Total autocad noob - quickfire questions

[stayinwonderland]

Hi, I've just started playing with autocad (2010) and I'm pulling my hair out.

 

Assuming it would be at least a tiny bit like any other autodesk app.

 

So I have some really basic questions but they're coming all the time, so maybe I could get a thread started to ask them as they come?

 

First couple:

 

1. One of my layers in the layer manager has a greyed out layer icon. Any idea what that means?

2. I have two lines crossing eachother like a + shape. I can select and move either one but can't just drag over them both and move them. Why?

3. If i want the horizontal line to snap to the middle of the verticle line, what do I do? it current keeps snapping to the top and bottom of it but also sometimes snaps to somewhere just off the middle... but not the middle!

 

That'll do for now.

 

Many thanks.

[stayinwonderland]

Help guys, these questions aren't hard

 

Here's another that's had me stumped for the last hour. I have some lines/objects that won't move to a layer. When I select them it tells me they're a "block reference" but, oddly enough, that they belong to the layer I've told them to move to. But sure enough, they're stuck on their original layer.

[Ismael]

Maybe these help:

1. http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?19307-Layer-Properties-Manager-question

2. http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-2010/Why-can-t-I-select-multiple-lines-or-objects-anymore/td-p/2561533

 

It has been many years since I used Autocad and then mostly for simple stuff. This is something I need get back into for sure.

 

PS

For #3

Type OSNAP in the command line and make sure you have Midpoint selected also...

Edited July 6, 2012 by Ismael
Adding information

[bev.lynn]

Question 1: I can't answer without know what the icon is. What is the column header where the greyed is located? It may be that the layer is just frozen or turned off..

 

Question 2: At the command prompt, type: pickadd and press enter, then type 1. It sounds like pickadd it set to 0 (which is off, meaning you can only select one item to move, rotate...)

 

Question 3: At the command prompt type: osnap and press enter. Now you can select multiple osnap options. Sounds like only endpoint is checked.

[bev.lynn]

The reason why the block reference entities won't move to the new layer (despite the fact the block may reside on the layer of your choice) is because the entities (lines, etc.) resided on a layer other than 0 when the block was created. If you know how to use the block editor, you can change all the entities in the block to layer 0, or simply explode the block, move the entities to layer 0 and re-create the block.

[stayinwonderland]

Thanks for the tips! They helped point me in the right direction.

 

Here's an image of the greyed out layer icon:

 

 

Thanks again

 

and thanks for the links Ismael!

Edited July 7, 2012 by stayinwonderland

[bev.lynn]

That means the layer is empty!

No objects on that layer and you can delete it within layer manager if you choose.