Datasheet

EXPLODE
You can use EXPLODE with the following entities: blocks, hatches, mlines, plines, solid
objects, and blocks of text created with the MTEXT command. Any blocks can be exploded
except those placed using the MINSERT command. For that reason, MINSERT should not
be used unless you want a block that can’t be exploded. When you use EXPLODE, be care-
ful not to select more objects than you want.
OFFSET
This command has always had two options: Distance and Through. The Through option
allows you to offset an object through a selected point, even if the object isn’t long enough
to actually pass through the point.
AutoCAD 2006 added some nice features to OFFSET. You can offset an object onto the
current layer. You can also elect to erase the source object after using offset. That sounds
like it would just become the MOVE command, which it would, except that a multiple
option was also added that lets you continue picking through points or offsetting the same
distance multiple times.
OOPS
People use UNDO sometimes when they really should use the OOPS command. OOPS
can be used at any time to restore all the entities erased as a single selection set the last
time the ERASE command was used. It doesn’t have to be issued immediately after the
entities are erased. More often than I should, I erase objects that are in the way of a deli-
cate editing operation, and then I use OOPS to get them back after I’m done editing. I
don’t recommend this approach, but I do it.
OOPS restores objects even if their layer is currently frozen or turned off.
You can form 3D block letters by using TXTEXP to explode a TrueType font and then using
EXTRUDE to create 3D solids out of all the segments used for each letter. Use UNION to cre-
ate a single solid.
The TXTEXP Express Tool can explode individual pieces of text into vectors. The results aren’t
always pretty, but I’ve used this technique successfully to create cutting-tool paths for CNC
machines used to mill letters in either metal or wood. The results differ between SHX fonts
and TTF fonts. Shape fonts, which are vector-based, are exploded into line segments,
whereas TrueType fonts are exploded into closed polylines. Usually a single letter requires
multiple closed polylines that can be edited into a single outline.
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