Tuesday

Surprise egg in AutoCAD: QUICKCALC

7 Comments Dec-09-2008 | Posted by Orhan Toker | Printable Version | Level |

Hello,

While working with AutoCAD, we generally concentrate on drawing commands and when we have something that needs calculations, we use a separate calculator. However, in AutoCAD, since 2006 version there is a very advanced calculator available for us. And its command is QUICKCALC.

When you call QUICKCALC command, quickcalc window appears in first figure.

Even though Autodesk named it QUICKCALC modestly, you should not fall for the name; because it is a very advanced calculator. By using DCL controls, which are available since AutoCAD 12, me and my friend Burutay Kaya in Sayisal Grafik have had many advanced calculator examples. I have even published my calculator example in CAD+, which is one of the leading magazines in Turkey’s CAD market. Anyhow, let’s return back to our time and examine this calculator, which Autodesk has placed into AutoCAD even though it is a little bit late.

Fig. 2 There is even a unit converter in Quickcalc.

QUICKCALC can be opened either from the button with calculator icon from standard toolbar or by writing QUICKCALC in the command line. In the upcoming window, first of all there is a simple calculator and in the upper part, you can see the most commonly used commands.

Fig. 3 General commands of Quickcalc.

In Fig.3 you can see, “Get coordinates”, which is used for getting point data, “Distance between two points” for getting distance data and “Angle of line defined by two point” for getting angle data. Beside these options, you can paste the result that you have calculated to the command line by using “Paste value to command line” and there is a “clear” command for erasing the calculations.Lower part is a simple calculator or it can be converted into an advanced scientific calculator by extending downwards. Other that these, I guess I don’t have to explain how to use the calculator …Also, when you select an entity and open up its properties, QUICKCALC appears beside any value box that requires data input. Indeed, we can really define QUICKCALC as the surprise egg of AutoCAD.