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Print Screen Shortcuts
Tip# 3160 By R.T. Rinehart On 08-Mar-2009
3
Rated By 1 users
Categories : Image
Software type : AutoCAD 2009
Rename File To : No Files to download.
The ubiquitous Print Screen key has many uses for the drafter.

Perhaps it’s time to remind the readers of your fine magazine about the old legacy Print Screen button and the many uses it has for drafters. Sometimes I get sent to a manufacturer’s web site that may not have their details available in a CAD-friendly format. Many vendors and manufacturers have viewable details posted on their site that are not downloadable or savable by any means. In these cases, I use the Print Screen button on the upper right hand side of the keyboard. Doing so writes a temporary snapshot of the screen to the clipboard. Once this is accomplished I just open an imaging program, such as Microsoft Paint, and paste in the screen image. Then just crop out the areas of the image you don’t want and save the image as a JPEG or BMP file or any other format you choose. Then you can just attach it to your drawing detail sheet and trace it or just use the actual image.

I also use this a lot when making vicinity maps. Just open your favorite online mapping service, zoom to the area of your project, and print the screen. Chop out your site and you have a nearly perfect vicinity map to sketch your site outline on. Of course, you can make an image out of anything on your screen.  So often I shoot snapshots of my drawing and send them to the engineer as a JPEG for a quick, specific area review. I’m sure there are many more uses for this handy function as well.

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: The Print Screen option is universal. It is used so many different ways. You can use it to import images into a CAD file or to export CAD images to another application. Be sure that any information you capture from other sources and reuse in your own documents is not protected by copyright.

 

Average Rating:
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User comments
Comment by Hollingsworth,Michael
Posted on 2009-03-09 15:51:44
Don't forget that in Vista you have the Snipping Tool under Accessories. It allows you to capture all, or just a portion of, your screen. I use it so much that I added a shortcut for it at the bottom of my screen.
Comment by Lowrey,Carl
Posted on 2009-03-09 16:01:16
Using the Alt key in conjunction with the Print Screen key will capture just the active window as opposed to the entire screen. Very useful for capturing settings screens or error messages to email off.
Comment by Farley,Tom
Posted on 2009-03-10 13:39:50
I use a program called Print Screen. It is a freeware application from www.gadwin.com that skips the whole clipboard step. You can pick an area of your screen and either send it directly to your printer or save it as a raster. It supports jpg, tif, png, bmp, gif and tga formats. This is a great little program that I rely heavily on. Especially when I need screen shots for tutorial documents (like CAD standard docs). I often use it to send jpgs of dialog box errors to my computer support people too. That way no guess work as to the error message.