AutoCAD is first started.

acad.mnu

This file contains menu definitions. If you want to change the default menu AutoCAD loads, this is the file to change.

These files all exist in the standard distribution of AutoCAD. AutoCAD always looks in the current directory first for these files. If you want to change the behavior of AutoCAD, do so using the above mentioned files and keep them in your working directory.

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