AutoCAD Architecture 2025: Tips & Tricks in ACA
Layer Merge
Layer Merge (LAYMRG) can be found in the Layer Manager in AutoCAD Architecture. At the command prompt, you can enter LAYMRG. Then in the drawing area, select an object on each layer that you want to merge, and press Enter. Next select an object on the target layer. All objects on layers that contain objects in the first selection set are moved to the target layer.
You can also do this using the Layer Properties Manager. Select the Home tab, Layers panel and then select Layer Properties. In the Layer Properties Manager, select the layers you want to merge into another layer and right-click and select Merge Selected Layers To (see Figure 1). You will need to press Crtl+click to select more than one layer. In the Merge to Layer dialog box, select a target layer. Objects on the merged layers are moved to the layer you select in this dialog box. The now empty layers are automatically deleted.
Figure 1 – Layer Merge
Status Bar
The status bar will automatically wrap onto two rows when there are more icons than can fit into a single row. At any given time, the Model tab and at least one Layout tab is always displayed. You can populate the status bar with the tools you want by clicking on the three-stacked lines (hamburger) in the lower-right corner of the editor. The Lock User Interface tool on the status bar enables you to check and uncheck multiple UI elements at one time instead of having to reopen the flyout each time. You can click the icon to enable or disable UI locking.
Lasso Selection for Objects
Lasso Selection is an object selection feature that can be created by clicking, dragging and then releasing the mouse button (see Figure 2). You can drag from left to right to select all objects that are entirely enclosed in the lasso or drag from right to left to select all objects that are crossed by the lasso, then click Enter. You can deselect objects by pressing shift and then clicking the individual objects or dragging across multiple objects. Press Esc to deselect all objects. It is important to note that when using lasso selection, you can press the Spacebar to cycle between the Window, Crossing and Fence object selection modes.
Figure 2 – Lasso Selection
ACA Revision Cloud
The Revision Cloud tool provides you with a lot of flexibility. It is accessible from the Annotate tab, Markup panel and includes several methods of creation: Rectangular, Polygonal, Freehand and convert an object to a Revision Cloud, as well as creating a cloud with calligraphy pen style (which looks totally cool). The last used creation method is remembered the next time the command is run. You can set your own default creation method using the REVCLOUDCREATEMODE system variable. Whether you create rectangular, polygonal, freehand or object revision clouds, editing their size and shape with grips is intuitive and easy. The location and behavior of grips is based on the shape of the revision cloud. There is also a Modify option that allows you to draw new revision cloud segments and erase selected portions of existing revision clouds (basically, put several revision clouds together).
Text Alignment and Text Edit
AutoCAD Architecture has a TEXTALIGN command that allows multiple text objects to be aligned to a base object and provides a preview of the result. After typing TEXTALIGN, the prompt Select text objects to align (alignment Options) is displayed. Select two or more objects to align and press Enter. With this command, you can easily control the spacing or alignment direction.
The TEXTEDIT command has a “multiple” option that allows you to perform multiple text edits at one time. There is also an Undo option within Multiple mode that allows you to undo Individual text edits. It is important to note that if you leave TEXTEDIT and perform an Undo, all of the edits within TEXTEDIT will be undone.
Grip Edits
Grips allow you to move, reshape and manipulate objects when using different grip modes and types of grips. If you have locked layers, however, grips will not display objects on those layers. You can select more than one grip by pressing and holding the Shift key and then selecting the grips you want to edit. When you select more than one grip, the object keeps its shape between the selected grips (see Figure 3). When working with a circle or ellipse, you can select a quadrant grip and then specify a distance at the Command Prompt for a new radius. When you do this, the distance is measured from the center of the circle and not the selected grip. However, grips on block references, text, circle centers and line midpoints move the object instead of stretching it.
Figure 3 – Grip Edit
Sometimes when we use polylines or even hatch objects with many grips, it can take a long time to select these objects. Limiting the maximum number of objects that display grips helps. The system variable GRIPOBJLIMIT suppresses the display of grips when your selection set includes more than the specified number of objects. If you add objects to the current selection set, however, the limit will not apply.
Smart Dimensions
In AutoCAD Architecture, the DIM command is accessible from the Annotation tab and is smart enough to detect objects and provide various visual dimension options. The DIMLAYER command can be used to create a new layer for dimensioning. You are given horizontal, vertical and aligned dimension previews when you select a linear object. From these previews, you can simply place the desired dimension. (See Figure 4) You can also select another non-parallel linear object to display and place an angular dimension. You can specify a type of dimension by using the various dimensioning options in the right-click menu. The default values are automatically assumed for the dimension text and angles, but you can still change them from the right-click menu or command line. The DIM command remains active until you exit the command, allowing you to knock out multiple dimensions at one time. You can use the width sizing control to wrap dimension text, which is awesome!
Figure 4 – Dimension
XRef Object Edit
AutoCAD Architecture allows you to edit and External Reference or a Block Reference in place without having to open and edit the original drawing. You can do this by going to the Insert tab, Reference panel and then selecting Edit Reference. In your current drawing, select the reference you wish to edit. The Reference Edit dialog box will appear, and you can select the specific reference you wish to edit, then click OK. The reference file will be locked to prevent multiple users from accessing the file at the same time. Now select the objects you wish to edit in the reference and click Enter. These objects now become the working set, and all other objects will be locked and faded. Edit the objects in the working set and click Save Back Changes to Reference. The objects are saved to the reference and the xref or block is updated.
Digital Signatures
AutoCAD Architecture offers extra security controls that help to protect your drawings. You will find a variety of Security Options on the System tab of Options. One option is Digital Signature, accessible via the DIGITALSIGN command. A digital signature is a block of encrypted information that you can add to certain files to identify the originator and indicate whether a file has been altered since the digital signature was applied.
To attach a digital signature to a file, you must either have a digital certificate issued by a certificate authority or you can create a self-signed certificate using one of several utilities. (See Figure 5) You can examine a file’s digital signature. This is important when you are working on collaborative projects or if you receive an executable file. For drawing files, an icon is displayed on the status bar if a drawing file is digitally signed. When you click the icon, you can verify information such as the validity of the signature, the name of the individual or organization that signed the file and so on.
Figure 5 – Digital Signature
Smooth Line Display
AutoCAD Architecture has a solution to the jagged diagonal lines that you sometimes see in 2D wireframe drawings. The command is LINESMOOTHING. This variable can also be found under the Options dialog box, System tab. Click on Graphics Performance and the Graphics Performance dialog box appears. Under 2D Display Settings, click on Details. Checking Smooth Line Display removes the jagged lines (see Figure 6). If your hardware supports High Quality Geometry, you can select several options under 3D Display Settings in the Graphics Performance dialog box. Hardware acceleration must be turned on for this to work. Set LINEFADING to 1 to automatically fade geometry as you zoom into super-dense drawings. You can control the amount of fading with LINEFADINGLEVEL.
Figure 6 – Smooth Line Display
Rendering
The rendering engine in AutoCAD Architecture is amazing and can yield great results. The Render panel on the Render tab supports the rendering engine. It includes a size drop-down where you can quickly select from standard pre-defined render sizes.
The Render Presets list includes additional options enabling you to control the render quality by setting either the number of levels to render or how much time to render. The Render Presents Manager allows you to create, modify and delete custom Render Presets. Specify Render Preset name and description as well as the duration and accuracy. You can render directly from the Render Presets Manager, choosing to render in the Render Window, the current viewport or a specified region in the current viewport.
When rendering in the render window, a drop-down list enables you to select from a list of standard render output sizes or choose More Output Settings to access the Render to Output Settings dialog box, in which you can specify the image size and resolution. You can also choose to automatically save the rendered image to a file including BMP, TGA, TIF, JPEG and PNG formats.
A Render Environment & Exposure Palette offers powerful Image Based Lighting (IBL) environments. When the Environment control is turned on, you can select from pre-defined, image-based lighting environments (see Figure 7). The image-based lighting environments automatically apply lighting effects. Some of them include 360 background images that emulate a realistic environment as you orbit around the model. The viewport must be in a perspective view, and you must render to see the IBL environment.
A control in the Render Environment & Exposure palette enables you to use a custom background image. Custom images are static and do not emulate a realistic 3D environment as you rotate. Additional controls in the Render Environment & Exposure palette enable you to adjust the Exposure and White Balance. Exposure slides between Bright and Dark. The White Balance slides between Cool and Warm. The render window displays the current render process and allows you to save a snapshot, zoom in and out while rendering and print the rendered image. Render history is displayed in the expanded section of the render window.
Figure 7 – Render Environment & Exposure
Geographic Location
Geographic location information in a drawing file is built around an entity that is known as the geographic marker. The geographic marker points to a reference point in model space that corresponds to a location on the surface of the earth of known latitude and longitude. The program also captures the direction of the north at this location. Using this information, the program can derive the geographic coordinates of all other points in the drawing file. You can set a geographic location using the Set Location tool on the Insert tab then easily search for an address from a map and drop a marker on the map to mark the spot. Drawing units can be easily modified.
After you insert a geographic marker in a drawing, you can do any of the following:
- Make the program automatically determine the angle of sunlight when you perform sun and sky simulation
- Insert a map from an online maps service in a viewport
- Perform environment studies
- Use position markers to mark geographic locations and record related notes
- Locate yourself on the map in real-time on systems that support location sensing
- Export to AutoCAD Map 3D and expect the model to position itself automatically
You can remove geographic location information from a drawing file using the GEOREMOVE command. The geographic marker and GIS coordinate system are removed from the drawing file. However, position markers will remain in the drawing file.
