AutoCAD 2006's New Rectangle Command Options

There's never been as valuable information on a new AutoCAD version in the quantities that are currently available across all the blogs. That shows the power and wealth of blogging for sharing information. Whether you're a casual AutoCAD user, a power user, or a CAD Manager, you no longer have to find out everything about a new release by yourself.

I've been amazed at how much I've learned about the new products just through blogs over the past few weeks. Normally I'm the inquisitive one who tries everything listed as new to see how it handles and performs. I haven't even had time to do that as fellow bloggers have beat me to it!

While reviewing the built-in New Features Workshop, I noticed that the Rectangle command had some great new options added. I couldn't wait to try them.

I expected the rectangle command itself to have changed when I initiated the command. It looked no different. Granted I wasn't using my command line since it's not needed with dynamic interface, I turned it on "just to be sure" I was creating the rectangle correctly. Sure enough, the command line read:
Command: _rectang
Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]:
No difference there.

And while we're on the subject of rectangles, how many of you even use the rectangle command? The advantage is that it creates one polyline all at once with only two picks or one pick and a coordinate entry.

How many of you have tried the existing options available in [ ] on the command line? Why go back to chamfer or fillet your rectangle or change the polyline width with a different command and more time? Do it at the same time you're creating your rectangle.
Ah, but I digress...

After you pick your first point for the start of your rectangle you will be prompted for the NEW rectangle options. One is to give your rectangle a specific area.
Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: a
Enter area of rectangle in current units <20.0000>:
Calculate rectangle dimensions based on [Length/Width] :
Enter rectangle length <5.0000>: 10
End of rectangle command

What I just did was to create a rectangle with an area of 20 units. I knew that I wanted it to be 10 units long. Yes, I realize that I could easily have stopped to calculate that my rectangle needed to be 2 x 10 to equal 20 units in area. The point is, that I didn't have to do so. AutoCAD did this for me.

The Dimensions options allows you to enter the dimensions of your rectangle instead of thinking about "Let's see...second point will be...@2,10...or is it @10,2..." New users have trouble with this so this will be a help.

The Rotation option allows you to specify a specific rotation for your rectangle. You can combine this with any of the other options. So you can specify that you want your rectangle to be at a 45 degree angle and an area of 20 units. You don't have to create the rectangle and then rotate it. It rotates based on the first pick point.

So and old command is now improved. It might seem trivial, but it's all the little trivial improvements that really make 2006 head-turning.

If you'd like to read about some of the other features, here are some links.
http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2005/04/autocad_2006_of_1.html
http://lynn.blogs.com/
http://mdouglas.blogs.com/in_the_dynamic_interface/
http://www.caddmanager.com/blog/