- Introduction
- Creating a New Drawing
- Model Space and Layout Space
- Communicating with AutoCAD
- Object Snaps, Ortho Mode, and Polar Tracking
- Undo/Redo
- Grid and Snap
- Draw a Circle
- Navigating Around the Drawing
- Object Properties
- Layers
- Dimension Styles
- Dimensioning
- Modifying Drawing Objects
- Grip Editing
- Introduction to Advanced Editing Techniques
- Cleaning Up Layout Space
- Plotting and Page Setups
- Chapter Summary
- Chapter Test Questions
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Grip Editing
You may have noticed in previous exercises that when you preselect objects, the objects highlight and little squares show up on them. These squares are known as grips. Grips appear when you select objects when there is no active command. Grips are located at strategic points on an object. For example, on a circle, grips appear at the center and the four quadrants of the circle. On lines, grips appear at the ends and midpoint of the line. On dimensions, they appear on the dimension text and the ends of the dimension lines and arrows.
Grips give you a quick way to modify objects by giving you access to commonly used editing commands and commonly used object points. There are five grip editing modes: Stretch, Move, Rotate, Scale, and Mirror. When you select a grip, AutoCAD starts the grip editing command and places you in Stretch mode. You can toggle between the different editing modes by pressing <Enter>. Like other commands, the grip editing modes have prompts and options.
EXERCISE 2-20 EDITING WITH GRIPS
Select the circle. Grips appear at the center point and the four quadrants of the circle.
Select the two centerlines. Grips appear at the endpoints and midpoint of the lines. The grip at the center of the circle coincides with the midpoints of the two lines (see Figure 2-41).
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FIGURE 2-41 Grips
Click on the center grip. The grip turns red, and AutoCAD prompts you to Specify stretch point or 
. AutoCAD is now in Stretch mode. AutoCAD is prompting you to specify a stretch point.
Move your cursor to the right until the polar tracking appears. Once it appears, type 3.5<Enter>. AutoCAD moves the center of the circle 3.5” to the right (see Figure 2-42).
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FIGURE 2-42 The modified circle
Press <Esc> to exit Grip Edit mode and clear the selection set.
Select the diameter dimension on the circle. Grips appear at the middle of the text and at two points on the circle.
Pick the text grip and drag the text above and to the right of the circle. Pick a point outside of the drawing to place the text (see Figure 2-43).
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FIGURE 2-43 The modified dimension
Press <Esc> to exit Grip Edit mode and clear the selection set.
Save your drawing.
Notice that when you stretched the center and midpoints of the objects, the end result was that the objects moved. It’s a subtle distinction but worth noting. AutoCAD defines circles by a center point (the center grip) and a radius (the quadrant grips). Since you stretched only the center point, only the location of the circle changed, not its size. The same thing applies to the line; because you stretched just the midpoint of the line, the size and direction of the line didn’t change, only its location.
In the previous exercise, once you selected a grip, AutoCAD immediately switched to Grip Edit mode. It is possible to select multiple grips and modify them as a group. To do this, you simply hold down the <Shift> key while selecting the grips. Once you’re finished selecting grips, release the <Shift> key and then pick one of the grips to start the editing process.
EXERCISE 2-21 EDITING WITH MULTIPLE GRIPS
Press <Esc> to cancel any active commands and clear any selections.
Select the three lines on the right side of the drawing (see Figure 2-44). Select the top line first.
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FIGURE 2-44 Selecting multiple grips
Hold down the <Shift> key and select the two grips at the corners of the selected lines (see Figure 2-44). The two grips are highlighted, but grip editing has not started.
Release the <Shift> key and select either one of the highlighted grips. AutoCAD now enters Grip Edit mode.
Drag the grip to the left until the polar tracking alignment path appears at 180°. Once the polar tracking appears, type .5<Enter> into the dynamic input box (see Figure 2-45).
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FIGURE 2-45 Grips and dynamic input
AutoCAD stretches the longest line to a length of 5.5 (see Figure 2-46).
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FIGURE 2-46 The stretched objects
Press <Esc> to exit Grip Edit mode and clear the selection set.
Save your drawing.
The order in which you select the lines is important. The first line you selected determined which dimension would appear in the dynamic input box. You should have also seen the associative dimensions in action again. The dimensions updated to follow the changes in the geometry.