Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 User Guide 3 - Page 2590

Defining Strokes Hold down Ctrl and the middle mouse button and drag in a viewport to create the shape of an unused stroke. > Define Strokes dialog Hold down the middle mouse button alone or with Shift, Alt, or both, and drag in a viewport to create the shape of an unused stroke. > Define > Define Strokes dialog Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Utilities dialog > Strokes > Draw Strokes > Hold down the left mouse button alone or with Shift, Alt, or both, and drag in a viewport to create the shape of an unused stroke. > Define > Define Strokes dialog You define a stroke by creating the stroke in a viewport, then choosing the command that the stroke defines. The next time you perform the stroke, the command will be executed. You can define strokes to work in conjunction with the Shift key, the Alt key, or both Shift and Alt. You can define strokes with either the left or middle mouse button. If you want to use your middle mouse button to define and use strokes, you must first turn on Customize menu > Preferences > Preference Settings dialog > Viewports tab on page 7753 > Mouse Control group > Stroke. To define and use strokes with the left mouse button, choose Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Utilities dialog > Strokes on page 7854 > Draw Strokes, then draw the strokes. In the Define Stroke dialog, you can see how the strokes are analyzed by examining the grid under Stroke to Define. When you complete the drawing of a stroke, a nine-square grid is centered around the stroke and fit to its extents. The inner segments of the grid are assigned unique letters. Where the stroke crosses a segment, the letter associated with that segment is added to the stroke name. Thus, the direction and the shape of the stroke matter, but the size of the stroke has no effect. The stroke is always centered within the grid. If you draw a stroke vertically from top to bottom, the stroke is named HK because it crossed the segments labeled H and K, in that order. Had you drawn the stroke from bottom to top, it would have been named KH. Defining Strokes | 7845