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Geoff Harrod

There has always been a lot of clamour for Autodesk to add LISP capability to LT, but although it was hinted at being under consideration several times, and actually appeared in the pre-release Beta of one version, it has always been kept out.

LT has been enhanced considerably over successive versions. It is now capable of everything that probably 90% of users of AutoCAD actually do with the full version of AutoCAD. However, many of those users rely quite heavily on their own little suite of custom LISP routines that greatly enhance their productivity in the particular niche of work that they do. They are very annoyed that they are have to pay thousands of dollars for a product that, for them, does no more than one costing less than a quarter as much, apart from that ability to run LISP.

Hence, there is considerable interest in a product that adds LISP capability to LT. The early versions of LT Toolkit had a few limitations that restricted its applicability. This latest version, designed for AutoCAD LT 2002, appears to have overcome those limitations. The new ‘MAX’ version also adds the ability to run ARX and DBX add-ons, which further extends its applicability, since add-on developers for AutoCAD have been making considerable use of those methods in recent years, and it was often the reason why LT Toolkit would not work with certain add-on products previously.

Adding LISP and ARX capability to LT is made possible by the fact that most of the program code for it is already built into LT, but without the necessary links and controls to access it. The support is built-in because many of LT’s functions rely on ARX and LISP internally. You can see the various ARX files in its installation. LT Toolkit adds the missing links and provides the missing controls.

Apart from a fleeting LT Toolkit banner, (once fully registered) you are quickly presented with the familiar LT display. The only obvious difference is an extra pull-down menu next to the Help menu, called ‘Toolkit’. This menu, with some fly-outs, carries all the commands for Toolkit facilities. In addition, an extra Toolbar can be displayed, for Toolkit’s layer controls. Those are, however, also on the pull-down menu fly-outs.

The pull-down includes an APPLOAD command (which can also be typed). This pops up a dialog box very similar to the full AutoCAD’s Appload dialog box. It provides for finding, loading and unloading add-on program modules in the form of LSP, ARX or DBX files, or in the case of the ‘non-MAX’ version of LT Toolkit, LSP only. You will see from the illustration that this reveals the various ARX modules that were already loaded by LT.

APPLOAD dialog on ACAD LT

The illustration below shows a spiral line generated by the spiral.lsp file that Autodesk supplied as a sample in some versions of AutoCAD. The relevant command-line prompts from it can be seen in the overlaid command window.

A drawing created in ACAD LT with spiral.lsp, an Autodesk-supplied sample LISP file.

Apart from the LISP capability, LT Toolkit MAX also adds several handy refinements to basic AutoCAD commands, and adds several commands from the full AutoCAD that have been omitted from LT.

The major group of command refinements are the layer commands. These appear on a fly-out menu, and on the new toolbar. I have added the text of the pop-up ToolTips to the illustration of the toolbar. Although brief, they quite explicitly describe what each button does. You will see that most of these layer commands act on the layer that contains the object that you select. Quite a bit of time can be saved by not having to pop up the big Layer manager.

Toolbar of layer management tools (with tool-tips added under) supplied with LT Toolkit MAX

There are several text tools. These include one-touch case-changing, and a new Continue command. This makes the use of single-line text much more versatile. It prompts you to pick some existing text, then places the text cursor on a new line below it, ready to enter text, with the text already set to all the properties of the selected text.

LT Toolkit MAX text tools menu

There are new commands for moving and copying with rotation, and for manipulating 3D objects without needing to alter the UCS.

LT Toolkit MAX layer control menu

LT Toolkit adds several features that are found in the full AutoCAD and are absent from LT. These missing features often prevent the useful sharing of work between AutoCAD and LT workstations. LT Toolkit adds the Clipped option to the XREF facility, which will be greatly appreciated. It adds the non-rectangular or clipped PaperSpace viewport option, and it adds the ability to attach and save raster image files.

The remaining group of extra facilities added by LT Toolkit, is a greatly extended system of hot keys. These can be a major contribution to fast operation. They include fast zooming, easy 3D viewpoint setting, instant snap angle setting to common angles between zero and 90, and Object Snap Overrides. These latter will be found very fast and helpful. They are:

• Home = intersect

• PgeUp = perpendicular

• Del = Midpoint

• End = endpoint

• PgeDn = Near

The keyboard definitions and the layer controls, can be easily customised if desired.

LT Toolkit MAX will find widespread acceptance, I feel sure. It certainly does all it claims. The only limitations appear to be the lack of support for DCL-programmed dialog boxes, and the possibility of problems with compiled ARX files that internally reference AutoCAD support files that are named differently in LT. LT Toolkit MAX can be purchased online. Very recommendable.

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