Here’s What’s New in ARES Commander 2018

The program offers new and changed functions in the areas of the user interface, commands, and additional system variables.

NEW USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS

UIStyle command switches the user interface between dark and light themes. After entering the command, ARES Commander must be exited and then started again for the theme to change.
Command: uistyle

The current setting is stored in the ColorTheme variable. This command is a shortcut to going into the Settings dialog box to change the theme: Options command, System Options, Display, User Interface style.

Press the Shift+cursor keys to move selected entities by a specified increment. Dynamic Custom Coordinate System temporarily aligns the x,y-plane with the appropriate face on a 3D solid object. This lets you draw in 3D as if you were in 2D. The figure below shows a rectangle drawn on the side of the solid.

This function is toggled with the F6 key, the new Dynamic CCS button on the status bar (see figure below), and the new UcsDetect variable.

 

IMPROVED DWG FILE FORMAT

Open command now reads DWG and DXF files up to R2018, the latest version. (The Save and SaveAs command save drawings to R2013 DWG and DXF formats.)

NEW COMMANDS FOR BLOCKS

RedefineBasePoint command moves the base (insertion) point to a new location in a block. By default, many blocks have their base point at 0,0,0 (drawing origin) and so this command lets it be moved to a more suitable location. This command works with one block at a time.

: redefinebasepoint
Specify block»
Specify new basepoint»

BlockAttributeManager command manages properties and settings of block attributes.

To edit the attribute text, chose an attribute and then click Edit.

 

NEW MULTILINE LEADER COMMANDS

MultiLeader command (alias: mleader) draws a single leader entity, to which more leader lines can be attached to the same annotation. Use the EditMultiLeader command to add more leaders, or remove them. The mleader is based on the current style and scale factor, as specified by the new CMleaderStyle and MLeaderScale variables.

EditMultiLeader command (alias: mle) adds and removes leader lines; see figure above. Mleaders can be annotatively scaled, and edited directly using grips. To edit the text, double click the text.

MultiLeaderStyle displays the Options dialog box to create, edit, and delete multiline leader styles. The name of the current style is stored in the new CMleaderStyle variable.

NEW COMMANDS & FUNCTIONS FOR TABLES

Formulas can be placed in table cells, specifically arithmetic operators (+, -, /, *), and the Sum, Average, and Count functions. To start a formula, enter = (equals) and then the cell references with the operator, as follows:

When you make a mistake in a formula, ARES displays #### in the afflicted cell. The mistake can be due to one of the following problems:
• The function name was misspelled
• The cell reference was entered incorrectly or does not exist
• An operator is missing, such as ( or :

ExportTable command exports the content of tables in CSV (comma-separated format) files, which can be imported into spreadsheets and databases.
: exporttable
Specify table:

IMPROVED COMMANDS FOR LAYERS

Copy command now can copy entities to the active layer, instead of the source layer. Use the ActiveLayer option to toggle this option:

PasteClip command now prompts you to specify the name of layer before pasting content from clipboard. When you press Enter, the content is pasted to the current (or active) layer when the new ActiveLayer option is turned on.
: pasteclip
Options: activeLayer or Specify destination:

NEW 3D COMMANDS & FUNCTIONS

Entity grips can now be used to modify the size of 3D solids. (Prior to this release, grips could only move 3D solids.) In addition, the Properties palette can be used to enter precise distances, such as for height and width. In the left figure below, a grip is being used to raise the height of the box.

Helix command creates 2D spirals and 3D helixes. For a partial 2D spiral, specify the Spiral option.

SUMMARY OF NEW SYSTEM VARIABLES

CMLeaderStyle specifies the name of the current multileader style for newly created multileader entities; does not change the style of existing multileaders. Default = “Standard”.
MLeaderScale variable specifies the overall scale factor for multileader entities:

UcsDetect variable toggles the custom coordinate system dynamically:

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