IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:03 | Welcome to AutoCAD 2010 new features.
| | 00:06 | My name is Jeff Bartels, and I've been
using AutoCAD professionally since the
| | 00:09 | days when it was a DOS-based application.
| | 00:12 | Whether you work in 2D or 3D, AutoCAD
2010 provides cutting-edge tools that
| | 00:17 | allow you to take your designs to a
whole new level, while making you more
| | 00:21 | productive and more creative than ever.
| | 00:23 | We're going to start out by looking at
the improvements made to the interface,
| | 00:27 | improvements that make AutoCAD easier to
navigate, easier to use, and easier to learn.
| | 00:31 | Next, we'll look at the
new parametric constraints.
| | 00:34 | Constraints allow us to create truly
smart designs by establishing dynamic
| | 00:39 | relationships between our
geometry and our dimensions.
| | 00:42 | AutoCAD 2010 has also added a
wealth of specialized tools for editing,
| | 00:47 | converting and measuring our geometry.
| | 00:49 | Probably the most anticipated feature
is AutoCAD's new ability to export and
| | 00:53 | reference PDF files.
| | 00:55 | The PDF support alone opens up
a world of new possibilities for
| | 00:59 | collaborating with others.
| | 01:00 | If you use AutoCAD for 3D modeling or
conceptual design, you're going to love
| | 01:05 | the new free-form mesh objects.
| | 01:07 | With the free-form mesh, our designs
are no longer restricted to rigid
| | 01:10 | geometric dimensions.
| | 01:12 | We can now create truly organic
shapes that can be easily modeled and
| | 01:15 | reshaped on screen.
| | 01:17 | Well, we've got a lot of things to talk
about and a world of new features to explore.
| | 01:21 | So if you are ready, follow
me, and we'll get started.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 |
If you're a premium member of the
lynda.com Online Training Library, or if
| | 00:04 |
you're watching this tutorial on a disk,
you have access to the exercise files
| | 00:08 |
used throughout this title.
| | 00:10 |
Now I've placed my exercise
files folder on my desktop.
| | 00:13 |
You can place yours wherever you like.
| | 00:15 |
I've organized the folders based on the
chapter number, and inside each folder
| | 00:19 |
are all the drawings we
use throughout that chapter.
| | 00:22 |
In many cases, if I thought it was
helpful, I left you with a finished example.
| | 00:26 |
If you're a monthly or annual subscriber
to lynda.com, but you don't have access
| | 00:30 |
to the exercise files, you can
follow along with your own drawings.
| | 00:34 |
Let's get started.
| | 00:36 |
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1. Touring the Improved InterfaceUsing Initial Setup to create a customized workspace| 00:00 |
When we first launched AutoCAD 2010, we
see a new dialog box called Initial Setup.
| | 00:06 |
AutoCAD uses this to find out a little
bit about how we'll be using the program,
| | 00:10 |
and based on how we answer these
questions, AutoCAD will customize the content
| | 00:14 |
and workspace to match
the type of work that we do.
| | 00:18 |
On this first screen, I get to select my
industry. What will I be using this software for?
| | 00:23 |
The answer that I give will determine
the default content I see on my tool
| | 00:27 |
palettes, and it will also determine
the content I see if I visit autodesk.com.
| | 00:33 |
For the purposes of this title, I am
going to select Other (General Design and
| | 00:37 |
Documentation), and I'll click Next.
| | 00:40 |
On the next page, I can
see some additional tools.
| | 00:42 |
If I hover over these, AutoCAD will
show me a preview and give me a little
| | 00:46 |
bit more information.
| | 00:47 |
If any of these interest me, I can put
a check in the box, and AutoCAD will add
| | 00:52 |
these tools to my interface.
| | 00:54 |
Essentially, what we're doing right now
is building a custom startup workspace.
| | 00:58 |
For this title, once again, I'm going to
un-check all of these, and go with the
| | 01:02 |
default, and I am going to
come down and click Next.
| | 01:06 |
Finally on this page, I get
to specify my drawing template.
| | 01:09 |
Do I want to use the AutoCAD 2010
default template, or maybe I'd like to select
| | 01:14 |
an Office template on my network.
| | 01:17 |
Then again, maybe I would like to specify my
template based on the type of work that I do.
| | 01:22 |
If I click this flyout, I can choose
between an Imperial or Metric template.
| | 01:26 |
I'm going to go with the
default, and then I'll click Finish.
| | 01:32 |
If we look right down here in the
lower right corner of the interface, we can
| | 01:35 |
see that we have a new workspace now
called Initial Setup Workspace, and this is
| | 01:40 |
based on how we answered our questions.
| | 01:42 |
Now for the purposes of this title, I
feel it's important for our screens to be
| | 01:45 |
as similar as possible, and I don't
know how you answered your questions when
| | 01:50 |
you first loaded your software, so what
I'd like you to do is click this flyout
| | 01:55 |
and select the 2D
Drafting & Annotation Workspace.
| | 01:59 |
This is a stock workspace that's
installed automatically with AutoCAD.
| | 02:03 |
You can always return to your current
workspace later, but for now, if we are
| | 02:06 |
both using this workspace, our
screen should be reasonably identical.
| | 02:11 |
One more thing. I'm sure you've
noticed that the background color of model
| | 02:14 |
space has changed from a bright yellow, in
AutoCAD 2009, to this off-white color now, in 2010.
| | 02:22 |
I'm going to be honest.
| | 02:23 |
I'm still not sold on the
brightly colored background.
| | 02:27 |
In my opinion, some of the layer
colors are too hard to read over a white
| | 02:31 |
background, and when I'm doing
production work, I need this much contrast
| | 02:35 |
between my colors and my background as possible.
| | 02:38 |
So, I'm going to be a maverick, and
I'm going to change the model space
| | 02:41 |
background color to black.
| | 02:43 |
To do that, I'm going to right-click and
select Options, and then I'm going to go
| | 02:48 |
to the Display Tab, and I'll come down
and select Colors, and fortunately, the
| | 02:53 |
element I want change is already
selected, 2D model space, Uniform background.
| | 02:58 |
I am just going to come down and click
the Color flyout and set this to black,
| | 03:01 |
I'll then click Apply and Close, and OK.
| | 03:05 |
Now that we are in the software and our
workspaces are synchronized, we're ready
| | 03:10 |
to move on and look at the
improvements that have been made to AutoCAD 2010.
| | 03:15 |
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| Accessing favorite tools with the Quick Access toolbar| 00:00 |
The Quick Access toolbar has
been enhanced in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 00:04 |
Now it's even easier to have our
favorite tools always available on our screen.
| | 00:08 |
In this lesson, we are going to learn
how to customize the Quick Access toolbar.
| | 00:12 |
Now the Quick Access toolbar is
located right up here, in the upper left-hand
| | 00:15 |
corner of our interface.
| | 00:17 |
And this toolbar contains our Go To commands.
| | 00:20 |
These are tools that we use so often,
| | 00:21 |
we always want to have them on our screen.
| | 00:24 |
Now, by default, the toolbar
contains the top six tools.
| | 00:27 |
We've got New, Open, Save, Undo.
| | 00:32 |
We also have a flyout for the Undo History.
| | 00:35 |
We did not have that in 2009.
| | 00:37 |
We have got Redo and a Redo History.
| | 00:40 |
We have the Plot command, and at
the very end, I have got this flyout.
| | 00:44 |
I am going to select this, and notice
there are additional tools in the toolbar.
| | 00:49 |
These ones at the bottom of
the menu are just turned off.
| | 00:52 |
If I want to turn one of these on, I can
select it, and we can see it's been added.
| | 00:56 |
Now I know what you are thinking.
| | 00:57 |
Maybe my favorite tool isn't in this list.
| | 01:00 |
How can I go about adding a different tool?
| | 01:03 |
I am going to hit Escape to close the
menu, and if I right-click over any tool
| | 01:08 |
in the ribbon, I can select Add to
Quick Access toolbar, and there we go, the
| | 01:12 |
Insert command has been added, and it
will always be available on my screen.
| | 01:16 |
Now I know what you are thinking, "That's nice,
but will it work with a flyout?" Watch this.
| | 01:21 |
I am going to right-click over
my layer control and select Add.
| | 01:25 |
Now my layer control is in the toolbar,
and it doesn't matter what tab I am on,
| | 01:30 |
I will always have access to my layer settings.
| | 01:33 |
If you are like me, once you've start
adding tools to this toolbar, you'll start
| | 01:36 |
wondering, "You know what?
| | 01:37 |
"How hard are they to remove?"
| | 01:39 |
Well, removing tools from this
toolbar is also much easier in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 01:44 |
If I want to remove a tool, I can
simply right-click on it and select
| | 01:48 |
Remove, and it's gone.
| | 01:50 |
I am going to remove my Insert command,
and you know what? What if I try and
| | 01:54 |
remove a tool that's in the
Quick Access toolbar menu?
| | 01:58 |
Well, it goes away.
| | 01:59 |
If I click the flyout, it's still
here. AutoCAD just turned it back off.
| | 02:04 |
I'm sure you'll agree that the
Quick Access toolbar is much more
| | 02:07 |
user-friendly in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 02:09 |
With a little customization, our
favorite tools can always be within easy reach.
| | 02:14 |
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| Introducing the Application menu| 00:00 | In the upper left corner of our
interface is a big red letter A. In AutoCAD
| | 00:04 | 2009, this was called the menu Browser.
| | 00:08 | In 2010, it's been renamed the Application menu.
| | 00:11 | If I click and open this, we can see
that it contains standard file maintenance
| | 00:15 | tools, very similar to what you
would find in the original File menu.
| | 00:19 | Notice I can create a new
drawing or open a drawing.
| | 00:23 | I can save my drawing or export it.
| | 00:25 | I can print, publish or
send my drawings via email.
| | 00:30 | I can also access my drawing utilities.
| | 00:32 | This is where I can find the Recover
and Purge commands, as well as Audits
| | 00:36 | and my Drawing Units.
| | 00:38 | By configuring the Application menu in
this way, it makes AutoCAD similar to
| | 00:42 | several other popular
Windows based applications.
| | 00:45 | Now as long as my Application menu is
open, let's open a couple of drawings.
| | 00:49 | I am going to come down
to Open and you know what?
| | 00:52 | We don't have to come over and select
drawing. If I just click on Open, that
| | 00:55 | will do the same thing.
| | 00:56 | We are going to go inside the chapter_01
folder, inside the Exercise Files
| | 01:00 | directory, and I would like
to open these two drawings.
| | 01:03 | I am going to select 03_cap_lock, and I
am going to hold my shift key and select
| | 01:07 | 03_wrench, and I will click Open.
| | 01:09 | All right, I now have two
drawings open in my interface.
| | 01:12 | Let's return to the Application menu.
| | 01:14 | Once again, I'll come up and click, and
let's take a look at the top of the menu.
| | 01:17 | Right up here, I've got a search
area that I can use to find commands.
| | 01:21 | This comes in very handy,
especially when you start using the ribbon.
| | 01:24 | It always seems there's a couple of
tools that you have difficulty finding.
| | 01:28 | To locate a tool, we can come
right here. If we enter the tool's name,
| | 01:31 | for instance, I am going to type 'plot',
AutoCAD will tell me where I can find this tool.
| | 01:36 | Notice it's in the Quick
Access toolbar, right here.
| | 01:39 | It's also located in the Application menu.
| | 01:42 | Plot is also available on the
Ribbon, and it's in the Output Tab.
| | 01:47 | So this is very handy if you
have difficulty finding your tools.
| | 01:51 | As a courtesy, each of these is a
Hyperlink. If you want to launch the command,
| | 01:54 | you can simply click.
| | 01:56 | And in this case, AutoCAD has launched the
Plot command for me. Let me close this.
| | 02:01 | I am going to return to the Application menu
and let's take a look at these two buttons.
| | 02:05 | By default, Recent Documents is pressed.
| | 02:08 | This gives me access to the last nine
drawings that I've worked on, and I do
| | 02:12 | have some flyouts at the top. I
can control how this list is ordered.
| | 02:16 | I can order them By Date, or Size or Type.
| | 02:19 | Date is nice, especially in a working
environment when you're filling out your time sheet.
| | 02:23 | What did I work on today?
| | 02:25 | What did I work on yesterday?
| | 02:26 | What did I work on last week?
| | 02:28 | I can change how these drawings show
up in the list, by using this flyout.
| | 02:31 | Right now, I am using small icons.
| | 02:33 | I can also have large icons
or large images if I like.
| | 02:37 | Notice that each of the
drawings contains a pushpin.
| | 02:39 | If I click this, the drawing
will always remain in the list.
| | 02:43 | That means if you work on the same drawing
for two weeks in a row, it's very easy to open.
| | 02:47 | You can go right to the Application menu
and select it, and when you're finished
| | 02:50 | working on that drawing, you can simply
click and pop the pin back out, and that
| | 02:54 | it will drop off the list
with your other older drawings.
| | 02:57 | This other button gives me
access to my Open Documents.
| | 03:00 | If I click this, it will show me the
drawings that are currently open in my
| | 03:03 | interface, and I can click on these
file names to jump between drawings.
| | 03:08 | The new streamlined Application menu
gives us easier access to our standard file
| | 03:12 | maintenance tools, and it makes
AutoCAD's menu structure similar to several of
| | 03:16 | the other Windows applications we use everyday.
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| Exploring the updated Ribbon| 00:00 | The ribbon interface was enhanced in
AutoCAD 2010 to give us faster and more
| | 00:04 | consistent access to our tools.
| | 00:07 | I am going to start up by selecting the
Annotate tab, and notice that several of
| | 00:11 | my panels contain a small arrow.
| | 00:14 | If I click the arrow, AutoCAD will give
me access to settings that are related
| | 00:18 | to the tools on this panel.
| | 00:20 | So in this case, the arrow
brought up my Dimension Style Manager.
| | 00:23 | If I click this arrow, it
brings up the Table Style Manager.
| | 00:26 | If I go back to the Home tab, I can
click the arrow on the Properties panel and
| | 00:31 | it brings up my Property Changer.
| | 00:33 | The ribbon is also context-sensitive
now, meaning that it will automatically
| | 00:38 | show you the tools related
to the objects you select.
| | 00:41 | For instance, let me zoom in a little bit.
| | 00:43 | I have got some text here.
| | 00:44 | I am going to double-click to edit this text.
| | 00:47 | Notice I have a new tab on my ribbon
with tools that are related to text editing.
| | 00:52 | I am going to hit Escape to deselect
this, and this screened back geometry that
| | 00:56 | we see is an External Reference.
| | 00:58 | I am going to click to select this.
| | 01:00 | Once again, my ribbon is now
populated with tools for editing
| | 01:04 | External References. I will hit Escape.
| | 01:06 | This is an image, and now I have
tools that will allow me to edit my image.
| | 01:12 | This means that you never have
to go searching for tools anymore.
| | 01:15 | Your tools, quite literally,
will come searching for you.
| | 01:18 | Let me show you my favorite ribbon update.
| | 01:19 | I am going to click, hold, and drag on
this Draw panel, and I am going to drag
| | 01:23 | it out in the model space and release.
| | 01:26 | Now, if I switch tabs,
notice the panel stays on screen.
| | 01:31 | Panels that are dragged out in the model
space are called Sticky panels, because
| | 01:35 | they'll stay visible even if you change tabs.
| | 01:38 | That means if you're someone that has
dual monitors, you can take the panels
| | 01:42 | that you use most, and you can
drag those on to your other screen.
| | 01:45 | And no matter where you're at in your ribbon,
you'll always have access to your tools.
| | 01:50 | Now, to return a panel to the ribbon,
I'll place my cursor over it, and when it
| | 01:54 | expands, I will click this
icon in the upper right corner.
| | 01:58 | And if I go back to the Home tab, I can see
my panel went right back where it came from.
| | 02:02 | As you can see, the enhancements to
the ribbon in AutoCAD 2010, not only make
| | 02:06 | your tools easier to find, they also let
you keep the tools you use most on your
| | 02:11 | screen, where they are only one click away.
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2. Introducing Parametric ConstraintsUsing parametric constraints to drive geometry| 00:00 | One of the restrictions of traditional
AutoCAD is that the geometry we created
| | 00:04 | was pretty much static.
| | 00:06 | If we wanted to make revisions, we had
to edit our linework one entity at a time.
| | 00:10 | For instance, on my screen,
I've got a mechanical example.
| | 00:12 | Let's say, I'd like to change
the radius on this end of my part.
| | 00:17 | To do that, I will select the Arc
and I currently have my Dynamic Input
| | 00:20 | turned on, which will make
this a little bit easier.
| | 00:22 | I'm going to select this grip
and I'll change the radius to 1.75.
| | 00:29 | Now, notice even though my arc radius has
changed, the rest of my parts stay the same.
| | 00:33 | Let's make another change.
| | 00:35 | Maybe I'd like to change the width of this tab.
| | 00:37 | I'm going to select the line. I'll select this
grip and I'm going to change my width to 0.5.
| | 00:45 | Once again, this line is great.
| | 00:47 | The rest of my part is going to
still have to be edited manually.
| | 00:50 | Unfortunately, there is no relationship
between any of the entities in my drawing.
| | 00:55 | I take that back.
| | 00:55 | We do have one relationship.
| | 00:57 | These dimensions are associative, so
if I launch the Move command, then let's
| | 01:03 | move this circle one unit to the right.
| | 01:06 | Notice my dimensions will update, but
unfortunately, this relationship is only one way.
| | 01:12 | Wouldn't it be nice if I could edit my
part geometry by editing my dimensions?
| | 01:16 | Well, in AutoCAD 2010, we can now
create parametric relationships between our
| | 01:21 | dimensions and our geometry, and we
do that by using the new tools on the
| | 01:26 | Parametric tab of our ribbon.
| | 01:28 | By setting up Geometric, as well as
Dimensional constraints, editing our geometry
| | 01:32 | is now easier than ever.
| | 01:34 | I'm going to pan this drawing over
and on my screen, I have the exact same
| | 01:41 | mechanical part, except this one
was created using the Geometric and
| | 01:44 | Dimensional constraints.
| | 01:46 | Now, the dimensions do look
a little bit foreign to us.
| | 01:48 | This just shows me the padlocks, and
these variables are just showing me that
| | 01:52 | these dimensions are parametric.
| | 01:54 | Now I can make these look a little bit
closer to what we are used to seeing.
| | 01:57 | I can do that by going to the
Dimensional panel and clicking this arrow, and
| | 02:01 | for right now, I'm going to click the
Dimension name flyout and set this to
| | 02:05 | Value and then I'm going to uncheck this box.
This will hide the padlocks and I'll click OK.
| | 02:11 | So this looks a little closer to
what we are used to seeing. Watch this.
| | 02:14 | If I want to change, maybe, the
overall length of my part, I'm going to
| | 02:17 | double-click this dimension and
I'm going to type in, maybe, 8.5.
| | 02:23 | That works pretty good.
| | 02:24 | Let's change the radius on this end.
| | 02:26 | Once again, I'm going to
double-click the dimension.
| | 02:28 | I want this to be 1.75.
| | 02:31 | Not only does the radius changed,
the rest of my geometry changes too.
| | 02:35 | Maybe I want to change the diameter of
this hole. Actually, I have two holes and
| | 02:39 | they are supposed to be equal.
| | 02:40 | I'll double-click the dimension
and I will enter a diameter of 1.5.
| | 02:46 | Notice both holes update.
| | 02:47 | I'm going to backup just a little bit, and
let's change the overall width of our part.
| | 02:52 | I'm going to change this to 5.25.
| | 02:56 | Notice not only does the width
change, everything stays symmetrical.
| | 03:00 | By setting up our geometry using these
Parametric constraints, making revisions
| | 03:04 | later can be done in seconds.
| | 03:06 | Now I'm going to put my
settings back to the way they were.
| | 03:09 | I'm going to go back and click my arrow,
and let's set our flyout back to Name
| | 03:13 | and Expression, and we'll
turn our padlocks back on.
| | 03:18 | In the next few lessons, we're going to
learn how to create truly smart drawings
| | 03:22 | by applying Geometric and
Dimensional constraints to our geometry.
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| Creating geometric relationships between entities| 00:00 | The first step in parametric
drawing is knowing how to create geometric
| | 00:03 | relationships between entities.
| | 00:05 | These relationships are also
called geometric constraints.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we are going to look
at the geometric constraints that are
| | 00:11 | available, and we'll learn how
to apply them to our geometry.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I've got some abstract
linework and I'm going to start out by
| | 00:18 | zooming in on these lines on the left side.
| | 00:22 | Then I'll go to the Parametric tab,
and right here, in the Geometric panel, we
| | 00:26 | can find the icons for
our geometric constraints.
| | 00:29 | I can use these icons to create
relationships between my entities.
| | 00:33 | For instance, let's say I would like
this line to always be parallel to this one.
| | 00:37 | I'm going to come up and
select the Parallel constraint.
| | 00:41 | I'll then select my first
object and my second one.
| | 00:45 | Note that the second object that you click
will update to conform to the constraint.
| | 00:50 | Now I have got some new icons on my
screen. These are called the constraint
| | 00:53 | bars, and I can use these to keep
track of the constraints in my drawing.
| | 00:58 | If I hover over this, AutoCAD will
tell me the constraint that's being used.
| | 01:01 | It will also highlight the related
constraint bar and the related entity.
| | 01:06 | Since these guys are now constrained to
be parallel, if I select either entity
| | 01:12 | and attempt to change it with grips,
notice the other one will go along for the
| | 01:15 | ride, always staying parallel.
| | 01:17 | Now I can shorten this first entity up
if I like, because I only said I wanted
| | 01:22 | these guys to be parallel. I didn't say
anything about them maintaining an equal length.
| | 01:26 | Let's deselect these, and
we'll look at another example.
| | 01:30 | Let's say I would like these
lines to always be perpendicular.
| | 01:33 | Well, I'm going to select the
Perpendicular constraint. I'll select my first
| | 01:38 | line and my second one, and if I attempt
to edit either line, the other one will
| | 01:44 | always remain perpendicular.
| | 01:46 | Now once again, I only said I
want these to be perpendicular.
| | 01:49 | I didn't necessarily say I wanted them to touch.
| | 01:52 | Let's make them touch.
| | 01:53 | I'm going to do that by
using a Coincident constraint.
| | 01:57 | This will allow me to lock
points on my entities together.
| | 02:00 | If I hover over this line, notice
AutoCAD will light up the endpoint.
| | 02:05 | If I get close to the middle,
AutoCAD will find the midpoint.
| | 02:09 | This tool will essentially find the
standard object snaps on your entities.
| | 02:12 | So I'm going to come down and click
here for the endpoint, and then I will
| | 02:16 | click right about here to grab the
midpoint, and those objects are now
| | 02:20 | constrained to that location.
| | 02:22 | So once again, if I select this
object and make a change, not only are they
| | 02:27 | perpendicular, but they're also
coincident at that midpoint and they stay
| | 02:31 | coincident even if this line
length changes. Let's do one more.
| | 02:37 | Notice I have constraints
for horizontal and vertical.
| | 02:40 | I'm going to select Horizontal and let's say I
would like this line to always be horizontal.
| | 02:45 | I'll select that.
| | 02:47 | Now, once again, if I attempt to edit my
geometry, I can change its width. I can
| | 02:53 | move it up and down, but I'm not going
to rotate this anymore because it's now
| | 02:56 | being constrained to horizontal.
| | 02:58 | I'm going to deselect.
| | 03:00 | Let's pan this over.
| | 03:01 | We'll look at another one.
| | 03:03 | Let's look at Concentric.
| | 03:04 | Maybe I would like both of these
circles to share the same center point.
| | 03:09 | I'll select the Concentric constraint.
I'll select this circle and this one.
| | 03:14 | These guys are now locked together at
the center points, meaning if I attempt to
| | 03:18 | move one of these circles, the
other one will always stay concentric.
| | 03:24 | Let's look at another one.
| | 03:24 | Maybe I would like both of
these lines to always be collinear.
| | 03:28 | So this line will exist at
the extension of this line.
| | 03:32 | I will grab the Collinear constraint.
| | 03:34 | I'll select my first entity and my second one.
| | 03:40 | Let's look at equals.
| | 03:41 | Maybe I would like both of these
circles to have the same radius.
| | 03:44 | I'll come up and select the Equal constraint.
| | 03:48 | I will select this circle and this one.
| | 03:50 | Now making a change to one will affect both.
| | 03:52 | I'm going to select Equal again
and we'll use equal on these lines.
| | 03:59 | Now equal only applies to length.
| | 04:01 | If I attempt to edit one of these lines,
notice I can change the angle, and that
| | 04:05 | really doesn't matter to AutoCAD so
long as the line lengths are the same.
| | 04:10 | We also have a constraint for tangency.
| | 04:13 | Maybe I would like this line to
always be tangent to the circle.
| | 04:15 | We'll select the Tangent constraint. I
will select my circle and the line, and
| | 04:22 | if I attempt to move my circle,
it will always maintain tangency.
| | 04:29 | Let's look at the Smooth constraint.
| | 04:31 | We'd use this if we wanted a line
segment or an arc to be tangent to a spline.
| | 04:35 | Let me select Smooth.
| | 04:37 | I'll select the endpoint of my spline
and then I'll select the endpoint of my
| | 04:43 | object, and they are now tangent.
| | 04:47 | If I adjust my spline, they will
always maintain their tangency.
| | 04:53 | Finally, we'll look at the Symmetric constraint.
| | 04:56 | This forces my entities to
maintain their symmetry to a line.
| | 05:00 | I'm going to select my first object and my
second one and then I'll select my symmetry line.
| | 05:05 | I'm going to select this line. We'll
grab the grip and we will make an edit.
| | 05:10 | Now when you first think
symmetric, you think the Mirror command.
| | 05:13 | The only thing that's symmetrical
is the angle to that symmetry line.
| | 05:17 | The length of these lines mean nothing.
| | 05:19 | And if I pulled this over far enough,
we can see that the first line will
| | 05:22 | cross my symmetry line.
| | 05:24 | Let me put this down.
| | 05:26 | There is also a Fixed constraint.
| | 05:29 | This will fix a point on an entity
to my coordinate system, kind of like
| | 05:33 | putting in a thumbtack.
| | 05:34 | I'm going to fix this endpoint by clicking.
| | 05:37 | Let me grab my geometry and edit.
| | 05:43 | Notice now my symmetry line is moving.
| | 05:44 | Let me hit Escape and I'm
going to fix this at the bottom.
| | 05:49 | Let's grab this again. There we go.
| | 05:54 | Now it's acting more like I would expect.
| | 05:58 | If you'd like to remove a constraint
from an entity, right-click over the
| | 06:02 | Constraint bar and select Delete.
| | 06:05 | If you'd like to delete multiple
constraints, you can come right up here to
| | 06:08 | the Manage panel and select Delete
Constraints, select your entities and right-click.
| | 06:16 | Now that we understand how to apply
Geometric constraints, in our next lesson,
| | 06:19 | we'll use them to
constrain a small mechanical part.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Constraining the geometry of a part| 00:00 | By properly constraining our
entities, we can be sure that when we make
| | 00:03 | revisions later, our
geometry will update as expected.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson, we're going to
constrain a small mechanical part.
| | 00:10 | Now before I get started, let me mention
that when I edit this geometry, I would
| | 00:14 | like these end points to always stay together.
| | 00:18 | Now I could apply a coincident
constraint at all these locations, but instead,
| | 00:22 | what I did was join this
linework together into a polyline.
| | 00:25 | Essentially, I'll get the exact same result.
| | 00:28 | Now you may be wondering, "Hey, why didn't
you just join this together all the way around?"
| | 00:32 | And that's a good question.
| | 00:33 | I didn't do that because if I did, I
wouldn't have access to this grip and I'm
| | 00:37 | going to use this grip to
change the radius of my arcs.
| | 00:41 | Let me also mention that my Dynamic
Input is turned on and that's what's
| | 00:45 | allowing me to change those dimensions.
| | 00:49 | Let's jump to the Parametric tab and
then, looking at this part, I know that I
| | 00:53 | always want these two
circles to be the same radius.
| | 00:56 | So I am going to use an Equal constraint
and I'll select this circle and this one.
| | 01:01 | I'd also like the radius of these
outer ends to be the same, so we'll create
| | 01:05 | another Equal constraint, and I'll
select both of these. Let's test this.
| | 01:10 | I'm going to select my arc, and then I
would like to grab this grip, but you know
| | 01:14 | what? My Constraint bar is in the way.
If I click-and-hold, right next to this X,
| | 01:19 | I can move this down.
| | 01:21 | I'll select the grip and let's change
this to 1.25 and hit Enter. Not bad.
| | 01:27 | You know what?
| | 01:27 | I need to keep these ends together.
| | 01:30 | Let's hit Escape and we'll undo.
| | 01:32 | Let's create a Coincident constraint.
| | 01:34 | I'll select the endpoint of my
line and the endpoint of the arc.
| | 01:39 | Let's create another one.
| | 01:41 | I'll select the endpoint of
this arc and the end of this line.
| | 01:44 | Now here's a shortcut to
go back into the command.
| | 01:46 | If I hit the Spacebar, I can go right
back into the command, and from here, I
| | 01:50 | can select a new constraint if I like.
| | 01:52 | If I hit the Spacebar again, I
can repeat the previous constraint.
| | 01:58 | So let's select the endpoint here and
here, space, space. I'll grab the endpoint
| | 02:02 | here and here, and while I'm
thinking of it, you know what?
| | 02:06 | I'd like these circles to
always be concentric to these arcs.
| | 02:10 | So let's create a concentric restraint.
| | 02:12 | I'll select this arc and circle.
| | 02:14 | I'll hit my Spacebar twice.
| | 02:16 | I'll grab this arc and circle.
| | 02:18 | Let's try and make it change.
| | 02:19 | I'm going to select this line. I'll
click the grip and I'm going to change the
| | 02:24 | height of my notch to 1.2 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:28 | Now that's a problem. You know what?
| | 02:30 | I would like this geometry to always be tangent.
| | 02:33 | Let's click Undo. I'm going to grab a
Tangent constraint and I'll select this
| | 02:38 | entity and this one.
| | 02:40 | Let's hit Spacebar twice.
| | 02:42 | This entity and this one, this one and
this one, this one and this one, and as
| | 02:49 | long as we are adding
constraints, you know what?
| | 02:51 | I'd like this notch to
always be centered on my part.
| | 02:54 | So I'm going to create an equal
constraint. I would like the length of this line
| | 02:58 | to be equal to the length of this one.
| | 03:01 | Let's apply the same constraint to
the depth of the notch. There we go.
| | 03:06 | Let's attempt to make another change.
| | 03:08 | I'm going to select my line,
and I'll click this grip.
| | 03:12 | Let's make this line 1.5
units long and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:16 | That's looking good. I'll click Undo.
| | 03:18 | Let me select the line again. This time
I'm going to click this grip, and we'll
| | 03:23 | do the height of the notch.
| | 03:25 | Let me type in 1 and hit Enter.
| | 03:26 | All right, we've got a little problem.
| | 03:28 | We've to overcome this. Let me click Undo.
| | 03:31 | You know what? I would always
like this line to be horizontal.
| | 03:34 | I'll grab that constraint and click
this line. As long as we're at it, I
| | 03:39 | will apply a Horizontal constraint
to this one, and then I will apply a
| | 03:43 | Collinear constraint.
| | 03:46 | I would like this line and
this line always be collinear.
| | 03:49 | Let's try it again.
| | 03:50 | I'll select this line and I'll grab my grip.
| | 03:52 | Let's change my height to 1.25.
Looking good. Let me click Undo.
| | 03:58 | Now my part jumped up on
screen when that happened.
| | 04:01 | I'm going to create a fixed constraint and
I'm going to select the midpoint of this line.
| | 04:06 | All right. I'm going to select the
notch again. I'll grab this end, and we'll
| | 04:11 | change this to 1.2. Perfect. Let me click Undo.
| | 04:16 | Let's grab this line and I want to
change its length. We'll make this 1.5.
| | 04:22 | It's getting added to both sides, the
notch is staying in the middle. That's good.
| | 04:27 | Undo. Let me make a change to my circle.
| | 04:29 | I'll grab this circle.
| | 04:30 | Let me click this quadrant, and
we'll change its radius to 0.75.
| | 04:36 | Notice they are both changing.
| | 04:37 | They are staying concentric to
the ends. Let me click Undo.
| | 04:41 | At this point, I believe my
part has been fully constrained.
| | 04:44 | It's a fact that most projects go over-
budget because of the time spent doing revisions.
| | 04:49 | If you can tie your geometry together
using Geometric constraints, you will
| | 04:53 | significantly reduce your
revision times because your drawing will
| | 04:56 | literally update itself.
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| Controlling the display of constraint bars| 00:00 |
Constraint bars are nice, but if you
have too many of them on your screen, your
| | 00:03 |
drawing can quickly
become cluttered and confusing.
| | 00:06 |
In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
manage the display of our constraint bars.
| | 00:10 |
On my screen, I've got a
drawing of a small mechanical part.
| | 00:13 |
This is, in fact, the same drawing that
we left off with in the previous lesson.
| | 00:17 |
Now, when I open this, as a courtesy
AutoCAD turned off my constraint bars.
| | 00:21 |
Even though I can't see the bars, I
still know there are constraints in this
| | 00:25 |
drawing because if I place my cursor
over an entity, AutoCAD is bringing up
| | 00:29 |
the constraint icon.
| | 00:31 |
To make my constraint bars visible
on screen, I'm going to come up to the
| | 00:34 |
Geometric panel and select
Show All. There they are.
| | 00:38 |
Now let me mention this.
Constraint bars don't plot.
| | 00:41 |
They are only here as a courtesy to us.
They are a visual cue to let us know
| | 00:45 |
where the constraints
are located in our drawing.
| | 00:48 |
That being said, they are
always the same size on screen.
| | 00:52 |
So if I zoom out, these
guys can really get in the way.
| | 00:56 |
Now zoom back in, and we'll take a
look at how we can turn these off.
| | 01:03 |
First of all, if you'd like to turn
them off one at a time, place your cursor
| | 01:07 |
over the constraint bar, and there is a
little X right here. Now, you might think
| | 01:11 |
that X deletes the constraint. It does not.
| | 01:13 |
If you click this, it merely hides the bar.
| | 01:16 |
If you'd like to turn them off globally, we
can come up to the ribbon and select Hide All.
| | 01:22 |
If I select Show, I can select some
entities in my drawing and then hit Enter,
| | 01:28 |
and AutoCAD will show me the
constraint bars that are associated with the
| | 01:31 |
objects that I selected.
| | 01:33 |
Let's turn them all back on,
and we'll dial it up a notch.
| | 01:36 |
I'm going to click this arrow in the
Geometric panel, and if we look at the
| | 01:40 |
Geometric Tab, we can use these checks
to turn off specific constraint bars.
| | 01:46 |
For instance, if I look right over
here I can see an Equal and a Concentric.
| | 01:49 |
I'm going to remove the checks from
those two types and I'll click OK, and none
| | 01:55 |
of those constraints show up on screen.
| | 01:58 |
Now it is important to note that
those checkboxes override Show All.
| | 02:03 |
If I click Hide All and then Show All,
notice Concentric and Equal still do not display.
| | 02:08 |
Let me click the arrow again.
I'll turn these back on.
| | 02:11 |
If I come right down here, I've got a
slider that controls the transparency
| | 02:15 |
of my constraint bars.
| | 02:17 |
If I drag this all the way to the right,
they are at 90% opacity. Drag it all
| | 02:22 |
the way to the left, they are at 10% opacity.
| | 02:25 |
And if I click OK, you can
barely see them on screen.
| | 02:27 |
Let's go back in and I am going to bump
this back up to around 55, and I'll click OK.
| | 02:35 |
As you can see, even if you have a
significant amount of constraints in your
| | 02:38 |
drawing, you can easily control the
appearance of the constraint bars, displaying
| | 02:41 |
as many or as few as you need to do your work.
| | 02:45 |
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| Automating constraint creation using AutoConstrain| 00:00 | To fully constrain your
geometry takes a little time.
| | 00:03 | It requires some planning.
| | 00:04 | You have to set up all your relationships.
| | 00:06 | You have to do some testing. After a
while you might start wondering, "Is
| | 00:10 | "there a faster way?" In fact, there is.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to create the bulk of our geometric
| | 00:15 | constraints automatically.
| | 00:16 | On my screen, I have a mechanical
example and I would like to constrain the
| | 00:20 | geometry of this part.
| | 00:22 | To do that, I'm going to come up to the
Geometric panel, and there's a great big
| | 00:25 | button called AutoConstrain.
| | 00:28 | If I use this tool, AutoCAD will
generate the majority of my constraints for me.
| | 00:33 | All I have to do is select my Geometry,
and hit the Enter Key on my keyboard,
| | 00:37 | and there is all my constraints.
| | 00:38 | Let's see how AutoCAD did.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to hover over this one.
Notice this circle is concentric to that arc.
| | 00:44 | That's exactly what I would have done.
| | 00:47 | This circle is concentric to that arc.
Looks like this line segment is also
| | 00:52 | tangent to that arc.
| | 00:54 | The line on the right side of my part
is parallel to the line on the left, so
| | 00:58 | AutoCAD has already done a lot of
the things that I would've done myself.
| | 01:02 | Generally speaking, AutoConstrain
takes care of a lot of the busy work of
| | 01:06 | creating constraints.
| | 01:07 | I'm probably still going to have to
add a few constraints to this drawing.
| | 01:10 | I might have to remove a couple, but
at least I'm not starting from scratch.
| | 01:14 | Let's take a look at how this tool works.
| | 01:16 | I'm going to come back up to the
Geometric panel and click this arrow.
| | 01:20 | And then I will select the AutoConstrain
Tab, and right here, I can see the order
| | 01:24 | in which AutoCAD will apply my constraints.
| | 01:27 | Now, if any of these constraints are
more important to me than others, I can
| | 01:31 | select it from the list, and I can
click Move Up or Move Down to change the
| | 01:35 | order in which it's applied.
| | 01:37 | If I would like to restrict AutoCAD
from using some of these constraints, I
| | 01:41 | can remove the check.
| | 01:42 | If we look down here, I've got a couple
of rules, for instance, must my Tangent
| | 01:46 | or my Perpendicular entities physically
intersect before those constraints are applied.
| | 01:51 | At the very bottom I have some
Tolerance values. These are the minimum values
| | 01:56 | that my geometry must meet before
certain constraints are applied.
| | 01:59 | As an example, if I have two endpoints
that are less than .05 apart, they will
| | 02:04 | be made coincident, or if I have two
line segments whose angles measure less
| | 02:10 | than 1 degree apart, they will be made parallel.
| | 02:13 | So I can dial-up my AutoConstrain
settings to exactly what I need.
| | 02:17 | If I'd like to return this dialog box to
the Factory defaults, I can select Reset.
| | 02:24 | Using the AutoConstrain tool is a
great way to speed up the placement of your
| | 02:28 | geometric constraints. While it's not a
perfect tool, it can make it much easier
| | 02:32 | than starting from scratch.
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| Creating dimensional constraints| 00:00 | Once our geometry has been
geometrically constrained, we can then add
| | 00:03 | Dimensional Constraints.
| | 00:05 | Dimensional Constraints allow us to
revise our geometry by simply changing the
| | 00:09 | values of our dimensions.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to create Dimensional Constraints.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I have a simple
mechanical part and I would like to add some
| | 00:17 | Dimensional Constraints to this geometry.
| | 00:20 | To do that, I'm going to come up to the
Parametric Tab on my ribbon, and in the
| | 00:23 | interest of full disclosure, let me
mention that I have already applied several
| | 00:27 | Geometric Constraints to this line work.
| | 00:29 | I'm going to come up and click Show All
so we can see those. There we go, and
| | 00:33 | then I'm going to click
Hide All to turn them back off.
| | 00:36 | Creating a Dimensional Constraint is a
lot like creating a standard dimension.
| | 00:40 | If we look up in the Dimensional panel
of our ribbon, we can see that we have
| | 00:43 | several of the same choices:
| | 00:44 | Linear, Aligned, Radial,
and Diameter, and Angular.
| | 00:49 | I'm going to create a Linear
Dimensional Constraint, and I would like to create
| | 00:52 | it from the center of this
circle to the center of this one.
| | 00:56 | Notice I am using the constraint points that
we get automatically with these dimensions.
| | 01:01 | I could also use a
standard Object Snap to set these.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to pull this up to here and
then I'll hit Enter to accept the value.
| | 01:12 | Now, the beauty of this type of dimension
is that I can use it to modify my geometry.
| | 01:16 | For instance, if I wanted to change
the overall length of my part, I could
| | 01:20 | double-click this value, and then I
could change this to maybe 5.5, and I'll hit
| | 01:25 | Enter, and notice my part updates on screen.
| | 01:28 | Now, take a look at this text. In
reality, what AutoCAD has done is its created
| | 01:32 | a variable called d1, and that variable is
essentially what's controlling the length of my part.
| | 01:37 | I'm going to create a couple more constraints.
| | 01:40 | Let's create a Linear one from the end
of here to the end of here, and I'll pull
| | 01:44 | this out, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:47 | I'll create one more from the
endpoint here to the endpoint here, set this
| | 01:52 | one, and hit Enter.
| | 01:53 | Notice my variable names: d1, d2, d3.
| | 01:56 | That's distance 1, 2, and 3.
| | 01:58 | They are in the same
order in which I created them.
| | 02:01 | Also, take a look at these padlocks.
| | 02:03 | These guys are called constraints for a reason.
| | 02:06 | Those padlocks mean as my part geometry
changes, these dimensions will stay constant.
| | 02:11 | For instance, let's apply an Angular Constraint.
| | 02:17 | And this is just like creating
a standard angular dimension.
| | 02:20 | I'll click this line and this one, and
I'll pull it out and I'll place it here,
| | 02:24 | and then I'll hit Enter to accept the value.
| | 02:25 | Now, maybe I don't want this to be 39
degree angle. I'll double-click this text and
| | 02:30 | we'll type 45, and hit Enter.
| | 02:33 | Notice, once again, my part updates and my
existing Dimensional Constraints remain constant.
| | 02:39 | This means that you will not be able
to create all of your dimensions using
| | 02:42 | Dimensional Constraints.
| | 02:43 | First of all, AutoCAD won't let you do
that, because if you did, you wouldn't be
| | 02:47 | able to make any changes to your part,
because everything would be locked down.
| | 02:50 | Let's create a couple more.
| | 02:51 | I'm going to create a Radial Constraint.
| | 02:55 | I will select this arc and I'll accept my value.
| | 02:59 | Let's change the value now.
| | 03:00 | I'm going to double-click and we'll
make this Radius .85 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:06 | Notice it affected this
radius and this one over here.
| | 03:09 | If you're watching closely, it also
affected these interior ones, and that is a
| | 03:13 | result of my Geometric
Constraints that I've applied.
| | 03:16 | I've said that I want this arc to be equal to
the opposite arc, as well as the interior arc.
| | 03:22 | So depending on how you set this up,
you can have your Dimensional Constraints
| | 03:25 | control more than just some singular dimensions.
| | 03:27 | I'm going to create one more constraint.
We'll do Diameter, and I'll select this circle.
| | 03:33 | I'll hit Enter, and maybe I would like
the diameter of this whole to be .95, and
| | 03:39 | once again, it's updating both of them,
because my Geometric Constraint has set
| | 03:42 | these guys to be equal.
| | 03:44 | Geometric and Dimensional
Constraints in AutoCAD 2010 create a parametric
| | 03:48 | relationship between our
geometry and our dimensions.
| | 03:51 | They allow us to create truly smart
designs that are very easy to modify.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding expressions to dimensional constraints| 00:00 | Since our dimensional constraints
are controlled by variables, we can
| | 00:03 | create mathematical equations that
include the variables and make it even
| | 00:07 | easier to edit our geometry.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to apply expressions to our
| | 00:12 | dimensional constraints.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I've got a small
mechanical part, and I have already applied
| | 00:17 | several geometric constraints to this geometry.
| | 00:21 | At this point, I would like to
add some dimensional constraints.
| | 00:23 | So I am going to come up and select
Linear, and I would like to create a linear
| | 00:28 | constraint from the center of this arc.
| | 00:31 | Now it's not letting me have center, so
I am going to use a standard object snap
| | 00:37 | and I would like it to go to the Center
of this arc, and I'll pull this up and
| | 00:42 | click and then we'll hit Enter.
| | 00:44 | Now take a look at this variable, d1.
| | 00:47 | Now that's not the most
descriptive thing in the world.
| | 00:49 | I would like to change this, so it's a
little bit more intuitive, and makes
| | 00:53 | more sense in this drawing.
| | 00:54 | To do that, I will double-click the
value, and then I will click inside this
| | 00:58 | string, and then I will select my
variable text and I am going to call this
| | 01:02 | 'overall' and hit Enter. There we go.
| | 01:05 | That makes a little bit more sense.
| | 01:06 | Now, if I want to change the overall
length of my part, I can double-click the
| | 01:11 | value, type in a new distance, and hit Enter.
| | 01:14 | Now, that works pretty good, but you
know what? I would like my length applied
| | 01:18 | equally to both sides.
| | 01:20 | So let us click Undo and let
me show you how we can do this.
| | 01:24 | I am going to create another Linear
constraint, and I am going to create it
| | 01:28 | from the Center of this slot, to the
Center of this hole, and let's change our
| | 01:36 | variable name.
| | 01:38 | I am going to call this tab1.
| | 01:41 | That'll be a little bit more descriptive.
| | 01:44 | Now I am going to pan my drawing over
a little bit, and I am going to open up
| | 01:47 | the Parameters Manager.
| | 01:49 | Now, this is very important. AutoCAD refers
to these variables with two different names.
| | 01:53 | It calls them both variables and parameters.
| | 01:56 | Those two terms are synonymous.
| | 01:57 | They mean the same thing.
| | 02:00 | Let's open up the manager, and right
here, you should see a listing of the
| | 02:03 | variables in your drawing.
| | 02:05 | If you don't, just like me, I can't see
mine, come up and click the filter icon
| | 02:09 | and make sure this is set
to Display All Parameters.
| | 02:12 | Notice we can see both of the variables
in our drawing, as well as their Value.
| | 02:16 | I also have a column called Expression.
| | 02:18 | I am going to double-click in the
Expression column, right next to tab1, and you
| | 02:23 | know what? I would like the length
of tab1 to be equal to overall/2.
| | 02:30 | Now, if I change my overall length, let
us make this 12, and hit Enter, notice
| | 02:36 | how AutoCAD is applying it to both
sides, because it's ensuring that tab1 is
| | 02:40 | always equal to my
overall length divided by two.
| | 02:43 | I am going to create another linear constraint.
| | 02:45 | We'll click Aligned, and I would like
that to be from the center of this circle,
| | 02:52 | to the center of this arc.
| | 02:57 | Let's change the variable name, and you
know what? We don't have to do it here.
| | 03:00 | We can do it over here as well.
| | 03:02 | I'll double-click and I'll call this tab2.
| | 03:06 | Now I would like all of my
tab lengths to be the same.
| | 03:10 | To do that, I am going to come over to
the expression area and double-click, and
| | 03:14 | I am going to set my tab2
length to be equal to tab1.
| | 03:19 | Now, if I change the overall length of
my part, and you know what? I can change
| | 03:22 | that over here as well.
| | 03:23 | Let's change this to 14, notice
everything updates automatically.
| | 03:28 | I am going to make this a little smaller.
| | 03:30 | Let's set it back to 10.
| | 03:32 | And let's create another constraint.
| | 03:33 | I am going to create a Radial constraint.
| | 03:37 | I'll select this arc and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:40 | Then I am going to change this value.
I am going to come over here and let's
| | 03:46 | change it to 1.25 maybe, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:50 | Now, based on the geometric constraints that
I've applied, this arc and this one are equal.
| | 03:55 | I would like the radius for
all of my tabs to be the same.
| | 03:59 | So I am going to click Undo and I
am going to create another Radial
| | 04:02 | constraint down here.
| | 04:07 | And to ensure that these are equal I am
going to come over and create a User Variable.
| | 04:11 | Now, like I said, AutoCAD uses
parameter and variable synonymously.
| | 04:14 | Notice it says, create a new user
parameter, but if I click this it puts it in
| | 04:18 | the User Variable area.
| | 04:19 | I am going to call this variable end_radius
and then I will apply this variable
| | 04:25 | to both rad1 and rad2.
| | 04:31 | Now, if I want to edit this geometry, all
I have to do is change the value of the
| | 04:35 | end_radius variable.
| | 04:36 | I am going to change this to 1.5.
| | 04:39 | Now, think about this for a second.
If you're using a common fillet radius
| | 04:43 | around the outside of your part, you
can create user variable called typical
| | 04:47 | fillet and then you could apply that
variable to all of your dimensional
| | 04:50 | constraints, and then you'll be able
to drive all of that geometry by simply
| | 04:54 | changing one value, right here.
| | 04:56 | As you can see, using expressions in
our dimensional constraints gives us
| | 05:00 | even more control over our geometry,
and can make future revisions virtually
| | 05:03 | effortless.
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| Controlling the display of dimensional constraints| 00:00 | Now dimensional constraints are great,
but if we get too many of them on our
| | 00:03 | screen, our drawing can become confusing.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to control the display of our
| | 00:08 | dimensional constraints.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I've got a mechanical
example and this drawing contains several
| | 00:14 | dimensional constraints.
| | 00:15 | Let me mention that dimensional
constraints do not plot. They only display
| | 00:19 | on screen as a visual reference to show us
the constrained measurements in our drawing.
| | 00:24 | Since they're a tool that is meant to
be seen on screen only, AutoCAD will
| | 00:28 | maintain their size, despite our zoom factor.
| | 00:32 | Now that's not bad if I zoom in.
These guys are fairly easy to read.
| | 00:36 | But if we zoom out, things can
start to get a little cluttered.
| | 00:39 | Let us look at some of the display
choices that we have available for
| | 00:43 | dimensional constraints.
| | 00:44 | First of all, if we come up to the
Dimensional panel, I can use this big button
| | 00:48 | to turn these guys on and off.
| | 00:50 | If we click the small arrow, we get
additional settings. This opens up the
| | 00:55 | Constraint Settings dialog box, and I
am currently on the Dimensional tab.
| | 01:00 | Now this check does the exact
same thing as the large button.
| | 01:03 | If I click this flyout, I can adjust
the format of my dimensional constraints.
| | 01:08 | Currently, I am seeing both the
variable name and the expression.
| | 01:11 | Maybe I would like to see the variable name
only, or maybe I would like to see only my value.
| | 01:17 | This check controls the display of the padlocks.
| | 01:20 | Now it's probably a good idea to
leave those on. This way you can tell the
| | 01:23 | difference between your
dimensional constraints, and your standard
| | 01:27 | annotational dimensions.
| | 01:28 | Finally I have a setting that will
allow me to view dimensional constraints for
| | 01:32 | selected objects only.
| | 01:34 | Right now, this is turned on.
| | 01:35 | Let's click OK and take a look at that.
| | 01:38 | Notice I am only seeing my values right now.
| | 01:40 | I am going to click the big button and
we'll turn all of these off, and since I
| | 01:43 | have the show for selected objects only
setting turned on, if I select an entity
| | 01:48 | that has a dimensional constraint
applied to it, it'll show up on screen.
| | 01:52 | And as soon as I deselect this
entity, the constraint goes away.
| | 01:57 | I am going to return to the Constraint
Settings dialog box and I am going to return
| | 02:02 | all of these to the default settings.
| | 02:05 | As you can see, even if you've created a
lot of dimensional constraints, you can
| | 02:09 | easily control their display.
| | 02:11 | Your drawing never becomes cluttered
because you can specify both the
| | 02:14 | information, as well as the specific
dimensions you need to see to do your work.
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| Converting dynamic constraints to annotation constraints| 00:00 | At this point, you're probably looking
at dimensional constraints and thinking,
| | 00:03 | "You know, it's a great tool
but it's really missing one thing.
| | 00:07 | "It would be so nice if we could get
our dimensional constraints to conform to
| | 00:11 | "the properties of a dimension style.
| | 00:13 | "Then we would have plottable dimensions
that we could use to modify our geometry."
| | 00:17 | Well, we can do that.
| | 00:19 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to convert dynamic constraints into
| | 00:23 | annotational constraints.
| | 00:24 | On my screen, I have a mechanical
part, and this part is using several
| | 00:28 | dimensional constraints.
| | 00:30 | Before I convert these, I would like to
take a trip to the Home tab because I
| | 00:34 | want to show you that I have created
a dimensions layer, and I've set that
| | 00:37 | layer to be current.
| | 00:39 | I've also created a Dimension Style,
and I've set that style to be current.
| | 00:43 | Let us return of the Parametric Tab.
| | 00:46 | Now, all dimensional constraints
start out as dynamic constraints.
| | 00:50 | We can see that if I hover over this one.
| | 00:53 | Dynamic constraints do not plot, they
always show up the same size on screen,
| | 00:57 | and they conform to their own
unchangeable dimension style.
| | 01:01 | If I want my dimensional constraints
to plot, I need to convert these from
| | 01:05 | dynamic to annotational.
| | 01:07 | And I can do that by using the property changer.
| | 01:09 | I am going to select this constraint,
and then I'll hit Ctrl+1 to bring up
| | 01:14 | my property changer.
| | 01:15 | And if I click in the Constraint Form
setting, I can grab this flyout and change
| | 01:20 | my constraint to Annotational.
| | 01:23 | Notice that this constraint is taking
on the properties of my dimension style
| | 01:26 | and it's also sitting on the current layer.
| | 01:28 | Let me hit Escape to deselect this.
| | 01:31 | Now I am the type of guy who likes to
window everything, and then grab the
| | 01:37 | objects that I'd like to change from this list.
| | 01:39 | Notice if you select everything, for
some reason your constraints don't show up.
| | 01:44 | That's unfortunate. I am going to hit
Escape to deselect these, and we'll just
| | 01:48 | have to select them manually.
| | 01:52 | There we go. Now that I've selected
them all, I am going to come back to the
| | 01:55 | property changer and we'll
change all of these to Annotational.
| | 02:01 | Now let's zoom in. Notice, I do have
one problem. My constraints are still
| | 02:05 | showing the name and expression information.
| | 02:08 | I am going to click this arrow to visit
my Constraint Settings and then I will
| | 02:13 | change this to Value only, and I'll click OK.
| | 02:17 | Now they are displaying the value
and they are displaying it to the same
| | 02:20 | precision as my dimension style.
| | 02:23 | Now, I can also turn these padlocks off,
but you know what? It is probably wise to
| | 02:27 | leave those on, so I can tell the
difference between my standard dimensions and
| | 02:31 | my annotational constraints.
| | 02:32 | I am going to backup a little bit, and
you may be wondering, "You know what?
| | 02:36 | "Can I use these dimensions to
drive the geometry?" You bet.
| | 02:40 | All we have to do is double-click on the value.
| | 02:42 | Let's make this 8 units long.
| | 02:44 | I am going to change it again.
| | 02:46 | Let us make it 6.5.
| | 02:49 | Even though these are annotational
constraints, they still have the same grips,
| | 02:53 | and the same functionality as you
would expect of a typical dimension.
| | 02:57 | Converting our dynamic constraints to
annotational constraints gives us the
| | 03:01 | best of both worlds.
| | 03:03 | We now have plottable dimensions that
conform to the properties of our dimension
| | 03:06 | style, and we can use these
dimensions to modify our geometry.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using constraints within dynamic blocks| 00:00 | The Parametric Constraints in AutoCAD
2010 can also be applied to dynamic blocks.
| | 00:05 | This means that creating dynamic
blocks is more intuitive than ever.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson, we are going to
finish a dynamic block that I have already
| | 00:12 | started, and along the way, we will look
at some of the new features of the Block
| | 00:15 | Editor in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 00:17 | On my screen, I have got a
dynamic block that represents a window.
| | 00:20 | Let's say I am an architect and I
would like to use this block in my plans.
| | 00:24 | Ideally, I would like to be able to
control the width and the height of this
| | 00:28 | block when it's inserted into my drawing.
| | 00:30 | I mean, that's the whole
purpose for having dynamic blocks.
| | 00:33 | Rather than having multiple window
blocks, all of different sizes, I can have
| | 00:37 | one block where I can
adjust the width and height.
| | 00:39 | I am almost finished with this existing block.
| | 00:42 | To make my final revisions I am going to
select it, right-click, and then I will
| | 00:47 | select the Block Editor.
| | 00:48 | And, if you ever created a dynamic
block before, you know that we control our
| | 00:52 | geometry using Parameters and Actions,
and while we still have these tools, we
| | 00:57 | can also control our geometry using
Constraints, both Geometric and Dimensional.
| | 01:03 | Notice these same tools are available
on the Block Editor tab, right up here.
| | 01:07 | Now, let me mention this.
| | 01:08 | You may be tempted to go to the Parametric tab
to use your Constraint tools. Don't do that.
| | 01:14 | That will cause you problems.
| | 01:15 | If you are adding or editing the
constraints of your block, you need to use the
| | 01:19 | tools on the Block Editor.
| | 01:21 | Now, my block geometry already has
several Geometric Constraints applied, and
| | 01:26 | I am going to be honest. I used the Auto
Constraint tool to get the majority of these.
| | 01:31 | It also has several Dimensional
Constraints, and currently my constraints are
| | 01:35 | only showing the value.
| | 01:36 | I am going to come up and click this
arrow, and we will visit the Constraint
| | 01:40 | Settings, and let me set this to Name
and Expression, and I will click OK.
| | 01:47 | Let's pan this over a little bit, and
I am going to bring up the Parameters
| | 01:50 | Manager, and I will give you a little
tour of this block so you can see how I
| | 01:53 | have gotten to this point.
| | 01:56 | Essentially, I created a large rectangle,
and then I divided it in half, two ways.
| | 02:01 | I also created some smaller
rectangles that represent my window panes.
| | 02:05 | Let me zoom in on the top.
| | 02:08 | I have a Linear Constraint that is
controlling this width, and it is getting its
| | 02:12 | value from this User Parameter, called Molding.
| | 02:17 | Same goes for the other side of the window.
| | 02:22 | The distance from this pane to the
middle of my window is being driven by my
| | 02:26 | Molding distance divided by two.
| | 02:28 | This way my window panes are centered in my
window and my Molding is always a consistent size.
| | 02:33 | I did the exact same thing for the height.
| | 02:36 | This one is driven by the Molding.
| | 02:38 | This one is driven by the Molding, and
the distance from this pane to the middle
| | 02:41 | of the window is Molding divided by 2.
| | 02:45 | At this point, I would like to add a
Linear Constraint that will control the
| | 02:48 | overall width of my window.
| | 02:50 | So I am going to select Linear, and I
will create it from the endpoint here to
| | 02:55 | the endpoint here, and then I
will hit Enter to accept the value.
| | 03:00 | Now, number of grips. I am
going to hit Enter and accept 1.
| | 03:04 | This will give me a single grip that I
can use to adjust the width of my block.
| | 03:09 | I am going to change my variable.
| | 03:11 | d7 is not very descriptive.
| | 03:13 | Let me come over here and
we will change this to width.
| | 03:17 | And I would like to create one more
constraint, such that I can adjust
| | 03:21 | the height of my block.
| | 03:22 | We will create it from the
endpoint here, the endpoint here.
| | 03:29 | I will hit Enter again and accept the one grip.
| | 03:32 | Now, if you are wondering, when I created these
other Linear Constraints I set my grips to 0.
| | 03:37 | Let's change this new one to height, and
then we will test our block to see if it works.
| | 03:45 | In AutoCAD 2010, our Block
Editor now has a Test Block button.
| | 03:49 | This means I don't have to go all the way
back to Model Space to see if my block works.
| | 03:55 | Now, in the Test Block window, my
cursor is a little difficult to see.
| | 03:58 | Let me select my block and
then I will grab my grip.
| | 04:01 | Let's enter a new value. I am going to
type 36 for 36 inches, and hit Enter.
| | 04:06 | That's working out pretty good.
| | 04:07 | I am going to back up a little bit,
and we will grab the height grip.
| | 04:11 | Now, I could drag this down and
pick a point to set the height.
| | 04:14 | I am going to type 48 for 48 inches,
and hit Enter. That works good.
| | 04:18 | I am going to deselect my geometry,
and then we will close the test window.
| | 04:21 | I would like to do one more thing.
| | 04:25 | Let's take a look at these
center lines that I created.
| | 04:28 | I am using these lines to
drive some of my dimensions,
| | 04:32 | but you know what? I don't want these
center lines to show up on my screen or my plots.
| | 04:36 | In AutoCAD 2010, we have a new
Construction Geometry button, and I can use this
| | 04:41 | to convert geometry into construction lines.
| | 04:44 | Construction lines won't print. In fact,
they only show up in the Block Editor.
| | 04:49 | I am going to select this line and
this one and hit Enter, and I will select
| | 04:53 | Convert, and these lines are
now considered construction lines.
| | 04:57 | Let's test the block again, and
notice that they no longer display.
| | 05:01 | I am going to close to test window again.
| | 05:05 | My block appears to be working well.
| | 05:07 | Let's look at one more thing.
| | 05:08 | I am going to come up and
select the Constraint Display Status.
| | 05:13 | If you create your dynamic block using
constraints, you may want to toggle this
| | 05:17 | on so you can see how things are going.
| | 05:19 | Notice my geometry turns magenta.
| | 05:21 | I am going to click this arrow in the
Manage panel, and if we look right down
| | 05:26 | here we can see that partially
constrained geometry will show a blue, fully
| | 05:30 | constrained will appear magenta, and
improperly constrained will appear red.
| | 05:34 | So ideally, your dynamic blocks, if you are using
constraints, should be magenta. Let's click OK.
| | 05:40 | I am going to close the Block Editor,
and we will Save changes. All right.
| | 05:47 | I am going to zoom out a little bit.
| | 05:49 | Let's select this block. This is 24 inches.
| | 05:52 | Once again, I am going to go with
36 inches wide by 48 inches tall.
| | 05:59 | I will then insert a new
block and I will place it here.
| | 06:07 | And being that this block is dynamic,
I can have the exact same block showing
| | 06:11 | up two different ways.
| | 06:13 | Using Parametric Constraints can make
the creation of your dynamic blocks much
| | 06:16 | more intuitive, and having the
relationships between entities means you can have
| | 06:20 | more control over your block using fewer grips.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a block lookup table| 00:00 | Using the new block lookup table in
conjunction with parametric constraints can
| | 00:04 | make your dynamic blocks more dynamic than ever.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we are going to learn how to
add a block lookup table to a dynamic block.
| | 00:11 | First of all, let me give you an
idea of what I'm trying to create.
| | 00:15 | This is a 45-degree PVC
Y-connector, and it comes in several sizes.
| | 00:21 | I would like to create a dynamic
block of this object, using parametric
| | 00:25 | constraints, whose dimensions are
driven by the values in this table.
| | 00:29 | Now I have three main dimensions.
| | 00:32 | Notice my overall length is dimension A.
The length of my Y is dimension B, and
| | 00:38 | the location of my Y connection is dimension C.
| | 00:41 | Let's return to AutoCAD. I have
already created my dynamic block.
| | 00:46 | If I select this, we can see that I've
got a grip controlling my A dimension, my
| | 00:52 | B dimension, and my C dimension.
| | 00:57 | To add my table, I'm going to right-
click on this block and select Block Editor.
| | 01:01 | Let me zoom in a little bit.
| | 01:07 | Now, this looks a little
more complicated than it is.
| | 01:09 | It's nothing we haven't seen already.
| | 01:11 | I have got a linear constraint for A,
linear constraint for C, and one for B.
| | 01:17 | I also have several other linear
constraints that are keeping my flanges
| | 01:20 | together, as the part moves.
| | 01:21 | I am going to open the Parameters
Manager, and we can see all of the
| | 01:25 | variables in my drawing.
| | 01:27 | The ones we are really interested
in are A, B and C and I have two User
| | 01:31 | Parameters, my pipe_dia, which is the
main diameter of the PVC and my wye_dia,
| | 01:37 | which is the diameter of the Y.
| | 01:39 | To create my block lookup table, I am
going to come up to the Dimensional panel
| | 01:43 | and click Block Table.
| | 01:45 | I will then pick a point on screen
where I would like that grip to appear
| | 01:49 | and I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:50 | Then I'll come up and click the add
parameters button, and I will select the
| | 01:53 | parameters I would like to use in my table.
| | 01:56 | A is already selected. I am going to
hold by Ctrl key and select C, and B,
| | 02:02 | pipe_dia and the wye_dia and I'll click OK.
| | 02:06 | Notice that my variables become the
column headers, very similar to Microsoft
| | 02:09 | Excel, and I can change
its placement in the row.
| | 02:13 | I would like to add another
variable, one that labels the size.
| | 02:16 | I'll click this icon to create a custom
variable and for Name I am going to call this SIZE.
| | 02:22 | It is going to be a String because it's going
to hold text, and I'll click OK. Now AutoCAD
| | 02:29 | put that down at the end.
| | 02:30 | Let me click and hold and I'll
drag this over to the other side.
| | 02:34 | At this point, I could click in
each one of these cells and I can start
| | 02:37 | entering my values, 6x6x4.
| | 02:41 | Let me hit Tab and my A size,
I believe it was like 18.75.
| | 02:46 | Basically, I could go through and fill
out this entire table. But you know what?
| | 02:50 | That's a little time consuming.
| | 02:52 | What if I had a Microsoft Excel document
that already contained all this information?
| | 02:57 | Let's jump over to Excel, where I
have a table that contains all my values.
| | 03:01 | I am going to click, hold,
and drag, and I will select all of these
| | 03:05 | cells right-click, and select
Copy, then we'll return to AutoCAD.
| | 03:11 | I will click in my first cell,
right-click, and select Paste.
| | 03:15 | That's much easier than filling it
all out by hand. Let's click OK.
| | 03:19 | The lookup table is finished.
| | 03:20 | I am going to come up and click the Test
Block button and we'll see how it works.
| | 03:26 | I'll select the block, we'll grab
the lookup table, and I can see the
| | 03:29 | information in the SIZE column.
| | 03:31 | I am going to select 8x8x8, and notice
that AutoCAD updates my dynamic block,
| | 03:37 | using the values from that table,
select that again, we'll try 12x12x08.
| | 03:43 | Let's close the Test window.
| | 03:44 | Let me show you one more thing that we can do.
| | 03:48 | I am going to make a change to my table.
| | 03:50 | I am going to double-click on this
icon, and let's reorder the columns.
| | 03:54 | I am going to drag a pipe_dia
over, so it's the first one.
| | 03:59 | And then we'll drag the wye_dia over,
so it's the second column in the order.
| | 04:04 | I'll click OK, and let's test the block again.
| | 04:08 | Once again, I will select this
and will grab my lookup table.
| | 04:11 | Notice I am now seeing my pipe_dia
information, and any place where I
| | 04:14 | have multiple options,
| | 04:16 | I get an additional flyout and I can
come over and select them from here.
| | 04:20 | This would be an 8x8 Y connector.
| | 04:24 | Once again, we'll close the Test
window, and my block is working perfectly.
| | 04:29 | I am going to close the Block
Editor, and we'll save changes.
| | 04:38 | Before we finish, we'll set
this guy to a standard size.
| | 04:43 | Block lookup tables make your
dynamic blocks more powerful than ever.
| | 04:46 | If you have any blocks that could be
represented at different sizes, try
| | 04:50 | creating a block lookup table, and
let the values in your table drive the
| | 04:53 | geometry of your block.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Exploring the New Editing ToolsReversing the direction of line work| 00:01 | If you have ever had to reverse the
direction of your line work, you know what
| | 00:03 | a pain that can be,
| | 00:05 | especially if you were working with
polylines because there was no easy way to
| | 00:09 | reverse the direction of a
polyline, that is, until now.
| | 00:13 | In AutoCAD 2010, we have a new Reverse
command that makes it very easy to change
| | 00:17 | the direction of our line work.
| | 00:19 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to use the Reverse command.
| | 00:22 | On my screen, I have got a civil
engineering example. What we have is a portion
| | 00:27 | of a proposed subdivision.
| | 00:29 | Generally speaking, we have
several single family lots.
| | 00:32 | I've got a couple of streets, and I have
some line work that represents my utilities.
| | 00:36 | I am going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 00:38 | This green line work represents my
storm sewer, and the half circles in the
| | 00:43 | line type act like arrows. They show
me the direction of flow inside the pipe.
| | 00:48 | Now all of my storm water should be
heading to the west, and it is in most cases.
| | 00:53 | But in a couple of instances, I have
some line types that are flowing in
| | 00:56 | the wrong direction.
| | 00:57 | I am going to take care of this one first.
| | 01:00 | If I hover over this, I
can see it's a line segment.
| | 01:02 | Now in the past, to reverse this guy, we
usually had to rotate it around the midpoint.
| | 01:06 | We don't have to do that anymore.
| | 01:08 | Instead, I am going to come up to the
Modify panel, and I am going to launch the
| | 01:12 | new Reverse command.
| | 01:13 | We can use this command to
reverse the direction of our line work.
| | 01:16 | I am going to select this object.
| | 01:18 | Notice I could select more than one if
I wanted to, and then I'll right-click.
| | 01:23 | It doesn't get much easier than that.
| | 01:24 | Let me pan my drawing over a little bit.
| | 01:27 | Let's come down here. This
line is going the wrong way.
| | 01:29 | This happens to be a polyline.
| | 01:31 | Now we used to have to jump through a lot of
hoops to change the direction of a polyline.
| | 01:35 | Once again, not anymore. We
can now use the Reverse command.
| | 01:39 | Since this is a polyline, I am going to
double-click on it to launch the PEDIT
| | 01:42 | command, and notice that Reverse has been
incorporated into PEDIT, which is very nice.
| | 01:47 | Let me select Reverse and then I'll hit Escape.
| | 01:51 | Certainly much faster than doing it by hand.
| | 01:54 | Let's pan this down a little bit.
| | 01:55 | I have got one more storm sewer line I
would like to change, and you know what?
| | 01:59 | I'd like to change this line as well.
| | 02:01 | This represents my water main.
| | 02:03 | But since the line is running
upside down, my Ws look a lot like Ms.
| | 02:07 | So I am going to change both of these.
| | 02:09 | Let's go back to the Reverse command
and I'll select this polyline and this one
| | 02:14 | and I'll right-click.
| | 02:15 | Never again do we have to waste time editing
our geometry for the sake of our line types.
| | 02:20 | If we need to change the direction of
our line work, we can now simply use
| | 02:23 | the Reverse command.
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| Converting splines to polylines| 00:00 | We are going to learn about converting,
| | 00:02 | more specifically,
converting splines into polylines.
| | 00:06 | Now, this is something that's never
been easy to do and it seems everyone you
| | 00:09 | talked to has their own secret
method for making this type of conversion.
| | 00:13 | Well, we don't have to have secrets
anymore because AutoCAD 2010 allows us to
| | 00:17 | easily convert our splines into
polylines. Let's take a look.
| | 00:21 | On my screen, I have got a
drawing of a playground.
| | 00:24 | And this cyan line represents a concrete
boundary. Since I am going to have sand
| | 00:29 | around all of my equipment,
| | 00:31 | this boundary is going to
help me contain the sand.
| | 00:33 | Now, the boundary is going to be eight
inches wide, and I have already completed
| | 00:37 | my boundary on this side.
| | 00:38 | I would like to do the
same thing with this geometry.
| | 00:41 | So I am going to start out by
joining all this line work together.
| | 00:45 | To do that, I am going to come up to
the Modify panel and launch the PEDIT
| | 00:49 | command, then I'll select
this arc and right-click.
| | 00:53 | I'll select the Join option, and I'll
window all of my geometry and right-click.
| | 01:00 | If we look at the command line, notice it says
only 4 segments were added to the polyline.
| | 01:05 | Now that looks like it's a problem.
| | 01:06 | So I am going to hit Escape and let's
see if we can figure out what went wrong.
| | 01:10 | I am going to hover over my polyline,
and notice I can see where it quit joining.
| | 01:15 | Let me hover over this object.
| | 01:17 | I can see that's a spline.
| | 01:19 | Let me come down to this one.
| | 01:21 | This one is also a spline.
| | 01:22 | Unfortunately, we can't
join a polyline to a spline.
| | 01:26 | The only way I am going to be able to
join this line work together is to convert
| | 01:30 | those splines into polylines.
| | 01:32 | Now, in the past, this was always a problem.
| | 01:35 | Now, it's very easy.
| | 01:37 | To make the conversion, I'm going to
comeback to the Modify panel, and I am
| | 01:40 | going to launch the SPLINEDIT command.
| | 01:43 | I'll then select my spline and notice,
there's a new option in the menu that
| | 01:47 | will let me convert this
directly into a polyline.
| | 01:50 | All I have to do is specify a precision.
The higher the number, the more closely
| | 01:55 | the polyline is going to match
the original spline segment.
| | 01:58 | I can enter anything
from 0 all the way up to 99.
| | 02:01 | I am going to hit Enter to accept the
default of 10, and if I hover over this,
| | 02:06 | we can see that it's now a polyline.
| | 02:08 | If I select the entity, take a
look at all the grips that I have.
| | 02:13 | Generally speaking, what this option
does is it matches my geometry by creating
| | 02:17 | several short straight segments.
| | 02:19 | I am going to click Undo a couple of
times to turn this back into a spline, and
| | 02:24 | let's convert it again.
| | 02:25 | Now, since we are converting this using
the SPLINEDIT command, I can also launch
| | 02:29 | this by double-clicking on the
spline and I'll select Convert.
| | 02:34 | This time, I am going to enter a
precision of 0, and hit Enter and I'll select
| | 02:38 | this again, and notice, I have fewer grips.
| | 02:42 | This looks like it's going to work out okay.
| | 02:43 | It's now a polyline and I can
join it to the rest of my geometry.
| | 02:47 | Let's take a look at this
spline segment down here.
| | 02:50 | Remember that I've mentioned that each
person had their own secret method for
| | 02:54 | converting splines into polylines.
| | 02:56 | Well, I used to do it by using
the Flatten command. Let's try that.
| | 03:00 | To launch the command, we have to type it in.
| | 03:03 | Flatten allows us, to convert our three-
dimensional line work into 2D line work, by the way.
| | 03:09 | I'm going to select my spline and right-
click, and then I'll hit Enter because
| | 03:13 | I don't want to remove hidden lines.
| | 03:15 | If I hover over this entity, we can see
it's now a polyline, and if I select it,
| | 03:19 | notice it has far fewer grips.
| | 03:22 | In fact, the Flatten command
actually used arc segments to try and match
| | 03:26 | my original geometry.
| | 03:28 | So, in this case, the Flatten command worked
better than the new feature in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 03:32 | I am going to deselect this
and let's finish our work.
| | 03:36 | I am going to go back and launch the
PEDIT command, and let's join this geometry
| | 03:41 | together, and then I'll hit Escape.
| | 03:43 | Now that this is a closed object, we
can offset it and my offset distance is
| | 03:49 | going to be .667 and we'll
offset this to the outside.
| | 03:55 | Now, I'm a firm believer in the
concept that you should know at least two
| | 03:58 | different ways to do everything.
| | 03:59 | So, if the new Spline Conversion
tool in AutoCAD 2010 doesn't give you
| | 04:03 | the results you want,
| | 04:05 | try using the Flatten command.
| | 04:07 | It just might become your first AutoCAD secret.
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| Rotating geometry inside viewports| 00:01 | At some point in your career, you have
probably wanted to rotate the geometry
| | 00:04 | inside a viewport, and you would think
you could do it by simply rotating the
| | 00:08 | viewport itself, but that never worked.
| | 00:11 | Instead, you had to use commands like
DVIEW, or you had to create a custom UCS.
| | 00:16 | Fortunately, all that has changed,
because in AutoCAD 2010, if we rotate a
| | 00:21 | viewport, the geometry inside the
viewport will also rotate. Let's take a look.
| | 00:26 | On my screen, I have got a layout that
I have set up, and I would like to use
| | 00:30 | this layout to create a Plan & Profile
sheet for a proposed road connection.
| | 00:35 | If I zoom in a little bit and double-
click right here, you can see that I
| | 00:38 | already have one viewport in this
layout, and this viewport is showing me
| | 00:42 | my profile geometry.
| | 00:44 | I am going to get out of the viewport
by double-clicking outside the boundary.
| | 00:48 | Let's zoom out a little bit, and we
will jump to model space and take a look at
| | 00:52 | our proposed road geometry.
| | 00:55 | Generally speaking, I have two existing
roads that run East and West, and I have
| | 01:00 | a proposed road connection
running North and South between them.
| | 01:05 | Let's return to the layout and we will
create a viewport for the proposed road.
| | 01:10 | To do that, I am going to go to the View
tab and then I am going to come down to
| | 01:13 | the Viewport's panel and click the New
button, and I will click Single, and OK.
| | 01:18 | Then I will click two points on
my screen to define my viewport.
| | 01:23 | Now, I am going to double-click inside.
| | 01:25 | Let's zoom in a little bit,
and here's my problem.
| | 01:28 | My proposed road runs North and South,
but I want it to run horizontal on my sheet.
| | 01:34 | So I need to rotate the
contents of this viewport.
| | 01:37 | In 2010, this is very easy.
| | 01:39 | First of all, I am going to jump out.
| | 01:41 | Let me double-click outside the
boundary, and then I am going to adjust the
| | 01:45 | size of my viewport.
| | 01:46 | I will select the edge.
| | 01:47 | Let me grab this grip, and let me turn
off my running Object Snaps momentarily,
| | 01:52 | so this don't get in the way.
| | 01:53 | We will drag this into here. I will click
this grip, and we will drag it over to here.
| | 01:59 | And to rotate my geometry, I am
simply going to rotate the viewport.
| | 02:03 | I will launch the Rotate command and I
will pick a point right in the middle,
| | 02:06 | and I am going to enter a rotation angle of -90.
| | 02:10 | I am sure you will agree that that's
much easier than using the DVIEW command or
| | 02:14 | creating a custom UCS.
| | 02:17 | Let's turn the running Object Snaps back
on, and then I will move this corner of
| | 02:21 | my viewport to the corner of my title block.
| | 02:23 | We will move this one to the other
corner, and I will click this grip and we
| | 02:28 | will put it to the midpoint
of this side. There we go.
| | 02:32 | Since my viewport is still selected,
let's set it to a measurable scale.
| | 02:37 | I am going to come down and click my
Viewport Scale menu and we will set this to 1 to 50.
| | 02:42 | Then we will double-click back in the
viewport, and I can pan this a little bit
| | 02:47 | so it looks nicer inside the view.
| | 02:49 | Now that I am done, we will do a quick
regen, and I will double-click outside
| | 02:52 | the boundary to get back on my layout.
| | 02:55 | As you can see, the fact that our
geometry now rotates along with our viewport
| | 03:00 | makes working with
viewports more intuitive than ever.
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| Editing non-associative hatch boundaries dynamically| 00:00 | In the past, if your hatch lost its
associativity, it was essentially worthless,
| | 00:05 | because once the associativity was gone,
it was very hard to get the hatch to
| | 00:09 | conform to a new boundary.
| | 00:10 | In AutoCAD 2010, this is no longer a
problem because we can dynamically update
| | 00:15 | our hatch boundary, even if it's
non-associative. Let's take a look.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have drawn a simple
rectangle, and I have applied a hatch
| | 00:22 | pattern to this shape.
| | 00:24 | Now, I am going to do something catastrophic.
| | 00:26 | I am going to launch the Erase command,
and I am going to erase my rectangle.
| | 00:30 | And if we look at the Command line,
we can see that my hatch has lost its
| | 00:33 | associativity, obviously,
because the boundary is gone.
| | 00:36 | Watch this. If I select my hatch,
notice that AutoCAD remembers the previous
| | 00:41 | boundary, and better yet, I can modify this
boundary by making changes to these grips.
| | 00:47 | Let's take a look at these corner grips first.
| | 00:50 | If I select the grip on the corner,
otherwise known as a vertex, I can pull this
| | 00:55 | out, and I can click to change its location.
| | 00:57 | Let me select it again, and, as I move
my cursor, technically I am in move mode.
| | 01:02 | I am able to move this vertex.
| | 01:05 | If I tap the Ctrl key on my
keyboard, I can toggle to Remove mode.
| | 01:10 | Notice the Minus sign next to my
cursor. And we can also see the result of
| | 01:15 | the removal right here.
| | 01:16 | If I click on screen at this point, I can
accept the removal and that vertex is gone.
| | 01:21 | Now, let's take a look at
the grips between the vertexes.
| | 01:25 | This is called an Edge grip.
| | 01:26 | If I select this, I can pull it out and
create a new vertex, and two new edges.
| | 01:31 | Let me select this edge grip and I will
pull it out, and in addition to creating
| | 01:36 | a new vertex, I can tap my Ctrl
key and I can toggle to Arc mode.
| | 01:40 | Let me pull this out, and
I will click right here.
| | 01:44 | If I wanted to create an arc on the
other side, I could click, pull this out,
| | 01:47 | tap my Ctrl key, and click.
| | 01:50 | And I am sure you will agree that it's
fairly easy to edit the boundary of a
| | 01:53 | non-associative hatch.
| | 01:54 | Now that we get the idea of how this
tool works, let's try and use it in
| | 01:58 | a practical example.
| | 02:00 | I am going to pan my drawing over,
and on my screen, I have got a mechanical
| | 02:04 | part and a section view.
| | 02:07 | If I zoom in on the section view, we
can see that my part geometry is changed,
| | 02:11 | but my hatch is not
associative, so it did not update.
| | 02:14 | Let's see if we can revise this hatch,
such that it conforms to the new geometry.
| | 02:18 | I am going to start out
by zooming in right here.
| | 02:21 | Let me select the hatch, and I will grab
this vertex and I will pull it back to here.
| | 02:26 | I will grab this vertex
and pull it back to here.
| | 02:29 | Let's grab the Edge grip and we
will create a new vertex here.
| | 02:33 | I will grab this edge and we
will make another one right there.
| | 02:37 | Let's grab this edge and I am going to
tap my Ctrl key to create an arc, and I
| | 02:41 | will place that arc to the midpoint of
this one, and then I will do the same
| | 02:45 | thing over here, I will tap my Ctrl and we
will drop it to the midpoint. Now, let's pan up.
| | 02:52 | Looks like we have got a
couple of changes to make here.
| | 02:54 | I am going to grab this vertex and we
will move it to the endpoint. We will
| | 02:58 | move this vertex to the endpoint,
and then I will move this edge to the
| | 03:02 | midpoint of this arc.
| | 03:04 | Let's grab this vertex and move it to
the endpoint, and you know what? I have
| | 03:08 | got a vertex here I don't need.
| | 03:10 | Let me select this and I am going to
tap my Ctrl key to remove it, and then I
| | 03:14 | will click on the screen to accept the Remove.
| | 03:18 | As you can see, non-associative hatch is
no longer the problem that it used to be.
| | 03:22 | In AutoCAD 2010, we can easily make
a non-associative hatch conform to a
| | 03:26 | new boundary.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Exploring the New Drawing UtilitiesTaking measurements using MEASUREGEOM| 00:01 |
In previous versions of AutoCAD, we
didn't have many choices when it came to
| | 00:04 |
measuring our geometry.
| | 00:05 |
In some cases, the only way we could take
a measurement was to create a dimension
| | 00:09 |
and then erase it when we were done.
| | 00:11 |
In AutoCAD 2010, we have several new and
enhanced tools for measuring geometry.
| | 00:15 |
On my screen, I have got
an architectural example.
| | 00:18 |
This is a drawing of a small studio
floor plan, and we are going to use this
| | 00:22 |
geometry to explore the new
measurement options in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 00:27 |
Now, the Measuring tools are located
in the Utilities panel of our ribbon.
| | 00:31 |
If I click this flyout, we can see
that there are several tools available.
| | 00:34 |
Now, some of this may look familiar.
I mean, we have had the Area and the
| | 00:38 |
Distance command in
previous versions of AutoCAD.
| | 00:41 |
If I hover over Distance, take a look at
the command that's actually being launched.
| | 00:45 |
It's called MEASUREGEOM,
which stands for Measure Geometry.
| | 00:48 |
In fact, all of these options
are launching the same command.
| | 00:53 |
So, it's important to note that even
though some of these options look similar,
| | 00:56 |
they are now parts of a brand new command.
| | 00:58 |
Let's start out by finding a Distance.
| | 01:01 |
I will select that from the menu,
and let's say I would like to find the
| | 01:04 |
interior width of this apartment.
| | 01:07 |
I will select the endpoint here and the
endpoint here, and I can see it's 13'-8 3/8".
| | 01:14 |
Now, since all of these options are
part of the same command, notice I can
| | 01:17 |
select any of the other options whenever I want.
| | 01:19 |
I am going to find another Distance.
| | 01:21 |
Maybe I would like to find the
interior length of this apartment.
| | 01:25 |
I will select the endpoint here and
the endpoint here, and it looks like
| | 01:30 |
that's 22 feet even.
| | 01:32 |
Now, this isn't bad, but you know what?
We have had this functionality in the past.
| | 01:36 |
What if I would like to find the
cumulative total of several distances?
| | 01:40 |
We haven't been able to do that.
| | 01:42 |
Let's select Distance.
| | 01:43 |
I am going to back up, and let's find
the exterior perimeter of this apartment.
| | 01:48 |
I will select my first point, and then I
will right-click and select multiple points.
| | 01:53 |
Then I will grab this endpoint and this
one and this one, and as I work my way
| | 02:00 |
around, AutoCAD is keeping a running
total of my distances, and as I come back
| | 02:05 |
around, I can reselect my first point
or I can right-click and select Close.
| | 02:10 |
Notice when we are finding cumulative
distances, we can also work our way around
| | 02:14 |
arcs, and I could see the
perimeter is 75'-4 3/4". Let's try another.
| | 02:20 |
Maybe I would like to measure a Radius.
| | 02:22 |
Let's find out what the
interior radius of my balcony is.
| | 02:26 |
Looks like that's 2'.
| | 02:26 |
I will select Radius again.
| | 02:29 |
Let's find the exterior radius, 2'4".
| | 02:33 |
Let's measure an Angle.
| | 02:34 |
Now, measuring an Angle is the exact
same as creating an angular dimension.
| | 02:38 |
We can select one line and then the other.
| | 02:41 |
Now, notice this is coming up exactly 103 degrees.
| | 02:45 |
Let me select to exit.
| | 02:46 |
It is important to note that the
precision of the measurements we take are
| | 02:50 |
based on our units.
| | 02:51 |
I will open up my Units settings, and
let's change our Angle Precision to three
| | 02:57 |
decimal spaces, and I will click OK.
| | 03:00 |
Let's take that angular measurement again.
| | 03:02 |
I will select this line and this one.
| | 03:06 |
Note the difference.
| | 03:08 |
Let's find an Area.
| | 03:09 |
Maybe I would like to find the total
area of the living space in this apartment.
| | 03:13 |
Let's start with this endpoint, and I
will go to this one, and as I pull down,
| | 03:18 |
notice AutoCAD is giving me a nice visual
representation of the area that I am finding.
| | 03:22 |
Let me grab this endpoint. I will
back up a little bit more, and when I am
| | 03:27 |
finished, I will right-click and select Enter.
| | 03:30 |
I can see the area of my apartment
is a little more than 301 square feet.
| | 03:34 |
I am going to find another area.
| | 03:37 |
Let's find the area of the balcony.
| | 03:39 |
Now, the balcony involves a
couple of arcs. No problem.
| | 03:42 |
I will start at the endpoint here, to
the endpoint here, to the endpoint here,
| | 03:47 |
and then I will right-click and I will
select the Arc option, and then I will go
| | 03:52 |
to the endpoint of the arc.
| | 03:53 |
Now, this is very important.
This is a bug in the software.
| | 03:56 |
If I click right here, I should be
grabbing that endpoint, but unfortunately
| | 04:00 |
when I click, notice I
didn't get it. No problem.
| | 04:03 |
I am going to right-click and select
Undo. Now I am still in the Arc option.
| | 04:08 |
I am just going to make sure that my cursor
snaps right to that endpoint. There we go.
| | 04:13 |
Let's right-click, and we
will go back to a Line segment.
| | 04:17 |
Now, you may have noticed by now,
finding an area is just like drawing a
| | 04:20 |
polyline. We have the exact same options.
| | 04:23 |
Let me right-click and I
will select Arc one more time.
| | 04:27 |
We will draw our arc to the endpoint here.
| | 04:30 |
Then I will right-click. I will select Line.
| | 04:33 |
I will draw that to the endpoint here, and
then I will right-click and select Enter.
| | 04:39 |
I can see my total area is
just over 38 square feet.
| | 04:43 |
Now, we can also use this tool to find Volumes.
| | 04:46 |
Let me select Volume, and let's find
the interior volume of our bathroom.
| | 04:51 |
Now, the Volume tool is just like the
Area tool, except when we are done, we
| | 04:55 |
can apply a Height.
| | 04:56 |
Let me grab my four endpoints. When I
am done I will right-click and select
| | 05:02 |
Enter, and now AutoCAD wants a height.
I am going to type 9', and hit Enter.
| | 05:08 |
Since the units of my drawing are inches,
I am getting my value in Cubic inches.
| | 05:13 |
Now, this number may not be the
easiest to deal with, 863,000.
| | 05:17 |
Let me click Exit to get out of the command.
| | 05:18 |
I am going to come down here and
select this value and then I will
| | 05:21 |
right-click and select Copy.
| | 05:23 |
Then I am going to hit Ctrl+8 to
bring up my calculator, and notice the
| | 05:28 |
calculator has a Units Conversion area.
| | 05:31 |
In the Units type, I am going to
make sure this is set to Volume.
| | 05:34 |
Converting from, we will make sure,
once again, that's set to Cubic inches.
| | 05:38 |
We want to convert that to Cubic feet.
| | 05:40 |
Let me click in the value to Convert area,
and then I will right-click and paste
| | 05:45 |
my value, and hit Enter.
| | 05:48 |
I can see that the volume of my
bathroom is almost 500 cubic feet.
| | 05:55 |
Using the new measurement tools in
AutoCAD 2010, we can easily verify the
| | 05:59 |
geometry in our drawing, and we
can do it without having to create
| | 06:02 |
unnecessary dimensions.
| | 06:05 |
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| Changing layer colors using the layer control| 00:01 | Sometimes it's the little
things that make your life easier.
| | 00:03 | For instance, in AutoCAD 2010, we
can now change the color of our layers
| | 00:08 | through the layer Control.
| | 00:09 | On my screen, I've got a mechanical
example, and let's say I'd like to change the
| | 00:13 | color of some of the layers in this drawing.
| | 00:15 | Let's start with my hatch layer.
| | 00:17 | Maybe I'd like to change
this from magenta to red.
| | 00:20 | To do that, I'm going to open up my
layer Control. Then I'll come down to my
| | 00:23 | hatch layer, and, in the past, this
color icon did nothing. Now, if I select
| | 00:29 | it, it brings up AutoCAD's Color Selector,
and I can choose a new color for my layer.
| | 00:33 | As long as I'm at it, I'm going to change
the color of my center lines layer to cyan.
| | 00:43 | While this improvement may not seem
as significant as some of the others,
| | 00:47 | anytime we can make changes to our
layer states, without having to open up the
| | 00:50 | full-blown layer Properties
Manager, we're saving time.
| | 00:54 | And anytime you can decrease your
drawing time, you're increasing your profit.
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| Using common tools to manage referenced files| 00:00 | AutoCAD 2010 has done a great job
consolidating the tools we use to
| | 00:05 | manage reference files.
| | 00:07 | This means we can attach or manage any
referenced file using a single set of tools.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I've got a drawing of the
playground, and this playground is going
| | 00:16 | to be installed at an existing park.
| | 00:18 | Let's start out by
referencing our park geometry.
| | 00:21 | To do that, I'm going to come up to the
Insert tab, and then I'll come over to
| | 00:25 | the Reference panel and click the Attach button.
| | 00:27 | Then we're going to look in the
chapter_04 folder, inside our Exercise Files
| | 00:32 | directory, and I'm going to select this
drawing number, 03_exist_conditions, and
| | 00:37 | I'll click open, and when I attach this,
I'm going to make sure that my Insertion
| | 00:41 | Point, Scale and Rotation boxes
are all unchecked, and I'll click OK.
| | 00:48 | Let's back up a little bit,
and first things first.
| | 00:51 | When we reference a drawing into AutoCAD
2010, it automatically comes in faded back.
| | 00:57 | That way it's easy to tell the
difference between the geometry that's native in
| | 01:00 | our file, and the geometry we're referencing.
| | 01:03 | Now, if you'd like to adjust this
fading value, we can do that by coming up to
| | 01:07 | the Reference panel and clicking this
arrow. If I click and hold on the slider,
| | 01:13 | I can adjust the fading
percentage of my reference drawings.
| | 01:17 | I'd like to reference another file.
| | 01:19 | Let's click Attach, and this
time I'd like this one,
| | 01:22 | 03_detectable_warning.
| | 01:24 | Now, this happens to be an image, and
you know what? Before I select this, I'm
| | 01:28 | going to come down and open up my Files
of type menu, and notice that I can use
| | 01:32 | the Attach button to attach
any type of referenced file.
| | 01:35 | I'm going to select detectable warning,
and we'll click open, and when I attach
| | 01:41 | my image, I'm going to make sure the
Insertion Point and the Scale boxes are both
| | 01:45 | checked, and I'll click OK, and I'll
place my image right here, and I'll drag
| | 01:50 | this out, and click to set its size.
| | 01:53 | Now, maybe I'd like to clip a referenced file.
| | 01:56 | I have a Clip tool that can be
used to clip any type of reference.
| | 01:59 | I'm going to select my drawing
reference. I'll choose New Boundary and
| | 02:05 | Polygonal, and then I'll pick a few
points to define my clipping frame.
| | 02:11 | When I'm finished, I'll
right-click and select Enter.
| | 02:14 | Let's use the same tool to clip this image.
| | 02:17 | I'll select Clip, I'll select the image,
I'll choose new boundary, and then I'll
| | 02:22 | right-click and select
Rectangular for my shape, and I'll click
| | 02:28 | right here and right here to clip my image.
| | 02:33 | I also have a tool that can be used to
adjust the Fade, Contrast and Brightness
| | 02:37 | settings for any
referenced file that supports it.
| | 02:40 | I'm going to click this, and then I'll
select my image, and right-click, and
| | 02:45 | maybe I'd like to adjust its fade value.
| | 02:47 | I'm going to change this to 65, and hit Enter.
| | 02:52 | There's also a tool that will control
the visibility of our Underlaid layers for
| | 02:55 | any reference file that supports it.
| | 02:58 | This tool will control the ability
to snap to reference geometry for any
| | 03:03 | reference file that supports it.
| | 03:05 | Let's take a look at this one.
| | 03:06 | This tool will control the visibility
of the frames around my referenced files.
| | 03:11 | Now, in the past, we had to control our
frames using system variables, like Image
| | 03:15 | Frame, Xclip frame, DGN-Frame, DWF-Frame.
| | 03:20 | Now, I can control all of
my frames by using this tool.
| | 03:23 | I'm going to select Display but don't
plot frames, and notice, I can now see
| | 03:29 | the clipping frame around my reference drawing.
| | 03:32 | I can still adjust my frames
individually if I want. For instance, if I type
| | 03:37 | imageframe, and set this to 0, and
hit Enter, notice I can turn off the
| | 03:43 | frames around my images.
| | 03:46 | Note that that my icon now
shows my Frame Settings Vary.
| | 03:49 | I'm going to turn my frames back on.
| | 03:52 | Let's take a look at this arrow.
| | 03:54 | If I click this it will bring up
my External References Manager.
| | 03:57 | I can use this to view my referenced
files, as well as detach them or bind them
| | 04:02 | to the current drawing.
| | 04:03 | I'm going to close this.
| | 04:05 | Let's look at this. If I select
a reference, notice my ribbon is
| | 04:09 | context-sensitive in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 04:13 | Since I've selected a reference
drawing, I am now seeing tools related
| | 04:17 | to reference drawings.
| | 04:19 | Let's deselect the drawing, and I'll
select my image. I'm now seeing tools that
| | 04:24 | are related to referenced images.
| | 04:25 | I'm going to wrap this up by
removing my clipping boundary from both of
| | 04:30 | my referenced files.
| | 04:31 | I'm going to select Clip, and I'll
grab my drawing. We'll select Delete. I'll
| | 04:37 | select Clip again and grab the
image, and I'll select Delete.
| | 04:42 | By consolidating our reference tools,
AutoCAD 2010 has made it easier than ever
| | 04:47 | to attach and manage any referenced file.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Attaching PDF files as underlays| 00:00 | The most widely used format
for exchanging documents is PDF.
| | 00:04 | Even so, AutoCAD has never been able to
reference a PDF file, that is, until now.
| | 00:10 | In AutoCAD 2010, we can now
attach PDF files to our drawings.
| | 00:14 | ,
In this lesson we're going to
learn how to create a PDF underlay.
| | 00:18 | Now, just for a second, let's assume
I'm a land planner and I'm working on a
| | 00:21 | preliminary design for my client's property.
| | 00:24 | Let's also assume that I requested
a survey for the property, and my
| | 00:28 | surveyor sent me a PDF.
| | 00:30 | I'm going to jump over to Adobe Acrobat.
| | 00:33 | This is the PDF file that I
received from my surveyor.
| | 00:36 | Now my screen resolution is making this
look horrible, so I'm going to open up
| | 00:40 | the Scale menu and select 125%, and
then I'll hold down my Space Bar so I can
| | 00:46 | pan. This looks much better.
| | 00:49 | This is my plat of survey, and I can
see that this drawing was printed at a
| | 00:53 | scale of 1"= 100'.
| | 00:56 | Now, I would like to use this plat
geometry as a background in my AutoCAD file.
| | 01:02 | To do that, I'll attach this PDF as a reference.
| | 01:05 | Let's jump back over to AutoCAD, and
I'll select the Insert tab. We'll come down
| | 01:10 | to the Reference panel and click Attach.
| | 01:13 | And the PDF files located in the chapter_04
folder, inside our Exercise Files directory.
| | 01:19 | It's right here, number 04_plat of survey.
| | 01:23 | Now, just as a side note, if this PDF
file contains several pages, I could
| | 01:27 | select which page I'd
like to attach to my drawing.
| | 01:30 | In this case, I only have the one.
| | 01:32 | I'm going to come down to the Scale
area, and remember, this drawing was
| | 01:35 | printed at a scale of 1"=100', so
I'm going to set my scale to 100, and click OK.
| | 01:42 | Then I'll click to place my
PDF on screen. There it is.
| | 01:46 | Now, if I was using this geometry as a
background, I probably wouldn't want to
| | 01:50 | see my surveyor's title block information.
| | 01:53 | So, I'm going to launch the Clip command,
and I'll select my PDF. I'll choose New
| | 01:58 | Boundary, and then I'll right-click
and select Polygonal for my shape.
| | 02:03 | When I create this, I'm going to turn
off my running Object Snaps, so those
| | 02:06 | don't get in the way.
| | 02:10 | Then I'll create a clipping
boundary around the outside of my geometry.
| | 02:15 | When I'm finished, I'll
right-click and select Enter.
| | 02:18 | That looks much better.
| | 02:19 | Let's select this PDF,
and see what else we can do.
| | 02:23 | Notice I have several
tools associated with PDFs.
| | 02:26 | Right down here, I can adjust the
contrast, or fade of this geometry.
| | 02:31 | If this PDF file were in color, I
could click this button to convert it
| | 02:34 | to black-and-white.
| | 02:36 | I have two additional controls to clip
this geometry or remove the clipping.
| | 02:41 | This button will allow me to
turn the reference file on and off.
| | 02:45 | This one is kind of nice.
| | 02:46 | This is the Enable Snap toggle.
| | 02:48 | Notice this is turned on.
| | 02:50 | That means I can use the
Object Snaps in this PDF.
| | 02:53 | I'm going to turn my
running Object Snaps back on.
| | 02:57 | Let's go to the Home tab, and I'll create
a Circle at the endpoint of the centerline.
| | 03:03 | Now one thing I want to mention.
Don't forget that this is just a PDF.
| | 03:08 | This geometry is not as
accurate as actual surveyed line work.
| | 03:13 | Just to prove that, let's take a measurement.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to launch the Distance command,
and let's find the distance from this endpoint.
| | 03:20 | Notice when I hover, it says, PDF
(approximate), and we'll take our
| | 03:24 | measurement to this endpoint.
| | 03:27 | My distance is 850.82, so it's
approximately 2/10 off the actual dimension.
| | 03:34 | Let's erase the circle, and
I'm going to backup a little bit.
| | 03:38 | Now, notice my geometry looks little awkward.
| | 03:41 | Sometimes when you create line work
or do a distance, your lines double up.
| | 03:45 | I'm going to do a Regen to clean this up.
| | 03:48 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:49 | Let's say our client used some text that
isn't going to be legible on our plats.
| | 03:54 | May be I'd like to turn
some of this information off.
| | 03:57 | Once again, I'll select my PDF,
and then I'll select Edit layers.
| | 04:01 | If your PDF file includes layers, we
can control their display in AutoCAD.
| | 04:05 | I'm going to turn off the Building
Dimensions, and my Building Hatch, and I'll
| | 04:11 | also turn off the Boundary
Dimensions, and I'll click OK.
| | 04:17 | Now, this PDF is ready to be
used as a background in my drawing.
| | 04:20 | Having the ability to reference PDF files
opens up a whole new world of content
| | 04:25 | that can be leveraged inside of AutoCAD.
| | 04:27 | It also makes it easier to share and
display the data created by others.
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| Converting drawings to PDF| 00:00 | To convert our CAD drawings into
PDFs usually required us to purchase
| | 00:03 | additional software.
| | 00:05 | In AutoCAD 2010, we can now print our
drawings directly to PDF, making it easier
| | 00:10 | and less expensive to collaborate with others.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have got a plan & profile sheet.
| | 00:16 | Let's say I would like to send
this drawing to someone as a PDF.
| | 00:18 | One way I can do that is
by using the Plot command.
| | 00:21 | I am going to come up and launch Plot,
and in the Printer Name flyout, I will
| | 00:26 | select DWG to PDF, and that's it.
I could come down and click OK.
| | 00:32 | Generally speaking, the default settings
are going to be fine in most instances.
| | 00:36 | Now for the sake of science, I am
going to come up and click the Properties
| | 00:39 | button, so we can see some of
the things that we can change.
| | 00:43 | First, I will open up the
Graphics group and select Merge Control.
| | 00:48 | These settings address what happens
to overlapping line work in my file.
| | 00:52 | Do I want the lines to overwrite,
or do I want them to merge, in my PDF?
| | 00:57 | Let's select Custom Properties and then I
will click the Custom Properties button.
| | 01:01 | Right up here, I have settings that
will control the resolution of the vector
| | 01:05 | line work in my drawing.
| | 01:07 | Just below, I have settings that control
the resolution of any images in my drawing.
| | 01:12 | Let's take a look at Font Handling.
| | 01:13 | When AutoCAD creates a PDF file, the
text in the PDF will be real text, meaning
| | 01:19 | we can search it in Adobe Acrobat.
| | 01:21 | These radio buttons determine how
I want AutoCAD to handle my fonts.
| | 01:25 | Do I want it to capture none
of them, some of them, or all?
| | 01:30 | If it's set to the Default, I can click
Edit Font List and I can manually choose
| | 01:35 | the fonts that I'd like
to be eligible for capture.
| | 01:37 | I am going to click Cancel because I just
want to leave this to the default settings.
| | 01:41 | Right down here, I can determine if I
want my drawing layers included in my PDF
| | 01:46 | and if I want my PDF file opened
up in a viewer when it's finished.
| | 01:50 | I am going to click OK, and then OK, and
finally, I will click OK to create my PDF file.
| | 01:57 | Now, I am plotting this to my desktop,
and I'm going to keep the default name,
| | 02:01 | and I will click Save, and
here's my PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.
| | 02:07 | Now, my screen resolution is
making this a little difficult to see.
| | 02:10 | I am going to open up the Zoom menu,
and I will select 150%, and I will hold
| | 02:16 | down my spacebar and we'll pan this over.
| | 02:18 | We can look at our PDF geometry.
| | 02:22 | Notice over here, to the left, I have
access to all of my drawing layers.
| | 02:26 | So I can turn off my proposed text if I
wanted to, or my station labels, or my centerline.
| | 02:33 | Remember that I mentioned
that this text is real text.
| | 02:36 | So if I wanted to search a PDF file
that I created in AutoCAD, I can come up to
| | 02:40 | the search area, and I am
going to look for the word 'Benham'.
| | 02:44 | AutoCAD found it right
there. Let me click Next.
| | 02:47 | It found it at my other existing intersection.
| | 02:50 | It's in my title block, and it's
labeling my proposed road connection.
| | 02:55 | Now that we have previewed the
PDF file, let's return to AutoCAD.
| | 02:59 | Another way I can create a PDF from
this drawing is by going to the Output tab
| | 03:04 | and I can click the
Export button and select PDF.
| | 03:07 | Once again, I am going to be
saving my PDF to the desktop.
| | 03:11 | Right over here, I can see my PDF
settings. Notice that these are the same as
| | 03:14 | what we saw when we plotted to PDF.
| | 03:16 | Here is our Merge Control. Are we
including our layer information?
| | 03:21 | Take a look at this, Multi-sheet file.
| | 03:23 | If my AutoCAD drawing has multiple
layouts, I can use this export method to
| | 03:28 | create a Multi-sheet PDF.
| | 03:30 | If I wanted to change any of these
settings, I can click the Options button, and
| | 03:35 | the settings are right here.
| | 03:37 | I can also decide if I want to include a
Plot stamp, if I want to open my PDF in
| | 03:41 | a viewer when it's done.
| | 03:43 | Right now, I'm exporting my current
layout, and my current page setup.
| | 03:47 | Just as a side note, let me mention
that if you export your drawing as a
| | 03:51 | PDF, AutoCAD will not include the
layout name as part of the filename, like
| | 03:56 | it did when we plotted.
| | 03:57 | Let's click Save, and once
again, here's my PDF file.
| | 04:01 | Let's close this and return to AutoCAD.
| | 04:04 | When it comes to exchanging documents,
virtually everyone can open a PDF file.
| | 04:08 | Using the new PDF Output tools in
AutoCAD 2010, it's now easier than ever to
| | 04:13 | collaborate with others.
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| Using Autodesk Seek to find drawing content| 00:00 | Now everybody likes things that are free.
| | 00:02 | It's even better to get
free things that are useful.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, I am going to show you how to
use the Autodesk Seek feature in AutoCAD 2010.
| | 00:10 | Autodesk Seek is a place where you
can download content for your drawings,
| | 00:14 | content that's both free and useful.
| | 00:17 | On my screen, I have got
an architectural example.
| | 00:20 | This is a drawing of a small studio
floor plan, and I'm at the point where I am
| | 00:24 | inserting content. I'm
placing blocks into this floor plan.
| | 00:28 | Let's zoom in on the bathroom area,
and I would like to insert a block that
| | 00:33 | represents the toilet that
I want to put in this room.
| | 00:36 | Now, most people already have their own
in-house block library, but what if I was
| | 00:40 | looking for something specific?
| | 00:42 | What if I wanted a block that exactly
matches the fixture my design called for?
| | 00:47 | Well, I am going to go to the Insert
tab, and then I will come down to the
| | 00:51 | Content panel, and right here, I
can search the Autodesk Seek site.
| | 00:56 | I will type 'toilet', and hit Enter.
| | 00:59 | Now Autodesk Seek is a library of
drawing content that is created by the
| | 01:04 | manufacturers of the products.
| | 01:06 | It's a lot like shopping at a home
improvement warehouse, except I'm shopping
| | 01:10 | for symbols that represent
the products, and it's all free.
| | 01:14 | Since I'm searching for a specific
toilet, I could narrow my search by
| | 01:18 | adjusting these attributes. Instead, I
am just going to come down and select
| | 01:22 | the Champion 4 Elongated Toilet.
| | 01:25 | Now, on the left side, I can see an
image of my fixture, and I have got some
| | 01:29 | product specifications.
| | 01:30 | On the right is where I can find the
content that I can insert into my file.
| | 01:35 | Notice there's one RFA file. If you use
Autodesk Revit, you would use this one.
| | 01:40 | We are using AutoCAD, so we
are interested in the DWGs.
| | 01:43 | Let me click the chevron to open this up,
and I have four variations of this fixture.
| | 01:48 | If I hover over this, we
can see I have a 3-D version.
| | 01:52 | I have a front view, side view, and a plan view.
| | 01:56 | Now this is the first
time I've been on this site.
| | 01:59 | Let me click this thumbnail, and before
I can download content, I have to accept
| | 02:04 | the terms and conditions.
| | 02:05 | Let me run the Add on.
| | 02:10 | We will open this back up, and to
download my content, I am going to reduce the
| | 02:15 | size of my Explorer, and I will
insert the drawing using this eyedropper.
| | 02:21 | All I have to do is click, hold, and drag into
model space, and then release. There is my block.
| | 02:27 | I am going to place this to
the midpoint between two points.
| | 02:31 | Let me turn on my running object snaps,
and I will grab the end point here,
| | 02:35 | and the end point here.
| | 02:36 | Now, if you would like to search the
Autodesk Seek Website, and just browse
| | 02:40 | around and look at the other content
that's available, one way we can do that is
| | 02:44 | by bringing up the Design Center,
and I have got a hyperlink right here.
| | 02:48 | This will take me to the Autodesk Seek
Homepage, where I can view all of the
| | 02:52 | blocks and content that I
can download into my drawings.
| | 02:57 | Let's close this and return to AutoCAD.
| | 02:59 | The next time you're in need of a
specific feature or symbol, try searching
| | 03:03 | the Autodesk Seek site.
| | 03:05 | It's free of charge, and you might
just find exactly what you're looking for.
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|
|
5. Creating a 3D Conceptual DesignIntroducing freeform mesh models| 00:00 |
If you've done any 3-D modeling in
AutoCAD, you will know that your shapes
| | 00:03 |
always had to conform to
strict geometric dimensions.
| | 00:06 |
Well, in AutoCAD 2010, we can now
create free-form organic shapes, using the new
| | 00:11 |
Mesh modeling tools.
| | 00:13 |
On my screen, I have got a drawing that
contains some of the new mesh objects,
| | 00:16 |
and I took the word organic quite literally.
| | 00:19 |
I created these shapes to show you
that, in AutoCAD, we can now model virtually
| | 00:23 |
any 3-dimensional object.
| | 00:25 |
You would create a mesh model
whenever your designs don't require rigid
| | 00:29 |
geometric dimensions, because meshes
are intended to be free-form shapes that
| | 00:33 |
you can literally sculpt
and shape on your screen.
| | 00:35 |
I'm going to adjust the view of my geometry.
| | 00:38 |
To do that, I'll hold down the
Shift key and the wheel on my mouse.
| | 00:41 |
This puts me in the Orbit command.
| | 00:43 |
As I move my mouse, I am now
orbiting around my geometry.
| | 00:46 |
Let me release my buttons, and I will pan
this to the center, and I will orbit some more.
| | 00:53 |
We will be making extensive use of the
Orbit command in the next several lessons.
| | 00:57 |
So now is a good time to play around with
the tool. Make sure you're acclimated to it.
| | 01:01 |
We will also be using the View
cube for some of our standard views.
| | 01:05 |
Notice there are hotspots on this cube.
| | 01:07 |
I am going to click this one to
get a front view of my geometry.
| | 01:10 |
I will click this arrow to get a top view.
| | 01:12 |
I will click this one to get a left side view.
| | 01:15 |
Now there are other hotspots on the cube.
If I click the corners, I can get an
| | 01:19 |
isometric view of my drawing.
| | 01:21 |
Let's zoom in, and we
will center this on screen.
| | 01:24 |
The new Mesh modeling tools in
AutoCAD make it possible for us to create
| | 01:28 |
virtually any 3-dimensional shape.
| | 01:30 |
In the next several lessons, I am
going to show you how to create and edit
| | 01:33 |
3-D Mesh models.
| | 01:36 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating primitive mesh shapes| 00:00 |
All of your mesh modeling will
start out with a primitive shape.
| | 00:03 |
Think of primitives as being the lump
of clay that you start with to begin
| | 00:07 |
shaping your object.
| | 00:08 |
In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to create Mesh Primitives.
| | 00:12 |
I am going to start out by
creating a brand-new drawing.
| | 00:14 |
Let's come up and click New, and I am
going to use the acad 3-D template, since
| | 00:19 |
we are going to be working in 3-D.
| | 00:21 |
Then I want to make sure that we're
using the 3-D tools, so I'll come down to my
| | 00:26 |
Workspace menu and click,
and I will select 3-D modeling.
| | 00:30 |
Now I won't be using this
Tool palette, so I'll close this.
| | 00:33 |
That way I have a little
bit more screen real estate.
| | 00:36 |
Now, let's visit the new Mesh modeling tab.
| | 00:39 |
Right here, in the Primitives panel, if I
click this flyout, I have access to all
| | 00:42 |
of my mesh primitives.
| | 00:44 |
These mesh primitives are the basic
building blocks for creating your free-form design.
| | 00:49 |
Now, you will find that even though these
are 3-dimensional shapes, when we create
| | 00:52 |
them, the workflow is very similar
to their 2-dimensional counterparts.
| | 00:56 |
Essentially, we're just
going to be adding a height.
| | 00:58 |
Let's create a Mesh box.
| | 01:00 |
I am going to pan my drawing over a
little bit, and I'll click once. I'll
| | 01:04 |
click again to define my rectangle, and then
I'll pull up and click to define my height.
| | 01:09 |
At any point, I could've
entered a real dimension.
| | 01:12 |
Let's go back to the menu.
| | 01:13 |
This time I will create a mesh cylinder.
| | 01:15 |
Now if you look at the Command line,
you can see the cylinder is almost
| | 01:18 |
identical to creating a circle.
| | 01:20 |
I will click on screen, and
this time I'll enter a radius.
| | 01:24 |
I going to type 6, and hit Enter,
and then I will pull this up and I will
| | 01:28 |
enter a height of 16.
| | 01:30 |
Let's zoom in on our geometry.
| | 01:32 |
We will orbit this a little bit.
| | 01:34 |
Let's go back to the Primitive menu.
| | 01:36 |
This time I'm going to create a cone.
| | 01:38 |
Now, a cone is exactly the same as a
cylinder, except when we pull up our height,
| | 01:43 |
we are creating a sharp point.
| | 01:45 |
Let's create one more.
| | 01:46 |
We will do the mesh wedge.
| | 01:49 |
Now, the wedge is the exact same as the box,
except the height is applied to one side.
| | 01:53 |
This time, I'll use real dimensions.
| | 01:55 |
Let me click to start the shape, and
then I'll right-click and select Length.
| | 02:00 |
I want this to be accurate, so I'm
going to lock my Ortho by hitting F8, and
| | 02:04 |
I want my length to be 20, I want my
width to be 10, and I want my height to be 10.
| | 02:12 |
Let's stop there and, for a second, take
a look at the mesh primitives that are
| | 02:15 |
supposed to be round.
| | 02:17 |
They don't look very good right now.
| | 02:19 |
We will address how to clean
these guys up a little bit later.
| | 02:22 |
Notice the grid pattern that's on
the outside of these mesh objects.
| | 02:25 |
This pattern is called your Tessellation.
| | 02:28 |
Generally speaking, these
meshes are divided up into faces.
| | 02:31 |
If I hover over this box,
I can see it has 54 faces.
| | 02:34 |
Let me hover over the
cylinder. It has 72 faces.
| | 02:38 |
We do have control over the
number of faces on our mesh primitives.
| | 02:41 |
If I come up and click on this arrow,
right down here, I have Tessellation
| | 02:46 |
settings for each of my mesh primitives.
| | 02:49 |
Let's select Box, and I am going to
change this to 6 length divisions, 6 width
| | 02:55 |
divisions and 6 height
divisions, and I will click OK.
| | 03:00 |
Let's pan this over, and
I will create another box.
| | 03:02 |
I will pick one point, another.
| | 03:05 |
As I pull this up I am being
mindful of my running object snap.
| | 03:08 |
You know what, I am going to
turn that off for a second.
| | 03:10 |
Let me pull this up and click.
| | 03:13 |
Notice the difference in my primitives.
| | 03:15 |
If I hover over this box,
I can see it has 216 faces.
| | 03:19 |
Now the more faces you have, the more
places you can edit your mesh, but more
| | 03:23 |
faces isn't necessarily a great thing.
| | 03:26 |
The more faces you have, the more
taxing your drawing becomes on your
| | 03:29 |
computer, and depending on the object
you're creating, too many faces may make
| | 03:33 |
it difficult to edit.
| | 03:34 |
A little bit later, when we talk
about editing, you'll see how these
| | 03:37 |
Tessellations come into play.
| | 03:39 |
So, for right now, it's probably best
to keep these set at the defaults.
| | 03:45 |
Let's change these back to 3.
| | 03:46 |
I am going to pan this over, and we
will create a couple of more primitives.
| | 03:53 |
Let's create a mesh pyramid.
| | 03:55 |
This is very similar to creating a polygon.
| | 03:57 |
If I right-click and select Sides,
it's exactly like the Polygon command.
| | 04:02 |
I will enter 6, I will pick my center
point, and then I'll pull out to establish
| | 04:06 |
my radius, and then I'll
pull up to set my height.
| | 04:11 |
The Mesh Sphere is just like creating a circle.
| | 04:14 |
I can pick a point on screen, and
then enter my radius or my diameter.
| | 04:20 |
The Torus is also very similar to a circle.
| | 04:23 |
I can select my center point and then
give it the radius or diameter, and I have
| | 04:27 |
one more radius that
defines the size of my tube.
| | 04:32 |
When creating a 3-D model, try and
visualize your design, using these primitive shapes.
| | 04:37 |
You want to choose the primitive that
bears the most resemblance to your object,
| | 04:41 |
and as a side point, see if you can
tell which of these primitives was used to
| | 04:45 |
create the apple and the banana in
the previous exercise. It was this one.
| | 04:49 |
Both of those shapes were
created using a Mesh Cylinder.
| | 04:53 |
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| Smoothing the appearance of a mesh model| 00:00 |
Our Mesh models don't take on a free-
form appearance until they've been smoothed.
| | 00:05 |
In this lesson, we are going to learn how
to apply a smoothing factor to our mesh.
| | 00:09 |
On my screen, I have several
mesh primitives, and when these are created,
| | 00:12 |
they take on kind of an angular appearance.
| | 00:15 |
I'd like to smooth them out a little bit.
| | 00:17 |
To do that, I am going to come up to
the Mesh panel. Note that I'm on the Mesh
| | 00:21 |
modeling tab, and I'll select Smooth More.
| | 00:24 |
I'll select this box, and then I'll
right-click, and my mesh has been smoothed.
| | 00:29 |
Now we can go further.
| | 00:30 |
Let's click Smooth More again. I'll
select the mesh and right-click, and it's
| | 00:34 |
been smoothed even further.
| | 00:36 |
Now, we can actually go up
to four levels of smoothing.
| | 00:39 |
To get there a little faster, I'm going
to select my mesh first, and then I can
| | 00:43 |
come up and click these
Smooth More button two more times.
| | 00:46 |
Also note that when my mesh is selected,
| | 00:48 |
my context-sensitive ribbon gives me
access to the Smooth options, right here.
| | 00:53 |
At any point, if I want to reduce the
smoothing on this mesh, I can click the
| | 00:56 |
Smooth Less button, all the way
back until there's no smoothing.
| | 01:00 |
Now, I've found that when I am working
with meshes, it's a great time to turn on
| | 01:03 |
the Quick Properties, because now,
| | 01:06 |
if I select the mesh, I can see
my smoothing factor right here.
| | 01:10 |
Let's bump this up to 4.
| | 01:12 |
And I'll hit Escape.
| | 01:13 |
Let's apply some smoothing to the pyramid.
| | 01:15 |
I'll select this, and I'll
change this to Level 4 smoothing.
| | 01:20 |
And I'll hit Escape. You know what?
| | 01:22 |
I am going to take care of these last three.
| | 01:24 |
Let's click the flyout, and I'll
apply a Level 2 smoothing to these.
| | 01:29 |
Now I guarantee, at some point, when
you're smoothing your meshes, you are going
| | 01:32 |
to come up and click the Smooth Object
button, and select your mesh, and then
| | 01:36 |
you are going to get this
warning that it can't smooth it.
| | 01:38 |
Let me close this, and now I hit Escape.
| | 01:42 |
You'll probably wonder, "You know
what? What does this command do?"
| | 01:45 |
This tool is used to convert
3D objects into mesh objects.
| | 01:49 |
For instance, I am going to pan my
drawing over, and on my screen, I have a
| | 01:53 |
couple of solid primitives.
| | 01:56 |
I can use this button to turn these
objects into meshes, and since each of
| | 02:02 |
them is now a mesh model, I'll
select both of them, and I'll change their
| | 02:06 |
smoothing factor to 4.
| | 02:10 |
Now that we are familiar with mesh
primitives and smoothing factors, we are
| | 02:14 |
ready to move on to our next lesson,
where we begin sculpting and shaping
| | 02:17 |
our model.
| | 02:19 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Selecting mesh subobjects| 00:00 | The trick to getting a primitive
shape to look like your design involves
| | 00:03 | pushing and pulling your mesh.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to select the parts of our mesh
| | 00:08 | we'd like to change.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I've three mesh primitives,
and to edit a mesh, we'll be using the
| | 00:15 | Subobject panel in our ribbon.
| | 00:17 | In this menu, I'll select what I am
going to change, and in this menu, I'll
| | 00:22 | select how I am going to change it.
| | 00:24 | Now the default change method is Move.
| | 00:26 | Let's leave that alone, and let's
take a look at our selection methods.
| | 00:30 | I have Vertex, Edge, and Face.
| | 00:33 | If we look at the tessellation lines on
our mesh, these large open squares are
| | 00:37 | considered faces, these lines are
considered edges, and every place where two
| | 00:43 | edges intersect, we can find a vertex.
| | 00:46 | I'm going to change my selection
method to Vertex, and to make my selection, I
| | 00:50 | will hold down the Ctrl key on my keyboard.
| | 00:53 | Notice AutoCAD shows me my
vertex icon, at the cursor.
| | 00:57 | I will then select my vertex, and
AutoCAD brings up the Move Gizmo.
| | 01:02 | If I hover over each axis, notice I can
move this vertex in the direction of the
| | 01:06 | Z-axis, the Y-axis, or the X-axis.
| | 01:11 | If I move a little closer to the inside, I
can move this vertex in a particular plane
| | 01:15 | X Y, X Z, or Y Z. I am going to
select the Z-axis, and then I can pull my
| | 01:21 | vertex up or push it down.
| | 01:24 | I'm going to pull it up a
distance of 5 units, and hit Enter.
| | 01:28 | When I'm finished, I'll hit Escape.
| | 01:30 | Let's make another selection.
| | 01:33 | This time I'll set the method to
Edge, and I'll hold my Ctrl key, and
| | 01:37 | I'll select this edge.
| | 01:39 | Once again, I'll select the Z-axis,
and I'll pull this up five units.
| | 01:44 | Notice how the edge influenced
more of my mesh than the vertex did.
| | 01:52 | Now, I know you are thinking it, and you are
right, the face will influence more than an edge.
| | 01:57 | Let's select face. I will hold my Ctrl key,
and I'll select this face. I will the Z-axis.
| | 02:04 | You know what?
| | 02:05 | Let me orbit this a little bit.
| | 02:07 | That's a little better.
| | 02:08 | Let's select the Z-axis,
and I'll pull this up 5 units.
| | 02:13 | So, the selection method you choose will
determine how much of your mesh is modified.
| | 02:20 | Now that we know how to select Sub-
objects and the general effect they have on
| | 02:24 | a mesh, we are ready to move on to our
next lesson, where we will sculpt our
| | 02:27 | first model.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using gizmos to mold and shape a mesh| 00:00 | In this lesson, we're going to use our Mesh
tools to design the deck for a skateboard.
| | 00:04 | Along the way, we'll look at some more
gizmos, and learn some additional ways
| | 00:08 | to select sub-objects.
| | 00:10 | I would like to start out
by creating a new drawing.
| | 00:11 | Let's come up and click New,
and we'll use the acad3D template.
| | 00:16 | I'm going to pan my coordinate system
over a little bit, and I'd like to start
| | 00:21 | the shape of my skateboard
deck using a mesh primitive.
| | 00:24 | So let's go to the Mesh modeling tab,
and I'm going to use the box primitive,
| | 00:28 | but before I launch the tool,
let's adjust our tessellations.
| | 00:32 | I am going to click this arrow to
bring up my Mesh Primitive Options, and I
| | 00:37 | would like my box to have 8 divisions
in the Length, 4 in the Width, and since
| | 00:42 | my deck isn't very tall, I don't need a
lot of tessellations in the Height, so
| | 00:45 | I'll set that to 2, and click OK.
| | 00:48 | Let's create our box. I'll pick a point
on screen, and I'd like to use dimensions.
| | 00:54 | So I'm going to right-click and select Length.
| | 00:57 | Let's make sure this is accurate.
| | 00:59 | I'll lock my ortho.
| | 01:01 | I will enter a Length of 20, a
Width of 6, and a Height of 0.5.
| | 01:07 | And let's zoom in on the geometry.
| | 01:11 | We'll center it on screen.
| | 01:14 | I would like my skateboard
deck to have rounded ends.
| | 01:17 | So I'm going to pull out some of these faces.
| | 01:20 | Let's change our selection mode to Face,
and then I'll hold my Ctrl key, and
| | 01:25 | I'll click this face, and
this one, this one, and this one.
| | 01:30 | We can select multiple sub-objects.
| | 01:33 | I will then select the X axis,
and I'll pull this out 2 units.
| | 01:38 | And when I am finished, I'll hit
Escape to deselect my objects.
| | 01:41 | I would like to do the
same thing to the other side.
| | 01:44 | So let's orbit this around. I'll hold
my Ctrl key and click 1, 2, 3, 4 faces.
| | 01:53 | I'll grab my X-axis, and
we'll pull this out 2 units.
| | 01:57 | Now, let's apply a smoothing factor to this mesh.
| | 02:01 | To do that we'll select it, and I
will bump this up to Level 4 smoothing.
| | 02:06 | Let's switch to a Top view. To do that,
I am going to come over and click the
| | 02:09 | hotspot on my view cube.
| | 02:11 | I am going to zoom in a little bit, and
I would like to pull these edges out a
| | 02:16 | little closer to the end.
| | 02:18 | Now, that will be a difficult selection to make.
| | 02:21 | Here's a trick. I am going to change
this to the Vertex selection mode, and then
| | 02:26 | hold I'll hold my Ctrl key, and make a
crossing window around these edges. That
| | 02:31 | selects all of their vertexes, and
generally speaking, when I make my change, I
| | 02:35 | am getting the same result
as if I had grabbed the edges.
| | 02:39 | Let's select the X-axis, and I will pull
these out 2 units, and I'll do the same
| | 02:44 | thing to the other side.
| | 02:46 | I'll hold my Ctrl key, and I will
select these vertexes. We'll grab the X-axis
| | 02:51 | and pull them out too.
| | 02:53 | Let's take a look at our Front View.
| | 02:55 | I would like to curve the ends of this board up.
| | 03:00 | To do that, I'm going to adjust my
view a little bit, then I'll select all of
| | 03:04 | the vertexes on this end of the board,
and now that they are selected, let's
| | 03:08 | center them on screen.
| | 03:10 | We'll zoom in a little bit, and
let's take a look at a new gizmo.
| | 03:15 | I'll open the menu, and choose Rotate Gizmo.
| | 03:18 | This allows me to rotate my
objects around the X, Y, or Z axis.
| | 03:24 | The center point of my rotation
will be the center point of this gizmo.
| | 03:27 | Now, I don't want to rotate these
objects around the current center point.
| | 03:31 | If I want to move my gizmo to a new
location, I can hover over any of my other
| | 03:35 | selected sub-objects.
| | 03:37 | I would like to rotate these around the
center of this vertex, so I'll hover to
| | 03:41 | place the gizmo here.
| | 03:43 | I'll select the Y-axis, and
I'll rotate this up 25 degrees.
| | 03:49 | That looks pretty good.
| | 03:50 | Let's do the same thing to the other side.
| | 03:53 | I will select my vertexes. I will
hover to place the gizmo. I'll grab the
| | 03:59 | X-axis, and we'll pull this up and type '25'.
| | 04:04 | I'm going to go back to our Top View.
| | 04:06 | I would like to taper this board,
| | 04:08 | so it's little narrower at the middle.
| | 04:10 | I think that would look nice.
| | 04:14 | Let's orbit this around, and I'm going
to change my selection method to Face.
| | 04:19 | I'll hold my Ctrl key and I'll
select these faces, and now that they are
| | 04:23 | selected, let's orbit this around,
and we'll center it on screen a little
| | 04:27 | better, and we'll try another gizmo.
| | 04:30 | This time, we'll open up the menu,
and we'll select the Scale Gizmo.
| | 04:34 | This allows us to change the
size of our selected objects.
| | 04:38 | I can scale them in the X, Y, or Z direction.
| | 04:41 | If I hover over this inner line, I can
apply my scaling factor to the X, Y, and Z axis.
| | 04:47 | If I hover over the outer line, I can
restrict my scale to a particular plane,
| | 04:52 | and the base point for my scaling
will be the base point of this gizmo.
| | 04:55 | Now, I don't want to scale my
objects from the current location,
| | 04:58 | so I'm going to right-click on
the gizmo and select Relocate.
| | 05:03 | This allows me to place my gizmo
using an object snap. I'll hover over this
| | 05:07 | point, and then click to accept it,
and I would like to scale these
| | 05:11 | sub-objects in the X Y plane,
| | 05:13 | that way my board won't
get any taller or shorter.
| | 05:17 | And I would like to apply a scale factor of .5.
| | 05:21 | That looks pretty good.
| | 05:22 | Let's try the same thing to the other side.
| | 05:27 | I'll make my selection.
| | 05:28 | We'll right-click on the
gizmo and select Relocate.
| | 05:32 | I will hover over this end point.
| | 05:33 | Now you may have to be patient.
| | 05:35 | Sometimes you have to wait a little bit.
| | 05:36 | I'll click to accept it, and I would like to
scale this in the X Y plane, a factor of .5.
| | 05:46 | As you can see, the skateboard deck is
starting to take shape. At this point, like
| | 05:51 | I'd like you to open a drawing.
| | 05:52 | Let's come up and click Open, and
I'd like to go into the chapter_5
| | 05:56 | folder, inside our exercise files
directory, and let's select this drawing,
| | 06:00 | mesh_demo, and click Open.
| | 06:03 | Using the techniques we've just seen,
I was able to model several of the
| | 06:06 | components for the skateboard.
| | 06:08 | Now I would like to adjust my view.
b=Because of the way this object is positioned
| | 06:12 | in this drawing, it would be best to go
to the View tab, and then I'll come down
| | 06:17 | to the Orbit menu, and we'll select Free Orbit.
| | 06:19 | This gives us a little bit more control
when we are orbiting around our geometry.
| | 06:23 | I'll keep my cursor inside this green circle,
and then I'll click-and-drag with my mouse.
| | 06:28 | And notice the free-form shape of the
board. This was created using a mesh
| | 06:32 | model, using the same
techniques we've just seen.
| | 06:35 | Let me pan this over, and
we'll take a look at this truck.
| | 06:40 | This was created using a mesh cylinder. As you
can see, I grabbed some vertexes and pulled those up.
| | 06:49 | If I flip this over, you can see that I
grabbed some edges and pulled those out,
| | 06:54 | and then I selected some faces, and pushed
those down to create this shape of the part.
| | 06:59 | Using gizmos, we can push or pull
our mesh into virtually any shape.
| | 07:04 | When you look at your designs now,
try and look beyond primitive shapes.
| | 07:08 | See if you can visualize the modified
primitives that make up the objects.
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| Applying creases to a mesh| 00:00 |
When we apply a smoothing factor to
our mesh, it smoothes the entire model.
| | 00:04 |
There may be times, though, when you'd
like to preserve some of your hard edges.
| | 00:07 |
In cases like this, we can use the Crease
tool to sharpen up the edges of a mesh model.
| | 00:12 |
On my screen, I have a mesh that
represents the head portion of a spray bottle,
| | 00:16 |
and to give you a better idea of what this
object represents, I'm going to turn on a layer.
| | 00:20 |
I'll type layer, and hit Enter. This
brings up our layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:25 |
I'm going to turn on layer extras,
and we'll be using the layer Properties
| | 00:28 |
Manager a couple more times in this lesson.
| | 00:30 |
So I'm going to right-click on this
mast, and select Anchor Left, to anchor
| | 00:34 |
this to my interface. There we go.
| | 00:36 |
That should give you a better idea
of the object that I am working on.
| | 00:39 |
I'm going to turn off layer extras, and
let's apply a smoothing factor to this mesh.
| | 00:44 |
I'll select the Mesh, and I'd
like to apply a Level 4 smoothing.
| | 00:49 |
Now, when I do this, keep an eye on
the front of the part where the nozzle is
| | 00:52 |
going to be attached.
| | 00:55 |
Notice that after the smoothing
is applied, the front of my part is
| | 00:57 |
significantly warped.
| | 00:59 |
Unfortunately, this isn't going to work.
I would really have preferred to retain
| | 01:03 |
the sharp edge on the front of my Mesh.
| | 01:05 |
To fix this problem, I'm going
to use the Add Crease button.
| | 01:08 |
Add Crease allows me to sharpen the
edges of a mesh model, and in this
| | 01:12 |
application, I'm going to
set my Selection mode to edge.
| | 01:15 |
I'll select these edges.
| | 01:18 |
I do not have to use the Ctrl
Key, by the way, to select these.
| | 01:21 |
I can just pick them off the screen.
| | 01:22 |
Let me orbit this around, and I will
select the remaining edges, and when I'm
| | 01:28 |
finished, I will right-click, and I will
hit Enter to accept a crease value of Always.
| | 01:34 |
Using the Add Crease tool, I can have
a smooth mesh model, while still having
| | 01:38 |
control over the location of my hard edges.
| | 01:42 |
Let's take a look at the bottom of this object.
| | 01:44 |
I would like to sharpen up these edges as well.
| | 01:47 |
I'll select Add Crease,
and I'll select these edges.
| | 01:52 |
Let's orbit this around, I'll grab the
remaining two, I'll right-click and hit
| | 01:57 |
Enter to accept Always.
| | 01:59 |
Now my model has a sharp crease along
the bottom, but you know what? This crease
| | 02:02 |
is a little too sharp. Maybe
I'd like to soften this a bit.
| | 02:05 |
Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 02:08 |
I'm going to select the Remove Crease tool,
and we will remove the crease from these edges.
| | 02:14 |
I will select Add Crease again, and I'll
show you how we can add these a different way.
| | 02:19 |
Let me re-select these. We'll orbit this around.
| | 02:26 |
I'll get the last two and I'll right-
click, and now, instead of accepting Always,
| | 02:30 |
I'm going to enter a crease value.
| | 02:32 |
In this case, I'm going to enter a value of 3.
| | 02:34 |
Now here's what this number signifies.
| | 02:36 |
This is the maximum smoothing factor
where my crease will still appear sharp.
| | 02:40 |
That means that any smoothing
factor above this number, and my crease
| | 02:43 |
will smooth as well.
| | 02:44 |
So the lower you set your crease value,
the softer your crease will appear.
| | 02:48 |
If we zoom in on this, you can see that I
still have a crease, but it's a little
| | 02:51 |
softer than it was before.
| | 02:53 |
Now that I am finished with my
part, let's restore layer extras.
| | 03:01 |
If the time comes where smoothing your
entire model isn't helpful, you can use
| | 03:05 |
the Crease tool to
preserve any of your hard edges.
| | 03:09 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Making fine adjustments by revising mesh tessellation| 00:00 | When we create a mesh model, the number
of faces we have is based on our original
| | 00:04 | tessellation settings.
| | 00:06 | Fortunately, we're not stuck with this number.
| | 00:08 | If we want to make detailed revisions to a
mesh, we can always add faces if necessary.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how
to revise the tessellation of our mesh.
| | 00:17 | On my screen, I have two mesh primitives.
Each of these are boxes, and both of them
| | 00:22 | have a smoothing factor applied of level 4.
| | 00:26 | One way I can revise my tessellation
is by using the Split Mesh Face tool.
| | 00:31 | This allows me to split a face into two parts.
| | 00:34 | Now when I launch the command, I am
going to make sure that my Selection
| | 00:37 | filter is set to Face. I will then
select the face I'd like to split, and as I
| | 00:42 | move my cursor around the edge of this face,
notice AutoCAD is showing me a small knife icon.
| | 00:48 | This is identifying the
places where I can start my split.
| | 00:51 | Now this is not a
precision tool. Keep that in mind.
| | 00:54 | I am going to click right here to start
my split, and notice as I move my cursor
| | 00:59 | around the edges, AutoCAD is showing
me the result of my split, if I was to
| | 01:03 | choose this location.
| | 01:04 | I'm going to click right here, and I've just
split that face in the two faces. You know,
| | 01:09 | as long as we're using the mesh edit
panel, notice we can also extrude faces.
| | 01:14 | If I select this command and hold my
control key, I can select this face, and
| | 01:18 | right-click. I can then pull it up or
push it down to further refine my model.
| | 01:24 | If you'd like to make even more detailed
revisions, we can use the Refine Mesh tool.
| | 01:29 | Let's select this, and then I'll
select this mesh model and right-click, and
| | 01:35 | notice, I have an insane number of faces.
| | 01:37 | You probably don't want to
do that. Let me click Undo.
| | 01:41 | The best way to use this tool is
to apply it to selected faces only.
| | 01:45 | I'm going to launch the command again,
and then I'll hold my control key, and
| | 01:49 | I'll select this face, and right-click.
| | 01:52 | Let's zoom in, and we can see that my
face has been divided up into multiple faces.
| | 01:58 | Let's make a change.
| | 01:59 | I am going to use the Vertex Selection mode.
| | 02:03 | I'll hold my control key and I'll
select this Vertex. I'll select the Z-axis,
| | 02:08 | and I'll pull this up.
| | 02:11 | Using the Refine Mesh tool, I can make
fine detailed adjustments to my model,
| | 02:16 | because the more faces you have, the less
impact your revisions have on the rest of your mesh.
| | 02:20 | I am going to adjust one more. We'll
click right here, and we'll pull this up.
| | 02:26 | Now that we understand the basics of
revising our tessellation, let's try and
| | 02:30 | use this skill in a practical example.
| | 02:33 | I am going to back up, and we'll pan
over a little bit, and I am going to adjust
| | 02:37 | my view to a right side view.
| | 02:41 | On my screen, I've got a standard
spray bottle, and I would like to add some
| | 02:45 | finger grips to the neck area, so
that is a little easier to hold.
| | 02:49 | Now this is going to require a detailed
change, and I don't really have enough
| | 02:53 | faces on the front of the neck to
support all of the finger grips.
| | 02:57 | So I am going to add some faces.
| | 02:59 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:00 | I'll be using the Refine Mesh tool, but
before I do that, I am going to select
| | 03:06 | my bottle, and I am going to
move the smoothing factor down to 2.
| | 03:11 | By having my smoothing factor at a
lower number, AutoCAD will divide up my
| | 03:14 | faces into fewer parts.
| | 03:16 | I am going to select Refine Mesh, and
then I'll make sure my selection method is
| | 03:20 | set to Face. I'll hold my control key
and I'll grab this face, this one, this
| | 03:26 | one, and this one, this one, and
this one, and I'll right-click.
| | 03:29 | Then I select my model, and we'll
change our smoothing level back to 4.
| | 03:34 | I am going to zoom-in a little bit,
then I'll switch my selection method to
| | 03:40 | Edge, I'll hold my control key, and
I'll grab this edge, and this one, and this
| | 03:45 | one, this one, and I'll work my way around.
| | 03:52 | This is why it's nice not to have a
thousand faces on the front of this bottle.
| | 03:56 | Let me orbit this around a little bit.
| | 04:01 | I'll get the remaining edges. We'll
orbit this back. I will then select my
| | 04:06 | Y-axis, and I'll pull this back.
| | 04:09 | Now since this is meant to be an
organic model, I could free pick a point on
| | 04:12 | screen, but to make sure your drawing
matches mine, I am going to pull this back
| | 04:16 | at a distance of 0.25.
| | 04:20 | Using the Split Face, and Refine Mesh
tools, we can make detailed revisions to a
| | 04:24 | model, even if it was created
using a small number of faces.
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| Converting a mesh into a solid| 00:00 | You may be wondering if it's possible to
use Boolean functions on our mesh objects,
| | 00:05 | commands like union, or subtract, or intersect.
| | 00:08 | Unfortunately, this can't be done, but
if we'd like to use these functions, we
| | 00:12 | can always convert our mesh into a solid.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how
to convert a mesh model into a solid model.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have a mesh that
represents the body of a video game controller,
| | 00:24 | and I am at the point where I'd like to
start drilling holes in this object to
| | 00:27 | make room for my buttons and components.
| | 00:30 | As long as this object is a mesh,
I am afraid I can't do that.
| | 00:34 | So, to make my revisions, I am going
to convert this mesh into a solid.
| | 00:38 | The tool I'll use is in the
Convert Mesh panel of our ribbon.
| | 00:42 | Its right here, Convert to Solid, and
before I launch this, let's open up this
| | 00:46 | menu and take a look at our conversion options.
| | 00:49 | Do I want a smooth solid or a faceted solid?
| | 00:52 | Do I want my solid to retain the same
number of faces as my mesh, or would I
| | 00:57 | like to merge the faces?
| | 00:58 | I am going to select Smooth optimized.
I'll click Convert to Solid. I'll select
| | 01:04 | my mesh, and right-click,
and that's all there is to it.
| | 01:08 | If I hover over this, we
can see it's now a 3-D solid.
| | 01:12 | So all of the Boolean functions are fair game!
| | 01:14 | Let us turn on a layer.
| | 01:16 | I am going to open up my layer
Properties Manager, and we'll turn on layer Drill.
| | 01:21 | These shapes represent the volume
that I'd like to remove from this part.
| | 01:25 | So I am going to go to the Home tab, and
in the Solid Editing panel, I'll select
| | 01:30 | the Subtract Command.
| | 01:31 | I'll select the overall part and right-
click, and then I'll select the objects
| | 01:37 | that I'd like to subtract, and right-click.
| | 01:41 | As you can see, they've
been removed from my model.
| | 01:43 | I am going to turn on another layer.
| | 01:47 | Let's turn on the Slice layer.
| | 01:50 | This contains a surface that I created, that
I'd like to use to slice this into two parts.
| | 01:56 | Once again, we'll go to the solid
editing panel, and select the slice command.
| | 02:00 | I'll select my solid and right-click,
and then I will right-click and select
| | 02:05 | surface as the object I'd
like to use to do my slicing.
| | 02:09 | We'll select this surface, and then
I'll hit the Enter key on my keyboard to
| | 02:13 | complete the command.
| | 02:15 | Now I don't need the surface anymore,
so I'll select this, and I'll hit the
| | 02:18 | Delete key on my keyboard to Erase.
| | 02:21 | If I hover over my solid, we can see that
it has been sliced into two distinct parts.
| | 02:25 | I am going to select the lower
half, and let's change its color.
| | 02:29 | I'd like this to be a little brighter
white, so we'll select 255 and click OK.
| | 02:34 | There we go. Now we can see the difference.
| | 02:39 | Finally, we'll go back to the layer
Properties Manager, and we'll turn on the
| | 02:42 | Extras layer that contains my buttons
and components, and as I orbit this, you
| | 02:48 | can get an idea of what the
final part will look like.
| | 02:52 | So, even though Boolean functions are
not possible on a mesh object, we can use
| | 02:57 | any of these tools by simply
converting our mesh into a solid.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Well, we've reached the end.
| | 00:02 | Let me say it's been a pleasure
working with you these past couple hours.
| | 00:05 | I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
| | 00:08 | Even though our time together is
over, it's now your time to take your
| | 00:11 | new cutting-edge skills, and
advance your career in the world of
| | 00:14 | production drafting.
| | 00:15 | Good luck!
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