IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 | Welcome to the AutoCAD 2008 Essentials title.
| | 00:03 | My name is Jeff Bartels and I have been an AutoCAD user and
instructor since the days when AutoCAD was a DOS-based application.
| | 00:09 | AutoCAD has been my passion for more than a decade.
| | 00:11 | By day, I use AutoCAD to produce large scale civil
engineering plan sets and by night, I teach AutoCAD courses
| | 00:18 | at local colleges and work with students just like you.
| | 00:20 | It is truly an honor to act as your personal trainer and take you
step-by-step through this industry standard CAD drafting program.
| | 00:27 | As we work together to complete these tutorials,
don't worry if you don't have the 2008 version of AutoCAD.
| | 00:33 | Even if you are using an older release of the
program, this training will still work for you.
| | 00:37 | You see, AutoCAD's interface and core functionality
hasn't changed much in the last several years.
| | 00:42 | Don't get me wrong,
| | 00:43 | each new release of AutoCAD has added fantastic new improvements.
| | 00:46 | The good news is the basics have stayed the same.
This means that even if you're using an older version of AutoCAD,
| | 00:52 | you'll still be able to do much of what we cover in this title.
| | 00:55 | So if you have always wanted to learn AutoCAD
from the ground up, this is your perfect opportunity.
| | 01:00 | Well, we have got a lot of things to
talk about and a lot of learning to do.
| | 01:03 | So let's get started.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Introduction to AutoCAD| 00:00 | The AutoCAD 2008 Essentials course is mapped out such
that we cover the material using a natural progression.
| | 00:06 | This means that I don't cover all the Draw commands at one
time and then cover all the Modify commands at one time,
| | 00:10 | and then cover all the View commands.
| | 00:12 | Instead we look at the AutoCAD features in the same order
in which we would encounter them in a typical workflow,
| | 00:18 | starting with an empty interface and then
ending by creating our own layouts and plots.
| | 00:22 | By teaching AutoCAD this way each lesson builds
on the skills learned in the previous lessons.
| | 00:27 | That being said if you already have some AutoCAD
experience you should be able to jump in at any point
| | 00:32 | and be able to follow along with the concepts.
| | 00:34 | The beauty of this course is that it's industry neutral, meaning that
the concepts that we talked about can be applied to any discipline
| | 00:40 | whether it would be architectural, mechanical or civil.
| | 00:43 | You see AutoCAD is used by many people to do many different
things so I felt it was important to avoid focusing
| | 00:48 | the tutorials on a specific type of drafting. Now I do use practical
examples, many of which you are currently seeing on your screen,
| | 00:55 | but I never lose sight of the fact that AutoCAD is a tool and
as an instructor it is my goal to teach you how to use this tool.
| | 01:01 | Throughout this title I'll be working side by side with you as we
explore and uncover many of the amazing features of this program.
| | 01:08 | As we work together I will anticipate questions
you may have and answer them as they arise.
| | 01:13 | I will also stress the importance of
AutoCAD fundamentals and good work habits.
| | 01:17 | At the end of this title you will have a
strong working knowledge of this program
| | 01:20 | and a foundation on which to build your future AutoCAD skills.
| | 01:24 | I hope you enjoyed taking us course as much as I enjoyed creating it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you're a premium member of the lynda.com Online
Training Library or if you're watching this tutorial on a disk,
| | 00:06 | you have access to the exercise files used throughout this title.
| | 00:09 | Let's take a look at how the exercise files are laid out.
| | 00:12 | First of all, you have one major directory called Exercise Files
| | 00:15 | and inside this directory are a series of sub-folders.
Each one is numbered based on chapter.
| | 00:21 | If I open up one of the chapter folders, notice
that each drawing is numbered based on the video.
| | 00:26 | In some cases after finishing the tutorial I've saved a
finished version of the drawing. I've done this when I thought
| | 00:32 | that looking at the finished version might be helpful in your
training. Now if you're monthly or annual subscriber lynda.com,
| | 00:38 | you don't have access to the exercise files, but you
can follow along from scratch or use your own assets.
| | 00:43 | Let's get started.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
1. The AutoCAD InterfaceModelspace| 00:00 | We are truly starting at the beginning. As you
can see I am currently sitting at my desktop.
| | 00:04 | Let's take and launch the AutoCAD 2008
application by double-clicking on the icon.
| | 00:11 | When I do, AutoCAD brings up the splash screen.
| | 00:13 | In just a second, it's going to bring the interface up on my screen.
| | 00:17 | Now, I am using a fresh install of AutoCAD, so my
screen may look a little bit different than yours.
| | 00:22 | If our screens are significantly different, what I would like
you to do is come up to the left-hand corner of the screen and
| | 00:27 | click on this dropdown. This is our Workspace toolbar.
| | 00:31 | And you can see that I have several choices available.
| | 00:33 | What I would like you to do is set yours to AutoCAD Classic.
| | 00:38 | Now, our screens should look relatively similar.
| | 00:40 | I thought before we got started with the videos, we'd take a
quick trip around the interface and talk about some of the things
| | 00:45 | that we see on our screen. First thing I'm going to do
before we get started is I'm going to turn some things off.
| | 00:50 | I am not going to be using this toolbar, so I am going to
come up and left-click on this X to remove from the screen.
| | 00:56 | I am not going to be using this palette,
| | 00:57 | so I am going to come up and click on this X to turn him off.
| | 01:02 | Alright, the first area in the interface we're going to discuss is this
large black area in the middle of the screen. This area's called model space
| | 01:08 | and this is our drafting board. The nice thing about model space is that
it is infinite in size and because of this, I don't have to worry about
| | 01:15 | some of the things that used to concern us in
the old days when we drafted with paper and pencil.
| | 01:19 | You see when we drafted on paper, we used to have to draw our geometry
to a scale such that it would fit within the confines of the sheet.
| | 01:26 | Since model space is infinite in size, I can draft
whatever I want, whether it would be 5 inches or 5 miles,
| | 01:32 | and I can draw it all at true size or one to one.
| | 01:35 | If I look a little bit lower in my screen, I can see some tabs.
| | 01:38 | Model space is actually a tab.
| | 01:41 | Now, these tabs work the exact same ways they do in Microsoft Excel.
| | 01:44 | If I would like to flip from one tab to the other,
all I have to do is click on the tab name.
| | 01:49 | I'm going to click on Layout 1 and we could see that Layout 1
appears to be sheet of paper. That's because it is a sheet of paper.
| | 01:55 | Each one of these layout tabs represents a plottable sheet of
paper that I can use when the time comes for me to print my drawing.
| | 02:01 | Now, we will talk about these layout
tabs later on when we get into plotting.
| | 02:04 | For right now, I'd like to return to my drafting board.
So I am going to come down and click on my Model tab
| | 02:10 | to return to Model space. Model space
is where every great design takes shape.
| | 02:14 | It's our virtual drafting board,
capable of handling our largest projects.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Toolbars| 00:00 | As we work our way around the AutoCAD interface
let's take a minute and look at our toolbars.
| | 00:04 | If we look at our screen we can see I have got a drawing
on my drafting board already. This is an example of the type
| | 00:08 | of work that we will be doing in the near future.
| | 00:10 | So at this point we are going to configure our toolbars so
that they are in the optimal position for us to be drafting.
| | 00:16 | Now over on the left hand side of the
screen I have an example of the toolbar.
| | 00:19 | Now a toolbar is nothing more than a collection of AutoCAD icons.
| | 00:22 | Each one of these icons represents a specific AutoCAD command.
| | 00:26 | And I want you to notice that if I move my cursor
over one of these icons AutoCAD will pop-up a tooltip
| | 00:31 | and tell me what specific command that icon is going to launch.
| | 00:34 | In addition to that tooltip, take a look at the lower left
hand corner of our screen as I move over and hover on top
| | 00:40 | of this icon I can see some additional information
that can be very helpful especially for a beginner.
| | 00:45 | Now these toolbars do not have to stay put.
I can move this wherever I like in my interface.
| | 00:50 | I am going to click and hold on this little toolbar handle.
| | 00:53 | And I am going to drag this guy
into my draft area and release.
| | 00:57 | I have just converted that toolbar
from a docked to a floating state.
| | 01:01 | Now notice when the toolbar is in a floating
state I can see the name of the toolbar as well
| | 01:05 | as a little x that I can use to turn this toolbar off.
| | 01:09 | Let's try that.
| | 01:09 | I am going to come up and click on
the x and turn off my Draw toolbar.
| | 01:13 | Now we have turned the toolbar off,
let's look at how we can turn toolbars on.
| | 01:17 | If I would like to turn the toolbar on, I can move my
cursor and hover over an existing tool and right-click.
| | 01:23 | And when I do I see a listing of all of
the toolbars that are available on AutoCAD.
| | 01:27 | Now some of these have checks next to them and the check
signifies that that toolbar is already visible on our screen.
| | 01:33 | Now we just turned off the Draw toolbar,
let's turn them back on again.
| | 01:36 | I am going to click on the Draw name and that
toolbar pops back up right where we left it.
| | 01:42 | Now this is a very important toolbar.
This is the toolbar that we are going to use
| | 01:45 | to create our geometry so I want
to keep this guy on my interface.
| | 01:49 | I am going to dock him to the left side of the screen.
| | 01:52 | So I am going to place my cursor on the
blue area and I am going to click and hold
| | 01:56 | and as I drag this guy away, notice I am
dragging a little ghosted version with me.
| | 02:00 | When I get my cursor close enough to the edge of the screen
we can see the shape change. That means the toolbar is ready
| | 02:05 | to be docked, all I have to do is release my mouse button.
| | 02:08 | That guy is now in a docked state.
| | 02:10 | Now we have another toolbar that we are going to use frequently.
| | 02:12 | Right now that guy is located on the right side of the screen.
| | 02:14 | This is our Modify toolbar.
| | 02:16 | Now since this guy is so important I am going to move him
over so that he can sit alongside the Draw toolbar just
| | 02:22 | because it will be easier to work not having to go back and forth
and span the entire width of my monitor to select my tools.
| | 02:29 | So let's pull this guy away I am going to click and hold on the
handle, drag him away and I am going to drag into the left side
| | 02:35 | of the screen and as soon as I get close enough, the
shape changes and I can release and dock that toolbar.
| | 02:41 | Now if I wanted to be tidy, I can
click and hold on the little handle
| | 02:44 | and I can shift these guys up or down to fill up the columns.
| | 02:48 | I have got one more change I want to make to my interface,
it has to do with this little toolbar right down here.
| | 02:52 | I am not going to be using him right now.
| | 02:54 | And he has only got four icons and he is eating up
an entire column of real-estate so let's turn him off.
| | 02:59 | I am going to click on the handle and drag him away and
watch when I release my mouse button that column disappears.
| | 03:07 | I now have a little bit more space that I can draft.
| | 03:09 | And since this toolbar is not going to be used
I am going to click on the x to turn him off.
| | 03:14 | Toolbars give us the ability to
customize our interface to our needs
| | 03:18 | and they give us convenient access to the commands we use most.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Pulldowns| 00:00 | Every AutoCAD instructor will tell you there is
at least three ways to do everything in AutoCAD.
| | 00:04 | Command entry is no exception.
| | 00:06 | Let's take a look at the pulldown menus,
yet another way to launch AutoCAD commands.
| | 00:09 | Now if we look at the top of the screen we can see
that we have several pulldown menus available to us.
| | 00:14 | Now if you are familiar with any Windows applications,
some of these menus are probably familiar to you.
| | 00:19 | I am going to come over and click on
the File pulldown, it will open him up.
| | 00:24 | Now the commands and the options within the File pulldown
they relate to the AutoCAD drawing in its entirety.
| | 00:29 | For instance I can create a new
drawing here, I can open a drawing,
| | 00:32 | I can save or email my drawing or I could plot my drawing.
| | 00:36 | Let's take a look at the Edit pulldown.
| | 00:38 | If I come up and hover over the Edit
pulldown, here's where I have access
| | 00:41 | to my typical Windows' Clipboard functions,
my Cut, my Copy, my Paste.
| | 00:47 | Now I am going to move outside the pulldown and I am
going to hit my Escape key to close that because I want
| | 00:51 | to show you the commands that we just talked about are also
available right here at the top of our interface's toolbar icons.
| | 00:58 | Once again the pulldowns are just another
way of launching the same AutoCAD commands.
| | 01:02 | Let's take a look at the View pulldown. I am going
to come up and click on View to open this guy up.
| | 01:06 | Now we're not going to go through all of the pulldowns.
| | 01:08 | I am just going to give you an idea of how these things work.
| | 01:11 | We will go through some of the other
ones as we progress through the videos.
| | 01:13 | The View pulldown is where we can control
how our drawing looks on our screen.
| | 01:17 | Now notice that some of these options have a little black
triangles to the right. That represents a flyout menu.
| | 01:22 | If I hover over the option, AutoCAD will pop-up
the flyout, I get additional selections.
| | 01:29 | Another thing we may see in a pulldown
is an option with three dots.
| | 01:33 | The dots mean that this particular
option will bring up a dialog box.
| | 01:37 | I am going to click on this guy and we can see there
is the dialog box that's related to that option.
| | 01:42 | I am going to close this.
| | 01:44 | Now remember we talked about the importance
of the Draw and the Modify toolbar.
| | 01:49 | We also have a Draw and a Modify pulldown.
| | 01:51 | I am going to click on the Modify pulldown
to open him up and I want you to take a look
| | 01:56 | at the list of commands that we have available.
| | 01:59 | Also notice right next to the command
name there is a little icon.
| | 02:02 | This happened to be the same icons and in the same
order as what we have in our Modify toolbar,
| | 02:07 | once again, just another way to launch the commands.
| | 02:10 | Probably the most important pulldown
that we have is the Help pulldown.
| | 02:13 | This is where we can go if we have a question or a problem.
| | 02:17 | Now the nice aspect about the Help feature
in AutoCAD is that it's context sensitive.
| | 02:21 | That means I can get help for a command
that I am currently using.
| | 02:25 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 02:26 | I am going to come over and click on
my Modify pulldown to open that up
| | 02:29 | and I am going to come down and select the Mirror command.
| | 02:32 | Now I have just launched the Mirror command and I have
a question. One question might be, how do I use this?
| | 02:37 | If I want that question answered, I can come
up to my Help pulldown and I can select Help.
| | 02:43 | AutoCAD will pop-up the Help dialog giving me all
the information that I need regarding that command
| | 02:48 | and as a bonus AutoCAD will also tell me where this
command is located in the other areas of my interface.
| | 02:54 | For instance, the Mirror command is in the Modify toolbar and
it's also located in the Modify pulldown. Close this up.
| | 03:01 | And I am going to hit my Escape key to clear the Mirror command.
| | 03:06 | Now you maybe asking yourself what is the best way to work?
Should I take and use toolbar or should I use pulldowns?
| | 03:11 | You can do whatever is most productive for you, whichever
way it allows you to work best, that's the way you can work.
| | 03:17 | Now you may also be asking that Help feature, that's kind of
nice, is that also available as a toolbar icon,? Yes, it is,
| | 03:23 | it's right up here at the top of our interface.
| | 03:25 | No matter how you access your commands, whether it would be
through the pulldown menus or the toolbars, it's nice to know
| | 03:30 | that AutoCAD gives you the flexibility to work
in a manner that makes you most productive.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| AutoCAD's command line| 00:00 | Another way to access and launch commands in AutoCAD is by
using the command line. If we look at the bottom of the screen
| | 00:05 | the command line is located right down here.
| | 00:07 | Now the command line is considered old school AutoCAD.
| | 00:10 | This is the way we entered our commands in the old days.
The main drawback to using the command line today is that everything
| | 00:15 | must be entered through the keyboard,
| | 00:17 | so it involves a lot of typing. Let me show you what
I mean. I am going to try and launch the line command.
| | 00:21 | Now if I want to launch a command through the command line, I can
move my cursor right at the end of the command prompt and left-click
| | 00:28 | and I am going to type in l-i-n-e and hit Enter.
| | 00:31 | I have just launched the Line command. Now if we look at the
command line we can see AutoCAD is asking us to specify first point.
| | 00:38 | The command line is where AutoCAD speaks to us, that's what
AutoCAD tells us what it needs in order to complete the command.
| | 00:44 | Now I don't want to talk about the Line command just
yet so I am going to hit my Escape key to cancel out.
| | 00:49 | I am going to enter one more command at the command line.
| | 00:51 | You know as archaic and cryptic as the command line is,
it's still fairly intuitive. If I wanted to draft a circle,
| | 00:57 | all I have to do is type circle and hit Enter. I have just
launched the Circle command. Once again AutoCAD is telling me what
| | 01:05 | it needs to complete that command. I am going
to hit the Escape key to cancel out of this command.
| | 01:10 | Now there are more efficient ways to launch commands nowadays.
For the course of these videos we're going to be using the toolbars and
| | 01:16 | the pulldowns and I don't want to lie to you, Autodesk is in the process
of phasing the command line out. It's still with us today, but there's
| | 01:23 | no guarantee that it's going to be around forever because if you
ask yourself how many other applications utilize a command line?
| | 01:29 | Well none, AutoCAD is pretty much it.
| | 01:31 | There are ways when AutoCAD 2008 to turn the command line off.
But for the purpose of our videos we are going to keep the command
| | 01:37 | line on our screen. We won't be using it for entering our
commands, but we will refer to it frequently to keep an eye on
| | 01:42 | what AutoCAD needs.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Dockable palettes| 00:00 | Probably the most versatile tools we
have in our interface are palettes.
| | 00:03 | Palettes give us quick access to drawing
content, properties and commands.
| | 00:07 | Let's look at how we can apply them to our workspace.
| | 00:10 | Now, if I look at the top of the screen,
I have several icons right up here.
| | 00:13 | These icons represent palettes.
| | 00:15 | Now, a palette is like a dialog box of features.
| | 00:18 | It's something that's important enough you might want
to keep it on your screen for a long period of time.
| | 00:22 | And if you are a pulldown user, we can also access those
same palettes right here in the Tools pulldown if I go
| | 00:28 | to the Palettes flyout, this is the listing
of all of the palettes available on AutoCAD.
| | 00:31 | Let's bring one up on our screen.
| | 00:33 | I am going to click on the Properties palette.
| | 00:39 | He pops up right in the middle of my screen and this guy
is used to change the properties of our existing entities.
| | 00:45 | So, the first thing we notice is this guy is huge.
| | 00:48 | Autodesk recognizes that these palettes are quite large
and they can be unwieldy when we are trying to draft.
| | 00:53 | So they give us the ability to change their size.
| | 00:56 | If I want to change the size of this palette, I am
going to move my cursor down to this chamfered corner;
| | 01:00 | and when I get right over the chamfer, my icon will change.
| | 01:03 | At this point, if I click and hold, I can drag my cursor
and I can change the width or the height of this palette.
| | 01:09 | Now, I don't have to leave the palette in the middle
of my screen, I can move them wherever I like.
| | 01:13 | If I'd like to move this palette, I am going to move my
cursor over the mast and I am going to click and hold,
| | 01:18 | and I am going to drag this guy to the left side of my screen.
| | 01:22 | And as I get closed to my toolbar, he just kind
of snaps right into position, just like a magnet.
| | 01:26 | Now that my palette is on the side of my interface,
it is still taking up a lot of real estate.
| | 01:30 | I am going to make my palette collapsible and I can do
that by coming down and clicking on my Auto-hide icon.
| | 01:37 | If I do that, the palette collapses
down to just the width of the mast.
| | 01:40 | This means I get as much screen real
estate as possible to do my drafting.
| | 01:44 | If I wish to use my palette at this point, all I have to do is
hover over the mast, the palette will open up and I can take
| | 01:50 | and click and do my changes, do whatever business I have to.
| | 01:54 | And if I move off of the palette, it
will return to the collapsed state.
| | 01:57 | If I need the palette to stay open for any
length of time, I am going to come down
| | 02:01 | and click on the Auto-hide button once
again and that will lock the palette open.
| | 02:05 | Now, the way I prefer to use palettes is to anchor them.
| | 02:08 | If we'd like to anchor the palette, we can right-click on the
mast and in the menu, I can select Anchor Left or Anchor Right,
| | 02:15 | which side of the screen would I like to anchor this palette to.
| | 02:18 | I am going to select Anchor Left and that takes and
shoves the palette all the way over to the far side
| | 02:23 | of my interface, and you will find that it works the same.
| | 02:26 | If I hover over this column, the palette
opens up; if I move away, the palette closes.
| | 02:31 | I can take it one extra step.
| | 02:32 | If I right-click on this column, I can select Icons only.
| | 02:37 | I am going to pull away to close the palette.
| | 02:39 | I truly have the best of both worlds.
| | 02:41 | I have got a tremendous palette and it's only taking
up the same amount of space as a single toolbar icon.
| | 02:46 | This means if I want access to this palette, I just
have to move up over this icon, hover, he is available.
| | 02:52 | I can move away and it closes.
| | 02:53 | If the time comes when I like him to be
on my screen for a significant period
| | 02:57 | of time, once again I can hover over so he opens.
| | 03:01 | I can come down and click my Auto-hide button.
| | 03:04 | He will remain on my interface as long as I need him.
| | 03:06 | If I want him to go back to the anchored state, I am
going to come over and click on my Minimize button
| | 03:11 | to collapse him back down at the toolbar icon.
| | 03:14 | Palettes are the more versatile tool in our interface.
| | 03:16 | They can bind the functionality of a dialog
box with the flexibility of a toolbar.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Status bar| 00:00 | The area at the very bottom of our
interface is reserved for our status bar.
| | 00:03 | The status bar provides us with information about the current
state of our drawing, our interface and our mode settings.
| | 00:09 | Our status bar is located right down here and if we
look at the left hand corner I can see some numbers,
| | 00:15 | these numbers actually represent
the current location of our cursor.
| | 00:19 | Notice as I move my cursor around in
Model space, those numbers change.
| | 00:22 | Now those numbers are actually called coordinates and
we will talk about coordinates in a future session.
| | 00:29 | Moving to the right of the coordinates,
I can see that I have a row of buttons.
| | 00:33 | Now each one of these buttons
represents a mode setting and we'll talk
| | 00:36 | about the various mode settings as
we progress through you the title.
| | 00:39 | For right now I want you to know that each one
of these buttons is a toggle, meaning if I click
| | 00:43 | on it once I turn it on, if I click on it again I turn it off.
| | 00:47 | I am going to click on the Ortho mode.
| | 00:48 | Let me click on this guy once and notice he
drops down to show that he is in the On state,
| | 00:53 | any button that is up is in the Off state.
| | 00:55 | Now what I would like you to do right now, I am
going to go through and turn all of my modes off.
| | 01:01 | Once again as we get to these, we will talk about
them fully but for right now I am going to pop all
| | 01:07 | of these buttons up with the exception of Model.
| | 01:10 | Be careful of Model, I am going to show you why.
| | 01:11 | Let me click on Model.
| | 01:13 | Yeah, that could be scary if you are just using
the program. Hey my screen looks different.
| | 01:17 | What this actually did was it popped us out onto the Layout tab.
| | 01:20 | And if you think you are going to return by
clicking on this again, unfortunately you don't.
| | 01:25 | So be careful of that guy.
| | 01:25 | If we want to go back to our drafting board
or if we want to return to Model space,
| | 01:29 | we have to come up and click on our Model tab.
| | 01:33 | So for right now go through and pop up all of your mode
settings and we will get into those in the future sessions.
| | 01:39 | If I move to the far right of my screen,
I can see I have got little padlock.
| | 01:43 | This padlock allows me to lock my interface. This prevents me
from making accidental changes moving things around on my screen.
| | 01:50 | Let me show you how it works.
| | 01:50 | Right now it's in the unlocked state. I am going to click
the padlock and then I am going to come up to the All option
| | 01:56 | and I am going to select Locked and when I
do, watch the little handles on the toolbars.
| | 02:00 | When I click Locked, the little handles disappear.
| | 02:03 | That means that I can no longer drag these guys
away. I can't accidentally modify my interface.
| | 02:10 | I am going to unlock those.
| | 02:11 | I am going to come down once again and click the
Padlock, select All and I am going to select Unlocked.
| | 02:17 | One more feature on the status bar I would
like to talk about is the Clean Screen option.
| | 02:22 | All the way down in the far right corner, I have got
this little blue square. This guy represents Clean Screen.
| | 02:27 | If you use a laptop or if you use a machine with
a small monitor, this guy can be very helpful.
| | 02:32 | l am going to click Clean Screen and notice that
AutoCAD eliminates almost a 100% of our interface
| | 02:37 | to give us the most real estate for our drafting.
| | 02:40 | If I want to bring back my toolbars and
my interface, I am just going to come back
| | 02:43 | and click on Clean Screen once again to turn it off.
| | 02:47 | So if we need information about the current state of our
interface or mode settings or even the location of our cursor,
| | 02:53 | we only need to look to the bottom of
our screen and view our status bar.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving your workspace| 00:00 | I am sure you all just understand the concept of a workbench.
No matter what project you may be working on, a good workbench
| | 00:06 | will have all of your tools with an easy reach. AutoCAD allows us
to do the same thing with our interface. By setting up a workspace,
| | 00:12 | we can have all the relevant tools available to
accommodate whatever type of work we may be doing.
| | 00:17 | Now, I've set up my screen the way I like it, the way that's most
productive for me. I've organized my toolbar where I like in my palettes
| | 00:23 | I would like to save this interface as a workspace such that if I want
to return to it in the future, all I have to do is restore my workspace.
| | 00:30 | To do that, I am going to come up to this pull down in
my Workspace toolbar and I am going to click on the dropdown
| | 00:35 | and I am going to select Save Current As.
| | 00:38 | This will allow me to save the workspace. I am going to
give it a name, I am going to call it 'my custom workspace,'
| | 00:47 | and I'll click Save.
| | 00:49 | I have just saved my interface if I ever want to return to it.
| | 00:53 | Image all the different types of drafting that we can do with AutoCAD.
| | 00:56 | We can do two-dimensional drafting, which
will require certain toolbars and palettes.
| | 01:01 | We can do three-dimensional drafting, which will require
different toolbars and palettes. You may have a day that you spend
| | 01:06 | entirely doing dimensions. Dimensions will require another
set of toolbars. Imagine if you had a workspace setup for
| | 01:12 | each type of work that you do. That way, when the times comes,
rather than having to redo your interface, you just have to
| | 01:19 | load a pre-saved workspace.
| | 01:21 | When AutoCAD is installed, it already contains
some predefined workspaces. Let's look at those.
| | 01:26 | I am going to click the dropdown,
| | 01:28 | and AutoCAD gives us a workspace called 2D Drafting & Annotation.
| | 01:32 | I will left-click on that to bring it up on the
screen. This is an example of a saved workspace.
| | 01:37 | Let's look at another one. I am going to click
the dropdown and I am going to select 3D Modeling.
| | 01:43 | Once again, different toolbars, different palettes.
This one is set up for three-dimensional modeling.
| | 01:48 | Now, you don't have to use the ones that come with AutoCAD.
You can set your interface up the way you like it and create your own.
| | 01:53 | Let's restore the custom workspace that we just created.
| | 01:57 | I am going to go to the dropdown and select my custom workspace,
| | 02:01 | and the screen goes right back the way it was. By setting
up custom workspaces, you can always have your tools within
| | 02:06 | easy reach no matter what you may be drafting.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Essential settings| 00:00 | AutoCAD is a very customizable program.
| | 00:02 | The amount of flexibility we have can easily be seen
in the sheer number of available user preferences.
| | 00:07 | Let's take a look at where we can go when
we want to change the way AutoCAD behaves.
| | 00:11 | I would like to make some changes to
the way my AutoCAD is functioning.
| | 00:14 | One thing I would like to change is I would like to
remove the scroll bars. I really don't need these anymore.
| | 00:18 | I would also like to change this highlight feature.
| | 00:20 | Notice I move over this geometry even
if I don't have a command running.
| | 00:24 | These things are kind of flashing and popping
up on my screen almost like a light show.
| | 00:27 | Let's take and make some changes to our settings.
| | 00:30 | If I want to do that, I can come up to my
Tools pulldown and I can come all the way
| | 00:33 | to the bottom of the menu and select Options.
| | 00:36 | This is where we change the user preferences in AutoCAD.
| | 00:40 | Now notice that our options are segregated
into tabs and as I click on these tabs,
| | 00:44 | we can see there are an astronomical number
of settings that we can change in AutoCAD.
| | 00:49 | Now we are certainly not going to go through all of them.
| | 00:51 | What I am going to do first is show you how you can
get information about what each of these options does.
| | 00:56 | If I come up to the upper right hand corner of the Options
dialog, notice I have got little question mark button.
| | 01:01 | This represents a Help feature.
| | 01:03 | If I click on this button, AutoCAD puts the question mark on
my cursor and then I can come over and left-click on the option
| | 01:09 | of my choice and AutoCAD will tell me what that option does.
| | 01:13 | Let me hit Escape to clear the Help
information and let's change some settings.
| | 01:17 | I am going to go to my Display tab first and
in the array of settings on this tab notice
| | 01:23 | that they are arranged in groups with a heading.
| | 01:26 | I am going to go to the Window Elements heading and I am
going to come down to Display scroll bars and drawing window.
| | 01:31 | And like I said the scroll bars aren't very important
anymore. There are better ways to manipulate our view
| | 01:36 | on the screen so I am going to turn these off.
| | 01:38 | I can do that by clicking on this checkbox to remove the display.
| | 01:41 | Now I am going to come down and click my Apply button
and when I do watch those scroll bars on this side
| | 01:47 | of my screen. Notice AutoCAD takes them away.
| | 01:50 | The next place I would like to go is my Selection tab.
| | 01:53 | I am going to come up and click on the Selection tab and
let's address that issue with the highlighting of our entities.
| | 02:00 | I am going to go to my Selection Preview area and I am
going to take the checkbox out of When no command is active.
| | 02:07 | This means that when I move my cursor over an entity
it's not going to take an highlight on my screen.
| | 02:11 | I want to do one more thing.
| | 02:13 | Let's click the Visual Effect Settings button and
this controls how the entities are going to highlight.
| | 02:18 | Right now its set for Both which means it's going
to be both dashed and thicken when it highlights.
| | 02:24 | I am going to set this for Thicken only.
| | 02:26 | This means when I am in the command and I move over
an entity it's just going to get a little bit thicker
| | 02:30 | on my screen give me an idea of what I am selecting.
| | 02:33 | We click OK.
| | 02:34 | One more essential setting I want to make is I want
to go to our User Preferences tab and I am going
| | 02:42 | to go to my Right-click Customization button.
| | 02:44 | This is where we control the right-
click functionality of our mouse.
| | 02:48 | I am gong to select this button and when the
Right-click Customization dialog comes up,
| | 02:53 | I want to ensure that we are both using the same
settings. So I want to make sure that we are both set
| | 02:57 | to Shortcut Menu, Shortcut Menu, Shortcut Menu.
| | 03:01 | That means that every time we right-click, AutoCAD is going to
bring up a context sensitive menu and not do something else.
| | 03:07 | This way we are both using the same settings, you will
be able to do the same things I do throughout this title.
| | 03:11 | I am going to click Apply and Close and then I am
going to click OK to dismiss the Options dialog.
| | 03:18 | At first glance the Options dialog box may seem
a little intimidating. However, as you continue
| | 03:23 | to use the software you will begin to recognize the relationship
between the commands, the interface and the user preferences.
| | 03:29 | Soon changing your settings will become second nature.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Opening, Viewing, and Saving DrawingsOpening an AutoCAD drawing| 00:00 | Alright, we have spent enough time looking at the interface.
| | 00:02 | Let's go find an AutoCAD drawing to open.
| | 00:04 | If I would like to open an AutoCAD drawing, I am going to
come up to my File pulldown and I am going to select Open.
| | 00:11 | This will bring up my Select File dialog.
| | 00:15 | Now, at the bottom of the dialog, I want you to notice
under Files of type that we are going to be opening a .dwg.
| | 00:21 | The DWG extension stands for an AutoCAD drawing,
all AutoCAD drawings will have that extension.
| | 00:26 | I am going to click the dropdown in the Files of type area and
let's look at some of the other files that AutoCAD can open.
| | 00:31 | AutoCAD can also open a Standards file.
| | 00:34 | This will be a file that we would use to make
comparisons between drawings to enforce AutoCAD standards.
| | 00:40 | We can also open a DXF or drawing interchange format.
| | 00:43 | Most CAD packages, while they can save in
a native file, they can also save in a DXF.
| | 00:48 | And then, lastly, AutoCAD can open
a drawing template file, a DWT.
| | 00:52 | We will talk about templates more in a future session.
| | 00:54 | Now, on the top of the dialog, this
is the area where I can navigate
| | 00:57 | through my hard drive and select an AutoCAD drawing to open.
| | 01:00 | I am going to click the dropdown and I am
going to go into my Exercise Files folder.
| | 01:05 | We are going to into Chapter 2.
| | 01:08 | I am going to select the Entertainment Center drawing.
| | 01:12 | When I highlight the drawing, notice in the
Preview area, I can see a nice screenshot
| | 01:16 | that is actually a picture of the drawing as it was last saved.
| | 01:19 | I am going to come down and select Open.
| | 01:21 | When I do, AutoCAD opens that drawing on my screen.
| | 01:25 | Now, opening drawings in AutoCAD is very similar
to opening drawings in other Windows applications.
| | 01:29 | Let me show you one thing that's pretty cool
that we can do with the Select File dialog.
| | 01:33 | I am going to come up to my File pulldown
and I am going to select Open again.
| | 01:39 | This time, when the dialog pops up on my screen,
I am going to ask to myself "You know what,
| | 01:43 | is there a folder that I go to on a
regular basis to access drawings?"
| | 01:46 | Because if there is, I can add it to my
Places area on the left side of the dialog.
| | 01:51 | Now, one place we are going to be going
frequently is the Exercise Files folder.
| | 01:55 | So I am going to back up through my directories
until I get to the Exercise Files folder.
| | 02:00 | If I click and hold on this folder, I
can drag it over into my Places area;
| | 02:03 | and when I release the mouse button,
he is now added as a favorite place.
| | 02:08 | This means that anytime in the future, if I want
to go directly to the Exercise Files folder,
| | 02:12 | I don't have to navigate through
my hard drive, I can go right here.
| | 02:16 | Now, you can add as many places as you wish to this dialog.
| | 02:18 | If you want to remove them, all you have to do
is right-click on them and you can select Remove.
| | 02:23 | So we will open up Exercise Files.
| | 02:25 | I am going to go back into Opening and Viewing.
| | 02:29 | If I double-click on the folder, it will
allow me to go into Opening and Viewing.
| | 02:33 | Let's open the Flashlight drawing.
| | 02:35 | Once again, I will highlight the file.
| | 02:36 | We will see a nice preview and I will click Open.
| | 02:40 | Now, this is an example of a three-dimensional drawing.
| | 02:43 | Although we will be doing 2D in this title, AutoCAD is
also quite capable of doing three-dimensional drafting.
| | 02:48 | Opening drawings in AutoCAD is very similar to
opening files in other Windows applications.
| | 02:52 | However, if we use the Places area of the dialog box,
we get even faster access to our regularly used files.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Mouse functions| 00:00 | The days of drafting with a pencil have come to an end.
| | 00:02 | All of our drafting now will be done using our mouse.
| | 00:05 | Let's take a look at the functions we have
available on this computerized drafting instrument.
| | 00:09 | Now I'm going to start by opening a drawing, so I'm going
to come up to my File pulldown and I'm going to select Open.
| | 00:14 | And in this Select File dialog I'm going to come over and select
| | 00:18 | the Mouse Functions drawing. This is the drawing that
we'll use to learn the various features of our mouse.
| | 00:24 | I'm going to come down and click Open.
That will bring the drawing up on screen.
| | 00:28 | Let's talk about the left mouse button first.
| | 00:30 | Now the left button or the left-click allows us to make a selection.
For instance, if I come over and left-click on this line
| | 00:37 | I have just selected the line. If I left-click on a dimension,
| | 00:41 | I have just selected the dimension.
| | 00:43 | If I come over and left-click on a Toolbar icon, I'll launch the
command, in this case it is going to be Erase. Let me left-click
| | 00:50 | and notice those lines are gone. So the left-click allows
us to make a selection, whether it be entities on screen,
| | 00:56 | icons in a toolbar or options in a pulldown menu.
| | 01:00 | Let's talk about the right mouse button or the right-click.
| | 01:03 | In AutoCAD a right-click will bring up a menu
so if I right-click in the middle of my screen,
| | 01:08 | notice AutoCAD pops-up a menu.
| | 01:10 | Now this menu is context sensitive, meaning that it
will change depending on when and where I right-click.
| | 01:16 | For instance if I come down and right-click on my command line,
| | 01:19 | I see a different menu. This menu has
to do with my command line functionality.
| | 01:24 | If I come over and right-click on a toolbar icon,
| | 01:27 | AutoCAD will bring up a menu
showing me all of my available toolbars.
| | 01:30 | Let me hit Escape to clear the menu.
| | 01:32 | What if I highlight a dimension and then right-click?
| | 01:36 | Notice some of the context sensitive menu I have
options right here that are specific to dimensions.
| | 01:41 | So the right-click feature in AutoCAD
will bring up a context sensitive menu.
| | 01:46 | Let me hit Escape to clear the menu and then
I'm going to hit Escape to deselect my dimension.
| | 01:52 | Soon the left and right-click functionality of your mouse will
become second nature and you will wonder how it was possible
| | 01:57 | to draft in the old days using a traditional pencil.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Zooming, panning, and regen| 00:00 | Since all of our drawings are created at true size, we can have
some pretty large areas to navigate on our tiny computer screen.
| | 00:06 | Fortunately, AutoCAD provides us with the tools necessary for
us to quickly move around in this real world sized environments.
| | 00:12 | The tools I am speaking of are pan and zoom.
| | 00:14 | To talk about pan and zoom, I am
going to open up another drawing.
| | 00:17 | This time, I am going to open it a little bit different.
| | 00:19 | Let's come up and click on the Open icon in the toolbar
and this would bring up the same Select File dialog.
| | 00:26 | Now since we are talking about panning and zooming and I am going
to go into the number three drawing, Zooming, Panning and Regen,
| | 00:30 | and now that I have highlighted that guy, I am going to
come down and select Open to open that drawing on screen.
| | 00:36 | Now this is a drawing of a floor plan for a single family
home and before we get started with panning and zooming,
| | 00:42 | I want to mention that I am using a wheel-mouse.
OK, I am using a Microsoft IntelliMouse.
| | 00:46 | I will be using the wheel in order to pan and zoom.
| | 00:49 | For instance, I would like to zoom in on the kitchen area.
| | 00:52 | So I am going to move my cursor into the kitchen,
I am going to roll my wheel forward to zoom in.
| | 00:57 | If I roll my wheel back, I will zoom out. OK? In and out.
| | 01:01 | If I want to pan, I will hold my wheel down.
| | 01:05 | Remember that your wheel is also a button.
| | 01:07 | So if I hold the wheel down I will get my standard Pan icon
and as I move my cursor, I can pan my drawing on screen.
| | 01:15 | Now we can use the pan and zoom features in conjunction.
| | 01:18 | So I can quickly pan and zoom in on this kitchen area.
| | 01:22 | I can roll back, pan over and zoom-in in this
bathroom area, just by manipulating my wheel.
| | 01:28 | Now if you don't have a wheel-mouse, I would strongly
encourage you to get one, but if you don't have one
| | 01:33 | for right now we can use the icons at the top of the screen.
| | 01:36 | Let me left-click on Pan. This would give me the
same hand icon and I can pan my drawing by holding
| | 01:43 | down my left-mouse button and moving my mouse.
| | 01:46 | Likewise, I can zoom by coming up and clicking on the Zoom
icon. This will put me in the Zoom feature and if I hold
| | 01:52 | down my left mouse button I can push forward
or back on my mouse to zoom in and out.
| | 01:58 | When I am all done with the command, I can right-click to get
out. I want you to know it's when I right-click and get the menu
| | 02:04 | at this point I can also jump back and
forth, if I wish or I can select Exit.
| | 02:08 | Let me back up just a little bit.
| | 02:10 | I would like to zoom in on the Bedroom 2 area.
| | 02:15 | Let's zoom in over here.
| | 02:16 | In Bedroom 2, I have a queen sized bed with a nightstand and if I
zoom in on the nightstand, I can see an MP3 player and if I zoom
| | 02:24 | in on the screen of the MP3 player, I
happen to have a copy of my same floor plan.
| | 02:29 | Let me zoom in the master bath area.
| | 02:32 | Notice as I zoom in on this drawing, the
drawing never looks pixelated on screen.
| | 02:37 | That's because AutoCAD drawings are vector-based, that means
the line work that we see is based on calculated coordinates
| | 02:43 | and geometry, not on pixels. That means no matter how close
we get to our drawing, the lines are always going to look great.
| | 02:50 | Now there is one exception. If I zoom in on this
toilet, notice the toilet looks a little bit angular.
| | 02:55 | Since AutoCAD is a vector based, it's having to constantly
reprocess and calculate the geometry we see on screen.
| | 03:01 | That can be taxing on the video card, so AutoCAD will sacrifice
the quality of our arcs in order to give us fast pans and zooms.
| | 03:09 | If I want to clean up my arcs, I
am going to use the View pulldown.
| | 03:12 | I am going to select View and I am going to come down
to Regen and this will clean up the arcs on screen.
| | 03:18 | Now the arcs will always plot correctly.
| | 03:20 | AutoCAD will just sacrifice the quality
to speed up our display on screen.
| | 03:24 | Let's zoom out. I want to roll my wheel back and as I zoom out
all of a sudden I hit a point AutoCAD won't zoom out any further.
| | 03:34 | In fact if we look at the status
bar right down here on the corner,
| | 03:36 | as I go to zoom back AutoCAD is saying
already zoomed out as far as possible.
| | 03:40 | Let's try and pan. I am going to hold my wheel down
and as I pan, now as I get so far and then it's kind
| | 03:46 | of like I am hitting a brick wall.
AutoCAD is not letting me pan anymore.
| | 03:50 | This is also a Regen issue. Since AutoCAD is vector based
and it's having to constantly calculate all this geometry,
| | 03:56 | the more panning and zooming I do, the more taxing it gets
on the machine and AutoCAD at some point says you know what,
| | 04:01 | hold on let's regen the geometry and then
you can continue to pan and zoom as normal.
| | 04:06 | So I am going to come up to my View pulldown again and I
am going to select Regen and now I am able to pan and zoom.
| | 04:16 | One more feature I want to show you.
Let's zoom-in in the laundry room.
| | 04:20 | I am going to roll my wheel and then we will
pan this guy over and center them on the screen.
| | 04:26 | One of the nice features that we have
is the ability to do a zoom extents.
| | 04:29 | Sometimes it's nice to be able to quickly
backup and see the extents of our drawing.
| | 04:33 | If I would like to do that all I
have to do is double-click my wheel.
| | 04:36 | If I double click, AutoCAD will give me
a view of the extents of my drawing file.
| | 04:42 | Once again if you don't have a wheel-mouse, let's zoom back in
on the laundry room and let's try and do it a different way.
| | 04:50 | If I go up and launch my Zoom command and right-click,
Zoom Extents is at the bottom of the menu.
| | 04:56 | I will just select the Zoom Extents. I will
right-click and select Exit to dismiss the menu.
| | 05:02 | Using pan and zoom, I can quickly move around my drawing
environment no matter how large or small that environment maybe.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The multiple-document environment| 00:00 | AutoCAD's interface is a multi-document environment.
| | 00:03 | This means that I can have multiple
drawings open at the same time.
| | 00:06 | The multi-document environment can be very
helpful when making design comparisons
| | 00:10 | or transferring line work from one drawing to another.
| | 00:12 | Now I have currently got my drawing of my house floor plan
on my screen and I am going to go and open a second file.
| | 00:17 | I am going to do that by coming up to my Open icon and
clicking and this will bring up my Select File dialog.
| | 00:24 | Let's highlight the Kitchen Detail drawing and click Open.
| | 00:29 | Notice the Kitchen Detail drawing is what we see on our screen.
| | 00:32 | Now you may be wondering, where did that first drawing go?
| | 00:35 | I do have two drawings open.
| | 00:36 | Let's go to our Window pulldown and
find out where the first drawing went.
| | 00:39 | I am going to come up to a Window and I am going to come down
to the bottom of the menu and at the bottom I can see a listing
| | 00:45 | of all of the drawings that I have open in AutoCAD.
| | 00:47 | The one with the check next to it represents the
drawing that's currently visible on my screen.
| | 00:52 | If I click on the number one option,
I will flip back to my floor plan.
| | 00:57 | One of the nice aspects of being able to
work on multiple drawings at the same time is
| | 01:01 | that I can create side-by-side comparisons or
I can move geometry from one file into another.
| | 01:06 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 01:08 | If I come up to the Window pulldown, I
can come down to this area of the menu
| | 01:12 | and I can select Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically.
| | 01:15 | This will allow me to see all of my open drawings
and it just depends on which orientation I like.
| | 01:20 | I am going to select Tile Vertically.
| | 01:22 | This gives me a side-by-side comparison of the two
drawings and since I have two drawings open on my screen,
| | 01:28 | I can work in either drawing just by clicking in the window.
For instance I just clicked in the window on the right.
| | 01:34 | If I hold my Pen button down, I am now working in this drawing.
| | 01:37 | If I move my cursor over to the left and click, I can now
hold my wheel down, I can pan or work in this drawing.
| | 01:44 | If I had an instance where I had two versions of a drawing,
| | 01:47 | I can open up each one in its own window
and I can make comparisons between the two.
| | 01:52 | Now in this case I have an instance where I would
like to move geometry from one file to another.
| | 01:57 | In the floor plan on the left I have gotten to the point where
I am adding furniture and I am going to zoom in on the kitchen.
| | 02:02 | In my kitchen area, I have got a large countertop and I would
like to add some stools. This is going to be an eating area
| | 02:09 | and I happen to remember in a drawing that I worked on couple of
months ago I had a similar situation where I created some stools.
| | 02:15 | Rather than reinventing the wheel and creating those stools in
this drawing, I am going to steal the geometry from another file.
| | 02:21 | I am going to steal it from this file.
| | 02:22 | I am going to come over and click in this window to make
this window active and I am going to zoom in on my stools.
| | 02:31 | If I would like to move geometry from one
drawing to another, I am going to move my cursor
| | 02:35 | on top of a piece of my geometry and left-click.
| | 02:38 | This will highlight it, then I will left-click
and hold on a portion of the highlighted geometry.
| | 02:44 | Do not do it on the top of the blue square.
| | 02:46 | So I am going to left-click and hold on a highlighted
portion and I can drag this into the current file.
| | 02:51 | When I release, this geometry has just
become part of my current drawing.
| | 02:55 | Now I don't need my detail drawing anymore so
I am going to come up and click the X to close
| | 03:00 | that window and I do not want to save changes.
| | 03:03 | And now I would like to maximize this window on my
screen so I am going to come up and click the middle icon
| | 03:09 | which represents Maximize and this drawing is now full screen.
| | 03:13 | By allowing us to have more than one drawing open at a time,
AutoCAD gives us quick access to our data and allows us
| | 03:19 | to easily move our designs from one file to another.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving your work| 00:00 | The most important feature we have in
AutoCAD is the ability to save our drawings.
| | 00:04 | Saving allows us to walk away from an unfinished
drawing and then resume work at a later time.
| | 00:08 | Let's take a look at how we can save our drawings using AutoCAD.
| | 00:12 | Now I am currently working on a plan of
survey and I have not saved this drawing yet.
| | 00:16 | I am still working in the Default
drawing1.dwg and I am almost done.
| | 00:22 | All I have to do is add some dimensions to a
couple of my buildings and I will be finished,
| | 00:25 | but as usual another project has come up that's more important.
So I need to pull off this drawing for a little bit so I can work
| | 00:31 | on the other project so I am going to save this drawing
so I can return to it at some point in the future.
| | 00:36 | If I would like to save this drawing I am going to come
up to my File pulldown and I am going to select Save.
| | 00:41 | Now the first time you save the drawing AutoCAD is going to bring
up the Save Drawing As dialog box and this is where we can select
| | 00:47 | where on our hard drive we would like to save the file.
| | 00:49 | Now I am going to my Exercise Files folder and I
am going to double click on Number 2 and I am going
| | 00:57 | to call this drawing plat-drawing and I'll click Save.
| | 01:03 | This drawing is now been saved on my hard drive and
if I need to return to it again in the future I can.
| | 01:09 | Let's take and close the drawing.
| | 01:10 | I can come up and close the drawing by coming up and
clicking this little x in the upper right hand corner.
| | 01:15 | This allows me to close the current drawing.
| | 01:17 | Alright let's assume I finished working on my
other project and now I want to return to my plat.
| | 01:22 | Let's open that saved drawing.
| | 01:24 | I am going to come up and click my Open icon and I am
going to come down and select plat-drawing and click Open.
| | 01:32 | When I do that drawing comes up on my screen. I
want you to take a look at the top of the window,
| | 01:36 | I can see that I am now working in a saved file.
| | 01:39 | I am no longer working in Drawing1.dwg.
| | 01:42 | This drawing has been saved. That means that if I
make any changes now and I want to save the drawing
| | 01:48 | since the drawing has already been saved if I come up and click
File and the Save icon, AutoCAD just overwrites the original.
| | 01:55 | Now we do have one other save feature. I can also do a Save As.
| | 01:59 | If the time comes when I like to save this drawing with a
different name or save it in a different location, I can come
| | 02:05 | up to my File pulldown, select Save As and AutoCAD will allow me
| | 02:10 | to save this drawing someplace else
or save it with a different name.
| | 02:13 | In this case I am going to cancel out
the dialog and return to my workspace.
| | 02:18 | Very seldom we start and finish an
AutoCAD drawing during a single session.
| | 02:22 | If the time comes when you must walk away from your computer
you can use the Save or Save As features to store a drawing
| | 02:28 | on your hard drive such that you can return to it in the future.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using templates| 00:00 | In addition to starting our drawings from the default
Drawing1.dwg, we can also start a drawing from a template.
| | 00:06 | Now, a template is nothing more than an
AutoCAD drawing that already has content.
| | 00:10 | Now, I have recently launched my AutoCAD and as
you can see I am sitting in the default drawing.
| | 00:16 | Now, this drawing contains absolutely nothing.
| | 00:18 | If I want anything in this drawing,
I need to create it from scratch.
| | 00:22 | Rather than starting from this drawing,
let's start from a template.
| | 00:25 | I am going to come up to my File pulldown and select New.
| | 00:29 | This will bring up my Select Template dialog.
| | 00:32 | From here, I can select from the many
templates that are installed with AutoCAD.
| | 00:36 | Now, if we look at the bottom of the screen under Files of type,
I can see the drawing templates have a .dwt extension.
| | 00:42 | Now, the dirty little secret is there is no difference
between a template drawing and a standard AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:47 | The only difference is the file extension.
| | 00:49 | So what we are seeing is a list of
drawings here that already have content.
| | 00:53 | I am going to select one as an example, let's select
the Tutorial Architecture drawing and click Open.
| | 00:59 | I have just started an AutoCAD drawing based on this template.
| | 01:03 | Now, we can see that this drawing already contains a title
block as well as a Layout setup for a d-sized sheet of paper.
| | 01:10 | We haven't talked about how to generate content yet, but at this
point, I am going to show you how we could create a template
| | 01:16 | such that once we talk about content, you can
come back and make a template if you wish.
| | 01:20 | Templates are extremely easy.
| | 01:21 | We have a drawing open on our screen.
| | 01:23 | I am just going to generate a little circle and
we will see this circle as our company logo.
| | 01:27 | I've now changed my geometry.
| | 01:30 | Let's save this drawing as a template.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to come up to my File pulldown
and I am going to click Save As.
| | 01:37 | At this point, AutoCAD thinks I am saving a drawing.
| | 01:40 | Instead of saving the drawing as a DWG, I am going to click
the dropdown and I am going to select Drawing Template, .dwt.
| | 01:47 | And when I do, AutoCAD will jump me right into my Template
folder and I can save this with the other templates.
| | 01:53 | I am going to call this My Custom Template and click Save.
| | 02:00 | Now, AutoCAD is giving me the opportunity to
give this template a description. For instance,
| | 02:04 | I could set this for this is my office template, this
is the template that I start all of my drawings from.
| | 02:10 | Likewise, under the Measurement section, I can set my template
so that people will know it's set for English or for Metric.
| | 02:16 | I am going to leave it as English and I am going to click OK.
| | 02:19 | I have just saved a template.
| | 02:21 | Let me close this drawing and let's try
and start a new drawing from our template.
| | 02:26 | I am going to go to my File pulldown and select New.
| | 02:31 | AutoCAD puts me right into my template folder.
| | 02:33 | I am going to come down and find My Custom Template.
| | 02:36 | Remember this is just an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 02:38 | I will sect this and click Open.
| | 02:41 | I am now starting a new drawing from that saved template.
| | 02:45 | Templates can be a tremendous time saver.
| | 02:47 | Think of it this way. Why start all of your
drawings from an empty file when you can start
| | 02:51 | from a template that is already set up for your needs?
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Drawing FundamentalsThe Line command| 00:00 | Let's create our first line work.
| | 00:01 | We are going to start by looking at the
functionality of AutoCAD's Line command.
| | 00:05 | I am going to come up to my Open icon
and click and in the Select File dialog,
| | 00:10 | I am going to select the first drawing, Using the Line
Command, and I am going to come down and click Open.
| | 00:15 | Now on our screen we can see a large green rectangle.
| | 00:18 | This rectangle represents our sandbox.
| | 00:20 | We are going to use the sandbox to learn
the functionality of the Line command.
| | 00:24 | Now before we get started I want to come down
to the bottom of the screen and I want you
| | 00:27 | to verify that your mode settings match mine.
| | 00:30 | I am going to turn all of my mode settings with the
exception of Model off. I want them all in the up position.
| | 00:36 | So let's get started.
| | 00:37 | I am going to create a line so I am going to come over
to my Draw toolbar and I am going click on the Line icon.
| | 00:42 | And when I do, if we look at the command line, we
can see AutoCAD is asking us to specify first point.
| | 00:47 | I am just going to pick a point on my screen and as I
move my cursor notice I am getting the rubber band effect.
| | 00:53 | If we look at the command line again,
AutoCAD is asking us to specify next point.
| | 00:57 | This means if I click a point on screen I can click another,
I can click another, I can click another and I can keep going
| | 01:03 | and every place I click AutoCAD is going to create a line.
| | 01:05 | When I am finished creating my line, I can right-
click and select Enter to get out of the command.
| | 01:11 | Let's launch the Line command again.
| | 01:13 | I am going to come back to my Draw toolbar and I am
going to click on the Line icon and then I am going
| | 01:18 | to pick a point on my screen to start my line segment.
| | 01:20 | Now I am going to click just a couple more points, we'll get
into it a little bit and now let's look at the command line.
| | 01:27 | In addition to AutoCAD's request to specify
next point, I also have some sub-options.
| | 01:32 | Several commands in AutoCAD contain sub-options and these
options give us additional functionality in our commands.
| | 01:38 | Let's see how we can access a sub-option.
| | 01:40 | I am going to try Undo.
| | 01:41 | Let's say I have gotten this far in my line and I
have made a mistake, I want to back up one segment.
| | 01:46 | If I right-click in my context sensitive
menu, my sub-options are available right here.
| | 01:51 | I am going to select Undo and when
I do, AutoCAD backs up one segment.
| | 01:55 | I can right-click again and select Undo, we
back up one more. So I can use the Undo feature
| | 02:00 | or the Undo sub-option to go forward and backward as I draw.
| | 02:04 | Let's look at the Close sub-option.
| | 02:06 | If I continue my line segment up along the top,
at this point I am going to stop and I am going
| | 02:10 | to right-click and select the Close sub-option.
| | 02:13 | And when I do that, AutoCAD is going to snap a line
from wherever I happen to be back to where I started.
| | 02:19 | Now the line work that I have been creating,
it's very abstract, it also has no geometric value.
| | 02:24 | Let's create another line segment and this time
we will actually apply some real dimensions.
| | 02:28 | I am going to come over and launch my Line command again.
| | 02:30 | I am going to pick a point on screen to start.
| | 02:33 | This time as I pull off in a direction I am going to type a
distance, in this case I am going to type in 10 and hit Enter.
| | 02:40 | I have just created a line segment 10 units long in the direction
I happened to be pulling, this is called Direct Distance Entry.
| | 02:47 | Let me take and pull in a downward direction,
I am going to type in 5 and hit Enter.
| | 02:51 | I have just created a line segment 5 units long.
| | 02:54 | Let me pull back in this direction
I am going to type 12 and hit Enter
| | 02:58 | and let's finish this guy up, I am
going to right-click and select Close.
| | 03:02 | Now although we are still scribbling our
line work is based on real dimensions.
| | 03:06 | Now that we have a functional understanding of how to use
the Line command, we are ready to move on to our next lesson
| | 03:11 | where we will learn how to create
some geometrically accurate line work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| ORTHO and POLAR modes| 00:00 | The purpose of drafting is to create
and reproduce accurate geometry.
| | 00:03 | In this session we are going to use our Line command
to draft some line work that has geometric value.
| | 00:08 | I am going to come up to my Open icon and we will click
and when the Select File dialog comes up I am going
| | 00:13 | to select the number 2 drawing within the
Chapter 3 Drawing Fundamentals folder.
| | 00:18 | And we will click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:21 | If I look to the upper right hand corner
we can see I have got some geometry
| | 00:24 | that we are going to replicate using the Line command.
| | 00:27 | Now before we get started I want to
verify that our mode settings are similar.
| | 00:31 | Let's take a look at the bottom of the screen and notice
that all of my mode settings are currently turned off
| | 00:35 | or in the Up position with the exception of Model.
| | 00:39 | Let's launch the Line command.
| | 00:40 | I am going to come over to my Draw toolbar and I am going to
click on the Line icon then I am going to pick a point on screen
| | 00:47 | and as I pull away, once again I get the rubber band effect.
| | 00:50 | Let's try and create some line work that's accurate.
| | 00:53 | I am going to do that by locking my Ortho mode.
| | 00:56 | So while I am in this command I am going to come down and
I am going to click on my Ortho button to turn Ortho on.
| | 01:01 | And notice as I move my cursor AutoCAD
is locking to 90 degree angles.
| | 01:05 | This is kind of like drafting with a T square or a triangle.
| | 01:08 | Now that we are locked to 90-degree increments,
let's try and create a quick square.
| | 01:12 | So I am going to pull to the right, I
am going to type in 10 and hit Enter.
| | 01:16 | We can pulldown and type 10 and hit Enter,
pulls the left, type 10 and hit Enter.
| | 01:22 | And then lastly I am not going to cheat, I am not going to
close up. I am just going to pull up and type 10 and hit Enter.
| | 01:29 | When the square is done, if I want to get out of the
Line command I am going to right-click and select Enter.
| | 01:35 | Now that we understand how the Ortho mode works let's
recreate this geometry we see in the corner of the sandbox.
| | 01:41 | I am going to relaunch my Line command so I am going to come
over and click the Line icon, we will pick a point on screen
| | 01:46 | and we will work our way around this geometry going clockwise.
| | 01:50 | So when you pull up, I am going to type 9.
We pull to the right and type 15,
| | 01:55 | pull down and type 7, we will pull to the left and type 8.
| | 02:02 | Don't forget at any point if you make a mistake,
you can always use the sub-option Undo to backup.
| | 02:08 | So if I'm pulling down and I accidentally
type in 7, oops! I didn't mean to do that,
| | 02:12 | I can always right-click select Undo to backup one segment.
| | 02:17 | Let's pulldown and type 2 and then
I am going to finish this shape up.
| | 02:21 | I am just going to right-click and select Close.
| | 02:24 | Now the Ortho mode is nice but on occasion
90-degree increments aren't specific enough.
| | 02:29 | Sometimes I would like to create my
geometry and have my angles locked
| | 02:32 | to smaller increments so let me pan
this drawing over to the side.
| | 02:36 | I happen to have a second sandbox.
| | 02:38 | I have another drawing in the upper right hand corner.
| | 02:40 | In this sandbox we are to learn how to use the Polar mode.
| | 02:44 | Let me come over and launch my Line command.
| | 02:46 | I am going to come over to the Draw toolbar and click
on line, we will pick a point on screen and we can see
| | 02:51 | that the Ortho happens to be turned on. Let's use the Polar mode.
| | 02:54 | I am going to come down and click on my Polar button.
| | 02:57 | This will turn on my Polar mode otherwise known a Polar Tracking.
| | 03:01 | When I click this button, watch the Ortho button.
| | 03:03 | As soon as I turn Polar On, Ortho turns Off.
| | 03:06 | Ortho and Polar are like an either/or proposition.
| | 03:09 | I can have one running or the other.
| | 03:11 | Now that Polar is On and I am in the Line command
notice if I pull to the right I get a ray.
| | 03:17 | This ray shows me that I am locking on that particular angle.
| | 03:21 | If I pull down, I can see that I am locking to
a 90-degree angle. Going down to the left and up.
| | 03:27 | So right now Polar essentially
is working the exact same way as Ortho.
| | 03:31 | Well the nice thing about Polar is
that I can add angles if I wish.
| | 03:35 | Let's take and add some 45-degree angles to our Polar Tracking.
| | 03:40 | If I come down over the Polar button and
right-click, I can select Settings and from here
| | 03:46 | in the Increment angle I can see the
Polar happens to be set to 90 degrees.
| | 03:50 | If I click the dropdown, I can set
additional angular snaps I would like to have.
| | 03:55 | Let's set it at 45 and click OK.
| | 03:58 | I am still in the Line command.
| | 04:01 | Notice not always I move my cursor,
AutoCAD is snapping to 45-degree increments.
| | 04:06 | Let's try and draw a square and we will try and draw
it rotated to a 45-degree angle. So I am going to pull
| | 04:12 | to the upper right and I am going to type 10 and hit Enter.
| | 04:16 | Let's pulldown in the lower right hand corner.
| | 04:19 | We will pull in a southeast direction and type 10.
| | 04:21 | That's pulling the southwest and type 10
and then finally I am going to close it.
| | 04:28 | I am just going to right-click and select Close.
| | 04:30 | So the Polar Tracking will allow us to snap to
additional angles that are more specific than 90 degrees.
| | 04:37 | Now that we know how to use Polar, let's try and
recreate this geometry we see in the upper right.
| | 04:41 | I am going to launch my Line command, specify first point. I will
pick a point on screen and I am just going to pull up and type 10
| | 04:48 | and we'll pull my cursor to the right and type
5. Let's pull on the 45 degree angle and type 3.
| | 04:57 | If you're an architect, this is how you can create bay windows.
| | 05:01 | Let me type 3, we will pull down and type 3, we will pull over
and type 5. Polar and Ortho allow us to draft very quickly.
| | 05:11 | Once again be careful make sure that
when you type in your distance
| | 05:15 | when you are using your Direct Distance Entry.
Make sure that the ray is visible on screen.
| | 05:19 | If I happen to be off a little bit and type 10, I did draw a
line segment 10 units long but it's not the correct angle.
| | 05:25 | Let me right-click and Undo to backup one segment.
| | 05:29 | Let's pulldown and type 10 and then lastly
I am going to right-click and select Close.
| | 05:36 | As you can see when combining the Line command with the Ortho
| | 05:39 | and Polar modes we can quickly create
accurate geometry on our screen.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Circle command| 00:00 | Now that we have learned how to create straight segments,
let's dial it up a notch and create some circles.
| | 00:05 | I am going to come up to my Open icon and we will click
and inside the Exercise Files folder, under Chapter 3,
| | 00:11 | I am going to open up the number
3 drawing, Using the Circle command,
| | 00:14 | and we'll click the Open button to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:17 | Now before we get started once again
I want to check our mode settings.
| | 00:21 | I am going to go through and make sure that all of my modes
happen to be in the Off state with the exception of Model.
| | 00:27 | Alright let's talk first about what
AutoCAD needs to create a circle.
| | 00:30 | If I want to create a circle, AutoCAD needs to know the location
of the center point and then it also needs to know a dimension
| | 00:35 | that represents the circle's radius or diameter.
| | 00:38 | Now the radius of the circle is the distance from the center
point to the edge and a circle's diameter is the distance
| | 00:45 | from one edge to the other that passes through the center point.
| | 00:48 | It's essentially the width of the circle.
| | 00:50 | Let me roll back just a little bit
and let's create our first circle.
| | 00:54 | I am going to come over to my Draw toolbar and I
am going to click on the Circle icon and if I look
| | 00:58 | at my command line, AutoCAD is asking me to specify center point.
| | 01:02 | I am just going to pick a point on screen and as I pull away, I
get the same rubber band effect that I get when I create a line.
| | 01:08 | So I could just pick a point on screen to specify
my circle, but I am going to use a dimension.
| | 01:13 | If we look at the command line AutoCAD
is asking us to specify radius of circle.
| | 01:17 | I am going to type in 5 for my Radius and hit Enter.
| | 01:21 | I have just created a circle with a radius of 5.
| | 01:24 | Let's launch the Circle command again.
| | 01:26 | I am going to come over and click my Circle icon.
| | 01:29 | Let's pick a point on screen and when I do, take a look at the
command line. Notice that AutoCAD remembers my previous entry.
| | 01:37 | So if I wanted to create a second circle
of the same size as my last circle,
| | 01:41 | all I have to do is hit my Enter key and accept the default.
| | 01:45 | Let's try and create a circle using a diameter.
| | 01:47 | I am going to come over and launch my Circle command.
| | 01:50 | We will pick a point on screen and AutoCAD is expecting a
radius but instead I am going to use the sub-option Diameter
| | 01:57 | so I am going to right-click, select Diameter
and now I can enter the diameter for my circle.
| | 02:03 | I am going to create a circle with a diameter
of 4 so we will type in 4 and hit Enter.
| | 02:09 | Now that we have got the basic idea of how the Circle
command works let's try and recreate some existing circles.
| | 02:14 | I am going to pan my drawing over and
I happen to have 3 circles on screen.
| | 02:19 | Now before we replicate these, I want to zoom in
just a little bit. Take a look at these dimensions.
| | 02:24 | These dimensions were put in using
AutoCAD's default dimension settings.
| | 02:28 | I just want you to notice that a radial or a radius dimension
has an R and a diameter dimension contains the circle with a line
| | 02:37 | through it. This little symbol represents a diameter.
| | 02:39 | OK, let me back up and we will recreate these circles.
| | 02:43 | When I launch the Circle command, we will pick
a point on screen and this guy has a radius of 2
| | 02:48 | so I am just going to type in 2 and hit Enter.
| | 02:51 | Here is a shortcut.
| | 02:52 | If we want to repeat a command, all we have to do is right-
click and on the top of the menu we can select Repeat Circle.
| | 03:00 | Alright let me pick a point on screen.
| | 03:01 | This guy has a radius of 6 so I am
going to type in 6 and hit Enter.
| | 03:05 | Last one, we will right-click, select
Repeat Circle, I will pick a point on screen
| | 03:09 | and this guy has a diameter so we
will right-click and select Diameter.
| | 03:13 | He has a diameter of 8. So I will type in 8 and hit Enter.
| | 03:18 | At this point in our training, we are now
capable of creating any circle we wish
| | 03:22 | so long as we are given the radius or the diameter.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Heads-Up display| 00:00 | A major drawback to using the command line
is that we must continually glance back
| | 00:04 | and forth between our drawing area and the bottom of our screen.
| | 00:07 | This problem can easily be solved
by activating our Heads Up display.
| | 00:11 | I am going to take and open a drawing and I come up to my
Open icon and click and inside the Exercise Files folder
| | 00:17 | under Chapter 3, we are going to open up
drawing number 4, Activating the Heads Up Display.
| | 00:22 | So I will highlight that drawing and
click Open to bring them up on screen.
| | 00:25 | Now in this session, we are going to
learn how to use our Heads Up display.
| | 00:28 | I can turn my Heads Up display on by coming down and
clicking on my DYN button, this guy stands for Dynamic Input.
| | 00:36 | So let me click on the title.
| | 00:37 | We will turn him on.
| | 00:38 | Now, I don't immediately see a difference.
| | 00:41 | Let's watch the Line command.
| | 00:43 | I am going to come over and click my line icon.
| | 00:45 | As I move into Model space, I guess I've
got some extra information with my cursor.
| | 00:50 | If we compare the information with
the cursor to the command line,
| | 00:53 | we can easily see that AutoCAD is speaking to us from the cursor.
| | 00:57 | When my Heads Up display is on, I don't have to look up and
down from the command line to the drafting board as I work
| | 01:03 | because AutoCAD is going to speak to me from the cursor.
| | 01:06 | Let me start my line.
| | 01:07 | I am going to pick a point on my screen, and as I
pull away, once again I get my rubber-band effect.
| | 01:12 | But since my Heads Up display is on,
I have some additional functionality.
| | 01:15 | Notice I have two fields.
| | 01:17 | One represents the length of my line segment.
| | 01:20 | The other one represents the angle.
| | 01:22 | If I want to jump from one field
to the other, I can hit my Tab key.
| | 01:26 | Notice if I hit Tab, I just jump to the angle measurement.
| | 01:29 | If I hit Tab again, I jump back to length.
| | 01:32 | Let's create a line segment that is 15 units long.
| | 01:35 | I am going to type in 15.
| | 01:37 | Now, don't hit Enter; if you hit Enter, you are
going to do the same thing as Direct Distance Entry.
| | 01:41 | Instead, type 15 and hit your Tab key to jump to the angle.
| | 01:45 | Notice as I move my cursor, I am rotating a 15-unit long
line and there happens to be a padlock in the length right now,
| | 01:54 | and AutoCAD is waiting for me to specify an angle.
| | 01:57 | So let's say I wanted to draw this with an angle of 45 degrees.
| | 02:01 | I will type 45 and I will hit Enter.
| | 02:03 | I just created a line segment 15 units long at a 45-degree angle.
| | 02:08 | Now, I am going to cancel out of the command.
| | 02:09 | Let me hit Escape.
| | 02:10 | If we hit Escape, we can cancel out of any AutoCAD command.
| | 02:14 | Alright, using the Heads Up display,
let's try and create a 25x25 unit square.
| | 02:20 | I am going to come over and launch my Line command.
| | 02:22 | Then I'm going to pick a point on screen, and
let's start by typing in the length of line,
| | 02:27 | that would be 25, so let me type in 25 and hit Tab.
| | 02:31 | Now, my angle, what angle am I going to use?
| | 02:33 | If you look at the compass that I created in the lower
right-hand corner, we can see how AutoCAD measures the angles.
| | 02:39 | Angles in AutoCAD are just like directions,
just like north, south, east and west.
| | 02:44 | So if I draw a line to the 0 angle, I
am going to be drawing it to the east.
| | 02:48 | Let me type in 0 for my angle and hit Enter.
| | 02:51 | Now, I would like to come down.
| | 02:52 | So I am going to type in 25 for my length, hit Tab to jump
to my angle field and I am going to type in 90 for my angle.
| | 03:00 | Notice the angle is being measured from the 0 degree line.
| | 03:05 | So as long as I am pulling down and I type in 90, I
am getting a 90-degree angle coming straight down.
| | 03:10 | Let's move to the west.
| | 03:13 | I am going to type in my length.
| | 03:14 | We will type in 25 and we'll hit Tab.
| | 03:18 | Now, the angle. Sometimes students will
think well, this is another 90-degree angle
| | 03:22 | because they are comparing it to the line we are coming from.
| | 03:25 | That's not the case.
| | 03:25 | Remember, angles in AutoCAD are directions.
| | 03:28 | So if I am heading west, it's always going to be 180 degrees.
| | 03:32 | Let me type in 180 and hit Enter,
and then we can finish this guy up.
| | 03:37 | I am going to show good form.
| | 03:38 | I am not going to use the Close command.
| | 03:40 | We are going to tough this one out.
| | 03:41 | I am going to type in 25 for a length.
| | 03:43 | I will hit Tab and my angle once again is going to be 90.
| | 03:48 | So I will type in 90 and hit Enter.
| | 03:50 | Now that the command is finished,
I can right-click and select Enter.
| | 03:55 | The Heads Up display can be a very
helpful tool to use when we are drafting.
| | 03:59 | Not only does it give additional control over the creation of
our lines, it also allows AutoCAD to speak to us from our cursor.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Controlling Drawing UnitsDefining units of measure| 00:00 | Up to this point we have been referring
to our distances as units.
| | 00:03 | Now are these units inches, millimeters or feet?
| | 00:06 | Let's take a second and discuss how we can assign
a real world unit of measurement to our drawing.
| | 00:10 | I am going to start by creating a line segment.
| | 00:13 | Let me come up and click my Line icon and then I am going to come
out into my Model space area and I am going to pick one point
| | 00:19 | on my screen and I am just going to pull at some arbitrary
angle and I am going to type in a distance of 1 and hit Enter.
| | 00:25 | Now that I am done with the command I am
going to hit my Escape key to cancel out.
| | 00:30 | I just created a line segment that's 1 unit long.
| | 00:33 | Now what does that unit represent.
| | 00:35 | Well that unit represents whatever unit
of measurement I want it to represent.
| | 00:40 | You see when we create a drawing in AutoCAD what would
be the most convenient unit of measurement for me to use
| | 00:45 | to create my drawing and then that's what we set our drawing to.
| | 00:48 | Let me give you an example.
| | 00:49 | I am going to open a drawing.
| | 00:50 | I am going to come up and click my Open icon and we are
going to go one of the Exercise Files folder and we are going
| | 00:56 | to Chapter 4, Defining Our Units, and then I am going to grab this
first drawing, Units basketball, and we will open it up on screen.
| | 01:05 | Now this is a drawing of a basketball.
| | 01:07 | Now the typical diameter of an NBA Basketball is 9.39 inches,
| | 01:11 | so when I created this drawing I asked
myself what would be the most convenient unit
| | 01:15 | of measurement for me to use to produce this drawing.
| | 01:17 | Well if one unit equaled 1 inch that would be very convenient
because then I can just draw a circle with a diameter of 9.39.
| | 01:25 | So in this drawing every unit equals 1 inch.
| | 01:28 | Let me open another drawing.
| | 01:29 | I am going to come up to my Open icon and click.
| | 01:33 | Let's open up under the Chapter 4 folder.
| | 01:36 | We will grab this second drawing.
| | 01:37 | Units basketball court and click Open.
| | 01:41 | Now when I created this drawing I asked myself the same question.
| | 01:43 | What would be the most convenient unit of
measurement for me to use to create this drawing?
| | 01:48 | Well if 1 unit equaled 1 foot that
would be very convenient because then
| | 01:52 | as I drew my line in this direction I can just type in 94.
| | 01:55 | If I drew my line in this direction, I can just type
in 50 so in this drawing every unit equals 1 foot.
| | 02:02 | Now there are industry standard conventions.
| | 02:05 | I don't want you to think that I get up every morning and I just
draft something in millimeters and draft something in inches.
| | 02:10 | If you are a civil engineer or a surveyor your drawings will be
set such that 1 unit equals 1 foot. That is an industry standard.
| | 02:18 | If you are an architect your drawing will
always be set such that 1 unit equals 1 inch.
| | 02:23 | If you draft using metric units, your units will
probably be set to millimeters or centimeters.
| | 02:29 | Let me close these drawing and I
click the x to close this drawing.
| | 02:32 | We will click the x to close this one
and we return to our single unit line.
| | 02:36 | Now where can I apply my unit of measure to this drawing?
| | 02:40 | I can do that through the Format pulldown so I am
going to come up to the Formats menu and then click
| | 02:45 | and then I am going to come down and select Units.
| | 02:47 | This will bring up my Units dialog box on the screen.
| | 02:51 | Right here in the Insertion scale
area this is where I am declaring
| | 02:54 | to the world my unit of measure that I am using for this drawing.
| | 02:57 | If I click the dropdown, we can see
that we have several choices available.
| | 03:01 | More often than not we will be using the units at the
top of the list, unless you are building the Death Star
| | 03:06 | or something quite large you probably won't
be touching the units now at the bottom.
| | 03:10 | For right now I am going to set this to Inches.
| | 03:12 | This means that every unit in my drawing represents 1 inch.
| | 03:16 | Also notice that this is in the Insertion scale
area and it says Units to scale in certain content.
| | 03:21 | That means if my buddy next door is doing a metric drawing
and he happens to set his units to millimeters if I was
| | 03:27 | to insert his drawing into my drawing AutoCAD
will automatically do the units conversion
| | 03:32 | such that his geometry comes in at the appropriate size.
| | 03:35 | Let's look at the top of the dialog box.
| | 03:37 | Up here I have got a Length area and an Angle area.
| | 03:40 | This controls how AutoCAD lists our geometry.
| | 03:43 | If I was to ask AutoCAD how long is this line or how long is
this arc, AutoCAD will tell me the length using decimal inches
| | 03:50 | to a precision of 4 decimal spaces.
| | 03:53 | Now we can list our geometry more accurate if we wish.
| | 03:56 | We can go from the even integer all the way
up to 8 spaces to the right of the decimal.
| | 04:01 | Likewise we don't have to use the decimal type for our length.
| | 04:05 | If I click the dropdown, I have several other choices.
| | 04:08 | The two that are used most often are Architectural and Decimal.
| | 04:12 | If you are a mechanical drafter or a civil engineer
or surveyor, you will be using the Decimal type
| | 04:17 | because you will want your distances given in decimal values.
| | 04:21 | If you are an architect you will set this to Architectural
and then your distances will be given using fractional values.
| | 04:28 | So let me set this back to Decimal.
| | 04:30 | We will try it out.
| | 04:31 | As it's set-up right now if I was to list my line
segment, AutoCAD will give me the length of the line
| | 04:38 | in decimal inches to four spaces to the right of the Decimal.
| | 04:41 | Let me click OK to get out of the dialog and let's try that.
| | 04:44 | To list my line I am going to go to my Tools
pulldown and I am going to select Inquiry, List.
| | 04:50 | I can use the List command to query my geometry so AutoCAD
is asking me to select objects. I am going to come down
| | 04:57 | and click on this entity and then I am
going to right-click to finish the selection
| | 05:00 | and in my AutoCAD Text Window I get a whole
bunch of information that really means nothing
| | 05:04 | to us right now except for this area right here.
| | 05:06 | Notice that I am getting the length of the line in decimal.
| | 05:09 | It happens to be 1 inch long and the distance
is given to me using 4 decimal spaces.
| | 05:13 | Let me close my Text Window.
| | 05:16 | Let's go back into the Units dialog.
| | 05:17 | I am going to go back to Format, Units.
| | 05:21 | In addition to controlling how AutoCAD lists our length,
we can also control how AutoCAD lists our angles.
| | 05:27 | Currently it's set to decimal degrees.
| | 05:29 | If I click the dropdown I also have the choice of Degrees,
Minutes, Seconds, Grads, Radians or Surveyor's Units.
| | 05:35 | Let me leave this at Decimal Degrees.
| | 05:37 | I can also control the precision of how AutoCAD lists my angles.
| | 05:40 | Let me click the dropdown. Everywhere from even integer
all the way down to 8 spaces to the right of the decimal.
| | 05:46 | Let me click to get out.
| | 05:49 | As we leave this dialog box we can remember that
for this drawing every 1 unit represents 1 inch.
| | 05:57 | AutoCAD by nature is flexible enough to allow you to draft
using whatever unit of measurement is most convenient for you
| | 06:03 | and whether you like drafting in inches, millimeters,
| | 06:05 | feet or something else entirely, you can always
find whatever you need in the Units dialog box.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Drafting with architectural units| 00:00 | If you decide you would like to draft using architectural units,
it's important to note that AutoCAD is a little bit picky about how
| | 00:05 | you enter your values. So in this session, we are
going to look at how to give AutoCAD what it needs,
| | 00:09 | when we want to architectural measurements.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to open up a drawing of a floor plan.
I'm going to come up and click my Open icon
| | 00:16 | and inside the Chapter 4 folder of our exercise files,
| | 00:20 | we're going to open up the number 2 drawing, Architectural units. So,
let me highlight that guy and we'll click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:27 | This drawing is set up using architectural units and
I can verify that by going to my Format pulldown,
| | 00:33 | coming down to Units,
| | 00:35 | and we can take a look. Yes, this drawing is set up
for architectural and every unit equals one inch.
| | 00:39 | All architectural drawings will be set such that one unit equals
one inch. If you even dare to try and set this to something else,
| | 00:46 | say feet and click OK, the computer will
say, "Hey man, that should be set to inches."
| | 00:53 | Let me click Cancel, let's set that back to inches.
| | 00:56 | Let me click OK. So we've just proven this is an architectural
drawing. Now, I've finished my floor plan and I'm in the process
| | 01:02 | of drawing my furniture.
| | 01:03 | Let's zoom in on the Bedroom 3 area.
| | 01:07 | In this room, I have got a typical queen-size
bed, as well as a nightstand and a lamp.
| | 01:12 | We're going to recreate this geometry over to the right and we're
going to draft the geometry using architectural measurements.
| | 01:19 | Now, what we will be doing is nothing new other
than we will be entering architectural dimensions.
| | 01:24 | So, I am going to come up and launch my Line command,
| | 01:26 | AutoCAD is asking me to specify first point. I am just going to pick
a point over here close to the wall. I am not worried about drafting
| | 01:33 | this geometry a particular distance away from the wall. I'm just going
to pick a point for right now. We are worried more about function
| | 01:39 | right now rather than form. So I have started
my first point. My Ortho happens to be locked.
| | 01:44 | So I am going to pull to the left and
my queen-size bed has a width of 5 feet.
| | 01:48 | So I am going to type in 5 and then I am going to hit my apostrophe
key, that's the key right next to your Enter key on your keyboard.
| | 01:55 | That apostrophe tells AutoCAD that we
are using feet, so let me hit Enter.
| | 02:00 | I just created a line segment 5 feet long.
| | 02:03 | Now, I am going to pull up
| | 02:04 | and I can see the length of my queen-size bed
is 6 feet, 8 inches, so I am going to type in 6'8
| | 02:11 | and then I am going to use the quote,
| | 02:13 | which happens to be the same key as the apostrophe, we just hold our
Shift key to get the quotes. AutoCAD recognizes the quotes as inches.
| | 02:20 | So now that I have typed that in, I'm going to hit Enter.
I just created a line segment 6 feet 8 inches long.
| | 02:25 | Very important not to forget your little
apostrophe or your quotes. Let's simulate an error.
| | 02:31 | I am going to pull to the right, I am going to type in 5
| | 02:33 | and I am just going to hit Enter. I am
going to forget to put in the apostrophe.
| | 02:37 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 02:38 | Notice that obviously isn't the right length. Since, I didn't
designate specifically feet or inches, AutoCAD assumed inches.
| | 02:44 | So, I am going to right-click and select Undo to back up
| | 02:47 | and let's finish this bed.
| | 02:49 | Let me pull to the right and type 5 feet, Enter,
| | 02:54 | and I am just going to close this guy off. Let me right-click
| | 02:57 | and select Close
| | 02:59 | and our bed's finished.
| | 03:00 | Let's try the nightstand. I am going to zoom in just a little bit.
| | 03:05 | We will launch our Line command
| | 03:07 | and I am going to start right about here.
| | 03:10 | And I am going to do this guy counterclockwise. So, I am
going pull up. This guy has a length of 2 feet 3 inches.
| | 03:16 | 2 feet 3 inches. Enter.
| | 03:21 | Now as I pull to the left, notice I have
a dimension that is fractional inches.
| | 03:25 | This is where AutoCAD is picky. Sometimes this can seem a little
confusing for a beginner because notice how AutoCAD is listing it,
| | 03:31 | 2 feet, dash, 2 3/4 inches. Unfortunately, AutoCAD lists it differently,
then it wants it entered. Let me show you how to enter it.
| | 03:38 | I'm going to pull to the left and I am going to type 2 feet
| | 03:41 | 2, dash, 3/4 inches.
| | 03:45 | You have to put the dash between the whole inches and
the fractional inches in order for it to work correctly.
| | 03:51 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 03:53 | I just created a line 2 feet, 2 and 3/4 inches.
| | 03:56 | Let me pull down. We will finish this guy up. 2 feet 3 inches,
| | 04:00 | Enter,
| | 04:02 | and I am going tough this one out. We're
going to do this one again, 2 feet, 2, dash.
| | 04:07 | Once again put the dash between the whole inches and the fractions
otherwise it comes up 23/4, which is obviously incorrect.
| | 04:15 | So, 2-3/4 inches.
| | 04:18 | Enter.
| | 04:19 | Alright, my nightstand is done. I am going to hit my Escape key to
get out of the command. And I have got one more piece of furniture.
| | 04:25 | Let's take and throw on the lamp right in the middle of the
nightstand, or approximately in the middle, that's a circle.
| | 04:30 | So I am going to watch my Circle command,
| | 04:32 | we'll click right about in the middle-
| | 04:34 | we will learn later on how we can find the middle.
| | 04:37 | We'll free pick a point and then I pull out this guy has a
diameter. I can tell from the dimension, so I am going to
| | 04:42 | right-click and select Diameter.
| | 04:45 | This guy has a diameter of 11 inches.
| | 04:48 | Enter.
| | 04:49 | As you can see entering architectural measurements involve a
little bit of extra work on our part, but it's still quite simple,
| | 04:55 | so long as we remember how AutoCAD wants us to enter the values.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Drafting with metric units| 00:00 | So you would like to draft using metric units.
| | 00:03 | Well, in the big schema things, I am
afraid there is a little more to drafting
| | 00:05 | in metric than merely changing our unit settings.
| | 00:08 | The first thing we need to understand is that AutoCAD
by default is set to an imperial drafting environment.
| | 00:14 | Now I am currently at my desktop, I am going to come over and
launch the AutoCAD application. Let's double-click on the icon.
| | 00:21 | When my AutoCAD opens up on screen, I can see that by
default, we are sitting in a blank drawing, Drawing1.dwg.
| | 00:28 | AutoCAD always defaults to a blank drawing.
| | 00:30 | Let's go to our Units dialog and see what our units are set to.
| | 00:33 | I am going to come up to Format, I am going to come down
to Units and by default this thing is set to Inches.
| | 00:40 | Now if we wanted to use metric units,
we can always click the dropdown
| | 00:44 | and select Millimeters or Centimeters or Meters, whatever we like.
| | 00:47 | Unfortunately, just making the change here isn't enough.
| | 00:50 | This only controls the units in our drawing. It doesn't
control some of the other things that are required in order
| | 00:56 | to be drafting in a fully metric environment.
| | 00:58 | I am going to click OK.
| | 01:00 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 01:01 | I am just going to come up and click my
Plot icon just to bring up the Plot dialog.
| | 01:05 | I want to show you that right now our
paper sizes are still measured in inches.
| | 01:09 | So although we did change our units to metric,
the drawing isn't entirely a metric environment.
| | 01:14 | Let me close the Plot Style dialog.
| | 01:15 | What I am trying to say is if you want to
draft in metric, you are better off starting
| | 01:19 | with a metric template rather than the default.
| | 01:21 | If we would like to start using a metric template we are
going to come up to the File pulldown and we will select New
| | 01:28 | and in our Select Template dialog we are going
to come down and select the acadiso template.
| | 01:34 | Let me select this guy and we will come down and click Open.
| | 01:37 | I am now creating a new drawing based on the acadiso
template and the acadiso template happens to be metric.
| | 01:43 | So let's check our units again.
| | 01:45 | I am going to go to Format, I am going to come down to
Units, notice this guy is set to Millimeters currently,
| | 01:51 | let me click OK to dismiss the dialog and
let's take a look at our plot one more time.
| | 01:55 | I am going to come up and click my Plot icon.
| | 01:58 | Notice now my paper is being measured in millimeters
so I am truly working in a metric environment now.
| | 02:05 | Let me close this dialog.
| | 02:07 | You maybe thinking I draft in metric quite frequently,
is there any way I can default to a metric template?
| | 02:13 | Yes, you can. We are going to do that through our options.
| | 02:16 | I am going to go to my Tools pulldown. We are going to make
the assumption that we want to draft in metric all the time.
| | 02:21 | So, we will come down and select Options, remember the
Options dialog is where we go to change the way AutoCAD works.
| | 02:28 | I am going to come up to my Files tab and click and I
am going to come down to the Template Settings area.
| | 02:34 | I will click the little plus to open that up and I am going to
go to the area that's labeled Default Template File Name for QNEW.
| | 02:42 | Let me click the plus. I am going to
scroll this down just a little bit.
| | 02:47 | This is the area where AutoCAD is looking for
the default template when we launch AutoCAD.
| | 02:51 | Right now it's using AutoCAD standard default drawing.
| | 02:54 | I am going to highlight this guy and I am going to click Browse.
| | 02:58 | I want to point to a different startup drawing.
| | 03:01 | Now that I have clicked Browse, AutoCAD's popped me out into my
Template folder, I am going to select acadiso, we'll click Open.
| | 03:10 | I have just added that path to my files
tab and at this point I can click OK.
| | 03:15 | Let's close AutoCAD, save changes now.
| | 03:20 | This means that from now on, when I go into my
AutoCAD it's going to default to the metric template.
| | 03:27 | Notice once again, I am in my drawing one. Let me
go to my Format pulldown and let's check Units,
| | 03:32 | notice I have defaulted to the acadiso template.
| | 03:35 | Now let me hit Cancel. Alright one more thing, maybe you work in
metric for a couple of weeks and you realize I don't do metric
| | 03:42 | as much as I thought I did, how can I take and switch
AutoCAD back so we start using the standard default drawing.
| | 03:49 | Let's return to Options.
| | 03:50 | I am going to go to Tools, we will come down
to Options, we will go to the Files tab again,
| | 03:56 | once again we will come down to Template Settings.
| | 03:58 | We will go to Default Template File Name for QNEW. We are
going to grab this path that's pointing to the metric template,
| | 04:05 | I will just click on it to highlight it
and I am going to come up and click Remove.
| | 04:09 | Now I can click OK and from now on, every
time I launch AutoCAD it's going to default
| | 04:14 | to the standard imperial drafting environment.
| | 04:18 | If you have a desire to draft using metric units, it's nice
to know that AutoCAD can be configured to suit your needs.
| | 04:23 | If you are an occasional metric drafter, you can
simply choose the acadiso template drawing when needed.
| | 04:29 | For those of you who feel metric units are your way of life,
AutoCAD can easily adapt to a default metric environment.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Controlling AccuracyCartesian coordinates| 00:00 | In this session, we are going to take a closer look
at Model space, otherwise known as our drafting board.
| | 00:05 | Our approach is going to be a little bit different because we are
going to look at a Model space from the computer's point of view.
| | 00:10 | Taking this behind the scenes look can be very helpful
in teaching us how AutoCAD maintains our line work.
| | 00:17 | Model space is essentially an infinitely
large sheet of graph paper.
| | 00:21 | We use this graph paper to construct our geometry and
AutoCAD uses this graph paper to maintain our accuracy.
| | 00:27 | AutoCAD maintains our accuracy through the use of baselines.
| | 00:30 | The first baseline I want to talk about is a major
east/west baseline, otherwise known as the X-axis.
| | 00:37 | Now, the X-axis is also a number line and any value
to the right of zero is considered positive x,
| | 00:43 | any value to the left of zero is considered negative
x. Now, there is another baseline AutoCAD uses.
| | 00:48 | This is a major north/south baseline, it is called the Y-axis.
| | 00:54 | The Y-axis is also a number line. Any value
above the X-axis is considered a positive y,
| | 01:01 | anything below the X-axis is considered negative y. This
system of using an x and y axis to organize our locations
| | 01:08 | and space is called the Cartesian Coordinates system.
| | 01:11 | Now, this graph paper that we see on screen is completely
invisible when we draft. We won't see this as we draw,
| | 01:16 | but it is there. It is going on in the background and
AutoCAD uses this system to organize our geometry.
| | 01:22 | AutoCAD uses the Cartesian Coordinates
system to identify all locations and space.
| | 01:27 | Now, AutoCAD uses a fancy name for locations
and space, AutoCAD uses the word coordinates.
| | 01:33 | AutoCAD references coordinates using the format x, y.
Now, take a look at the area where the x and y axis intersect.
| | 01:41 | That intersection has a coordinate value of 0,0 because
each of the axes is intersecting at the zero location.
| | 01:50 | Now, the intersection of the x and y axis
also has a name, it's called the origin.
| | 01:54 | All AutoCAD coordinates are measured from the origin.
| | 01:58 | For instance, I am going to bring some points up on screen.
| | 02:00 | We will see how this works.
| | 02:02 | If I wish to bring up a location right here, this guy has
a coordinate value of 4,2. That's because he is 4 units
| | 02:09 | in the positive x direction and he is 2 units in the y direction.
| | 02:13 | It's kind of like playing Battleship.
| | 02:15 | Let me bring up another point.
| | 02:17 | Let's look at this guy.
| | 02:17 | This guy has a coordinate value of 3,9, because he is 3 over
in the x and he is 9 up in the y. Let's pop up another one.
| | 02:26 | What about this coordinate?
| | 02:27 | This guy has a value of -6,4, he is -6 in
the x direction and he is 4 in the y direction.
| | 02:35 | Last one, we bring up one down here.
| | 02:37 | This guy has a coordinate value of -5,-7.
He is -5 in the x and he is -7 in the y.
| | 02:46 | Let's look at the Cartesian Coordinates system from my perspective.
| | 02:49 | Let's assume I am creating a line in AutoCAD.
| | 02:52 | If I am creating a line, I start out by picking my start
point and then I pick my end point to complete my life.
| | 02:58 | Let's look at how AutoCAD views this line.
| | 03:01 | AutoCAD views this as a line segment that was
drawn from coordinate -8,-3 to coordinate 8,10.
| | 03:08 | Now, I am going to return to my AutoCAD environment.
| | 03:11 | Now that we understand how coordinates
work, I want you to take a look
| | 03:15 | at the lower left-hand corner of our screen in our status bar.
| | 03:18 | Remember, this is the area that represents
the current coordinate location of our cursor.
| | 03:23 | Hopefully, this makes more sense now as I
move my cursor, we can see the exact location
| | 03:27 | on my invisible graph paper where my cursor is located.
| | 03:30 | One more thing, take a look at this guy in the
lower left-hand corner. This is our UCS icon.
| | 03:35 | This icon right now is telling us the current direction
of our positive X-axis and our positive Y-axis.
| | 03:42 | I would I like to create a couple
pieces of geometry using coordinates.
| | 03:45 | Before I start, I am going to come down and I am going to turn
off my Heads Up display, I am going to turn off my Dynamic Input.
| | 03:51 | This guy tends to take some liberties
when we are entering coordinate values.
| | 03:55 | And if I turn him off temporarily, we won't have any problems.
| | 03:58 | Let's create a circle and this time, I
am going to place it using coordinates.
| | 04:02 | I am going to come over and launch my Circle command by
clicking on it and AutoCAD says specify center point for my circle.
| | 04:08 | I am going to type in 25,25.
| | 04:12 | I am typing in an actual coordinate where I
want the center of that circle to be located.
| | 04:16 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 04:16 | I am creating that circle at coordinate 25,25.
| | 04:20 | As far as my radius, I am going to type in 10.
| | 04:22 | We will just create a circle with a radius of 10.
| | 04:25 | Let's make one more circle.
| | 04:26 | I am going to right-click, select
Repeat Circle. Specify center point.
| | 04:31 | I am going to use the coordinate 75,25.
| | 04:36 | Now hit Enter.
| | 04:37 | Based on my coordinate values, the circle happens
to be 50 units to the right of the first circle.
| | 04:42 | And I am going to hit Enter and accept the default
because I want to create the same size circle.
| | 04:47 | Each of these circles was drawn using a coordinate.
| | 04:50 | I want to do one more thing.
| | 04:51 | Let's take and draw a line from the center
of one circle to the center of the other.
| | 04:55 | I am going to launch the Line command.
| | 04:57 | I would like to draw a line from the center of this
circle and I happen to know what that coordinate is.
| | 05:03 | So I am going to type in 25,25 from my coordinate.
| | 05:07 | I will hit Enter, that's where I am starting from.
| | 05:10 | I would like to draw this line to the center of this
circle and we happen to know what its coordinate is.
| | 05:15 | Let me type in 75,25 and hit Enter.
| | 05:19 | I am all done with the command.
| | 05:21 | So I am going to right-click and select Enter to exit.
| | 05:24 | Most of the time, we will not be
entering coordinates as we draft.
| | 05:27 | However, it is important for you to understand the fundamental
way AutoCAD processes our line work in the background.
| | 05:33 | Think of it this way. AutoCAD is a vector application
whose job is simply creating and maintaining geometry.
| | 05:39 | Everything we draft is mapped out on
an underlined x/y coordinate system
| | 05:43 | and AutoCAD uses this system to maintain
the accuracy of our drawings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Object snaps| 00:00 | One thing is certain. We will never create a
drawing by simply free-picking points on screen.
| | 00:05 | If we want to draft accurately, we will need to know how to
use AutoCAD's coordinate system to lock on to our geometry.
| | 00:11 | I am going to open a drawing and I am going to our Open icon
and we are going to come down to our Exercise Files folder,
| | 00:16 | we will go into Chapter 5 and I am going to
open up the number 2 drawing, Using OSNAPS.
| | 00:21 | So I will highlight that guy and
click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:24 | When I look at this drawing, I can see a finished version
on the right and an almost finished version on the left.
| | 00:30 | Our job throughout this session is to go
through and finish each of the drawings.
| | 00:34 | Let's look at this guy first. If I want to finish
this star shape, I am going to launch my Line command
| | 00:39 | and it would be really nice if I knew what
the coordinate of the end of that line was.
| | 00:44 | Now I could look down in the lower left hand corner of my screen.
I could check out the status bar, but I would only be guessing
| | 00:49 | because as I move around those numbers change.
| | 00:51 | So I need to know what the coordinate is, but
you know what AutoCAD is a tool that will find
| | 00:56 | that coordinate for me, that tool is called an Object Snap.
| | 00:59 | So I am going to hit my Escape key to cancel out of the Line
command and let's bring up the Object Snap toolbar on our screen.
| | 01:05 | I am going to come over and right-click on an existing tool and
in the list of toolbars, I am going to come down to Object Snap.
| | 01:12 | Let me click on this guy to turn him on.
| | 01:15 | He pops up right in the middle of our screen.
| | 01:16 | He is going to be important for this session,
so I am going to keep him right in the middle.
| | 01:20 | I am going to click, hold and drag
and I will move him right up to here.
| | 01:24 | I can use Object Snaps to lock on to my geometry.
| | 01:27 | Let's start by looking at the endpoint Object Snap.
| | 01:30 | I am going to launch my Line command.
| | 01:32 | Now I would like to start my line from the endpoint of this line.
| | 01:35 | If I want to do that, AutoCAD is
asking me to specify first point.
| | 01:39 | I am going to come up, click my endpoint Object Snap and now
if we look the command line, AutoCAD is looking for an endpoint.
| | 01:46 | So as I move my cursor close to this line, notice AutoCAD brings
up a little icon, tells me it's going to find the endpoint.
| | 01:53 | If I left-click, AutoCAD just locked on to that location.
| | 01:57 | Now I can go to my next point. I am going to come up and select
endpoint again. I want to lock on to the endpoint right here.
| | 02:03 | Now that I am done, I am going to hit my Escape key.
| | 02:06 | Let's take and finish this guy up, I am
going to right-click to go right back
| | 02:09 | into the Line command. AutoCAD says, where is your first point?
| | 02:13 | Well I am going to come up and we
are going to use an Object Snap.
| | 02:15 | I am going to say the endpoint and I am going to hover by
this line. Notice how far away from that endpoint I can be
| | 02:23 | and still grab that endpoint. S long as I am 50%
of the way to one side I can grab the endpoint.
| | 02:28 | Notice as I get closed to the other side,
AutoCAD is going to find the other endpoint.
| | 02:32 | The thing I am trying to stress is you don't
have to be right on it to grab it, OK.
| | 02:36 | So I can grab the endpoint from right here, let me just
left-click, AutoCAD found it where do I want to go to,
| | 02:42 | I am going to come up and click my endpoint Object
Snap again and I grab the endpoint right here.
| | 02:47 | Let me hit Escape. That is the endpoint Object Snap.
| | 02:51 | It allows us to lock onto the endpoints of our geometry.
| | 02:54 | Let's look at another one. I am going to pan this geometry up.
| | 02:57 | Let's look at this center-point Object Snap,
now the center point obviously allows us
| | 03:03 | to snap to the center of our circles or our arcs.
| | 03:07 | Let's replicate the geometry we see on the right.
| | 03:09 | Once again I am going to launch my Line command. I will click
Line and then I am going to come over and I am going to click
| | 03:14 | to this icon, represents my center Object Snap.
| | 03:17 | Once again if we look at the command line, AutoCAD is
saying center of. If I want to grab a center Object Snap,
| | 03:24 | we need to look at the x or the cursor
on my screen as AutoCAD's eyeball.
| | 03:27 | As I move the cursor on top of my geometry, notice as soon
as the eyeball hits the arc, AutoCAD finds the center.
| | 03:34 | At this point, when the eyeball hits the arc, I can left-
click and AutoCAD will find the center of that entity.
| | 03:39 | Let me come up and grab another center Object Snap and
then we will put our eyeball on this arc and click.
| | 03:46 | Once again, we don't have to move our
cursor all the way to the actual location
| | 03:51 | of the Object Snap. Let me hit Escape. Let's finish this guy up.
| | 03:54 | I am going to launch the Line command.
| | 03:56 | Where do I want to start?
| | 03:57 | I want to start from the center of here and I want to go to
the center of here and I want to go to the center of here.
| | 04:09 | Alright let me hit Escape to finish.
| | 04:11 | That is the center-point Object Snap.
| | 04:13 | Let's pan this up.
| | 04:15 | We have another Object Snap for midpoint.
| | 04:19 | I am going to use the midpoint Object Snap
to replicate the geometry we see on the right.
| | 04:23 | I am going to launch my Line command.
| | 04:26 | This time we are going to come up and we are going
to click this icon, this icon represents midpoint.
| | 04:30 | Don't forget the little tool-tip that pop-ups. Sometimes it
may take a little while before you remember what each one
| | 04:35 | of these little cryptic symbols means.
midpoint is right here, let me click that.
| | 04:39 | AutoCAD says midpoint of what?
| | 04:42 | As I bring my cursor down and put the eyeball on
the entity, notice AutoCAD brings up a little symbol
| | 04:48 | that represents midpoint. Each of the Object Snaps has
a different symbol, midpoint happens to be a triangle.
| | 04:53 | So I will bring my cursor down and touch the line,
left-click to grab the midpoint and where do I want
| | 04:59 | to go? I want to go to the midpoint right here.
| | 05:02 | Let me hit Escape and we will finish this guy up.
| | 05:05 | I will go right back into the Line command and I want to go from
the midpoint of the left side to the midpoint of the right.
| | 05:16 | Let me hit Escape to get out of the command.
That is the midpoint Object Snap.
| | 05:23 | Let's pan up.
| | 05:23 | We have got one for intersection. Intersection will allow
us to snap to the intersection of existing line work,
| | 05:30 | let's replicate this geometry. I am going to do it with circles.
| | 05:32 | So I am going to launch my Circle command. Where
would I like the center-point of my circle to be?
| | 05:37 | I am going to come up to my intersection Object Snap and click.
| | 05:41 | I want to place my circle to the intersection right here.
| | 05:44 | Now with the intersection Object
Snap, you do have to be pretty close
| | 05:47 | to the intersection because AutoCAD needs to see both lines.
| | 05:50 | So let me left-click. AutoCAD found the intersection.
Now I don't need to know what the radius is.
| | 05:56 | You know you may be thinking well how is he
going to know what radius to put in there?
| | 05:59 | I am just going to use another intersection.
| | 06:01 | If I click intersection, I can grab the
intersection of this circle in the line.
| | 06:05 | Remember we don't have to enter a radius or a diameter
for a circle, we can pick a point on screen as well.
| | 06:11 | Alright let's finish it up.
| | 06:12 | I am going to go right back to the Circle
commands, let me right-click, Repeat Circle.
| | 06:16 | And this time we are going to have to mix the Object Snaps
up just a little bit. I am going to use endpoint first,
| | 06:21 | endpoint of here to the intersection right there.
| | 06:27 | Last one. Right-click, Repeat Circle and I want to go
from the endpoint here to the intersection right there.
| | 06:38 | Using Object Snaps is the only way to create accurate
geometry, because if I am using an Object Snap,
| | 06:43 | I know that I am locking onto my coordinate with an
accuracy of 14 spaces to the right of the decimal.
| | 06:48 | Let me pan this up.
| | 06:49 | I have got a couple more I'd like to look at.
| | 06:52 | We are going to look at the quadrant Object Snap.
| | 06:54 | Quadrant allows us to snap to the north, south,
east or west areas of a circle or an arc.
| | 07:01 | If I left-click on this circle, notice I get little
blue squares. Those pop up at the quadrant locations.
| | 07:07 | Let me hit Escape to deselect the circle
and let's finish our basketball.
| | 07:11 | I am going to do this with the line
command, so we will come up and launch Line.
| | 07:15 | I want to draw a line from the quadrant. That
quadrant icon is right here, Snap to Quadrant.
| | 07:20 | If I put AutoCAD's eye on the arc, notice
I can find the quadrant at the top.
| | 07:24 | If I move close to the edge, I could find the quadrant over here,
| | 07:27 | whichever one I happen to be closest
to is one AutoCAD is going to grab.
| | 07:30 | Let me click to grab this Object Snap.
| | 07:32 | We will go to the quadrant down here.
| | 07:35 | I will hit Escape to get out of the command and we will
finish this guy. I am going to right-click, go right back
| | 07:40 | into the Line command. I want to draw that
line from the quadrant of the left side
| | 07:45 | to the quadrant of the right. Let me hit Escape to finish.
| | 07:49 | Let me pan this guy up.
| | 07:53 | We have got two more Object Snaps I
want to look at. This one is tangent,
| | 07:58 | it's important to know how to use the tangent Object Snap.
| | 08:00 | Tangent will allow us to create geometry
that is tangent to an arc.
| | 08:03 | I am going to replicate this geometry using
the Line command, so I am going to launch Line.
| | 08:08 | Where do I want to start my line?
| | 08:09 | I am going to come up and grab the tangent Object Snap.
| | 08:13 | As I put AutoCAD's eye on the arc, notice
the symbol is different for tangent.
| | 08:17 | If I click and as I pull away, notice the line segment that I'm
creating was always going to maintain its tangency to that arc.
| | 08:24 | So I am starting from that point.
| | 08:26 | Where do I want to go to?
| | 08:27 | I want to go to a point tangent to this arc.
| | 08:30 | And when I click I get my line.
| | 08:33 | Let me hit Escape to cancel out and we'll finish this guy up.
| | 08:35 | I am going to right-click, Repeat Line.
| | 08:38 | I want to start from a point tangent to this arc and I
want to go to a point, we'll click tangent to this arc.
| | 08:46 | Let me go and hit Escape. Pan this up.
| | 08:50 | We will do the last one, perpendicular. Perpendicular will allow
us to create geometry that is perpendicular to other geometry.
| | 08:57 | I am going to finish this guy using the Line command. So I
am going to come over and launch Line, specify first point.
| | 09:03 | This time we are going to mix the
Object Snaps up just a little bit.
| | 09:05 | I want to start from the endpoint here. I also could
have chosen intersection if I wished and I want to go
| | 09:12 | to a point perpendicular. Here's my perpendicular Object Snap.
| | 09:16 | I will click this guy and when I put AutoCAD's eye on
that line, notice no matter where I click on this line,
| | 09:21 | AutoCAD is going to find the perpendicular location.
| | 09:24 | So let me left-click to find that, I will hit Escape.
| | 09:27 | We will do one more and I want to
create a line from the intersection here
| | 09:32 | and I want to draw that perpendicular to this line.
| | 09:37 | Let me left-click to grab that snap and
I will hit Escape to get out of the command.
| | 09:42 | Now Object Snaps are very valuable.
| | 09:44 | We are going to be using these frequently from this point
on, so I am going to dock this toolbar to my interface.
| | 09:49 | And I am going to dock this to the right side.
| | 09:51 | You maybe wondering, why don't you dock it
to the left where all the other toolbars are?
| | 09:55 | I do that for a reason because some times the Object Snap
icons tend to look similar to some of the Draw icons.
| | 10:01 | We can see that the Line icon happens
to look very similar to endpoint
| | 10:05 | and the Circle icon happens to look very similar to center-point.
| | 10:09 | So if I take and dock this toolbar to the right side,
we can always remember that the Object Snaps are
| | 10:15 | to the right and the Draw tools are to the left.
| | 10:18 | From this moment on, we will always use Object
Snaps as we draft. Using Object Snaps is the only way
| | 10:23 | to guarantee that we are creating accurate geometry.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Automating object snaps| 00:00 | Sometimes it can be very tedious if you have to
select the same Object Snap over and over again.
| | 00:05 | Let's look at a way we can automate our Object
Snaps and make our life a little easier.
| | 00:09 | I am going to start by opening a drawing.
| | 00:10 | I am going to club and click my Open icon.
| | 00:13 | And when my Select File dialog comes up I am going to go into
my Exercise Files folder and I am going to go into Chapter 5
| | 00:18 | and grab drawing number 3, Automating
our Object Snaps, and click Open.
| | 00:23 | Now this is the floor plan for my single family home.
| | 00:27 | I am going to zoom in on the garage area because
I would like to draft to my garage doors.
| | 00:32 | Now I am going to create the garage doors using the Line
command but I would like to snap on to these endpoints.
| | 00:39 | OK now that we know how to use Object Snap,s we
should use them such that are drafting is accurate.
| | 00:44 | So I am going to come over and launch my Line command.
AutoCAD says specify first point, let me come over
| | 00:49 | and grab the endpoint Object Snap.
Endpoint here. Where do I want to go?
| | 00:55 | I want to go to the endpoint here.
Where do I want to go? The endpoint here.
| | 01:03 | I can almost give you motion sickness
going back and forth across the screen.
| | 01:06 | I am trying to simulate the monotony. Grab this.
We'll go over and we will grab the endpoint here
| | 01:13 | and we will finish. When I am all done I am going to hit Escape.
| | 01:16 | Now that did work but it wasn't the
nicest way to work in the world,
| | 01:20 | I don't like spending my entire monitor
to grab those Object Snaps.
| | 01:24 | Let's look at a way that we can automate the Object Snap process.
| | 01:27 | I can do that by setting my OSNAP mode.
| | 01:31 | If I left-click to turn this guy on. Alright that's great
I turned him on. Let's find out what we just turned on.
| | 01:37 | I am going to right-click on this button and select Settings.
| | 01:41 | When my Object Snap settings come up, I can see a listing
of every Object Snap that I have available in AutoCAD.
| | 01:47 | Notice some of these have checks next to them. If
there is a check next to the Object Snap it means
| | 01:51 | that if this running Object Snap is set, AutoCAD will be
looking automatically for this particular Object Snap.
| | 01:58 | So right now I have four of these guys set.
| | 02:00 | I am going to uncheck all of them but endpoint.
| | 02:04 | So we are going to leave it in this configuration,
only the endpoint is set and I will click OK.
| | 02:08 | Now that I have made that setting
and my Object Snap is turned on,
| | 02:11 | I am going to do the same garage
door again using the Line command.
| | 02:15 | Let me launch Line.
| | 02:17 | Now this time AutoCAD saying specify first
point but because my running Object Snap is set,
| | 02:21 | AutoCAD is automatically looking for endpoint.
| | 02:24 | So I can just come down and click right here, I can click here,
I can click here, I can come down click here and then I can click
| | 02:31 | to there to close. Let me hit Escape to finish.
Alright, much more convenient than going back
| | 02:36 | and forth and back and forth across the screen.
| | 02:39 | Let me back up a little bit, because now I have to give
you a warning. This is the tough love segment of the video.
| | 02:47 | Let me come down to OSNAP and right
click and let's go back to Settings.
| | 02:51 | I have seen my fair share of students in the past who say, you
know what this running Object Snaps thing is kind of nice.
| | 02:57 | I'm just, I'm going to check all of these.
| | 02:58 | I am going to check them all.
| | 02:59 | That way if I want a particular Object Snap,
all I have to do is move my cursor close to it
| | 03:05 | and I will grab the Object Snap of my choice.
| | 03:07 | This is a terrible way to work, alright? Especially as
a beginner because in a drawing where you have a lot
| | 03:12 | of geometry you can't guarantee especially at your zoom
level that you are getting the Object Snap that you think.
| | 03:18 | That's why they have this Clear All button. I am going
to click this, and it will clear all of those guys.
| | 03:22 | What I would suggest is that you set your favorite two
running Object Snaps, the ones that you use most often.
| | 03:28 | And then every Object Snap that you need that's in
addition to those I would suggest you get from the toolbar.
| | 03:34 | Do not set too many running Object Snaps because if you
do you just increase your risk of drafting inaccurately.
| | 03:40 | So I am going to select Endpoint and I am going to select Center,
| | 03:43 | those are my favorite two that I
am going to use, let me click OK.
| | 03:46 | And from now on as I draft, AutoCAD is automatically
going to be looking for endpoints and center points.
| | 03:53 | Just as an example let me pan over and
I will zoom in on the kitchen area.
| | 03:57 | Let me come over and launch my Line command and now that
I have my running Object Snap set for endpoint and center,
| | 04:04 | AutoCAD is automatically looking for those coordinates.
| | 04:07 | So if I hover close to the line,
I could click I just grab the endpoint.
| | 04:10 | If I hover close to the arc, I can click and grab the center.
Once again I can come back and grab the endpoint of a line.
| | 04:18 | Let me hit Escape to cancel the Line command and the demonstration.
| | 04:22 | Running Object Snaps are a fantastic tool to
help us increase our speed when drafting.
| | 04:27 | However, they should be used sparingly.
| | 04:29 | It's like the old saying too much of
a good thing could be bad for you.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. Specialized Draw CommandsRectangle| 00:00 | Quite often, we have to create rectangular shapes in AutoCAD.
| | 00:03 | Let's look at a way we can create them that is
faster than using the traditional Line command.
| | 00:07 | Now, I am going to come up and open a drawing.
| | 00:10 | I am going to click my Open icon.
| | 00:12 | And in the Select File dialog, I am going to go into
my Exercise Files folder under Chapter 6 and I am going
| | 00:18 | to select the Rectangle drawing and click Open.
| | 00:20 | Now, I have got a couple of rectangles drawn already
and we can tell based on the dimensions given in inches
| | 00:26 | and feet that these rectangles were
drawn using architectural units.
| | 00:30 | Our goal is to recreate these rectangles.
| | 00:33 | If I would like to create a rectangle on AutoCAD,
I am going to come over to my Draw toolbar
| | 00:37 | and I am going to click on the Rectangle icon.
| | 00:40 | When I do, AutoCAD is asking me to specify first corner point.
| | 00:43 | So I am going to pick a point on screen.
| | 00:46 | And the only other thing AutoCAD needs
is the location of the opposite corner.
| | 00:51 | AutoCAD needs to know how to get to this other corner.
| | 00:53 | So I am going to use the Dimensions sub-option.
| | 00:56 | If we look at the command line, we can see we have got a couple
of sub-options. I am going to right-click and select Dimensions.
| | 01:02 | Now, AutoCAD is asking me to specify length for my rectangles.
| | 01:06 | I am going to type in 5 feet. Don't forget the apostrophe.
| | 01:09 | I will hit Enter.
| | 01:11 | Now, AutoCAD wants me to specify the width.
| | 01:13 | In this case, I am going to type in 2 feet 6 inches, Enter.
| | 01:18 | Notice, I am still in the command. That's because,
remember, AutoCAD is looking for that opposite corner.
| | 01:24 | There are actually four right answers. Is it up in this area,
is it over in this area, is it down here or it is over here?
| | 01:30 | I am going to move up in this area, click on the
screen to set the location of the other corner.
| | 01:37 | Let's create another rectangle.
| | 01:38 | I am going to come over and launch the Rectangle command.
| | 01:41 | We will pick our first point on screen and once
again, I am going to use the Dimensions option.
| | 01:46 | Let me right-click and select Dimensions.
| | 01:49 | Notice, by default, the length of my rectangle is
set to 5 feet. It happens to be the previous entry.
| | 01:55 | That happens to be exactly what I
want, so I am going to hit Enter.
| | 01:59 | What is the width of my rectangles?
| | 02:01 | I am going to type in 1 foot 10 inches, Enter and then I am going
to pick my location on screen where I want that opposite corner to be.
| | 02:11 | Let me click and that rectangle is finished.
| | 02:13 | Now, let's use the Rectangle command in a practical example.
| | 02:16 | I am going to back up just a little bit.
| | 02:18 | I am going to pan over and I have got a
portion of a bathroom drawing on my screen.
| | 02:23 | I would like to create some rectangles.
| | 02:25 | I would like to add a corner in my bathroom
as well as a shower stall and a whirlpool tub.
| | 02:31 | The outlines of all of these shapes will be rectangles.
| | 02:35 | Let's take and add them to the drawing.
| | 02:36 | I am going to zoom in on the top part of my bathroom.
| | 02:39 | I am going to launch my Rectangle command.
| | 02:42 | AutoCAD says specify first corner point.
| | 02:45 | Why happened to have a running Object Snap set for endpoint,
so I am going to move close to this line and click.
| | 02:50 | So I just grab the endpoint of that wall and now I need
to know where the other corner point is going to be.
| | 02:55 | So I am going to right-click and select Dimensions.
| | 02:59 | The length of my rectangle will be 9 feet, Enter;
and the width of my rectangle will be 2 feet, Enter.
| | 03:07 | Don't forget, you'll always have to set that opposite corner.
| | 03:11 | Let me click to finish the command.
| | 03:13 | So there is my countertop.
| | 03:15 | I am going to pan the bathroom up here a little bit.
| | 03:18 | And I want to create the outline of
my shower stall and my whirlpool tub.
| | 03:22 | I am going to do this with the Rectangle command.
| | 03:24 | Let's launch the command by clicking on the icon.
| | 03:27 | Now I do have dimensions for this guy,
but I really don't have to enter them
| | 03:31 | because I have Object Snaps at the locations of the corners.
| | 03:34 | That means, I can start my rectangle by coming down
and clicking right here and grabbing that endpoint,
| | 03:39 | and I could pull my rectangle up and I can grab
the endpoint right here to complete the rectangle.
| | 03:43 | I am going to do one more.
| | 03:45 | I am going to right-click, repeat the Rectangle command.
| | 03:48 | For the area of my whirlpool tub, I also have dimensions.
| | 03:51 | But once again, I have Object Snaps
at the location of my corners.
| | 03:56 | What if I came over and I started my rectangle at this corner?
| | 03:58 | I will hover over this line, grab the endpoint and
I am going to move my cursor in this direction,
| | 04:03 | click at this point to finish the outline of my whirlpool tub.
| | 04:07 | Rectangular shapes are huge part of two-dimensional drafting.
| | 04:11 | They appear frequently in civil,
architectural and mechanical drawings.
| | 04:15 | I am sure you will agree that using a specialized
tool can make us a much more efficient drafter.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Ellipse| 00:00 | Back in the old paper and pencil
days creating an ellipse wasn't easy.
| | 00:04 | It usually required the use of a
template or various sized French curves.
| | 00:08 | Fortunately, those days are long behind
us as AutoCAD has provided us a tool
| | 00:12 | to easily create an ellipse of any size we can imagine.
| | 00:15 | We are going to open a drawing.
| | 00:16 | I am going to come up to my open
icon, click in the Select File dialog.
| | 00:21 | I am going to go into our exercise files folder and
I am going to select the number two drawing, Ellipse.
| | 00:27 | We will click Open to bring that guy up on screen.
| | 00:30 | Now on screen we can see a diagram of an ellipse.
| | 00:33 | One way to look at an ellipse is it is a squashed circle,
it is a circle that has two different diameters.
| | 00:40 | One diameter represents the major axis and
one diameter represents the minor axis.
| | 00:46 | When we create an ellipse in AutoCAD,
we are going to be picking three points.
| | 00:51 | The first two points that we pick represent our major axis and
the third point that we pick represents one half of our minor axis.
| | 00:59 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 01:00 | If I want to create an ellipse, I am going to come over and click
my Ellipse icon in the Draw toolbar and then I am going to come
| | 01:06 | over and AutoCAD asks me to specify axis endpoint.
| | 01:10 | Remember the first two points that
we set represent our major axis.
| | 01:14 | So I am going to free picks endpoints on the screen,
| | 01:16 | I am just going to pick one point right
here, my Ortho happens to be locked.
| | 01:20 | I will take and pull over in this direction and I will click
again, notice that sets my major axis or the width of my ellipse.
| | 01:27 | And now the third point that I click is going to
represent one half of my minor axis because notice
| | 01:33 | where my line is being pulled from
it's being pulled from the center.
| | 01:37 | I will pick one more point on the
screen and I have created an ellipse.
| | 01:41 | Let me pan over.
| | 01:42 | I have got a couple of ellipses. That might not
be good grammar, sounds better for me though.
| | 01:48 | Let's try and recreate this geometry on screen.
| | 01:50 | I'm going to come over and launch my Ellipse command. I'm going
to pick a point on screen to represent the first axis endpoint.
| | 01:58 | Now my Ortho is already locked so I am going to pull to the right
and I am going to type in a distance of 42 inches and hit Enter.
| | 02:06 | I just set the width of that ellipse
or the major axis of that ellipse.
| | 02:12 | Now I need to set the minor axis.
| | 02:14 | Remember we are only going to give half the distance for
the minor axis because we are pulling from the center.
| | 02:19 | My minor axis has a dimension of 28
inches so I am going to type in 14 inches
| | 02:24 | since I am entering half the distance and I will hit Enter.
| | 02:27 | I have just recreated that ellipse.
| | 02:30 | Let's recreate the other ellipse.
| | 02:33 | This time we are going to look at some of the sub-options of
the Ellipse command, we are going to look at the Center option.
| | 02:37 | I am going to come over and launch the
Ellipse command and notice if we look
| | 02:42 | at the command line I can see my sub-options, Arch and Center.
| | 02:46 | I would like to draw this ellipse from the center so I
am going to right-click and select the sub-option Center.
| | 02:53 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify the center
of my ellipse. I will pick a point on screen.
| | 02:59 | The only difference between drafting an ellipse from the center
or from the end is that when I give the major axis I am going
| | 03:05 | to give half the distance because I'm pulling from the center.
I know that my major axis has a dimension of 30 inches
| | 03:11 | so I am going to type in half of that
since I am drawing this from the center.
| | 03:14 | I will type in 15 inches, Enter and then the distance
to my other axis, my minor axis, happens to be 20 inches,
| | 03:22 | I am going to type in half of that. I am
going to type in 10 inches and hit Enter.
| | 03:28 | Let's try and use the Ellipse command in a practical example.
| | 03:31 | If I back up a little bit and pan over, I
have got my unfinished bathroom drawing,
| | 03:38 | I have completed my shower stall and my whirlpool tub.
| | 03:42 | If I zoom in on my countertop area, I would like
to have two basins. I already have one created.
| | 03:47 | Let's recreate the other basin on this side of the counter.
| | 03:50 | So I need to find the center.
| | 03:52 | I am going to do that by creating a little sketch geometry.
| | 03:55 | I am going to create a line so I am going to come
over and launch the Line command and I happen
| | 03:59 | to have a running Object Snap set for endpoint.
| | 04:02 | So I am going to create a line from the endpoint here
and I am going to come down- now my Ortho is locked,
| | 04:08 | don't worry about that, I can still get my endpoint. I am
going to come down and draw the line to the endpoint here.
| | 04:13 | When I am all done, I will hit Escape.
| | 04:15 | I hope you will agree if I click on this line that the
midpoint of this line represents the center of that area.
| | 04:22 | I am going to create each ellipse from the midpoint of that line.
| | 04:26 | Let me hit Escape to deselect the line.
| | 04:28 | I am going to come over and launch the Ellipse command.
I am going to right-click and access the Center option.
| | 04:36 | Now where would I like my center of my ellipse,
I would like it at the midpoint of this line.
| | 04:41 | Now I don't have a running Object Snap set for midpoint
so I am going to have to grab that guy from the toolbar.
| | 04:46 | I am going to come over and click midpoint and then I am going to
click my line, I am now creating this ellipse from that midpoint.
| | 04:54 | So I am going to pull to the right and my major axis has a
dimension of 20 so I am going to type in half, 10 inches,
| | 05:01 | Enter and my minor axis has a dimension of 18
inches. I am going to type in 9 inches, Enter.
| | 05:08 | Let's do one more ellipse.
| | 05:09 | I am going to right-click, go right back into the Ellipse
command, we are going to do the center option again
| | 05:15 | so we will right-click and select
Center. Specify center of ellipse.
| | 05:20 | Just like a circle an ellipse has a center point and I
have a running Object Snap set to center so if I hover,
| | 05:26 | if I move my cursor close to the ellipse,
I can grab the center of the first one.
| | 05:31 | So let me just click and grab the
center and we will finish this up.
| | 05:34 | The major axis of the smaller ellipse is 14 inches so I am
going to type in 7 inches, Enter and then I am going to pull
| | 05:42 | in the direction of the minor axis that has a dimension
of 12 inches so I am going to type in 6 inches, Enter.
| | 05:50 | Once you understand the concept of the major and the minor
axis, creating an ellipse is as easy as drawing a circle.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Hatch| 00:00 | Hatch pattern has been a major part of
drafting since the days of paper and pencil.
| | 00:04 | Well-placed hatch patterns can add
visual interest to your drawings
| | 00:07 | and help you represent materials to be used for construction.
| | 00:10 | They are also very easy to create.
| | 00:12 | I am going to open a drawing I am going
to click my Open icon and we are going
| | 00:15 | to look inside our Exercise Files folder
inside the Chapter 6 folder we are going
| | 00:20 | to grab drawing number three, the Hatch drawing.
| | 00:23 | I will highlight that guy and I will click Open.
| | 00:27 | On my screen I have got some abstract geometry and we are going
to use this geometry to learn how the Hatch command works.
| | 00:33 | I am going to start by hatching this circle.
| | 00:36 | So let's zoom in on the circle. We will
pan over and center them on the screen.
| | 00:40 | If I would like to create Hatch, I am going to come over to
my Draw toolbar and I am going to click on the Hatch icon.
| | 00:46 | This will bring up my Hatch dialog box.
| | 00:48 | In the upper left hand corner of the box is
the area when I can select my hatch pattern.
| | 00:53 | If I go to the Pattern area and I click the dropdown I can see
all of the names of all the hatch patterns available on AutoCAD.
| | 01:00 | If I select a pattern by name, AutoCAD will show me a
swatch a representation of what that hatch looks like.
| | 01:07 | Now I am not very good at remembering all of the names so the way
I like to choose my patterns is by clicking this Ellipsis button.
| | 01:13 | If I click this it brings up the Hatch Pattern Palette.
This guy is separated by tabs and from here I can choose a tab
| | 01:20 | and then I can select a swatch. Just an
easier way of selecting your pattern.
| | 01:25 | Let's choose the ANSI37 pattern.
| | 01:27 | I am going to click on this guy to highlight him and click OK.
| | 01:31 | I have just chosen a hatch pattern.
| | 01:33 | Now that we have got our pattern
selected, we need to look at our boundary.
| | 01:37 | How are we going to hatch our object?
| | 01:39 | There are two ways to hatch our objects> We can either
do it by selecting an object or by picking points.
| | 01:45 | We are going to look at select objects first.
| | 01:47 | This is the method we use when we have a nice
closed object that we can select and apply a hatch.
| | 01:52 | I am going to Select Objects icon and at this point
AutoCAD is asking me to select an object so I am going
| | 01:58 | to move over my circle and click to select it.
| | 02:01 | And then I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 02:04 | Let me select Enter.
| | 02:05 | At this point AutoCAD brings me back to dialog.
| | 02:08 | From here I can come down to the lower left hand corner and
click Preview and we can take a look at our hatch pattern.
| | 02:13 | That's a pretty dense pattern.
| | 02:15 | If I zoom in I can see that that pattern is very-very small.
| | 02:19 | Let's make a change to it.
| | 02:21 | Remember that we are in the Preview function right now.
| | 02:23 | If I look at my command line, AutoCAD says pick or press Escape
to return to the dialog or I can right-click to accept the hatch.
| | 02:31 | I am going to hit my Escape key to return to the dialog.
| | 02:35 | When I do, the place we are going to correct
our hatch is the Angle and Scale area.
| | 02:40 | Right now my scale is way too small. Let's try
and use a scale of 10 and see how that looks.
| | 02:46 | I am going to highlight the existing number
and type 10 and we'll click Preview again.
| | 02:52 | Notice the hatch pattern looks a lot nicer now.
| | 02:54 | I am going to go with this pattern so I
am going to right-click to accept hatch.
| | 03:01 | Let's back up. I am going to pan over,
let's look at this geometry.
| | 03:05 | I would like to hatch the area between
the circle and the rectangle.
| | 03:10 | We already know that our circle is a nice closed shape.
| | 03:12 | Well this rectangle happens to be a nice closed shape as well.
| | 03:16 | If I click on this I can see AutoCAD treats it as one piece.
| | 03:19 | This rectangle was created using the Rectangle command.
| | 03:22 | So I am going to hit my Escape key to deselect
these entities and let's try and hatch them.
| | 03:27 | I am going to come over and click my
Hatch icon to bring up the Hatch dialog.
| | 03:31 | From here once again we can select our pattern.
| | 03:33 | Notice AutoCAD is remembering the previous
settings from our last hatch pattern.
| | 03:37 | I am going to click the Ellipses button
we will go to the Other Predefined tab.
| | 03:41 | And I am going to select a different pattern.
| | 03:44 | You know I am getting picky.
| | 03:45 | We will grab the Stars pattern and click OK.
| | 03:48 | Now that we have selected our pattern we need to
determine how we are going to hatch our objects.
| | 03:53 | Let me drag this over.
| | 03:54 | Once again in the boundaries area I am going to use the
Select Objects method because I have two closed objects.
| | 04:01 | Let me click the icon. AutoCAD asks me to
select objects. I will select my circle
| | 04:06 | and then I will move up and I will select my Rectangle.
| | 04:09 | When I am done with my selection I once again I am going to
right-click so the computer knows I am done selecting objects
| | 04:14 | and from here I could select Enter to go back to the dialog.
| | 04:17 | Notice I also have the ability to do a preview right from there.
| | 04:21 | I am going to select Preview and
we will take a look at our hatch.
| | 04:24 | OK not too bad, I am going to hit the Escape key.
| | 04:27 | I want to go back to the dialog.
| | 04:29 | Notice that in addition to scale, we can also adjust
our angle if we wish. I have several choices available.
| | 04:36 | Let me close this up I am going to leave that at zero.
| | 04:38 | The setting that I want to talk about
right now is the Associative setting.
| | 04:43 | The Associative setting means that my
hatch pattern is related to my entities.
| | 04:47 | Meaning if the entity is changed,
the hatch pattern will change also.
| | 04:50 | I am going to click the OK button to accept my hatch.
| | 04:54 | Now just for the sake of the science to show you how the
Associative property works I am going to click on my rectangle.
| | 05:01 | It will give me these little blue handles around the outside.
| | 05:03 | I am going to move over handle and left-click.
| | 05:06 | That little handle turns red and as I move my cursor
I get a rubber-band effect I can tweak this geometry.
| | 05:11 | Let me click again on my screen to set a new location for that
corner and notice that the hatch pattern goes along for the ride.
| | 05:18 | So I can come up and click on the corner, I can come down,
I can click this corner and I can come over and click.
| | 05:24 | The hatch pattern is associative, it is related to those entities.
| | 05:27 | Let me backup.
| | 05:28 | We will pan up and we will look at this guy.
| | 05:31 | What if I would like to hatch the
area in between these three lines?
| | 05:36 | If I click on each one of these lines I
can see that they are individual entities.
| | 05:40 | So in this case I can't do a Select Objects
because I don't have an object to select.
| | 05:45 | Let me hit Escape to deselect those lines
and let's look at how we can hatch this area.
| | 05:49 | I am going to come over and launch my Hatch command again,
click on the icon and choose a pattern and go to the Ellipses.
| | 05:56 | This time I am going to go to the ANSI
pattern and I am going to grab the ANSI31.
| | 06:00 | I will click OK and for my boundary since I don't have a nice
closed object to select I am going to use the Pick points method.
| | 06:08 | Let me click the icon.
| | 06:10 | The Pick points method will allow me to select an internal
point. For instance, if I move my cursor right inside the shape,
| | 06:17 | when I click AutoCAD will fan out
and find the edges of the shape.
| | 06:22 | It's kind of like throwing a rock in a puddle.
| | 06:24 | OK we just click in the middle,
AutoCAD fanned out and found the edges,
| | 06:27 | right-click to finish the selection and I will select Preview.
| | 06:31 | OK I have just hatched the interior of those lines.
| | 06:35 | Now that I am done with my hatch pattern,
I'm going to right-click to accept the hatch.
| | 06:40 | Let's look at how we can use the
hatch pattern in a practical example.
| | 06:43 | I am going to pan over.
| | 06:45 | I have got my bathroom drawing.
| | 06:47 | Now I am starting to get a lot of line work in this drawing and
I would like to put a hatch pattern on the interior of my walls
| | 06:52 | to help simplify the appearance of the drawing.
| | 06:56 | Let's try that. I am going to launch my Hatch command.
| | 06:58 | I am going to use the same settings that I used before.
| | 07:02 | Now the method that I am going to use to hatch this,
we didn't check- let me hit Cancel for a second.
| | 07:07 | Each one of my walls is an individual piece.
| | 07:09 | I don't have a nice closed shape here.
| | 07:11 | So I am going to use the Pick points method. Deselect my lines.
| | 07:15 | Let's go back into hatch. I am going to keep my settings
as it is and I am going to select the Pick points method.
| | 07:22 | Let me click the icon, AutoCAD asks me to pick an internal point.
| | 07:26 | I will move inside the wall and left-click.
AutoCAD fans out and finds the edges.
| | 07:32 | Notice it came all they way around and it stopped at the window.
| | 07:35 | It couldn't get past the window.
| | 07:37 | That's OK because AutoCAD is still giving me
the opportunity to pick another internal point.
| | 07:41 | I can pick more than one internal point if I wish.
| | 07:43 | Let me move over and I will click inside
this wall and AutoCAD finds all of that area.
| | 07:48 | Now that I am done selecting my areas I am
going to right-click and let's select Preview.
| | 07:52 | Alright I am going to go with that pattern. It looks good to me.
| | 07:55 | I will right-click to finish the command.
| | 07:58 | If you want to edit hatch, editing
your hatch is very easy in AutoCAD.
| | 08:03 | All you have to do is double-click on it.
| | 08:05 | If I move over this hatch pattern and double-click
AutoCAD brings up my Hatch Edit dialog and it's just
| | 08:11 | like I am creating this hatch pattern for the first time.
| | 08:14 | Let's grab a different pattern.
| | 08:15 | I am going to change the pattern to ANSI37 and click OK.
| | 08:19 | Let's click OK and I have just changed my hatch pattern.
| | 08:23 | Hatch patterns can be very effective in
helping you visually organize your drawings.
| | 08:28 | They can also quickly transform an average
drawing into a professional looking presentation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Polygon| 00:00 | Another shape we see frequently in
our AutoCAD drawings are polygons.
| | 00:04 | A polygon generally speaking is a closed
object whose sides are all the same length.
| | 00:08 | An example would be a hexagon or an octagon or a square.
| | 00:12 | Polygons are used for everything from
callout symbols to hex bolts to gazebos.
| | 00:17 | Let's look at how we can create them using AutoCAD.
| | 00:19 | I am going to come up and open a drawing.
| | 00:21 | I am going to go into my Exercise Files folder
under Chapter 6 and we are going to open
| | 00:26 | up the number four drawing, the Polygon drawing, click Open.
| | 00:29 | Now I have got several examples of polygons on my screen.
Each one of these guys was created using the Polygon command.
| | 00:37 | One important note, every polygon we create using
the Polygon command will have sides of equal length.
| | 00:43 | They will be equilateral.
| | 00:45 | Every polygon we create is based on a circle.
| | 00:49 | If I pan over, I can see that these shapes
yes in fact would fit inside of a circle.
| | 00:55 | Now creating polygons is very similar in workflow to creating
a circle. Generally speaking AutoCAD is going to ask us
| | 01:01 | to pick the center point and then it's going to
want to know what the radius is of our circle.
| | 01:05 | Now there is one extra piece of information,
when you back up and pan over.
| | 01:10 | The polygon can actually go one of two ways.
It can either be inscribed or circumscribed.
| | 01:18 | The way to tell the difference? If we know the distance
from the center to a corner, it is an inscribed polygon
| | 01:25 | because the polygon would fall on the inside of our circle.
| | 01:29 | If we know the distance from the center of the polygon
to a face, it is a circumscribed polygon. That's
| | 01:35 | because the polygon is being created
on the outside of our circle.
| | 01:38 | The method that we use will be determined
on the way the polygon is dimensioned.
| | 01:43 | The rule of thumb is if it is dimensioned across the points
or the corners it's inscribed. If you have got dimension
| | 01:49 | across the flats or the faces, it's circumscribed.
| | 01:52 | Let me pan over.
| | 01:55 | This is a metric drawing, this is a metric wrench
and I have got some metric sockets up above.
| | 02:01 | We are going to take and recreate the two sockets.
| | 02:04 | Let's start by doing this polygon.
| | 02:07 | I am going to launch my Polygon command so I am going to come
| | 02:10 | over to the Draw toolbar and I am
going to click on the Polygon tool.
| | 02:16 | When this comes up, AutoCAD is asking me the
number of sides. The default happens to be four,
| | 02:20 | which is perfect so I am going to hit Enter to accept four.
| | 02:23 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify the center of the polygon.
| | 02:26 | Well I would like it at the center of the socket.
| | 02:29 | Fortunately I have running Object Snaps set for center
point so I am going to put AutoCAD's eyeball on the arc,
| | 02:35 | I will click and AutoCAD just found the center.
| | 02:38 | Is it inscribed or is it circumscribed?
| | 02:41 | Since I have the distance from face to face, this is a
circumscribed polygon so we will select Circumscribed.
| | 02:48 | And then lastly AutoCAD is asking me for the radius.
| | 02:53 | If we look at the command line we can see that definitely.
| | 02:55 | Specify the radius of the circle. Well in
my example, my circle has a diameter of 16,
| | 03:01 | I know what the full diameter is so
my radius must be 8 and hit Enter.
| | 03:07 | I have just recreated that polygonal shape.
| | 03:10 | Let's try and recreate this one.
| | 03:12 | Once again I am going to create a polygon so I am going to
right-click and we will grab the Repeat Polygon from the menu.
| | 03:20 | Enter number of sides. In this case, I have got a hexagon so
I am going to type in 6 for my number of sides and hit Enter.
| | 03:27 | AutoCAD is asking me to specify the center. I will just
move over since I have a running Objects Snap on center
| | 03:33 | and I will put my cursor on top of the arc and click.
| | 03:37 | Alright is this an inscribed or a circumscribed polygon?
| | 03:41 | Since I have the distance from corner to corner, this
is inscribed, meaning it would fall inside the circle.
| | 03:47 | So I will select Inscribed.
| | 03:49 | All I have to do now is pick my radius.
| | 03:52 | Notice I have my Ortho set.
| | 03:54 | This is very important for the sake
of science, let me turn this off.
| | 03:58 | If you don't have your Ortho set, the angle of your polygon
will be determined by wherever your cursor happens to be.
| | 04:04 | So let me turn that back on.
| | 04:07 | There we go.
| | 04:08 | I am going to just pull to the left and the radius
of my circle is going to be 10 because I can tell
| | 04:13 | from my existing geometry that the diameter is 20.
| | 04:16 | So I am going to type in 10 and hit Enter
and we have just recreated that socket.
| | 04:21 | The Polygon command is a much more efficient way of
creating equilateral shapes than drafting them by hand.
| | 04:28 | Once you understand the meaning behind
inscribed and circumscribed,
| | 04:31 | you can easily create nearly any polygonal shape you can imagine.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Primary ModificationsMove and Copy| 00:00 | AutoCAD's Move and Copy commands work side-by-side giving us
the ability to quickly reposition or duplicate our entities.
| | 00:07 | Now I say side-by-side because these commands essentially
work the same way. Let me show you what I mean.
| | 00:11 | We are going to look at the Move command first.
| | 00:14 | Let me open a drawing, I'm going to go into our
Exercise Files folder and let's go to Chapter 7.
| | 00:20 | Let me open up that folder and we are
going to open up the Move and Copy drawing.
| | 00:24 | Now as I said, we are going to look at the Move command
first. I have got a couple of squares on my screen,
| | 00:32 | we are going to use the squares to learn
how the Move and Copy command work.
| | 00:36 | Let's say, I would like to move this small
square from the upper left hand corner
| | 00:40 | to the upper right hand corner of the big square.
| | 00:42 | I can do that by coming over to my Modify
toolbar and clicking on the Move command.
| | 00:47 | When I launch the command AutoCAD asks me to
select objects, what objects do you want to move?
| | 00:51 | I'm going to come over and click on my
square and then I'm going to right-click
| | 00:55 | so that AutoCAD knows I'm done selecting objects.
| | 00:58 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify a base point. From
what logical point what I like to pick up this square?
| | 01:05 | Well, I have a running Object Snap set for endpoint so I'm going
to move right over here and I'm going to click at this endpoint,
| | 01:12 | I have just picked the square up from that endpoint.
| | 01:15 | Now AutoCAD is asking me specify second point. Where do you want
| | 01:19 | to put this square down? I'm going
to move over to the right side.
| | 01:22 | Once again I have got a running Object Snap, so I'm just
going to hover very close to this endpoint and click.
| | 01:28 | I just moved the square from one side to the other.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to come up and click my
Undo button. We'll put that guy back.
| | 01:34 | Now I just moved that square using Object Snaps. We can also
move entities using Direct Distance Entry. Let's try that.
| | 01:43 | When I launch the Move command, AutoCAD says select objects,
let me grab this object. Now these highlighted I'm going
| | 01:49 | to right-click so AutoCAD knows I'm done making my selection.
| | 01:53 | AutoCAD wants me to pick a base point. Let's pick the
lower right hand corner, so I will click to select that.
| | 02:04 | We will click on Ortho to lock it and I'm just going to pull
to the right. I'm going to pull in these zero degree direction
| | 02:10 | and I'm going to type in 10 for a distance and hit Enter.
| | 02:14 | I just moved that square 10 units to the
right or 10 units in the 0 degree direction.
| | 02:20 | Let me Undo again.
| | 02:22 | Let's try using the Copy command.
Copy has the exact same workflow
| | 02:26 | as Move except we get to keep our original when we are done.
| | 02:29 | If I would like to copy this square from one corner to the other,
| | 02:33 | I'm going to come over to my modify
toolbar and click the Copy icon.
| | 02:37 | At this point AutoCAD asks me to select objects. Let me
select the square or right-click to finish the selection.
| | 02:43 | Now from what logical location would
I like to pick up this square?
| | 02:46 | I'm going to pick it up from the endpoint right here, I
am now holding it and where would I like to place my copy?
| | 02:54 | Well, I would like to place it at the endpoint right here.
| | 02:57 | Notice I'm still in the Copy command AutoCAD
defaults to a multiple copy, that means if I want to,
| | 03:03 | I could drop one at the endpoint here, I can drop one at the
endpoint here. I can keep dropping these things all day long.
| | 03:09 | When I'm all done with the command,
I can right-click and select Exit.
| | 03:12 | Let me click Undo one more time.
| | 03:15 | I want to show you something that's kind of
unusual with Move and Copy, unusual but helpful.
| | 03:20 | Let me Undo.
| | 03:21 | I'm going to use the Move command one more time.
| | 03:24 | Let me launch Move. AutoCAD asks me to
select objects. Let me select this square
| | 03:29 | and I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 03:31 | Now from what point would I like to pick up this square?
| | 03:33 | Let's pick it up from the endpoint right here.
| | 03:35 | I will just click and I will grab this point.
| | 03:38 | Notice I'm in the Move command yet AutoCAD is still
showing me the ghosted image of where that square was.
| | 03:44 | I have access to the Object Snaps of the now ghosted square.
| | 03:50 | So I could move it from the endpoint where I
picked it up and I can place it and I can drop it
| | 03:55 | to the lower right hand corner of where it was.
| | 03:58 | Let me click and I have completed my move.
| | 04:00 | Let's try and use Move and Copy in a practical example.
| | 04:03 | I'm going to back up, if I pan this drawing up a
little bit. I have got a drawing up some parking stalls.
| | 04:11 | I actually have one handicapped stall down here on the end.
| | 04:15 | Now technically this guy was drawing incorrectly. Usually
a parking stall will have these symbols on the left side
| | 04:21 | and the hatch pattern on the right, let's take and reverse this.
| | 04:24 | I'm going to do that using Move and Copy.
| | 04:26 | I'm going to come over and launch my
Move command. AutoCAD says move what?
| | 04:32 | Let's move the symbol first.
| | 04:33 | I'm going to left-click on the symbol to highlight
it and then right-click to finish the selection.
| | 04:39 | Now from what point would I like to pick up this symbol?
| | 04:42 | Well, all I have to do is find points that are in common. For
instance, I could pick him up from the endpoint of this line
| | 04:48 | and I can place him to the endpoint of this line.
Between both stalls those points are common.
| | 04:54 | Let's move the hatch pattern and the ramp to the other side.
| | 04:57 | Once again I'm going to launch the Move command,
so I'm going to right-click and Repeat Move.
| | 05:02 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects. Let's
select the hatch pattern in this bottom stripe.
| | 05:08 | We will also select our ramp and these two extra lines.
| | 05:13 | When I'm all done making selections, I will
right-click to let the computer now I'm done.
| | 05:17 | From what point would I like to pick up these entities?
| | 05:20 | I will pick them up from the endpoint right here
and I will place them to the endpoint there.
| | 05:25 | That's not bad. I have got a little problem over here.
| | 05:28 | Let's just take and copy the stripe.
I'm going to use the Copy command.
| | 05:33 | Copy. I will copy this line, right-click
to finish the selection and I will copy it
| | 05:39 | from the endpoint here and place it to the endpoint there.
| | 05:43 | When I'm all done with the Copy command,
I can right-click and select Exit.
| | 05:47 | Let's do one more thing. I happen to have one handicapped stall.
What if I needed two more? There is no reason for me to have
| | 05:54 | to redraft the other two stalls, I have got one
perfectly good one right here. Let's copy it.
| | 06:00 | I'm going to use the Copy command, we
will grab the symbol, the hatch and the end,
| | 06:06 | we will grab the ramp and I will click each one of these lines.
| | 06:10 | Everything is now selected. I will right-click to finish the
selection and I will pick them up from the endpoint here.
| | 06:17 | That point happens to be common right
here. That point is also common right here.
| | 06:22 | When I'm all done with the Copy command, I can right-click
and hit Exit or don't forget you can always hit your Escape key.
| | 06:28 | As you can see the functionality of the Move and Copy commands
are essentially the same. The only real difference is whether
| | 06:34 | or not your selected object remain in their original position.
| | 06:37 | Knowing how to use these commands can save us
a great deal of time of redrawing our entities.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Rotate| 00:00 | Rotate is another fundamental skill that
we need to work effectively in AutoCAD.
| | 00:04 | I'm sure you would agree it would be much faster to rotate a
chair than it would be to draw a new one at a different rotation.
| | 00:10 | Let's look at how we can use AutoCAD to rotate our entities.
| | 00:13 | I am going to my Open icon
| | 00:15 | and inside our Exercise Files folder under Chapter 7,
| | 00:19 | we're going to come down and grab drawing number 2, the Rotate drawing.
| | 00:23 | I'll highlight that guy and click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:26 | I have got a semi-abstract drawing of a clock.
| | 00:29 | We're going to use this guy to learn how the Rotate command works.
| | 00:32 | Let's rotate this hand.
| | 00:34 | If I want to rotate entities, I am going to come over to
my Modify toolbar and I am going to click the Rotate icon.
| | 00:40 | When I do, AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 00:43 | I am going to come over and I'm going to click on my hand
| | 00:46 | and then I will right-click to let AutoCAD know I'm done selecting.
| | 00:49 | Now AutoCAD wants to know a base point.
| | 00:52 | At what point would I like to rotate this entity? Well I
would like to rotate it around the center of this end.
| | 00:59 | Now I happen to have a running object snap of
center so as I move close to this end, I can click
| | 01:03 | and I can grab the center of that arc.
| | 01:08 | Now that I have grabbed that point, AutoCAD
is asking me to specify a rotation angle.
| | 01:13 | Also notice if I move my cursor, I could free
pick a point on screen to specify the angle,
| | 01:18 | but instead I'm going to type in a number.
| | 01:20 | Let's type in 45, I would like to rotate this hand 45 degrees.
| | 01:25 | It's important to note that in AutoCAD,
| | 01:27 | a positive degree represents a counterclockwise rotation.
| | 01:32 | So the fact that I have typed in 45, when I hit Enter,
that hand is going to rotate 45 degrees counterclockwise.
| | 01:38 | Let's rotate him one more time.
| | 01:40 | This time we're going to look at one of the sub-options of Rotate.
| | 01:43 | I am going to come over and launch my Rotate command.
| | 01:46 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects. I'll grab the hand
| | 01:50 | and then right-click. Specify base point.
| | 01:53 | I can grab the center of the end of the hand.
| | 01:56 | This is the point at which I am going to rotate around
| | 01:59 | and at this point if we look at the command line, we can
see that I have a sub-option of Copy. Let's use that.
| | 02:04 | I'm going to right-click
| | 02:06 | and in the context sensitive menu, I'm going to select Copy.
| | 02:10 | This will allow me to not only rotate my hand, but keep the original.
| | 02:14 | Alright, once again AutoCAD is asking for a rotation angle.
| | 02:17 | This time I am going to type in a negative
angle. This will rotate my copy clockwise.
| | 02:22 | So we'll type in negative 60 degrees
| | 02:26 | and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:28 | Now that we have an idea of how to use the Rotate command,
let's take a look at the Rotate command in a practical example.
| | 02:34 | Let me back up.
| | 02:35 | If I pan over, let me center this on my screen,
| | 02:40 | I have got some cubes. Now these are similar to what
you would see in an office or a bank environment.
| | 02:45 | Now at this point I am putting in furniture.
| | 02:47 | I have already put in 2 chairs and I have copied
this chair down, I want to use it for this cube.
| | 02:52 | Unfortunately it's facing the wrong direction.
| | 02:54 | So let's zoom in on this chair and we'll
use the Rotate command to turn them around.
| | 02:58 | I'm going to launch the Rotate command.
| | 03:00 | Select objects. Let me select the chair and we'll right-click.
| | 03:04 | Base point.
| | 03:05 | Now it's a chair.
| | 03:07 | OK, there is no real geometric certainty
that I need for this object snap.
| | 03:11 | I'm just going to pick a point someplace in the middle of the chair.
| | 03:14 | Let me click.
| | 03:15 | In my rotation angle, I'm going to type in
180. This will turn the chair 180 degrees.
| | 03:21 | OK, he is now facing in the right direction.
| | 03:24 | Let's make another change. I'm going to back up.
| | 03:27 | What if I wanted to rotate the contents of this cube?
Well since this is a cube this area is a perfect square,
| | 03:34 | if I wanted to rotate the contents, the only thing I really
need to know is where the center point of that shape is.
| | 03:39 | Let's create a piece of sketch geometry.
| | 03:42 | I'm going to draw a line
| | 03:43 | so I'm going to come over and launch the Line command
| | 03:45 | and I have a running object snap set for endpoint. So I'm going
to come up and grab the endpoint here, we'll come down and
| | 03:51 | grab the endpoint here.
| | 03:53 | I'll hit my Escape key to get out of the command.
| | 03:55 | I am sure you will agree that the midpoint of that
line would represent the center of that cube area.
| | 04:00 | Let me hit Escape to deselect that line.
Alright let's rotate the contents of that cube.
| | 04:06 | I'm going to come over and launch the Rotate command.
| | 04:08 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 04:11 | I'll select the side return,
| | 04:13 | I'll select my desk,
| | 04:15 | I'm going to click on my chair, I'll also click on the computer. When
I'm done selecting objects, I'll right-click to finish the selection
| | 04:21 | and now AutoCAD wants to know what's my base point,
at what point am I going to be rotating my entities.
| | 04:26 | Well I don't have a running object snap set for midpoint
so I am going to come over and grab that guy from the toolbar.
| | 04:32 | Let me click Midpoint
| | 04:34 | and then I am going to come over and hover by this line.
Notice AutoCAD is going to find the midpoint.
| | 04:39 | Let me left-click
| | 04:40 | and all I have to do now is type in an angle.
| | 04:43 | I'm going to type in 90 degrees because
I want this guy to rotate counterclockwise.
| | 04:48 | I'll hit Enter,
| | 04:50 | and that geometry is updated. The most important
thing to remember about the Rotate command is that
| | 04:55 | positive angles will rotate your objects counterclockwise.
| | 04:58 | Once you understand this concept, the power of
this command is only limited by your imagination.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Offset| 00:00 | The Offset command is yet another
way to make copies of our entities.
| | 00:03 | What makes the Offset command special
is that it makes parallel copies.
| | 00:07 | Let's create some offsets.
| | 00:08 | I'm going to open a drawing, I'm going to come up and
click my Open icon inside the Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:13 | We are going to go under Chapter 7 and we are going to
open the number 3 drawing, which is the Offset drawing.
| | 00:19 | I will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:20 | Now I have got some abstract geometry on my screen.
| | 00:24 | We're going to play around with this first
to learn how the Offset command works.
| | 00:28 | Let's create an offset of this arc.
| | 00:30 | Now remember an offset is a parallel copy.
To create an offset I'm going to come
| | 00:34 | over to my Modify toolbar and I'm
going to click on the Offset icon.
| | 00:39 | When I do, AutoCAD is asking me to specify the offset distance.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to type in the distance of 1.
| | 00:45 | I will just type the number 1 and hit Enter.
| | 00:47 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to select object to offset.
| | 00:51 | We can only offset one object at a time.
| | 00:53 | So I'm going to come over and click this object and when I do,
AutoCAD is now asking me to specify point on side of offset.
| | 01:02 | Since I'm creating a parallel copy, on which
side of the entity would you like the copy?
| | 01:06 | I'm going to click on this side of the entity.
| | 01:08 | As soon as I click AutoCAD creates a copy that is one unit away.
| | 01:12 | Notice I'm still in the Offset command. That means I could
click this circle and I could create a copy on the inside.
| | 01:19 | I could click the same circle again,
since I'm in the Offset command,
| | 01:23 | and I can click outside the circle
and create a copy on the outside.
| | 01:27 | Offset is kind of like the command
that doesn't know when to quit.
| | 01:30 | If you want to get out of the Offset command, you have
to right-click and select Enter or hit your Escape key.
| | 01:36 | I'm going to create one more offset.
| | 01:38 | Let's come over and launch the Offset command.
| | 01:40 | I will click the icon in the Modify toolbar.
| | 01:44 | AutoCAD is asking me to specify distance.
Notice it remembers the previous value.
| | 01:49 | This time I'm going to type in a distance of 0.5 and hit Enter.
| | 01:54 | AutoCAD is now asking me to select the object to offset.
| | 01:56 | I will click this line and now I need to pick a side.
Be careful if you have running Objects Snap set.
| | 02:04 | Notice if I'm too close to this line, notice
AutoCAD is wanting to grab the endpoint.
| | 02:09 | Remember that my job right now is telling AutoCAD
which side of the line I want to create my offset.
| | 02:15 | If I'm not paying attention and I click here, well that point
falls right on the line and then AutoCAD is going to have
| | 02:20 | to guess which side I meant. OK, so be careful
if you have a running Object Snap with Offset.
| | 02:25 | Make sure you are far enough away.
| | 02:27 | Let me click below the line and AutoCAD creates my offset.
| | 02:31 | Now once again, I'm still in the
command, let me hit my Escape key to get out.
| | 02:35 | Let's try and use the Offset command in a practical example.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to back up. We will pan
over. I have got a very big drawing.
| | 02:44 | This is a civil engineering example.
| | 02:46 | So in this drawing every unit equals one foot.
| | 02:49 | Now I have got a building, this represents a
restaurant and I have got a proposed parking lot.
| | 02:53 | I would like to create the foundation for my restaurant building.
| | 02:56 | I would like to offset this line one foot to the inside.
| | 03:01 | Let me zoom in.
| | 03:02 | I'm going to launch my Offset command.
| | 03:04 | AutoCAD is asking me to specify offset distance.
| | 03:07 | I'm going to type in 1 for my distance
because remember 1 unit equals 1 foot.
| | 03:12 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 03:13 | AutoCAD asks me to select object to offset.
| | 03:17 | Let me grab this one. I just selected
that object and if I back up,
| | 03:20 | I can see I just grabbed the entire building, which is perfect.
| | 03:23 | Now I need to specify which side of the line
I would like to create my parallel copy.
| | 03:27 | Well I'm just going to click inside
the building to create the offset.
| | 03:30 | When I'm done with the command, I'm going to hit Escape.
| | 03:33 | We can also use the Offset command to finish our parking stripes.
| | 03:36 | Now a typical parking stall is 9 feet wide, so
I'm going to offset this parking stripe 9 feet.
| | 03:42 | Let me launch the Offset command.
| | 03:44 | What's my distance?
| | 03:46 | 9. Every unit equals a foot, so I will hit Enter. Select
object to offset. I will offset this line to this side.
| | 03:53 | I will offset this line to this side. As fun as that is that
can be tedious, especially if I had several parking stalls.
| | 04:01 | Let me click one more line and when I do,
notice we have the sub-option of Multiple.
| | 04:06 | If I right-click, I'm going to select Multiple
because I would like to create multiple offsets.
| | 04:11 | Now that I'm in the Multiple option, all I have to do is
continuously left-click and each time I left-click my mouse,
| | 04:17 | AutoCAD will produce a new 9 foot offset from the latest copy.
| | 04:23 | When I'm done, I can hit Escape to get out of the command.
| | 04:25 | I want to show you one more thing, let's zoom in.
| | 04:29 | This is the entrance to my parking lot.
This cyan line represents my property line.
| | 04:35 | I can use Offset to find locations and space.
| | 04:39 | Let's say that this stop sign by
ordinance needs to be 3 feet back
| | 04:43 | from the property line and 3 feet back from the edge of pavement.
| | 04:47 | Let's find that location, I'm going to use
the Offset command. I will click Offset.
| | 04:51 | What's my distance?
| | 04:52 | 3, Enter. I will offset my property line.
| | 04:57 | I will click this guy and I will offset him in this direction.
| | 04:59 | I will come over then since I'm still in the command
and I will grab the edge of pavement and I will offset
| | 05:05 | that in this direction. Where two lines intersect,
| | 05:09 | that is the exact location where I can place my sign.
| | 05:11 | Let me hit Escape to cancel my Offset command.
| | 05:14 | Let's move the sign where it should be.
| | 05:15 | I'm going to use the Move command. We will click Move.
| | 05:18 | AutoCAD says select the objects.
| | 05:20 | I will grab this one and I will right
click to finish the selection.
| | 05:24 | Where do I want to pick him up from?
| | 05:25 | I have got a running Object Snap of center, so I'm just
going to move AutoCAD's cursor right on the arc and click.
| | 05:31 | Where do I want to place him?
| | 05:32 | I want to place him to the intersection.
| | 05:34 | Now I don't have intersection set for running Object Snap,
so I'm going to come over and grab it from the toolbar.
| | 05:40 | I will click Intersection.
| | 05:41 | I want to drop into the intersection here.
| | 05:43 | When I'm all done, I can click one line, click the other
line and we will just click our Erase icon to get rid of them.
| | 05:50 | The Offset command is probably one of AutoCAD's most powerful
tools. Not only is it great for making parallel copies,
| | 05:56 | it's also fantastic for finding locations and space.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Erase| 00:00 | Change is a fact of life and if you
draft architectural plans for a living,
| | 00:04 | you will find the changes happen about every 10 minutes.
| | 00:06 | Sometimes the changes that we make require
us to remove line work from our drawing.
| | 00:10 | Let's look at how we can use AutoCAD to erase entities.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to open up a drawing. I'm going to
click my Open icon. In the Select File dialog,
| | 00:18 | we are going to go into our exercise files folder.
| | 00:20 | Under Chapter 7 we are going to come down and open
up the number 4 drawing, which is our Erase drawing.
| | 00:25 | I will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:27 | Now this is a civil engineering example and I have
got a drawing of some handicap parking stalls.
| | 00:34 | Let's make the assumption that these stalls are on the outside
of a proposed restaurant and the architect has made a change.
| | 00:40 | He has now put the entrance on the north side of the building.
| | 00:42 | Well, obviously the handicap stalls are going to
have to move with the entrance so I'm not going
| | 00:47 | to need my stalls on this side of the building anymore.
| | 00:49 | I'm going to use my Erase command to remove these.
| | 00:52 | If I want to erase entities, I can come up and click
my Erase icon, which is in the Modify toolbar.
| | 00:58 | I'm going to launch the command
AutoCAD is asking to me select objects.
| | 01:03 | Well, I select the symbols first.
| | 01:04 | I'm going to click this symbol, this symbol and this symbol.
| | 01:07 | When I'm done selecting entities, I
can right-click, it's as easy as that.
| | 01:11 | Let's take and launch the command again.
| | 01:12 | I'm going to come over and click
Erase from the Modify toolbar,
| | 01:17 | AutoCAD is telling me to select objects,
let's get rid of the hatch patterns.
| | 01:20 | I'm going to click on all of these
little N stripes, I don't need these.
| | 01:26 | I don't need the ramps so I will click here, here and here.
| | 01:31 | I don't need these extra lines, we will
click those; I'm clicking a bunch of stuff.
| | 01:36 | Each thing that I click on gets selected. In fact
I have got one more little stripe here I want
| | 01:41 | to get rid of I'm not going to need that guy anymore.
| | 01:43 | We will take and click on him and select him.
| | 01:45 | When I'm all done selecting my entities, I
am going to right-click to finish the command
| | 01:49 | and as you can see, all of those entities are now gone.
| | 01:52 | So if your design requirements change or the needs of your
client change or if you just feel like throwing away a portion
| | 01:58 | of your drawing and starting over, you can always remove
your unwanted entities by using the Erase command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Undo and Redo| 00:00 | If you were to ask most AutoCAD users what their favorite
command is, Undo would most likely be their answer.
| | 00:05 | Let's face it, we all make mistakes
and when we do it's nice to know
| | 00:08 | that the Undo command will let us
put things back the way they were.
| | 00:12 | I would like to go over the Undo
command so let's open up a drawing.
| | 00:14 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and in the
Select File dialog we are going to go inside Chapter 7
| | 00:21 | of the Exercise Files folder and we will
grab the number 5 drawing, the Undo Redo.
| | 00:26 | We will highlight this and click Open.
| | 00:29 | I have got a metric example on my screen, this is a metric
socket wrench with a couple of sockets along the top.
| | 00:36 | One of them is still unfinished.
| | 00:38 | Now in order for me to demo the Undo
command, I need to do something first.
| | 00:43 | Let's take and finish this socket.
| | 00:44 | I would like to create an 8-sided polygon.
| | 00:47 | So I'm going to come over to my Draw toolbar
and I'm going to click on my Polygon icon.
| | 00:51 | AutoCAD is asking me to specify the number of sides,
let's try 8, Enter. Specify center of polygon.
| | 00:57 | I happen to have a running Object Snap of center so I'm
going to put my AutoCAD cursor on top of my arc and click.
| | 01:04 | This guy is going to be circumscribed above the circle and
I'm going to create him with a radius of 5 and hit Enter.
| | 01:12 | Now he is little bit too small. That's alright because we are
previewing the Undo command, we can always take that away.
| | 01:17 | I want to do one more thing, let's zoom on our thumb switch.
| | 01:20 | Let me pan this guy to the middle of the screen.
| | 01:24 | Let's say we wanted to rotate this
switch so it wasn't in this position.
| | 01:28 | I'm going to launch my Rotate command. AutoCAD is asking me
to select objects. I will select the switch and this circle.
| | 01:36 | I can right-click to finish the selection and I
want to rotate them around the center of the switch.
| | 01:41 | I happen to have a running Object Snap so
I will put my cursor on the arc and click
| | 01:45 | and for my rotation angle, this is going to be accidental.
| | 01:48 | I only want to rotate my little bit, but
I'm going to type in 180 and hit Enter.
| | 01:53 | That's obviously wrong. That's an
accident, didn't mean to do that.
| | 01:56 | Let's put it back the way it was.
| | 01:57 | I can do that by using the Undo command.
| | 02:00 | If I come up to the top of the screen, notice I have got this
little backwards facing arrow. This guy represents Undo.
| | 02:05 | If we look to the right of this arrow, notice I have got a
little grayed out arrow. This guy represents the Redo command.
| | 02:11 | I only point that out because he is grayed out
right now and notice when I click Undo to backup,
| | 02:16 | my thumb switch goes back the way it was
and now we have access to the Redo command.
| | 02:20 | If I Undo a command and then I decide that you know I didn't
want to do that, I can always put it back by clicking Redo.
| | 02:27 | Notice if I click Redo. it will go right back the way he was.
| | 02:30 | A Redo can only follow an Undo.
| | 02:33 | So let me click Undo again to put him back.
| | 02:35 | He is back in his original position.
| | 02:38 | I want you to notice that both the Undo and
the Redo contain little dropdown arrows.
| | 02:43 | This means that I can Undo and Redo multiple steps at one time.
| | 02:47 | If I click the dropdown, I have only
done 2 things so far in this drawing.
| | 02:51 | I can backup to the point prior to where I created my polygon.
| | 02:54 | Let me click and notice I have backed up to that state.
| | 02:57 | Redo is also available.
| | 02:59 | If I want to go all the way forward again, I can click my
Redo dropdown and I can come all the way back down to Rotate.
| | 03:06 | So the Undo and the Redo commands will allow
me to go forward and backward through time
| | 03:11 | to let me correct or make changes to my geometry.
| | 03:14 | The Undo command is kind of like an insurance policy; no matter
what we may do to our drawing, we can always use the Undo command
| | 03:20 | to go back and restore our geometry
and if Undo is not what we intended,
| | 03:24 | we can always use the Redo command to restore our entities.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
8. Selecting EntitiesWindows and crossing windows| 00:00 | As we become more experienced using AutoCAD, the drawings
we create will become larger and contain more entities.
| | 00:06 | Sometimes making changes may require
us to select several objects at a time.
| | 00:09 | Let's look at how we can use AutoCAD
to efficiently select multiple objects.
| | 00:14 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:14 | We will click our Open icon and we are
going to go into our Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:19 | We'll come down to Chapter 8 and we'll grab the
first drawing, the Window Crossing Window drawing.
| | 00:25 | I will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:28 | I have got a series of nine circles on my screen.
| | 00:31 | Let's say I like to erase four of them.
| | 00:33 | I'm going to come over and launch my Erase command.
| | 00:37 | AutoCAD says select objects.
| | 00:39 | Instead of clicking these guys individually,
what I'm going to do is create a window.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to click on my screen right up in space here.
| | 00:47 | Let me just click.
| | 00:48 | And as I move my cursor to the right,
notice I'm creating a blue square,
| | 00:53 | more importantly notice the edge of
that square as a solid white line.
| | 00:57 | This represents a window selection.
| | 00:59 | Notice AutoCAD is asking me to specify opposite corner.
| | 01:02 | When I click to finish my selection, AutoCAD will select
everything that falls completely within this window.
| | 01:08 | So, just for the sake of science, when we pull down a little
bit further, only those four circles fall within the selection.
| | 01:13 | So when I click to finish my window,
AutoCAD selects those four circles.
| | 01:18 | And if I right-click to finish selecting
objects, those guys are gone.
| | 01:23 | Let me Undo and bring them back.
| | 01:26 | Let's look at another type of selection.
| | 01:27 | We are going to look at the crossing window.
| | 01:30 | Once again, let's say I have to erase four circles.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to launch my Erase command.
| | 01:35 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 01:37 | This time, let's say I want to erase these four circles.
| | 01:39 | I'm going to click at a point in space just like I did before.
| | 01:42 | I will click, and when I pull to the left, notice
I'm creating a green square or a green window.
| | 01:49 | Also notice that the outer edge of this window is a dashed line.
| | 01:52 | The dashed line represents this is a crossing window and
that means that this window selection will grab everything
| | 01:58 | that falls completely within or crosses over the boundary.
| | 02:02 | So of I want to grab those four circles, I could finish my
selection all the way up here, and I will still grab the four
| | 02:08 | of them because two of those circles cross over the boundary.
| | 02:11 | Let me left-click to finish my window.
| | 02:13 | Notice they are highlighted.
| | 02:14 | I can right-click to finish the selection
and the command removes the circles.
| | 02:18 | Let me Undo to bring them back.
| | 02:20 | Now, there is no magic to using a window or a crossing window.
| | 02:24 | It just depends on which way you move
your cursor when you make your selection.
| | 02:28 | I'm going to launch the Erase command one more time.
| | 02:31 | I will click Erase, select objects.
| | 02:33 | I'm just going to pick a point on screen.
| | 02:35 | And notice if I move my cursor to the right, I get a window;
if I move my cursor to the left, I get the crossing window.
| | 02:42 | OK, I'm going to hit Escape to clear the selection.
| | 02:45 | Let me hit Escape again to cancel out of the command.
| | 02:48 | Let's look at how we can use the window and
the crossing window in a practical example.
| | 02:53 | I'm going to back up a little bit.
| | 02:55 | I've got a chessboard on my screen.
| | 02:59 | One thing we know about the chessboard is the pieces
on one side are the same as the pieces on the other.
| | 03:03 | So I would like to copy this row of
pawns from this row up to this row.
| | 03:08 | That's going to require me to select multiple entities.
| | 03:11 | I'm going to use my Copy command.
| | 03:13 | So I will come up and click my Copy icon.
| | 03:16 | Now, any command that asks us to select objects can be
used with a window or a crossing window, doesn't matter.
| | 03:23 | As long as the computer says select objects,
I can use a window or a crossing window.
| | 03:26 | Let me come down and select my objects.
| | 03:28 | I'm going to use a window.
| | 03:29 | I'm going to pick a point right here.
| | 03:33 | As I move my mouse to the right, I will make window around
those objects, I will click on my screen to finish the window
| | 03:39 | and then I will right-click to let
AutoCAD know I'm done selecting objects.
| | 03:43 | All eight of those guys have been selected.
| | 03:45 | I can now pick them up from the endpoint here,
and I will place them to the endpoint here.
| | 03:51 | Since I'm done copying, I'm going
to hit my Escape key to cancel out.
| | 03:55 | Now, at this point, let's say I would like
to erase all of the lines in this drawing.
| | 03:59 | To erase all of my lines, it would probably be
most efficient for me to use a crossing window.
| | 04:04 | Let's try that.
| | 04:05 | I'm going to use the Erase command this time.
| | 04:07 | Once again, any command that allows you to
select the objects, we can use a window.
| | 04:11 | At the Select objects prompt, I'm going to come
over to the right side of my object and click.
| | 04:15 | And when I pull to the left, I'm creating a crossing window.
| | 04:20 | Notice, if I cross over all of these ends,
I will left-click and finish my window.
| | 04:25 | It grabs all the horizontal lines.
| | 04:27 | I'm still in the Select objects prompt,
so I'm going to come up and click again.
| | 04:30 | I will do little crossing window over the top.
| | 04:32 | I will finish the window by clicking and then, I will finish
the selection by right-clicking, and those lines are gone.
| | 04:38 | More than half the work you do in AutoCAD
will require you do to make selections.
| | 04:42 | Knowing how to efficiently select multiple objects is
one of the fastest ways to increase your productivity.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Removing from selections| 00:00 | Occasionally, when we are selecting objects,
we may select more than what we need.
| | 00:04 | If the time comes when we find ourselves in the
position of having selected too many objects,
| | 00:08 | it's important to know that AutoCAD also
gives us the ability to deselect our entities.
| | 00:12 | Let's try that.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:14 | I'm going to come up to my Open icon,
and inside this Select File dialog,
| | 00:18 | we are going to go inside Chapter 8 of the Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:22 | And I'm going to come down and select drawing
number 2, Adding and Removing from Selections.
| | 00:27 | Let me come down and click Open to
bring that guy up on our screen.
| | 00:30 | Now, I have got a drawing of a chessboard, and let's make
the assumption that I need to erase this row of pawns.
| | 00:36 | So I'm going to come up and launch my Erase command.
| | 00:39 | At the Select objects prompt, I'm going to
click in space to the left side of my board.
| | 00:46 | This will start my window and then I will move my cursor to
the right and then I can click again to finish the window.
| | 00:52 | Now, I'm simulating an error.
| | 00:53 | Notice all of the geometry that falls within that selection.
| | 00:57 | So when I finish my window by clicking,
I have selected too much. Doesn't matter,
| | 01:01 | I don't have to hit my Escape key, I don't have to cancel out.
| | 01:04 | AutoCAD does give us the ability to deselect entities.
| | 01:07 | I can do that by holding my Shift key.
| | 01:09 | Since I'm still in the Select objects
prompt, I can move my cursor on top
| | 01:13 | of the unneeded line, hold down my Shift key and click.
| | 01:17 | And when I do, AutoCAD removes him from the selection.
| | 01:20 | I have just taken my finger off the Shift key.
| | 01:22 | Let me right-click to finish the selection and
AutoCAD finishes the command and erases those pawns.
| | 01:28 | Let's try it again.
| | 01:28 | Let's say I wanted to erase the row
of pawns at the top of the board.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to launch the Erase command again.
| | 01:35 | This time, I'm going to simulate a big error.
| | 01:37 | I'm going to move over to the right side of the board and I
am going to click and I'm going to make a crossing window.
| | 01:43 | Let me left-click on the outside
of the board to finish my window.
| | 01:46 | And when I do, I have selected way too much.
| | 01:49 | Since I used the crossing window, everything that fell
within the window or crossed over its boundary got selected.
| | 01:54 | Once again, no need to cancel out of the command.
| | 01:57 | I can use my Shift key to remove multiple entities.
| | 02:01 | Since I'm still in the Select objects
prompt, I can move my cursor to the right side
| | 02:05 | of the board and I can hold my Shift key and click.
| | 02:09 | I'm now making a crossing window around
the entities that I would like to deselect.
| | 02:14 | Let me click to finish my selection,
and story of my life, I missed one.
| | 02:18 | I deselected everything except for the one.
| | 02:20 | I'm going to hold my Shift key and we'll pick this one guy.
| | 02:23 | There we go.
| | 02:24 | Only the items that I want to erase are now selected.
| | 02:27 | Let me right-click to finish the
selection and AutoCAD removes those pieces.
| | 02:31 | Now that we understand how we can select and deselect entities,
let's try and use these new skills in a practical example.
| | 02:37 | I'm going to zoom back.
| | 02:39 | We will pan over.
| | 02:40 | Notice, I have got a gear on my screen.
| | 02:43 | Now, the only problem with this gear is it has too many teeth.
| | 02:47 | When this gear was drafted, the number
of teeth happens to be incorrect.
| | 02:50 | The rest of the gear is fine.
| | 02:52 | So I don't want to erase the entire drawing and start over.
| | 02:54 | I just need to erase all of these teeth.
| | 02:57 | Let's try that.
| | 02:57 | I'm going to come over and launch my Erase command.
| | 02:59 | And at the Select objects prompt, I'm going
to click outside my gear and I'm going
| | 03:05 | to make a window selection around the entire part.
| | 03:09 | Let me click to finish my window.
| | 03:10 | Now, I'm still in the Select objects prompt.
| | 03:13 | I'm going to move my cursor inside the gear
and I'm going to hold my Shift key and click,
| | 03:18 | and let's make a crossing window going the other
way to deselect all the entities on the inside.
| | 03:24 | Let me click to finish the window.
| | 03:25 | I will release my Shift key and then, I will right-click
to let AutoCAD know I'm done with my selection.
| | 03:31 | And notice, only the teeth have been removed.
| | 03:33 | So the next time, you select more than what you need,
whether it would be intentional or unintentional,
| | 03:37 | you can always remove entities from
your selection by using your Shift key.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using key-ins| 00:00 | Sometimes a rectangular window isn't the
most effective way to select our objects.
| | 00:04 | At times like these, we can use the key-in
functions to quickly select the objects
| | 00:08 | that are difficult to select using normal methods.
| | 00:10 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:11 | I come up and click our Open icon and we are going into Chapter 8
| | 00:15 | of our Exercise Files folder and we
will open up drawing number 3, Using Key-ins.
| | 00:21 | We will click Open to bring that guy up on screen.
| | 00:23 | Now, I have got my metric drawing of
my wrench and a couple of sockets.
| | 00:28 | We are going to use this drawing to explore some of the
key-in functions that AutoCAD gives us to select objects.
| | 00:34 | First, I what I want to look at is All.
| | 00:35 | Let's say I like to erase everything in this drawing.
| | 00:39 | I don't know if you've had a day like that.
| | 00:40 | Let's try it out.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to click Erase.
| | 00:42 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 00:45 | I'm going to type ALL, all, and hit Enter.
| | 00:49 | Notice everything is selected.
| | 00:51 | I didn't have to use a window.
| | 00:53 | I didn't have to pick anything on the screen.
| | 00:54 | I said all, everything got selected.
| | 00:57 | Let me hit my Enter key again to finish this
selection and notice everything is now erased.
| | 01:02 | Let me Undo to bring it back.
| | 01:04 | Let's look at another key-in.
| | 01:06 | I'm going to zoom in on my thumbswitch area.
| | 01:09 | Let's say I would like to move the
thumbswitch 5 mms to the right.
| | 01:15 | This happens to be a metric drawing so we are using millimeters.
| | 01:18 | I'm going to launch my Move command and when I do,
| | 01:21 | I would like to select the thumbswitch
as well as the shape around the outside.
| | 01:26 | Unfortunately, it's not a nice rectangular shape
so a window is not going to help me very much.
| | 01:31 | Instead, I'm going to use a key-in.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to type WP, which stands for Window Polygon.
| | 01:37 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 01:39 | At this point, AutoCAD is asking for my first polygon point.
| | 01:42 | I'm going to pick a point on screen.
| | 01:44 | I will pick another and another and another, and notice
the color and the linetype of the shape that I'm making.
| | 01:51 | What I'm doing is I'm creating a window selection
but I'm not being forced to conform to a rectangle.
| | 01:57 | So I'm working my way around.
| | 01:59 | One thing to be careful of, I do have a running Object Snap.
| | 02:02 | So if I was to get too close to this geometry,
AutoCAD may snap to one of these points.
| | 02:07 | So to be on the safe side, while I do this command, I
am going to come down and turn this OSNAP button off.
| | 02:14 | There we go.
| | 02:14 | And I can continue.
| | 02:15 | I'm going to work my way all the way around.
| | 02:17 | And when I'm done, I'm going to right-click
and select Enter to finish the selection.
| | 02:22 | I have just selected those entities.
| | 02:24 | Let me right-click to let AutoCAD
know I'm done selecting objects.
| | 02:28 | Now, specify a base point, at what point
would I like to pick up this geometry.
| | 02:33 | Well, my running Object Snaps are
turned off right now, that's fine.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to come over and grab my center point Object Snap.
| | 02:40 | I will click that and then I will come back and I will
pick this geometry up from the center of the circle.
| | 02:45 | Now, where would I like to move it?
| | 02:46 | I would like to move it 5 mms towards
the neck area of the wrench.
| | 02:51 | Now, to do that accurately, I'm going to lock my Ortho.
| | 02:54 | Let me come down and click my Ortho button.
| | 02:57 | Notice all the settings changes I
can make all in the same command.
| | 03:00 | I'm going to pull this to the right and I'm
going to type in the number 5 to move it 5 mms.
| | 03:06 | Let me hit Enter and I moved it too far.
| | 03:09 | So that's all right.
| | 03:10 | I would like to move this guy back maybe 2
mms, but now he is going to be tough to select.
| | 03:15 | He is awfully close to the edge.
| | 03:17 | It doesn't matter I can use another key-in.
| | 03:19 | I'm going to launch the Move command again.
| | 03:22 | When AutoCAD asks me to select objects,
I'm going to hit P for Previous.
| | 03:26 | I will type in P and hit Enter, and AutoCAD
will reselect the previous selection.
| | 03:32 | Let me right-click to let AutoCAD
know I'm done selecting objects.
| | 03:35 | Let's specify a base point.
| | 03:37 | I'm going to use this center Object Snap.
| | 03:40 | And I want to pick this stuff up from the center of this circle,
so I will just move my cursor over and click at the circle.
| | 03:48 | My Ortho is locked.
| | 03:49 | Let me pull to the left, and I'm
going to type in 2 and hit Enter.
| | 03:53 | That's a little better.
| | 03:54 | As you can see, the key-in options are helpful alternative
to the selection window, and they give us the ability
| | 03:59 | to work outside the box when making our selections.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
9. Making Major ChangesTrim and Extend| 00:00 | As we create geometry on our screen, we will need to pause
from time to time, do a little cleanup on our drawing.
| | 00:05 | The Trim and Extend commands do a great job helping
us fix our line work after we have made some changes.
| | 00:11 | Let's take a look at how they work.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:15 | We are going to go into our Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:17 | We are going to come down to Chapter 9 and I want to open
up the very first drawing number 1, the Trim and Extend drawing.
| | 00:25 | I will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:27 | Now, I have got some abstract geometry on my screen.
| | 00:30 | I would like to use this to learn how
the Trim and the Extend commands work.
| | 00:35 | If we look at this geometry, let's make the assumption that I
intended to have my line and my arc stop at this vertical line.
| | 00:43 | So when I drew these guys, I actually drew
them a little bit farther than I should have.
| | 00:47 | I'm going to use the Trim command to cut these ends off.
| | 00:51 | To use the Trim command, I'm going to come over to my
Modify toolbar and I'm going to click on the Trim icon.
| | 00:58 | If we look at the command line, AutoCAD
is now asking me to select cutting edges.
| | 01:02 | When we use the Trim command, we
will use one entity to cut another.
| | 01:06 | So I'm going to come over and click on this
vertical line, that's going to be my cutting edge.
| | 01:11 | And then, I'm going to right-click to let
AutoCAD know I'm done selecting objects.
| | 01:15 | Now, AutoCAD is going to allow me to select objects to trim.
| | 01:18 | All I have to do is click each entity
and it will be trimmed back to the line.
| | 01:23 | Let me right-click to finish the command.
| | 01:25 | I will select Enter.
| | 01:27 | Now, if I look at the geometry a little bit
lower, I have got the exact opposite problem.
| | 01:32 | This line and arc should have been drawn farther
forward such that they met this vertical line.
| | 01:37 | Let's use the Extend command to correct this geometry.
| | 01:41 | To launch Extend, I'm going to come over to my Modify toolbar.
| | 01:45 | Right next to the Trim icon is the Extend icon.
| | 01:48 | Let me click this guy to launch the command.
| | 01:51 | If I look at my command line, notice AutoCAD
is asking me to select a boundary edge.
| | 01:57 | You see where the Trim command pulls our
entities back to meet an existing line segment,
| | 02:02 | the Extend command projects our entities
forward to meet an existing line segment.
| | 02:07 | So my boundary edge is going to be this vertical line.
| | 02:10 | I will just click on it to select it and I
will right-click to let AutoCAD know I'm done.
| | 02:15 | And then, I can click each entity to project it
forward or to Extend it to meet my boundary edge.
| | 02:23 | When I'm all done, I can right-click and select Enter.
| | 02:27 | Now, the Trim and the Extend commands are essentially the same.
| | 02:31 | They have the exact same workflow.
| | 02:32 | In fact, they are so similar, I can access
either command from within the other.
| | 02:37 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to pan my geometry over and
I have got another abstract example here.
| | 02:43 | Let's say I would like to convert this
line work into the shape of a ladder.
| | 02:48 | While I'm obviously going to have to trim off some
pieces and I'm going to have to extend some others,
| | 02:52 | let's try and do it all from within one command.
| | 02:55 | I'm going to come over and launch my Trim command.
| | 02:59 | AutoCAD is asking me to select my cutting edges.
| | 03:02 | I'm going to use this vertical line and I'm
going to come over and click this vertical line.
| | 03:06 | I will right-click to let AutoCAD know I'm done.
| | 03:10 | Now, I can take and click each piece that I'd like to trim.
| | 03:14 | Now, up until now, I have been selecting
my objects to trim one at a time.
| | 03:18 | I can also do it by using a crossing window.
| | 03:21 | If I come over to this side, I can click once above my
entities and I can come down and create a crossing window.
| | 03:27 | Let me click to finish the window, and I have
now trimmed the multiple entities at one time.
| | 03:32 | Now that my objects have been trimmed
off, at this point I can use the Extend.
| | 03:37 | But I don't have to launch the Extend command.
| | 03:40 | Notice that my cursor, it says Select the
object to trim or shift-select to extend.
| | 03:45 | That means if I hold by Shift key, I will
toggle automatically to the Extend command.
| | 03:51 | Let me hold Shift and I will click
this line, I will click this one.
| | 03:55 | Each one of my cutting edges becomes a
boundary edge if I hold my Shift key.
| | 03:59 | So I will click all my entities and when I'm done, I will
release the Shift key, I will right-click and select Enter.
| | 04:06 | Let's try and use the Trim and the
Extend commands in a practical example.
| | 04:10 | I'm going to pan over to the right.
| | 04:13 | Let's say I'm an architect and this is a window that I
have chosen for a building that I'm creating for my client.
| | 04:19 | Now, it's a nice three-pane window, but maybe when the
client comes in and looks at it, he says "You know,
| | 04:24 | that's kind of static, it's a little bit boring,
could we do something with an arch top possibly?"
| | 04:30 | Sure, we can do that.
| | 04:32 | I'm going to pane over to the right a little
bit more. Through the process of stop motion animation,
| | 04:36 | I have already created my circles to represent my arch top.
| | 04:40 | Let's take and clean this geometry up using Trim and Extend.
| | 04:44 | Well, I already know I don't need the bottom half of these
circles, so I'm going to come over and launch my Trim command.
| | 04:51 | AutoCAD wants me to select my cutting edge.
| | 04:53 | I will select this line as my cutting
edge and I will right-click.
| | 04:57 | Then I can click the bottom half of this circle
and this circle to have them trimmed off.
| | 05:03 | Let me right-click and select Enter to get out of the command.
| | 05:07 | At this point, I can look at it and say "You know
what, I don't need these little pieces on the end.
| | 05:12 | Let's trim those off."
| | 05:13 | I'm going to launch the Trim command again.
| | 05:15 | This time, we will grab the arc.
| | 05:18 | I will right-click to let AutoCAD know
I'm done selecting my cutting edges.
| | 05:23 | And then, I can pick this piece and
this piece to remove the ends.
| | 05:28 | Now, I'm not going to exit the command just yet because I would
like to project the dividers between my windows up to the top.
| | 05:37 | So, since this edge is already highlighted, if I hold my
Shift key and create a crossing window across my dividers,
| | 05:46 | let me click to finish my window, AutoCAD
will project those lines up to the top.
| | 05:51 | Now that I'm done, I'm going to right-click
and select Enter to get out of the command.
| | 05:57 | I only have to do one more thing.
| | 06:00 | I have to go around and clean up these little pieces.
| | 06:02 | I've got to take and trim a bunch
of small parts out of this window.
| | 06:05 | Let's do that.
| | 06:06 | I'm going to launch the Trim command one more time.
| | 06:09 | Trim, and this time, AutoCAD is asking me select
cutting edges or if I hit the Enter key, I select All.
| | 06:17 | It would be much easier in this case
for everything to be a cutting edge.
| | 06:20 | So I'm going to hit Enter, and now
everything can be used to trim everything else.
| | 06:26 | I can just move my cursor over each of these little
pieces and I can click and each one gets trimmed off.
| | 06:35 | There we go.
| | 06:36 | When I'm finished, I can right-click and
select Enter to get out of the command.
| | 06:40 | As you can see, the Trim and Extend
commands have essentially the same workflow.
| | 06:44 | Jumping from one to the other is as
simple as pressing your Shift key.
| | 06:48 | Knowing how to use both of these commands will allow
you to quickly and accurately clean up your geometry.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Fillet| 00:00 | Quite often sharp corners aren't acceptable
for all of our intersecting line work.
| | 00:04 | In some cases, we may need to create
rounded corners at our intersections.
| | 00:08 | We can easily create rounded corners using AutoCAD's Fillet command.
| | 00:12 | I am going to open a drawing. We are going to come up and click
the Open icon and under Chapter 9, in our Exercise Files folder,
| | 00:18 | we are going to open up drawing number 2,
| | 00:21 | which is the Fillet Drawing.
| | 00:23 | I will highlight him and click Open.
| | 00:25 | I have got a couple of Xs on my screen. We are going
to use these Xs to learn how the Fillet command works.
| | 00:31 | To create a Fillet,
| | 00:32 | I am going to come over to my Modify
toolbar and click the Fillet icon.
| | 00:38 | Now, Fillet essentially just wants two entities. You just click
two objects and AutoCAD creates a rounded corner between them.
| | 00:45 | So, Fillet is asking for first object.
| | 00:48 | I'm going to click this line. Now it's asking me to select second
object, I'll click this line and AutoCAD creates my Fillet.
| | 00:55 | Now I know what you are thinking, hey that's
supposed to be a rounded corner, isn't it? Yes, it is.
| | 01:00 | There is one thing that we left out.
| | 01:01 | Let me Undo.
| | 01:04 | Let's Fillet this again.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to come over to my Modify toolbar and click Fillet.
| | 01:10 | The one thing that we neglected to do was set our radius.
Notice at the command line, I have a sub-option of Radius,
| | 01:17 | so I am going to right-click,
| | 01:19 | select Radius.
| | 01:21 | I am going to specify a Fillet radius of 1 inch.
| | 01:24 | This happens to be an architectural drawing. Let me hit Enter.
| | 01:29 | Now I will select my first object
| | 01:32 | and my second object to create the rounded corner.
| | 01:36 | I'm going to run through the Fillet command one more time
because I want to show you that it's important where you click.
| | 01:43 | Let me come over and launch Fillet.
| | 01:45 | This time I have the same x,
same geometry. I'm going to click
| | 01:50 | and I am going to come down and click over here.
| | 01:52 | Notice, same geometry, different result. When you use the
Fillet command, you want to click on the portion of the line
| | 01:59 | that you want to keep. That's how AutoCAD knows
which geometry should remain on your screen.
| | 02:05 | I am going to back up a little bit. We are going
to use the Fillet command in a practical example.
| | 02:10 | Now, I have got a partial kitchen drawing on my screen.
| | 02:13 | Let's zoom in on the sink area and we're going
to finish the sink using the Fillet command.
| | 02:19 | I would like to Fillet this basin first.
| | 02:22 | I am going to use a radius of three and a half inches,
| | 02:25 | so let me come over and launch the Fillet command.
| | 02:27 | Let's set our radius. I will right-click,
| | 02:31 | select Radius.
| | 02:33 | My Fillet radius is going to be three, dash (3-)
| | 02:38 | remember we are entering architectural units. 3-1/2 inches.
| | 02:46 | Enter.
| | 02:48 | Now I can go ahead and select my entities. Let me select this entity
and I'll select this one and AutoCAD creates the rounded corner.
| | 02:56 | Also notice, I got dumped out of the command.
| | 02:59 | One of the drawbacks to Fillet is AutoCAD
makes the assumption you only want to do one.
| | 03:04 | Let's do it again.
| | 03:05 | I'm going to launch Fillet one more time.
| | 03:08 | Notice that AutoCAD remembers the previous radius.
| | 03:12 | So that guy is set correctly. I'm going to use the Multiple sub-option,
| | 03:17 | so let's right-click and select Multiple.
| | 03:20 | Now I can create as many Fillets as
I want before I get out of the command.
| | 03:26 | So I will click this entity and I'll click this one to round
the corner. I'm still in the command. I'll click this entity
| | 03:31 | and this one to round the corner.
We'll click this entity and this one.
| | 03:36 | Now that I'm done, I will right-click
| | 03:38 | and select Enter to get out of the command.
| | 03:41 | I have got one more Fillet I would like to create.
Let's create the rounded corner on the lower right-hand side.
| | 03:49 | I'm going to launch my Fillet command.
| | 03:51 | This time I am going to use a different radius.
| | 03:53 | So I will right-click, we'll use the Radius
sub-option and we'll set this guy to 4 inches.
| | 04:00 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 04:02 | Now I'll select my first object
| | 04:04 | and my second object to Fillet the corner.
| | 04:09 | Let me back up.
| | 04:10 | Fillet is great for creating rounded corners;
it's also fantastic for creating sharp corners.
| | 04:17 | We pan this up just a little bit. Notice my countertop
is unfinished. I would like to square off this corner.
| | 04:24 | I can do that with the Fillet command as well.
| | 04:27 | Let me come over and launch Fillet.
| | 04:30 | No matter what my radius happens to be-
| | 04:32 | if I look at the command line I know it's 4,
| | 04:35 | but let me click my first entity.
| | 04:38 | Notice that my cursor AutoCAD is saying "Select
second object or shift-select to apply corner."
| | 04:43 | That means if I hold my Shift key when I select the second
entity, AutoCAD will automatically create a sharp corner.
| | 04:50 | Fillet is a tool that gives us more
control over our intersecting geometry.
| | 04:54 | Whether our design requires a rounded corner
| | 04:57 | or even a sharp corner, we can always use the Fillet command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Chamfer| 00:00 | Sometimes our design may require a beveled or angular corner.
| | 00:04 | In cases like this, we can use AutoCAD's Chamfer command.
| | 00:08 | Chamfer works the exact same way as the Fillet
command, except that it results in a beveled corner.
| | 00:13 | Let's create some chamfers.
| | 00:15 | I'm going open up a drawing, I'm going to come up to my Open
icon and click and in the Select File dialog we are going to look
| | 00:22 | in Chapter 9 of the Exercise Files folder and we are going to
come down and grab number 3, the Chamfer drawing, and click Open.
| | 00:31 | Now, this is a conceptual floor plan for a single family
home and at this point let's zoom in on our kitchen area.
| | 00:43 | Let me pan the countertop to the middle of my screen.
| | 00:46 | Now, I'm expecting a lot of traffic moving
around the outside of this counter top.
| | 00:51 | And anytime, you have a 90 degree angle, you are risking
injury, so I would like to chamfer these corners.
| | 00:58 | Let's start with this corner right up here, I'm going to zoom
in and we will bevel that corner using the Chamfer command.
| | 01:09 | Let me come over and click on the Chamfer icon,
it happens to be located in our Modify toolbar.
| | 01:15 | And when I launch this command, notice it's asking
us to select first line. It's just like Fillet.
| | 01:20 | Chamfer really just wants two lines and then it
will create the chamfered corner between them,
| | 01:26 | but just like Fillet, we have to adjust our settings first.
| | 01:30 | Now, there are two methods for creating chamfers,
there is the Distance method and the Angle method.
| | 01:35 | We are going to look at Distance first.
| | 01:38 | Distance is a sub-option, I can see that
at my command lines, so let me right-click
| | 01:44 | and we will create a chamfer using the Distance method.
| | 01:47 | Now, when I select Distance the computer is
asking me to specify first chamfer distance.
| | 01:52 | I'm going to type in 3 inches.
| | 01:55 | This drawing happens to be an architectural example, so
we are going to be entering architectural measurements.
| | 02:03 | Now, AutoCAD wants my second chamfer distance.
| | 02:07 | I'm going to set this to 6 inches, just so
that it's different and I will hit Enter.
| | 02:13 | Now, that I have set my two distances
AutoCAD wants me to select my two lines.
| | 02:19 | Here's the way it works.
| | 02:20 | The line that I click on first, AutoCAD is going
to backup my first distance from the corner.
| | 02:28 | The line I click on second AutoCAD is going to backup
| | 02:32 | from the corner my second distance and
then it will chamfer off the corner.
| | 02:36 | Let me click my first line, this is my 3 inch side, let me click
this line, this is my 6 inch side and AutoCAD chamfered the corner.
| | 02:45 | So, the order in which we click our lines is important.
| | 02:49 | Let's create another one, I'm going to launch the Chamfer
command again. I'm going to come over and click the icon.
| | 02:57 | Notice that the command line,
AutoCAD remembers our previous settings.
| | 03:01 | So, if those settings are good and I'm going to assume that they
are, I'm going to click two lines and create another Chamfer.
| | 03:08 | Let's click this one, this represents my 3 inch side.
| | 03:11 | Let me click this one, this represents my 6 inch
side and I have just created another chamfer.
| | 03:17 | Let me pen down to the end of the countertop and let's
try using the Angle method of the Chamfer command.
| | 03:27 | Let me re-launch the Chamfer command, I'm
going to do that through the right-click menu.
| | 03:33 | I'm going to right-click and select Repeat Chamfer.
| | 03:36 | This time I want to use the Angle method.
| | 03:38 | So, I'm going to right-click to access
my sub-options and I will select Angle.
| | 03:45 | Now, the way the Angle works is I'm going
to give AutoCAD a distance at an angle.
| | 03:50 | Now, AutoCAD is going to take that information and when I
click my first line, AutoCAD is going to backup that distance
| | 03:56 | that I specified and then it's going to turn
whatever angle I specified to chamfer my corner.
| | 04:02 | Let's try it out. Specify chamfer length on first line.
| | 04:05 | I'm going to set this to 6 inch and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:09 | What's my chamfer angle?
| | 04:10 | I will set this to 45 degrees.
| | 04:13 | I will just type in 45 and hit Enter.
| | 04:15 | I have just loaded up the Chamfer command
with settings, so let's click our lines.
| | 04:21 | I will click this line first, that means
AutoCAD is going to backup 6 inches from the corner,
| | 04:26 | it's going to turn 45 degrees and
it's going to chamfer off the ends.
| | 04:30 | It just needs to know, which line do I want to chamfer to.
| | 04:32 | Let me click this one and there is my chamfer.
| | 04:36 | Now, I don't want you to think that we only
use the Chamfer command for countertops.
| | 04:41 | It is used for other things. Let me backup a little bit.
| | 04:45 | So, we can see our entire floor plan.
| | 04:48 | I haven't had a trace ceiling in my master bedroom.
| | 04:52 | Hopefully, when you look at this, you can see
a rectangle that had the corners chamfered off.
| | 04:58 | I would like to create the same type
of trace ceiling in my dinning room.
| | 05:02 | So let me zoom in on this area and we are going
to chamfer these corners using the Angle method.
| | 05:07 | Let me launch the Chamfer command. Once again I'm going
to adjust my settings, so I'm going to right-click
| | 05:15 | and select Angle. What's my chamfer length? I'm going to
type in 4 feet, since we are dealing with the ceiling now
| | 05:23 | and not a countertop, our measurements are much larger.
| | 05:26 | So 4 feet, Enter. What's my angle? I'm going to leave that
at 45 and I will hit Enter and now I can select my lines.
| | 05:34 | I will click this line and I will
click this line to create my chamfer.
| | 05:39 | Notice that just like the Fillet command
AutoCAD assumes you only want one.
| | 05:44 | Let's take and finish up our trace ceiling by
using the Multiple option of the Chamfer command.
| | 05:49 | Let me come down and launch Chamfer. Now my settings
are all good, AutoCAD remembers my previous values,
| | 05:56 | I'm just going to right-click and
access the Multiple sub-option.
| | 06:00 | Now, I can click my lines. Let me click this one and this
one to produce my chamfer, I will click this one and this one
| | 06:08 | to produce a chamfer, let me click this one and this
one to produce my chamfer and finish my trace ceiling.
| | 06:15 | When I'm all finished with the command, I
can right-click and select Enter to get out.
| | 06:22 | The Chamfer command gives us yet another
choice when dealing with intersecting geometry.
| | 06:26 | If a sharp or rounded corner isn't acceptable for our design,
we can also use the Chamfer command to create beveled corners.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Array| 00:01 | Sometimes making manual copies of our entities
can be tedious especially if our copies have
| | 00:05 | to fall into a rectangular or rotational pattern.
| | 00:09 | The Array command was created to quickly make
patterned copies of our selected objects.
| | 00:13 | Let's take a look at the Array command.
| | 00:15 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon.
| | 00:17 | We are going to open a drawing.
| | 00:19 | Let's look inside the Chapter 9 folder
within the Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:23 | And I'm going to come down to the
number 4 drawing ,which is our Array Demo.
| | 00:28 | I will highlight this guy and click Open.
| | 00:30 | Now what we see on our screen is a typical high school classroom.
| | 00:35 | It's not completely typical because
it doesn't have any desks in it yet.
| | 00:38 | Well, it does have one desk.
| | 00:40 | When I zoom in down here we do have one standard
high school desk. Let me backup a little bit.
| | 00:45 | Now my goal is to fill this room with desks and if I was to
use the traditional Copy command it would be extremely tedious
| | 00:53 | because I would have to select my desk and then I would have to
know each subsequent location where I needed to place a copy.
| | 01:00 | Instead since I know my copies need to fall into a rectangular
pattern of rows and columns I'm going to use the Array command.
| | 01:08 | To create an array I'm going to come over to
my Modify toolbar and select the Array icon.
| | 01:13 | This will bring up my Array dialog.
| | 01:15 | From here I can select my type of array.
| | 01:18 | There are actually two types.
| | 01:19 | We are going to look at rectangular first.
| | 01:22 | So that guy is selected that's good.
| | 01:23 | Let's come over and click our Select objects button.
| | 01:26 | This is where we identify what we would like to array.
| | 01:29 | Let me click.
| | 01:31 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects I will select my
desk and then I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 01:37 | Now that I have identified my objects I can now select
the number of rows and columns I would like to create.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to speculate.
| | 01:45 | I'm going to try 5 rows and I'm going to click in my Columns
field to set that when I do watch my little preview area.
| | 01:52 | When I click in the Columns field, notice my preview is dynamic.
| | 01:56 | It's a little pseudo preview to give me an
idea of what my array is going to look like.
| | 02:02 | Let me set my columns to 5.
| | 02:04 | That will do.
| | 02:05 | Now I'm going to come down to my
Offset distance in direction area.
| | 02:09 | This is where I can set my distance between my rows and columns.
| | 02:13 | Let me click in the Row offset area and I
am going to attempt a distance of 5 feet.
| | 02:19 | Now this is an architectural drawing
so I have to use my apostrophe, 5 feet.
| | 02:25 | Now the distance that I give is not
the walking distance between my rows.
| | 02:30 | This is a center to center distance.
| | 02:33 | Let me set my Column offset to 5 feet.
| | 02:38 | Now that I think I have this set
pretty good I'm going to come down
| | 02:42 | and click my Preview button and we will take a look at our array.
| | 02:45 | When I select Preview I'm now in
the preview mode of the command.
| | 02:51 | My little Array dialog here is kind of in my way.
| | 02:53 | Let me click and drag this guy up a
little so we can look at our copies.
| | 02:57 | Now this doesn't look too bad.
| | 02:58 | It looks like I have a little bit of extra space between my rows.
| | 03:02 | I think I could maybe fit one more
row of desks in this classroom.
| | 03:06 | So since we are in the Preview mode I
can either accept my array as it is.
| | 03:10 | I can click my Cancel button and quit altogether
or I can select Modify and make changes.
| | 03:17 | I'm going to click Modify and let's make a change.
| | 03:21 | I'm going to reduce my Row offset.
| | 03:24 | Let me set this to 4 feet to put these desks a little closer
together and now I'm going to change my number of rows to 6.
| | 03:32 | Once again I'm going to come down and
click Preview and let's take a look.
| | 03:39 | Let me move my Array dialog out of the
way and yes ,that looks a lot better.
| | 03:43 | I'm now able to fit 30 desks in this classroom as
opposed to only 25. So this is exactly what I want.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to click Accept to finish the Array command.
| | 03:53 | Let's look at the other type of array we can make.
| | 03:57 | I'm going to zoom in on the teacher's desk.
| | 03:59 | From here I can see a drawing of a gear.
| | 04:03 | Now my arcs are a little bit broken down.
| | 04:06 | Let me do a quick Regen.
| | 04:07 | I'm going to come up to my View pull-
down and select Regen to cleanup my arcs.
| | 04:13 | Now I have a finished gear on the left side and I have just
enough geometry to create another gear on the right side.
| | 04:23 | This gear is a perfect opportunity for us to use the other
option of Array and that is the Polar Array or a rotational copy.
| | 04:31 | Let's start by creating an array of this hole.
| | 04:34 | I need four holes on the inside of this
gear, so I'm going to copy this circle
| | 04:39 | around the center of the gear to create four holes.
| | 04:43 | I'm going to do that by using the Array command.
| | 04:46 | Once again I'm going to come over to my
Modify toolbar and click on the Array icon.
| | 04:51 | This time I'm going to do a Polar Array.
| | 04:54 | When I select the Polar Array option
notice that my dialog changes
| | 04:59 | to different settings because it's a different type of copy.
| | 05:02 | I'm going to come over and click Select
objects and let's grab this circle.
| | 05:08 | I will select the circle and then I will right-click.
| | 05:12 | Now center point, at what point would I
like to create my rotational copies around?
| | 05:18 | Well, I don't know what the coordinate is so I'm going
to come over and click this Pick Center Point button.
| | 05:23 | This will allow me to select a coordinate on screen.
| | 05:26 | Now I have a running Object Snap set for center point so I'm
going to move my cursor in and I'm going to get my cursor close
| | 05:33 | to that circle and click to grab the center of that circle.
| | 05:37 | Now number of items.
| | 05:39 | Four is perfect.
| | 05:41 | Notice it says the total number of items, not number of copies.
| | 05:45 | So I want four holes when I'm done and
my angle to fill is set to 360 degrees.
| | 05:51 | We can see the preview on the side.
| | 05:53 | I can enter any angle I wish for instance if
I highlight this and set it to 90. Let me click
| | 05:59 | on another field and let's take a look at our preview.
| | 06:01 | Notice I would be creating a rotational
copy four items within a 90 degree angle.
| | 06:07 | Let me set this back to 360.
| | 06:09 | Let's click Preview and take a look.
| | 06:15 | Perfect. That's exactly what I need.
| | 06:17 | I'm going to click the Accept button to keep it.
| | 06:22 | Now let's finish the teeth.
| | 06:23 | If I look at the finished gear on the left
side I can see that this guy has 30 teeth.
| | 06:28 | I can see that based on this call out.
| | 06:30 | Now if I zoom in on my geometry I can see that I have created
just enough line work to produce one tooth and what I'm going
| | 06:39 | to do is I'm going to array that tooth
around the outside of the gear 30 times.
| | 06:43 | This will be much faster as I'm
trying to draw each tooth by end.
| | 06:47 | Let's complete the gear by using the Array command.
| | 06:50 | I'm going to come over to my Modify
toolbar and click the Array icon.
| | 06:55 | Once again it's going to be a Polar Array.
| | 06:57 | Let me select objects.
| | 06:59 | I'm going to zoom in and click this
line, this line, this line and this line.
| | 07:05 | Those are the objects that I would like to array.
| | 07:07 | Let me right-click to finish the selection.
| | 07:12 | Center point, I'm going to click my Pick Center Point button and
I would like to create my array around the center of this circle
| | 07:21 | so all I have to do is put AutoCAD's
cursor on the circle and click.
| | 07:25 | Now total number of items 30 and I would like those
30 items copied around a full 360 degree angle.
| | 07:37 | Once again I'm going to click Preview.
| | 07:39 | Perfect. That's exactly what I want.
| | 07:41 | Let me click Accept.
| | 07:44 | We will backup and that gear is finished.
| | 07:48 | Always keep your eyes open for a chance to use the Array command.
| | 07:51 | If you can train yourself to recognize rectangular and
rotational patterns you can save yourself a lot of time
| | 07:57 | by not having to do a bunch of tedious copying.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Mirror| 00:00 | Whenever you are working with geometry that's symmetrical
keep the Mirror command in the back of your mind.
| | 00:05 | Sometimes making a mirrored copy can
quite literally cut your work in half.
| | 00:09 | I'm going to click my Open icon and we are going to look
inside the Chapter 9 folder within the Exercise Files directory
| | 00:18 | and I'm going to come down and we
are going to open up drawing number 5.
| | 00:21 | This is our Mirror Drawing.
| | 00:22 | So let me select this and click Open.
| | 00:24 | Now I have got an abstract example on my screen.
| | 00:29 | I'm going to use this to show you how the Mirror command works.
| | 00:32 | Now hopefully you can identify that
this is one half of the wine glass.
| | 00:36 | Now it's not the best looking wine glass in
the world but this is just an abstract example.
| | 00:41 | The thing I want to reinforce is that we don't
have to draw both sides of the wine glass.
| | 00:45 | Since it's symmetrical I have already created the left side.
| | 00:49 | I'm going to use this left side to create the right side.
| | 00:52 | We are going to do that by using the Mirror command.
| | 00:55 | The Mirror command will create a mirrored
or reflected copy of our geometry.
| | 01:01 | Now well, does AutoCAD need to create a mirrored copy?
| | 01:05 | Well, it needs an entity that we want to copy and
it also needs a line segment that defines a mirror.
| | 01:11 | Now I happen to have both of those on my
screen so let's launch the Mirror command.
| | 01:16 | I'm going to come over to my Modify toolbar
and I'm going to select the Mirror icon.
| | 01:22 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to select objects. Which
objects would I like to create a reflected copy from?
| | 01:29 | I'm going to click on this entity.
| | 01:32 | This is one continuous poly line.
| | 01:34 | Let me right-click to finish the selection.
| | 01:38 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify points on my mirror line.
| | 01:42 | Pretty much I just need to give two points to identify
my line segment that I'm going to use for my mirror.
| | 01:48 | So the first point of my mirror line I
will grab the endpoint right up here.
| | 01:52 | I happen to be using our running objects now
so I will just click and then as I come down
| | 01:57 | and grab the other endpoint notice I'm creating a mirrored copy.
| | 02:00 | Let me come down and click my remaining endpoint
| | 02:03 | and when I do the very last question AutoCAD
asks me do you want to erase the source objects.
| | 02:09 | I don't have to keep the original if I don't want to.
| | 02:12 | In this case I'm going to select No.
| | 02:13 | I'm just going to hit Enter because
I want to keep my original geometry.
| | 02:17 | When I hit Enter I have created a mirrored copy of my wine glass.
| | 02:22 | Now that we get the idea of how the Mirror command works
let's try and use the Mirror command in a practical example.
| | 02:29 | I'm going to zoom back just a little bit.
| | 02:31 | We will pen over.
| | 02:33 | Let me center my entertainment center on
screen to tweak this back one more time.
| | 02:40 | Let's assume I'm a furniture designer and
I'm working at an entertainment center.
| | 02:45 | Now I have already finished the raised panel door on
the left side and I don't want to go to the hassle
| | 02:52 | of drafting another door on the right side
since this geometry is symmetrical I'm going
| | 02:58 | to create a mirrored copy of my left
door to create my right door.
| | 03:02 | Let's try that.
| | 03:05 | Before I launch the Mirror command I'm going to
create a line segment that represents my mirror line.
| | 03:09 | So I'm going to come over and launch the Line command.
| | 03:13 | AutoCAD says Specify first point.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to use a midpoint Object Snap.
| | 03:18 | So I'm going to come over and click my midpoint Object Snap
and then I will click at the top of my entertainment center.
| | 03:30 | Since I'm creating a mirror line I
want to bring this guy straight down.
| | 03:33 | I'm going to use another midpoint Object Snap and I will grab
midpoint and I will grab the bottom of my entertainment center.
| | 03:39 | I will just click and when I'm all done
with the command I'm going to hit Escape.
| | 03:44 | This is the line I'm going to use to create my mirrored copy.
| | 03:50 | Alright let's launch the Mirror command.
| | 03:51 | I'm going to come over to my Modify toolbar and select Mirror.
| | 03:56 | AutoCAD asks me to select objects.
| | 03:58 | Well I'm going to start clicking on these.
| | 04:00 | Well, it seems like there are bunch of
disjointed pieces so let's do it with a window.
| | 04:06 | Since AutoCAD is saying select objects I'm going
to click just above my panel and I'm going to pull
| | 04:13 | to the right and create a nice window selection.
| | 04:15 | Let me click to finish the window and then I will right
click to let AutoCAD know I'm done selecting objects.
| | 04:23 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify the points on my mirror line.
| | 04:27 | Perfect I will grab the endpoint right here.
| | 04:30 | Click and then I will come up and I
will grab the endpoint right here.
| | 04:33 | Notice I don't have to be all the
way on the endpoint to select it.
| | 04:37 | Let me left-click and do I want to erase the source objects?
| | 04:40 | No, I'm going to hit Enter to finish the command.
| | 04:44 | Now here is the dirty little secret.
| | 04:46 | I don't have to have a physical line to do my mirror.
| | 04:50 | Let me erase this guy.
| | 04:51 | I want to use the Erase command.
| | 04:52 | I will come over and click Erase and then I'm going to
click this line and then right-click to finish the selection.
| | 04:59 | Let me zoom in on my draw handle.
| | 05:04 | I would like to create a mirrored copy of my handle on the left.
| | 05:08 | I would like to produce a copy of this guy on the right.
| | 05:11 | Let's do that by using the Mirror command but this
time we are not going to create a physical line.
| | 05:15 | I'm going to come over and launch the Mirror command.
| | 05:18 | Let me click the Mirror icon.
| | 05:20 | AutoCAD asks me to select objects.
| | 05:22 | I will select this one and then right-click.
| | 05:27 | Alright AutoCAD is asking me to specify
the first point of my mirror line.
| | 05:31 | I'm just going to use an Object Snap.
| | 05:33 | Let's use midpoint again.
| | 05:34 | I'm going to come up and grab my midpoint Objects
Snap and then I will come down and grab the midpoint
| | 05:40 | of this line and then let's grab the other point.
| | 05:44 | I'm going to select the midpoint again and I want
to come down and grab the midpoint of the bottom.
| | 05:49 | I didn't need an ending, I had the Object Snaps.
| | 05:54 | Erase source objects.
| | 05:55 | Now I will go ahead and hit Enter and
I have just mirrored my drawer handles.
| | 06:00 | Let's do one more.
| | 06:01 | I would like these handles to be on the upper drawer.
| | 06:03 | I'm going to launch the Mirror command one more time.
| | 06:05 | Let's get it from the right-click.
| | 06:07 | I want to right-click and select repeat mirror, select objects.
| | 06:12 | Let's click and make a window around both of these handles.
| | 06:15 | I will click to finish the window and then I
have to right-click to finish the selection.
| | 06:20 | Now I can specify my points on my mirror line.
| | 06:23 | I have a running Object Snaps set for endpoint so
I'm going to move up and click the endpoint here
| | 06:29 | and then I'm going to move over and click the endpoint here.
| | 06:32 | When I'm done, do I want to erase source objects?
| | 06:35 | No, I will go ahead and hit Enter and the drawers are finished.
| | 06:42 | Remember that every time you are working with symmetrical
geometry you have an opportunity to use the Mirror command
| | 06:47 | and if you use it properly you will be
making AutoCAD do half of your work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Stretch| 00:00 | The Stretch command is often misunderstood
by AutoCAD users because at first glance,
| | 00:05 | it appears to be selecting more than what we intended.
| | 00:07 | When it comes right down to it, the Stretch
command is nothing more than an endpoint mover.
| | 00:12 | We are going to take a look at the Stretch command.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon.
| | 00:16 | And inside the Chapter 9 folder within the
Exercise Files directory, I'm going to come down
| | 00:22 | and go to the number 6 drawing, this is our Stretch demonstration.
| | 00:27 | I will highlight that drawing and
click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:31 | Now, this drawing is currently set to architectural units.
| | 00:34 | I know that because I created the drawing, but I
can prove it to you in case you don't believe me.
| | 00:38 | I can come down to Format and select Units.
| | 00:40 | Yes, in fact, that is architectural.
| | 00:42 | Let me click OK.
| | 00:43 | I've got a rectangle on my screen.
| | 00:46 | Let's say I would like to make this rectangle 3 inches longer.
| | 00:49 | I'm going to do that by using the Stretch command.
| | 00:52 | To launch the Stretch command, I'm going to come over
to my Modify toolbar and click the Stretch icon.
| | 00:57 | When I do, AutoCAD is asking to me select objects.
| | 01:00 | If we look at the command line, we can see that we are supposed
to select our objects to Stretch by using a crossing window.
| | 01:07 | OK, let's do that.
| | 01:08 | I would like to stretch my rectangle three units to the right.
| | 01:12 | So I'm going to click off in space, I will click once
and I will make a crossing window around these endpoints.
| | 01:20 | The Stretch command is an endpoint mover.
| | 01:23 | So even though I'm using a crossing selection,
the only part of my entities that's going
| | 01:28 | to be changed are the endpoints that fall within the selection.
| | 01:32 | Let me click to finish my window.
| | 01:35 | Notice the entire rectangle highlights.
| | 01:37 | Let me right-click to finish the selection.
| | 01:40 | Now, AutoCAD is asking me to specify
base point just like the Move command.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to move up and I'm going
to use the endpoint right here.
| | 01:47 | I've got a running Object Snap, so I will left-click.
| | 01:50 | Notice, as I move my cursor, I'm stretching that rectangle
| | 01:55 | and the only part that's really being adjusted
are the endpoints that fell within that selection.
| | 02:01 | Now, I would like this to be somewhat accurate, so
I'm going to come down and click my Ortho button.
| | 02:06 | Now, I can take and pull this guy to the
right, type in 3 inches and hit Enter.
| | 02:11 | I'm going to back up.
| | 02:13 | We are going to look at another example.
| | 02:15 | Let me pan down.
| | 02:16 | Let's stretch to this rectangle.
| | 02:20 | I would like this guy to be 3 units longer as well.
| | 02:23 | Once again, I'm going to come over
and launch my Stretch command.
| | 02:27 | So as the command comes up, AutoCAD
is asking me to select objects.
| | 02:32 | Once again, I'm going to use a crossing window.
| | 02:33 | I'm going to click right here.
| | 02:35 | I'm going to create my window around
the endpoints that I want to move.
| | 02:41 | And then, I will click to finish my window.
| | 02:44 | Notice, half of my screen is highlighting.
| | 02:46 | Let me right-click to finish the selection.
| | 02:49 | Even though all of that geometry is
highlighted, the only parts that are going
| | 02:52 | to be affected are the endpoints that fell within the selection.
| | 02:56 | So AutoCAD is asking me to specify base point.
| | 02:58 | Once again, I will grab the endpoint of the rectangle right here.
| | 03:02 | As I move my cursor, notice that only
the endpoints are being affected.
| | 03:05 | So I'm going to take and pull in this direction
and I'm going to type in 3 inches, Enter.
| | 03:13 | I have just stretched that rectangle.
| | 03:15 | Let's try and use the Stretch command in a practical example.
| | 03:18 | I'm going to back up a little bit and will pan over.
| | 03:22 | I'm going to zoom in on this geometry.
| | 03:25 | Let's say I'm a furniture designer and I've
just finished creating this entertainment center
| | 03:29 | and I would like to create a matching bookshelf.
| | 03:31 | Well, I don't want to go through and redraft any geometry.
| | 03:34 | I'm going to convert this entertainment center
into a bookshelf using the Stretch command.
| | 03:39 | First thing first, I don't need these components anymore so I
am going to hit my Erase button and I will erase my components.
| | 03:47 | Let me select these guys and we'll get rid of them.
| | 03:49 | Let me right-click to finish the selection.
| | 03:52 | I don't need this divider, let's get rid of that.
| | 03:55 | I'm going to click Erase and I will do a nice crossing
window across my divider which selects those entities.
| | 04:01 | You know what, I also don't need my drawer handles or the divider
between the drawers, I'm going to create a crossing window right
| | 04:08 | around here, this will select all of those entities.
| | 04:10 | Let me finish the window by clicking and then
I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 04:15 | Alright, let's use the Stretch command to create a bookshelf.
| | 04:20 | I'm going to come over and launch the Stretch command
by clicking the Stretch icon in the Modify toolbar.
| | 04:25 | AutoCAD is now asking me to select objects.
| | 04:28 | I'm going to move to the upper right and click,
and I'm going to pulldown to the lower left
| | 04:33 | and create a crossing window around this geometry.
| | 04:37 | Let me click to finish the window.
| | 04:39 | I will right-click to finish my selection.
| | 04:42 | And I want to stretch this geometry from the endpoint right
here and we will bring it over to the endpoint right here.
| | 04:50 | Now that we have got the outer part of our bookshelf
finished, let's finish the shelves themselves.
| | 04:57 | I'm going to launch the Stretch
command one more time, select Objects.
| | 05:01 | I'm going to make a nice crossing
window around the ends of the shelves.
| | 05:05 | Let me finish the window by clicking and then
I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 05:09 | Alright, now it's time to specify my base point.
| | 05:13 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 05:15 | I would like to stretch this from the endpoint right here,
so I will click and wherever I would like to place this,
| | 05:20 | I'm going to use a perpendicular Object Snap.
| | 05:23 | I would like to stretch them such that they
end up perpendicular to this vertical line.
| | 05:27 | So let me come over and click my Perpendicular icon.
| | 05:31 | And then, we will come back, I will
put my cursor on the line and click.
| | 05:34 | If we look at the Stretch command as an endpoint mover,
| | 05:37 | it makes much more sense when selecting
our entities and modifying our geometry.
| | 05:41 | As you can see, if you can successfully use the Stretch command,
| | 05:45 | you can make significant changes to
your drawings in absolutely no time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Scale| 00:00 | If you have ever used a copy machine
to make enlargements or reductions
| | 00:03 | of images you are already familiar with the concept of scale.
| | 00:07 | Just like we can make our images
larger or smaller using a copy machine,
| | 00:10 | we can make our entities larger or
smaller by using the Scale command.
| | 00:14 | Let's play around with Scale.
| | 00:15 | I'm going to open a couple of drawings, I'm
going to come up and click on my Open icon.
| | 00:20 | Inside the Chapter 9 folder within our Exercise Files directory
I'm going to scroll down, I have got 3 drawings that I would
| | 00:29 | like to use within my Chapter 9 Demonstration.
| | 00:32 | So I'm going to click my MP3 player drawing and highlight it.
| | 00:35 | And then I'm going to hold my Shift key and I'm going
| | 00:38 | to click the Basketball drawing and I
have highlighted all 3 of these files.
| | 00:43 | Now I'm going to come over and click my Open button
and AutoCAD will open all three of these drawings.
| | 00:49 | Since AutoCAD supports the multiple document
environment, each of these drawings is open.
| | 00:54 | For right now we are going to work with the MP3 player.
| | 00:57 | Let's say I would like to make a design change to this guy.
| | 00:59 | I would like to change the size of the thumbwheel.
| | 01:02 | I can do that by using the Scale command.
| | 01:05 | If I would like to adjust the Scale, I'm going to
come over to my Modify toolbar and click my Scale icon.
| | 01:10 | When I do AutoCAD is asking me to select
objects, which objects would I like to resize.
| | 01:15 | Now I do have several objects here so I'm going to
click on the upper left hand corner outside my thumbwheel
| | 01:20 | and we will create a nice window around all of these entities.
| | 01:23 | Let me click to finish the window.
| | 01:25 | And then we will right-click so that AutoCAD
knows we have done selecting objects.
| | 01:29 | Now that they are selected AutoCAD is
asking to me to specify a base point.
| | 01:33 | At what point what I like my geometry to get larger or smaller.
| | 01:38 | Well, I'm going to use the center point of the thumbwheel
and I happen to have a running Object Snap set for center.
| | 01:43 | So I'm going to move my cursor around to the
Arc and click, notice that I move my cursor,
| | 01:48 | I'm getting a rubber-band effect for my scale.
| | 01:52 | Now I could free pick a point on the screen if I wish
but instead I'm going to type in a Scale factor.
| | 01:58 | Notice that the current Scale factor setting is 1. 1 means
essentially no change, there would be a one to one scale.
| | 02:05 | I'm going to type in 0.5 for my scale and hit Enter.
| | 02:10 | I just converted that thumbwheel to half its original size.
| | 02:14 | Let's scale it again.
| | 02:15 | I'm going to access Scale from the
right-click, I'm going to right-click,
| | 02:20 | go to Repeat Scale, select Object, let's use a key in.
| | 02:24 | How about if I set P for Previous and hit Enter?
| | 02:26 | I just re-selected that geometry.
| | 02:28 | Let me right-click to finish the selection,
specify base point once again I'm going
| | 02:33 | to make this larger or smaller based on it center point.
| | 02:35 | So I'm going to move my cursor onto the Arc and click
and this time I'm going to apply a Scale factor of 2.
| | 02:42 | I would like to make this thumbwheel
twice as big as it is right now.
| | 02:46 | When I hit Enter, I just change the Scale.
| | 02:49 | Now this is an example of using the
Scale command for a design change.
| | 02:53 | Scale also comes in handy when we have trouble with our units.
| | 02:57 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 02:58 | I'm going to close this drawing.
| | 03:00 | Let me come up and click little x to close this drawing.
| | 03:03 | And remember that I still have two other drawings open.
| | 03:07 | Let's do a side-by-side comparison.
| | 03:09 | I'm going to come up to my Window pulldown and I
am going to come down and select tile vertically,
| | 03:15 | this will give me a nice side-by-side of each of my drawings.
| | 03:19 | If I click in a window that window
becomes active so I can adjust my view.
| | 03:23 | Let me pen this guy a little bit.
| | 03:25 | Let me click in my Basketball drawing,
we will pen him over just a little bit.
| | 03:30 | Now the drawing on the left was created
such that one unit equals 1 foot.
| | 03:35 | The drawing on the right was created
such that one unit equals one inch.
| | 03:41 | Watch this I'm going to drag my basketball from
its drawing into the Basketball Court drawing.
| | 03:46 | I can do that by clicking on the entity and
as soon as it highlights I'm going to click
| | 03:52 | and hold on the dashed line and I can
drag this into the court drawing.
| | 03:57 | I will release, notice my basketball is coming in way too big.
| | 04:03 | Why, because in this drawing AutoCAD just sees 9.39.
| | 04:07 | So when the basketball comes in it's
coming in at 9.39 feet in diameter.
| | 04:12 | Let me zoom in and let's correct the Scale.
| | 04:17 | I'm going to change the Scale by launching my Scale
command, let me come over and click the Scale icon.
| | 04:23 | And in the Select objects prompt, I will select my
basketball and then I will right-click to finish my selection.
| | 04:31 | Base point let's scale him about the center
point I will just move my cursor on the Arc
| | 04:35 | because I have a running Object Snap set for center.
| | 04:37 | And I will click, and what is my Scale factor,
well the difference between inches and feet is 112.
| | 04:44 | So I'm going to type in 1/12 just like the fraction.
| | 04:51 | And when I hit Enter I have just scaled
that basketball to the appropriate size.
| | 04:56 | In fact if I was to use the Move command, select my
basketball, specify a base point, we will pick any point here,
| | 05:03 | will zoom in, it will in fact fit through the hoop now.
| | 05:06 | Whether we need to resize our entities is part
of a design change or to correct the difference
| | 05:10 | in drawing units we can accurately make our entities
larger or smaller by using the Scale command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Grips| 00:00 | grips are probably the most versatile tool in AutoCAD.
| | 00:02 | We can use them to make quick revisions to our geometry.
| | 00:06 | In fact, we can use grips to accomplish nearly every
modification command, we have talked about so far.
| | 00:11 | Let's take a look at how they work.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to open a drawing such that we can play
around with the grips feature, so I click my Open icon.
| | 00:19 | I'm going to come down within the Chapter 9 folder and
I'm going to select the number 8 drawing the MP3 player.
| | 00:27 | Let me select this and click Open.
| | 00:32 | Now on my screen, I have got an MP3
player as well as some scrap geometry.
| | 00:36 | One thing I noticed right off the bat is drawing
opened up in a window, let's correct that I'm going
| | 00:40 | to maximize my window, so it fills up my interface.
| | 00:44 | Now to the right of my MP3 player, I have got some
scrap geometry, we are going to use the scrap geometry
| | 00:49 | to get the idea of how the grips feature works.
| | 00:53 | First off, I'm going to click on this line to select it and
when I do I can see these little blue squares, these are grips.
| | 01:01 | grips act like little handles that
I can use to modify my geometry.
| | 01:05 | Now the grips feature can actually be turned
off, so if you can't see grips on your screen,
| | 01:10 | let me show you where you can go to turn them on.
| | 01:12 | I'm going to hit my Escape key to clear the grips and once
again if you do not see grips, this is where you can go.
| | 01:18 | You can go to your Tools pulldown, come down to Options.
| | 01:22 | We are going to go to our Selection
tab, let me click the Selection tab
| | 01:27 | and write down here there is a checkbox that says Enable grips.
| | 01:31 | If you can't see grips, that's where you go to turn them on.
| | 01:33 | So I'm going to click OK to get out of the Options dialog.
| | 01:36 | As long as we are talking about settings, make sure that
your Dynamic Input is set for this particular demonstration.
| | 01:45 | The Dynamic Input or the Head's-Up Display
gives us additional functionality with grips.
| | 01:49 | Now I'm going to come up and click this line again and this
time, I'm going to move my cursor on top of one of the end grips
| | 01:57 | and I'm just going to hover, I'm not going to click.
| | 02:00 | Notice the computer gives me the length of the line
as well as the angle at which that line was drawn.
| | 02:06 | Let me come down and click this arc
and I will hover over this end grip.
| | 02:11 | Notice I get the angle of the end
of the arc as well as the radius.
| | 02:16 | Let me hover over this middle grip.
| | 02:18 | I can see the radius and I can see the total angle of the arc.
| | 02:21 | I'm going to come down and click my circle.
| | 02:25 | Let me hover over one of these grips,
I get the radius of the circle.
| | 02:30 | So I can use the grips features to query my geometry.
| | 02:33 | I'm going to hit my Escape key to clear the grips.
| | 02:36 | Now let's make a geometric change using the grips feature.
| | 02:41 | I'm going to come up and click this line, this time instead
of hovering over the grip, I'm going to click on it.
| | 02:48 | When I click on the grip, the grip turns red.
| | 02:51 | Notice that I have some fields pop up on my
screen, I can use these to change my line work.
| | 02:57 | Now if I hit my tab key I can jump through the
various fields, there is actually four of them,
| | 03:02 | that first one represented the amount of change that I want to
make to my line, this one represents the total length of my line.
| | 03:10 | If I hit tab again, I can see the angle of the line, hit tab
again I get the amount of change, I want to make to my angle.
| | 03:16 | So I'm going to hit my tab key and will tab
until we get the total length of the line.
| | 03:21 | I'm going to type in 1 and hit Enter.
| | 03:24 | I just made that line one unit long.
| | 03:27 | Let's make a change to the arc.
| | 03:29 | I'm going to click the arc and if I would like to have this
Fields functionality I need to click on the triangular grip.
| | 03:38 | Let me click on the triangle.
| | 03:40 | Notice I get the same field.
| | 03:42 | I get one that represents the radius,
this guy has a radius of 1.49.
| | 03:46 | Now let's make the radius 1.75 and I will hit Enter.
| | 03:51 | I just change the radius of that arc.
| | 03:54 | Let me come down.
| | 03:55 | We will click the circle.
| | 03:56 | I'm going to move over this grip and click.
| | 04:00 | I get a field representing my radius.
| | 04:03 | If I hit tab, I get a field representing the
amount of change I want to make to my radius.
| | 04:08 | Let me tab until I get to the measurement that represents
the full radius and I'm going to set this to a radius of 1.
| | 04:14 | Let me type in 1 and hit Enter.
| | 04:16 | That circle now has a radius of 1.
| | 04:19 | Let me hit my Escape key once again to clear the grips.
| | 04:22 | Now as I mentioned earlier, we can use the grips features
to do nearly every modification that we have seen so far.
| | 04:29 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 04:31 | If I come up and click on this line I get my
grips, I'm going to move over an end grip
| | 04:36 | and click, that guy turns red, he is now hot.
| | 04:40 | Take a look at the command line right now.
| | 04:42 | The command line says I'm in the stretch mode that means if I
move my cursor, I'm stretching this line based on that endpoint.
| | 04:49 | Watch this if I right-click when that grip is hot,
I have several other modifications I can make.
| | 04:55 | If I select move, I'm now moving this line based on that grip.
| | 05:00 | If I right-click, I can select Rotate.
| | 05:03 | I'm now rotating this line based on that grip.
| | 05:07 | Let's go again, I can right-click, we can select Scale.
| | 05:10 | I'm now scaling the line based on that grip.
| | 05:13 | So we have several modifications, we can
make just by using the grips feature.
| | 05:17 | I'm going to hit Escape to cancel out and
I will hit Escape again to clear the grips.
| | 05:24 | Let's use the grips feature to make a change to our MP3 Player.
| | 05:29 | Let's say, I would like to change my screen size, I'm
going to come over and click the screen and let's hove
| | 05:36 | over this corner grip and find out
what the dimensions of my screen are.
| | 05:40 | If I hover over the corner, I can see that
my screen dimensions are 2 x 1.6 inches.
| | 05:46 | Let's say I would like to make a 2x2.
| | 05:48 | Let me click the corner grip, I'm going to hit my
tab key until I get to the overall length of the side.
| | 05:56 | Let me change this to 2 and hit Enter.
| | 06:00 | Now notice the whole thing didn't
change just that one grip changed.
| | 06:04 | Let me come over and we will adjust this grip.
| | 06:05 | Let me click and by default AutoCAD is
grabbing the dimension that I want to change,
| | 06:11 | so once again I'm going to type
2 for 2 inches and will hit Enter.
| | 06:15 | I have just changed my screen to a 2x2 dimension.
| | 06:19 | I want to make one more change, let me
hit Escape to clear these grips because now
| | 06:25 | that I have changed my screen my thumbwheel
is kind of tripping over the edge.
| | 06:30 | Let's move the thumbwheel down, I
am going to do that by using grips.
| | 06:34 | I'm going to click in the upper left hand corner and
will make a nice window selection around my thumbwheel.
| | 06:39 | Let me click to finish the window.
| | 06:41 | And I'm going to move up and will click the center grip.
| | 06:47 | From this point I can right-click and select Move.
| | 06:50 | I'm now moving this thumbwheel based on that grip location.
| | 06:54 | Well, I would like to move this accurately
so let's turn on our Ortho.
| | 06:58 | Let me come down and click my Ortho button.
| | 07:02 | And now I'm at least moving this guy
in a 90 degree locked angle increment.
| | 07:07 | So I'm going to pull it in downward direction and I
am going to type in a distance of 0.25 and hit Enter.
| | 07:14 | I just moved him down a quarter of an inch.
| | 07:17 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 07:21 | Using grips can be one of the fastest
ways to make changes to your geometry,
| | 07:25 | in fact grips can do much more than what we have seen here.
| | 07:28 | If you know how to use these little
blue handles, you are well on your way
| | 07:32 | to understanding future concepts
like dynamic blocks and 3D modeling.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Explode| 00:00 | I must admit the Explode command
isn't as exciting to you as it sounds.
| | 00:04 | With a name like explode, you might expect
to see something spectacular when you use it.
| | 00:08 | I'm afraid this isn't the case.
| | 00:10 | What the Explode command does is it converts our
joint entities back into their individual components.
| | 00:15 | Let's try using the Explode command.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon, and we have to look
inside our Chapter 9 folder within the Exercise Files directory
| | 00:25 | and I'm going to come down to drawing number 9, the Explode drawing.
| | 00:29 | We'll click to highlight that drawing and then click Open.
| | 00:31 | Now, I have got some abstract geometry on my screen.
| | 00:35 | We are going to use this to learn how the Explode command works.
| | 00:38 | If we look at the left side, I can see a hexagon.
| | 00:42 | I drew this hexagon using the Polygon command.
| | 00:44 | And if I click the edge of the hexagon, I can see that
AutoCAD is looking at this guy as one piece or one entity.
| | 00:51 | Technically speaking, AutoCAD views this is
as a poly line or a multi-segmented line.
| | 00:56 | Let me hit my Escape key to clear the grips.
| | 00:58 | Let's look at the geometry on the right.
| | 01:00 | If I click on this rectangle, which was drawn using the Rectangle
command, AutoCAD also views this line work as a single piece.
| | 01:09 | Likewise, if I click the hatch, AutoCAD is
seeing that guy as a single object as well.
| | 01:14 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 01:15 | Let's use the Explode command to explode our hexagon.
| | 01:19 | To use the Explode command, I'm going to move over to my
Modify toolbar and I'm going to click on the Explode icon,
| | 01:25 | probably the best looking icon we have on AutoCAD.
| | 01:28 | I will click that to launch and then
AutoCAD asks me select objects.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to move my cursor up and click on my hexagon to
highlight it and then I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 01:39 | That hexagon has been exploded.
| | 01:41 | When I try and click on these entities, I can see
that each piece is now an individual line segment.
| | 01:47 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 01:49 | We are going to launch the Explode command one more
time and we will explode this geometry on the right.
| | 01:55 | Let me come over and click the Explode.
| | 01:58 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 02:00 | This time, I'm going to select the Hatch
and I'm going to select the Rectangle.
| | 02:05 | Now that I'm done with my selection, I will right-click so
that AutoCAD knows I'm done and those guys have been exploded.
| | 02:13 | Each side of my rectangle is now an
individual entity as well as my hatch.
| | 02:18 | Be careful using the Explode command around your hatch.
| | 02:21 | It's always better to have your hatch seen as an
individual object than a bunch of disjointed entities.
| | 02:26 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips because you may be
wondering why would we want to use the Explode command.
| | 02:32 | Let's try and use the Explode command in a practical example.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to back up.
| | 02:37 | We will pan over.
| | 02:40 | Let's say I'm designing a five-panel door.
| | 02:42 | Now, I have created the outline of this door
using the Rectangle command and if I click
| | 02:46 | on this, I can see it's all trigged as one object.
| | 02:49 | Now, I would like to offset my line work to create my panels.
| | 02:53 | Unfortunately, if I try and offset my vertical
lines over, they are not going to offset correctly
| | 02:59 | because AutoCAD is going to try and offset this entire rectangle.
| | 03:02 | What I'm going to do is I'm going to explode the rectangle
and that will allow me to offset my lines individually.
| | 03:08 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 03:10 | We will come down and we will click our Explode
icon and then, we will select the rectangle.
| | 03:16 | When I right-click to finish the
selection, that rectangle has been exploded.
| | 03:21 | This guy is now individual pieces
and it's very easy for me to offset.
| | 03:25 | I'm going to hit Escape once again to clear the grips.
| | 03:28 | We will pan over through the miracle of time lapse photography.
| | 03:33 | You can see the first offsets that I have created.
| | 03:35 | I have offset my vertical lines over.
| | 03:39 | Then, I offset my horizontal lines up and
down to define the shapes of my panels.
| | 03:45 | And then lastly, I have cleaned up my
geometry by using the Trim command.
| | 03:52 | Exploding my original rectangle made it possible for
me to create the offsets that define these panels.
| | 03:57 | If you need to convert an object back into
individual parts, use the Explode command.
| | 04:02 | Well, it may not be spectacular to
watch, it does get the job done.
| | 04:06 | Now that we have seen how to explode our entities into individual
components, in the next session, we are going to learn how
| | 04:12 | to join our entities back together using the P-edit Command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Polyline edit| 00:00 | Sometimes joining our line work together
can make it easier to work on a drawing.
| | 00:04 | AutoCAD's P-edit Command will allow us
to join entities into a single Polyline.
| | 00:09 | Let's try using the P-edit command I'm going to come up
and click my Open icon and inside the Chapter 9 folder
| | 00:14 | within our Exercise Files directory I'm
going to come all the way to the bottom
| | 00:18 | of the list and will select the Pedit drawing number 10.
| | 00:21 | We will highlight him and click Open.
| | 00:25 | Now on my screen I have got an abstract example of some
stairs, this drawing happens to be an architectural drawing.
| | 00:31 | You know one of the way we can tell that
the drawing is architectural if we look
| | 00:34 | down the lower left hand corner inside our status bar I can see
that my coordinates are given in architectural measurements.
| | 00:41 | Let's say I would like to offset these stairs 3 inches.
| | 00:44 | Here is my problem. If I click on the stair segments
I can see that they all are individual entities.
| | 00:50 | That means in order for me to do the offset I
would have to offset each piece one at a time
| | 00:54 | and then clean up the geometry, which would be very tedious.
| | 00:57 | I'm going to hit Escape to clear the grips. Instead
I would rather join all of these lines together
| | 01:03 | into a single polyline and then offset the polyline one time.
| | 01:08 | Now a polyline is a line with multiple segments
and those segments can be straight lines or arcs.
| | 01:15 | Let's use the P-edit command and join this line work together.
| | 01:19 | To find the P-edit command I'm going to go up to my Modify
pulldown. I will click Modify, I'm going to come down to Object
| | 01:27 | and in the flyout I'm going to select Polyline.
| | 01:30 | At this point AutoCAD is asking me to select the
polyline that's because of this command edits polylines.
| | 01:38 | Well, I'm going to come over and I'm going to
click one of line segments and AutoCAD is going
| | 01:41 | to say hey that's not a polyline,
do you want to turn it into one?
| | 01:45 | Well, yes I do.
| | 01:46 | So I'm going to hit Enter to accept the default Yes.
| | 01:50 | From the menu I'm going to select Join.
| | 01:53 | I would like to join my lines together so I will click Join.
| | 01:58 | And now AutoCAD is asking me to select objects.
| | 02:00 | Which objects would I like to join together?
| | 02:03 | I'm going to make a nice window selection so I'm going to click
right up here of in space, I will move down to the lower right
| | 02:10 | and I will click to finish my window and then
I will right-click to finish my selection.
| | 02:16 | Now one of the unfortunate things about the P-edit
command is there is really no official way to get out.
| | 02:21 | Now this is the menu I have there is no exit.
| | 02:24 | If you want to get out you have to hit the Escape key.
| | 02:26 | Now that the command is over I'm going to click one of my
lines and notice that this is now considered a polyline.
| | 02:33 | Let's try and use the P-edit command in a practical example.
| | 02:39 | If I pan over to the right I have got the outline of a 5 panel
door that I'm going to be drafting and through the miracle
| | 02:46 | of time lapse photography we will pan over and you can see where
I have created my offsets, pan over a little bit more you can see
| | 02:54 | where I have created the offsets for my horizontal lines and then
lastly I have gotten to the point where I have created my panels.
| | 03:00 | I have used the Trim command to clean up my geometry.
| | 03:03 | In order for these to look like panels
I need to offset these inner-rectangles
| | 03:08 | in one time such that we can see the raised area.
| | 03:12 | Here is my problem, since these rectangles were generated using
the Trim command I can see that these guys are individual pieces.
| | 03:20 | So instead of offsetting each one individually let's
join these guys together and then offset it as one piece.
| | 03:26 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips and I'm
going to join these using the P-edit command.
| | 03:31 | Let's come up to the Modify pulldown, we will come down and
select Object and then we will come over and select the Polyline.
| | 03:40 | AutoCAD again is asking us to select
polyline I will click this guy.
| | 03:44 | Do I wish to turn it into one?
| | 03:46 | Yes, I do.
| | 03:47 | Let me hit Enter.
| | 03:47 | And the option I'm going to use is Join.
| | 03:51 | Let me select Join.
| | 03:53 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects I'm going to
make a nice window selection around these 4 entities.
| | 03:59 | Let me click to finish my window and then
I will right-click to finish my selection.
| | 04:06 | Now before we cancel out of this command I
want you to take a look at the command line.
| | 04:09 | Notice AutoCAD is saying 3 segments added to polyline.
| | 04:13 | That's good. That means that the command worked.
| | 04:15 | You see we can only join line segments together
so long as they touch exactly end to end.
| | 04:21 | If you look down at the command line and it says 0
segments added to polyline you have got a problem
| | 04:26 | with your geometry make sure and check your corners.
| | 04:29 | I'm going to hit the Escape key, clear
the command because it worked fine.
| | 04:34 | If I click on this guy now I can see he is a closed polyline.
| | 04:37 | Let's offset him.
| | 04:38 | I'm going to hit Escape to clear the grips, we will come over
and we will launch the Offset command by clicking on the icon.
| | 04:45 | Offset distance, I'm going to offset
him 2 inches and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:50 | We will then grab our panel and then I'm going
to click on the inside to create my offset
| | 04:56 | and we will hit Escape to get out of the command.
| | 05:00 | Now one of the drawbacks to the P-edit
command is that it's a one-at-a-time deal.
| | 05:05 | I can take and join lines together,
I can create one polyline at a time.
| | 05:09 | I still have 4 panels left to go.
| | 05:13 | Let me show you how we can create multiple polylines.
| | 05:16 | I'm going hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 05:18 | We are going to go back up to Modify, we will come down
to Object and we will move over and select the polyline.
| | 05:25 | This time before we grab our polyline take a look at
the command line there is a sub-option of Multiple.
| | 05:31 | I'm going to right-click and select that sub-option.
| | 05:36 | This will allow me to create multiple polylines.
| | 05:39 | So AutoCAD is asking me to select objects, you
know what I'm going to window all of these guys.
| | 05:46 | I will click once and then I will come down
here and click again to finish my window.
| | 05:50 | And then I will right-click and finish my selection.
| | 05:53 | I can't hurt an existing polyline so
I can really select whatever I want.
| | 06:00 | AutoCAD is saying Convert lines and arcs to polylines.
| | 06:03 | This is the same question as do you
want to turn this into a polyline.
| | 06:07 | AutoCAD is just saying hey you selected so much stuff
that you just want to turn it all into polylines.
| | 06:12 | Yes, I do I'm going to hit Enter to accept Yes.
| | 06:15 | Now I can use my Join command again.
| | 06:18 | And I select Join and now AutoCAD is
asking me to specify a fuzz distance.
| | 06:25 | Since I'm creating multiple polylines I'm
joining multiple lines together AutoCAD wants
| | 06:30 | to know OK well how far a part do you want your
end segments to be before we don't join them.
| | 06:36 | Well, I'm going to leave it at zero.
| | 06:37 | This way it's going to guarantee that my line segments
will only join so long as they are touching end to end.
| | 06:43 | So I'm going to leave my fuzz distance
at zero I'm just going to hit Enter.
| | 06:47 | There we go that command has been done, if I look at the
command line I can see 12 segments were added to 4 polylines,
| | 06:54 | let me hit Escape to get out of the command and I can see
that each one of these guys is now a joined polyline.
| | 07:02 | All right let's finish it up.
| | 07:05 | I'm going to come over and launch offset.
| | 07:07 | AutoCAD remembers the previous distance so
I will hit Enter and I will accept 2 inches
| | 07:12 | and we will offset this panel to the
inside, this panel to the inside.
| | 07:18 | Notice I have got a Running Object Snap be careful.
| | 07:21 | I will click this panel and I will make sure that I
am clicking inside without getting the Object Snap
| | 07:25 | when we click inside it is last one we
will click here and we will click inside.
| | 07:30 | I will hit Escape to clear the command.
| | 07:33 | So the next time you have to modify several individual
components see if it is possible to join them together first.
| | 07:39 | If your components meet end to end it might be fast to
turn them into a polyline before making your changes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
10. Organizing DrawingsLayers| 00:00 | Layers are used in AutoCAD to organize our drawings.
| | 00:03 | By placing our entities on different layers, we
have the ability to turn line work on and off,
| | 00:07 | as well as control colors, linetypes, and lineweights.
| | 00:11 | Let's talk a little bit about layers.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to open a drawing, I'm going to come up and
click my Open icon and inside the Select File dialog,
| | 00:17 | we are going to look inside chapter 10 within our
Exercise Files directory and we are going to open
| | 00:23 | up the number one drawing, the Retro Controller.
| | 00:25 | So, I will highlight that guy and click
open to bring him up on my screen.
| | 00:30 | Now, this is a mechanical example.
| | 00:31 | This happens to be a drawing of a 1980s video game controller.
| | 00:35 | Let's pretend for just a second that I created this drawing using
a traditional pencil and paper and maybe I gave the paper to you
| | 00:42 | and you looked at it and said, this
is nice but it's awfully busy,
| | 00:45 | can you give me a copy of this drawing without the dimensions?
| | 00:48 | Well, I can't since it's all on one sheet of paper,
unless I get a bottle of whiteout or an eraser,
| | 00:54 | I have no way of giving you a copy without the
dimensions. Let's look at it a different way.
| | 00:59 | What if I drafted the controller on a piece of paper
and then I laid a clear sheet of plastic on top
| | 01:04 | of my paper and I drafted the dimensions on the plastic.
| | 01:08 | Now, when I give you the drawing, if you
would like to see it without the dimensions,
| | 01:11 | all we have to do is peel the plastic
bag and the dimensions are gone.
| | 01:15 | That is exactly how layers work.
| | 01:17 | Each layer represents a virtual sheet of plastic.
| | 01:21 | We use layers in AutoCAD to organize our drawing.
| | 01:24 | For instance, we'll put dimensions on a layer,
we'll put our centerlines on the layer.
| | 01:28 | We may put our text and callouts on our layer.
| | 01:31 | The more logical layers that we use, the
more control we have over our drawing.
| | 01:35 | For instance, if I wanted to plot
this drawing without dimensions,
| | 01:38 | I could just turn my dimensions off
because they are on their own layer.
| | 01:41 | If I wanted to plot this drawing without
center lines or callouts or a title block,
| | 01:46 | as long as I have everything organized
by layer, I have control when I plot.
| | 01:50 | Let's make some adjustments to the layers in this drawing.
| | 01:52 | Let's say I would like to turn off my dimensions.
| | 01:55 | If I come up to my Layers toolbar, I'm going to click the
dropdown right here, this is my Layer Control and when I do,
| | 02:01 | I get a pop-up menu, that shows me the
name of every layer in this drawing.
| | 02:05 | I'm going to come down to my Dimensions layer and I
am going to move over and click this little light bulb,
| | 02:11 | this guy will turn the layer off and then I will
click outside in Model space to clear the menu.
| | 02:17 | Now, my dimensions are removed from screen.
| | 02:19 | Having my dimensions on their own layer, gives me the ability
to plot this drawing without the dimensions if I wish.
| | 02:25 | Let's turn off our center lines.
| | 02:26 | I'm going to go back to my Layer Control and click, I'm going
to come down to my centerlines layer and I will move over
| | 02:32 | and click the light bulb and we will turn those off.
| | 02:35 | Once again I'm going to click out
in Model space to clear the menu.
| | 02:39 | Those guys are now gone.
| | 02:41 | Not only do layers give us more control when we plot,
they also give us more control when we draft on screen,
| | 02:46 | because I'm sure you will agree that what we see now
is a lot less cluttered than what we started with.
| | 02:52 | If we use a logical organization of layers, I can turn off the
components that I don't happen to be working on at that time
| | 02:58 | and reduce my geometry to just what I need to do my job.
| | 03:02 | Let's turn those layers back on.
| | 03:03 | I'm going to go back up to my Layer
Control and click the dropdown.
| | 03:07 | I'm then going to move down and click the
light bulb to turn on my centerline's layer.
| | 03:11 | I will click the light bulb to turn on my dimensions layer
and then I click outside in Model space to clear the menu.
| | 03:17 | When it comes right down to it, layers
give us more control over our drawing.
| | 03:22 | If we use a system of logically named
layers to organize line work,
| | 03:26 | we give ourselves more options when
plotting or viewing geometry on screen.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Layer Properties Manager| 00:00 | Once we decide we need to create some layers, the
place we want to visit is the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:05 | This is our one-stop shop for creating, managing
and manipulating the layers in our drawing.
| | 00:10 | Now I recently launched my AutoCAD, I happen
to be sitting in the default Drawing1.dwg.
| | 00:16 | This drawing has absolutely no content.
| | 00:18 | What I would like to do is create a simple drawing and
I would like to organize my geometry onto some layers.
| | 00:23 | So I'm going to create a layer, I can
do by going up to my Layers toolbar
| | 00:27 | and I will click on my Layer Properties Manager icon.
| | 00:31 | When I click that, AutoCAD brings up my Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:34 | Now if we look at the dialog, I can see up at the top AutoCAD is
saying our current layer is Layer 0. That means that anything
| | 00:40 | that I draft right now will be drawn on Layer 0.
| | 00:44 | I can also identify the current layer by this little green check.
| | 00:48 | Now if I move down in this lower layer, I can
see all of the layers that are in my drawing.
| | 00:52 | Right now I only have Layer 0.
| | 00:54 | Layer 0 is kind of a special layer.
| | 00:56 | Every drawing will start with a Layer 0 and we
will always have to have a Layer 0 in our drawing.
| | 01:02 | We cannot rename Layer 0 and we cannot delete Layer 0.
| | 01:05 | Notice next to my layer name, I have several
settings that are associated with that layer.
| | 01:10 | Now these settings are organized in
columns just like in Microsoft Excel.
| | 01:14 | Unfortunately, sometimes our column headings aren't
wide enough for us to see what the setting does.
| | 01:19 | If I would like to adjust the width of a column heading,
all I have to do is move my cursor up between the columns.
| | 01:25 | When my icon changes, I can click and hold and I can drag
| | 01:29 | such that I make these columns wide
enough that I can read the heading.
| | 01:34 | Now every one of the settings in this list
can be adjusted just by clicking on it.
| | 01:38 | Now we're not going to go through all of the settings.
We're going to go through the ones that are most important
| | 01:42 | to us right now. We'll look at some
of the others in future sessions.
| | 01:45 | Right now this very first setting our light bulb this is
our On/Off setting. This controls the display of the layer.
| | 01:50 | If I click this guy, I will turn the layer off.
| | 01:53 | Now since this is the only layer in my drawing, if I was
to click this now AutoCAD says, "Hey are you sure you want
| | 01:59 | to do that? You are turning the current layer off."
| | 02:01 | Well, you know what, I want to keep the
current layer on, so I'm going to click Yes.
| | 02:05 | Let's look at this setting, this is our Color
setting, this controls the color of our layer.
| | 02:09 | If I click on this Color field, AutoCAD
will bring up my color picker.
| | 02:14 | From here I can select from any one of
the 255 colors available in AutoCAD.
| | 02:19 | I'm going to come down and click
OK. We'll close the color picker.
| | 02:22 | I have got a Linetype selection. If I click
here, I can set the linetype for my layer.
| | 02:28 | We will get into this guy in just a little bit.
| | 02:30 | Moving down I have got the Lineweight
area. If I click on this selection,
| | 02:34 | I can choose a plottable line thickness
or lineweight for my drawing.
| | 02:39 | We will talk about this guy more when we get into plotting,
but this is where we can adjust our plottable lineweight.
| | 02:46 | Let me close the dialog.
| | 02:47 | If I would like to create a new layer,
I can come up to this icon.
| | 02:51 | This is my New Layer icon and I'll click.
| | 02:53 | When I do AutoCAD will create a new
layer for me, it even names it.
| | 02:57 | I'm going to change the name. Layer 1 is not very
descriptive, I'm going to use the name Object.
| | 03:02 | So we will just type in object and I will hit Enter.
| | 03:05 | I'm going to change the color of this layer too.
| | 03:08 | I'm going to come over and click my Color
selector and when my color picker comes up,
| | 03:12 | I'm going to move over it and I'm
going to select the yellow swatch.
| | 03:17 | I'll click on the yellow swatch and I'll click OK.
| | 03:19 | I have just created a new layer and I
have assigned its color to be yellow.
| | 03:23 | Let's set that layer current and we will draft something on it.
| | 03:26 | If I want to set the layer current, I'm
going to make sure the layer is highlighted
| | 03:30 | and then I'm going to come up and click the green check.
| | 03:33 | When I do, that layer is now current.
Anything I draft will be on that layer.
| | 03:37 | Let me come down and click OK.
| | 03:40 | We can also see the current layer at the top of our screen
and I'm going to draw a square using the Rectangle command.
| | 03:47 | So I'm going to come over to the Draw toolbar and we'll click
the Rectangle icon. We'll pick a point on screen and I'm going
| | 03:54 | to draw this using dimensions, so we will right-click
and we will select Dimensions from the menu.
| | 03:59 | And my length for rectangles, I'm going to use 5. Enter. My width
will be 5, Enter, and then let me click to set my opposite corner.
| | 04:09 | I'm just going to click in space right here.
| | 04:13 | Notice I have just created a square on
my screen and that square is yellow.
| | 04:17 | Why is it yellow?
| | 04:18 | Because it's on a yellow layer. Let's make a change to our layer.
| | 04:21 | If I want to change my object layer, I'm going to
come up to my Layer Properties Manager and click.
| | 04:26 | When the dialog comes up I'm going to change the color. I
am going to click the Color selector and this time I'm going
| | 04:31 | to come down and I'm going to click the red swatch.
| | 04:34 | We will click this guy and click OK.
| | 04:36 | I have just changed my layer color to red.
| | 04:38 | I'm going to make another change. Let's change the name.
| | 04:41 | I'm going to double-click on the Name field and I'm going to
type-in Part. This will be my Part Layer and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:50 | Let's click the OK button.
| | 04:53 | Notice my square now looks red.
That's because the layer is now red.
| | 04:57 | Let's assume that the square we are looking at is a block of wood
and maybe I have got a hole drilled through this block from top
| | 05:04 | to bottom and we are looking at it from a front view.
| | 05:07 | Well, from a drafting perspective, that hole drilled
through the block would be represented using hidden lines.
| | 05:13 | Let's create a layer for our hidden lines.
| | 05:15 | I'm going to come up and click my Layer Properties
Manager. Notice my Part Layer happens to be highlighted.
| | 05:20 | When I click the New icon, notice the new layer that AutoCAD
creates has the same settings as the layer that was highlighted.
| | 05:28 | I can use this to my advantage if I'm creating multiple
layers and I want them all to have the same setting.
| | 05:33 | So let's give this guy a name.
| | 05:34 | I'm going to call it Hidden Lines. I will hit Enter.
| | 05:38 | Let's come down. We will change the color. I'm going
to click the Color selector and this time we are going
| | 05:43 | to grab the magenta color swatch. I will click OK.
| | 05:47 | Now since this layer is going to represent hidden
lines, it is going to need a hidden line linetype,
| | 05:51 | so I'm going to go to my Linetype selector and click
| | 05:54 | and from here I can select any linetype
that happens to be loaded in my drawing.
| | 05:59 | Now since we started with the blank drawing,
the only linetype we have is Continuous.
| | 06:03 | So I'm going to come down and click my Load
button and let's load a linetype into the drawing.
| | 06:07 | When I click Load, AutoCAD brings up my Load or Reload Linetypes
dialog. If I click and hold my little scrollbar here,
| | 06:14 | I can scroll down and view all of the linetypes
available with our installation of AutoCAD.
| | 06:19 | So fortunately, they are alphabetical. I'm going to come
down to the hidden lines, I actually have three choices.
| | 06:25 | The only difference between these guys is the size of the dashes.
| | 06:28 | I'm going to grab the standard HIDDEN line and click OK.
| | 06:32 | I have just loaded that linetype into my drawing.
| | 06:35 | From here, I can now select it and
click OK to apply it to my layer.
| | 06:40 | Let's make this layer current and we
will create the hole through our block.
| | 06:43 | I'm going to click my little Set Current icon that
makes the hidden line layer current and we'll click OK.
| | 06:50 | Now let's assume that the hole that's drilled from
top to bottom through our block has a diameter of 3.
| | 06:56 | Using those dimensions, we will create that hole.
| | 06:59 | I'm going to launch my Line command and
I'm going to draw line from the midpoint
| | 07:02 | of the top of the block to the midpoint of the bottom.
| | 07:05 | Now I don't have a running Object Snap set for midpoint,
so we are going to have to grab it from the toolbar.
| | 07:09 | So I'm going to click Midpoint and then I will come
over and click my line, then I'm going to come over
| | 07:16 | and click Midpoint and I'm going to click the lower line.
| | 07:20 | When I'm all done, I will hit Escape.
| | 07:23 | Now I'm going to create the hole by just offsetting this
line either way. Remember the hole is being drilled from top
| | 07:28 | to bottom, so from a front view, it's just
going to be represented as two vertical lines.
| | 07:33 | Now that I know where the center of the whole is, I can merely
offset this line to the left and to the right to find the edges.
| | 07:40 | I'm going to launch my Offset command.
| | 07:42 | I will come over and click the icon. What's
my distance? I'm going to type in 1.5,
| | 07:48 | since I know the diameter is 3, I will
have to offset this 1.5 either way.
| | 07:52 | I will hit Enter.
| | 07:54 | Let me select this object and we will offset it to this side,
I will click this object and we will offset it to this side.
| | 08:02 | When I'm all done, I'm going to hit my Escape
key and then lastly we'll erase this line.
| | 08:07 | Let me click Erase.
| | 08:09 | We will grab this line and hit Enter.
| | 08:11 | I have just created a simple drawing
of a 3-dimensional block that happens
| | 08:15 | to have a hole drilled through it from top to bottom.
| | 08:17 | I also placed my entities on logical layers, so I have
control when I plot or when I work on this drawing.
| | 08:23 | Now that I have finished my drawing, I
am going to save this to my hard drive.
| | 08:26 | So I'm going to come to my File pulldown, I'm going to
select Save As and I'm going to go to my Exercise Files folder.
| | 08:34 | We'll come down to Chapter 10, that's where we are
working, let me open this guy up and I'm going
| | 08:39 | to call this drawing 02_properties finished and I'll click Save.
| | 08:51 | Whenever you are adding geometry to a drawing ask yourself,
| | 08:54 | is this something that needs to be
a different linetype or lineweight?
| | 08:57 | Is this something I may want to turn off when I print my drawing?
| | 09:00 | If your answer is yes, you will want to visit your
Layer Properties Manager and create a new layer.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Layer control| 00:00 | Now that we have seen the full blown Layer Properties Manager,
| | 00:03 | you may be wondering if there are any
shortcuts for making changes to our layers.
| | 00:06 | In fact, there are.
| | 00:07 | In this session we are going to look how to use
the Layer Control dropdown in the Layers toolbar.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to open a drawing and I'm going to come up and click
my Open icon and in the Select File dialog I'm going to look
| | 00:17 | in Chapter 10 within our Exercise Files directory
and I'm going to come down and we are going
| | 00:22 | to open up the Stereo Viewer, drawing number 3.
| | 00:25 | So I will highlight this guy and I'll click Open.
| | 00:28 | Now on screen we have a mechanical
example that's say 1970 stereo viewer.
| | 00:33 | Let's say I have to make some changes to this drawing and none
of the changes that I will be making involve the dimensions.
| | 00:39 | So I'm going to turn the Dimensions layer off.
| | 00:41 | Now I could turn them off using the full blown Layer
Properties Manager. I mean we could go right here
| | 00:46 | and turn our dimensions off, nothing wrong with that.
| | 00:50 | Let me click Cancel.
| | 00:50 | I'm going to show you another way.
| | 00:52 | We are going to use the Layer Control in our Layers toolbar.
| | 00:56 | If I come up and click the dropdown on my Layer Control,
I see what amounts to a miniature Layer Properties Manager.
| | 01:04 | In this menu I can see a list of all of my layers
as well as icons that represent their settings.
| | 01:09 | I would like to turn the Dimensions layer off so I'm going to
move over my Dimensions layer, click the little light bulb icon
| | 01:17 | and then I'm going to click in Model space to dismiss the menu.
| | 01:20 | Now I would like to do a little work on this drawing.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to zoom in on my front view so I'm going to roll
my wheel to zoom in. I would like to add the missing eyehole
| | 01:29 | to my stereo viewer. I happen to
have one, I need to draw the other.
| | 01:32 | Well, let's find out what the radius of this eyehole is.
| | 01:35 | I'm going to click on this guy and
I'm going to hover over the grip.
| | 01:38 | I can see that he has a got a radius of .3.
| | 01:42 | All right let's create a new circle.
| | 01:43 | I'm going to hit Escape to clear the grips. We'll zoom in a
little bit closer and I'm going to launch this Circle command.
| | 01:49 | Where would I like to place the center point of my circle?
| | 01:52 | Well, I'm going to have to use an Object Snap.
| | 01:54 | I'm going to come over and grab the intersection Object Snap
and I'm going to drop my circle at the intersection right here.
| | 02:02 | Now AutoCad wants a radius, I'm
going to type in .3 and hit Enter.
| | 02:06 | Here's my problem.
| | 02:08 | The circle's the perfect size,
but I drafted it on the wrong layer.
| | 02:11 | Notice that Layer 0 happens to be current right now.
| | 02:14 | I want that circle to be on the housing-front layer.
| | 02:18 | Let me show you how we can use the Layer Control
to move entities from one layer to another.
| | 02:22 | If I come down and click on this circle and
highlight it, I can come up to my Layer Control,
| | 02:27 | we will click the dropdown to open
it up and then I can come down
| | 02:30 | and select the layer on which I would like to place this entity.
| | 02:33 | When I click my layer name, the entity goes on to that layer.
| | 02:38 | When I hit my Escape key to clear the grips,
that circle is now on the appropriate layer.
| | 02:43 | Now I believe I had another problem with this drawing, let
me back up a little bit, yeah right here. In my top view,
| | 02:48 | this line should be on the centerline
layer and unfortunately it's not.
| | 02:53 | Let's fix that line.
| | 02:54 | Now I'm going to come up and click on this line to
select it and when I do, watch the Layer Control.
| | 02:59 | I'm going to click the Line, notice the Layer Control is
telling me what layer that line happens to be sitting on.
| | 03:06 | That can be a very valuable tool when you are drafting.
| | 03:08 | Let's put this guy on the correct layer.
| | 03:10 | I'm going to come up and click the Layer Control dropdown. We
will select the centrelines layer and when I do that guy is now
| | 03:18 | on the correct layer and I will hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 03:21 | I can also use the Layer Control to set my current layer.
| | 03:25 | Right now I can see that Layer 0 happens to be current.
| | 03:29 | That means that anything I draft will be drawn on Layer 0.
| | 03:32 | I would like to set another layer current.
| | 03:34 | We could go to the Layer Properties Manager and
adjust our little green check, but instead I'm going
| | 03:39 | to set my current layer using the Layer Control.
| | 03:42 | If I click the dropdown, all I have to do is
come down and select the layer of my choice.
| | 03:47 | I will click this one and that's it. That layer is now current.
| | 03:50 | Anything I draft will be on the housing-back layer.
| | 03:54 | Let me show you one interesting anomaly with the Layer Control.
| | 03:58 | If I click the dropdown, remember that this is my layer
name and these icons represent settings that I can change.
| | 04:05 | Unfortunately, I cannot change the color setting from here.
The color setting that I see is for display purposes only
| | 04:12 | so I can click that all day long and
AutoCAD won't let me do the change.
| | 04:16 | If I want to change the color, I have
to go into the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 04:21 | Using the Layer Control gives you fast
access to some of your layer functions
| | 04:25 | and can be the quickest way to move
an entity from one layer to another.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The ByLayer property| 00:00 | As we have seen when we place our geometry
on a layer, it looks like that layer.
| | 00:04 | For instance if I draw a circle on a green layer,
the circle looks green. If I draw a circle on a layer
| | 00:09 | that has a hidden linetype, the
circle will have a hidden linetype.
| | 00:12 | That's because my geometry has a ByLayer property applied to it.
| | 00:16 | The ByLayer property means that your layer
settings dictate how your entities look.
| | 00:21 | Let's take a look at the ByLayer property.
| | 00:22 | I'm going to come up and open a drawing and I'm going to go
into my Chapter 10 folder inside my Exercise Files directory
| | 00:29 | and we are going to come down and open up the ByLayer Property
drawing number 4. So I will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:36 | Now this drawing contains absolutely no
geometry but it does have some layers.
| | 00:40 | Let me come up and click my Layer Control, we can
see there happen to be four layers in this drawing.
| | 00:45 | Layer part happens to be current.
| | 00:47 | I'm going to create a circle.
| | 00:49 | So I'm going to move over to my Draw toolbar, we will
click the circle icon, this launches the Circle command.
| | 00:55 | Let me pick a point on screen for my circle and we
are going to create a circle with a radius of 3.
| | 01:02 | So I will type in 3 and hit Enter.
There is my circle, let me zoom in.
| | 01:06 | Now notice my circle's yellow. That's because
it happens to be sitting on a yellow layer.
| | 01:11 | Let's put it on a different layer.
| | 01:13 | I'm going to click and highlight this circle.
| | 01:15 | We will go to our Layer Control and I'm going
to put this guy on the hidden lines layer.
| | 01:20 | So I will select the hidden lines layer in the control,
he now moves to that layer and then I will hit Escape.
| | 01:27 | Notice the circle appears different.
| | 01:29 | That's because it is assuming the
properties of the hidden lines layer now.
| | 01:32 | Let me make one more change.
| | 01:34 | I want to click my circle again,
let's put it on the centerlines layer.
| | 01:37 | I'm going to click the dropdown and we will click Centerlines.
| | 01:40 | Once again the circle changes, let me hit Escape. This
circle will always have the same properties of the layer
| | 01:46 | that it's sitting on because it has a ByLayer property.
| | 01:49 | ByLayer means the layer dictates how our entities look.
| | 01:53 | Now we can also force properties on our objects.
| | 01:55 | If I look at the top of my interface, I have got a Properties
toolbar right up here. Now it happens to be creeping off the edge
| | 02:01 | of my interface, doesn't matter. We will pull
him down in the Model space so we can see him.
| | 02:05 | Let me click and hold on the handle, we
will drag this guy down and we'll release.
| | 02:10 | This is my Properties toolbar.
| | 02:12 | This is the toolbar that I could use if I
wanted to force properties on my entities.
| | 02:16 | Notice the way it's set right now.
| | 02:18 | My Color property is set to ByLayer. That
means the layer will dictate the color.
| | 02:23 | My Linetype property is set to ByLayer. That means the layer
will dictate my linetype and my Lineweight property is set
| | 02:30 | to ByLayer that means. That my layer will dictate the lineweight.
| | 02:34 | So everything that I create right now, the
properties will all be assumed by the layer.
| | 02:38 | Let's change this.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to click the dropdown
and I'm going to set this to red.
| | 02:42 | As this is set right now every new entity that I create is going
to be forced to be red, regardless of the layer it's sitting on.
| | 02:49 | Let's create a rectangle.
| | 02:50 | I'm going to come over and click my Rectangle
icon and then we will pick our start point
| | 02:55 | and I'm just going to come up and pick the opposite corner.
| | 02:58 | Notice the rectangle is red, even though he is sitting
on the current layer which happens to be yellow.
| | 03:03 | That's because I'm forcing the red color property on him.
| | 03:07 | Let's make another change.
| | 03:08 | I'm going to click the dropdown for my Linetype
control and I'm going to set this to a CENTER linetype
| | 03:14 | as this is set right now, every new entity
that I create will be forced to be red
| | 03:18 | and it will also have a CENTER linetype
regardless of the layer it is sitting on.
| | 03:23 | Let's create another rectangle.
| | 03:24 | I'm going to click the Rectangle icon, we
will pick one corner, we will pick another.
| | 03:30 | Notice that guy is forced to be red and he has a CENTER linetype.
| | 03:33 | This is a terrible way to work.
| | 03:35 | We never want to force properties on our objects.
| | 03:37 | Forcing properties greatly reduces our
ability to change those properties later.
| | 03:42 | Imagine if I copy this geometry around my drawing 700 times and
then the time came where I had to change one of my properties,
| | 03:49 | I would have to go through and chase down
each one of these guys to make the changes.
| | 03:53 | Instead, if my properties are always dictated based on the
layer, if I want to change the properties of my entities,
| | 03:59 | all I have to do is change my layer properties
and all of my entities will update automatically.
| | 04:04 | Let's remove the forced properties from these entities.
| | 04:07 | To do that all I have to do is select them.
| | 04:09 | I'm going to come up and make a crossing window.
| | 04:11 | I'm going to click right here and I'm going to pull down to
the lower left and I will click again to select my entities.
| | 04:18 | Now we are going to come up and set
the properties back to ByLayer.
| | 04:22 | Let me click the dropdown and we will set ByLayer.
| | 04:24 | I'm going to click the dropdown and the
Color control and we will set him to ByLayer.
| | 04:28 | And then I will hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 04:31 | That has corrected these entities but
it has not taken care of any new ones.
| | 04:36 | Notice the Properties controls still has
some properties set, let's fix these.
| | 04:40 | I'm going to click the dropdown and select ByLayer.
| | 04:43 | Now every new entity will have a linetype set ByLayer
and let me click the dropdown and set this guy to ByLayer.
| | 04:50 | Best practice while you are working is
to always have these guys set to ByLayer.
| | 04:54 | That will give you the most control and it will give you the
greatest ease when the time comes to change your properties.
| | 05:00 | Let's redact this toolbar.
| | 05:01 | I'm going to click, hold and drag. We'll drag
this guy back up to the top of our interface
| | 05:07 | and I will release to put him right back where he was.
| | 05:10 | The best advice I can give regarding
the ByLayer property is don't touch it,
| | 05:15 | you should never force properties on your objects.
| | 05:17 | If all of your entities are set to ByLayer making color,
| | 05:20 | linetype or lineweight changes is as
simple as changing your layer settings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Layer Previous command| 00:00 | Sometimes it can be easier to work in a drawing,
if we change some of our layer settings.
| | 00:04 | For instance, turning off unnecessary geometry or changing
our layer colors can simplify what we see on screen
| | 00:10 | and can make visually complicated drawings easier to understand.
| | 00:13 | The nice thing is, when we finish our work,
we can use AutoCAD's Layer Previous command
| | 00:18 | to restore our layer states to their original settings.
| | 00:21 | Let's take a look at Layer Previous.
| | 00:22 | I'm going to come up and open a drawing. I'm going to
click this icon. This will bring up my Select File dialog
| | 00:27 | and from here I'm going to go into my Chapter 10
folder located inside the Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:33 | We are going to come down and open up
number 5, the Retro controller drawing.
| | 00:37 | Let me select this drawing and click Open.
| | 00:39 | Now this is a very busy drawing.
| | 00:43 | Let's make the assumption that I have to make
some changes to this drawing and the changes
| | 00:46 | that I'm making don't involve the dimensions.
| | 00:49 | I'm going to turn the Dimensions layer off.
| | 00:51 | So let me come up to the Layer Control and I will
click. I'm going to come down to my Dimensions layer
| | 00:56 | and I will click the light bulb and then I
will click in Model space to clear the menu.
| | 01:01 | You know what I'm going to turn off every
layer that I'm not going to be working on.
| | 01:04 | Let me go back to the Layer Control and I will click,
I'm not going to be working on my centerlines layer,
| | 01:09 | I'm not going to be working with the controller button layer
and I'm not going to be working with the orange markings layers,
| | 01:15 | so let me turn all of those off and I
will click outside the menu to close it.
| | 01:19 | Now I'm sure you will agree that the geometry
we see on screen is much easier to look at.
| | 01:24 | The one thing I want to point out is the geometry
that we see on screen is actually 3 different layers,
| | 01:29 | I have got one layer that represents my joystick,
one layer that represents the rubber seal
| | 01:34 | and I have got another layer that represents the housing itself.
| | 01:37 | Each one of those layers happens to be blue currently and
whenever we have multiple layers that are the same color,
| | 01:43 | we run the risk of accidentally drafting on the wrong layer.
| | 01:46 | So if I'm going to be doing some work on this drawing,
I want to go through and make some color changes
| | 01:51 | such that I can tell the difference between my layers.
| | 01:53 | Now to do the color changes, I'm going to have to go my
Layer Properties Manager, so I'm going to click the icon.
| | 01:59 | Let me widen up this column so we can see the names.
| | 02:02 | My base layer, I'm going to set that to yellow. I will click OK.
| | 02:08 | The joystick layer I will highlight that
and we will set that guy to magenta.
| | 02:11 | I will click OK and we will leave the rubber-seal layer as blue.
| | 02:16 | When I click OK, I can now see the difference
between those 3 components. Perfect example.
| | 02:22 | Right here I have got some bad geometry. If I zoom in, I
can see that I have got two Fillets that happened to be
| | 02:28 | on the wrong layer, let's correct those guys.
| | 02:31 | We will click this Fillet and we will click this one to
highlight it, I can see that they were accidentally put
| | 02:36 | on the controller-base layer. Let me click the dropdown
and I'm going to put these on the rubber seal layer.
| | 02:42 | Let me click the layer name and those
guys are now on the correct layer.
| | 02:46 | Let me hit Escape and we will back up.
| | 02:48 | Now these layer changes, I have made are temporary. At
some point after I'm done working I'm going to need
| | 02:53 | to put these layers back the way they
were such that my drawing plots correctly.
| | 02:58 | Well, I don't have to worry because I have a button right up
here that AutoCAD gives me. That's the Layer Previous button.
| | 03:04 | If I click this button one time, notice AutoCAD backs up
through one previous layer state. I can click it again,
| | 03:11 | it will back up through the next one. I can click
it again to go all the way back to where I started.
| | 03:17 | Don't be afraid of changing your layer settings if it
will make it easier for you to work on your drawing.
| | 03:22 | Even if you make several adjustments, you can always restore
your layer state by using AutoCAD's Layer Previous command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
11. General AnnotationSingle-line text| 00:00 | No matter what you are drafting, at some
point, you are going to need to add some text.
| | 00:04 | Fortunately, AutoCAD has many annotation
tools to help you get the job done.
| | 00:07 | The first tool we are going to look at is Single Line Text.
| | 00:10 | I'm going to open a drawing, click my Open icon and we are going
| | 00:13 | to go inside the Chapter 11 folder
inside our Exercise Files directory
| | 00:18 | and I want to open up the number 1 drawing, the Combination Lock.
| | 00:21 | So I will highlight him and click Open.
| | 00:23 | Now, what we see on screen is a combination lock.
| | 00:26 | I have got two views. I have got a
front view and a right-side view.
| | 00:29 | Now, I would like to label these views.
| | 00:32 | Now, the labels that I'm creating are going
to require a high degree of formatting.
| | 00:35 | They are not going to require word wrap or
tab stops or any type of paragraph concerns.
| | 00:40 | Pretty much, I'm just making a couple of single lines of text.
| | 00:43 | Now, good form says that when we create text,
we should create it on a layer of its own.
| | 00:48 | If we look to the Layer Control, we can see I have already
made a layer for my text, so I'm practicing good form.
| | 00:53 | Now, to create my single line text, I'm going to come up
to my Draw pulldown and I'm going to come up all the way
| | 00:59 | at the bottom of the menu and under Text, I'm going
to go into the flyout and select Single Line Text.
| | 01:05 | AutoCAD is now asking me to specify a start point for my text.
| | 01:09 | I'm just going to go ahead and pick a point right here.
| | 01:12 | Now, the height of your text is very
important because you want to make sure
| | 01:15 | that your text is legible when the drawing is plotted.
| | 01:17 | We will talk about that more when we get into plotting.
| | 01:20 | For right now, I want you to use the text hide of 0.2.
| | 01:23 | So I'm going to type in 0.2 and hit Enter.
| | 01:26 | Lastly, I need to specify a rotation angle.
| | 01:28 | If I move my cursor, we can see that I get a rubber band effect.
| | 01:31 | If I wanted, I could free pick a point
on the screen to define the angle
| | 01:35 | at which I'm creating my text, or I could type in a number.
| | 01:39 | For right now, I'm going to hit Enter and accept the default of
0, which means that my text will read horizontal on my screen.
| | 01:46 | OK, I have got a flashing cursor. I can type.
| | 01:49 | Let me type in front, space, view.
| | 01:52 | And to get out of the Text command, now that I'm done, I'm
going to hit my Enter key twice, Enter, Enter, to clear the command.
| | 02:00 | And the first time we notice that it's the
ugliest text we have ever seen in our life.
| | 02:04 | It's a true fact, there is nothing
uglier than default AutoCAD text.
| | 02:08 | Now, we will learn how to make our
text look better in a future session.
| | 02:11 | For right now, we are concerned more about function than form.
| | 02:15 | Let's label our right-side view.
| | 02:17 | Once again, I'm going to come up to my Draw pulldown and click.
| | 02:20 | I'm going to come down to Text and then I will move
over into the flyout and select Single Line Text.
| | 02:25 | Let me pick my start point.
| | 02:28 | I'm going to pick a point right about here.
| | 02:30 | Let's mix it up a little.
| | 02:31 | I'm going to change my height.
| | 02:32 | Let's put this text in with the height of 0.1.
| | 02:35 | I will type in 0.1 and hit Enter.
| | 02:38 | Rotation angle, once again, I'm going to hit Enter and
accept the default and I'm going to type Right Side View.
| | 02:47 | Notice as I'm entering my text, I'm not entering it in a
dialog box. I'm actually entering it right on the screen,
| | 02:53 | meaning I can see my text in relation to my
entities as I add the text to my drawing.
| | 02:58 | Let me finish the command.
| | 02:59 | I'm going to hit Enter twice, Enter,
Enter, and there is my second text entity.
| | 03:04 | Text entities can be moved just like any other entity,
| | 03:06 | so if these guys aren't in the exact location
I would like them, I can always move them.
| | 03:10 | Let me use the Move command, we will move one of them.
| | 03:13 | I will select Move, select Objects. I will click this
one and then I will right-click. Specify base point.
| | 03:20 | I can pick objects up from any place I want really.
| | 03:23 | I'm just going to pick a point down here.
| | 03:24 | Let me pick and notice I'm moving the object from that location.
| | 03:28 | For right now, we will center them a little
bit better right there and that will do.
| | 03:32 | I have labeled both of my views.
| | 03:34 | Single Line Text is the perfect choice for view labels, area
labels, title block info, street names or any other annotation
| | 03:41 | that doesn't require paragraph-style formatting.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Text justification| 00:00 | With most software, your choices
for text justification are limited
| | 00:03 | to Left Justified and Center Justified or Right Justified.
| | 00:06 | AutoCAD however gives us complete control over
our justification, allowing us to position
| | 00:11 | and justify our text at nearly every conceivable location.
| | 00:14 | Let's look at text justification.
| | 00:15 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:16 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and we are going
| | 00:19 | to go inside the Chapter 11 folder located inside
our Exercise Files directory and I want to open
| | 00:25 | up drawing number 2, the title block drawing,
so I will select that guy and click Open.
| | 00:30 | Now I'm currently working on a title
block and we are actually going
| | 00:33 | to be using this title block later when we do some plotting.
| | 00:36 | For right now, I want to zoom in on this lower right-hand corner.
| | 00:39 | Now I have created a copy of the corner of my title block
off to the right-hand side and what I would like to do is,
| | 00:46 | I would like to replicate the text
that we see on the left, on the right.
| | 00:51 | Our goal is to predictably place
our text using justification points.
| | 00:56 | Just for a second, I would like talk
about text justification in AutoCAD.
| | 00:59 | Now I have got some text on my screen and if we imagine this text
sitting on line, this red line would represent our base line.
| | 01:07 | Now most of the applications that allow us to create
text have a couple of justifications that they give us,
| | 01:12 | one being Left Justified. Nw Left Justification means as I
add or remove text, it will be locked at that left corner.
| | 01:19 | Other typical justifications include Center
Justification and Right Justification.
| | 01:25 | So these three are the main three justification
points that we get with most applications.
| | 01:30 | Now AutoCAD has an insane amount of text justification points.
| | 01:34 | This is what's available on AutoCAD.
| | 01:36 | So in addition to the standard baseline, I have also got a top
baseline with justification points, I have got a middle baseline
| | 01:43 | with justification points and I have got a
bottom baseline with justification points.
| | 01:48 | So using these justification points,
we have complete control over our text.
| | 01:53 | Let's try and recreate the text we see
on the left in our example on the right.
| | 01:59 | Now when I placed my text on the left, what I did to
place it within these areas was to create some offsets.
| | 02:05 | Now we can see the offsets that I created over
on the right, basically I offset my vertical line
| | 02:09 | over to create a nice margin, so I
had a gap to the left side of my text.
| | 02:13 | And then I offset my horizontal lines up to
create some nice space underneath my text.
| | 02:18 | Once again those offset lines are
represented on the right-hand side.
| | 02:22 | Let me click this first text entity, notice a little blue
grip pops up that grip is located at the justification point.
| | 02:29 | By default, all text that we create in AutoCAD is Left Justified.
| | 02:33 | Now AutoCAD calls this justification point an insertion point.
| | 02:37 | In fact, there is actually and Object
Snap for a text called Insertion Point.
| | 02:42 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grip, and we
will replicate this text right over here.
| | 02:47 | I'm going to come up and launch my Text command. So I'm
going to go my Draw toolbar. I'm going to come all the way
| | 02:51 | to the bottom and in the flyout I
am going to select Single Line Text.
| | 02:56 | AutoCAD is asking for a start point, I'm
going to use the intersection of my offsets.
| | 03:01 | So I'm going to come over and click Intersection.
| | 03:04 | And then I'm going to come down and click
the intersection of these magenta lines.
| | 03:09 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to specify a height,
I'm going to use the height 0.05 which happens
| | 03:14 | to be my default, so I will Enter and accept that.
| | 03:17 | Now AutoCAD wants a rotation angle,
I'm going to hit Enter to accept 0.
| | 03:27 | Now when I'm all done creating my text, I'm going to hit
my Enter key twice to get out of the command, Enter-Enter.
| | 03:33 | Alright now I could use the same method to create the next
line down. Instead let's use that insertion point Object Snap.
| | 03:40 | I'm going to copy this text entity from this title block
and I'm going to place it in my little demonstration.
| | 03:45 | I'm going to launch the Copy command.
| | 03:48 | AutoCAD is asking me to select objects. I will grab this
piece of text and I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 03:54 | Specify base point. Let's come over to our Object Snap
toolbar and I'm going to use the insertion point Object Snap.
| | 04:02 | Let me click this guy.
| | 04:04 | Now when I come over to my text and those when I put my cursor
on the text item, AutoCAD is finding the insertion point.
| | 04:10 | Let me click to grab the insertion and I
am now holding my text from that location.
| | 04:16 | Let me place them to the intersection of my offsets.
| | 04:20 | I'm going to come over and click
Intersection and I will come down
| | 04:23 | and click the Intersection right here. I
will hit Escape to get out of the command.
| | 04:27 | So I can use the Insertion Point to manipulate my text if I wish.
| | 04:31 | Let's create another text entity. I'm going
to create the guy that goes right down here.
| | 04:35 | Now he is special because he is going to be Center
Justified. No matter what we type in this area,
| | 04:40 | I always wanted to be centered within that rectangle.
| | 04:43 | Let's create that text.
| | 04:44 | I'm going to come up to Draw, all the way to the bottom
under Text that I'm going to select Single Line Text.
| | 04:50 | Now all the text that we have put in up
until at this point has been Left Justified.
| | 04:54 | In this case, I want to change my justification.
| | 04:57 | If we look at the command line, I can see
that Justify happens to be a sub-option.
| | 05:01 | So I'm going to right-click and select Justify.
| | 05:04 | Look at all the choices I have. This is why I showed
you those slides, so you would understand what all
| | 05:08 | of these guys are, top-left, top-center, top-right.
| | 05:11 | I would like to place this text Center Justified.
| | 05:14 | Let me come up and click Center and AutoCAD is
asking me, where is the center point of your text?
| | 05:20 | Now I'm going to use the midpoint Object
Snap, let me come up and click Midpoint.
| | 05:24 | And then I'm going to come down and click my line.
| | 05:28 | Here we go, AutoCAD wants my height, let's use a height of 0.1,
Enter, and I'm going to hit Enter to accept the default angle.
| | 05:35 | As I type in this area, now that's whatever I type
it's always centered on the midpoint of that line.
| | 05:42 | Let's backspace, it will leave that at just two Xs
and I will hit Enter twice to get out of the command.
| | 05:47 | I would like to do one more example. Notice I have got a
circle here. Many times we use a circle in our callouts
| | 05:54 | and occasionally we have to add text to those circles.
| | 05:56 | I'm going to create some text within
this circle and I would like to keep it
| | 06:00 | so that it's always centered right in
the middle of the circle. Let's try that.
| | 06:03 | I'm going to launch my Text command again,
this time I'm going to get it from the menu.
| | 06:07 | I'm going to right-click and select Repeat Single Line Text.
| | 06:11 | Specify start point.
| | 06:13 | I want to change my justification,
let me right-click and select Justify.
| | 06:17 | This time I'm going to use the justification Middle Center.
| | 06:21 | I would like my text Middle Center Justified in that circle.
| | 06:24 | So I will click Middle C. AutoCAD says specify
middle point of text so I will put my cursor
| | 06:30 | on the arc and click. AutoCAD found the center.
| | 06:33 | We will leave the height at 0.1 and
we will leave the rotation at 0.
| | 06:38 | Notice as I type within this circle, the text is always
nicely centered right in the middle, no matter what I type.
| | 06:44 | Now that I'm done, I'm going to hit
Enter twice to cancel the command.
| | 06:49 | AutoCAD certainly gives us a lot of choices when it comes to
justifying our text. Using these justification options along
| | 06:55 | with our insertion Object Snap, we can insert and
reposition any text object with complete control.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Text styles| 00:00 | When we want to control the appearance of our
text normally we think of changing our font.
| | 00:04 | While AutoCAD will certainly allow us to change fonts,
we can actually go one step further and create text styles.
| | 00:10 | Now a text style is a name that is
given to a collection of text settings.
| | 00:14 | All text in our AutoCAD drawings is associated with a text style.
| | 00:18 | I'm going to open a drawing I'm going to come up and click
my Open icon and we are going to go into the Chapter 11 folder
| | 00:24 | within our Exercise Files directory and we are going
to open up 2 drawings this time. I'm going to click
| | 00:30 | and highlight the Text Style Intro drawing and I'm going to hold
my Shift key and I'm going to click the Title Block drawing.
| | 00:35 | We will select both of those and then I'm going
to click my Open button to open them on screen.
| | 00:40 | Remember that AutoCAD supports a multi-document environment so
although I can't see the Title Block drawing, it is still open.
| | 00:47 | Now up until this point, all text that we have
been creating has been quite frankly very ugly.
| | 00:52 | Let's try and correct that I'm going to
go in and change my current text style.
| | 00:57 | If I look up into my Style Control I can
see that Standard is my current text style.
| | 01:02 | Let me click the icon going into my Text Style dialog box.
From here on the left side of the screen I can see a list
| | 01:09 | of all of the styles I have defined in my drawing.
| | 01:11 | Currently I just have the Standard text style.
| | 01:15 | Now all drawings will have Standard because we have
to have some sort of style in order to create text.
| | 01:20 | If we look below the Styles list, I can see
a preview of the highlighted text style.
| | 01:26 | Notice, yes, in fact the Standard style is
the ugliest text on earth. Let's fix that.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to move up to the top of the dialog and in this
area I can assign a font to my style right now it's set
| | 01:38 | to txt.shx. Notice that the font has a caliper next to it.
| | 01:43 | That caliper represents that the font is an AutoCAD font.
| | 01:46 | Let me click the dropdown in the Font Name area and
notice that I have several fonts that I can choose from.
| | 01:52 | Some of these have a TT icon next to the name.
| | 01:55 | The TT stands for True Type. That means it's a Windows font.
| | 01:59 | Now the number of fonts that we see in
this list is directly related to the number
| | 02:03 | of fonts that you have installed on your machine.
| | 02:05 | So the more fonts you have, the more
fonts you are going to see in this list.
| | 02:08 | I'm going to pulldown here and we are going to
set our Standard text style to the Arial font.
| | 02:15 | Let me select Arial and as soon as I do, the preview looks
great. Let me click Apply and then I'm going to click Close.
| | 02:22 | Let's try and create some text now.
| | 02:24 | I'm going to come up to my Draw pulldown I'm
going to come to the bottom of the menu to Text
| | 02:29 | and then in the flyout I'm going to select Single Line Text.
| | 02:34 | Were I pick a point in screen for my
text type I'm going to use a height of 3
| | 02:38 | and for my rotation angle I'm going
to hit Enter and accept the default.
| | 02:43 | Alright let's type something.
| | 02:45 | Notice this text looks much nicer
than what we have seen previously.
| | 02:53 | Alright, all I did was assigned a
new font to my Standard text style.
| | 02:59 | Let's create a new text style. I can do that
by coming up and clicking the Text Style icon.
| | 03:04 | If I want to create a new style I'm going
to come over and click the New button.
| | 03:08 | Now the name that we give for our Text Style
should be descriptive of what the text is used for.
| | 03:14 | For instance we could create a style for our callouts.
| | 03:17 | We can create a text style for our dimensions.
| | 03:20 | We can create one for our title text. So generally
speaking we always name it for what it's used for.
| | 03:26 | I'm going to call these titles. This is going
to be the style that I use for all of my titles.
| | 03:31 | I will click OK. Now that I have created
the name, I'm going to assign this a font.
| | 03:36 | Now since this is title text it's going to be of
a heavier weight than the standard Arial font.
| | 03:41 | I'm going to click the dropdown and I'm going
to select Arial Black. That is a very bold font.
| | 03:47 | We can see that in the preview. Now in addition to
selecting my font I can also set my size right here.
| | 03:53 | Now good practice is to leave the height set to 0.
| | 03:56 | This way when I enter text using this style, AutoCAD
will always ask me what height I would like to use.
| | 04:02 | If I were to enter a height in this field,
I'm hard coding a height on the style
| | 04:07 | and every time I insert text using this text style
it would always go in using the height that I assign.
| | 04:13 | So to give myself a little bit of
flexibility I'm going to leave this set to 0.
| | 04:17 | Notice at the bottom of the dialog I've got an Effects area.
| | 04:19 | This is where I can change some of
the special effects for my style.
| | 04:23 | The dialog box does have a question mark.
| | 04:26 | Once I click the button, I can bring the question
mark down to the setting of my choice and click
| | 04:31 | and AutoCAD will tell me everything
I need to know about that setting.
| | 04:34 | Let me hit Escape to clear the Help text.
| | 04:37 | One setting I would like to show you is the Width
Factor. This controls the width of your characters.
| | 04:42 | Currently it's set to one which means the characters
are going to go in as they were defined by the font.
| | 04:47 | Let me highlight this number and I'm going to set it to 0.5.
| | 04:51 | Notice my preview changed. The Width Factor is
just another way that I can tweak my characters.
| | 04:56 | Let me set this back to 1. Alright, I'm going to click the
Apply button because I'm done to creating my text style
| | 05:03 | and I'm going to click Close to dismiss the dialog.
| | 05:06 | If we look at the top of the screen in my Style Control
I can see that my titles text style is now current.
| | 05:12 | So any text that I create will conform to the titles text style.
| | 05:18 | Let's create some text.
| | 05:19 | I'm going to come up to my Draw pulldown, I'm
going to come all the way to the bottom of the menu
| | 05:23 | and then in the flyout I'm going to select Single Line Text.
| | 05:27 | I will go ahead and pick a point on the screen to
start. Since this is title text I'm going to type it
| | 05:33 | in a little bit larger. I'm going to put this in at a text
height of 5 and I'll hit Enter and we'll hit Enter one more time.
| | 05:44 | When I'm all done typing my text I will
hit Enter twice to get out of the command.
| | 05:49 | Now you maybe asking yourself, why are styles important?
| | 05:52 | Couldn't I do the same type of thing just by adjusting fonts?
| | 05:55 | Styles actually give us more flexibility.
| | 05:57 | You see if I want to update the appearance of my text all I
have to do is update my style and all my text will change.
| | 06:04 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 06:05 | I'm going to close this drawing.
| | 06:07 | Now we can see our Title Block which is been open all along.
| | 06:13 | Let me zoom in the lower right hand corner.
| | 06:15 | This Title Block drawing looks quite a bit better than it
did before because now my text is conforming to text styles.
| | 06:22 | If I look up at my Style Control I can see that I have
several styles created, one of which happens to be Titles.
| | 06:28 | This style is controlling this heavy bold text.
| | 06:33 | Let me click in Model space to clear the menu.
So if I wanted to update the appearance of all
| | 06:38 | of my bold text, all I have to do is revise my style.
| | 06:42 | Let's try that. I'm going to come
up and click my Text Style button.
| | 06:45 | Let's highlight the Titles text.
| | 06:48 | Right now it happens to be set to Arial Black.
| | 06:50 | I'm going to click the dropdown and will select another font.
| | 06:53 | I'm going to try the Forte font.
| | 06:57 | Let me click this and we can see the change in the preview.
| | 07:00 | I will click Apply and we will click Close.
| | 07:03 | If we want to see our new style all
we have to do is Regen our screen.
| | 07:08 | Let me come up and click my View pulldown, I'll
select Regen and we can see that all of my text
| | 07:14 | that was associated with the Titles text style has been updated.
| | 07:18 | Text styles control the appearance
of all of the text in our drawing.
| | 07:22 | As you can see by making a simple modification to a style we
can automatically old text that is associated with that style.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Multi-line text| 00:00 | Sometimes we have to go beyond single
line notes and create paragraphs of text.
| | 00:04 | At times like these it's nice to know that AutoCAD
has a fully featured word processor capable
| | 00:08 | of giving us professional looking results.
| | 00:11 | Let's create some multi-line text.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to open up a drawing.
I'm going to click the Open icon.
| | 00:15 | And we are going to go inside the Chapter 11
folder located within our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:20 | And I want to open up the number 4 drawing,
the Road Closure Detail. Let's select this guy
| | 00:25 | and click open to bring him up on our screen.
| | 00:28 | Now this is the drawing I'm working on a Road Closure Detail
| | 00:32 | and my single line text has served
me well to create my little labels.
| | 00:36 | But at this point I would like to create a paragraph of text.
| | 00:40 | Now good form says that I should create my text on its own layer.
| | 00:44 | Notice I already have a layer created for my text.
I also have a text style created for my text.
| | 00:50 | To create a paragraph of text in AutoCAD,
we are going to use the MText command.
| | 00:54 | Now I can launch the MText command from my Draw toolbar. If I go
all way to the bottom I can click on the Multi-Line Text icon.
| | 01:02 | And when I do AutoCAD is asking me to specify first
corner. You see since I'm creating a paragraph, I'm going
| | 01:08 | to create a rectangle that's going to
define the column of text I want to create.
| | 01:13 | So I'm going to click once and then I'm going
to pull to the right a little bit and down
| | 01:18 | and this rectangle will define my text column.
| | 01:21 | Let me click again to finish, and
AutoCAD brings up my MText Editor.
| | 01:26 | Now if you are familiar with Microsoft Word
at all you already know how to use several
| | 01:30 | of these features because quite frankly they are the same.
| | 01:34 | Let me move down into my Text field.
I will click and we will type in some text.
| | 01:42 | Notice I have word wrap now.
| | 01:44 | That's good enough.
| | 01:52 | OK, one other thing I want you to notice is this text
is actually being placed in context with my geometry.
| | 01:58 | Notice if I roll my zoom wheel in and out where I see my
text is where it's going to be when I close the editor.
| | 02:06 | So it's in place text creation.
| | 02:09 | Now at the top of my editor, I have got a ruler.
| | 02:12 | Now this ruler can actually be turned off. If you do not
see a ruler we can go up and click this icon right here.
| | 02:17 | If I click that, I can turn the ruler on and off.
| | 02:19 | Notice at the end of the ruler I have double arrows.
| | 02:22 | If I move my cursor on top of the arrows
and click and hold I can drag back
| | 02:26 | and forth with my mouse and I can
adjust the width of my paragraph.
| | 02:31 | Let me release.
| | 02:33 | My ruler has tab stops very similar to Microsoft Word.
| | 02:36 | If I click at the beginning of this sentence to set my cursor,
I can hit my Tab key to jump to the various tab stops.
| | 02:44 | Let me back space to take those away.
| | 02:47 | Let's change the appearance of some of our text.
| | 02:49 | I'm going to click after this word and drag across
it to highlight and then I'm going to release.
| | 02:56 | Notice in the editor I have the standard Bold setting. If I
click this, the text becomes bold. I have italics. I can click
| | 03:03 | that. I can also underline the text if I wish.
| | 03:06 | Or overline. Let me click these to turn him off.
| | 03:09 | When the point comes where I finished creating my text
I'm going to click the OK button to dismiss the editor.
| | 03:17 | And that text is now in my drawing.
| | 03:19 | I'm going to erase this guy since he was an example.
| | 03:22 | And what we will do is we will create a paragraph of
text that would be associated with a road closure detail.
| | 03:28 | Let me backup just a little bit. We'll pan over.
| | 03:32 | Alright I'm going to re-launch the Multi-Line Text command.
| | 03:35 | So I'm going to come over and click the Multi-Line Text icon.
| | 03:39 | Now before I create the text notice
I have got a little ABC at my cursor.
| | 03:43 | If I zoom in a little bit we can see that guy
better. The ABC represents the current text type.
| | 03:49 | So this is showing me if I was to place this text or as I
enter this text then that is the height it's going to be.
| | 03:54 | What if I wanted to change my height?
| | 03:56 | Let me show you this.
| | 03:57 | I'm going to pick a point on screen to start my
rectangle and as I pull over to set the other corner look
| | 04:03 | at my command line. Notice I have several
sub-options. One of them is height.
| | 04:07 | I'm in the middle of the MText command. I'm going to right-click.
I will select Height, and I'm going to type in a height of 1.25.
| | 04:17 | When I hit Enter notice the ABC is now bigger because once
again it is a representation of the current text type.
| | 04:24 | Let me create my column width and at any point
I can pan and zoom while I'm in this command.
| | 04:30 | Don't worry about the height of your column.
| | 04:33 | The text you enter will control the height.
| | 04:36 | The most important thing is the width. So I'm going to click
right down here to set my column and we will type our paragraph.
| | 05:09 | OK I finished my paragraph.
I purposely typed that all in lowercase.
| | 05:13 | Notice I have obviously got some problems.
| | 05:16 | I did that because I wanted to show
you another feature of multi-line text.
| | 05:19 | I can change the case of my text.
| | 05:21 | I can convert it to upper or lowercase.
| | 05:24 | In most civil engineering drawings all of our text is uppercase.
| | 05:28 | If I would like to convert this text to uppercase, all I
have to do is select it. I can do that by clicking at the end
| | 05:34 | of the sentence, holding and dragging
to select the entire paragraph.
| | 05:38 | I can also if you like keyboard shortcuts
I can click inside the paragraph
| | 05:42 | and I can press Ctrl+A. That will
also select the entire paragraph.
| | 05:47 | If I come right up here I have a button that represents
lowercase and I have a one that represents uppercase.
| | 05:51 | Let me click the Uppercase button and
all of my text reverts to uppercase.
| | 05:56 | Let me tweak my column width just a little bit so it looks nicer.
| | 06:00 | The editor also gives us the ability to change our justification.
| | 06:04 | Notice I have got Left Justified. I can click
this guy for Center Justified or Right Justified.
| | 06:10 | Let's set him back to Left and we
will click OK to dismiss the dialog.
| | 06:15 | MText will definitely be your first choice for all
of the notes and callouts you create in your drawing.
| | 06:20 | Using MText is as close to a professional word processor
as you can get while still being inside a CAD program.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Editing| 00:00 | Computer drafting is all about having
the ability to make changes.
| | 00:03 | Sometimes the changes that we make require us to edit our text.
| | 00:06 | Fortunately AutoCAD makes the job
of text revisions fast and simple.
| | 00:10 | Let's make a couple of changes to our Road Closure Detail.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to click my Open button and I'm
going to open up the Road Closure Detail drawing.
| | 00:17 | Now this drawing is located within the Chapter
11 folder inside our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:23 | I'm going to come down and open drawing number 5.
So I will highlight this drawing and click Open.
| | 00:29 | Now I would like to make some text changes.
| | 00:31 | The first change I'm going to make
is to this title right down here.
| | 00:35 | I'm going to zoom in. Let me pan over
so it's centered on the screen.
| | 00:38 | This title should actually read Type 3 Barricade Detail.
| | 00:42 | So to make the change I'm going to edit my text
if I want to edit text in AutoCAD all I have
| | 00:47 | to do is put my cursor on the text and double-click.
| | 00:50 | From here I can make my changes.
| | 00:52 | Notice as I type that I'm doing in place text editing.
I'm not going to do a special dialog. I'm actually able
| | 01:03 | to type the text right on the screen so I can
always see it within the context of my geometry.
| | 01:09 | When I'm all done editing the text I'm going
to hit Enter to jump out of that text entity
| | 01:14 | and notice that my cursor, AutoCAD is giving the
ability to select another text entity if I wish.
| | 01:19 | This is nice because I do have another
change I would like to make.
| | 01:22 | Let me backup.
| | 01:24 | We will pan up to this view. This
guy should actually say Plan View.
| | 01:28 | Since I'm still able to edit text, I'm going
to move up and click on this entity one time.
| | 01:34 | Perfect. The entire text is highlighted. Now I don't want
to get rid of all of it so I'm going to click between the N
| | 01:39 | and the V. I'll click and hold and I'll highlight that word.
| | 01:44 | Let me change that to Plan.
| | 01:46 | Once again I will hit enter to get out of the entity. At this
point I'm going to hit the Escape key to get out of the command.
| | 01:52 | Now on both of those of cases I made edits to single line text.
| | 01:56 | Let's make some text changes to multi-line text.
| | 02:00 | Now to edit multi line text it's the exact same procedure.
I'm just going to put my cursor on the text and double click.
| | 02:06 | When I do AutoCAD brings up my MText dialog.
| | 02:09 | Now let's make a couple of changes.
| | 02:11 | I'm going to click hold and drag across
this name and we will make this guy bold.
| | 02:17 | In fact let's italicize him and underline him too.
| | 02:21 | You know what, we happen to have a second instance
of that same name, we will do the same thing.
| | 02:24 | I will highlight this guy, bold, italics and underline.
| | 02:29 | Since I'm back in the editor, I can also put my cursor on
my arrow and I can adjust my column width. Just click hold
| | 02:37 | and drag with the mouse and I can change the width of my column.
| | 02:41 | When I'm all done changing my text I can click OK to get out.
| | 02:45 | Now multi-line text can also be edited using grips.
| | 02:48 | For instance, if I come down and click on this text one
time to highlight it, notice I get a grip on all 4 corners.
| | 02:56 | If I move my cursor over the grip in the upper right hand corner
and click that grip becomes hot and as I drag my cursor left
| | 03:03 | and right, I'm dynamically changing
the width of that column on screen.
| | 03:07 | Let me click again to define the new column width
and then I'm going to hit Escape to clear my grips.
| | 03:14 | So whether you have to edit a single text note
or revise an entire paragraph AutoCAD allows you
| | 03:19 | to make all of your text changes quickly and easily.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Bulleted and numbered lists| 00:00 | It's very common to find numbered lists on construction drawings.
| | 00:03 | In the past it was always a headache to add or remove items from
a numbered list because it meant a lot of manual renumbering.
| | 00:09 | Well, that's not the case anymore as all of our
MTEXT lists are fully automated and easy to change.
| | 00:15 | Let's create a numbered list.
| | 00:16 | I'm going to come up and click my
Open icon and we are going to go
| | 00:19 | into the Chapter 11 folder that's located
within our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:24 | I'm going to come down and select the number 6 drawing.
| | 00:28 | I will highlight this guy, that's the Combination
Lock, and I will click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:33 | Now we are going to explore numbered lists by
creating a list of features for this combination lock.
| | 00:39 | Now before I create my list, I want you to notice that I'm
practicing good form, I have created a layer to place my text,
| | 00:45 | I have also created a text style for my text.
| | 00:48 | Let's launch the MTEXT Command.
| | 00:50 | I'm going to come over to my Draw toolbar and
I'm going to click the Multi-Lined text icon.
| | 00:56 | When the command comes up, I'm going to click to set the
first corner of my column and then I will pull to the right
| | 01:04 | and I will click again to define the width of my text column.
| | 01:08 | All right let's make our numbered list.
| | 01:11 | Let's type features with a colon and I
will hit Enter and we will start the list.
| | 01:17 | I'm going to type 1.
| | 01:18 | and then a tab.
| | 01:20 | As soon as I enter the tab, AutoCAD is going
to recognize that this is a numbered list.
| | 01:25 | Let me type my first feature.
| | 01:28 | Watch when I hit Enter,
AutoCAD just realized I'm creating a list.
| | 01:36 | Notice my word wrap is working appropriately with
my list. I'm going to add a couple more features.
| | 01:51 | As soon as I'm finished with my list I'm going to
come up and click the OK button to dismiss the dialog.
| | 01:56 | Now it never fails, as soon as we create a numbered
list in a drawing, somebody always comes around
| | 02:01 | and wants to add or remove items from our list.
| | 02:04 | Well, that's not a problem.
| | 02:06 | Let's make a change to our numbered list.
| | 02:08 | If I want to edit my text, I'm going to move
my cursor on top of the text and double-click.
| | 02:12 | This will take me right back into the
editor and let's add an item to our list.
| | 02:16 | I'm going to click right after feature number 4 and hit Enter.
| | 02:21 | Notice the computer picks up right where it
left off and I'm able to add another feature.
| | 02:29 | Let's remove one.
| | 02:30 | I'm going to remove feature number 2.
| | 02:33 | If I want to remove this feature, I will
simply click after the end of the line,
| | 02:37 | hold and drag and we'll highlight the entire feature
and then I'm going to hit my Backspace key.
| | 02:42 | Notice AutoCAD removes the line and renumbers the list.
| | 02:46 | Now occasionally in a numbered list we would like to
have a carriage return on empty space between our items.
| | 02:52 | If I would like to create that empty
space, all I have to do is click at the end
| | 02:56 | of the item, hold down my Shift key and hit Enter.
| | 02:59 | Let me add a couple more. I will click
right here, hold my Shift key and hit Enter.
| | 03:05 | Now if you forget and hit your Enter key, notice the computer
is going to assume that you want to add another feature.
| | 03:10 | Now in this case I don't want to do that so I'm
just going to backspace and take away that number.
| | 03:15 | Let's look at how we can change the style of our list.
| | 03:17 | Maybe I don't want this to be numbers,
maybe I would like it to be something else.
| | 03:20 | I'm going to click at the end of my last feature and
hold and drag and I'm going to highlight all of my text
| | 03:26 | and then I'm going to come up to this button.
| | 03:28 | This button controls my list style.
| | 03:31 | Let me click the dropdown.
| | 03:32 | Notice that my current setting is
numbered. I can also set this to bulleted.
| | 03:37 | As soon as I select Bulleted, I now have a bulleted list.
| | 03:41 | Let me click the dropdown again.
| | 03:42 | Maybe I don't want Bulleted, maybe I would like a lettered
list and I have a choice between upper or lowercase.
| | 03:48 | Let's set it for lowercase.
| | 03:50 | Now that I have made my changes, I
will click OK to dismiss the Editor.
| | 03:53 | As you can see, list creation is very
flexible within the MTEXT Command.
| | 03:59 | Making and editing your lists is as intuitive
as using your favorite word processing program.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Symbols| 00:00 | Each discipline of drafting has its own
unique symbology and sometimes we need
| | 00:04 | to incorporate the special symbols into our text.
| | 00:06 | Let's look at where we can go to find these extra
characters that we don't typically see on our keyboard.
| | 00:11 | I'm going to click Open.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to work on our road closure detail a little bit more.
| | 00:16 | I want to go into the Chapter 11 folder located within
our Exercise Files directory and I'm going to come down
| | 00:21 | and select drawing number 7, the Road Closure Detail drawing.
| | 00:25 | I will highlight him and we will
click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:30 | Now, I'm almost finished with this drawing.
| | 00:33 | I just want to add a couple of symbols.
| | 00:35 | I would like to add a center line symbol
right at the end of this center line.
| | 00:38 | Let me zoom in.
| | 00:39 | The center line symbol is a standard
symbol used in civil engineering drafting.
| | 00:46 | Now, to add symbols to our drawing, I'm
going to do that through the MTEXT command.
| | 00:50 | So I'm going to come down to my draw
toolbar and click the Multi-Line Text icon.
| | 00:55 | Then I'm going to come up and I'm going to click my first
corner and then I will come down and click my second corner.
| | 01:03 | I have just defined the size of my column of text.
| | 01:06 | Since I'm going to be adding a symbol, I would
like this text centered on the end of this line.
| | 01:12 | Right now, I can see that my cursor is flashing on the left
side so that means this text is going in left justified.
| | 01:17 | I'm going to come up and click my Centered
Justified icon to change my justification
| | 01:22 | and now anything I type will be centered on that line.
| | 01:25 | Now, all of the symbols that we can choose from
an AutoCAD are located underneath this button.
| | 01:30 | So before I add my center line symbol, I
would like to demo some of the others.
| | 01:34 | So I'm going to type in a number first, we will
type in 45, and I'm going to click the dropdown.
| | 01:40 | And notice all the symbol choices that I have.
| | 01:43 | Let's select Degrees.
| | 01:45 | Notice, it now says 45 degrees.
| | 01:47 | I have got a degree symbol.
| | 01:49 | Let me backspace to take that away.
| | 01:51 | Let me click the Symbol dropdown
again and we will grab plus/minus.
| | 01:56 | I'm really just adding a character is all I'm doing.
| | 01:59 | Let me backspace to take that away.
| | 02:01 | We'll look at one more.
| | 02:03 | Let me click the dropdown.
| | 02:04 | If we look beneath this horizontal line, I can
see several of the industry standard symbols used
| | 02:10 | in civil, mechanical and architectural drafting.
| | 02:13 | Let's try the Delta symbol.
| | 02:15 | I will select this.
| | 02:16 | Any of you could do surveying out
there, we no longer have to create
| | 02:19 | that little triangle by hand. We can now add it as a symbol.
| | 02:22 | Alright, I'm going to backspace these characters.
| | 02:25 | We will take them away because remember
my goal was to add a center line symbol.
| | 02:29 | So I'm going to come up and click the symbol
dropdown and let's come down and click Center Line.
| | 02:33 | When I select this, AutoCAD brings
a center line symbol up on my screen.
| | 02:37 | And the first thing I thought when this came up was man, that's
kind of ugly. I mean my current text style happens to be set
| | 02:44 | to Arial, but this really doesn't look like an Arial font.
| | 02:48 | Let me show you what's going on.
| | 02:49 | I'm going to click after the symbol and hold,
and I'm going to drag over it and release.
| | 02:55 | Let me highlight that symbol.
| | 02:56 | Notice, AutoCAD changed my font. That's because the
Center Line symbol is not a native character in the Arial font.
| | 03:04 | AutoCAD knew this, so it switched me to a different
font such that I could have that character.
| | 03:09 | I show you this because depending on the
font you assigned to your text style,
| | 03:13 | all of these symbols may not necessarily be available.
| | 03:16 | Now, since AutoCAD changed my font,
I'm going to change it again.
| | 03:20 | I personally don't care for the ISOCPEUR font.
| | 03:23 | I'm going to click this dropdown and
I'm going to select an AutoCAD font.
| | 03:27 | I'm going to come down and I'm
going to select the Simplex font.
| | 03:31 | This font gets installed with AutoCAD.
| | 03:33 | We can see the calipers next to it, represents an AutoCAD font.
| | 03:36 | I will select this guy, and that looks a little bit
more like what I would like to see in my drawing.
| | 03:41 | Let me click OK to dismiss the dialog.
| | 03:43 | Now, I would like to add another symbol to my drawing.
| | 03:46 | I would like to add a copyright symbol.
| | 03:48 | Let me back up a little bit.
| | 03:51 | We'll move over and we will create
a copyright symbol right down here.
| | 03:55 | Once again, I'm going to launch my MTEXT.
| | 03:57 | Let me come over and click my Multi-Line Text icon.
| | 04:00 | I will click a point to start my text column
and then, I will move my cursor to the right
| | 04:06 | to establish the width of my column and click again.
| | 04:10 | Now, the copyright symbol is not a standard
civil, mechanical or architectural symbol,
| | 04:15 | so when I go to my Symbol dropdown, I
am not going to see that in the list.
| | 04:19 | Where I will find the copyright symbol is all
the way down at bottom under the Other option.
| | 04:25 | Let me select Other and AutoCAD will bring up my Character Map
and this will give me access to every character that is native
| | 04:31 | to my font. In fact, every character that's
native to any font installed on my machine.
| | 04:37 | Let's leave it set to Arial.
| | 04:38 | Now, the list of characters here is quite extensive.
| | 04:42 | If I click and hold on the scroll, I can
pull this guy up and down and we can see
| | 04:46 | that there are several characters that I can choose from.
| | 04:48 | The copyright symbol happens to be right here.
| | 04:51 | Now, notice that these images are quite small.
| | 04:54 | Sometimes it can be hard to see what the symbol is.
| | 04:56 | If you simply click one time on the symbol,
AutoCAD will give you a nice zoomed-in view.
| | 05:02 | If that happens to be the symbol you
want, you can just double-click on it
| | 05:06 | and AutoCAD will drop it down into the Characters to copy area.
| | 05:10 | This is nothing more than a Windows clipboard function.
| | 05:13 | So my symbol is in the Characters to copy area.
| | 05:15 | Let me click Copy.
| | 05:17 | I just copied that character in my clipboard
and I'm going to close my Character Map.
| | 05:22 | Let me zoom in on my Text Editor.
| | 05:25 | Since my cursor is active, I'm just going to right-click
and select Paste to paste that symbol from my clipboard.
| | 05:32 | Now, notice this, this is a bug in AutoCAD.
| | 05:35 | We pasted the symbol, but for some reason, AutoCAD has
changed my font and dropped my cursor down to the next line.
| | 05:42 | Do not hit Backspace.
| | 05:43 | If you hit Backspace, you will go up to the previous
line, but for some reason, this odd font will stay.
| | 05:49 | Instead, what I want you to do is click after
your symbol and then everything is good.
| | 05:54 | I'm just going to add a space and we will type Copyright 2008.
| | 05:59 | When I'm done adding my text, I
will click OK to dismiss the editor.
| | 06:07 | While AutoCAD will probably never have every symbol we could
possibly need, they have gone a long way to provide us with many
| | 06:13 | of the industry-standard symbols that we use on a regular basis.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Spell-checking| 00:00 | You may have the best design concept in the world, but
if your CAD drawing is riddled with spelling errors,
| | 00:05 | your clients may have a hard time taking it seriously.
| | 00:08 | Fortunately, AutoCAD provides a full-featured spell
checker to help protect us from misspelled words.
| | 00:13 | Let's take a look at the spell checker.
| | 00:15 | We are going to open a drawing.
| | 00:17 | We are going to look inside the Chapter 11 folder inside our
Exercise Files directory, and I'm going to come all the way
| | 00:23 | to the bottom of the list and we are going to
open up drawing number 8, the Spell Check drawing.
| | 00:27 | I will highlight that guy and click
Open to bring him up on the screen.
| | 00:32 | Now, let's make the assumption I'm working on a paving plan.
| | 00:35 | I need to repave this parking lot.
| | 00:38 | Now, I certainly don't have all of the
information necessary for a paving plan,
| | 00:42 | but I do have a parking lot and I have a fair amount of text.
| | 00:46 | Let's use AutoCAD to check this drawing for spelling errors.
| | 00:49 | If I want to spell check a drawing, I'm going to come up
to my Tools pulldown and I'm going to select Spelling.
| | 00:56 | This will bring up my Check Spelling dialog.
| | 00:59 | If I look at the top, this is where I can select
where I want AutoCAD to look for spelling errors.
| | 01:04 | Currently, it's set for the entire drawing.
| | 01:06 | I don't always have to check the entire drawing.
| | 01:09 | If I click the dropdown, I could limit my search to Model
space or to the current layout if I wish or if I come
| | 01:16 | down at the very bottom, I could spell check selected objects.
| | 01:20 | Take a look at this little button, it's grayed out right now.
| | 01:22 | If I select the Selected objects option,
notice this little button pops up.
| | 01:27 | This is my Select Text Objects button.
| | 01:29 | From this button, I could click and I could select the
specific text items that I would like to spell check.
| | 01:35 | In this case, I would like to spell check the entire drawing.
| | 01:38 | So let's click the dropdown and
we'll set this to Entire drawing.
| | 01:41 | Now that I have told AutoCAD where to check, I
am going to come over and click my Start button.
| | 01:46 | When I do, AutoCAD will pan and zoom around
the drawing and search for spelling errors.
| | 01:51 | Now technically speaking, it's not necessarily a spelling error.
| | 01:55 | It's just a word that AutoCAD does not recognize
as being part of your current dictionary.
| | 02:00 | The nice thing about AutoCAD panning and
zooming to that area is that I can see
| | 02:04 | that word in relation to the other words around it.
| | 02:07 | Let me move my Check Spelling dialog up here.
| | 02:10 | Now, AutoCAD has found a word that was not in the
dictionary preform. That is obviously a spelling error.
| | 02:16 | If I come down, I can see AutoCAD has a
suggestion perform, which is correct.
| | 02:21 | If this is not in fact the correct word, AutoCAD
gives me several other choices that I can select from.
| | 02:28 | I'm going to leave the perform suggestion.
| | 02:31 | Now, if I move to the right, here is where I can
select how I want to deal with this misspelled word.
| | 02:36 | I can click the Ignore button to skip this instance.
| | 02:39 | I can click the Ignore All to skip
all instances of this misspelled word.
| | 02:44 | I can also change this specific instance.
| | 02:47 | Or I can change all and change every
instance of this misspelled word.
| | 02:51 | I'm going to click Change All.
| | 02:53 | When I do, AutoCAD fixes the word and then it finds another one.
| | 02:56 | Let me slide my Check Spelling just
a little bit more to the left.
| | 03:00 | Necessary, this guy is obviously misspelled.
| | 03:03 | Once again, I'm going to come down and click Change All.
| | 03:06 | AutoCAD has found another word.
| | 03:08 | This word happens to be Superpave.
| | 03:10 | Now, Superpave is a brand name so this is not a misspelling.
| | 03:14 | In this case, I'm not going to go with the suggestion.
| | 03:17 | I can either ignore this instance of the
brand name or I can ignore all instances.
| | 03:22 | Instead, I'm going to add this word to my dictionary.
| | 03:25 | This way, this word will never come up as a spelling error again.
| | 03:29 | Let me click Add to Dictionary and AutoCAD will move on.
| | 03:32 | Alright, AutoCAD has found another spelling
error or another questionable spelling.
| | 03:36 | I've got a callout that should read stop sign.
| | 03:39 | I've obviously spelled it wrong.
| | 03:40 | Now, you don't want to always blindly click Change All
because sometimes the computer grabs the wrong word.
| | 03:46 | In this case, I can see that its suggestion is actually wrong.
| | 03:49 | It should be the next guy down.
| | 03:51 | I need to select Sign, that's what
I want to swap this guy out with.
| | 03:54 | And I'm going to click Change All.
| | 03:57 | Now, I'm seeing that AutoCAD is spell checking the street name.
| | 04:00 | Now, this street name happens to be spelled
correctly. There is nothing wrong with this.
| | 04:04 | It's not significant enough that I
am going to add it to my dictionary.
| | 04:08 | So in this case, I'm just going to click
Ignore just to skip right pass this word.
| | 04:12 | Alright, I'll get just finished spell checking with document.
| | 04:15 | Let me click OK and then we can click
the X to close the Check Spelling dialog.
| | 04:21 | Using a spell checker with an AutoCAD eliminates the
need for us to have a dictionary close by while we draft
| | 04:27 | and gives us the peace of mind of knowing that we are
creating the highest quality construction document possible.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
12. DimensioningCreating dimensions| 00:00 | It's important to remember that the drawings
we create in AutoCAD are construction drawings.
| | 00:05 | This means that someone somewhere will be referring
to our drawing in order to construct our design.
| | 00:10 | Knowing this, we need to be sure
that our design is well-dimensioned
| | 00:13 | such that it can be accurately reproduced in the real world.
| | 00:16 | Let's look at how we can add dimensions to our drawings.
| | 00:18 | Now we are going to open a file.
| | 00:20 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and we are going
| | 00:23 | to look inside the Chapter 12 folder located
inside the Exercise Files directory and I would
| | 00:29 | like to open up drawing number 1, the Birdhouse drawing.
| | 00:31 | So I'm going to highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:34 | Now this is a simple drawing of a birdhouse
and we are going to use this guy to play
| | 00:38 | around with several of the dimensioning features.
| | 00:40 | Now if I want to create dimensions,
I'm going to turn on the Dimension toolbar.
| | 00:45 | I can do that by moving my cursor over an
existing tool and right-clicking and in the list
| | 00:50 | of toolbars I'm going to come up and select Dimension.
| | 00:53 | And when I do the Dimension toolbar pops
up right in the middle of my screen.
| | 00:57 | Now this guy is going to be important to us
so I'm going to dock him to my interface.
| | 01:02 | Let me move my cursor up to the blue area and I will
click and hold and I will push this guy up at the top
| | 01:07 | of the interface and I will release to dock him.
| | 01:10 | Now I would like to dimension my Birdhouse from front to back.
| | 01:13 | I'm going to do this by using a linear dimension.
| | 01:16 | Let me come up and click my Linear icon.
| | 01:19 | And AutoCAD is asking me to specify
my first extension line origin.
| | 01:25 | Generally speaking when I want to create a dimension
in AutoCAD, I will click one point and then another
| | 01:30 | and AutoCAD will create the dimension line between them.
| | 01:33 | It is important when we create dimensions
that we use Object Snaps.
| | 01:37 | Object Snaps are the only way to
guarantee that our dimensions are accurate.
| | 01:41 | Now I happen to have a running Object Snap set for endpoint
so let me move close to my Birdhouse and I will click.
| | 01:47 | I want to dimension from this point and
I will come over and click this point.
| | 01:52 | And as I move away with my cursor I can click one
more time to set the location of the dimension.
| | 01:58 | Now let me zoom in on this guy.
| | 02:01 | Notice this dimension is to 4 decimal spaces and it's ugly.
| | 02:05 | Dimensions are kind of like text.
| | 02:07 | The default settings aren't the most attractive and in a future
session we will learn how to make our dimensions look better.
| | 02:13 | For right now once again we are concerned
about function more than form.
| | 02:18 | Let me backup.
| | 02:20 | I would like to place another linear dimension.
| | 02:23 | Let me move up and click my Linear icon and I
am going to dimension the roof of my birdhouse.
| | 02:30 | Let me click the very top from my start point and then I
will come down and click this endpoint and notice as I pull
| | 02:36 | up AutoCAD is giving me the horizontal
distance between those points.
| | 02:41 | If I move my cursor to the left AutoCAD will give
me the vertical distance between those points.
| | 02:47 | So a linear dimension by definition
will give us the true horizontal
| | 02:51 | or vertical distance between the points that we click on.
| | 02:54 | I'm just going to go ahead and pull this guy
up and I will click to place my dimension.
| | 03:00 | Now this is in contrast to the next dimension style
we are going to look at that is the aligned dimension.
| | 03:05 | Let me click on this icon.
| | 03:07 | This represents an Aligned dimension.
| | 03:09 | I'm going to click my points.
| | 03:12 | Let me click the endpoint here and I'm going
to come down and click the endpoint of the roof.
| | 03:17 | Notice the dimension I'm creating now.
| | 03:19 | An aligned dimension will give us the true
distance between the points that we click on.
| | 03:26 | Essentially I'm dragging a dimension line that
is parallel to the two points that I clicked.
| | 03:32 | Once again I'm going to click one
more time to place my dimension.
| | 03:36 | Let's create a continuous dimension string.
| | 03:39 | This is something that we typically see on
our mechanical and architectural drawings.
| | 03:43 | Now to create a dimension string I
need to have a dimension to start from.
| | 03:47 | I would like to create a continuous dimension string
that represents the elevations of my birdhouse.
| | 03:53 | Now since I'm dimensioning the vertical distances,
I'm going to be using a linear dimension.
| | 03:58 | Let me come up and click Linear then I will move over
and I will click my first endpoint. I will come down
| | 04:03 | and click my next endpoint and then I will move my cursor to
this side and I will click one more time to place the dimension.
| | 04:10 | I now have my initial dimension that I
can create my continuous string from.
| | 04:15 | Let me move up and click this icon.
| | 04:17 | This guy represents my continuous string and as soon
| | 04:20 | as I click the icon, notice AutoCAD is giving me
the rubber-band effect from my previous dimension.
| | 04:26 | At this point all I have to do is click the
endpoints where I would like to create my dimensions.
| | 04:31 | I will click here.
| | 04:32 | I click the top of the base and I will click the bottom.
| | 04:36 | When I'm finished I will right-click
to finish my string and select Enter.
| | 04:42 | Notice AutoCAD is still in the command.
| | 04:44 | It's saying Select continued dimension.
| | 04:46 | I could create another string if I wish.
| | 04:49 | Watch if I come over and click this dimension.
I can pull a continuous string from this guy.
| | 04:54 | Let's dimension to this end of the birdhouse.
| | 04:59 | When I'm done I can right-click and select Enter
and then I will hit Escape to get out of the command.
| | 05:04 | Let's create some baseline dimensions.
| | 05:08 | Now baseline is similar to continuous in that
I have to have a dimension to start from.
| | 05:14 | So I'm going to create some baseline dimensions on the front
| | 05:17 | of my birdhouse representing elevation
so I'm going to use a linear dimension.
| | 05:22 | We click Linear.
| | 05:24 | I want the vertical distance between the endpoint here
and the endpoint here and I will pull this guy away.
| | 05:30 | Now that I have a dimension to start from
let's create our baseline dimensions.
| | 05:34 | I'm going to come up and click my Baseline icon.
| | 05:37 | When I do AutoCAD is giving me the
rubber-band effect from the previous dimension.
| | 05:41 | I'm just going to come down and click each
point that I would like to dimension to.
| | 05:45 | I want to dimension to the endpoint here.
| | 05:48 | I want to dimension to the top of the base
and I want to dimension to the bottom.
| | 05:52 | When I'm finished I can right-click and select Enter.
| | 05:55 | Notice the baseline acts just like continuous so
I could create baselines from another dimension.
| | 06:01 | I'm just going to hit my Escape key to jump out of the command.
| | 06:05 | Notice my baselines are all measuring from the original location.
| | 06:09 | Unfortunately they kind of overlap a
little bit and they are on the ugly side
| | 06:12 | but once again we will learn how to
correct that in a future session.
| | 06:16 | Let's create an angular dimension.
| | 06:17 | I'm going to zoom in on the front of my birdhouse and if I want
| | 06:21 | to create an angular dimension I'm going
to come up and click my Angular icon.
| | 06:25 | Now to create an angular dimension all we have to do is click one
line and then another and AutoCAD will dimension between them.
| | 06:33 | So I will click this line and then this one and then I will move
my cursor away and click to set the location of the dimension.
| | 06:40 | Let's make one more.
| | 06:41 | I'm going to come up and click the Angular icon
again and we will dimension the angle down here.
| | 06:46 | Let me click this line and this one.
| | 06:50 | As I pull away AutoCAD is creating the dimension.
| | 06:52 | Watch this.
| | 06:53 | If I move my cursor outside the lines AutoCAD
will dimension the supplementary angle.
| | 06:59 | If I move below AutoCAD is dimensioning
the opposite angle and if I move
| | 07:04 | over to the right I'm getting the opposite supplementary angle.
| | 07:07 | So the location of our cursor will
dictate which angle is being dimensioned.
| | 07:11 | I'm going to click right here to place my dimension.
| | 07:15 | Let's create a radial dimension.
| | 07:17 | If I want to create a radial dimension I'm
going to come up and click my Radius button.
| | 07:22 | AutoCAD is asking me to select an arc or a circle.
| | 07:25 | I'm just going to click this circle right here.
| | 07:28 | AutoCAD gives me the radius.
| | 07:30 | By default it is set to a leader.
| | 07:32 | I'm just going to pull away and I will
click to set the location of my dimension.
| | 07:37 | Let's try a diameter.
| | 07:39 | If I would like to dimension a diameter I'm
going to come up and click my Diameter icon.
| | 07:43 | If AutoCAD is asking me to select arc or circle, let me
grab this circle and once again I'm creating a leader.
| | 07:50 | Let me pull away and I'm going to
click to place the leader in my drawing.
| | 07:55 | Now be careful.
| | 07:56 | I have a running Object Snap.
| | 07:58 | If I was to try and drop this leader right here my number
would snap right to the end of that line so be cautious
| | 08:03 | with the running Object Snaps when
you are placing your dimensions.
| | 08:06 | I'm going to click right here to place my dimension.
| | 08:10 | Notice the diameter dimension contains the Diameter symbol.
| | 08:13 | This is how we can tell the difference.
| | 08:17 | Based on the dimensioning skills we have just learned we now
know enough dimensioning types to fully dimension this part.
| | 08:24 | Using AutoCAD's dimensioning tools along with our object
snaps we can quickly and easily document our design
| | 08:30 | and allow our contractor to accurately
reproduce our design out in the field.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Dimension styles| 00:00 | All the dimensions we create in our
drawing will conform to a dimension style.
| | 00:04 | A dimension style is very similar to a text style in
that it controls the appearance of our dimensions.
| | 00:09 | In fact text styles and dimension styles work the same way just
like a change to your text style will modify your existing text,
| | 00:17 | a change to your dimension style
will modify your existing dimensions.
| | 00:21 | Let's take a look at dimension styles.
| | 00:23 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and we
are going to go into the Chapter 12 folder located
| | 00:28 | within our Exercise Files directory and I would like
to open up drawing number 2, the Dimension Styles drawing.
| | 00:34 | So we will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:36 | Now on my screen I have got a mechanical example. This
is a representation of a 1990s video game controller.
| | 00:43 | Now I do have several dimensions.
| | 00:44 | I certainly don't have enough dimensions to
reproduce this part but we do have enough dimensions
| | 00:49 | to play around with the concept of dimension styles.
| | 00:52 | The first thing I want to mention is that every dimension
that you see was created using the default settings.
| | 00:58 | So let's make some changes.
| | 00:59 | If I would like to change my dimension style, I'm
going to come up to the Dimension Style icon and click.
| | 01:05 | This will bring up my Dimension Style Manager.
| | 01:07 | From here, I can select from any existing dimension
style that happens to be defined in my drawing.
| | 01:14 | Currently I only have standard.
| | 01:16 | The standard dimension style is similar to the standard text
style in that every drawing will have a standard dimension style.
| | 01:25 | So, all of these dimensions were put in using this style
| | 01:28 | so we will make sure he's highlighted
and we will come over and click Modify.
| | 01:32 | This brings up my Modify Dimension Style dialog.
| | 01:35 | From here, I have seven tabs of settings
that control how my dimensions look.
| | 01:40 | Now we are certainly not going to go through all of
these settings, we are going to go through a few of them
| | 01:44 | to give you an idea of how they work but I'm going to show
you how you can find out what each setting does on your own.
| | 01:50 | The first way is to come up to your little question mark
button and click, remember this is your Help feature.
| | 01:55 | If I click this guy, AutoCAD puts the question mark on my
cursor and I can take him to whatever setting I wish and click
| | 02:02 | and AutoCAD will tell me everything I need to know about
that setting; that's one way to learn what the settings do.
| | 02:07 | Let me hit Escape to clear the Help text.
| | 02:09 | I'm going to jump to my Lines tab for a second.
| | 02:14 | Another way we can learn what the settings
do is to keep an eye on the Preview window.
| | 02:19 | More often than not when we change a setting, we
will see the change reflected in the Preview window.
| | 02:24 | For instance I'm going to check the box to suppress
dimension line 1 and when I do, watch the preview.
| | 02:29 | Notice the dimension lines go on.
| | 02:31 | Now we know what that button does.
| | 02:32 | Let me click again to bring the dimension line back.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to come down and let's suppress an extension line.
| | 02:39 | Let me put a check in this box to suppress the extension line 1.
| | 02:43 | Alright now we know what that setting does,
let me click again to turn that back on.
| | 02:47 | Notice the settings on the tabs are grouped
under major headings that can be very helpful
| | 02:52 | at least it makes it appear a little less
overwhelming when we look at the number of settings.
| | 02:58 | Let's make a change.
| | 02:59 | The first change I would like to make is the
number of spaces to the right of the decimal.
| | 03:03 | If we look at what we can see in Model space I can see that all
| | 03:06 | of my dimensions are 4 decimal spaces,
I would like to change this.
| | 03:09 | So I'm going to go to my Primary Units tab and
click. These are the settings that control my units.
| | 03:16 | Right now I can see in the precision
area that it is set to 4 decimal spaces,
| | 03:20 | let me click the dropdown and I'm going to set this to 2.
| | 03:24 | Now that I have made a change, let's return to the drawing.
| | 03:28 | I'm going to click OK to dismiss the dialog box.
| | 03:31 | Now I'm going to slide my Dimension Styles Manager to
the side and when I click Close, watch my dimensions.
| | 03:38 | Since all of the dimensions are entered via a style,
| | 03:42 | a change in the style updates all my
dimensions so now they are all 2 decimal spaces.
| | 03:47 | Let's make another change.
| | 03:48 | I'm going to go back up and click
the Dimension Style icon again.
| | 03:52 | Once again my current dimension style is
highlighted so I'm going to click Modify.
| | 03:57 | Since we are on the Primary Units
tab, let's take a look at Unit format.
| | 04:02 | Currently everything is dimensioned using decimal units.
| | 04:06 | If you are an architect, you will want to click
the dropdown and set this to Architectural.
| | 04:11 | If it's set to Architectural your
dimensions will be 2 fractional units.
| | 04:16 | Now I'm going to put it back to Decimal.
| | 04:18 | Let's jump to the Text tab.
| | 04:24 | The Text tab has settings that allow
me to control the way my text looks.
| | 04:30 | The very first setting that I have is text style.
| | 04:33 | Notice that I can select a text style for my
dimensions if I wish, I could click the dropdown here
| | 04:39 | and I could select from a different style if I had one.
| | 04:41 | Or, if I click the Ellipses button, I can
create a new style or modify this existing one.
| | 04:48 | Let's make a change to the standard text
style, I'm going to change the font to Arial.
| | 04:53 | So let me click the dropdown, we will
move up and I will set this to Arial.
| | 04:57 | Let me click to make the change.
| | 05:02 | We will click Apply and we will click Close.
| | 05:05 | Notice the Preview window changes, I want to make one
more change on this tab and that's the text height.
| | 05:11 | Now the value that I have here should represent the height
that I want my text to appear when printed on paper.
| | 05:18 | That's very important.
| | 05:20 | Any size dimension that we make in our dimension
style dialog should represent the size that we would
| | 05:25 | like our dimension to appear when printed on paper.
| | 05:28 | So point 1.8 is pretty tall, I'm going to change this to .125.
| | 05:32 | Let me click OK.
| | 05:35 | Let's move the Dimension Style Manager
over so we can watch the magic happen.
| | 05:41 | Let me click Close.
| | 05:43 | Notice my dimensions have changed.
| | 05:45 | I want to make one last change because these
arrow heads are quite large, let's fix them.
| | 05:50 | I'm going to come up to my Dimension Style
button and click, we will select Modify
| | 05:56 | and I'm going to go my Symbols and Arrows tab.
| | 06:00 | Let me click this tab and if I come right down here under
my Arrow Heads group, I have a setting for Arrow Size.
| | 06:07 | Now remember this is a size setting so I want to set this
to the size I want my arrows to be when they are plotted.
| | 06:14 | I'm going to set this to .12.
| | 06:16 | Once again we will click OK, we will
move the dialog so we can see it happen
| | 06:22 | so we can see the change happen and we will click Close.
| | 06:26 | Dimension Styles give us the same flexibility as the text style.
| | 06:30 | If we need to make global changes to the appearance of
our dimensions, we can simply modify our dimension style
| | 06:35 | and all of our dimensions will update automatically.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Callouts| 00:00 | Callouts can be just as important as
dimensions when creating construction documents.
| | 00:04 | A callout is a note with an arrow that
points to a specific area of the drawing.
| | 00:08 | Callouts might be used to specify building materials, typical
conditions or give special instructions to the contractor.
| | 00:14 | Let's look at how we can create callouts using AutoCAD.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to open up a drawing, we are going to go into our
Chapter 12 folder located inside the Exercise files directory
| | 00:24 | and we are going to come down to
the number 3 drawing, the QLeader drawing.
| | 00:28 | I'm going to highlight this guy and click Open.
| | 00:30 | We are going to use this drawing to learn how to create callouts.
| | 00:34 | Now I already have a callout on my screen.
| | 00:37 | Generally speaking a callout is nothing
more than a piece of text with an arrow.
| | 00:41 | Now we are going to use the QLeader
command to create our callouts.
| | 00:45 | Interesting story, in AutoCAD 2008, the QLeader
command has been removed from the toolbar;
| | 00:51 | if we look in the toolbar we no longer
have an icon for that command.
| | 00:54 | Now the command's been around forever, AutoDesk decided to remove
it because they would rather we use the new MLeader command.
| | 01:01 | Now the MLeader command relies on the new Annotative property
| | 01:05 | and the Annotative property automatically scales our
dimensions and text, it's kind of like CAD magic.
| | 01:11 | So I feel it's important at this point
in your training to understand the nuts
| | 01:14 | and bolts of how these things work before
we start doing things automatically.
| | 01:18 | So what we are going to do first is we are going to
restore the QLeader icon to the Dimension toolbar.
| | 01:23 | As a bonus it gives us an opportunity to
see how easy it is to modify our toolbars.
| | 01:28 | Alright let's go get the QLeader icon.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to go up to my Tools pulldown
and I'm going to come down to Customize
| | 01:34 | and in the flyout I'm going to select Interface.
| | 01:38 | This brings up my Customize User Interface dialog,
great big dialog really not that hard to use.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to come up to the toolbar section and
I'm going to click the Plus to open this guy up.
| | 01:50 | This shows me a listing of all of the toolbars in
AutoCAD, notice I happen to have one called Dimension.
| | 01:56 | Let me click the Plus to open up
the Dimension toolbar and when I do,
| | 02:00 | I can see a series of Dallas Cowboy symbols each one
represents a command that happens to be on that toolbar.
| | 02:07 | Now our goal is to add the QLeader command to this toolbar.
| | 02:10 | I can do that by coming down to the Command List area.
| | 02:13 | This is where I can go shopping for AutoCAD commands.
| | 02:16 | In this area at the bottom, I have every possible
command that I could launch using AutoCAD.
| | 02:21 | So what I'm going to do is grab the scroll,
I'm going to hold down and I'm going to drag
| | 02:26 | down to the Dimension area, I'm going
to come down to Dimension Leader.
| | 02:30 | Here is the QLeader command right here.
| | 02:32 | Let me click this command once; when I do, we can see that's
the QLeader command, all I have to do to add this command
| | 02:40 | to the toolbar is just click and hold on
it and drag it right into the toolbar.
| | 02:44 | Now it sounds easy and it is, there's just
one little thing we have to watch out for.
| | 02:48 | Let me click and hold on this tool and as
I drag it away I can see my little plus,
| | 02:53 | watch what happens when I get into the upper window.
| | 02:55 | As soon as I drag into the window, it scrolls on me.
| | 02:59 | No problem.
| | 02:59 | Just push to the top of the window
and it will scroll right back, OK.
| | 03:04 | I'm still holding my mouse button down.
| | 03:06 | Notice I have a little blue line as
I move up and down with my cursor.
| | 03:10 | The blue line is the location of where I'm
going to drop this command in the toolbar.
| | 03:14 | I'm going to take and push right
to the top here and I will release,
| | 03:18 | the QLeader button has now been added to the end of the toolbar.
| | 03:22 | In fact if we look over at the little
toolbar preview, I can see there he is.
| | 03:26 | Let me come down and click the OK button.
| | 03:28 | AutoCAD does its thing, reloads the toolbars and
the QLeader command is right back where used to be.
| | 03:33 | Now that we have him, let's use him.
| | 03:35 | I'm going to create my first callout so I'm going to
come up and click my QLeader icon and AutoCAD is asking me
| | 03:41 | to specify first leader point basically it's
saying where do you want to put the arrow.
| | 03:45 | Now be careful to running Object Snap, I
would like to click the edge of this circle.
| | 03:50 | See now what I'm going to come down
and turn the running Object Snaps off.
| | 03:53 | I'm going to click the edge of my circle, I will pull
away and as I pull away, AutoCAD creates the arrow.
| | 03:59 | Let me click one more time and then I'm going to right-click.
| | 04:03 | Now AutoCAD wants me to specify my column width.
| | 04:07 | The text for my QLeader callouts will be MTEXT.
| | 04:11 | So let me just pull away and I will drag a width to here.
| | 04:13 | I will click, we can always change it later.
| | 04:16 | And then lastly, AutoCad is saying well you
can type your text right here if you want
| | 04:20 | or if we hit Enter, I can go into the MTEXT editor.
| | 04:24 | Let me hit Enter and I'm going to type in
chrome-plated housing and let me click OK.
| | 04:35 | Now the first thing we are thinking is technically
| | 04:37 | from a drafting perspective you know I
don't like the location of that leader.
| | 04:40 | That's alright, we will deal with that in just one second.
| | 04:42 | I'm going to make one more leader.
| | 04:44 | I'm going to come up and click our QLeader button, specify
first point, I'm going to point to the knob this time
| | 04:50 | so I'm going to come up and click right here.
| | 04:52 | Once again, as I pull away, I get my arrow, let
me click to set the leader and then right-click.
| | 04:57 | Now I can pull to set my width and then I will click and
then I'm going to right-click to get to the MTEXT editor.
| | 05:10 | Once I type in my callout, I can click OK to dismiss the dialog.
| | 05:14 | Now these callouts are dynamic that means
they are very smart, I can move the callout
| | 05:18 | and the arrows go along for the ride, watch this.
| | 05:21 | If I use the Move command, I will select
Move and I will grab this callout,
| | 05:25 | I will right-click to finish my selection, specify base point.
| | 05:29 | Well if I want to I can use my insertion point.
| | 05:32 | Let's click insertion point and I will
grab the insertion point of this text.
| | 05:36 | Let's move it up here.
| | 05:38 | Notice the arrow goes along for the ride.
| | 05:40 | Let's move again.
| | 05:42 | Let's move him, right-click, I'm just
going to pick a point on the screen.
| | 05:45 | Let's move him down here, OK.
| | 05:48 | The arrow will always go along with the text.
| | 05:51 | Now what about an instance where I would like
to move the text in relation to the arrow?
| | 05:55 | No problem, I can do it with grips.
| | 05:57 | If I click this leader, I have a grip at the end let me
click the grip and I will put it where I would like it.
| | 06:03 | I will put it here.
| | 06:04 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips
and now let's move this text.
| | 06:08 | Move this text, right-click to finish the selection, I will
pick a point on screen and we will move it up here, OK.
| | 06:16 | One last time, repeat Move, I will click this text, pick
a point on screen, you can try and fool it if you want,
| | 06:25 | AutoCad is smart enough to keep the leader with the text.
| | 06:29 | By placing our callouts using the QLeader command, we have
created nice dynamic callouts that we can easily rearrange
| | 06:35 | and move around if we have to add more
dimensions or more callouts to our drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Tweaking dimensions| 00:00 | AutoCAD dimensions are very flexible.
| | 00:03 | We can even break the rules a little bit
when it comes to our dimension style.
| | 00:06 | Let's look at how we can tweak our dimensions to suit our needs.
| | 00:10 | I'm going to open a drawing because we are
going to play around with some of our dimensions.
| | 00:14 | I click my Open icon and we are going to go into our Chapter
12 folder located inside the Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:21 | I'm going to come down.
| | 00:22 | I'm going to select drawing number 4, which is the Stereo Viewer
drawing, and I will click Open to bring that guy up on screen.
| | 00:30 | Now, this is a drawing of a 1970s stereo viewer
and it has a significant amount of dimensions.
| | 00:36 | What I would like to do is jump in and make some changes.
| | 00:42 | Let's start with the front view.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to zoom in on the front view.
| | 00:46 | And let's say I would like to change the
location of this overall width dimension.
| | 00:51 | I'm going to do that with grips.
| | 00:53 | I'm going to come up and click this dimension and
when I do, I see several grips pop up on my screen.
| | 00:59 | I'm going to grab the one that's
directly beneath the text and click.
| | 01:04 | That grip becomes hot and now as I move my cursor up
and down, I'm changing the location of that dimension.
| | 01:10 | Notice, if I move my cursor left and right, I
am changing the location of the text as well.
| | 01:16 | If I was crazy enough to drag the text outside of the extension
lines, notice, AutoCAD will automatically create a leader.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to click to place the new location of my dimension.
| | 01:26 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 01:28 | Let's make another change.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to zoom in on these two dimensions and
I'm going to click the 1.37 to bring up the grips,
| | 01:39 | and I'm going to grab the grip right underneath
the number and we'll pull that guy down.
| | 01:45 | Now, let's say I would like to move the 0.74 dimension
such that he's back into alignment with the other guy.
| | 01:52 | No problem, I'm going to come up and click the 0.74 dimension.
| | 01:56 | This time, I'm going to grab the
grip at the end of the arrowhead.
| | 01:59 | Let me click right there.
| | 02:01 | I'm now moving that grip based on that arrowhead.
| | 02:04 | Notice, my running Object Snap is
getting in the way a little bit.
| | 02:06 | Let me turn that off, there we go.
| | 02:08 | Since I'm using grips, I don't need Object Snaps right now.
| | 02:12 | I will pull this guy down and I'm
going to drop him right under that grip.
| | 02:15 | Notice, the grips act just like little magnets.
| | 02:17 | As soon as I get close, he snaps right
in the position and I will click.
| | 02:21 | Let me hit my Escape key once again to clear the grips.
| | 02:25 | Let's make a change to be a radial dimension.
| | 02:27 | I'm going click this dimension.
| | 02:29 | Notice, I have several grips to choose from.
| | 02:32 | By all means, make sure an experiment with the different grips.
| | 02:35 | The more ways you know how to tweak your dimensions,
the more control you will have over your drawings.
| | 02:40 | I'm going to click the grip underneath the number.
| | 02:43 | Let me click this guy and I will make that
grip hot, and I will drag the number outside
| | 02:47 | of the part and I will click to set his location.
| | 02:50 | Not only did AutoCAD adjust the leader, but AutoCAD also
added a center mark since I dragged the dimension outside.
| | 02:57 | I'm going to make a change to an angular dimension.
| | 03:01 | Let's adjust this guy.
| | 03:02 | Let me click the dimension.
| | 03:05 | Once again, I'm going to grab the grip on the number.
| | 03:08 | We'll click this guy and when the grip becomes
hot, I now have control over this number,
| | 03:13 | I can bring it out here, I can bring it to the inside if I want.
| | 03:17 | If I pulldown with it, AutoCAD will
automatically make extensions for that dimension.
| | 03:21 | Let me click to set the new location for this dimension.
| | 03:25 | And I'm going to hit the Escape key to clear my grips.
| | 03:29 | Let's pan up a little bit.
| | 03:30 | What if I would like to modify more than one dimension at a time?
| | 03:35 | Let's try and move both of these dimensions using grips.
| | 03:39 | I will click one, I will come over and I will click the other.
| | 03:43 | Now, I happen to have a grip that's
common between the two of them.
| | 03:47 | Let me click on top of the square that represents both grips.
| | 03:50 | When I do, they both become hot.
| | 03:52 | And I will pull these guys down and change their location.
| | 03:56 | Let me click to set the new location and
I will hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 04:00 | Maybe I would like to extend this guy such
that he is in alignment with these two.
| | 04:05 | Let's try and do that with an Object Snap.
| | 04:07 | I'm going click this dimension.
| | 04:10 | We will grab the grip at the end of arrowhead.
| | 04:12 | And when I move my cursor, I have control over where I'm going
to place them, but I want to place them at a specific location.
| | 04:18 | I'm going to come over and use an Object Snap.
| | 04:21 | I'm going to grab the endpoint of Object Snap.
| | 04:24 | And then as I pull this guy down, I'm going to put my
cursor right on the end of this arrowhead and click.
| | 04:29 | He is now back in alignment with the other two dimensions.
| | 04:32 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 04:36 | Now, I mentioned that we can break the rules a little bit
with our dimension style when we modify our dimensions.
| | 04:41 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 04:43 | I'm going to zoom in on this guy and
I'm going to click to highlight him.
| | 04:47 | Now, instead of touching the grips, I'm going to right-click.
| | 04:51 | If I have the dimension highlighted and I right-click,
AutoCAD will bring up a context sensitive menu.
| | 04:56 | Notice, the menu has several options that are
specific to dimensions, one of which is precision.
| | 05:02 | Right now, every dimension in my drawing
has a precision of two decimal spaces.
| | 05:06 | I'm going to come over and click 0, I
want this guy to be to the even integer.
| | 05:11 | And when I do, this dimension changed,
all the other ones stayed the same.
| | 05:16 | So using the right-click menu, I can
adjust individual dimensions if I wish.
| | 05:20 | Let's make another change.
| | 05:21 | I'm going to pan up and we will grab a dimension up here.
| | 05:25 | Let's grab the 1.84 dimension.
| | 05:27 | I will click this guy and highlight.
| | 05:28 | And let's try another right-click feature.
| | 05:31 | I'm going to right-click and I'm
going to adjust the location of my text.
| | 05:36 | I'm going to go to Dim Text Position.
| | 05:38 | Notice, I have the option of move text alone.
| | 05:42 | This could be very handy.
| | 05:43 | Let me select that.
| | 05:44 | Notice, the number is now separated from the dimension
line and I can place this independently wherever I wish.
| | 05:50 | The only thing to know is that if we do place the
number on the dimension line, it will break the line.
| | 05:55 | It doesn't physically break the line, it just masks the line out.
| | 05:59 | So, I'm going to place this number over here.
| | 06:02 | Now, after you have made that change, anytime we click this guy
in the future and grab the grip, he is always going to remember
| | 06:09 | that he is a loner, he is no longer
related to that dimension line.
| | 06:12 | If we would like to put him back, I'm
going to use the right-click option.
| | 06:16 | I'm going to Dim Text Position and I'm
going to select Move Text with Dim Line.
| | 06:23 | And when I do, he functions just like he did before.
| | 06:26 | I'm going to place him right in the middle.
| | 06:29 | Unfortunately, he is no longer in alignment.
| | 06:31 | That's alright, we know how to fix that.
| | 06:33 | Let me click the dimension line.
| | 06:35 | We will grab the grip.
| | 06:36 | And I'm going to use an Object Snap.
| | 06:40 | We will grab the endpoint here and we will drop
it right at the endpoint of that arrowhead.
| | 06:47 | And I'm going to hit the Escape key to clear the grips.
| | 06:51 | As you can see, we are never stuck with
the original placement of our dimensions.
| | 06:56 | With a little grip editing and a few right-clicks, we can
position or customize our dimensions to suit any situation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
13. Helpful AutoCAD ToolsThe Distance command| 00:00 | Finding the distance between two entities doesn't
necessarily require us to create a dimension.
| | 00:05 | Sometimes, just knowing the numeric value is all we need.
| | 00:08 | At times like these we can use AutoCAD's Distance command.
| | 00:11 | We are going to take a look at the Distance command, so I
am going to come up and click my Open icon and we are going
| | 00:17 | to look inside the Chapter 13 folder located inside our Exercise
Files directory and I'm going to go to drawing number 1,
| | 00:25 | the Distance Command, we will highlight
this drawing and click Open.
| | 00:28 | Now, on my screen, I have got a portion
of a parking lot and I want to verify some
| | 00:34 | of my measurements without creating full blown dimensions.
| | 00:37 | I can do that by using the Distance command.
| | 00:40 | To get the Distance command, I'm going to come up to my
Tools pulldown and I'm going to come down to Inquiry
| | 00:45 | and then in the flyout, I will come over and select Distance.
| | 00:49 | Now, finding a distance is just by creating a
dimension. I'm going to pick two points and instead
| | 00:53 | of creating the physical dimension, AutoCAD is just
going to tell me how far apart those points were.
| | 00:59 | So, AutoCAD is saying specify first point, now I happen
to have a running Object Snap set to the end point.
| | 01:05 | So, I'm going to find the width of my parking stall.
| | 01:09 | Let me click right here and then I'm going to come
over and click here to grab the other endpoint.
| | 01:14 | And notice that my cursor, AutoCAD
is telling me that's 9 units wide.
| | 01:18 | Now, this drawing is an example of a civil
engineering drawing, so every unit equals 1 foot.
| | 01:24 | So, I can tell by my distance that
this stall happens to be 9 feet wide.
| | 01:29 | Let's find another distance.
| | 01:30 | I'm going to come up again to my Tools pulldown,
will come down to Inquiry, we will grab Distance.
| | 01:36 | I'm going to find out how wide my sidewalk is right here.
| | 01:41 | Let me click the end point here and I want to know the
distance to the end point here that is 6 feet wide.
| | 01:49 | Now, I'm seeing my distance at my cursor, because
my Dynamic Input mode happens to be turned on.
| | 01:55 | Now, if you are someone who does not use the Dynamic
Input or the Head's-Up Display as it's otherwise called,
| | 02:01 | you can get your distance information from the command line.
| | 02:05 | The only problem I have currently though is
I cannot see all of my distance information.
| | 02:11 | In order to see the entire contents of my distance information,
I need to be able to see three rows of text in the command line.
| | 02:19 | Right now, I'm only seeing two, so let's make a change.
| | 02:23 | If I would like to adjust the height of my command line, I'm
going to move my cursor down on top of this horizontal line
| | 02:29 | until I see the icon change and then I
am going to click and hold and drag up
| | 02:35 | and when I release, I can make my command line little taller.
| | 02:39 | Notice now, that I can see three
rows of text, I can see my distance.
| | 02:45 | Now, since I'm using the Dynamic Input or the Head's Up Display.
| | 02:49 | Now I would like to show you an interesting
feature that's available
| | 02:52 | in the Distance command, if you do use the Dynamic Input.
| | 02:55 | I'm going to use the Distance command to locate several
distances and only launch the command one time, let's try that.
| | 03:03 | I'm going to come up to my Tools pulldown and I'm
going to come down to Inquiry and I will select Distance.
| | 03:09 | Now, AutoCAD is asking me to specify
first point, I'm going to come over
| | 03:14 | and click the endpoint here, once
again I'm using an Object Snap.
| | 03:18 | Now, I would like to find the width of this stall, but instead
of clicking this other endpoint, I'm just going to hover over it
| | 03:25 | and when I do, watch the cursor, it's going to go by quick.
| | 03:29 | If I hover, notice it said 9.
| | 03:32 | So, you have to have a fast eye for this method.
| | 03:35 | But I can also get the distance to this point, it
happens to be 18, this point happens to be 27 feet away.
| | 03:42 | If I wanted to find out what the depth of the
stall was, I could come up and hover up here to 18.
| | 03:48 | OK, so if we use the Head's-Up Display or the Dynamic Input
with our Distance command and we have very fast eye coordination,
| | 03:55 | we can get multiple distances, while
only launching the command one time.
| | 04:00 | I'm going to hit my Escape key to clear the command.
| | 04:03 | So, if your desire is to simply verify the geometry in
your drawing, you can use AutoCAD's Distance command
| | 04:11 | and avoid the hassle of producing unnecessary dimensions.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Property Changer| 00:00 | The Property Changer is without a doubt
the most useful palette in our interface.
| | 00:04 | With it, we have access to nearly every
changeable aspect of our geometry.
| | 00:09 | One thing is certain, the more you use the Property Changer,
the more you'd love the power of this palette gives you.
| | 00:14 | We are going to take a look at the Property Changer.
| | 00:16 | So I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon,
and we are going to inside the Chapter 13 folder,
| | 00:23 | located inside our Exercise Files directory, and I'm
going to open up drawing number 2, the Property Changer drawing.
| | 00:29 | So we will highlight that guy and click Open.
| | 00:32 | Now, on my screen, I have got a drawing
that contains several AutoCAD elements.
| | 00:36 | I have got hatch, dimensions, text and some basic shapes.
| | 00:41 | Let's bring up our Property Changer
palette and make some changes.
| | 00:45 | Now, my Property Changer palette happens to
be anchored to the left side of my screen.
| | 00:49 | If yours is not visible on your interface, you can always
turn him on by coming up to the Property Changer icon.
| | 00:56 | Now, I'm going to be using the Property Changer several times
during this session, so I'm going to hover over the icon
| | 01:03 | to bring it up and then I'm going to come down and
click on my Auto-hide button to lock him in a dark state.
| | 01:10 | Now, the first thing I want you to notice is all of the
settings that we can change using the Property Changer.
| | 01:15 | I would also like you to notice that these
settings are grouped under major headings.
| | 01:19 | Sometimes there is more settings
than what will fit on our interface.
| | 01:23 | If that's the case, we can always click and hold on this
scrollbar and pulldown such that we can see all of the settings.
| | 01:31 | Another thing we can do is we can collapse the headings.
| | 01:34 | If I click the little Chevron icon, the heading will collapse.
| | 01:38 | This is another way to free up some space.
| | 01:41 | I can close these guys up so I can have
access to some of the other settings.
| | 01:45 | Let's try and use the Property Changer.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to start by selecting a circle.
| | 01:50 | Let me zoom in on the Thumb button
and I'm going to click this circle.
| | 01:55 | When I do, watch the Property Changer.
| | 01:57 | As soon as I click this, the Property
Changer understands that I grabbed a circle
| | 02:01 | and now the settings that I see are related to a circle.
| | 02:05 | In my Geometry area, if I come down, I can see
the radius of this circle happens to be 0.1.
| | 02:10 | Let me click in this field and we will change the radius to 0.2.
| | 02:15 | And when I hit Enter, my circle now has a different radius.
| | 02:19 | I can also change the diameter I wish or the circumference.
| | 02:22 | We can't even draw a circle based on circumference,
but if I know a circumference I would like to use,
| | 02:27 | I can always select an existing circle
and set it to whatever I like.
| | 02:31 | Let's change our circumference to
0.75, and that guy instantly updates.
| | 02:40 | I'm going to hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 02:44 | And let's try and make a change to some text.
| | 02:46 | I'm going to back up a little bit and we'll pan over.
| | 02:48 | I've got some text right here.
| | 02:50 | Let me click on this text to select it.
| | 02:53 | Notice, the Property Changer adjusts itself again.
| | 02:56 | Now, I'm seeing settings that are related to text.
| | 03:00 | Now, some of these are creeping off the bottom of my screen.
| | 03:02 | So I'm going to grab my little scrollbar here.
| | 03:05 | I'm going to click and hold and pull this
down so I can see all of my text settings.
| | 03:10 | Notice, from here, I could change the contents of my
text that happens to be what the text says right now.
| | 03:16 | I could change its style if I wish, I could change
its justification or its height or its rotation.
| | 03:23 | I'm going to click in the Rotation field.
| | 03:26 | Let's change the rotation of our text to 15 degrees.
| | 03:29 | I'm going to type in 15 and hit
Enter and that text is now 15 degrees.
| | 03:34 | I'm going to change its justification.
| | 03:36 | Let me click in the Justify area.
| | 03:38 | It's set to Top/Left, let's set that to Top/Center.
| | 03:42 | Now, it's centered justified.
| | 03:44 | I'm going to hit Escape to clear the grips, and
let's change something else, let's try dimension.
| | 03:50 | Now, this dimension happens to be on the wrong layer.
| | 03:53 | Let me click on it to select it, and once again, my
Property Changer adjusts itself to dimension settings.
| | 04:01 | Now, there are several settings here.
| | 04:03 | We will look at them in just one second.
| | 04:05 | Let's address the incorrect layer first.
| | 04:08 | If I go up under the general heading, every object that
you click on will have access to the general settings.
| | 04:15 | This is where I can change an object's color
or a layer or linetype or linetype scale.
| | 04:21 | Let's change the layer.
| | 04:23 | I'm going to click in the Layer field, grab the dropdown and
I can see a listing of all of the layers that are in my drawing.
| | 04:29 | Let me select the correct layer.
| | 04:31 | When I do, that dimension is put onto the layer.
| | 04:35 | This is just another way of moving
an entity from one layer to another.
| | 04:39 | Now, I have several headings at the
bottom of my Property Changer.
| | 04:42 | I'm going to click the Chevron to click this guy up.
| | 04:45 | And when I do, notice that seven headings match
the seven tabs that are in our dimension style.
| | 04:51 | That means that I can open up these headings and I can
make setting changes on a dimension-by-dimension basis.
| | 04:58 | Let's try one.
| | 04:59 | I'm going to go to primary units.
| | 05:00 | Let me open up that one.
| | 05:01 | And once again, it's creeping off my screen, so
let's click on the scrollbar and pull him down.
| | 05:07 | Right now, the Precision is set to 2.
| | 05:09 | Let's change that.
| | 05:10 | I'm going to click the dropdown and
I will set this to the even integer.
| | 05:15 | When I do, notice that dimension changes
but the other ones remain the same.
| | 05:19 | This is another way that I can tweak dimensions on an
individual basis without touching my dimension style.
| | 05:25 | Let me hit Escape.
| | 05:27 | I want to look at one more object.
| | 05:29 | Let's pan over because I have some hatch over here.
| | 05:32 | Let's say we would like to change the properties of my hatch.
| | 05:36 | If I click the hatch pattern, once again, my
Property Changer resets itself to hatch settings.
| | 05:42 | And then the pattern group, I can see
all of the settings related to my hatch.
| | 05:46 | Here is one for my pattern name.
| | 05:49 | I can click this.
| | 05:50 | If I click the Ellipse, I can go in
and I can select another hatch pattern.
| | 05:54 | Let me set it for NC37 and click OK.
| | 05:57 | I can also change the angle or the
scale or the space in from here.
| | 06:02 | Make sure an experiment with the Property
Changer, it can be a very valuable tool.
| | 06:07 | At this point, I'm going to hit
my Escape key and clear the grips.
| | 06:13 | When in doubt, if you need to make a change to an existing entity
in your drawing, whether it would be a text object or a dimension
| | 06:19 | or a hatch pattern, go to your Property Changer first.
| | 06:23 | The Property Changer is literally your one-stop shop
for nearly every changeable property of your objects.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Quick Calculator| 00:00 | Another helpful tool we have in AutoCAD is the Quick Calculator.
| | 00:03 | What makes the Quick Calculator nice is that it can
be used transparently within our AutoCAD commands.
| | 00:08 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 00:10 | I'm going to open a drawing, I'm going
to come up and we will click the Open icon.
| | 00:13 | We are going to go inside the Chapter 13 folder
inside our Exercise Files directory and we are going
| | 00:19 | to select number 3, the Quick Calculator drawing.
| | 00:22 | I will highlight that guy and click
Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:25 | Now I have got some sketch geometry here and we are going to
use this geometry to learn how the Quick Calculator works.
| | 00:33 | Let's take a look at the square first.
| | 00:35 | Let's say I would like to offset this left side
such that I divide this square into thirds.
| | 00:42 | Well, I know the overall length is 6.31, but calculating what
1/3rd of that distance is in my head is going to be a problem.
| | 00:49 | Let's use AutoCAD to find the distance.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to come over and launch the
Offset command, I will click the Offset icon
| | 00:56 | and AutoCAD is asking me for an offset distance.
| | 00:59 | Well, I don't know what the distance is,
let's come up and click the Quick Calculator.
| | 01:03 | I will click the icon, this brings up my Quick
Calculator palette and from here I want you
| | 01:08 | to notice that it says the active command is Offset.
| | 01:11 | I can use the Quick Calculator transparently within a command.
| | 01:15 | So whatever value I come up with is going
to be applied to the Offset command.
| | 01:19 | Now I can enter my expression either by clicking
on these keys or by using the keys on my keyboard.
| | 01:26 | I'm going to type in my expression
6.31 divided by 3 and I will hit Enter.
| | 01:37 | There is my value.
| | 01:38 | Now I'm going to come down and click my Apply
button and when I do, watch my command line.
| | 01:44 | As soon as I click Apply, AutoCAD throws
the number down at my command line
| | 01:48 | and all I have to do is hit Enter to accept the value.
| | 01:52 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to select object to offset.
| | 01:56 | I will select this object and I will offset to this side.
| | 02:00 | I will select this object and I will offset to this side.
| | 02:03 | I have just divided that square into
thirds and I never had to pick
| | 02:07 | up my desktop calculator or try and figure it out in my head.
| | 02:11 | Let me hit Escape to clear the Offset command.
| | 02:15 | Let's use the Quick Calculator to replicate this polygon.
| | 02:18 | The Quick Calculator can be very helpful when
drafting polygons because it always seems
| | 02:23 | that when we are given a polygon we always
get the dimension of the diameter but
| | 02:28 | yet when we create a polygon, AutoCAD always wants the radius.
| | 02:33 | So let's use the Quick Calculator to replicate this polygon.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to pan him to the side and we are going to
launch the Polygon command. I'm going to come over
| | 02:42 | and click the Polygon icon, AutoCAD asks me for a
number of sides, I'm going to type in 8 and hit Enter.
| | 02:50 | Specify center point, I'm just going to pick a point on screen.
| | 02:54 | Now is this polygon inscribed or circumscribed?
| | 02:57 | Well, since my dimension is from face to
face, this polygon must be circumscribed
| | 03:02 | because it would fall on the outside of my circle.
| | 03:05 | Let me select Circumscribed and at this
point, AutoCAD is asking for a radius.
| | 03:10 | Well, I have the diameter but it's very ugly number.
| | 03:14 | Let's find out what the radius is by using the Quick Calculator.
| | 03:18 | Once again I'm going to come up and click the Quick
Calculator icon and it will pop up on my screen,
| | 03:23 | notice the active command happens to be Polygon.
| | 03:26 | Let's do the math.
| | 03:27 | I'm going to type in 6.9919 divided by 2
and I will hit Enter, there is my value.
| | 03:38 | Once again I'm going to click Apply and
that value is dumped to my command line.
| | 03:43 | All I have to do to accept that value is hit the Enter key.
| | 03:47 | I have just replicated that polygon
using the Quick Calculator command.
| | 03:52 | While the Quick Calculator may not completely
replace the handheld calculator we keep at our desk,
| | 03:58 | it certainly makes quick computations within AutoCAD much easier.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
14. Reusable ContentCreating and inserting blocks| 00:00 | Whenever we have duplicated geometry in our drawing
it's a good idea to convert that geometry into a block.
| | 00:05 | Blocks are a lot like symbols.
| | 00:07 | Generally speaking a block is a group
of geometry that's been given a name.
| | 00:11 | Let's take a look at blocks.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and we're going
| | 00:16 | to look inside the Chapter 14 folder located inside
our Exercise Files directory and I'm going to open
| | 00:22 | up drawing number one, Creating and Inserting Blocks.
| | 00:25 | Let me highlight that drawing and we'll click Open.
| | 00:28 | Now if we look at the screen, we can see an outline of a single
family home and I'm going to zoom in on the back of the house
| | 00:37 | and we can see that I have drawn a deck with a gazebo.
| | 00:40 | Now in this session we are going to pretend
that we are landscape architects and our job is
| | 00:44 | to insert some trees around the back of this house.
| | 00:47 | Now one thing we know about landscape
architects, they like to insert a lot of trees.
| | 00:51 | Let me pan over just a little bit
because I have drawn my first tree,
| | 00:55 | this geometry represents a shade tree
and it has a diameter of 25 feet.
| | 01:00 | Now if I click on these, I can see these are all individual
pieces. This look me a little bit of time to draft and I would
| | 01:06 | like to use the shade tree geometry
to represent all of my shade trees.
| | 01:11 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 01:13 | Now I would rather not copy this geometry
at every location where I'd like my tree
| | 01:17 | and I certainly don't want to redraft this tree to each location.
| | 01:21 | Instead, I'm going to convert this geometry into a block.
| | 01:24 | That way each time I want to insert a shade
tree all I have to do is insert my block.
| | 01:30 | Let's do that.
| | 01:30 | Let's turn this geometry into a block.
| | 01:32 | I'm going to come over to my Draw
toolbar and click my Make Block icon.
| | 01:39 | When I do my Block Definition dialog comes up.
Notice there are several settings in this dialog box.
| | 01:45 | Now we don't have to go through all of these settings to
create a block, we only have to go through a few of them.
| | 01:49 | One thing I want you to notice is this
dialog does have the question mark button.
| | 01:54 | If you do have a question about what some of these settings
do, you can always click the question mark and then come over
| | 02:00 | and click your setting and AutoCAD will tell you
everything you need to know about that setting.
| | 02:04 | Let me hit Escape to clear the Help text.
| | 02:07 | Let's give this block a name.
| | 02:09 | I'm going to come up and click into my Name
field and I'm going to type in shade tree.
| | 02:14 | Now that I have given the block a name, I
am going to come down to my base point area.
| | 02:21 | From here, I'm going to click the Pick point
button and AutoCAD will return me to Model space
| | 02:26 | and AutoCAD is asking me to specify an insertion base point.
| | 02:29 | What would be the most logical location for me to be
holding this tree when I insert it into my drawing?
| | 02:34 | Well, I would like to be holding it from the center.
| | 02:37 | Now I have a running Object Snap set for center so let me zoom
in on this tree and I'm going to put my cursor on the arc.
| | 02:43 | Notice AutoCAD finds the center. I will click to grab
that point and then AutoCAD returns me to the dialog.
| | 02:50 | Let's look at the Objects area.
| | 02:52 | This is where I determine what objects
I would like to include in my block.
| | 02:56 | I'm going to click the Select Objects button.
| | 02:59 | Once again I return to Model space.
| | 03:01 | Notice AutoCAD is now asking me to select objects.
| | 03:04 | Let me back up just a little bit.
| | 03:06 | Now I don't want the dimension to be
part of my block, that was more for you.
| | 03:09 | What I'm going to do is I'm going
to select all of my tree geometry.
| | 03:14 | Let me move my cursor over to the left and I'm
going to make a nice window around this geometry.
| | 03:18 | Let me left-click to finish the window and then
I will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 03:23 | I have just created a block called shade tree.
| | 03:25 | I can see little preview of that block right here.
| | 03:28 | Now the last thing I want to do is I want to tell AutoCAD
what to do with this geometry that I used to create my block
| | 03:35 | Would I like to keep the geometry,
would I like to convert this geometry
| | 03:39 | into my first inserted block or
would I like to delete the geometry?
| | 03:43 | I'm going to delete it, I don't need it anymore. Once the
block has been defined, I can always insert one if I need it.
| | 03:49 | So I'm going to come down and click OK.
| | 03:51 | That geometry is deleted, let's get rid of that dimension too.
| | 03:54 | I'm going to click the Erase button.
| | 03:56 | We will come over and select the
dimension and we will right-click.
| | 04:02 | Alright now that we have defined our first
block, let's insert one into the drawing.
| | 04:06 | If I want to insert a block, I'm going to come over
to my Draw toolbar and click the Insert Block icon,
| | 04:13 | AutoCAD will then bring up my Insert dialog. From here in the Name
area, I can select from any block that's defined in this drawing.
| | 04:21 | If I click the dropdown, I can see I only have my shade tree.
| | 04:26 | Since the shade tree is highlighted,
I can see it's a preview over to the side.
| | 04:30 | If we look beneath the block name, I can see
three areas. Each one represents a question.
| | 04:37 | When I insert a block into my drawing, AutoCAD can
ask me three questions: where do you want to put it,
| | 04:43 | do you want to change its size, do
you want to change its rotation.
| | 04:47 | If I have placed a check in the box,
AutoCAD will ask me the question.
| | 04:51 | If there is no check in the box,
AutoCAD will take the value below.
| | 04:56 | So when I insert this tree, I do want
AutoCAD to ask me where to put it.
| | 05:01 | I don't want AutoCAD to ask me if I want to change the scale
so I'm going to uncheck this and the tree is going to go
| | 05:06 | in at a one-to-one scale so it will go in at a 25 foot
diameter and AutoCAD is not going to ask me the rotation.
| | 05:15 | Probably the most important button
in this dialog is the Explode button.
| | 05:18 | Do not check this button. If you do, your geometry
will go in as individual parts and it won't be a block.
| | 05:25 | I'm going to make sure that there is
no check in that box, let me click OK.
| | 05:30 | Notice I'm holding that tree from my cursor, I'm holding
it from the insertion point that I defined and I'm going
| | 05:37 | to click a point on screen to place my block.
| | 05:40 | Let's do it on another one.
| | 05:42 | I'm going to move over and click my Insert Block icon.
| | 05:45 | I will leave the settings the way they were and click
OK. Very easy to insert blocks into our drawing.
| | 05:53 | Since these trees are blocks and not individual geometry notice
if I click on this, AutoCAD treats the entire thing as one piece.
| | 06:00 | This makes them very easy to manipulate
and move around my drawing.
| | 06:04 | Also notice if I highlight this guy, I get a grip at the
center. That grip is actually located at the insertion point
| | 06:10 | of the block, that's the point that I selected when I created it.
| | 06:14 | If I would like to move this symbol,
all I have to do is click on that grip
| | 06:17 | and I can place it any place else
I like by clicking on my screen.
| | 06:22 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips.
| | 06:25 | Now this symbol works great for a shade tree.
| | 06:27 | What if I would like to create a symbol that I
can use to represent trees of multiple sizes?
| | 06:32 | Let's try that.
| | 06:34 | I'm going to come up to my Layer Control and click
the dropdown, I'm going to go to the all tree layer.
| | 06:39 | I'm going to turn that on because I
have been hiding some geometry from you.
| | 06:44 | Let me click in Model space and now we can see
that geometry, I'm going to zoom in on him.
| | 06:49 | Now he is quite small. The geometry that we see is a
typical tree symbol that a landscape architect might use
| | 06:56 | and it is based on a circle that has a one foot diameter.
| | 07:00 | That will be very helpful in just a second.
| | 07:02 | Let's turn this geometry into a block.
| | 07:04 | I'm going to come over and click my Make Block icon. We will
give this symbol a name. I'm going to call it ornamental tree.
| | 07:18 | Alright let's come down to the base point.
| | 07:20 | Let me click to set my base point.
| | 07:22 | What would be the logical location for me to be holding this
tree when I insert it into my drawing? I'm going to zoom in
| | 07:29 | and I'm going to grab the center of the trunk.
| | 07:33 | Alright let's go to the objects area.
| | 07:35 | What objects would I like to be a part of my block?
| | 07:38 | Let me click the Select Objects button.
| | 07:40 | Let me back up just a little bit and we will
make a nice window around this geometry.
| | 07:46 | Let me click again to finish my window
and right-click to finish the selection.
| | 07:51 | Last thing, what do I want to do with this geometry?
| | 07:54 | Well, I'm going to delete it because once again
if I need it all I have to do is insert the block.
| | 08:00 | This time I want to make sure that you check your
Scale uniformly option, make sure this guy is checked.
| | 08:07 | If you have a check in that box, it means
that your block will scale proportionally.
| | 08:12 | Let me come down and click OK. I have
just created another block in my drawing.
| | 08:17 | Let's get rid of this dimension and click the Erase icon
and then I will click the dimension and we will right-click.
| | 08:24 | Alright I'm going to back up, let's insert an ornamental tree.
| | 08:30 | I'm going to come over and click the Insert Block icon.
| | 08:33 | Now I have two blocks in my drawing.
| | 08:35 | Let me click the dropdown and we will grab ornamental.
| | 08:39 | Alright, what questions do I want AutoCAD to ask me?
| | 08:42 | Well, I do want AutoCAD to ask me
where do you want to put this block.
| | 08:46 | This time I'm going to check the box for
scale, I want to AutoCAD ask me a size.
| | 08:52 | Let me click OK. Notice I'm now holding
this ornamental tree from my cursor,
| | 08:56 | it happens to be small because remember it's
based on a circle with a diameter of one.
| | 09:00 | Let me click to place it in the drawing and
now AutoCAD is asking me a scale factor.
| | 09:05 | Well if I wanted a 15 foot tree, all I
have to do is type in 15 and hit Enter.
| | 09:12 | Let's drop in another one.
| | 09:14 | Let me click the Insert Block button.
| | 09:17 | This time you know what, don't ask me the
question, let me just change the setting.
| | 09:21 | Let's make this 8.
| | 09:23 | I would like to insert this as an 8 foot tree and
I will click OK, I'm now placing an 8 foot tree.
| | 09:30 | Blocks give us a tremendous amount of flexibility in our drawing,
especially if the time comes when we need to make changes.
| | 09:37 | For instance you know what I put this guy in as a
15 foot tree, he was supposed to be a 20 foot tree.
| | 09:43 | If I click and highlight him, I can come over to my
property changer, notice I have selected a block,
| | 09:49 | let me come down to the scale area and
we will just change him from 15 to 20.
| | 09:54 | I will type in 20 and hit Enter and he automatically resizes.
| | 10:01 | Anytime you have geometry that's repeated throughout your
drawing, it's wise to consider converting that geometry
| | 10:07 | into a block. Blocks are faster to insert, easier to
manage and will keep your file sizes much smaller.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using blocks| 00:00 | Now that we know how to create a
block let's expand on the concept
| | 00:03 | and talk a little bit about how to use blocks to our advantage.
| | 00:06 | We are going to go into the Chapter 14 folder,
located inside our Exercise Files directory
| | 00:12 | and I want to open up drawing number 2, the Office drawing.
| | 00:15 | So I will highlight this guy and we'll click Open.
| | 00:19 | Now on my screen I have got a portion of an office
building and this is an architectural example so everything
| | 00:24 | in this drawing was created using architectural measurements.
| | 00:28 | Let's say I'm designing the floor plan and
furniture layout for a civil engineering firm.
| | 00:33 | Now I have already designed the layout for the walls
and at this point I'm currently inserting my furniture.
| | 00:39 | Now my client has chosen specific
furniture he wants to use for this office.
| | 00:43 | So what I'm going to do is I'm going to draft
each piece of furniture and turn it into a block.
| | 00:48 | That way if I want to insert a main line desk into
somebody's office all I have to do is insert a block
| | 00:53 | as opposed to coping geometry around on my screen.
| | 00:56 | Now I have already created some of
my furniture blocks but I'm going
| | 01:00 | to make another one right now, I
am going to zoom over to the right.
| | 01:03 | This line work represents an executive desk and this was drawn
using the actual dimensions for this piece of furniture so I know
| | 01:10 | that the block that I'm creating is the actual size.
| | 01:14 | Before I turn this into a block I want to click on these
entities and I want you to take a look at the Layer Control
| | 01:18 | and notice that all of these guys were drawn on Layer 0.
| | 01:22 | That fact will be important a little bit later. Let me hit
Escape to clear the grips and let's turn this guy into a block.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to come over to my Draw toolbar
and I'm going to click my Make Block icon.
| | 01:34 | This brings up my Block Definition dialog.
| | 01:36 | From here we will give this block a name.
| | 01:39 | I'm going to call it Executive Desk.
| | 01:43 | Now that we have given the block a name I'm going come down
to the Base point area and I'm going to select Pick point.
| | 01:48 | Now what would be the logical location that I would like
to be holding this from when I insert it into the drawing?
| | 01:55 | Well, this is furniture so my point is
not that important because once I place
| | 02:00 | into the drawing I can always rotate
it or remove it if necessary.
| | 02:03 | I'm going to select the corner right here.
| | 02:06 | Now I'm going to go to the Objects area.
| | 02:08 | We will click the Select Objects button.
| | 02:11 | What objects would I like to be a part of my block?
| | 02:13 | Well, I'm going to click out in space here and
we will make a nice window around these entities.
| | 02:18 | Let me click to finish the window and then
we will right-click to finish the selection.
| | 02:21 | I have just created a block called Executive Desk.
| | 02:26 | Now last thing, what do I want to do with this geometry?
| | 02:30 | Do I want to keep it?
| | 02:31 | Do I want to convert it into my first
inserted block or do I want to delete it?
| | 02:35 | I'm going to delete it because if I need it
again all I have to do is insert the block.
| | 02:40 | Let me click OK that guy disappears.
| | 02:44 | Now good form says that we should insert our blocks onto a layer
of their own and the layer scheme that use is entirely up to you.
| | 02:52 | For example, I'm currently inserting furniture.
| | 02:56 | I could make a layer called Furniture and then
insert all of my furniture blocks under that layer
| | 03:01 | or I can be even more specific. If I click the Layer Control,
| | 03:05 | you can see that I have created a
layer for each type of furniture.
| | 03:09 | Now I have got a layer from my executive desks, let me click on
that layer to set it current and let's insert one of our blocks.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to come down to my Draw toolbar
and I'm going to click my Insert Block icon
| | 03:22 | and when I do remember I already have some furniture
blocks defined so let me click the dropdown
| | 03:27 | and we are going to come down and select our Executive dDesk.
| | 03:30 | Now when I bring this into the drawing I
want AutoCAD to ask me the insertion point.
| | 03:36 | As far as scale I want this to go in at the size in which
it was created so I'm just going to leave this set to 1
| | 03:42 | and I'm not going to worry about rotation right now.
| | 03:45 | Once again it's furniture, I can always drop into
the room and move it around and rotate it if I wish.
| | 03:50 | Let me click OK alright let's take
and insert the desk into this office.
| | 03:57 | I'm just going to move up and click
the end point of the wall right here.
| | 04:01 | Now notice that desk is red.
| | 04:04 | That's because my block was created from
entities that were drawn on Layer 0.
| | 04:09 | You see if you create a block from entities that were drawn
| | 04:12 | on Layer 0 the block will assume the
properties of the layer that it's inserted on.
| | 04:17 | This can be very helpful because I can have multiple
insertions of blocks in my drawing and I could have them set
| | 04:22 | to be different colors just by putting them on different layers.
| | 04:25 | Now imagine if I inserted all of the furniture into my
office using the same procedure that we have just seen.
| | 04:30 | In fact let me back-up and we will pan over to the Cad room.
| | 04:34 | Notice that each one of these pieces of furniture is a block.
| | 04:38 | I created one block that defined my main line desk
and then I inserted that each time I needed one.
| | 04:44 | Let me hit Escape.
| | 04:45 | I created a block that represented a folding table.
| | 04:48 | I inserted that folding table at
each location where I needed one.
| | 04:52 | Let me hit Escape again. Like wise,
I made a block for my file cabinets.
| | 04:57 | I even made a block for the cube partitions such that
I can insert a cube partition wherever I needed one.
| | 05:03 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grip
and we will backup a little bit.
| | 05:07 | Since each piece of furniture in this office is a block,
it's very easy for me to move this around and arrange them
| | 05:13 | and rearrange them and I know that since each piece of
furniture was created using real dimensions I know that all
| | 05:19 | of this furniture will fit within this space.
| | 05:22 | At some point this drawing begins to act more
like an assembly than a traditional line drawing.
| | 05:27 | As you can see this file is almost
completely created from blocks.
| | 05:31 | Since we use blocks for our repeated geometry as opposed to
copying individual lines and arcs we have much more control
| | 05:38 | over our furniture and can make fast revisions with the assurance
that our geometry is consistent across the entire drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Modifying blocks| 00:00 | The best part about using blocks is
that they can be redefined if necessary.
| | 00:04 | By simply changing the geometry of one of your blocks, every
other instance of that block will automatically update.
| | 00:10 | Let's try that.
| | 00:11 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon.
| | 00:13 | We're going to go into the Chapter 14 folder, located inside our
Exercise Files directory and we're going to open up drawing number 3.
| | 00:22 | This is a continuation of the office drawing so
I will highlight that drawing and click Open.
| | 00:26 | As you can see, I'm still working on my office building.
| | 00:30 | I have dropped in some more furniture
and I have inserted several chairs.
| | 00:35 | Let me zoom in on my conference room area because
I want to show you that I'm practicing good form.
| | 00:40 | If I click on one of these chairs
and we look at the Layer Control,
| | 00:43 | we can see that I'm inserting these
chairs on a layer of their own.
| | 00:46 | Now, I have inserted several chairs into this drawing.
| | 00:50 | Let me hit Escape, clear the grip and we'll back up.
| | 00:55 | Each one of these chairs represents
the same Model or type of chair.
| | 00:59 | Let's say that we have talked to our client
and our client decided that he no longer wants
| | 01:03 | to use this type of chair, he wants to use a different type.
| | 01:06 | Well, I don't want to go through and
insert a new chair at every location.
| | 01:10 | Instead, I'm going to redefine my chair
block and all of my chairs will update.
| | 01:15 | Let's try that.
| | 01:16 | I'm going to zoom in on my conference room again.
| | 01:19 | If we want to redefine a block, all we
have to do is select an existing insertion.
| | 01:24 | So I'm going to zoom in on this guy.
| | 01:26 | And then, I'm going to go to my Tools pulldown.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to select Tools and I'm going to come down
to XREF and Block In-Place Editing and in the flyout,
| | 01:36 | I'm going to come down to Edit Reference In-Place.
| | 01:39 | When I do, AutoCAD asks me to select my reference.
| | 01:42 | I'm going to select this guy.
| | 01:44 | AutoCAD brings up the Reference Edit
dialog which shows me yes, in fact,
| | 01:48 | you have selected this chair block;
in fact, here's a preview of that chair.
| | 01:52 | I'm going to come down and click OK.
| | 01:56 | And notice that AutoCAD screens everything back and gives
me access to the individual components of this chair.
| | 02:02 | It's just like I'm creating it for the first time.
| | 02:06 | Also notice, that AutoCAD popped up a Refedit
toolbar and the two most important buttons
| | 02:12 | on this toolbar are right here, Save
Changes and Discard Changes and Quit.
| | 02:18 | So let's makes a change to this chair block.
| | 02:21 | I'm going to do that by using a Stretch Command.
| | 02:23 | I'm going to come over and click the Stretch icon.
| | 02:26 | And remember that we have to use the
crossing window to use the Stretch Command.
| | 02:30 | So I'm going to click right here.
| | 02:32 | We will make a crossing window around this fillet.
| | 02:34 | Let me click to finish the window and then
we'll right-click to finish the selection.
| | 02:39 | Now, specify base point.
| | 02:41 | I'm going just going to pick a point on screen and I will take
and move my cursor to the left, and we will just stretch this guy
| | 02:48 | over 3 inches. I'm going type in 3 inches and hit Enter.
| | 02:55 | Alright, let's make him symmetrical.
| | 02:56 | We will launch the Stretch command again.
| | 02:58 | Let me right-click and select Repeat Stretch.
| | 03:01 | Let's make a crossing window around this fillet.
| | 03:04 | Let me right-click to finish the selection
and I'm going to pick a point right here
| | 03:11 | and we'll stretch this guy to the right 3 inches.
| | 03:17 | Now, let's remember that I'm making this chair
different. I'm not necessarily making it better.
| | 03:21 | Now that I have revised my geometry, I'm going to come up to
my Refedit toolbar and here is where I can make my decision.
| | 03:27 | Do I want to keep it or do I want to throw it away?
| | 03:31 | I'm going to save my changes so I'm going
to click the Save Reference Edit button.
| | 03:35 | And when I do, AutoCAD pops up and says "Hey, you are
going to be revising all of the chairs in your drawing.
| | 03:41 | Are you sure you want to do that?"
| | 03:43 | Yes, I do.
| | 03:43 | So let me click OK.
| | 03:44 | And when the dialog goes away and I back up, I can see that
every chair insertion in my drawing has now been revised.
| | 03:54 | Redefining a block is probably one
of the biggest timesavers in AutoCAD.
| | 03:58 | If you have the foresight to use blocks
for repeated geometry in your drawing,
| | 04:02 | making global changes later can be
done in minutes instead of hours.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Building your library| 00:00 | Once you start using blocks, it won't be long before you
will want to create a library of your common symbols,
| | 00:05 | such that you can use them in other drawings.
| | 00:07 | Let's look at how we can start a block library.
| | 00:09 | I'm going to start by opening a drawing, let me click Open.
| | 00:12 | We are going to look inside of our Chapter 14 folder
located inside the Exercise Files directory and I'm going
| | 00:18 | to select drawing number 4, the Office
drawing, and we'll open this guy up.
| | 00:22 | Now we have been doing some work in this drawing already,
this guy happens to be an architectural drawing so he is set
| | 00:27 | up using architectural measurements and this drawing contains
several blocks, let's take a look at the blocks we have.
| | 00:33 | I'm going to come over to my Draw
toolbar and click my Insert Block icon.
| | 00:36 | And when the Insert dialog comes up, in the Name field, I
am going to click the dropdown and we can see a listing
| | 00:43 | of every block that's defined in this drawing.
| | 00:45 | Now one of the drawbacks to a block is when you define
it in your drawing, it only exists in that drawing.
| | 00:51 | That means if I was to start another file, I
would not have access to any of these blocks.
| | 00:56 | Let me close this dialog.
| | 00:57 | What we are going to do in this session is we are going to
learn how we can move blocks from one drawing to another.
| | 01:03 | Let me close this drawing, we have established that
it has blocks and I'm going to start a new drawing.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to come up and click my New icon and we are going
to start with the acad template. This is the default template
| | 01:14 | that we start with whenever we launch AutoCAD,. Let me click Open.
| | 01:19 | Now in this example, we are pretending we are an
architect, so the drawing that contains my blocks is set
| | 01:24 | up for architectural units. I'm going to
set current drawing to architectural units.
| | 01:29 | Let me come up and click Format, I will come
down to Units and will set this to Architectural.
| | 01:34 | I do this, because when I bring my blocks in, if
my current drawing is set to different units then
| | 01:39 | with the original drawing AutoCAD may try and rescale my symbols.
| | 01:44 | Let me click OK.
| | 01:45 | Now our drawing is set up, let's go out and get our blocks.
| | 01:48 | I'm going to move my blocks using the Design Center.
| | 01:50 | I'm going to come up and click the Design
Center icon to bring it up on screen.
| | 01:54 | Now when this palette pops up, it's
quite large but it's very easy to use.
| | 01:59 | Generally speaking it's just divided up into two panels.
| | 02:02 | If I move my cursor between the panels,
notice my icon will change.
| | 02:06 | If I click and hold, when I see this icon, I can
drag the size of my panels to whatever size I like.
| | 02:14 | Now take a look at the panel on the left. This guy
functions the exact same way as Windows Explorer.
| | 02:20 | I will use the panel on the left to navigate
through my hard-drive to find my drawing.
| | 02:25 | Now the drawing we are looking for is the number 4 Office
drawing, which is located inside the Exercise Files folder
| | 02:30 | and on my machine, my exercise files
are located at the root directory of C.
| | 02:35 | Your's maybe in a different location on your hard-drive.
| | 02:37 | I'm going to come up and click the
plus to open up my folder,
| | 02:41 | once again the functionality is just like Windows Explorer.
| | 02:44 | Let me come down and click the plus to open
up Chapter 14. I can scroll down if I wish.
| | 02:50 | Notice here is where Design Center surpasses Windows Explorer.
| | 02:54 | With Design Center, I can navigate into the
drawing itself, notice I have a little plus.
| | 02:59 | Let me click this and open the drawing.
| | 03:01 | Now there are 8 categories of objects that I can
steal from this drawing without ever opening it up.
| | 03:06 | Let's click on the Blocks heading and when I do, we will look
at the panel on the right. AutoCAD populates that panel with all
| | 03:12 | of the blocks that are defined in that drawing.
| | 03:14 | Now if I would like to bring a block from the Office 4
drawing into my current file, all I have to do is click,
| | 03:21 | hold and drag on this little preview
and I can drag it right into my drawing.
| | 03:26 | Let's try and bring in the file cabinet. I will click, hold
and drag and I can bring that into the current drawing.
| | 03:33 | The Design Center is very much like the pirate-ship
mentality. We pull up along side the drawing,
| | 03:38 | steal whatever booty we can and then we pull away.
| | 03:41 | Let me close the Design Center.
| | 03:43 | Now that I have brought those blocks into the
drawing, let's go to our Insert Block icon,
| | 03:50 | notice each of those blocks is now defined in this file.
| | 03:53 | Now imagine this. What if I extract the blocks from my other
drawings, what if I went into every drawing on my network
| | 04:00 | and pulled all the blocks that I use on a regular
basis and inserted them into a common file?
| | 04:05 | I could then save this common file and the next
time I need one of my regularly used blocks,
| | 04:11 | I could just use the Design Center and go here.
| | 04:13 | Let me close this dialog and let's save this drawing.
| | 04:17 | I'm going to click File, Save As. I'm
going to save this in my Chapter 14 folder,
| | 04:24 | I'm just going to call this drawing
My Custom Blocks and I will click Save.
| | 04:34 | From now on, if we make the assumption that I have
inserted all of my regularly used blocks into this drawing,
| | 04:40 | the next time I need a block all I have to do is
use the Design Center and navigate to this file.
| | 04:45 | Using the Design Center, we can easily organize a custom block
library that holds all of the symbols we use most and later on,
| | 04:52 | as we create more symbols, we can return to
the Design Center and add them to our library.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
15. PlottingQuick plots| 00:00 | At some point in our design process, we will
need to produce a hard copy of our work.
| | 00:04 | Let's look at how we can create a quick
print of our drawing for review purposes.
| | 00:08 | I'm going to come up and open a drawing, we are going to go into
our Chapter 15 folder located inside the Exercise Files directory
| | 00:14 | and I want to open up drawing number 1,
Creating a Quick Check Plot, and we'll click Open.
| | 00:19 | Now I'm starting with relatively small drawing.
Let's say I just need to produce a hard copy of this file.
| | 00:25 | I don't have any reason to add a title block
or anything. I just want to put this on paper,
| | 00:29 | so I can stick it in someone's hand for their review.
| | 00:31 | Let's look at how we can create a
quick check plot of this drawing.
| | 00:34 | First thing, I want to do is show you
something in the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:38 | Let me click the icon and when this guy pops up on screen,
I want you to take a look at the Lineweight column.
| | 00:44 | Since we are plotting, now it's the time when we can
identify a plottable line thickness for each layer.
| | 00:51 | If I would like to change the plotted line thickness
or lineweight of my layer, all I have to do is click
| | 00:56 | on the Lineweight setting and AutoCAD
will pop up my Lineweight dialog,
| | 01:00 | from which I can select the width I would like my layer to plot.
| | 01:05 | Now one interesting anomaly, these are all set to millimeters.
| | 01:07 | Even though my drawing is an imperial drawing,
AutoCAD always defaults to millimeters.
| | 01:12 | We can change that.
| | 01:14 | Let me show you where we can do that.
| | 01:15 | Let me close this, let me close the dialog.
| | 01:18 | We are going to go to the Options dialog box. So I
am going to go to Tools, I will come down to Options
| | 01:24 | and we are going to go to the User Preferences tab.
| | 01:28 | When I click this tab, if we look down in the lower left hand
corner, I have got a button that says Lineweight Settings.
| | 01:33 | If I click this, we can see yes, in
fact AutoCAD defaults to millimeters.
| | 01:38 | If I would like to see the inches
equivalent of the same line thicknesses,
| | 01:42 | I can click the button here and everything converts to inches.
| | 01:44 | So whichever way you like, that's the way you can
have it. I'm going to leave mine set for millimeters.
| | 01:50 | Let me close the dialog, we'll cancel out of the
Options dialog box and we will create our plot.
| | 01:55 | If I want to plot this drawing, I'm going to come up and
click my Plot icon. This brings up my Plot dialog box.
| | 02:02 | Now sometimes you won't see the entire contents of this
dialog. If that's the case you have got a Greater Than
| | 02:09 | or Less Than button right down here. Notice if I click
that, I can collapse part of it or I can open it up.
| | 02:14 | So if you don't have to see the entire
Plot dialog box, just click that button.
| | 02:18 | Alright first things first, let's grab our printer.
| | 02:21 | If I come up into the Printer/plotter
area, I can click the dropdown
| | 02:24 | and I will see every printer that
happens to be connected to my machine.
| | 02:28 | Now I certainly have a different list of printers than you do.
| | 02:31 | I'm going to select the Adobe PDF printer. I would
like you to select a printer that you are connected to,
| | 02:36 | that will support an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper.
| | 02:41 | AutoCAD prints using the Windows printer drivers, so if
for some reason you do not see the printer that you would
| | 02:47 | like in your list, check with your IT department or
contact your Autodesk reseller and they can help you.
| | 02:52 | Now that I have chosen my printer, I'm going to come
down and select my paper size. If I click the dropdown,
| | 02:57 | I will see every physical paper size that
can fit through the printer that I selected.
| | 03:03 | If we select that in HP LaserJet, I
would see all of the envelope sizes,
| | 03:07 | I would see everything that we could put through that printer.
| | 03:09 | I'm going to leave this set for Letter size
right now and let's come down to Plot area.
| | 03:13 | This is where I identify to AutoCAD the
area of my drawing I would like to print.
| | 03:17 | I'm going to click the dropdown and set
this to Window and AutoCAD will pop me
| | 03:22 | out in the Model space. I'm going to define a rectangle.
| | 03:25 | I'm just going to pick one point on my screen.
| | 03:28 | I'm going to pull down into the right and when I click my other
point, I'm telling AutoCAD I want to print everything that falls
| | 03:34 | within this rectangle, so let me click to finish my window.
| | 03:38 | Plot offset. This is how we determine
where our plot is going to be on the sheet.
| | 03:42 | I'm going to click Center the plot. That way it
comes out right in the middle of the piece of paper.
| | 03:47 | Now we are going to come over to Plot scale. This is the most
important part, we always want to plot our drawings to a scale.
| | 03:53 | By default this thing is set to fit to paper which is
going to guarantee that our plot fits on the sheet.
| | 03:58 | Let me take the checkbox out and I'm
going to click in the dropdown for scale
| | 04:03 | and from here I can select several industry standard scales.
| | 04:07 | Now if you are drawing is set up using architectural
measurements, you will be using the scales at the bottom
| | 04:11 | of the list. For the rest of this, we
will be using the scales at the top.
| | 04:14 | I'm going to try and plot this at one-to-one.
| | 04:18 | Let me set this to one-to-one. When I do, take a look at my
preview. The outer rectangle represents the boundary of my sheet
| | 04:25 | of paper, the hatched square represents my plot. So I
can see that my plot will fit on the paper one to one.
| | 04:31 | Let me click the dropdown and I
will set this to Half-Scale, 1 to 2.
| | 04:36 | Notice the preview looks quite a bit smaller.
| | 04:38 | Now we do not have to set our scale here, in
fact if you don't see a scale that you like,
| | 04:42 | you can always set your scale manually right here.
| | 04:45 | The way to read this is 1 printed inch equals 2 Model
space units. So if I wanted to print this at one to one,
| | 04:54 | I can say 1 printed inch equals 1 Model space unit.
| | 04:59 | Let's come over and click Preview and take a look at our plot.
| | 05:03 | There it is on the sheet of paper.
The only drawback is AutoCAD is wanting
| | 05:07 | to plot the layers based on the color
the layer is in the drawing.
| | 05:10 | Unfortunately, this isn't what most people want.
| | 05:13 | Let's adjust this such that we can plot it in black.
| | 05:16 | I'm going to come up and close the preview, which will
return us to the Plot dialog box and we are going to go
| | 05:22 | up to the Plot style table. This is our pen table.
| | 05:25 | We are going to talk about the pen table in the next
session, but for right now, I want you to click the dropdown
| | 05:30 | and set your pen table to monochrome and
when the dialog comes up, just select Yes.
| | 05:36 | Let's click our Preview again.
| | 05:39 | Notice all the pens are going to plot in
black. That's because the monochrome pen
| | 05:44 | by definition is going to plot everything as black.
| | 05:47 | Now this Preview area acts just like Model space, so if I
roll my wheel forward to zoom in, I can see the pen weights.
| | 05:54 | If I hold my wheel down, I can pan around
and I can view my drawing before I plot.
| | 06:01 | When I'm finished, I can come up and click
the Close button to close the preview.
| | 06:05 | Alright, we've set up our plot. Let me come down
and click OK, an AutoCAD is printing our drawing.
| | 06:10 | Since I'm printing to a file AutoCAD is asking me for
a file name, so I'm going to come up and click Save.
| | 06:18 | Alright now that my plot is finished, this is an example of what
my piece of paper would look like. Go ahead and take the paper
| | 06:24 | that came out of your printer, go ahead and
lay a scale or your rule around top of it
| | 06:27 | and verify that yes indeed, this was plotted at one-to-one.
| | 06:31 | If your plot doesn't require the formality of a title block,
| | 06:34 | plotting a window from Model space is a great
way to produce hard copies of your design.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Selecting a pen table| 00:00 | You may be wondering why it's necessary to select a
plot style table when printing your AutoCAD drawings.
| | 00:05 | We certainly don't need a plot style table when
we print for Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop.
| | 00:10 | Remember that AutoCAD is a vector based
program, which means that the information we see
| | 00:14 | on our screen is mathematically based
lines and curves and not pixels.
| | 00:18 | Each color choice we have available in AutoCAD represents a
virtual pen that can be configured to plot however we like.
| | 00:24 | Let's talk a little about plot style tables. So I'm going to
open up a drawing, I'm going to click Open and I'm going to come
| | 00:31 | down and open up drawing number 2, the 90s Game Controller.
| | 00:35 | I will highlight him and click Open.
| | 00:37 | Now to talk about plot style tables I first
want to go to our Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:44 | Let me come up and click the icon and notice in the Properties
Manager I can take and select a color for each of my layers.
| | 00:50 | For the sake of science, I'm going to come up
and click the color selector for Layer 0.
| | 00:55 | This brings up AutoCAD's Color Picker.
| | 01:01 | As I move my cursor around on top of these
colors notice in the lower left hand corner right
| | 01:05 | down here it says Index color and it gives me a number.
| | 01:08 | Technically speaking this is not
a color picker, it's a pen picker.
| | 01:13 | Each one of these colors that we see
on screen represents a pen in AutoCAD.
| | 01:17 | It's kind of like a box of crayons.
| | 01:19 | We have 255 choices available and each one of these
pens can be configured to plot a different way.
| | 01:26 | Now here is the way we look at it.
| | 01:27 | I'm going to bring my cursor down and I
am going to move over the red color swatch.
| | 01:33 | If I hover over this guy I can see he's index Color1 or he's Pen1.
| | 01:39 | That means that if I select Pen1 for my layer,
the layer will appear red on the screen.
| | 01:44 | If I select Pen2, Pen2 happen to appear yellow on the screen.
| | 01:49 | Pen3 happens to appear green and so on.
| | 01:52 | What we are really doing here is we
are selecting pens and not colors.
| | 01:56 | Let me close this dialog and I will close this
one too and I want to go into our Plot dialog box.
| | 02:03 | Let me come up and click Plot.
| | 02:04 | This is right where we left off we selected the monochrome pens.
| | 02:10 | What I'm going to do is I'm going to
come over and click the Edit button.
| | 02:12 | Let's edit this pen table.
| | 02:14 | And when the plot style table Editor
comes up and notice I have a list on the left.
| | 02:19 | They're all labeled Color. They should be labeled Pen1,
Pen2, Pen3. Notice we can drag all the way down to Pen255.
| | 02:29 | Now if I highlight a pen, I can come over and adjust
the properties on the right. This will control how
| | 02:35 | that particular pen is going to plot on paper.
| | 02:38 | Since this is the monochrome pen table each
one of these pens that I highlight is going
| | 02:43 | to plot black. Alright, that's the way it works.
| | 02:46 | Now pen tables are a little bit beyond our scope, but when
has that ever stopped me in the past? I'm going to close this
| | 02:52 | and we are going to make a change to our pen table.
| | 02:56 | In our drawing let me click the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 03:00 | Notice I have a layer, the dark grey plastic layer, is set
to pen number 252, which happens to appear grey on our screen.
| | 03:09 | Remember that number, Pen252.
| | 03:12 | Let's close the Layer Properties Manager
and let's go back and plot this drawing.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to come up and click Plot. Let's
go to our pen table. I'm going to click Edit,
| | 03:21 | and what I'm going to do is I'm going
to come down and change my pen table.
| | 03:26 | I'm going to come down and say you know what Color252,
let me highlight that pen, I want that pen to plot red
| | 03:34 | so I will select a color from this dropdown.
| | 03:36 | These aren't the only choices. We can always click
Select Color and get more than we know what to do with.
| | 03:42 | Let me hit Cancel. I'm just going to select Red.
| | 03:47 | Now I don't want to overwrite my monochrome
pens so I'm going to come up and click Save As
| | 03:52 | and I'm going to call this test pens and we'll click Save.
| | 04:00 | Here we go. Now I can close my dialog
and let's select our new pens.
| | 04:06 | Let me click the dropdown. We'll select the test pens file.
| | 04:09 | Once again I will click Yes. Alright let's pick our plotter.
| | 04:14 | I'm going to grab Adobe PDF. You can grab a plotter on your
machine that can accommodate an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
| | 04:22 | I'm going to leave the letter size paper.
| | 04:25 | I'm going to click the dropdown and then define my window.
| | 04:27 | Let me click my first corner and my second corner.
| | 04:33 | We will center the plot and lastly we will set this to 1 to 1.
| | 04:38 | So I will remove the check from Fit to paper
and on the Scale list I will select 1 to 1.
| | 04:44 | Let's come down and click Preview.
| | 04:49 | Let me zoom in and notice the difference.
| | 04:51 | Everything that was on the grey plastic
layer was assigned Pen252.
| | 04:56 | I said Pen252, which should appear red.
| | 04:58 | That is how a pen table works.
| | 05:01 | Let's finish the plot.
| | 05:02 | When I close my preview and click OK. Once
again since I'm printing to a PDF I'm going
| | 05:11 | to click Save. Your paper is probably already coming out
of your printer and here is the copy of my final print.
| | 05:17 | One of the benefits of having a pen table is that you
can customize AutoCAD to your own office standards.
| | 05:22 | Most offices will configure a pen table to
be used for all of their plotting needs.
| | 05:26 | For now as a beginning student, it's probably best
to stick with the monochrome pen table such that all
| | 05:31 | of our line work with plot using the color black.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Layouts pt. 1: Choosing paper| 00:00 | Most production drafting will require us to create formal plots.
| | 00:03 | These plots will typically include a title block
that contains our company logo, client information,
| | 00:08 | scale information, drawing titles and other things.
| | 00:11 | To create our formal plots, we are
going to use what's known as a layout.
| | 00:14 | In this session, we will set up our
first layout and choose our paper size.
| | 00:18 | I'm going to open up a drawing.
| | 00:20 | I'm going to click my Open icon and we are going to
go into Chapter 15 inside of our Exercise Files folder,
| | 00:27 | and we are going to come down to
drawing number 3, the 80s Game Controller.
| | 00:31 | I will highlight that drawing and click Open.
| | 00:34 | Now, I would like to print this drawing,
except instead of doing a Quick Print,
| | 00:38 | I would like to print this drawing within my company title block.
| | 00:42 | To do that, I'm going to set up a layout.
| | 00:44 | To setup a layout, I'm going to come down
and I'm going to click on my Layout 1 tab.
| | 00:50 | Now, what we see on the screen looks like
a piece of paper. It is a piece of paper.
| | 00:54 | Also notice that I have a rectangle that
appears to contain my drawing on the inside.
| | 00:58 | Now, this rectangle is actually called
a viewport and I don't want to talk
| | 01:01 | about viewports just yet, so we are going to erase it.
| | 01:03 | I'm going to click my Erase button and then I'm going
to come over and grab this viewport and right-click.
| | 01:09 | OK, what we see on screen is a piece of paper.
| | 01:12 | Notice the dashed line.
| | 01:14 | That line represents the printable margin, anything
that falls outside that line will not print.
| | 01:20 | Now, the paper and the margin that we see will change
depending on the printer and the paper size that we choose.
| | 01:27 | Let's select a piece of paper for our plot.
| | 01:29 | To do that, I'm going to come down and right-click
on the Layout tab and select Page Setup Manager.
| | 01:35 | When I do, AutoCAD brings up my manager that shows
me all of the layouts that are in my drawing.
| | 01:41 | I will highlight the one that I want to change.
| | 01:43 | It happens to be highlighted already and
I'm going to come over and click Modify.
| | 01:48 | Notice that my Page Setup box looks exactly like my
Plot dialog box. That's because it works the same way.
| | 01:54 | Essentially what we are doing is filling
out our Plot dialog box ahead of time.
| | 01:58 | So, I'm going to select my plotter.
| | 02:00 | Once again, from the list, I'm going to select Adobe PDF.
| | 02:03 | I would like you to select a printer that
can accommodate an 11x17 inch piece of paper.
| | 02:09 | If the printer that you are connected
to does not support 11x17,
| | 02:12 | I would like you to come down and select the DWF6 ePlot printer.
| | 02:17 | This is a virtual printer that gets installed with AutoCAD
and this printer can accommodate an 11x17 inch sheet.
| | 02:23 | So I'm going to leave my Adobe PDF. Under Paper size,
| | 02:27 | I'm going to click the dropdown
and I'm going to select 11x17.
| | 02:32 | Under Plot area, we are going to leave this alone because we
just want to plot the layout, we don't have to touch that.
| | 02:38 | We don't have to touch the Plot offset either.
| | 02:40 | Plot scale, we are not going to bother with that either.
| | 02:43 | The paper that we see on our screen is a true representation
of the piece of paper, so it is going to measure 11x17,
| | 02:50 | so I will always plot this at one to one. That's
one of the benefits of plotting from a layout.
| | 02:55 | Let me come down and click OK.
| | 02:56 | And I will click Close to close my Page Setup Manager.
| | 03:00 | Notice, I'm now seeing 11x17 inch sheet of paper as well
as the printable margin based on the plotter that I chose.
| | 03:07 | Layouts are essentially a visible display of saved plot settings.
| | 03:11 | The piece of paper we see on screen is a real-life
representation of our paper as it will come out of the printer.
| | 03:17 | In our next session, we will add a title block to our new layout.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Layouts pt. 2: Inserting a title block| 00:00 | Now that we have setup our layout and established our
paper size, the next goal is to add our title block.
| | 00:05 | Generally speaking the layout acts just like Model space so if I
wanted to, I could draft my title block right on the Layout tab.
| | 00:12 | Instead I'm going to drag in my title
block geometry from another drawing.
| | 00:16 | Let's do this.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to open up the drawing that
we left off with in the previous session.
| | 00:21 | Let's look in the Chapter 15 folder located
inside the Exercise Files directory and I'm going
| | 00:26 | to select drawing number 4, the 80s
Game Controller, and we will click Open.
| | 00:32 | This is right where we left off.
Let me come down and click on my Layout tab.
| | 00:36 | If you are using the exercise files and you are working with
me, when you click the Layout tab, you may have gotten an error.
| | 00:43 | That's because this saved drawing references a
printer name that may not exist on your machine.
| | 00:48 | If that's the case simply right-click on this tab, go to
Page Setup Manager, select Modify and choose a new printer.
| | 00:59 | Let me close this dialog and I will close the Page Setup Manager.
| | 01:04 | Now our Layout tab acts just like Model space and if
I wanted to, I could draw a title block right here.
| | 01:10 | Instead, to save time, I have already created a drawing that
contains my title block geometry. Let's open up that drawing.
| | 01:16 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon and once
again we are going to go in the Chapter 15 folder.
| | 01:22 | Let's open up the number 4 drawing called Title
Block. I will highlight this guy and click Open.
| | 01:27 | Now what I'm going to do is I'm going
to move this geometry on to my Layout.
| | 01:33 | I happen to have two drawings open
so let's do a side-by-side display.
| | 01:37 | I'm going to go to my Window pulldown
and I'm going to select Tile Vertically.
| | 01:41 | Let me back up my title block view so I can see the
whole title block and then I will click in my Layout
| | 01:48 | and back up so I can see the layout and then to
move the geometry from one drawing to another,
| | 01:53 | I'm going to click in my title block drawing, click
and make a window, let me click to finish the window.
| | 01:59 | Everything gets highlighted and then all I have to do is place
my cursor on top of a highlighted line, not on top of a grip.
| | 02:06 | I will place my cursor on top of the highlighted line,
click and hold and I will drag this into the current file.
| | 02:11 | Let me center it as best I can and
I will release my mouse button.
| | 02:18 | Now I'm finished with this drawing, I
can close it. I don't want to save changes
| | 02:24 | and then I will maximize the current drawing on my screen.
| | 02:26 | Let me zoom in a little bit closer.
| | 02:30 | This title block is fairly well centered on
my layout so I'm going to leave it as it is.
| | 02:34 | We really won't truly know where it's going to be
on our plot until we see it come out of the printer.
| | 02:39 | So for right now I'm going to leave it here. When the time comes
that I actually get a hard copy of this print, if it's not exactly
| | 02:45 | in the middle of the sheet, I can
always come back here and move it.
| | 02:48 | Now that I have added my title block to my
layout, if I wished, I could zoom in on my text,
| | 02:53 | I could double click, edit it and make any changes I wish.
| | 02:56 | In addition to title blocks, layouts are a great place
to put notes, legions, north arrows and scale bars.
| | 03:04 | In our next session, we will complete our layout by adding
a Viewport and setting our geometry to a measurable scale.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Layouts pt. 3: Cutting a viewport| 00:00 | We are ready to create a viewport such that we
can see our part and set it to a measurable scale.
| | 00:05 | Now you maybe asking yourself where is our
part drawing in relation to this Layout tab?
| | 00:09 | Let's take a look.
| | 00:11 | If I go back to Model space, I can do that by
clicking the Model tab, we can see our drawing.
| | 00:16 | This is where we create our geometry and our dimensions.
| | 00:19 | Let me click back on my Layout tab.
| | 00:21 | Now the layout sits on top of Model space.
| | 00:24 | That means if I want to see my geometry,
I have to cut a hole in this layout.
| | 00:28 | Now AutoCAD calls this hole a viewport and we are
going to create a viewport using the Viewport toolbar.
| | 00:34 | So I'm going to turn on a toolbar, let me
move over an existing tool and right-click.
| | 00:39 | And in the toolbar list, I'm going to come down and select my
Viewports toolbar and when I click, that guy pops up on screen.
| | 00:46 | I'm going to dock him at the top of my interface.
| | 00:48 | So let me click and hold in the blue area and we'll drag
him up to the top of the interface and I will release.
| | 01:02 | Now good form says that we should
cut our viewports on their own layer.
| | 01:07 | Notice I have already created a layer, I have called it
viewport and I have set it current so I'm practicing good form.
| | 01:12 | Now I can cut the viewport or the hole
in my layout by using this button.
| | 01:17 | I'm going to come up and click the single Viewport icon
and when I click, AutoCAD wants me to specify one corner.
| | 01:24 | I will click one corner and then I will
come down and I will click another corner.
| | 01:28 | Basically, I'm just making a rectangle.
| | 01:30 | Now be careful, I happen to have running
Object Snap set so be careful where you click,
| | 01:34 | you might end up grabbing part of your title block.
| | 01:36 | I'm just going to click in space here.
| | 01:39 | When I do, AutoCAD cuts a hole in
my layout and I can now see my part.
| | 01:43 | This viewport is like a window into Model space.
| | 01:46 | Watch this.
| | 01:47 | As I move my cursor on screen, my cursor
is moving around on top of my paper.
| | 01:51 | If I move over my viewport and double-click,
I jumped into the viewport.
| | 01:56 | That means if I hold down my wheel and pan, I'm
panning the contents of this viewport inside my layout.
| | 02:03 | I can also zoom if I wish.
| | 02:06 | In fact zooming is how we will set the scale because
the paper is always going to stay the same size,
| | 02:11 | it's the contents of the viewport that we're going
to adjust such that it plots to a measurable scale.
| | 02:16 | Let me click outside the viewport to get back on to my
paper and let's set this viewport to a measurable scale.
| | 02:24 | I can do that by clicking on the viewport edge to highlight it
and then I'm going to come down to the very bottom of my screen
| | 02:29 | where it says VP Scale, let me click the dropdown. Once
again AutoCAD shows me a list of my standard scales.
| | 02:36 | Now if you are drawing a setup for architectural
units, you will be using the architectural scales.
| | 02:41 | Since this drawing is setup for decimal
inches, I will be using the scales above.
| | 02:46 | Let's select a one-to-one scale and see if our
drawing will fit on this paper. Yes, it will.
| | 02:54 | Alright now that I have set the scale of
my viewport, I'm going to protect myself,
| | 02:58 | I'm going to come down and click my Lock button.
| | 03:00 | This will prevent the viewport scale from changing.
| | 03:03 | If I do wish to change this viewport in the future,
all I have to do is highlight it, come down here
| | 03:08 | and unlock it and then I can change the scale.
| | 03:10 | Let me hit my Escape key to clear the
grips and let's address one more thing.
| | 03:15 | You may be wondering why we should
put a viewport on a layer of its own.
| | 03:18 | That's because when I plot this drawing, I
don't want to plot the edge of my viewport.
| | 03:22 | If the viewport is on its own layer, I can turn
that layer off and this little rectangle won't show.
| | 03:27 | Let's try that.
| | 03:28 | I'm going to go to my Layer Properties Manager. Let's set a
different layer current, I'm going to set layer 0 current
| | 03:34 | and I'm going to come down and turn off my viewport layer.
| | 03:38 | Let me click OK and notice that viewport no longer shows up.
| | 03:42 | Let's address one more thing.
| | 03:44 | All of my geometry is still being
represented in color. Let's fix that.
| | 03:48 | I'm going to come down and right-click on my Layout
tab and I'm going to select Page Setup Manager.
| | 03:54 | From here, I'm going to come over and click Modify and in
my Page Setup dialog, I'm going to come up and set my pens.
| | 04:02 | Remember that as a beginner, we are
going to select the monochrome pens.
| | 04:06 | Here's one of the benefits of using a layout.
| | 04:08 | Notice I have got a button that says Display
plot styles. Let me check this button.
| | 04:12 | We will click OK and we will click Close.
| | 04:17 | Notice when I zoom in on my geometry, my
geometry on my screen looks like my pen table.
| | 04:23 | In fact we can take it up one more notch.
| | 04:25 | If I come down and click my LWT mode, AutoCAD will even
show me the line weights. LWT stands for Line Weights.
| | 04:34 | So now I'm truly working in a plot preview.
| | 04:37 | Now since we just turned on our LWT mode,
let me show you something that's interesting.
| | 04:41 | I'm going to go to Model space.
| | 04:43 | When your LWT is turned on, unfortunately we
can also see the pen weights in Model space.
| | 04:49 | This can be annoying because no matter what your zoom
factor is, the line weight always stays the same.
| | 04:54 | If that becomes a problem, you can
always come down and turn this off.
| | 05:00 | It will always plot correct no matter which way it's set.
| | 05:03 | So doesn't look so good in Model space,
looks great on your Layout tab.
| | 05:07 | Let's return to the Layout tab.
| | 05:08 | I want to do one more thing before we
send our plot, let's rename this layout.
| | 05:16 | That's kind of a generic name, Layout 1.
| | 05:18 | If I want to rename the layout, I'm going to
double-click on it and I'm going to call this 11x17
| | 05:24 | and I will hit Enter and let's send this plot.
| | 05:27 | One of the benefits of setting up your layout ahead
of time is that your drawings are very easy to print.
| | 05:32 | If I want to send this to my printer, all I have to do
is right-click on the tab, select Plot and click OK.
| | 05:39 | I don't have to touch any of those settings
because I have already filled out the dialog box.
| | 05:44 | Now once again since I'm printing to a PDF, I
am saving a file. If you are printing directly
| | 05:49 | to your printer, your paper is probably already coming out.
| | 05:51 | Let me click Save to finish my print.
| | 05:56 | And here is an image of my finished plot.
| | 05:59 | Layouts are the most powerful way of creating plots in AutoCAD.
| | 06:02 | Their benefits even go beyond the viewports, plot
preview and naming features we have seen here.
| | 06:07 | If we can incorporate layouts into our workflow,
| | 06:09 | we have taken the first step towards using even more powerful
features like sheet sets, page setups and publishing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Layouts pt. 4: Reusing layouts| 00:00 | The best part about layouts is that you can re-use them.
| | 00:03 | This means you only have to setup your 11/17
inch layout one time and then you can use it
| | 00:07 | for any other drawing you wish to print to 11/17 paper.
| | 00:11 | Let's try that.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to come up and click my Open button and we are going
| | 00:15 | to go inside the Chapter 15 folder located
inside our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:20 | And I'm going to come down and open
up drawing number 6, the Stereo Viewer.
| | 00:24 | So I will highlight that and we will
click Open to bring him up on screen.
| | 00:28 | Now I would like to print this drawing
within my company 11/17 inch title block.
| | 00:33 | Now I don't have to go through the
steps of setting up the title block
| | 00:36 | because I already have an 11/17 inch
layout that I used in a different drawing.
| | 00:40 | What I would like to do is extract the 11/17 layout
from that previous drawing and use it in this one.
| | 00:46 | Let's try that. I can extract the layout using the Design
Center so I'm going to come up and click my Design Center icon,
| | 00:53 | brings up my Design Center on screen. He
happens to remain the last place that we were.
| | 00:58 | Remember the left panel is just like Windows Explorer so all I
have to do is navigate to the location of that other drawing.
| | 01:04 | Let me collapse Chapter 14 and I'm going to come
down and open up Chapter 15 and I saved that drawing
| | 01:13 | as number 6, 80s Video Game Controller Finished.
| | 01:17 | Let me click the plus to open up this drawing.
| | 01:20 | Remember that the Design Center surpasses Windows Explorer
because it lets us navigate into an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 01:26 | In my list of available things that I
can steal from this file is our layouts.
| | 01:31 | Let me click on the Layouts heading and over on the right side
of my screen I can see the layouts that exist in that file.
| | 01:38 | If I want to bring a layout into the
current drawing, all I have to do is click
| | 01:42 | and hold on it and drag it into the file and release.
| | 01:45 | Now when I release watch the bottom of my screen.
| | 01:49 | Notice I now have an 11/17 layout.
| | 01:51 | Once again we are done with the Design Center.
| | 01:53 | Let's click the x and cut him loose.
| | 01:56 | Alright I'm going to click on my 11/17 tab.
| | 01:58 | Notice that he is all set up and ready to go. In
fact I believe that I had already got a viewport.
| | 02:04 | Let's check the Layer Control.
| | 02:05 | Let me click the dropdown.
| | 02:07 | Yes, in fact I do have a viewport it happens to be off.
| | 02:11 | Let me turn it on.
| | 02:12 | Now remember that a viewport is like a window to model space.
| | 02:16 | You may be wondering why don't I see my part.
| | 02:19 | Well, the window in this layout is looking
at the area where the other part was.
| | 02:23 | There is no guarantee that my current drawing is in
the same coordinate location as the previous one.
| | 02:28 | That's alright, let's find it.
| | 02:30 | Remember if I double click if I double click in a viewport, I can
jump in and at this point I'm just going to do is Zoom Extents.
| | 02:37 | I'm going to double-click my wheel.
| | 02:39 | There is my part.
| | 02:40 | Alright let's set this viewport to a measurable scale.
| | 02:43 | I'm going to move my cursor outside onto the sheet of
a paper and double-click. I'm now working on my layout.
| | 02:50 | Let me click the edge of the viewport to highlight
it and I'm going to come down and set my scale.
| | 02:54 | Let me click the dropdown and I
am going to try a scale of 1 to 1.
| | 02:59 | I will come up and click. Boy, it didn't change very
much. In fact it's pretty tight within my viewport.
| | 03:05 | Notice that my viewport has grips.
| | 03:08 | Don't forget about these.
| | 03:09 | I can tweak my viewport just by dragging these grips.
| | 03:13 | I can open it and close it and make it as big or small as I want.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to drag my viewport edge up to this corner
let's drag the other viewport edge down to this corner.
| | 03:22 | There we go.
| | 03:24 | Now I'm sure that my part fits within my
viewport and I can see all of my dimensions.
| | 03:29 | Let me come down and lock the viewport so
I don't accidentally mess up the scale.
| | 03:33 | Let me hit Escape to clear the grips and we are now ready to
plot the drawing all I have to do is right-click, Plot, OK.
| | 03:51 | Once again here is a finished copy of my print.
| | 03:54 | Imagine if you created a master drawing on your network that
contained all of your typical title blocks saved as layouts.
| | 04:00 | Anytime you needed to add a title block to a drawing you
could simply drag and drop a layout from your master file.
| | 04:06 | Layouts give you the power of automating your
title block insertions and reduce the effort
| | 04:11 | of plotting to just three clicks of your mouse.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Scale factors| 00:00 | Chances are the majority of the drawings you will be printing
| | 00:02 | in a production environment will not
be plotted on a one to one scale.
| | 00:06 | Most often the geometry of plot will be
represented much smaller than it is from real life.
| | 00:10 | Because of this we need to have an
understanding of our scale factor
| | 00:14 | such that we can properly size our
dimensions, our text and our linetypes.
| | 00:18 | Let's take a look at a drawing.
| | 00:19 | I'm going to come up and click Open and I'm going to look
inside my Chapter 15 folder in the Exercise Files directory
| | 00:27 | and I'm going to come down to Drawing
number 7, Calculating Scale Factor.
| | 00:31 | We will highlight this guy and we will click Open.
| | 00:35 | Now on my screen is an architectural example.
| | 00:37 | This is a floor plan of a single family home.
| | 00:40 | I'm going to zoom in on the master bathroom area.
| | 00:42 | We will pan this guy in the middle of our screen.
| | 00:45 | Notice that I have added a callout for a specific
fixture I would like to use in this bathroom.
| | 00:49 | Now that callout reads great on screen.
| | 00:52 | Let's take a look at the layout.
| | 00:53 | I'm going to come down and click on my layout.
| | 00:56 | I happen to have one set up for an 8.5 x 11 sheet with a Title
Block and I have a viewport cut and it's scaled such that
| | 01:03 | what I see within the viewport will
measure 1/16th of an inch equals a foot.
| | 01:07 | Let's zoom in on that same master bath area.
| | 01:12 | We can't read the text because unfortunately when I put
in my text I wasn't considering the scale of my plot.
| | 01:18 | This is why our scale factor is important.
| | 01:21 | If we understand our scale factor we can properly
size our text, our dimensions and our linetypes.
| | 01:26 | Let's take a second and talk about
how to calculate our scale factor.
| | 01:32 | The scale factor is the relationship between
out printed units and our model space units.
| | 01:37 | For instance, if I was to give you a scale of one to one,
| | 01:41 | what that essentially means is one printed
unit is equal to one model space unit.
| | 01:46 | So my scale factor would be one.
| | 01:48 | What if I gave you a scale of 1 to 10?
| | 01:50 | What this means is one printed unit is equivalent to 10 model
space units, thus I would have a scale factor of 10, 1:10.
| | 01:58 | Let's look at a metric example.
| | 02:00 | Now on a metric drawing quite frequently your printed
units are millimeters, that's how your paper's measured.
| | 02:05 | Let's assume the model space units were also millimeters.
| | 02:08 | If we plotted our drawing at 1 to
50, our scale factor would be 50.
| | 02:13 | Let's take a look at Civil Engineering
example. Same thing, 1 to 50.
| | 02:16 | Now on a civil engineering drawing our printed units
are inches, typically our paper is measured in inches,
| | 02:22 | and our model space units are feet, every unit equals one foot.
| | 02:26 | So if I plotted something at 1 to 50, I'm
essentially saying that 1 inch equals 50 feet.
| | 02:32 | So my scale factor would be 50.
| | 02:35 | Now you are probably thinking, do we need
slides for this? Doesn't seem very complicated.
| | 02:39 | The reason I showed you these was to prepare
you for this, the architectural example.
| | 02:44 | See architects don't use the same
type of scales as the rest of us.
| | 02:48 | They use fractional scales.
| | 02:50 | This is an example of a typical architectural
scale, one quarter of an inch equals a foot.
| | 02:55 | Now in architectural drawing, our printed units are
usually inches and our model space units are also inches.
| | 03:02 | So at this scale we are essentially saying that one quarter
of a printed unit is equivalent to 12 model space units.
| | 03:10 | Try not to think of it that way.
| | 03:11 | Instead let's learn how we can calculate our scale
factor when we are given an architectural scale.
| | 03:17 | It's really very easy.
| | 03:18 | All we have to do is flip the fraction and multiply by
12. So 1/4 becomes 4/1, which is 4. 4 times 12 is 48.
| | 03:27 | So our scale factor is equal to 48.
| | 03:30 | Let's try another one.
| | 03:31 | Another standard architectural scale, 1/8th of
an inch equals a foot. What's my scale factor?
| | 03:36 | If I flip my fraction it becomes 8/1 which is 8, 8
times 12 equals 96. So I have a scale factor of 96.
| | 03:45 | Your scale factor is simply the relationship between
your printed units and your model space units.
| | 03:50 | Knowing how to calculate your scale factor is the first
step towards creating predictably sized text dimensions
| | 03:56 | and linetypes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sizing modelspace text| 00:01 | Let me start by saying we should never place text
in a drawing until we know our intended plot scale.
| | 00:06 | If we don't know the scale at which our drawing
will be plotted, we have no way of knowing
| | 00:10 | if the text we create will even be readable
when our drawing is printed on paper.
| | 00:14 | In this session, we are going to learn how we can
predictably size the text we place in Model space.
| | 00:19 | Now, I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:20 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon, and
we are going to look inside the Chapter 15 folder,
| | 00:25 | located inside the Exercise Files
directory, and we are going to come down
| | 00:29 | and open up drawing number 8,
Properly Sizing Model Space Text.
| | 00:33 | So I will highlight that drawing and click Open.
| | 00:36 | Now, on my screen, I have got an architectural example.
| | 00:40 | This happens to be a drawing of a basketball court.
| | 00:43 | If I zoom in at the center court area,
we can also see that I have a basketball.
| | 00:47 | I'm going to do a Zoom Extents, so I'm going to double-click
my wheel to back up so we can view the whole drawing.
| | 00:53 | And I'm going to jump out onto my 8.5x11 layout.
| | 00:57 | Now, I have created a layout for 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
| | 01:03 | I have already inserted my company title block,
and at this point, I want to cut a viewport.
| | 01:08 | Now, good form says we should create
the viewport on a layer of its own.
| | 01:12 | As you can see, I have already created a
layer and that layer happens to be current.
| | 01:16 | So, I'm going to cut my viewport coming up to my
Viewport toolbar and clicking on the Single Viewport icon.
| | 01:22 | At this point, I'm just going to click two points
on my screen to define my Viewport rectangle.
| | 01:28 | Now, be careful of the running Object Snap. I don't intend
on going full screen with this, so I'm going to click right
| | 01:34 | about here such that I don't grab the corner of my title block.
| | 01:37 | And I'm going to come over and click right
about here. That should be good enough.
| | 01:42 | Now, by default, when we cut a viewport,
AutoCAD gives us a Zoom Extents view.
| | 01:47 | Let's set this viewport to a Measurable Scale.
| | 01:49 | I will click the viewport edge.
| | 01:52 | We will come down to our VP scale
setting and click the dropdown.
| | 01:56 | Now, since this is an architectural example,
I'm going to use an architectural scale.
| | 02:00 | I want to set the scale of this viewport
to 1/16th of an inch equals a foot.
| | 02:05 | So I'm going to come up and select this scale.
| | 02:08 | That guy will now plot such that 1/16th of an inch equals a foot.
| | 02:13 | Now, let's go to Model space.
| | 02:15 | Let's say I would like to label my basketball court.
| | 02:19 | I'm going to zoom in in this area
and I would like to place some text.
| | 02:23 | Now, it's important to remember that the text that I'm
placing needs to be readable when this drawing is plotted.
| | 02:29 | Now, when my drawing is plotted, I would like my
text to measure 1/8th of an inch tall on the sheet.
| | 02:34 | That is a typical architectural text size.
| | 02:37 | So to create 1/8th inch size text, all I have to do is multiply
1/8th of an inch times the scale factor of my viewport.
| | 02:46 | Since my viewport is set to 1/16th
of an inch, my scale factor is 192.
| | 02:53 | Now, if you don't know how I came up with 192, please watch
the video where I show you how to calculate your scale factor.
| | 03:00 | Since I'm creating text, let's practice good form. I'm going to
click the dropdown and I'm going to set my text layer current.
| | 03:10 | And let's create our text.
| | 03:12 | Draw toolbar, and I'm going to come down to text
and the flyout, I'm going to select Single Line Text.
| | 03:20 | AutoCAD asks me to start point.
| | 03:22 | Let me pick a point on screen.
| | 03:24 | Once again, I'm being cautious of my running Object Snap.
| | 03:29 | Now, AutoCAD is asking me to specify a text type.
| | 03:32 | Remember, my text type is going to be
1/8th of an inch multiplied by 192.
| | 03:37 | Let's use our Quick Calculator.
| | 03:39 | I'm inside the Text command. I'm just going to come up and
click my Quick Calculator, and I'm going to type in 1/8th inch,
| | 03:49 | I'm using my keyboard to put in the quotes, times 192.
| | 03:54 | I will hit Enter and my answer happens to be 2 feet. That means
if I want my text to measure an 8th of an inch on the paper,
| | 04:01 | I will need to place my text in Model
space with a height of 2 feet.
| | 04:05 | Let me click Apply.
| | 04:07 | That number gets dropped to the command line.
| | 04:09 | I will hit Enter to accept it.
| | 04:13 | Now, I'm going to hit Enter to accept a rotation of zero.
| | 04:26 | I'm going to type my text and when I
am done, I'm going to hit Enter twice.
| | 04:29 | Enter. Enter. Let's go back up to our Layout tab.
| | 04:35 | When I click on the Layout tab, notice that
my text is very easy to read and if plotted,
| | 04:40 | this text would measure 1/8th of an inch tall.
| | 04:45 | Let's try this.
| | 04:46 | I want to cut one more viewport.
| | 04:48 | I'm going to come up and click my Viewport button.
| | 04:50 | I'm going to click a point right here.
| | 04:55 | We will come down and click another point right here and
I'm going to set this viewport to a different scale.
| | 05:01 | Let me click the edge.
| | 05:03 | In this viewport, I want to set my scale to 3/4 of an inch
equals a foot because I want to zoom in on the basketball.
| | 05:09 | So I'm going to come down to the VP scale,
click the dropdown and we'll set the scale
| | 05:14 | of this viewport to 3/4 of an inch equals a foot.
| | 05:18 | Notice, I can have multiple viewports at different scales.
| | 05:22 | Now remember, our viewport should be on a layer of its own.
| | 05:24 | I wasn't practicing good form there,
I put him on the wrong layer.
| | 05:27 | That's alright, let's fix them using the Layer Control.
| | 05:30 | I will click the dropdown and I will
select a viewport and he is good.
| | 05:34 | Let me hit Escape.
| | 05:36 | Let's create some text in Model space
such that it's legible in this viewport.
| | 05:40 | I'm going to go back to Model space.
| | 05:43 | Let's zoom in on the basketball.
| | 05:45 | Now, once again, I want my text to measure
1/8th of an inch high when it's printed.
| | 05:49 | So all I have to do is take 1/8th
of an inch times my scale factor.
| | 05:54 | If my viewport scale is 3/4 of an inch equals a foot, my scale
factor is 16. So I need to take 1/8th of an inch times 16.
| | 06:03 | Let's try that.
| | 06:04 | I'm going to go up to the Draw pulldown.
| | 06:05 | We'll come down to text and we will select Single Line Text.
| | 06:11 | Specify start point.
| | 06:12 | I'm going to pick a point right here. Specify height.
| | 06:16 | Well, I can't figure that out of my head, let's go
to the Quick Calculator and I'm just going to type
| | 06:21 | in 1/8th inch times my scale factor, which happens to be 16.
| | 06:30 | I need to put this text in with a height of 2 inches.
| | 06:36 | Let me click Apply.
| | 06:38 | It just dropped that text to the command line and I will
hit Enter, then I will hit Enter to accept the rotation.
| | 06:47 | Once I finish my text, I will hit Enter twice.
| | 06:50 | Let's jump back up to the Layout tab.
| | 06:53 | Notice, I have geometry being represented at two different
scales, yet I have text created such that it's legible
| | 06:59 | in both viewports and will plot at 1/8th of an inch tall.
| | 07:03 | Once we know our intended plot scale, we can use our scale
factor to accurately calculate the height of our Model space text
| | 07:09 | such that it will be consistently and
predictably sized across all of our viewports.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sizing modelspace dimensions| 00:01 | Our rule for dimensions is the same as our rule for text.
| | 00:04 | We should never place dimensions in a drawing
until we know our intended plot scale.
| | 00:08 | Let's look at how we can create predictably
sized dimensions in our drawing.
| | 00:11 | I'm going to click Open and we are going to look inside of our
Chapter 15 folder located inside our Exercise Files directory
| | 00:18 | and I'm going to come down and select drawing
number 9 Properly Sizing Model space Dimensions.
| | 00:23 | I will highlight that drawing and will
click Open to bring it up on screen.
| | 00:27 | Now this drawing is a civil engineering example.
| | 00:29 | This happens to be a site plan for a proposed parking lot.
| | 00:33 | Since this is a civil drawing, our Model space units are
set to feet, that means that every 1 unit equals 1 foot.
| | 00:40 | Now our goal is to dimension our parking lot such that we
can plot the drawing and fax it to our client for review.
| | 00:47 | Part of our goal is to predictably
size our dimensions in Model space.
| | 00:51 | Now I have already created a layout, let
me come over and click my Layout tab.
| | 00:55 | This guy is set to 8.5x11 and I already
have the company Title Block.
| | 00:59 | At this point, I want to cut a viewport and I'm practicing
good form, I have a layer created and it's current.
| | 01:04 | Let's cut our viewport, I'm going to come up to my
viewport toolbar and click the Single Viewport icon.
| | 01:10 | When I do, AutoCAD is asking me for my first corner.
| | 01:13 | Now this drawing is going to be typed on the sheet so I'm
going to try and use as much of the Title Block as possible,
| | 01:18 | so I'm going to move over and I'm going to use my Object Snap
and the first corner of my viewport is going to be right here.
| | 01:24 | I'm going to come down and the second
corner of my viewport will be right there.
| | 01:30 | Remember that when we created viewport, AutoCAD gives us
a Zoom Extents view, let's set this viewport to a scale.
| | 01:37 | I'm going to move over and click the edge and
then we can come down and adjust our VP scale.
| | 01:42 | Let's see, if it will fit on the paper.
| | 01:45 | I'm going to come up and select 1:20 or 1 inch equals
20 feet, when I click that that obviously won't fit.
| | 01:52 | Let's try another scale.
| | 01:54 | I will click the dropdown, let's try 1 inch equals 30 that
looks like it will fit, all I have to do is tweak my view.
| | 02:02 | Let me double click to get inside the viewport and then I'm
going to hold my wheel down to pan and will shift the view
| | 02:09 | down just a little bit, that should work fine.
| | 02:12 | Alright let me move outside the viewport and we will double
click and let's go to Model space and create a dimension.
| | 02:19 | Let me click Model and I'm going to zoom in on my parking lot.
| | 02:23 | Now since, we are creating dimensions, let's make
our dimensions layer current, I'm going to come up
| | 02:27 | and click the dropdown and we will select the dimensions layer.
| | 02:31 | Now let's place our first dimension.
| | 02:33 | I'm going to create an aligned dimension because I
want the true length between these parking stripes.
| | 02:39 | I'm going to come over and click the
Align icon, let me click my first endpoint.
| | 02:45 | Notice I have the running Object Snap, let me click the
second endpoint and notice that that dimension is microscopic.
| | 02:52 | At least one time in your AutoCAD career,
you are going to create a dimension
| | 02:55 | and wonder what the devils going on there, why is that so small.
| | 02:58 | Remember that your dimensions are conforming to a
dimension style and the size settings that we set
| | 03:04 | in our dimension style represent the size
we want our dimensions to appear on paper.
| | 03:08 | So the problem is my dimension is coming in at paper size within
the realm of a humungous parking lot that's why it's so small.
| | 03:17 | That's alright we can leave the dimension the
way it is, let's just adjust our dimension style.
| | 03:21 | I'm going to come up and click my Dimension Style icon.
| | 03:24 | In the Dimension Style Manager, I'm going to come over
and click Modify and I'm going to go to my Fit tab.
| | 03:30 | Let me click Fit and I'm going to come down to the Use overall
scale of, right now it's set to 1, I'm going to set this to 30
| | 03:40 | because that's the scale factor of my viewport.
| | 03:44 | Let me set that to 30 and I will come down and click OK.
| | 03:50 | Lastly I'm going to come over and click Close
and when I do my existing dimension is now updated
| | 03:55 | and will be readable at the appropriate size on my layout.
| | 03:59 | Let's say at one more dimension, I'm
going to back up, we will pan over.
| | 04:03 | Let's dimension the length of the stall, I'm going to come
up once again and use an Align Dimension, I will click once.
| | 04:10 | We will grab the endpoint here to the endpoint here
and will pulldown and click once to set the dimension.
| | 04:19 | Let's return to our 8.5x11 layout.
| | 04:21 | Notice our dimensions are sized appropriately for the
plot, all we would have to do is finish our dimensions
| | 04:27 | and we could plot this and fax it our client.
| | 04:30 | Remember that the settings in our dimension style dialog reflect
the size we would like our dimensions to appear on paper.
| | 04:37 | Knowing this, placing correctly sized
dimensions in our drawing is as simple
| | 04:42 | as setting our dimensions scale to
match the scale factor of our viewport.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sizing linetypes| 00:01 | Believe it or not, the size of the dashes in our
linetypes is also affected by our scale factor.
| | 00:06 | So if we want our hidden lines, centerlines and phantom
lines to look the same in all of our printed drawings,
| | 00:12 | we need to know how to properly set our LTSCALE.
| | 00:15 | Let's talk about LTSCALE.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to come up and click my Open button and
we are going to look inside the Chapter 15 folder,
| | 00:24 | located inside the Exercise Files directory, and I'm going to come
down and select drawing number 10, Properly Setting Your LTSCALE.
| | 00:31 | I will highlight that drawing and click Open.
| | 00:35 | Now, this is a drawing of a parking lot.
| | 00:36 | I have created this layout such that I can plot this
drawing and fax it to my client for their review.
| | 00:42 | I'm using this drawing to talk about LTSCALE
because it contains a dashed style linetype.
| | 00:48 | Notice how my linetype looks on the layout.
It looks OK, looks like a centerline.
| | 00:53 | Watch this, I'm going to go to Model space.
| | 00:55 | Let's click on the Model tab.
| | 00:57 | Zoom in on the same linetype here.
| | 00:59 | Notice it appears to be microscopic.
| | 01:01 | You may wonder, why is it our linetypes look great on the
Layout tab, but look completely different in Model space?
| | 01:07 | In reality, the linetype is the same size in both places.
| | 01:11 | You see what the difference is, on the Layout tab our geometry
is represented much smaller so the linetype appears a lot bigger.
| | 01:19 | So knowing that, OK fine, when we plot our
Layout tabs, the linetype is going to look great.
| | 01:25 | What if I want to create a quick plot from Model space?
| | 01:28 | If I go to the Model space, if I want to create a quick plot
of this geometry, how can I get my linetypes to look right?
| | 01:34 | We can do that by adjusting our LTSCALE.
| | 01:37 | Now, LTSCALE is a system variable in AutoCAD
that controls the scale of our linetypes.
| | 01:42 | Now, you would think since it's a system variable, we could
adjust it through our Options dialog box. Unfortunately, we can't.
| | 01:49 | The only way to adjust your LTSCALE is at
the command line, so we have to type it.
| | 01:54 | Let's come down to the command line.
| | 01:56 | And I'll click to set my cursor and I'm going to type LTSCALE.
| | 02:00 | When I hit Enter, notice that it defaults to 1.
| | 02:03 | If I'm going to print a quick plot for Model space, I need to
set my LTSCALE so that it matches the scale factor of my plot.
| | 02:12 | If I want to plot this at 1 inch equals 30, my scale
factor would be 30, so we will set our LTSCALE to 30.
| | 02:20 | Let me type in three, zero and hit Enter;
and notice, the LTSCALE looks fine.
| | 02:25 | Once again, let me return to my Layout tab;
and once again, the linetype looks screwed up.
| | 02:31 | Here's the rule of thumb.
| | 02:32 | When you are plotting for Model space, your
LTSCALE should equal the scale factor of your plot.
| | 02:38 | When you are plotting from a layout,
your LTSCALE should be set to 1.
| | 02:42 | Let me set that back.
| | 02:44 | Now, since we have to type this, there is a shortcut.
We don't have to type the full system variable,
| | 02:49 | we can just type LTS, that's a shortcut for LTSCALE.
| | 02:53 | I will type in LTS and hit Enter.
| | 02:55 | And we will set this guy back to 1 and hit Enter.
| | 02:59 | Knowing how to properly set your LTSCALE will guarantee that
your linetypes are predictably sized no matter how you plot,
| | 03:06 | whether you are making a quick plot
for Model space or using a layout.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
16. Sharing DataDrawing compatibility| 00:01 | Occasionally, we will be asked to send
our AutoCAD drawing to someone else.
| | 00:04 | When this happens, it's important to remember that everyone
doesn't necessarily use the most current version of AutoCAD.
| | 00:09 | Some firms in fact don't use AutoCAD at all.
| | 00:12 | They may use a completely different CAD program.
| | 00:15 | Let's look at how we can save our drawings for clients
who may not be using the same software as we are.
| | 00:19 | I'm going to open a drawing.
| | 00:21 | We'll come up and click our Open icon.
| | 00:22 | We are going to look inside the Chapter 16 folder,
located inside our Exercise Files directory,
| | 00:29 | and I'm going to open up the number 1 drawing, the Topo Survey.
| | 00:33 | We'll highlight this drawing and we'll click Open.
| | 00:35 | Now, this is the drawing of a topographic survey and
I need to send this drawing to a landscape architect.
| | 00:42 | Now, my landscape architect is currently using AutoCAD
2000, so I'm going to have to save this drawing
| | 00:47 | as an older release such that he can open the file.
| | 00:50 | If I want to save the drawing as an older
release, I'm going to come up and click File.
| | 00:54 | I'm going to come down and select Save As,
and in the Save Drawing As dialog,
| | 00:59 | I'm going to come all the way to the bottom under Files of type.
| | 01:02 | Right now, this is set to AutoCAD 2000.
| | 01:05 | Now, that may seem odd since we are using AutoCAD 2008.
| | 01:08 | You may be wondering why we are saving as a 2000.
| | 01:11 | Well, AutoCAD historically has been
changing the file format every three years.
| | 01:16 | In 2007, the file format changed.
| | 01:19 | In 2008, it stayed the same.
| | 01:22 | So essentially, the most current AutoCAD
DWG file happens to be a 2007 format.
| | 01:27 | So we are saving using the most current version.
| | 01:30 | Let me click the dropdown.
| | 01:31 | Notice, we have several choices, one
of which happens to be AutoCAD 2000.
| | 01:36 | Let me select this and before I click
Save, I'm going to add a little extension
| | 01:41 | to this filename so that I don't overwrite my original.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to add dash 2000 to the filename and I'll click Save.
| | 01:51 | Now, one thing we need to understand when we save as
an older release is that certain features didn't exist
| | 01:57 | in the older version, that means when the
landscape architect opens up this drawing,
| | 02:00 | it may look a little bit different than we see on my screen.
| | 02:04 | Now, let's see we had to share this drawing
with someone who didn't even have AutoCAD.
| | 02:07 | Once again, I'm going to go to my File
pulldown and I'm going to select Save As.
| | 02:12 | And in the Files of type area, I'll click the dropdown.
| | 02:17 | Notice, we have several DXF options.
| | 02:21 | The DXF extension stands for Drawing Interchange Format.
| | 02:24 | Most CAD packages can open a DXF file.
| | 02:28 | We do have several variations.
| | 02:30 | We have the newer DXF and we have the old DXF.
| | 02:33 | The absolute last resort would be to
save this as the oldest DXF possible
| | 02:38 | in case you are dealing with someone
who has a very old CAD package.
| | 02:41 | But those options are there in the event we need them.
| | 02:43 | I'm going to click in the dialog to close the menu and I'm
going to come up and click the X to close the Save dialog box.
| | 02:50 | No matter what CAD package our client may be using, whether
it would be an older version of AutoCAD or a program
| | 02:55 | from another software company, we can still provide our client
| | 02:58 | with a drawing they can use by simply
saving as an alternate format.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| E-transmitting| 00:01 | Email is the number 1 way of exchanging CAD files with others.
| | 00:04 | The best way to package our drawings for
email is by using the eTransmit command.
| | 00:08 | eTransmit can take everything that is contained
or attached to our drawing and place it
| | 00:13 | in a single zip file ready to be sent to our client.
| | 00:16 | Let's take a look at eTransmit.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to come up and open a
drawing, I'm going to click my Open icon.
| | 00:20 | We are going to come down to our Chapter 16 folder
located inside our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:26 | Let me select the number 2 drawing,
Topo Survey, and I will click Open.
| | 00:31 | Now I need to send this drawing to a surveyor for their review.
| | 00:34 | Instead of sending a DWG, I'm going to eTransmit this file.
| | 00:38 | eTransmit will allow me to package this drawing and anything
that is attached to this drawing into a single small zip file.
| | 00:46 | To launch the eTransmit command, I'm going to come up
to my File pulldown and I'm going to select eTransmit.
| | 00:52 | This brings up my Create Transmittal dialog box.
| | 00:55 | On the left side I can see my current
drawing- this happens to be 02 Topo survey.
| | 01:00 | I can also see anything that happens
to be attached to this drawing.
| | 01:04 | Now there is not much included with this file, but in AutoCAD
we could have images. We can also have other drawings attached
| | 01:10 | to this drawing, everything would be included in this list.
| | 01:13 | Now if I would like to add an additional file to this
transmittal, I can come down and click the Add File button.
| | 01:19 | If I click this, I can navigate my hard
drive and I can select any other file
| | 01:23 | or document that I would like to add to this submittal.
| | 01:26 | Maybe I have an Excel document I would like to
send, maybe I have a Word document or a PowerPoint.
| | 01:31 | Any one of those files I can select
and include in this transmittal.
| | 01:35 | Just for fun, we will grab another drawing.
We will include this drawing in our transmittal.
| | 01:40 | Let me highlight that drawing and
I will come over and click Open.
| | 01:43 | He is now a user added file.
| | 01:46 | If I come down little lower I can
add notes to my transmittal package.
| | 01:50 | Let's type a note.
| | 02:08 | When I'm all done selecting my files and adding my notes, I
can come over and click my View Report button to see a copy
| | 02:15 | of the text file that's going to be included in the transmittal.
| | 02:18 | When my client receives their zip file, they can review
this TXT file and see what was included in the transmittal.
| | 02:25 | If I pan down, I can see all the information
I need to know about this particular package.
| | 02:30 | Let me click Close.
| | 02:33 | At this point I'm going to come over and
click OK, I want to create my transmittal.
| | 02:37 | When I do, AutoCAD is going to bring up a dialog
and allow me to save this zip file on my network.
| | 02:42 | I'm going to accept the name that AutoCAD
has given this file and I will click Save.
| | 02:49 | If I look at my command line, I can see that my
transmittal zip file was successfully created.
| | 02:54 | This file is now ready to be emailed to my surveyor.
| | 02:57 | By eTransmitting our drawings, we can be assured that our client
is getting everything related to our AutoCAD file, from pen tables
| | 03:03 | to images to references and everything is being
set using the smallest possible file size.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving to the Design Web format| 00:01 | Sometimes a client may want to review our CAD drawing
but they don't have AutoCAD so a DWG file isn't helpful.
| | 00:07 | At times like these we can ship our client a DWF file.
| | 00:12 | Using the free viewer available on Autodesk's website,
our client can open, view and print DWF files.
| | 00:19 | Let's learn how we can create a DWF.
| | 00:22 | I'm going to come up and click my Open icon.
| | 00:24 | Then we are going to take a look inside the Chapter
16 folder located inside the Exercise Files directory,
| | 00:32 | I'm going to come down and select drawing number
3, the Topo Survey drawing, and I will click Open.
| | 00:38 | Now on my screen I have a finished topographic survey
drawing. I have been working on this for a little bit.
| | 00:45 | It's finally done and the time has come for me
to send this to a developer for their review.
| | 00:50 | Now unfortunately, the developer doesn't have any type
of CAD software that he can use to open this drawing
| | 00:56 | so what I'm going to do is I'm going to send him a DWF.
| | 00:59 | DWF stands for Design Web Format.
| | 01:02 | A DWF file is very similar to an Adobe PDF file.
| | 01:06 | Generally speaking, it's Autodesk's version of the PDF.
| | 01:10 | So for my client to view it, all he has to do is
download the free viewer off the Autodesk website.
| | 01:15 | To plot this drawing to DWF, all I have to do is come
down to my Layout tab, right-click and select Plot.
| | 01:24 | Now currently my layout is set to Print to the Adobe PDF printer.
| | 01:28 | If I would like to create a DWF, all
I have to do is click the dropdown
| | 01:32 | and select the DWF6 ePlot printer and then I can click OK.
| | 01:38 | Once again since I'm printing this to a file, AutoCAD
is requesting that I select a location to save my DWF.
| | 01:44 | I'm just going to save it to my desktop.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to accept the name and click Save.
| | 01:50 | Now let's take a look at our DWF.
| | 01:55 | On my desktop, I can see my file. It
happens to be a DWF file. Let's open it up.
| | 02:00 | AutoCAD automatically installs the DWF viewer
so I can open this to take a look at it.
| | 02:05 | Let me double click the file and when I do,
AutoCAD will open up the Autodesk DWF viewer.
| | 02:12 | Now the viewer acts very similar to AutoCAD.
| | 02:16 | In fact, my same pan and zoom features work inside the viewer.
| | 02:20 | If I click and hold my wheel, I can pan.
| | 02:23 | If I zoom in and out, I can adjust my view.
| | 02:26 | From this viewer, my client can take and print the drawing.
| | 02:30 | Printing from this viewer is very
similar to printing from Adobe Acrobat.
| | 02:34 | We come up and click File.
| | 02:36 | I can click Print and I have a very similar interface.
| | 02:40 | Let me close the dialog and I'm going to close my viewer.
| | 02:43 | Now let me show you where you can go to get the free
viewer. All we have to do is visit the Autodesk website.
| | 02:51 | Now I could jump out and get into Windows Explorer.
| | 02:55 | We can actually visit a website from within AutoCAD.
| | 02:58 | To do that, I'm simply going to type Browser.
| | 03:03 | When I hit Enter, the default location happens
to be www.autodesk.com, which is perfect.
| | 03:09 | Let me hit Enter to accept that and AutoCAD will launch
my Internet Explorer or whatever browser I happen
| | 03:14 | to use and take me right to the Autodesk website.
| | 03:17 | When the website comes up, if we would like to download the free
viewer, all we have to do is come down and click on this link.
| | 03:25 | This link will provide the download file plus all instructions.
| | 03:29 | Plotting our file to the DWF format allows our
client to collaborate on the design process.
| | 03:34 | The free Design Review download gives
our client the ability to view
| | 03:38 | and print our drawings without the need for a version of AutoCAD.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
ConclusionGoodbye| 00:01 | Well, we have reached the end. Once again it's been
my privilege to work with you throughout this title.
| | 00:06 | We've covered a lot of ground together and I have enjoyed
being a part of your training. Now it's time for you to take
| | 00:11 | your AutoCAD skills and use them to convert
your designs and ideas into reality.
| | 00:16 | Good luck.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
