WelcomeWelcome| 00:05 | Hi! My name is Jeff Bartels, and I would
like to welcome you to the AutoCAD 2011
| | 00:09 | Essential Training title.
| | 00:10 | AutoCAD is one of the most widely
recognized programs in the world.
| | 00:14 | It's the industry standard for 2D
drafting and design, and if I might add, for
| | 00:19 | 3D conceptual design, it's no slouch either.
| | 00:23 | So if you are looking to increase
your skill set or broaden your employment
| | 00:27 | horizons, this is your perfect opportunity.
| | 00:29 | We'll start our training by
looking at AutoCAD's interface.
| | 00:32 | I will show you how the tools
are arranged and how to use them.
| | 00:36 | At first glance, AutoCAD may seem a
little intimidating, so we'll also look at
| | 00:40 | how you can get answers to
any questions you may have.
| | 00:43 | Next, we'll work together
to create some simple shapes.
| | 00:46 | All the while, I will be reinforcing
drafting fundamentals, accuracy, and drawing units.
| | 00:52 | After covering the basics, I will show
you how to modify your geometry to create
| | 00:56 | more complex designs.
| | 00:58 | Next, we'll learn how to annotate
our drawings and prepare them for
| | 01:01 | construction, and I will show you how
to use AutoCAD's dimensioning tools to
| | 01:05 | accurately document your design.
| | 01:07 | Finally, we'll learn how to create a
hard copy of our work, that is printed to a
| | 01:11 | measurable scale using a
standardized title block.
| | 01:15 | The beauty of this course
is that its industry neutral.
| | 01:17 | You can take what you learn here
and apply it to any discipline.
| | 01:20 | So if you've always wanted to learn
AutoCAD from the ground-up and you are
| | 01:24 | ready to share your designs with the
rest of the world, follow me and we'll get started.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:01 | If you are a Premium member of the Lynda.com
Online Training Library or if you
| | 00:05 | are watching this tutorial on a disk,
you have access to the Exercise Files use
| | 00:10 | throughout this title.
| | 00:11 | Now, I have placed my Exercise Files
folder on my Desktop, you can place
| | 00:15 | yours wherever you like.
| | 00:17 | I have organized the folders based on
the chapter number and inside each folder
| | 00:22 | are the drawings we'll
use throughout that chapter.
| | 00:25 | In many cases, if I thought it was helpful,
I have left you with the finished example.
| | 00:29 | If you are a monthly or annual
subscriber to Lynda.com, but you don't have
| | 00:33 | access to the Exercise Files, you can
follow along with your own drawings.
| | 00:38 | Let's get started.
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|
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1. Touring the InterfaceUnderstanding model space| 00:00 | Well, this is where our journey begins.
| | 00:02 | As you can see, I am
currently sitting at my Desktop.
| | 00:04 | I am going to launch AutoCAD 2011
by double-clicking on this icon.
| | 00:08 | I'll wait until everything comes up
on screen and then we'll continue.
| | 00:11 | Let me mention that I am working with
a fresh install of AutoCAD, because of
| | 00:15 | that I am being greeted
with this Welcome Screen.
| | 00:17 | Now, the Welcome Screen contains
several Getting Started Videos.
| | 00:20 | Each of these icons represents a
video that you can watch, that covers a
| | 00:24 | specific AutoCAD topic.
| | 00:26 | Watching these videos will give you a nice
general overview of how the program is used.
| | 00:30 | Just beneath the videos are some
additional resources that you can explore that
| | 00:34 | will also help you learn how to use the program.
| | 00:36 | I would strongly encourage you to take
some time and review this information.
| | 00:40 | you may find it very helpful.
| | 00:41 | At the bottom of the Welcome Screen is
a checkbox that controls whether we'll
| | 00:45 | see this Welcome Screen the
next time we launch AutoCAD.
| | 00:48 | I am going to remove the check and then
I am going to move up and click the X to
| | 00:51 | close the dialog box.
| | 00:53 | At any point in the future if I would
like to review the information on the
| | 00:56 | Welcome Screen, I can bring it back by
clicking this small arrow in the upper
| | 01:00 | right corner and I can select
Welcome Screen from the menu.
| | 01:04 | Now, before we get started talking
about the interface components, I would like
| | 01:07 | to make sure that your
screen looks the same as mine.
| | 01:10 | To do that, I would like you to
come up to the upper left corner of the
| | 01:12 | interface and click this flyout,
this is our Workspace Menu.
| | 01:16 | I would like you to select the 2D
Drafting & Annotation Workspace.
| | 01:20 | This is a default workspace that
comes preinstalled with AutoCAD 2011.
| | 01:24 | Now that you have made that
selection, your screen should look
| | 01:27 | reasonably identical to mine.
| | 01:28 | The first part of the interface I would like
to talk about is this large area in the middle.
| | 01:32 | This is called Model Space and
it's our virtual drafting board.
| | 01:36 | This is where we create all of our geometry.
| | 01:38 | The nice thing about Model Space is that
it's infinite in size, that means I can
| | 01:42 | draw anything I want at
full scale or one-to-one.
| | 01:45 | Back in the old days, when we drafted
with paper and pencil, we used to draw our
| | 01:49 | geometry to a scale, such that it
would fit on our sheet of paper.
| | 01:53 | Now that we are using a computer,
we don't have any of those concerns.
| | 01:56 | We can draw everything at true size.
| | 01:58 | Now, the type of drafting we will be
doing in this title is 2D Drafting.
| | 02:02 | AutoCAD is also capable of working with
3D Geometry, that's what this tool is for.
| | 02:07 | This tool is called the View Cube, and we
use this tool to adjust our view in 3D space.
| | 02:12 | Now, we won't be using this tool in the
title, but I would like to show you some
| | 02:16 | of its functions in the event you
accidentally click on it, you will be able to
| | 02:19 | restore a default view.
| | 02:21 | As I move my cursor over the View
Cube, we can see several hotspots.
| | 02:24 | I am going to click this hotspot in
the lower right corner, and notice when I
| | 02:28 | do, AutoCAD adjusts my view in 3D space.
| | 02:32 | I am now viewing my drafting board
from a southeast asymmetric view.
| | 02:36 | There are several other hotspots on
the Cube, feel free to explore and click
| | 02:40 | these as much as you like.
| | 02:41 | The view that we started with or
the default view is a Top View.
| | 02:45 | To restore Top View, you can click
the Top hotspot on the View Cube.
| | 02:49 | Now, take a look at these arrows
in the upper right hand corner.
| | 02:52 | Each time I click an arrow, I can rotate
my drafting board in 90 degree increments.
| | 02:57 | You can use these arrows if necessary
to rotate the drafting board, such that
| | 03:01 | north is pointing up on your screen.
| | 03:03 | Take a look at these tabs at the bottom left.
| | 03:06 | As you can see, Model Space is
represented as a tab in the interface.
| | 03:09 | Now, these tabs work very
similar to the tabs in Microsoft Excel.
| | 03:13 | We can jump from one tab to the
other by clicking on the tab name.
| | 03:16 | Let's take a look at Layout1.
| | 03:18 | As you can see, this tab
looks a lot like a sheet of paper.
| | 03:21 | That's because it is a sheet of paper.
| | 03:23 | All AutoCAD drawings by default come
with two generic layouts that we can set up
| | 03:27 | to plot our geometry.
| | 03:29 | Now, we'll talk more about layouts
when we get into our chapter on plotting.
| | 03:32 | For right now, I am going to click
the Model tab to return to Model Space.
| | 03:36 | Model Space is where all
of our designs take shape.
| | 03:39 | It's our virtual drafting board,
capable of handling a project of any size.
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| Accessing AutoCAD's tools| 00:00 | Let's take a second and talk about how
we access our tools in AutoCAD and how
| | 00:04 | those tools are organized on our screen.
| | 00:06 | This area at the top of the screen is
called the Ribbon, and the Ribbon contains
| | 00:10 | the majority of our tools.
| | 00:12 | Now the Ribbon is divided up into these
tabs and we can jump from one tab to the
| | 00:16 | other by clicking on the tab name.
| | 00:19 | This gives us access to the tools on each tab.
| | 00:21 | Think of the Ribbon as being a large
tool-chest, and each tab represents a
| | 00:25 | drawer in the chest.
| | 00:27 | The tab we'll be using most
often in this title is the Home tab.
| | 00:30 | So I am going to click to return to Home.
| | 00:33 | Now each tab is divided up into these
panels, and a panel represents a small
| | 00:37 | collection of tools.
| | 00:39 | For instance, the Draw panel
contains the tools we would use to create
| | 00:43 | geometry, and the Modify panel contains tools
we would use to make changes to our geometry.
| | 00:49 | In some cases, the panel
name will contain a fly-out.
| | 00:52 | If you click the fly-out, it will
maximize the panel on screen, giving you
| | 00:55 | access to even more tools.
| | 00:57 | If you move your cursor off the panel,
it will collapse back to its normal state.
| | 01:01 | If you'd like the panel to stay in the
expanded state, you can click this Pushpin.
| | 01:06 | As long as the Pushpin is in, that
panel will remain maximized on screen.
| | 01:10 | I am going to click to remove the
Pushpin and I'll let the panel collapse.
| | 01:14 | Let's jump to the Annotate tab.
| | 01:16 | Notice that some of these panels
contain a small downward facing arrow.
| | 01:21 | This icon represents that there is a dialog
box associated with the tools on this panel.
| | 01:26 | For instance, if I click the icon on
the Text panel, AutoCAD brings up a dialog
| | 01:30 | box that I can use to create a Text Style.
| | 01:33 | Now, we'll talk about Text Styles a little
later when we get into the chapter on Annotation.
| | 01:37 | So for right now, I am going to
click the X to close the dialog box.
| | 01:41 | Once again, I am going
to return to the Home tab.
| | 01:44 | Let's look at some of the other places
in the interface where we can find tools.
| | 01:46 | I am going to move up and click the
big red letter A. This opens up the
| | 01:51 | Application menu and the Application
menu is where I can find tools related
| | 01:55 | to file maintenance.
| | 01:56 | For instance, I can use this menu to
create a new drawing or open a drawing.
| | 02:01 | I can use this menu to save my drawings,
print them, send them to others, and I
| | 02:05 | can access Drawing Utilities.
| | 02:07 | All of the tools in this menu are
associated with the drawing file itself.
| | 02:11 | Just for a second, take a look at the
icons that are associated with these commands.
| | 02:15 | Notice that several of these same
icons are at the top of our screen.
| | 02:19 | This is called our Quick Access
Toolbar and this toolbar does just that.
| | 02:23 | It gives us quick access to
the tools that we use most.
| | 02:26 | I am going to move my cursor back
into Model space, and then I'll hit the
| | 02:29 | Escape key a couple of
times to close the Application menu.
| | 02:32 | In addition to the Quick Access toolbar
there is another toolbar on our screen.
| | 02:36 | It's over here on the right side
and it's called the Navigation Bar.
| | 02:39 | The Navigation Bar contains tools we
can use to navigate around in our drawing.
| | 02:44 | Tools like Pan and Zoom
are located on this toolbar.
| | 02:47 | Now, we'll be talking more about
specific tools and their functions as we
| | 02:50 | progress through this title.
| | 02:52 | One thing is certain, as you become
more acquainted with the Ribbon and the
| | 02:55 | additional tools, you'll discover
that they are very well organized.
| | 02:58 | making it easy to find
the right tool for the job.
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| Leveraging dockable palettes| 00:00 | Probably the most versatile components
we have in our interface are palettes.
| | 00:04 | Palettes give us quick access to
drawing content, properties, and commands.
| | 00:08 | Let's look at how we can
apply them to our workspace.
| | 00:11 | If we look right down here in the
Palettes panel, we can see that we have
| | 00:14 | several palettes available.
| | 00:15 | There are 15 icons here and each of
these guys represents a palette that
| | 00:19 | serves a specific purpose.
| | 00:21 | Fortunately, all of the
palettes work the exact same way.
| | 00:24 | Now, one of the palettes we'll be
using frequently in this title is
| | 00:27 | the Properties palette.
| | 00:28 | We would use this tool to make
changes to the geometry in our drawing.
| | 00:32 | So I am going to click the Properties
icon to bring the palette up on screen.
| | 00:36 | The first thing we notice is
that palettes are quite large.
| | 00:38 | Now we can move them around,
such that they are not in the way.
| | 00:42 | I can do that by clicking-and-holding
on this Title Bar and I can drag this guy
| | 00:45 | wherever I like on screen.
| | 00:47 | If I want to adjust its width or height,
I can click-and-hold on the edge of the
| | 00:51 | palette and I can drag to adjust its width.
| | 00:54 | I can click-and-hold down at the bottom,
and I can drag to adjust its height.
| | 00:58 | If I drag the palette close to the edge
of my screen, notice how the shape changes.
| | 01:02 | If I release my mouse button at this point,
the palette will be docked to the interface.
| | 01:07 | And even though it's docked,
I can still adjust its width.
| | 01:10 | If I click-and-hold on this divider, I
can change this guy to whatever size I like.
| | 01:14 | Just to give you a preview of how this
palette works, let's say, I'd like to
| | 01:18 | change the size of this circle.
| | 01:19 | I am going to click to select it, and
then I'll come over to the Properties
| | 01:23 | palette, and I'll click in the
Radius field, and I'll change this to 0.75
| | 01:28 | and I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:29 | Notice how the geometry
changes instantly on screen.
| | 01:32 | Now that I am finished, I'll press my
Escape key to deselect the circle.
| | 01:36 | As you can see, the Properties
palette can be a very powerful tool.
| | 01:39 | However, it's still taking up a lot of space.
| | 01:41 | Let me show you how we can optimize
the size of our palettes on screen.
| | 01:45 | If I move up and click this Minimize
button, the palette will collapse down to
| | 01:49 | the margin of my interface.
| | 01:51 | Now if I want to use the tool, I can
place my cursor into the margin and the
| | 01:55 | palette will open up.
| | 01:56 | Once again, I can adjust its width
by clicking-and-dragging on this edge.
| | 01:59 | When I am finished using the tool, I can move
my cursor out and the palette will collapse.
| | 02:04 | We can take this concept one step farther.
| | 02:06 | If I right-click on this margin, I can
select Icons Only, and this will reduce
| | 02:11 | the palette down to a single icon.
| | 02:13 | Think about this for a second.
| | 02:15 | This means I could have several
palettes on my screen, only taking up a small
| | 02:19 | amount of real estate.
| | 02:20 | Anytime I want to use the palette, I can
place my cursor over the icon, use the tool.
| | 02:25 | When I am finished, I move away, and
it goes back to the minimized state.
| | 02:28 | If the time comes where I'd like to
convert this palette back to a docked state,
| | 02:32 | I can click this Auto-hide button.
| | 02:34 | This turns off the Auto-hide feature and
leaves the palette docked on my screen.
| | 02:38 | If I wanted to remove the palette
from my screen, I could click this X.
| | 02:42 | although, as I mentioned earlier, we'll be
using this palette frequently in the title.
| | 02:45 | So I am going to keep it turned on for now.
| | 02:48 | However, I am going to click this
Minimize button now, so it takes up the
| | 02:51 | least amount of space.
| | 02:52 | Palettes are by far the most
versatile component in our interface.
| | 02:55 | They can pack the functionality of an
entire dialog box beneath a single icon.
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| Monitoring the Status bar| 00:00 | The area at the very bottom of
the screen is called the Status Bar.
| | 00:03 | Among other things, the Status Bar
provides us information about the current
| | 00:07 | state of our Mode Settings.
| | 00:09 | Take a look at this role of icons.
| | 00:11 | Each of these guys represents a specific mode.
| | 00:13 | Now, some of these modes control the
appearance of our drawing environment,
| | 00:17 | others affect the way AutoCAD
behaves when we are constructing geometry.
| | 00:21 | Now, we'll talk about the
functions of each of these modes as we
| | 00:24 | progress through the title.
| | 00:25 | For right now, I want you to understand
that these icons represent toggles that
| | 00:29 | can be used to turn the modes on and off.
| | 00:32 | If you hover over an icon, AutoCAD will tell
you what Mode Setting that Toggle controls.
| | 00:37 | If an icon appears blue, it
means the mode is turned on.
| | 00:40 | If it's grey, it's turned off.
| | 00:41 | Let's take a look at this one.
| | 00:42 | the third one from the left side.
| | 00:44 | As you can see, this one controls our
Grid Display, and it's blue, so it's
| | 00:48 | obviously turned on.
| | 00:49 | I am going to click to turn it off, and as
you can see the grid disappears in Model space.
| | 00:54 | Let's turn this back on, and what I'd
like you to do at this point is turn the
| | 00:58 | rest of these Mode Settings off.
| | 01:00 | Go right down the line and click each of
these guys and make sure that they are grey.
| | 01:04 | This will ensure that at least for
right now, your Mode Settings match mine.
| | 01:08 | Now don't worry, as we go through the
lessons, you will learn what each of
| | 01:11 | these settings does, and at that point,
you can determine which modes you want
| | 01:14 | to turn on and off. One more thing.
| | 01:16 | as we work on the tutorials,
keep an eye on my Status Bar.
| | 01:20 | If your AutoCAD doesn't appear to be
functioning like my AutoCAD, make sure our
| | 01:24 | Mode Settings match.
| | 01:25 | This will most likely solve the problem.
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| Understanding the anatomy of a command| 00:00 | As you can see, I've just launched
AutoCAD 2011, and I'm sitting in the
| | 00:04 | default Drawing1 file.
| | 00:05 | I'd like to take this opportunity to
talk about the AutoCAD commands themselves.
| | 00:09 | We're going to look at the workflow
behind each command, because you know what,
| | 00:13 | they all work the same way.
| | 00:14 | In this lesson, we're going to
explore the anatomy of a command.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to start by
moving up to the Draw Panel.
| | 00:20 | I'll click to launch the Line command.
| | 00:22 | Now, take a look at this area
at the bottom of the screen.
| | 00:24 | This is called the command Line.
| | 00:25 | This is where AutoCAD speaks to us and
tells us what it needs to complete the command.
| | 00:30 | Right now it wants me to specify first point.
| | 00:33 | So I'm going to left-click a point on
my screen to start my line and then I'll
| | 00:37 | click a few more points. There we go.
| | 00:41 | Take a look at the command Line now.
| | 00:43 | I can specify another point or I've got
some text here in between these brackets.
| | 00:48 | The choices between the
brackets are sub-options.
| | 00:51 | And a sub-option is just an
additional feature that can be accessed within
| | 00:54 | the current command.
| | 00:56 | Now, there's two ways to access a sub-option.
| | 00:58 | One way is by using your keyboard.
| | 01:00 | You can type the
capitalized letter of the option.
| | 01:03 | For instance, if I wanted to undo one
segment, I can type u and hit Enter.
| | 01:09 | Let's back up one more.
| | 01:10 | I'll type u and hit Enter.
| | 01:12 | Now, another way we can access
sub-options is using the right-click menu.
| | 01:16 | If I right-click, I can see
the sub-options right here.
| | 01:20 | Once again, to back up a
segment, I'll select Undo.
| | 01:23 | I'm going to right-click again and then
I'll select Close to close this shape.
| | 01:27 | Most AutoCAD commands contain additional sub
-options and we can access them either way.
| | 01:32 | Let's look at one more thing.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to move back up
and relaunch the Line command.
| | 01:36 | I'll pick a few more points on screen.
| | 01:39 | If you want to cancel out of any
running command, press the Esc key on your
| | 01:43 | keyboard and AutoCAD will
stop that command in its tracks.
| | 01:46 | Now, since you're just starting out
with this program, I can't emphasize enough
| | 01:49 | the importance of keeping
an eye on the command Line.
| | 01:52 | Remember, this is where
AutoCAD is telling you what it needs.
| | 01:55 | Quite often, beginners struggle because
they're entering one thing, when AutoCAD
| | 01:59 | is expecting something else.
| | 02:00 | So if you're having problems, the command
Line is one of the first places to look.
| | 02:04 | Don't worry, once you get the hang
of it, you'll soon learn that all the
| | 02:07 | commands essentially work the same way.
| | 02:09 | And soon you'll be anticipating what
AutoCAD needs before it even asks for it.
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| Customizing AutoCAD's preferences| 00:00 | AutoCAD is a very customizable program.
| | 00:03 | This means, we don't have to work
using a typical out of the box installation
| | 00:06 | if we don't want to.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we're going to look at where
we can go to customize our User Preferences.
| | 00:11 | Now, I've got a drawing open on my screen.
| | 00:13 | You don't have to open the same drawing.
| | 00:15 | I'm only using this as a visual layout.
| | 00:17 | To modify my User Preferences, I'm
going to bring up the Options dialog box.
| | 00:22 | One way I can do that is by clicking on
the Application Menu, and then I'll come
| | 00:26 | down and click the Options button.
| | 00:28 | This brings up a very large, but very
well organized box, containing literally
| | 00:32 | hundreds of settings.
| | 00:35 | All the settings are
divided up under these tabs.
| | 00:38 | So in a sense, the Options
dialog box works much like our Ribbon.
| | 00:42 | Now, we don't have time to go through
all of these settings, so I'm going to
| | 00:46 | show you how to use a couple of
them, so you can see how they work.
| | 00:49 | Then I'll show you how you can get
more information about any of the other
| | 00:52 | settings that interest you.
| | 00:53 | Let's start by taking a look at the Display tab.
| | 00:56 | Notice the tab is divided up into named groups.
| | 00:59 | These groups are similar
to the panels on the Ribbon.
| | 01:01 | Each group represents a
series of related settings.
| | 01:04 | In the event you're searching for a
setting, these groups can make the
| | 01:07 | setting easier to find.
| | 01:08 | Let's make a change.
| | 01:09 | I'm going to click to put a check in
this box, so that I can display the
| | 01:13 | scrollbars in the Drawing window.
| | 01:15 | Then I'm going to come down and click Apply.
| | 01:17 | When I do, watch my Model Space.
| | 01:20 | As soon as I click Apply, AutoCAD
adds these scrollbars to my interface.
| | 01:24 | Now, there are better ways to adjust
our view these days, so I'm going to turn
| | 01:28 | these scrollbars back off.
| | 01:30 | Let's click to remove the check.
| | 01:32 | Then I'll come down and click Apply.
| | 01:34 | When I'm finished adjusting my User
Preferences, I can click OK to dismiss this dialog box.
| | 01:40 | Take a look at this.
| | 01:41 | If I place my cursor over an entity,
AutoCAD will display a pop-up that tells me
| | 01:45 | a little bit more about the object.
| | 01:47 | This pop-up is called a ToolTip.
| | 01:49 | ToolTips are also controlled by our
User Preferences. Let's take a look.
| | 01:53 | I'm going to go back to the Options dialog box.
| | 01:56 | Once again, I'll click the Application
Menu, and I'll click the Options button.
| | 01:59 | And the setting for the rollover
ToolTips is right here on the Display tab.
| | 02:03 | I'm going to click to remove the check
and turn this feature off, and then I'll
| | 02:07 | come down and click OK.
| | 02:09 | Notice if I place my cursor over an
object now, we no longer see the ToolTips.
| | 02:13 | Since you're just starting out
learning AutoCAD, it's probably a good idea to
| | 02:16 | leave the rollover ToolTips turned on.
| | 02:19 | So let's open up our Options again.
| | 02:21 | Another way I can bring back the
dialog box is by right-clicking in the
| | 02:24 | middle of the screen.
| | 02:25 | You will always find Options
right here at the bottom of the menu.
| | 02:29 | I'm going to click again to turn this
feature back on, and let me show you how
| | 02:32 | you can get information
about the rest of these settings.
| | 02:35 | If you place your cursor over a
preference, AutoCAD will display a pop-up that
| | 02:39 | gives you more information about that setting.
| | 02:41 | Notice that some of these settings
have a drawing icon next to them.
| | 02:44 | That means that this setting is
applied to the current drawing only.
| | 02:48 | All the other settings are saved in the
registry, and they'll be retained even
| | 02:51 | if you close and reopen AutoCAD.
| | 02:54 | Since I'm finished adjusting my preferences,
I'm going to click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 02:58 | At first glance, the Options dialog
box may seem a little intimidating.
| | 03:02 | However, as you continue to use the
program, you'll begin to recognize the
| | 03:06 | relationship between the commands,
the interface, and the User Preferences.
| | 03:10 | Soon, changing your
settings will become second nature.
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| Accessing help| 00:00 | When learning a new program, you
typically start out by asking a lot of questions.
| | 00:04 | The faster you can answer those questions,
the easier it is to learn the program.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, I'm going to show
you how to use AutoCAD to find the
| | 00:10 | answers you're looking for.
| | 00:11 | Let's start with the Ribbon.
| | 00:12 | Take a look at some of these icons.
| | 00:14 | Notice these guys look a little bit cryptic.
| | 00:16 | It may be difficult looking at the icon
image to tell what command that icon launches.
| | 00:22 | However, if I place my Cursor over an
icon, AutoCAD will tell me what tool
| | 00:26 | gets launched, and if I wait a little bit
longer, AutoCAD will give me even more information.
| | 00:31 | and In this case, I'm
even seeing an illustration.
| | 00:33 | This additional information
is called an Extended Tooltip.
| | 00:37 | Now, what if I'd like even
more help with this tool.
| | 00:39 | Take a look at the bottom on the Tooltip.
| | 00:41 | If I press F1 at this point, AutoCAD
will bring up context-sensitive help for
| | 00:46 | this specific command.
| | 00:48 | Notice the Help comes up in my Internet Browser.
| | 00:50 | That's because AutoCAD's Help is HTML-based.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to grab this Slider and pull
down and I can get all the information I
| | 00:57 | need about this specific command.
| | 00:59 | If we look right here, we can see all of
the sub-options of the command and each
| | 01:03 | of these is a hyperlink.
| | 01:05 | If I click the hyperlink, AutoCAD will
tell me exactly what that sub-option does.
| | 01:09 | Let's close this.
| | 01:10 | The Tooltip feature that we just saw
doesn't only work for the Ribbon, it also
| | 01:14 | works inside dialog boxes.
| | 01:16 | I'm going to move up to the top of
the screen and launch the Plot command.
| | 01:19 | This brings up the Plot dialog box.
| | 01:21 | If I have a question about any of these
settings, I can hover over the setting
| | 01:25 | and AutoCAD will give me more information.
| | 01:28 | In fact, several of the dialog boxes
also contain this informational hyperlink.
| | 01:33 | We can use this to get a general
overview of how to use a specific feature,
| | 01:37 | in this case Plotting.
| | 01:38 | We'll talk about Plotting a little bit later.
| | 01:40 | So let's close this box.
| | 01:41 | Let's talk about what we do if we
need help in the middle of a command.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to move up to the Draw
Panel and launch the Circle command.
| | 01:48 | If we look right down here at the command
Line, we can see that command is active.
| | 01:51 | Whenever you're in an active command,
if you need help, press your F1 key and
| | 01:56 | AutoCAD will bring up context-
sensitive help for that particular command.
| | 02:00 | Once again, I can grab my Scroll Bar, I can
move down and read all of the information.
| | 02:05 | I can also follow these hyperlinks to
view information about the sub-options.
| | 02:08 | Sometimes you may need help finding a command.
| | 02:11 | If that's the case, you can move up
to the Application menu and click.
| | 02:14 | You can use the search area right here.
| | 02:16 | I'm going to click in this area and type Plot.
| | 02:19 | When I do, AutoCAD will tell me every place
I can find that command or a similar command.
| | 02:24 | We can see right here that Plot is in the
Quick Access Toolbar, that's right up here.
| | 02:28 | Plot is also located in the Application menu.
| | 02:30 | I can also find it on the Output tab of
the Ribbon and it's inside the Plot Panel.
| | 02:35 | The nice thing about this list is
that these guys are all hyperlinks.
| | 02:38 | If I move over one of these and click, I can
launch the Plot command from here. Let's close this.
| | 02:43 | We'll look at where we go if we
have a question about a specific topic.
| | 02:47 | If you require a general purpose help,
press your F1 key and AutoCAD will bring
| | 02:51 | up the Help homepage.
| | 02:53 | On the left-side of the screen, notice
that we have several reference guides
| | 02:56 | that we can follow to try and
get information about our topic.
| | 03:00 | Likewise, I have some general purpose
hyperlinks in the middle of my screen.
| | 03:04 | Over on the right, I have got
information regarding the new features.
| | 03:07 | In AutoCAD 2011, I have some Online
Resources that I can follow to get information.
| | 03:12 | All the way at the bottom, I have
information regarding Tutorials.
| | 03:15 | If I don't see exactly what I'm looking
for, I can scroll back to the top and I
| | 03:18 | can use this search area.
| | 03:20 | As an example, I'm going to
type plotting and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:23 | And AutoCAD will give me several
hyperlinks that contain the keyword that I
| | 03:26 | entered in the search area.
| | 03:28 | When you first start learning a program
of the size and scope of AutoCAD, it's
| | 03:31 | normal to have a lot of questions.
| | 03:33 | Fortunately, AutoCAD goes out of
its way to help you find answers.
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| Saving a workspace| 00:00 | In this lesson, I'd like to talk
about the concept of a workspace.
| | 00:03 | A Workspace is a saved
configuration of tools on our screen.
| | 00:07 | While we're not going to be doing a lot
of screen customization in this title,
| | 00:11 | it's an important concept for you to know.
| | 00:13 | In the event, the tools and menus you
see on your screen, don't match mine, you
| | 00:17 | will know exactly where to go
to make the appropriate changes.
| | 00:20 | First of all, a workspace is nothing
more than a means to save the way our tools
| | 00:24 | that are displayed on the screen.
| | 00:25 | AutoCAD comes with
several preinstalled workspaces.
| | 00:29 | If I move up to the Quick Access
Toolbar, I can click this fly-out to open up
| | 00:33 | the Workspace menu and we can
see workspaces for 2D Drafting.
| | 00:37 | I have a couple here for 3D Drafting.
| | 00:39 | And I have one called AutoCAD Classic.
| | 00:42 | If I select this one, AutoCAD will
restore my interface to the way it looked
| | 00:46 | back in the days of AutoCAD 2008.
| | 00:48 | Let's open up the Workspace menu again.
| | 00:50 | This time, I'll select
the 3D Modeling workspace.
| | 00:54 | When I do, we can see that the Ribbon
panels and tabs are consistent with 3D Drafting.
| | 00:59 | I'm going to open up the menu one more
time and let's return to the 2D Drafting
| | 01:03 | & Annotation workspace.
| | 01:04 | Let's add a component to our interface.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to bring up the Properties Palette.
| | 01:09 | To do that, I'll click on the View tab.
| | 01:10 | Then I'll come down to the Palettes
Panel, and I'll click the Properties icon.
| | 01:13 | Now that my palette is on-screen, I'll
click and hold on the Title Bar, and I'll
| | 01:18 | drag this guy to the left-side and release.
| | 01:21 | That docks it to my interface.
| | 01:23 | Finally, I'm going to move up and click
the Minimize button such that this guy
| | 01:26 | takes up the least amount of space.
| | 01:29 | Now that I've added this
component, let's save the workspace.
| | 01:31 | To do that, I'll click the Workspace fly-out.
| | 01:33 | We'll open up the Workspace menu
and I'll select Save Current As.
| | 01:37 | Then we'll give our Workspace a name.
| | 01:39 | I'm going to call this Jeff's 2D
Drafting Workspace, and I'll click Save.
| | 01:47 | If we look right up here, we can see that
is now the name of the current workspace.
| | 01:53 | Now that I've selected my workspace, if
I open up this menu and select any other
| | 01:57 | workspace from the list and then come
back to mine, AutoCAD will remember the
| | 02:02 | configuration of tools on my screen.
| | 02:04 | We can see our Properties Palette right here.
| | 02:07 | Notice that AutoCAD even remembered
which tab was current on the Ribbon.
| | 02:10 | Now let's take this concept even further.
| | 02:12 | In order to bring up the Properties
Palette, I had to go to the View tab.
| | 02:16 | Right now, if I wanted to draw some
geometry, I'd have to go back to the Home
| | 02:20 | tab to get access to the Draw tools.
| | 02:22 | If I click and hold on the Draw Panel,
I can drag this out into Model space.
| | 02:28 | Now this panel is always going to be
available, regardless of the tab that's
| | 02:32 | current on my Ribbon.
| | 02:33 | If you're someone who has dual monitors,
consider dragging some of these panels
| | 02:36 | onto your second screen.
| | 02:38 | A saved workspace will also save
the location of any floating panels.
| | 02:42 | To return a panel to the Ribbon, I
can move my Cursor over it and then I'll
| | 02:46 | click this icon on the upper right corner.
| | 02:48 | Finally, since my Home tab is current, I'm
going to save this change to my workspace.
| | 02:53 | Let's open up the menu one more time.
| | 02:56 | I'll select Save Current As.
| | 02:58 | I'll choose my workspace from
the menu and I'll click Save.
| | 03:01 | And we'll overwrite the original.
| | 03:03 | Now that I have saved my workspace,
I can select any other workspace from
| | 03:07 | this menu and when I return to mine,
AutoCAD will remember the tools I like
| | 03:11 | to have on-screen.
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|
|
2. Opening, Viewing, and Saving DrawingsOpening an AutoCAD drawing| 00:00 | When learning AutoCAD, the first fundamental
skill you need is knowing how to open a file.
| | 00:04 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to open an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:07 | To open a drawing, I'm going to move
up to the Quick Access Toolbar and I'll
| | 00:10 | click the Open icon.
| | 00:13 | This brings up the Select File dialog
box, where I can navigate through my hard
| | 00:16 | drive to find my file.
| | 00:19 | Now, the file I'm looking for
is in the exercise files folder.
| | 00:21 | So I'm going to double
click to open that folder.
| | 00:24 | And then I'm going to double click to
open up Chapter_02, and you can see I have
| | 00:27 | several drawings in this folder.
| | 00:29 | Just for a second, take a look
down here in the Files of type area.
| | 00:32 | Notice this says dwg.
| | 00:34 | All AutoCAD drawings have a .dwg extension.
| | 00:38 | dwg stands for drawing.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to move up and
select this drawing, the parkingLot.
| | 00:44 | And notice AutoCAD gives me a nice
preview of what this drawing looked like the
| | 00:47 | last time it was saved.
| | 00:50 | To open the drawing, I'll come down
and click the Open button, and as you can
| | 00:53 | see, the file is opened on my screen.
| | 00:55 | Now, that's one way to open an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:57 | Let me show you an another way.
| | 00:59 | First of all, let's close this drawing.
| | 01:01 | I can do that by clicking
this X in the upper right corner.
| | 01:04 | Another way we can open a drawing
is by using the Application Menu.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to move up here and click the
big red letter A, then I'll come down to
| | 01:11 | Open, and I'll come over and select Drawing.
| | 01:14 | This takes me right back to the
Select File dialog box where I can
| | 01:17 | select another drawing.
| | 01:19 | Let me give you a shortcut.
| | 01:20 | Maybe there is a specific directory
that you navigate to frequently, the
| | 01:24 | exercise files folder perhaps.
| | 01:27 | Now, my exercise files folder is on my Desktop.
| | 01:30 | So I'm going to click this Desktop icon.
| | 01:33 | And since I'm going to be entering
this folder frequently, I'm going to click
| | 01:37 | and hold on it, and I'll drag this over
into the left margin, and I'll release.
| | 01:41 | This adds the folder as a Favorite Place.
| | 01:44 | Now, the next time I want to open a
drawing from this folder, I can click
| | 01:48 | the Favorite Place and AutoCAD takes
me right into that folder and I can go
| | 01:51 | about finding my drawing.
| | 01:52 | At any point, if I want to remove this
folder from the list, I can right click
| | 01:57 | on it and select Remove from the Menu.
| | 01:59 | For now, I'm going to leave the folder
here, because it will be very handy as we
| | 02:02 | progress through the title.
| | 02:04 | Since the exercise files folder is
open, let's go back into the Chapter_02
| | 02:07 | folder and we'll open up this drawing.
| | 02:09 | I'll select toyBiplane and we'll click Open.
| | 02:13 | Finally, let's look at one more
helpful aspect of the Application Menu.
| | 02:18 | Once again, I'll click the red letter A.
As long as the Recent Documents icon is
| | 02:22 | selected, I can see a listing of the
last several drawings that I've worked on.
| | 02:26 | The most recent drawing I've opened
will appear at the top of this list.
| | 02:30 | If there's a drawing here that I need
to return to regularly, I can click this
| | 02:34 | pushpin to keep that
drawing from dropping of list.
| | 02:37 | At the point I'm finished with this file,
I can click to remove the pin and this
| | 02:41 | drawing will cycle out of the list
as I continue to open new drawings.
| | 02:45 | To open a drawing from this list,
I can click on the drawing name.
| | 02:50 | Opening drawings in AutoCAD is
very similar to opening files in other
| | 02:53 | Windows applications.
| | 02:54 | Remember that if you use the Recent
Documents Menu or the Favorite Places
| | 02:58 | feature, you can get even
faster access to your drawing files.
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| Understanding mouse functions| 00:00 | The days of drafting with the pencil are over.
| | 00:02 | Now that we use AutoCAD, all of
our drafting is done using our mouse.
| | 00:05 | And you know what, it's much easier.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how
our mouse button functions inside of AutoCAD.
| | 00:12 | As you can see, I have a
drawing open on my screen.
| | 00:14 | This is a mechanical example, and
this is a drawing of a motorcycle gasket.
| | 00:19 | Let's start our mouse discussion by talking
about the left mouse button or a left click.
| | 00:24 | In AutoCAD, a left click
allows us to make a selection.
| | 00:27 | For example, if I left click on this
circle, I just selected that circle.
| | 00:32 | If I left click on this entity,
that entity is also selected.
| | 00:36 | This is considered a
single pick type of selection.
| | 00:40 | I'm going to press my Esc key to
deselect these entities, and now let's take a
| | 00:44 | look at a window selection.
| | 00:45 | We would use a window to
select multiple objects.
| | 00:48 | If I left click out in space and I move
my cursor to the right, I begin creating
| | 00:53 | this blue rectangle.
| | 00:55 | This is called a window selection.
| | 00:57 | When I click again to finish the window,
AutoCAD will select any object that
| | 01:01 | fell completely within the window.
| | 01:03 | As you can see, it selected these three circles.
| | 01:06 | Once again, I'll press my
Esc key to deselect these.
| | 01:09 | This time I'll place my cursor over
here, I'll left click, and if I move my
| | 01:14 | cursor to the left, I begin
creating this green rectangle.
| | 01:17 | Now, there's no real rocket science to this.
| | 01:19 | If you left click on screen and pull to
the right, you get the blue rectangle,
| | 01:23 | you pull to the left, you get the green one.
| | 01:25 | This green rectangle is
called a Crossing Window.
| | 01:28 | When I click again to finish this
window, AutoCAD will select everything that
| | 01:31 | falls completely within the
window or crosses over the edge.
| | 01:35 | Note all of the objects that were selected.
| | 01:38 | Let's deselect these.
| | 01:40 | So the left mouse button
is used to make selections.
| | 01:43 | Now, let's talk about the right
mouse button or a right click.
| | 01:47 | In AutoCAD, if you right click
you'll bring up a context sensitive menu.
| | 01:51 | I say context sensitive because the
menu will change depending on when and
| | 01:55 | where you right click.
| | 01:56 | For instance, if I right click in the
middle of the screen, AutoCAD brings up a
| | 02:01 | menu that has some general purposes tools.
| | 02:04 | If I right click over a tool in the
Ribbon, I can see a menu with some tools
| | 02:08 | that are related to my Ribbon.
| | 02:10 | If I right click over a Layout tab, I have
tools here that are specific to Layout tabs.
| | 02:15 | I'm going to hit Esc to close this
menu, and let's mix it up a little bit.
| | 02:19 | I'm going to left click to select
this circle, and then I'll right click
| | 02:22 | to bring up a menu.
| | 02:24 | Notice this menu contains
some Modification Tools.
| | 02:27 | So when we're working in AutoCAD,
a right click will bring up a menu.
| | 02:31 | I'm going to click my Esc button a couple
of times to clear these items off my screen.
| | 02:36 | Soon the left and right click
functionality of your mouse will become second
| | 02:39 | nature, and you'll wonder how it was
possible to draft in the old days using
| | 02:42 | a traditional pencil.
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| Zooming, panning, and regenning| 00:00 | AutoCAD drawings come in all sizes.
| | 00:02 | We can work on everything from a small
mechanical part to an entire college canvas.
| | 00:06 | So it's important to know how to
navigate your way around inside a file.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how
to use Pan and Zoom to adjust our view.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I've got an architectural example.
| | 00:16 | This is a drawing of a floor
plan for a single family home.
| | 00:20 | Now, the trick to zooming and panning
your drawing involves using the Scroll
| | 00:23 | Wheel on your mouse.
| | 00:25 | As an example, if I roll my Wheel
forward, I can zoom in on my drawing.
| | 00:30 | If I roll my Wheel back, I can zoom out.
| | 00:32 | Notice that my zooming is
focused on the location of my Cursor.
| | 00:36 | So if I wanted to zoom in on the Master
Bath area, I could place my Cursor over
| | 00:40 | here and roll my Wheel forward to zoom in.
| | 00:43 | We can also use the Scroll Wheel to pan.
| | 00:45 | If I click-and-hold the Wheel down,
remember your Scroll Wheel is also a button.
| | 00:50 | I can drag my Cursor and
adjust my view on screen.
| | 00:53 | I'm going to release the Wheel, I'll
come over here and I'll click-and-hold
| | 00:57 | the Wheel down again, and I'll pan the
drawing over and we'll center this car on screen.
| | 01:02 | Panning your AutoCAD drawing is a lot
like panning in Adobe Acrobat document.
| | 01:07 | Now, what if you're working on a Laptop or a
Netbook and you're not using a Wheel Mouse?
| | 01:12 | If that's the case, you can use
the Pan and Zoom tools over here on
| | 01:15 | the Navigation Bar.
| | 01:16 | Using these icons, we can launch Pan
and Zoom and the commands will run using
| | 01:20 | out left mouse button.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to pan the drawing over to
the Kitchen area, and then I'm going to
| | 01:26 | zoom in on the island and
we'll center this on screen.
| | 01:29 | Notice on the island, we've got an
architectural drawing, I'm going to zoom in
| | 01:33 | a little bit closer.
| | 01:34 | And as you can see, this is a drawing of
the same floor plan that we're working in.
| | 01:38 | Let's continue zooming in on this bedroom.
| | 01:41 | I'll get a little bit closer
and we'll center this on screen.
| | 01:44 | Notice that even though I've zoomed
in a pretty good distance, my geometry
| | 01:47 | doesn't look pixelated, like what you
would typically see in a photo editing program.
| | 01:52 | That's because AutoCAD drawings aren't
based on pixels, they are based on vectors.
| | 01:56 | AutoCAD is a vector-based application,
that means that all the line work that we
| | 02:00 | see is based on mathematical computations.
| | 02:03 | So I can zoom in as much as I want on
this drawing and the line work is always
| | 02:07 | going to look great.
| | 02:08 | That being said, let me back up a little bit.
| | 02:11 | We'll pan over to the Bathroom area.
| | 02:14 | Take a look at this toilet symbol.
| | 02:15 | This guy is supposed to appear round,
right now, it's looking a little bit angular.
| | 02:20 | Since AutoCAD is a vector-based program,
if we pan and zoom great distances, it
| | 02:25 | can be taxing on the
computer processor and video card.
| | 02:28 | So what AutoCAD will do is it will
sacrifice the quality of the arcs to allow us
| | 02:32 | to pan and zoom freely on screen.
| | 02:34 | Now, don't worry, this
geometry will always plot just fine.
| | 02:38 | However, its appearance may tend
to break down from time-to-time.
| | 02:42 | If you'd like to clean up the
appearance of the arcs, you can use the
| | 02:44 | command called the Regen.
| | 02:46 | And I'm afraid Regen is not available
on the Ribbon, we have to launch this
| | 02:50 | command from the command Line.
| | 02:52 | So I'm going to click to place my Cursor
down here and I'll type regen and hit Enter.
| | 02:59 | And when I do, AutoCAD regenerates the
database, it refreshes the geometry and I
| | 03:04 | see a better representation of my line-work.
| | 03:05 | Let's start zooming out.
| | 03:07 | I'm going to roll my Wheel
back, continue rolling back.
| | 03:11 | Let's center this drawing on
screen, I'll zoom out some more.
| | 03:15 | Take a look at the lower
left corner of my screen.
| | 03:17 | Even though I'm rolling my Wheel, AutoCAD is
saying Already zoomed out as far as possible.
| | 03:23 | I'm going to try pan.
| | 03:24 | I'll hold the Wheel down, I'll
try and pan this drawing over.
| | 03:27 | Take a look at this, it's kind of like
I'm panning into a brick wall, AutoCAD is
| | 03:31 | not letting me to pan any further.
| | 03:33 | This is another Regen issue.
| | 03:35 | Remember that panning and zooming is
taxing on your processor and video card.
| | 03:39 | And if you've panned or zoomed a
large distance, AutoCAD may ask you to
| | 03:43 | regenerate the drawing before it
allows you to pan or zoom further.
| | 03:47 | So let's launch Regen again.
| | 03:49 | Here's a shortcut, we don't
have to type the whole command.
| | 03:51 | I'm just going to type re and hit Enter.
| | 03:54 | When I do, I can now pan just fine
and I can zoom as much as I like.
| | 03:59 | Let's look at one more thing.
| | 04:00 | I'm going to focus our
attention on the Laundry Room area.
| | 04:03 | If the time comes where you'd like to
see the extents of your drawing, one quick
| | 04:07 | way to get there is by double-clicking
your Mouse Wheel.
| | 04:10 | If I double-click the Wheel, AutoCAD
will do a Zoom Extents and show me the
| | 04:14 | visual limits of all of
the geometry in my drawing.
| | 04:17 | Using Pan and Zoom, we can quickly
move around in our drawing environment, no
| | 04:21 | matter how large or small
that environment may be.
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| Working in a multiple-document environment| 00:00 | AutoCAD's interface is
considered a multi-document environment.
| | 00:03 | This means, we can have more
than one drawing open at a time.
| | 00:07 | Having multiple open drawings means we
can easily share content between files.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
use the interface to manage multiple drawings.
| | 00:16 | As you can see, I already have a drawing
open, this is an architectural floor plan.
| | 00:21 | I'd like to open another drawing.
| | 00:23 | To do that, I'll move up to the Quick
Access Toolbar and I'll click the Open icon.
| | 00:27 | Then I'll look inside the chapter_02
folder and I'll select this drawing called
| | 00:31 | the dormRoom and click Open.
| | 00:33 | At this point, I have two drawings
open in my interface, and you may be
| | 00:37 | wondering, where did the first drawing go?
| | 00:39 | Let me show you how we can flip
from one open drawing to another.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to select the View tab on
the Ribbon, then I'll come down to the
| | 00:47 | Windows Panel and I'll click Switch Windows.
| | 00:50 | This brings up a list of my open drawings.
| | 00:53 | The little check represents
which drawing is current on screen.
| | 00:57 | If I'd like the other drawing to be
current, I could select its name from the list.
| | 01:01 | Now, I love shortcuts.
| | 01:03 | Another way we can toggle between
open drawings is by pressing Ctrl+Tab.
| | 01:08 | If I press Ctrl+Tab, I can cycle through
all of the open drawings in my interface.
| | 01:13 | Now, may be I'd like to view both
of these drawings at the same time.
| | 01:17 | To do that, I'll click the Tile
Vertically button, here on the Windows Panel.
| | 01:22 | This gives me a nice side-by-side
comparison of my files, and it's kind of like
| | 01:26 | having two versions of AutoCAD open.
| | 01:29 | As you can see, my focus
is currently in this window.
| | 01:32 | That means, I can pan,
zoom and work in this file.
| | 01:35 | If I place my Cursor over here and click, I
can now pan, zoom and work in this drawing.
| | 01:40 | Let me center this guy on
screen a little bit better.
| | 01:44 | And you may be wondering when would
something like this come in handy?
| | 01:48 | Well, let's say I'm working in the
Bedroom area of this drawing and may be I
| | 01:52 | need a symbol that represents a bed.
| | 01:54 | Rather than redrawing a bed from scratch,
I'll steal the geometry from this drawing.
| | 01:59 | Since my focus is already in this file,
I'm going to click once to select this
| | 02:03 | bed and then I'll click-and-hold,
this copies the geometry to my Cursor.
| | 02:08 | And then I'll drag this bed over
into the other file and I'll release.
| | 02:13 | Now that I'm finished, I can
click the X to close this drawing.
| | 02:16 | I'm not going to save changes, and I
can click the Maximize button to maximize
| | 02:21 | this drawing on screen.
| | 02:23 | It's important to remember that
whenever you're working in AutoCAD, you never
| | 02:26 | have to draw the same thing twice.
| | 02:29 | You can always recycle
geometry from another file.
| | 02:32 | By allowing us to have more than one
drawing open at a time, AutoCAD makes it
| | 02:36 | easy to share content between drawings.
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| Saving your work| 00:00 | The most important feature we have in
AutoCAD is the ability to save our work.
| | 00:04 | Saving allows us to walk away from an
unfinished drawing and then resume work on it later.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to save an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:13 | As you can see, I have a
drawing open on my screen.
| | 00:15 | Let me mention that this is an unsaved drawing.
| | 00:18 | We can see that if we look up at the
title car, this guy still says Drawing1.dwg.
| | 00:23 | Since this drawing is unsaved, you're
not going to find a copy of it in the
| | 00:27 | exercise files folder.
| | 00:29 | So if you want to follow along with me,
you can use any unsaved drawing. All right.
| | 00:33 | Let's say I've been working on this
file for a little bit and the end of the
| | 00:37 | work day is approaching, so I need to save the
file so I can continue working on it tomorrow.
| | 00:43 | To save the drawing, I'll move up to the
Quick Access Toolbar and I'll click the Save icon.
| | 00:48 | This brings up the Save As dialog box,
where I can give my file a name and
| | 00:53 | choose where I'd like to
save it on the hard drive.
| | 00:56 | I'd like to save this drawing on the Desktop.
| | 00:58 | Now, I happen to have a favorite place
for the Desktop. I'll click that right here.
| | 01:03 | And then in the File Name area, I'll
drag across this text and we'll call the
| | 01:08 | drawing sprocket,
and I'll click Save. Okay.
| | 01:13 | Let's simulate the end of the day.
| | 01:14 | I'm going to move over here to the
upper right corner and click the X to
| | 01:17 | close this drawing.
| | 01:19 | And now we'll assume I'm just
getting to work the next morning.
| | 01:22 | To open the drawing, I'm going to
click to open the Application menu and then
| | 01:26 | I'll select the drawing from the
top of my Recent Documents list.
| | 01:31 | Take a look at the title bar now.
| | 01:33 | It's easy to see that we're
working in a saved drawing.
| | 01:36 | Let me center this a little bit, and
let's say I've made a few more changes.
| | 01:41 | To save the drawing again, I'm going
to move back up and click the Save icon.
| | 01:45 | Notice the Save As dialog
box didn't pop-up this time.
| | 01:49 | If I click Save when working on a
named drawing, AutoCAD will simply
| | 01:52 | overwrite the original file.
| | 01:55 | If I'd like to save this drawing with a
different name, or in a different place,
| | 01:59 | I'll go up to the Quick Access
Toolbar and click the Save As icon.
| | 02:04 | This brings back the Save As dialog
box, and from here I can choose a new
| | 02:07 | drawing name or a
different folder on my hard drive.
| | 02:11 | In this case, I don't want to resave my
drawing, so I'm going to come over and
| | 02:14 | click the X to close the dialog box.
| | 02:16 | Very seldom will you start and finish in
AutoCAD drawing during a single session.
| | 02:21 | If the times comes where you're
going to need to walk away from your
| | 02:23 | computer, you can use Save or Save As
to store your drawing, such that you
| | 02:27 | can return to it later.
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| Saving time with templates| 00:00 | Instead of starting all of my drawings
from a blank slate, why not start with a
| | 00:04 | drawing that already
contains the items we use most.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson we are going to
look at the concept of templates.
| | 00:10 | As you can see I have just launched
my AutoCAD and I am sitting in the
| | 00:13 | default Drawing1.dwg file, this
drawing is completely empty, it has no
| | 00:18 | content whatsoever.
| | 00:20 | Anything I want in this drawing will
have to be created in this drawing.
| | 00:24 | Now rather than starting a file using
this drawing, may be I would like to use a
| | 00:27 | different start-up drawing.
| | 00:29 | I am going to start from a template.
| | 00:32 | To do that I'll move up to the Quick
Access Toolbar and I will click the New icon.
| | 00:36 | This brings up the Select template dialog
box where I can choose a new start-up drawing.
| | 00:41 | Now there are several choices available.
| | 00:44 | First things first, notice that each
of these files has a dwt extension, dwt
| | 00:49 | stands for drawing template.
| | 00:52 | Technically there is no difference between
an AutoCAD drawing and a drawing template.
| | 00:55 | It's the exact same file
just a different file extension.
| | 00:59 | Generally speaking a template is merely an
AutoCAD drawing that already has content.
| | 01:03 | Now the template file I want isn't in
this folder, it's in the Exercise Files
| | 01:08 | directory, so I am going to click my
Exercise Files shortcut over here, then we
| | 01:12 | will jump into the Chapter_2 folder
and I will select the lynda template
| | 01:16 | (06_lynda_template) and I will click Open.
| | 01:18 | Now it doesn't look like much is
changed, I am in a new drawing now
| | 01:22 | called Drawing2.dwg.
| | 01:24 | What AutoCAD has done, is it's taken
that template file and used that as the
| | 01:28 | starting point for this drawing.
| | 01:31 | At first glance, this drawing looks empty.
| | 01:33 | Take a look at these layout
tabs, these guys have names now.
| | 01:36 | I am going to select the 8.5-11 tab
and notice that this drawing already has a
| | 01:41 | title block setup for me.
| | 01:42 | Let's take a look at the 22-34,
let's take a look at 11-17.
| | 01:48 | While this drawing contains no model
space geometry, it does have three preset
| | 01:53 | layouts with title blocks that I can
use when the time comes that I would like
| | 01:56 | to print the geometry that I create.
| | 01:59 | The idea behind a template is that you
take the items you use most, you put them
| | 02:03 | in a drawing and then you
save that drawing as a template.
| | 02:06 | Templates might contain formatted text,
title blocks, company logos, dimension
| | 02:11 | styles or common symbols.
| | 02:13 | By starting a drawing form a template,
your drawing will already have many of
| | 02:17 | the components that you regularly use.
| | 02:19 | Now we are not going to be doing any
work in this file, so I am going to move up
| | 02:23 | and click the X to close it.
| | 02:26 | This returns us to the
blank file where we started.
| | 02:29 | At this point you may be wondering how
difficult it is to create a template.
| | 02:33 | Remember, that a template is nothing
more than an AutoCAD drawing, and I am in
| | 02:37 | an AutoCAD drawing right now.
| | 02:39 | So let's turn this into a template.
| | 02:41 | First I have to add some content,
and we haven't talked much about
| | 02:44 | creating content yet.
| | 02:46 | So for the purposes of this example
I am going to create a simple circle.
| | 02:50 | I will move up to the Draw panel and I
will click the circle icon, I will pick
| | 02:54 | a point on screen for my center point and then
I will pick another point to define my radius.
| | 02:59 | Let's say this circle
represents our company logo.
| | 03:02 | This is something that we would
obviously need in all of our CAD drawings,
| | 03:05 | and we could create other content as well, but
for right now let's just stick with this circle.
| | 03:10 | To turn this drawing in to a template,
I am going to click the Application
| | 03:13 | menu, I will come down to Save As, and then I
will come over and select AutoCAD Drawing Template.
| | 03:20 | This takes me right back to the Template folder.
| | 03:22 | Notice I am now saving this drawing
with a dwt extension, I am going to call
| | 03:28 | this drawing my_custom_template, and
I will click Save, I can now give my
| | 03:36 | template a description if I want.
| | 03:38 | I am going to keep the default
description and I will click OK.
| | 03:42 | Let's close this drawing and we will
create a new drawing using our custom template.
| | 03:47 | I will move up and click the New icon.
| | 03:50 | from here I can choose the
template file that I created.
| | 03:54 | You know, if happen to be wondering
what template we typically start with,
| | 03:57 | it's this one acad.dwt.
| | 04:00 | This is the default template that is
typically used for all new AutoCAD drawings.
| | 04:04 | I am going to scroll down
and select our custom template
| | 04:07 | (my_custom_template) and click Open.
| | 04:08 | I have just created a new drawing using
my template file as my starting point.
| | 04:14 | Templates can save you a lot of time.
| | 04:16 | Think of it this way, why start all of
your drawings form an empty file when you
| | 04:20 | can start from a template that
already contains the items you use most.
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|
|
3. Creating Basic GeometryConstructing lines| 00:00 | AutoCAD is all about
putting our designs on paper.
| | 00:03 | So it's time we start creating some line work.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson we are going to look at
AutoCAD's most basic tool, the Line command.
| | 00:09 | On my screen I have got this large rectangle,
this shape is going to serve as a boundary.
| | 00:14 | Think of it as a sandbox that we will use
to explore the features of the Line command.
| | 00:18 | To create a line, I will move up to the
Draw panel and I will click the Line icon.
| | 00:22 | If we look at the command line, we can
see AutoCAD is asking us to specify first
| | 00:26 | point, so I will pick a point on screen
and then I will pick a few more points
| | 00:31 | and as I move my cursor for each
segment, take a look at how the line moves.
| | 00:35 | This is called the Rubber Band Effect.
| | 00:37 | Before I specify another point
let's look at the command line again.
| | 00:40 | Notice I can specify my next
point or I have the sub-options.
| | 00:45 | Now typically I like to access sub-
options by right-clicking and selecting them
| | 00:49 | from this pop-up menu.
| | 00:50 | I would like to back up a segment,
so I am going to select Undo from the
| | 00:54 | menu and let's backup one more segment, I
will right click and I will select Undo again.
| | 01:00 | I will then click a few more points
on screen and when I am finished I will
| | 01:03 | right click and select Close to close my shape.
| | 01:06 | Let's launch the Line command again.
| | 01:07 | I will start my first point.
| | 01:09 | I will pick a few more points and
may be my line segment is now finished.
| | 01:14 | Let's talk about how we
can exit the Line command.
| | 01:16 | One way is by hitting the Escape key that
will cancel us out of any running command.
| | 01:21 | I am going to launch Line again.
| | 01:22 | I will create another segment down here.
| | 01:25 | Another way to exit a command is by right-
clicking and selecting Enter from the menu.
| | 01:30 | Most every AutoCAD command works this way.
| | 01:32 | Now this geometry is nice
but it has no geometric value.
| | 01:36 | Let's create some line work
that's based on real dimensions.
| | 01:39 | I am going to launch the line command
and then I will pick a point on screen and
| | 01:43 | I am going to pull-off to the right
here and I will type 5 and hit Enter.
| | 01:47 | I just created a line segment that's five
units long in the direction that I was pulling.
| | 01:52 | I am going to pull down and
I will type 9 and hit Enter.
| | 01:55 | I will then pull over here to the left
and type 7 and hit Enter and then when I
| | 02:00 | am finished, I will right click
and select Close to close my shape.
| | 02:03 | This method of drawing is called
Direct Distance Entry and while we are still
| | 02:07 | scribbling on screen, this
geometry is based on Real Dimensions.
| | 02:11 | Now that we have a functional
understanding of how to use the Line command
| | 02:14 | we are ready to move to our next
lesson where we will create some
| | 02:17 | geometrically accurate line work.
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| Locking angles with the Ortho and Polar modes| 00:00 | The purpose of drafting is to
create and reproduce accurate geometry.
| | 00:04 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to use the Line command to create
| | 00:07 | geometrically accurate line work.
| | 00:09 | Before we get started,
take a look at my Status bar.
| | 00:11 | Notice all of these toggles are
turned off with the exception of grid.
| | 00:15 | Grid is still turned on.
| | 00:16 | If you are going to work along with me,
make sure your Mode settings match mine.
| | 00:20 | Now that we have done our housekeeping,
let's launch the Line command and I will
| | 00:24 | pick a point on screen and let's say
I would like to create a square that
| | 00:28 | measures 5?5.As I move my cursor, it
would be nice if I had more control over
| | 00:33 | the angle in which I was pulling my line.
| | 00:36 | To get more control, I am
going to use a Mode setting.
| | 00:38 | I am going to come right down here and
I will click on this toggle, the fourth
| | 00:42 | one form the left side.
| | 00:44 | This represents Ortho Mode, and
when Ortho was turned on, my cursor was
| | 00:48 | locked to 90 degree increments.
| | 00:50 | This means I can pull to the right,
type a distance of 5 and hit Enter.
| | 00:54 | I can then pull down and type 5 and hit Enter.
| | 00:58 | Pull to the left 5 units and then can right-click
and select Close to finish my square.
| | 01:04 | So the Ortho Mode locks the cursor to 90
degree increments, and it's important to note
| | 01:08 | that we can turn Ortho on and off even
if we are in the middle of a command.
| | 01:12 | Note what we know now,
when we pan the drawing over.
| | 01:15 | let's see if we can recreate this geometry.
| | 01:18 | I will re-launch the Line command, I
will pick a point right here, pull to the
| | 01:23 | left and type 10 and hit Enter.
| | 01:25 | I will pull up a distance of
10 and then I will hit Enter.
| | 01:28 | We will come over 4 units, we will come
down 6 units, we will come over 6 units
| | 01:35 | and then I will right click and
select Close to close the shape.
| | 01:38 | As you can see we can draft very
quick and accurate using Ortho.
| | 01:42 | Let me mention this, once you turn
Ortho on, it will remain on until you come
| | 01:47 | down and turn it off.
| | 01:48 | Another way to toggle your Ortho
Mode is by pressing the F8 key.
| | 01:52 | I am going to press F8 to turn Ortho off.
| | 01:55 | Let's pan the drawing over a little
more so we have some room to work and we
| | 01:58 | will talk about another Mode setting.
| | 02:00 | I will launch the Line command
again and I will pick a point on screen.
| | 02:04 | Now Ortho works nice, as long as I need
to draw to 90 degree increments, but what if I
| | 02:08 | want to use angle smaller than 90 degree?
| | 02:11 | In that case I am going to use this
setting, the fifth one from the left side.
| | 02:15 | I am going to click to turn this on,
this guy is Polar Tracking, and as I move
| | 02:19 | my cursor now, notice that
AutoCAD is snapping to 90 degree increments.
| | 02:23 | So I can easily draw by snapping to
these 90s, I can still draw to other awkward
| | 02:28 | angles if I like, but if I want
them 90 degrees, I can easily snap to it.
| | 02:32 | I am going to hit Esc to cancel out
of this command, and right now Polar
| | 02:35 | Tracking doesn't appear to be much
better than Ortho, because it's using the
| | 02:39 | same 90 degree increments.
| | 02:40 | Watch this, if I right-click on the
Polar Tracking icon, I can select a new
| | 02:45 | angle from this menu.
| | 02:47 | Notice that 90 happens to be the default.
| | 02:50 | I am gouging to select 45, I will launch the
Line command and I will start my line segment.
| | 02:55 | Notice that AutoCAD is now
snapping to every 45? angle.
| | 02:59 | That means if I wanted to create a
diamond that measured 5?5, I could pull to
| | 03:03 | the upper right here, type 5 and hit
Enter, I can then pull down to the right 5
| | 03:08 | units, we will go down to the left 5
units, and then I will right-click and
| | 03:13 | select Close to close my shape.
| | 03:15 | To turn Polar Tracking back off, I can
come down and click the toggle in the
| | 03:19 | Status bar or I can press
the F10 key to turn it off.
| | 03:24 | Take a look at this, I am going to move
down and turn on my Ortho Mode, and then
| | 03:28 | I am going to come over and
try and turn on Polar Tracking.
| | 03:31 | When I do, notice that Ortho
is automatically turned off.
| | 03:34 | Let me try and turn Ortho on again,
when I do, Polar Tracking is turned off.
| | 03:37 | Ortho and Polar are an either or
proposition, you can't have them both
| | 03:41 | running at the same time.
| | 03:43 | I am going to turn them both off, then
I am going to pan my drawing over and
| | 03:47 | knowing what we now, let's see
if we can recreate this geometry.
| | 03:50 | I will re-launch the line command, I am
going to pick a point right about here
| | 03:55 | and since this geometry incorporate some 45?
angles, and I am going to use Polar Tracking.
| | 04:00 | So I will come down here and turn this on.
| | 04:02 | I will then pull to the left 6 units,
pull up 2 units and hit Enter, we will go
| | 04:08 | over here on the 45 and I
will enter 4 units, come up 2.
| | 04:12 | The only thing you really have to be
careful of when using Polar Tracking is
| | 04:15 | that you are snapping to that angle,
you are not actually locking to it.
| | 04:18 | So if you are not paying attention, if
you are over here a little bit, and type
| | 04:21 | 4 and hit Enter, that segment is
incorrect, because it wasn't drawn when you
| | 04:25 | were snapped to the angle.
| | 04:26 | No problem, I will right-click and
select Undo to back up a segment.
| | 04:30 | Let's snap to the 45, and I will type 4
and hit Enter, I will move up 2 units,
| | 04:35 | Enter, I will go to the right 6 units,
and finally I will right-click and select
| | 04:39 | Close to close the shape.
| | 04:41 | As you can see, when combining the Line
command with the Ortho and Polar modes,
| | 04:45 | we can quickly create
accurate geometry on our screen.
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| Drawing circles| 00:00 | Drawing a circle in AutoCAD
is as easy as drawing a line.
| | 00:03 | Circles just require a
little bit more information.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson, we're going
to learn how to create circles.
| | 00:09 | Before we get started,
take a look at my Status Bar.
| | 00:11 | Notice that all of these toggles are
turned off, with the exception of grid.
| | 00:16 | If you're going to work along with me,
make sure that your mode settings match mine.
| | 00:20 | Now, let's talk about what
AutoCAD needs to create a circle.
| | 00:23 | First of all, AutoCAD needs the
location of the center point, and then it will
| | 00:26 | need the circle's radius or diameter.
| | 00:29 | The Radius is the distance from the
center point to the edge, and the Diameter
| | 00:33 | is the distance from one edge to the
other that passes through the center point.
| | 00:38 | It's essentially the
overall width of the circle.
| | 00:40 | Let's pan this drawing over to create
some room, and we'll create our first circle.
| | 00:47 | To do that, I'll move up to the Draw
panel, and I launch the Circle command.
| | 00:51 | I'll pick a point on screen
to define my center point.
| | 00:54 | As I move my cursor, I get the same
rubber band effect we see when creating a line.
| | 00:59 | In fact, just like when we used the
Line command, I can free-pick a point on
| | 01:03 | screen to finish this circle.
| | 01:05 | Now, this circle is nice, but it
doesn't have much value because it wasn't
| | 01:08 | created using any dimensions.
| | 01:10 | Let's create another circle, and this
time we'll enter some real measurements.
| | 01:14 | I'll launch the command again.
| | 01:15 | I'll pick my center point on screen,
and take a look at the command line.
| | 01:19 | Notice that AutoCAD is expecting a radius.
| | 01:22 | Let's say that I need to
create a circle with a radius of 3.
| | 01:25 | I'll type 3 and hit Enter.
| | 01:28 | I'm going to launch the Circle command again.
| | 01:30 | I'll pick another center point
location over here, and let's look at the
| | 01:34 | Commend line one more time.
| | 01:36 | Notice that AutoCAD remembers the
size of the last circle that I created.
| | 01:40 | That number is now the default
value for the Circle command.
| | 01:43 | So, if I wanted to create another
circle of the same size, I can hit Enter to
| | 01:48 | accept the default value.
| | 01:50 | Let's create another circle, and
this time we'll specify a diameter.
| | 01:54 | I'll launch the command.
| | 01:55 | We'll pick a point on screen.
| | 01:57 | If we look at the command line, we can see
the Circle command has a suboption of Diameter.
| | 02:02 | I'm going to right-click and select
Diameter, and then I'm going to enter a
| | 02:07 | measurement of 8.25, and I'll Enter.
| | 02:11 | That's pretty much it.
| | 02:12 | There is no rocket science to
creating circles in AutoCAD.
| | 02:15 | Now, let's talk for a
minute about the Circle icon.
| | 02:18 | Notice there is a fly-out right next to it.
| | 02:20 | If I click this, it opens up a menu
showing me that there are six different
| | 02:24 | ways to create a circle.
| | 02:26 | I show you this because there is only one
circle command, this one, Center, Radius.
| | 02:30 | this is the default circle method.
| | 02:32 | All of the other choices that you see
in this menu are merely shortcuts to the
| | 02:36 | suboptions within the default command.
| | 02:38 | For instance, I'm going to
select the Center, Diameter method.
| | 02:42 | I'll pick my center point on screen
and take a look at the command line.
| | 02:46 | AutoCAD has entered the
Diameter suboption for me.
| | 02:49 | To finish this circle, I
can simply type my diameter.
| | 02:52 | I'm going to type 2, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:54 | So, if you like using the
shortcut icons, feel free to use those.
| | 02:58 | Just remember that whichever shortcut
you use last, that will become the default
| | 03:02 | the next time you click this icon.
| | 03:04 | Knowing what we know now,
let's pan the drawing over.
| | 03:08 | We'll zoom out a little bit.
| | 03:09 | Let's try and recreate these existing circles.
| | 03:12 | We'll start with this one.
| | 03:13 | This circle has a radius of 3.25.
| | 03:17 | I'm going to click the fly-out and go back
to the default circle method, Center, Radius.
| | 03:22 | I'll pick my center point and
I'll type 3.25 and hit Enter.
| | 03:27 | Let's do the next circle,
and I'll give you a shortcut.
| | 03:29 | If you hit the Spacebar, you can
re-launch the previous command.
| | 03:33 | As you can see, I have re-launched Circle.
| | 03:35 | So I'll pick a point on screen, I'll
enter my radius of 5.62, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:41 | Finally, we'll do this last circle.
| | 03:44 | Take a look at this symbol right here.
| | 03:45 | This is a Diameter symbol.
| | 03:47 | So we can see this circle,
obviously, it has a diameter of 8.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to hit my Spacebar to go
right back into the Circle command.
| | 03:54 | I'll pick the center point on screen,
and then I'll right-click to access
| | 03:58 | the Diameter suboption.
| | 04:00 | I'll type 8 and hit Enter, and that's it.
| | 04:03 | At this point in our training, we can
create any circle that we wish, so long as
| | 04:07 | we know the circle's radius or diameter.
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| Activating the Heads-Up Display| 00:00 | A major drawback to the command line
is that we must always glance back and
| | 00:03 | forth between our drawing
and the bottom of the screen.
| | 00:06 | Wouldn't it be nice if we could have our
command line information show up at the cursor?
| | 00:10 | In this lesson I'm going to
show you how we can do that.
| | 00:12 | The trick is simply turning
on one of our mode settings.
| | 00:15 | I'm going to come down at the Status
Bar and click this icon, the fifth one
| | 00:19 | from the right side.
| | 00:20 | This title represents Dynamic Input.
| | 00:23 | And now that I've turned this on, we really
don't notice anything different on screen.
| | 00:26 | I'm going to move up and launch the
Line command and notice that AutoCAD is now
| | 00:30 | speaking to me from my cursor.
| | 00:32 | The information that we see on screen is
also referred to as a heads-up display.
| | 00:37 | I'm going to pick a plate to start my line.
| | 00:39 | And notice that as I move my cursor,
we're seeing a little more information than
| | 00:42 | what we've seen before.
| | 00:44 | I now have a field here that
represents the line length and one that
| | 00:47 | represents the lines angle.
| | 00:49 | If I hit my Tab key I can jump
back and forth between the fields.
| | 00:53 | We can use these fields to
create accurate geometry.
| | 00:56 | For instance, let's say I'd like to
create a line segment that's 25 units long.
| | 01:00 | I'm going to hit my Tab key to put my
focus on the line length, I will then type
| | 01:05 | 25 and I'll hit Tab.
| | 01:07 | When I do, if I move my cursor you can
see that the length now has a padlock
| | 01:12 | meaning that, not matter what I'm going
to be creating a line that's 25 units long.
| | 01:16 | AutoCAD just needs to know the angle.
| | 01:18 | And if you're wondering how the angles work,
I've created a small compass over here.
| | 01:23 | Let's say I'd like to create a line that
is 25 units to the right or to the east.
| | 01:27 | My line would have an angle of zero,
so I'll type zero and hit Enter.
| | 01:32 | From this point let's see if
we can create a 25x25 square.
| | 01:36 | I'm going to type 25 from
my line length and hit Tab.
| | 01:39 | And based on my compass I can
see the angle of this line is 90.
| | 01:43 | Let's enter the next line length,
and that will be 25 and I'll hit Tab.
| | 01:47 | Make sure that you don't hit your Enter key.
| | 01:49 | if you hit Enter you'll
complete the line segment.
| | 01:51 | The angle of this line
will be 180. I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:55 | At this point I can close the shape,
but instead I'm going to finish it using
| | 01:59 | the Dynamic Input Tool.
| | 02:01 | I'll type 25 for my length and hit Tab.
| | 02:03 | This line will have an
angle of 90. And I'll Enter.
| | 02:07 | Now, what I'm finished with my shape.
| | 02:09 | I'll hit my Esc key to
cancel out of the command.
| | 02:11 | Now, that we've seen how the heads-up
display works, let's try and use it to
| | 02:14 | replicate some geometry.
| | 02:16 | I'm going to pan the drawing over a
little bit and let's try to recreate
| | 02:21 | this simple rectangle.
| | 02:22 | Once again, I'll launch my Line command.
| | 02:24 | I'll pick my start point and
let's trace this rectangle in a
| | 02:28 | clockwise direction.
| | 02:30 | So my line length is going
to be 30 and I'll hit Tab.
| | 02:34 | The angle of my line will
be zero and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:37 | Coming down my line length is 12, I'll hit Tab.
| | 02:41 | The angle of this line is 90.
| | 02:43 | Notice, that the heads-up display is
allowing me to draft accurately without
| | 02:46 | having to use the Ortho or Polar Tracking.
| | 02:49 | This is a great example of AutoCAD giving us
multiple ways to accomplish a similar task.
| | 02:54 | Let's finish this up.
| | 02:55 | I'm going to enter a line
length of 30. And I'll hit Tab.
| | 02:58 | The angle of this line is 180. Hit Enter.
| | 03:01 | Finally, I'll right-click and
select Close to finish my shape.
| | 03:04 | The heads-up display can be a very
helpful tool to use when we're drafting.
| | 03:07 | Not always this give us additional
control over how we create our lines, it
| | 03:12 | allows AutoCAD to speak to us from our cursor.
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|
|
4. Understanding Drawing UnitsDefining a unit of measure| 00:00 | Up to this point, we've been
referring to our distances as units.
| | 00:04 | Now, are these units
inches, millimeters, or feet?
| | 00:06 | Let's take a second and discuss
how we assign a real-world unit of
| | 00:09 | measurement to our drawings.
| | 00:11 | As you can see, I've just launched my
AutoCAD 2011 and I'm currently sitting in
| | 00:14 | the unsaved Drawing1 file.
| | 00:16 | I'd like to start out by
creating a line segment.
| | 00:19 | So I'm going to launch the Line command.
| | 00:21 | I'll pick a point on screen and I'll
pull over to the right here a little bit.
| | 00:25 | the angle isn't important right now.
| | 00:27 | I'm just going to type a
distance of 1 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 00:31 | And then I'll hit Esc to
cancel out of the Line command.
| | 00:34 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 00:35 | I'll center this line on screen.
| | 00:38 | Now, this line segment is 1 unit long.
| | 00:41 | My question is what does this unit represent?
| | 00:44 | Is this line one mile, is it one
millimeter, or is this line one foot?
| | 00:48 | Well, this line represents whatever
unit of measurement I want it to represent.
| | 00:53 | All I have to do is tell AutoCAD the
units I'd like to assign to this drawing.
| | 00:57 | Let me show you where we go to do that.
| | 00:59 | I'm going to open up the Application
menu, then I'll come down to Drawing
| | 01:03 | Utilities and I'll come up and select Units.
| | 01:06 | This brings up the Drawing Units dialog
box and right here is where I can assign
| | 01:11 | a unit of measurement for this drawing.
| | 01:13 | As you can see, AutoCAD is defaulting
to Inches so technically this line that I
| | 01:17 | created is one inch long.
| | 01:19 | Now, I do have other choices.
| | 01:21 | If I open up this fly-out, it'll
bring up a menu of other options.
| | 01:25 | Most of the popular choices
are at the top of the menu.
| | 01:28 | For right now, I'm going to leave
this set to Inches, and at this point,
| | 01:31 | you maybe asking yourself, what unit of
measurement should I be using for my drawings.
| | 01:35 | Well, consider this rule of thumb.
| | 01:38 | If you're drawing something for your
own personal usage, use whatever unit of
| | 01:41 | measurement is most convenient for you.
| | 01:43 | If you're doing production work,
check with your CAD Manager or other
| | 01:47 | people that work in your field to
find out what the industry standards are
| | 01:50 | for your type of work.
| | 01:51 | I can tell you this.
| | 01:53 | if you're an architect, your drawings
will always be set up such that each
| | 01:56 | unit equals an inch.
| | 01:58 | If you're a surveyor or civil engineer,
your drawings will always be set up such
| | 02:02 | that each unit equals a foot.
| | 02:04 | Now, that I've selected my units,
take a look at this note right here.
| | 02:07 | It says, Units to scale inserted content.
| | 02:10 | That means if my next door neighbor is
using AutoCAD and he creates a drawing
| | 02:14 | and his units are set to Millimeters,
if he saves his file and gives it to me
| | 02:18 | and I were to insert his drawing into
mine, AutoCAD will scale his drawing such
| | 02:23 | that it comes in at the
proportionally correct size in my drawing.
| | 02:26 | So AutoCAD will do the
units conversion scaling for me.
| | 02:30 | Let's take a look at the top of this dialog box.
| | 02:33 | Up here I have two groups. Length and Angle.
| | 02:35 | These settings control how
AutoCAD lists my geometry.
| | 02:39 | That means if I were to ask AutoCAD
about this line segment, AutoCAD would give
| | 02:43 | me its length in Decimal inches to
a precision of four decimal spaces.
| | 02:47 | And I would see its angle given in
Decimal Degrees to the even degree.
| | 02:51 | Note that in both cases I can open up
this Precision fly-out and I can run my
| | 02:55 | Precision up to 8 spaces
to the right of the decimal.
| | 02:58 | I'm going to change my Angle
Precision to two decimal spaces.
| | 03:02 | I'm going to leave the Length at four.
| | 03:04 | Let's click OK to close this dialog
box and we'll test these settings.
| | 03:08 | To list the properties of my line,
I'm going to use the Property Changer.
| | 03:12 | So I'll select my line and
then I'll come over here.
| | 03:15 | Now, my Property Changer
is open in my interface.
| | 03:17 | If yours is not, you can always hit Ctrl+1
to bring your Property Changer up on screen.
| | 03:22 | If I look right down here under the
Geometry heading, I can see that the Length
| | 03:26 | and Angle of this line are
both being shown using decimals.
| | 03:29 | The Length is being shown with a
Precision of four decimal spaces and the Angle
| | 03:33 | is being given to two.
| | 03:34 | I'm going to move outside the palette.
| | 03:36 | I'll let this collapse and then
I'll hit Esc to deselect my line.
| | 03:39 | Let's go back to the Units dialog box and
we'll take a look at some of the other settings.
| | 03:43 | Once again, I'll open up the Application menu.
| | 03:45 | We'll come over to Drawing
Utilities and then we'll select Units.
| | 03:48 | Currently, I can see that my
Angle Type is set to Decimal Degrees.
| | 03:52 | If I click this fly-out, we can see
that there are some additional choices.
| | 03:56 | The selection that I make here will
depend on the type of work that I'm doing.
| | 03:59 | By far, the most popular
option is Decimal Degrees.
| | 04:03 | If you have any questions regarding
the other available options, simply press
| | 04:06 | the F1 key and AutoCAD will
give you more information.
| | 04:09 | As you can see, my Length
Type is currently set to Decimal.
| | 04:12 | If I click this fly-out, we can see
that there are additional choices.
| | 04:16 | By far the most popular choices in
this menu are Decimal and Architectural.
| | 04:20 | As an example, I'm going to
set this to Architectural.
| | 04:23 | If you have any questions regarding the
other options, press F1 for more information.
| | 04:28 | Notice that when I change the Length
Type to Architectural, my Precision is now
| | 04:32 | being shown using fractional units.
| | 04:34 | This means that if I was to list my geometry
now, it would be listed in feet and inches.
| | 04:39 | In fact, if you're an architect, these
settings are what you'll probably use for
| | 04:42 | all of your drawings.
| | 04:44 | Let's click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 04:46 | I'd like to open a couple of real-world
drawings so we can see how the units are
| | 04:50 | set inside those files.
| | 04:52 | To do that, I'll move up to the Quick
Access toolbar and click the Open icon.
| | 04:56 | We'll look inside the chapter_04 folder,
I'm going to start with this drawing
| | 04:59 | called survey and I'll click Open.
| | 05:02 | This drawing represents a plan of survey.
| | 05:04 | This cyan line represents the property boundary.
| | 05:07 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit on
this line and we can see that it has a
| | 05:11 | length of 122.18 feet.
| | 05:14 | I'll select the line segment and I'll
open up the Property Changer, and if I
| | 05:18 | look right down here, I can see
this line has a Length of 122.18.
| | 05:22 | So in this drawing, each unit must
equal 1 foot. Let's verify that.
| | 05:27 | I'll move through the menus here and
we'll open up the Drawing Units dialog box.
| | 05:31 | We can see right here in this
drawing, each unit equals a foot.
| | 05:35 | I'm going to close this dialog box.
| | 05:37 | we'll close this drawing
and let's open one more.
| | 05:41 | Once again, I'll click Open.
| | 05:42 | This time we'll open up
the drawing called bracket.
| | 05:45 | Now, this drawing was
created using metric measurements.
| | 05:48 | If I zoom in on this whole, I can see that
it's dimensioned with a radius of 5 millimeters.
| | 05:53 | I'll select this circle, I'll come
over to my Property Changer and I can see
| | 05:57 | this circle has a radius of 5.
| | 06:00 | So in this drawing, each unit must
equal 1 millimeter. Let's verify that.
| | 06:05 | We'll come back to the Drawing Units dialog box.
| | 06:07 | We'll take a look at our Drawing Units
and we can see that in this drawing each
| | 06:11 | unit equals 1 Millimeter.
| | 06:13 | AutoCAD by nature is flexible enough to
allow you to draft using whatever unit
| | 06:16 | of measurement is most convenient for you.
| | 06:19 | And whether you like drafting in inches,
feet, millimeters or something else
| | 06:23 | entirely, you could always find
whatever you need in the Units dialog box.
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| Constructing geometry using architectural measurements| 00:00 | If you'd like to draft using
architectural measurements, it's important to know
| | 00:03 | that AutoCAD can be a little bit
picky in how you enter your values.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
the proper format for entering distances
| | 00:10 | using architectural measurements.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I've got a drawing of
a floor plan for a college dorm room.
| | 00:16 | This drawing was created
using architectural units.
| | 00:19 | We can verify that by visiting
the Drawing Units dialog box.
| | 00:23 | Let's go there quickly.
| | 00:24 | I'm going to open up the Application menu.
| | 00:26 | I'll come down to Drawing
Utilities, and I'll select Units.
| | 00:30 | We can see right here this
drawing is set to Architectural.
| | 00:33 | I'm going to click the X to close this.
| | 00:35 | What I'd like to do in this lesson is
take the geometry that's been drawn in
| | 00:39 | this bedroom and recreate
that geometry in this bedroom.
| | 00:42 | In creating the new geometry,
we'll be entering our distances using
| | 00:46 | architectural measurements.
| | 00:47 | I'm going to start out by
zooming in a little bit.
| | 00:50 | I'll make this geometry a
little larger on screen.
| | 00:52 | We'll create this rectangle first.
| | 00:55 | This shape represents a twin-size bed.
| | 00:58 | The standard measurements for a
twin-size bed are 6'-3" x 3'-3".
| | 01:04 | I'm going to move up and
launch the Line command.
| | 01:07 | Then I'll move over into this bedroom,
and I'm not very concerned about trying
| | 01:10 | to match the distance
away from the wall right now.
| | 01:13 | I'm just going to pick a point right about here.
| | 01:16 | To draw this as accurately as
possible, I'm going to lock my Ortho.
| | 01:19 | I'll come down and click
that Toggle on my Status Bar.
| | 01:22 | I will then pull down and I am now
ready to enter my first measurement.
| | 01:26 | I'm going to type 6, and then
I'll press the apostrophe key.
| | 01:30 | AutoCAD needs the apostrophe to
recognize that we're entering feet.
| | 01:33 | I will then enter my inches
followed by a quote symbol.
| | 01:37 | The quote is the same key as the apostrophe, you
just have to hold down your Shift key.
| | 01:41 | The quote symbol lets AutoCAD
know that we're entering inches.
| | 01:44 | I will then hit Enter to finish my line segment.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to pull to the left here and
I'll type my next distance 3'3", Enter.
| | 01:54 | I'll pull up and type 6'3".
| | 01:58 | Notice that we're entering the values
very similar to how an architect would
| | 02:01 | write them on a piece of paper.
| | 02:02 | Let me hit Enter to finish this line
segment, and then I'm going to right-click
| | 02:06 | and select Close to finish the shape.
| | 02:08 | Okay, let's do this next shape.
| | 02:10 | This rectangle represents
a small chest of drawers.
| | 02:13 | I'm going to hit my Spacebar to go
right back into the Line command.
| | 02:16 | I'm going to pick my
start point right about here.
| | 02:19 | Let's trace this guy in a
counterclockwise fashion.
| | 02:22 | So, my first measurement
is going to be 2'6", Enter.
| | 02:27 | Now, notice this next value has
whole inches and fractional inches.
| | 02:31 | If there is anything tricky about this, this
is what you would consider the tricky part.
| | 02:35 | To enter this distance, I'll type 1'7-5/8".
| | 02:43 | Notice where I put the dash.
| | 02:44 | I put it between the whole
inches and the fractional inches.
| | 02:47 | We have to do that, otherwise
AutoCAD looks at it as 75/8, which is
| | 02:52 | obviously incorrect.
| | 02:53 | I'll press Enter to finish my line segment.
| | 02:55 | Let's come back to the right here, 2'6", Enter.
| | 03:00 | I'm not going to close this one.
| | 03:02 | I'm going to finish it the hard way.
| | 03:04 | I'll pull up and enter a
distance of 1'7-5/8", Enter.
| | 03:12 | Since I'm finished with my shape, I can hit
the Esc key to cancel out of this command.
| | 03:16 | Always remember to separate the whole inches
from the fractional inches with a dash.
| | 03:20 | Now, you may be wondering if
there are any shortcuts for entering
| | 03:23 | architectural measurements.
| | 03:25 | Well, there is one.
| | 03:26 | If you're entering inches, it's
not necessary to enter the quote.
| | 03:29 | By entering a measurement without a symbol,
AutoCAD will assume you're drawing in inches.
| | 03:33 | I've got one shape left.
| | 03:35 | Let's create this circle.
| | 03:36 | This circle represents a lamp.
| | 03:38 | I'm going to move up and
launch the Circle command.
| | 03:41 | I'll pick my center point right about here.
| | 03:43 | The radius of this circle is 5-1/8".
| | 03:47 | So, I'll type 5-1/8, and in keeping with
my shortcut, I'll leave off the quote.
| | 03:53 | I'll just hit my Enter key, and
AutoCAD will assume I'm drawing in inches.
| | 03:57 | As you can see, entering architectural
measurements involves a little bit of
| | 04:00 | extra work on our part.
| | 04:01 | It's still very simple, once we
understand how AutoCAD wants us to enter the values.
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| Working with metric units| 00:00 | So, you'd like to draft using metric units.
| | 00:02 | Well, in the big scheme of things,
there is a little bit more to drafting in
| | 00:05 | metric than simply changing our unit setting.
| | 00:08 | The first thing we have to understand
is that AutoCAD, by default, is set to an
| | 00:11 | Imperial drafting environment.
| | 00:13 | If you look at my screen, you can see
I've just launched my AutoCAD 2011, and
| | 00:17 | I'm sitting in the unsaved Drawing1 file.
| | 00:20 | This is the default startup drawing.
| | 00:22 | Let's take a look at our unit settings.
| | 00:24 | I'm going to open up the Application menu.
| | 00:26 | I'll come down to Drawing
Utilities, and I'll select Units.
| | 00:29 | Right here, I can see
AutoCAD is defaulting to Inches.
| | 00:33 | Now, let' say I'd like to work in Metric,
maybe, I'd like my units to be Millimeters.
| | 00:37 | I wish I could say that it's as
simple as clicking this fly-out, selecting
| | 00:41 | Millimeters from the menu, and we're good to go.
| | 00:43 | I'm afraid, that's not the case.
| | 00:45 | There is a little bit more to working in
Metric than adjusting this one setting.
| | 00:49 | You see, this setting doesn't account for
the scale of my line types or my paper sizes.
| | 00:54 | Watch this!
| | 00:55 | I'm going to click OK to accept this
setting, and then I'll come up to the Quick
| | 00:58 | Access Toolbar and launch the Plot command.
| | 01:01 | We'll be talking about plotting a
little bit later, but for right now, notice
| | 01:05 | that AutoCAD is still
referencing my paper sizes in inches.
| | 01:09 | So, even though I've adjusted my
units, I'm still not working in a fully
| | 01:12 | metric environment.
| | 01:14 | I'm going to move down and
click Cancel to close this.
| | 01:17 | The easiest way to work in metric is to
start from a metric template. Let's try that.
| | 01:21 | I'm going to start a new
drawing by clicking the New icon.
| | 01:25 | In the Select Template dialog box,
I'll select this template, acadiso.
| | 01:30 | This template is designed for metric drafting.
| | 01:32 | I'll move over here and click Open.
| | 01:34 | Now, let's take a look at
the units in this drawing.
| | 01:37 | Once again, we'll go back to the
Application menu, come down to Drawing
| | 01:40 | Utilities, and I'll select Units.
| | 01:43 | Notice that this drawing, started
from the acadiso template, defaults to
| | 01:47 | Millimeters as the unit of measure.
| | 01:49 | I'm going to click the X to close this
and let's open up the Plot dialog box.
| | 01:52 | Notice that AutoCAD is now
referencing my paper sizes in millimeters.
| | 01:56 | As you can see, I am now
working in a metric environment.
| | 01:59 | At this point, you may be wondering
what template AutoCAD uses for the
| | 02:02 | default startup drawing. Let's take a look.
| | 02:05 | I'm going to click the New icon and AutoCAD
normally starts with this file, the acad template.
| | 02:11 | If you happen to do a lot of metric
drafting, you may be wondering if it's
| | 02:14 | possible to use acadiso as your startup drawing.
| | 02:17 | Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 02:19 | It involves adjusting a user preference.
| | 02:21 | I'm going to close this, and
then we'll visit our options.
| | 02:25 | To do that, I'll right-click and I'll
select Options from the bottom of the menu.
| | 02:29 | I'll make sure the Files tab is current.
| | 02:31 | I will then click the Plus
to open up Template Settings.
| | 02:35 | I'll click the Plus to open up
Default Template File Name for QNEW.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to grab this slider.
| | 02:41 | I'll pull it down a little bit
to center this setting on screen.
| | 02:44 | I will then select this
value and I'll click Browse.
| | 02:48 | This takes me right back to the Template
folder where I can select acadiso and click Open.
| | 02:53 | As you can see, I've now added that
path to my new default template file.
| | 02:57 | I'm going to click OK to save the changes.
| | 02:59 | Then let's close out of AutoCAD.
| | 03:02 | Now that I'm back to my Desktop,
we'll re-launch the application.
| | 03:07 | As you can see, I'm in the Drawing1 file.
| | 03:10 | Let's take a look at the units in this drawing.
| | 03:16 | As you can see, this drawing is
defaulting to Millimeters. Let's close this.
| | 03:19 | We'll open up the Plot dialog box.
| | 03:21 | This drawing is also
defaulting to Metric paper sizes.
| | 03:25 | So, from now on, AutoCAD startup
drawing will be defaulting to Metric.
| | 03:29 | Now, if you're like me, once you make a
change like this, you may be wondering,
| | 03:33 | how can I put things back the way they were.
| | 03:35 | To restore the original startup
drawing, we'll go back to Options.
| | 03:40 | I'll go back to the Files tab, and I'll
come down and open up Template Settings.
| | 03:44 | I'll open up the Default
Template File Name for QNEW.
| | 03:47 | I'll select my path and I'll click Remove.
| | 03:49 | Then I'll come down and click OK.
| | 03:52 | From this point on, each time I
launch AutoCAD, it will use the
| | 03:55 | original template drawing.
| | 03:56 | If you have a desire to draft using
metric units, it's nice to know that AutoCAD
| | 04:00 | can be configured to suit your needs.
| | 04:02 | If you're an occasional metric
user, you can simply use the acadiso
| | 04:06 | template when needed.
| | 04:07 | For those of you who use metric units
all the time, AutoCAD can easily adapt to
| | 04:11 | a default metric environment.
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|
|
5. Maintaining AccuracyUnderstanding the Cartesian coordinate system| 00:00 | In this session, we are going to
take a closer look at Model Space.
| | 00:03 | Our approach is going to be a little
bit different though because we are going
| | 00:06 | to look at Model Space from
the computer's point of view.
| | 00:09 | Taking this behind the scene's look
can be very helpful in teaching us how
| | 00:12 | AutoCAD maintains our line work.
| | 00:15 | Model Space is essentially and
infinitely large virtual grid much like a
| | 00:19 | sheet of graph paper.
| | 00:20 | We construct our geometry on this grid
and AutoCAD uses the grid to maintain the
| | 00:25 | accuracy of our drawing.
| | 00:26 | Since, this grid is infinite in the
size AutoCAD needed a way to reference
| | 00:30 | specific locations and space, it
does this through the use of baselines.
| | 00:35 | One of the baselines runs east and
west, this guy is called the X Axis.
| | 00:40 | The X axis is also a number line,
everything to the right of 0 is considered
| | 00:44 | positive X, everything to the left of
the 0 is considered negative X. The other
| | 00:48 | baseline runs north and south
this baseline's called the Y axis.
| | 00:52 | The Y axis is also a number line.
| | 00:55 | Everything above the X axis is
considered positive Y, everything below the X
| | 01:00 | axis is considered negative Y.
AutoCAD uses these baselines as a way of
| | 01:04 | identifying any location on the grid.
| | 01:07 | Locations are identified using
coordinates and AutoCAD references coordinates
| | 01:11 | using the format X, Y.
| | 01:14 | AutoCAD uses these coordinates to keep
track of where we are drawing on the grid.
| | 01:18 | There is a formal name for this grid
and X and Y axis system it's called the
| | 01:22 | Cartesian Coordinate System.
| | 01:24 | Let's take a look at how it works.
| | 01:26 | Take a look at the
intersection of my X and Y axis.
| | 01:29 | This location has a coordinate value of 0, 0.
| | 01:33 | This location also has a
name it's called the origin.
| | 01:36 | I am going to pick another point on the grid.
| | 01:38 | What coordinate value would this point have?
| | 01:41 | This guy would have a coordinate of 6,
2 because it's 6 units in the positive
| | 01:45 | X direction and 2 units in the
positive Y direction, all coordinates are
| | 01:50 | measured from the origin.
| | 01:51 | Let's try another point, what
coordinate would this point have?
| | 01:55 | This point has a coordinate of -7, 4
because it's 7 units in the negative X
| | 02:00 | direction and 4 units in the positive Y.
| | 02:03 | Remember, that AutoCAD references
coordinates using the format X, Y. Let's try one more.
| | 02:09 | How about this point?
| | 02:10 | This guy has a coordinate value of 9, -2
because using 9 units in the positive X
| | 02:16 | direction and 2 units in
the negative Y direction.
| | 02:19 | This means when I draw a line on my
screen I am picking two points and AutoCAD
| | 02:24 | creates a line between them.
| | 02:26 | From a computer's perspective though,
AutoCAD is seeing a line that was drawn
| | 02:29 | from a coordinate of -8, -3 to a
coordinate of 8, 10 and AutoCAD can use these
| | 02:36 | coordinates to calculate the
length of the line as well as the angle.
| | 02:39 | AutoCAD uses coordinates to maintain
the accuracy of all of our geometry.
| | 02:44 | I've just launched my AutoCAD 2011
and I am sitting in a blank drawing.
| | 02:48 | As I move my cursor around on screen
take a look at the lower left corner,
| | 02:52 | down here in Status bar.
| | 02:54 | These numbers represent coordinates and
they are showing me the current location
| | 02:57 | of my cursor on the virtual grid.
| | 03:00 | Take a look at the icon in the lower
left corner, this is called the UCS icon
| | 03:05 | and these lines represent the direction
of positive X and positive Y. I am going
| | 03:10 | to backup a little bit now pan my drawing over.
| | 03:14 | You can see that AutoCAD is actually
showing us the baselines in Model Space.
| | 03:18 | This red line represents the positive
portion of the X axis and this green line
| | 03:22 | represents the positive portion of the Y axis.
| | 03:25 | Let's create some geometry using coordinates.
| | 03:28 | I am going to launch my Circle command
and before I choose my circle point I am
| | 03:32 | going to come down and
turn off my Dynamic Input.
| | 03:35 | Dynamic Input tends to take some
liberties with my coordinates and I don't want
| | 03:39 | to get into that right now.
| | 03:41 | For the center point of my circle I
am going to type the coordinate 25, 25
| | 03:46 | and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:47 | Then, I'll give this circle a
radius of 5 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:50 | Let's pan this down a little bit and
I'd like to create another circle I'll do
| | 03:55 | that by hitting my Spacebar to reenter
the Circle command and I will enter a
| | 03:59 | coordinate of 75, 25 for the center of
this circle and then I am going to hit
| | 04:06 | Enter to accept the default radius of 5.
| | 04:09 | Now, let's say I'd like to draw a
line from the center of this circle to
| | 04:12 | the center of this one.
| | 04:13 | That's actually quiet easy because I know the
coordinates for the centers of these circles.
| | 04:18 | I am going to move up and launch the
Line command and the start point of my line
| | 04:22 | will be a coordinate 25, 25 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 04:26 | I'll like to draw this line to the
coordinate 75, 25 and then I'll hit Escape to
| | 04:32 | cancel out of the command.
| | 04:34 | Now, most of the time we won't be
entering coordinates as we draft.
| | 04:37 | However, it is important for you to
understand the fundamental AutoCAD processes
| | 04:41 | our line work in the background.
| | 04:43 | Think of it this way, everything we
draft is mapped out on an underline X-Y
| | 04:47 | coordinate system and AutoCAD uses
this system to maintain the accuracy of our drawings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Locking to geometry using object snaps| 00:00 | One thing is certain.
| | 00:02 | we'll never create a drawing by
simply free picking points on screen.
| | 00:05 | If we want to draft accurately, we'll
need to know how to use Object Snaps.
| | 00:09 | Object Snaps allow us to lock on the
specific coordinates on our geometry.
| | 00:14 | Before we get started,
take a look at my status bar.
| | 00:17 | Notice the only Mode settings that I
am running are Grid and Dynamic Input.
| | 00:22 | If you are going to work along with me,
make sure that your Mode settings match mine.
| | 00:26 | On my screen, I have two rows of geometry:
| | 00:30 | this row above represents finished
shapes and the row beneath represents
| | 00:35 | incomplete line work.
| | 00:37 | Our goal in this lesson is to take the
geometry that we see below and complete
| | 00:41 | it such that it looks like
the geometry we see above.
| | 00:45 | I am going to pan the drawing over a
little bit and we'll zoom in on this left
| | 00:49 | side and we'll start with the rectangular shape.
| | 00:52 | To finish this shape, I am
going to use the Line command.
| | 00:56 | So, I'll move up and launch Line and
then I would like to start my line from the
| | 01:00 | end point of this line.
| | 01:02 | Now, I know that end point has a
coordinate and I could wave around here and try
| | 01:06 | and figure out what that is, but you
know what, that wouldn't be very accurate.
| | 01:10 | Instead, I am going to use an Object Snap.
| | 01:12 | I am going to hold my Shift key and
right click, this brings up the Object Snap
| | 01:17 | menu and we can use this menu to
lock on to specific coordinates.
| | 01:21 | I am going to select end point and
then I'll click on this line segment.
| | 01:27 | Notice how AutoCAD is
locked on to that endpoint.
| | 01:30 | To finish my line, I'll hold
my Shift key and right click.
| | 01:34 | I'll select Endpoint from the menu and
I'll click on this line segment and then
| | 01:38 | I'll hit Escape to exit the command.
| | 01:40 | To finish the shape, I'll hit my
Spacebar to go back into the Line command.
| | 01:44 | I'll Shift+right-click to bring up
the menu and I'll select Endpoint.
| | 01:48 | Let me mention this.
| | 01:49 | AutoCAD will select the
endpoint closest to your cursor.
| | 01:54 | You don't have to be all the
way on the endpoint to select it.
| | 01:57 | As long as you are 50% of the way or
greater along your line segment, AutoCAD
| | 02:01 | will find the appropriate endpoint.
| | 02:02 | So, if I click right here,
AutoCAD snaps to that location.
| | 02:07 | To finish my line, I'll Shift+right-
click to bring up the menu, I'll select
| | 02:11 | Endpoint and I'll click on
this segment and hit Escape.
| | 02:14 | That is the Endpoint object snap.
| | 02:16 | I am going to zoom out a little bit.
| | 02:18 | we'll pan this over and to complete this
drawing, we'll need the Circle command.
| | 02:23 | So I'll move up and launch Circle.
| | 02:26 | I would like to start my circle
from the mid-point of this line.
| | 02:29 | So I am going to Shift+right-click,
I'll select Midpoint from the menu and then
| | 02:34 | I'll click on this segment.
| | 02:36 | Notice the icon for Midpoint is
different than the icon that we see for Endpoint.
| | 02:40 | Now, as I pull this out, I don't know
what the radius of this circle is, but you
| | 02:45 | know what, it doesn't matter.
| | 02:46 | I know that the radius goes out to the
Shift+right-click> Endpoint of this line.
| | 02:53 | Let's pan this over a little bit.
| | 02:55 | To finish this drawing, I am
going to launch the Line command.
| | 02:59 | I would like to create my line from the Shift+
right-Click>Intersection of these two lines.
| | 03:05 | I am going to click right at that
intersection and then I'll Shift+right-click,
| | 03:09 | I'll select Intersection from the menu and
I'll click this intersection and I'll hit Escape.
| | 03:14 | Then, I'll launch the Circle command
and I would like to place the center of my
| | 03:18 | circle at the intersection of
this line segment and this one.
| | 03:22 | Unfortunately, I don't have a hard
intersection that I can click on, but you
| | 03:26 | know what, the Object Snap will still work.
| | 03:29 | If I Shift+right-click, I'll select
Intersection, and then I'll click on this
| | 03:33 | segment and I'll move over and click
on this segment and AutoCAD finds their
| | 03:38 | extended intersection.
| | 03:40 | Finally, the radius of this
circle can be defined by the
| | 03:43 | Shift+right-click>Endpoint of this line.
| | 03:47 | Let's pan this over.
| | 03:49 | This time we are going to
look at the Center object snap.
| | 03:53 | To complete this drawing, I am going to
launch the Line command and I'd like to
| | 03:56 | create my line from the Shift+
right-click, I'll select Center.
| | 04:02 | When you are grabbing a center point,
think of your cursor as being AutoCAD's eye.
| | 04:06 | If I place my eye on the arc,
notice AutoCAD finds the center.
| | 04:10 | if I click, AutoCAD will
snap to that coordinate.
| | 04:13 | I would like to draw this line to the
Shift+right-click>Center, I'll click on
| | 04:19 | this arc, and then I'll hit
Escape to exit the command.
| | 04:22 | It looks like we'll have to mix up a
few Object Snaps to finish this drawing.
| | 04:26 | I am going to launch my Circle
command and I'd like to create the circle
| | 04:31 | from the Midpoint of this line and
I'll like to draw it to the Intersection,
| | 04:38 | right here.
| | 04:39 | Let's pan this over a little further.
| | 04:41 | This time we are going to
look at the Quadrant object snap.
| | 04:44 | I am going to select this circle momentarily.
| | 04:47 | Take a look at these blue squares.
| | 04:49 | These guys represent the
quadrant locations on the circle.
| | 04:53 | You can find the Quadrant object
snaps at the North, South, East, and West
| | 04:57 | locations of an arc or circle.
| | 04:59 | I am going to hit Escape to deselect this.
| | 05:02 | I'll launch my Line command and I
would like to create my line from the
| | 05:06 | Shift+right-click, I'll select
Quadrant, and I'll click the arc.
| | 05:11 | Notice that AutoCAD will find the
quadrant closest to your cursor.
| | 05:15 | I am going to click right here.
| | 05:18 | I'd like to draw this to the
Quadrant here, to the Quadrant here, to
| | 05:24 | the Quadrant here.
| | 05:30 | Let's go to the center point now.
| | 05:32 | I'll select Center.
| | 05:33 | I'll click on the arc to find the
center location and then I am going to
| | 05:37 | right-click and select
Close to finish the drawing.
| | 05:40 | Let's pan this over a little further.
| | 05:42 | This time we are going to look
at the Perpendicular object snap.
| | 05:45 | I am going to launch my Line command
and I'd like to start my line from the
| | 05:50 | Midpoint of this line and I
would like to draw that to the
| | 05:55 | Shift+right-click>Perpendicular,
and then I'll select this segment.
| | 06:01 | Notice, I can click any place I like
along this segment and AutoCAD will find
| | 06:05 | the perpendicular location.
| | 06:07 | Perpendicular means I am
creating a 90 degree angle.
| | 06:11 | Now, perpendicular also works in reverse.
| | 06:13 | I am going to hit the Spacebar
to go back into the Line command.
| | 06:17 | I'll Shift+right-click and select
Perpendicular and then I'll click this
| | 06:21 | line segment first.
| | 06:23 | Notice, as I pull away, I am creating a
line segment that is perpendicular from
| | 06:27 | that original entity.
| | 06:28 | I would like to draw this line to the
Shift+right-click>Midpoint of this line
| | 06:34 | and I'll hit Escape.
| | 06:36 | Let's pan this over a little bit
further and this time we'll look at the
| | 06:38 | Tangent object snap.
| | 06:40 | Tangent allows us to snap to a
tangent point on an arc or circle and just
| | 06:45 | a quick definition.
| | 06:46 | If a straight segment is tangent to
an arc, it intersects the arc at one
| | 06:51 | and only one point.
| | 06:52 | I am going to move up and launch the
Line command and I'd like to start my line
| | 06:57 | from the Shift+right-click>Tangent.
| | 07:01 | I will click this arc and as I pull
away, notice I hit the Rubber Band effect
| | 07:06 | but AutoCAD is
maintaining tangency with that arc.
| | 07:10 | I would like to draw this line to a
point Shift+right-click>Tangent to this arc
| | 07:16 | and I'll hit Escape.
| | 07:17 | Let's hit the Spacebar to go
back into the Line command.
| | 07:20 | I would like to start my line from
tangent to this arc to a point tangent to
| | 07:29 | this one and I'll hit Escape.
| | 07:34 | From this moment on, we will
always use Object Snaps as we draw.
| | 07:37 | Using Object Snaps is the only
way to guarantee we're creating
| | 07:40 | accurate geometry.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Automating object snap selection| 00:01 | The first thing people notice when they
start using Object Snaps is that it's a
| | 00:04 | little tedious to have to
Shift+right-click for each one.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to automate some of our object snaps.
| | 00:11 | On my screen, I have some abstract shapes.
| | 00:14 | Just for a minute, let's assume I wanted to
finish these shapes to create some squares.
| | 00:19 | Well, to do that I'll launch the Line
command and I'd like to start my line from
| | 00:24 | the Shift+right-click, Endpoint of this
segment and I'd like to draw my line to
| | 00:29 | the Endpoint of this segment and
then I'll hit Escape when I'm finished.
| | 00:34 | As you can see, to finish the rest of
these squares, I'm going to have to bring
| | 00:38 | up the Object Snap menu six more
times and if I also wanted to draw a line
| | 00:43 | segment that connected the centers of
all of these circles, I'm going to have to
| | 00:47 | bring that menu up another eight times.
| | 00:50 | Let's look at how we can
automate our object snaps.
| | 00:52 | We'll do that by adjusting a mode setting.
| | 00:56 | I'm going to come down to the Status
Bar and I'll click this toggle, the sixth
| | 00:59 | one from the left side.
| | 01:01 | This guy represents our running Object Snaps.
| | 01:04 | Now that I've turned this on, I'm
going to right-click on the icon.
| | 01:08 | this brings up my Running Object Snap menu.
| | 01:11 | If I have a running Object Snaps, it
means that AutoCAD will automatically look
| | 01:15 | for this snap anytime it needs a coordinate.
| | 01:18 | Now, I'd like to change these settings.
| | 01:20 | So, I'm going to come down and select
Settings and then I will place a check
| | 01:24 | next to any of the object snaps I'd
like to set as running object snaps.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to remove the check from
Extension and Intersection and I'm going to
| | 01:33 | leave Endpoint and Center
turned on and I'll click OK.
| | 01:38 | Now that I've adjusted my settings and
my running Object Snaps are turned on,
| | 01:42 | let's see if we can finish these shapes.
| | 01:45 | Once again, I'll launch the Line
command and then I'll move and I'll start my
| | 01:48 | line from the Endpoint of this segment.
| | 01:51 | Notice, I was able to grab that Object
Snap without the menu because AutoCAD's
| | 01:55 | automatically looking for Endpoints.
| | 01:57 | In fact, if I hover over these circles,
you can see AutoCAD is automatically
| | 02:01 | looking for center points as well.
| | 02:02 | I'm going to finish my line clicking
this endpoint and then I'll hit Escape,
| | 02:07 | I'll press my Spacebar to go back
into the Line command and I'll draw my
| | 02:11 | line from the endpoint here to the
endpoint here and I'll hit Escape, I'll
| | 02:15 | reenter the Line command and I'll draw a line
from the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 02:21 | Now, let's see if we can create a
line segment that connects the centers of
| | 02:25 | all of these circles.
| | 02:27 | Once again, I'll relaunch the Line
command and I'll draw my line from the center
| | 02:31 | of this circle to this one, I'll select
this circle and this one, this one and
| | 02:36 | this one, I can work my way right down
the line and very easily grab the centers
| | 02:40 | of all of those circles.
| | 02:42 | As you can see, if we're using
running object snaps, we can quickly select
| | 02:45 | coordinates without always
having to bring up the menu.
| | 02:48 | Now, I must admit, it's
very tempting to do this.
| | 02:52 | You might want to come down and right-
click on this toggle, select Settings and
| | 02:56 | it's very tempting to come over and
click Select All and set all of these as
| | 03:00 | running Object Snaps.
| | 03:02 | Unfortunately, as your drawings
become more complicated, if you have too
| | 03:06 | many running object snaps, you run
the risk of accidentally selecting an
| | 03:09 | incorrect coordinate.
| | 03:11 | My advice is to pick your favorite two
running object snaps and select the rest
| | 03:15 | of them from the Standard Object Snap menu.
| | 03:18 | I'm going to click Clear All to clear
these and then I'm going to turn on Center
| | 03:23 | and Endpoint as my running object snaps.
| | 03:26 | Those are the ones that I use most
often and I'll come down and click OK.
| | 03:29 | Now that we have an understanding of
how running object snaps work, let's pan
| | 03:34 | the drawing over and we'll see if we can use
the tool to help us recreate this geometry.
| | 03:40 | I'm going to start by launching the
Line command and I'll pick my start
| | 03:44 | point right down here.
| | 03:45 | Then I'm going to lock my Ortho,
I'll do that by pressing the F8 key.
| | 03:50 | I'll pull my line to the left a
distance of 5 units and I'll hit Enter, I'll
| | 03:55 | pull up 5 units, I'll pull to the
right 5 units and then I'll right-click and
| | 04:01 | select Close to close the geometry.
| | 04:04 | Now, let's see if we can place these circles.
| | 04:07 | Based on the dimensions, I can see the
center of this circle is 1 unit over and
| | 04:11 | 1 unit down from this upper-left corner.
| | 04:14 | One thing I don't know, I don't
know the radius of these circles.
| | 04:18 | That's okay, we can figure that out.
| | 04:20 | I'll do that by selecting the circle
and I'll come over to my property changer.
| | 04:24 | Now, my property changer happens to be
anchored to the interface, if yours is
| | 04:27 | not, you can press Ctrl+1 to bring
your property changer up on screen, and if
| | 04:32 | I look right down here beneath the Geometry
heading, I can see the Radius of the circle is 0.5.
| | 04:37 | I'm going to move outside the palette
and let it collapse and then I'll hit
| | 04:40 | Escape to deselect the circle.
| | 04:43 | To place my first circle in my drawing,
I'd like to create an object snap that
| | 04:47 | represents the circle's center point.
| | 04:50 | To do that, I'm going to
create some sketch geometry.
| | 04:53 | I'll start by launching the Circle
command, I'm going to create a circle from
| | 04:57 | the endpoint of this line and I'd like my
circle to have a radius of 1 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 05:03 | The radius of this circle allows me to
find the point one unit over from this corner.
| | 05:09 | Now, I'll launch my Line command and I'd
like to create my line from the intersection.
| | 05:14 | Now, I don't have a running
object snap set for intersection.
| | 05:17 | So, I'm going to Shift+right-click
to bring up the menu, I'll select
| | 05:21 | Intersection and I'll click right here,
I'll pull my line down a distance of one
| | 05:25 | and then I'll hit Escape.
| | 05:27 | This endpoint represents
the center of my circle.
| | 05:32 | I'm going to launch the Circle command,
I'll create my circle from the endpoint
| | 05:35 | of that line and my circle has a radius of 0.5.
| | 05:39 | I'm going to use the same sketch
geometry to find the circle in the
| | 05:42 | lower-right corner.
| | 05:44 | I'll start by hitting my Spacebar
to go back into the Circle command.
| | 05:47 | I'll create a circle from this endpoint
with a radius of 1, I will then launch
| | 05:52 | my Line command, I'll draw my line from
the Shift+right-click Intersection right
| | 05:58 | here, I'll pull this up a
distance 1 unit and I'll hit Enter.
| | 06:04 | Finally, I'll launch the circle command,
I'll create my circle from the endpoint
| | 06:07 | of this line and my circle has a radius of 0.5.
| | 06:10 | Alright, we've got one more circle
left and there are no dimensions on this
| | 06:15 | circle, but it is
centrally located inside the shape.
| | 06:18 | What if I did this?
| | 06:20 | I'm going to launch the Line command
and I'll create a line from this endpoint
| | 06:25 | to the endpoint up here.
| | 06:27 | Now, notice as I pull up, I'm not getting the
standard rubber band look that we usually get.
| | 06:31 | Don't forget my Ortho is turned on.
| | 06:33 | I'm going to press F8 to turn that
off and now this makes a little bit
| | 06:36 | more sense on screen.
| | 06:38 | It would have still worked the other way
but this way it looks a little bit nicer.
| | 06:41 | I'm going to draw my line to
this endpoint and I'll hit Escape.
| | 06:46 | Then I'll launch the Circle command
and I'll create my circle from the
| | 06:49 | Shift+right-click midpoint of this line
and I'm going to hit Enter to accept my
| | 06:55 | previous radius of 0.5.
| | 06:57 | Finally, I can get rid of this sketch geometry.
| | 07:00 | To do that, I'll click to select each
of these entities and then I'll press the
| | 07:06 | Delete key to erase them.
| | 07:08 | Taking the object snaps that you use
most often and setting them as running
| | 07:11 | object snaps can save you a
lot of time when drafting.
| | 07:15 | Personally, I like to use Endpoint and
Center as my running object snaps and for
| | 07:19 | the remainder of this title, unless I
specify otherwise, this is how my running
| | 07:24 | object snaps will be set.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using temporary tracking to find points in space| 00:00 | Sometimes it's hard to find locations in
space without first creating some sketch lines.
| | 00:05 | This usually means going back and erasing
the unnecessary line work when we're finished.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
place geometry without the aid of sketch lines.
| | 00:15 | On my screen, I have a pair of speakers
and I would like to take the dimension
| | 00:19 | circle that we see on this
finished speaker and recreate them on the
| | 00:23 | unfinished speaker.
| | 00:25 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit, we'll
center this top portion on screen and I
| | 00:30 | would like to create this small circle first.
| | 00:32 | I can see it has a radius of 0.4 and
I can also see that its center point
| | 00:37 | measures 2.75 units over and 3.83
units down from this upper-left corner.
| | 00:44 | Now, I could find that center
point using sketch geometry.
| | 00:48 | I could come over and launch my Line
command, I could start my line from the
| | 00:52 | endpoint of this line and I could lock my Ortho.
| | 00:56 | I could pull over a distance of 2.75, Enter.
| | 01:00 | I could pull down 3.83, Enter.
| | 01:04 | I'll hit Escape and the center of my
circle is located at the endpoint of this line.
| | 01:09 | Now, there's nothing wrong with this
method, except that I have to come back
| | 01:12 | later and erase these segments.
| | 01:14 | Let me click to select these and I'll
press my Delete key to erase them and
| | 01:20 | let's find the center of this circle
without having to use sketch lines.
| | 01:24 | In fact, I'm going to come down
and turn off my Ortho Mode as well.
| | 01:28 | To place the circle, I'm going to
launch my Circle command and now AutoCAD's
| | 01:32 | asking me for the center point location.
| | 01:34 | I don't know what that is, but I
do know how to get to that location.
| | 01:38 | So, I'm going to type tk and hit Enter.
| | 01:41 | tk stands for temporary tracking.
| | 01:44 | Notice AutoCAD automatically
turned my Ortho on and from this point.
| | 01:49 | I can now guide AutoCAD to the
place where I want to create my circle.
| | 01:53 | My first tracking point is going to be
the endpoint of this line and then I will
| | 01:57 | pull to the right a distance of 2.75, Enter.
| | 02:01 | I will then pull down a distance of
3.83, Enter and now that I'm at my
| | 02:07 | desired location, I'll hit Enter to accept
it and this circle has a radius of 0.4, Enter.
| | 02:14 | Next, I'm going to create the larger
circle, I'll hit my Spacebar to go back
| | 02:19 | into the Circle command and I have a
running Object Snap set for center point.
| | 02:24 | So, I'm going to click this circle to
start the new one at its center and this
| | 02:28 | circle has a radius of 1.4, Enter.
| | 02:32 | Let's pan this up and we'll take a
look at the circles on the lower half.
| | 02:37 | In this case, the circle that I'll be
creating on the bottom, has a center point
| | 02:40 | that measures 6.5 units down
from the center of the upper circle.
| | 02:46 | No problem, I can find this
point using temporary tracking.
| | 02:51 | I'll move up and launch the Circle
command and where's my center point?
| | 02:55 | I'm not sure but I do know how to get there.
| | 02:58 | So, I'll type tk, Enter.
| | 03:01 | AutoCAD automatically turns my Ortho on.
| | 03:03 | my first tracking point will
be the center of this circle.
| | 03:07 | I will then pull down 6.5 units and hit Enter.
| | 03:12 | Now that I'm at my desired
location, I'll hit Enter to accept it.
| | 03:15 | Notice as a curtsy,
AutoCAD has turned off the Ortho.
| | 03:19 | Let's create the smaller circle first.
| | 03:21 | This guy has a radius of 0.8 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:25 | Finally, we'll create the larger circle,
I'll do that by pressing my Spacebar to
| | 03:28 | go back into the command, I'll create
this circle from the center of this one
| | 03:33 | and this circle has a radius of 3.
| | 03:37 | Using temporary tracking, we can
easily place geometry in our drawing without
| | 03:41 | the need for extra, unnecessary line work.
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|
|
6. Using Specialized Drawing CommandsDrawing rectangles| 00:00 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to draft a little bit faster.
| | 00:03 | We're going to take a look at
AutoCAD's Rectangle command.
| | 00:05 | Rectangle allows us to create
rectangular shapes in just a couple of steps.
| | 00:09 | Now, the Rectangle Tool is in
the Draw panel of our Ribbon.
| | 00:12 | I'm going to move up and click
the icon to launch the command.
| | 00:15 | Now, what does AutoCAD
need to create a rectangle?
| | 00:18 | Well, it needs the location of
the opposite corners. Watch this.
| | 00:22 | I'll click a point on screen to start my
rectangle and then I'm going to move to
| | 00:26 | the upper-right and click again to finish it.
| | 00:29 | Now that my rectangle is finished, I'm
going to click to select it and notice
| | 00:33 | that AutoCAD views this
geometry as a single entity.
| | 00:35 | In fact, if you want to be good
technical, this entity is considered a poly
| | 00:39 | line, meaning, it's a multi-segmented line.
| | 00:42 | Now, this rectangle's nice, but it
doesn't have any geometric value.
| | 00:46 | Let's create another rectangle, and this
time we'll be entering real dimensions.
| | 00:50 | I'm going to hit my Escape key to
deselect this rectangle and let me mention
| | 00:54 | that this drawing is an architectural example.
| | 00:57 | We can see that by
opening up the Application menu.
| | 00:59 | I'll come down to Drawing
Utilities and I'll select Units.
| | 01:03 | We can see Architectural right here.
| | 01:05 | Since this drawing is set to
Architectural, I'll need to enter the apostrophe
| | 01:09 | and quotes in my
distances to identify feet and inches.
| | 01:12 | I'm going to click OK to close this.
| | 01:14 | Then I'll move up and relaunch the
Rectangle command and let's see if we can use
| | 01:18 | the tool to replicate the
rectangular shape of this Ping-Pong table.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to start my rectangle by
clicking right here and now, take a look
| | 01:25 | at the command line.
| | 01:26 | Notice there's a sub-
option here called Dimensions.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to right-click to access the
sub-options, I'll select Dimensions and
| | 01:33 | now all I have to do is
answer AutoCAD's questions.
| | 01:36 | First of all, AutoCAD wants
the length of my rectangle.
| | 01:39 | The length is the East-West
direction or the direction along the X-axis.
| | 01:43 | In this case, I'm going
to type 5 feet, Enter.
| | 01:46 | Now, what's the width for my rectangle?
| | 01:48 | That's going to be the North-South
distance or the distance along the Y-axis.
| | 01:53 | I'll type 9 feet, Enter, and
notice I'm still on the command.
| | 01:56 | That's because AutoCAD still needs
to know where the opposite corner is.
| | 02:00 | Based on the dimensions I gave from
my starting corner, the opposite corner
| | 02:04 | could be over here to the upper-left,
could be over here to the upper-right,
| | 02:07 | lower-right or lower-left.
| | 02:10 | So, I'm going to place my cursor in this
area and click to finish the rectangle.
| | 02:14 | Knowing what we know now, let's pan the
drawing over and we'll try and use this
| | 02:18 | tool in a practical example.
| | 02:20 | This geometry we see over here
to the right represents a couch.
| | 02:23 | Let's see if we can create a similar
couch positioned on the other side of
| | 02:27 | the ping-pong table.
| | 02:28 | First of all, I can see this couch
measures 3 feet from the middle of the table.
| | 02:32 | So, I'm going to launch the Rectangle
command and let's find that location
| | 02:36 | using temporary tracking.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to type TK, Enter.
| | 02:40 | Now, my first tracking point is going
to be the Shift+Right-click, I'll select
| | 02:45 | Intersection from the Object Snap menu,
I'll click the Intersection right here,
| | 02:49 | and then I'll pull to the left and
I'll type a distance of 3 feet, Enter.
| | 02:53 | Now that I'm at my desired location,
I'll hit Enter to start my rectangle.
| | 02:57 | I'm going to draw this lower seat cushion first.
| | 03:00 | So, let's right-click, select Dimensions
from the menu and this seat cushion has
| | 03:04 | a length of 1 foot, 11 inches,
Enter and it has a width of 2 feet, 6
| | 03:12 | inches, Enter.
| | 03:14 | Finally, I'll move my cursor down here
so my rectangle is in the right location,
| | 03:17 | and I'll click to accept it.
| | 03:18 | Let's create another rectangle.
| | 03:20 | I'm going to press the
Spacebar to relaunch the command.
| | 03:22 | I'll start the next
rectangle from this endpoint.
| | 03:25 | I'll right-click and select Dimensions,
and notice that AutoCAD is remembering
| | 03:28 | my previous measurements, which is
perfect, because the next rectangle is the
| | 03:32 | same size as the last one.
| | 03:33 | So, I'm going to hit Enter to accept
the length and the width, and then I'll
| | 03:37 | click on screen to finish the shape.
| | 03:38 | Now, let's draw this rectangle
that represents the lower backrest.
| | 03:42 | I'm going to relaunch the command by
pressing the Spacebar, I'll start my
| | 03:45 | rectangle at this endpoint, right-
click and select Dimensions, this rectangle
| | 03:49 | has a length of 7 inches, Enter,
and it has a width of 2 feet, 6 inches,
| | 03:54 | I'm going to hit Enter to
accept the default, and then I'll click on
| | 03:57 | screen to finish the shape.
| | 03:58 | Let's go right back into the command,
I'll start my rectangle from right here
| | 04:02 | and in this case, I don't
have to enter dimensions.
| | 04:05 | I want my rectangle to go to this endpoint.
| | 04:07 | Remember that AutoCAD is really only
interested in the location of the opposite
| | 04:10 | corners, and in this case, I
had an object snap at both places.
| | 04:14 | I'm going to relaunch the Rectangle
command, I'd like to start my next
| | 04:17 | rectangle from this corner, I'll
right-click, select Dimensions and this
| | 04:21 | armrest has a length of 1 foot, 11
inches, Enter and it has a width of
| | 04:26 | 7 inches, Enter.
| | 04:28 | I will then move my cursor up to
make sure that my rectangles are on the
| | 04:31 | appropriate side and I'll click to finish.
| | 04:33 | Let's do one more, I'll hit the Spacebar
to go back into the command, I'll start
| | 04:36 | with the rectangle from this endpoint,
I'll access my Dimensions sub-option and
| | 04:40 | then I'll hit Enter to
accept the last couple dimensions.
| | 04:43 | Finally, I'll move outside and
click to finish the rectangle.
| | 04:46 | Rectangular shapes are a huge part of
two-dimensional drafting and I'm sure
| | 04:50 | you'll agree that the Rectangle
command allows us to draw these shapes four
| | 04:53 | times faster than the Line command.
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| Drawing polygons| 00:00 | Another shape that we see
frequently in AutoCAD drawings are polygons.
| | 00:04 | A polygon is a shape where each
of the sides is the same length.
| | 00:07 | Much like a hexagon or an octagon or a square.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we are going to learn
how to quickly create shapes like the
| | 00:13 | ones we see on screen.
| | 00:15 | Each of these shapes was created using
the Polygon command and it's important
| | 00:19 | to note that the steps used to create a
polygon are virtually identical to the
| | 00:23 | steps used to create a circle, that's because
every polygon is based on an imaginary circle.
| | 00:28 | If I pan the drawing over, we can see
how a circle could be used to create
| | 00:32 | each of these shapes.
| | 00:33 | So when we create a polygon, AutoCAD is
going to want a Center Point and a Radius.
| | 00:38 | There is only one more thing we need
to think about, is the polygon we are
| | 00:41 | creating, inscribed or circumscribed?
| | 00:44 | Since AutoCAD is using a circle to
create the polygon, it needs to know, if the
| | 00:48 | polygon falls on the outside or
inside of the imaginary circle.
| | 00:52 | The method we choose depends on
how the polygon is dimensioned.
| | 00:55 | If the polygon is dimensioned to the
corners, it's considered inscribed because
| | 01:00 | it would fall on the inside of the circle.
| | 01:02 | If the polygon is dimensioned to the
faces, it's considered circumscribed
| | 01:06 | because it would fall on
the outside of the circle.
| | 01:08 | Let's try and create a couple of polygons.
| | 01:09 | I am going to pan that drawing over.
| | 01:13 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 01:16 | On my screen, I have an
example of a small socket wrench.
| | 01:19 | This happens to be a metric drawing by the way.
| | 01:21 | So each unit equals 1 millimeter.
| | 01:23 | I am going to zoom in a little bit
closer on this bottom portion and you
| | 01:27 | could see, I have a drawing of a standard
12mm socket, complete with a view of each end.
| | 01:32 | Let's see if we can use the Polygon
command to replicate each of these End Views.
| | 01:35 | We will start with the one on the left.
| | 01:38 | To launch the Polygon command, I am
going to come up to the Draw panel, I
| | 01:41 | will click this fly-out to expand the panel,
and I will launch the command right here.
| | 01:46 | Now AutoCAD needs the number of sides.
| | 01:48 | In this case, I will type 6 and hit
Enter and remember that when we create a
| | 01:51 | Polygon, it's just like creating a circle.
| | 01:53 | So AutoCAD wants this center location.
| | 01:56 | That would be the center of this circle and
is this polygon inscribed or circumscribed?
| | 02:01 | Well in this case, the distance
that I am given is from face-to-face.
| | 02:04 | So this must be a circumscribed polygon.
| | 02:08 | Finally, what's the
radius of the imaginary circle?
| | 02:11 | Well, I know 12 is the diameter of
the circle, so my radius much be 6.
| | 02:14 | Alright, let's create the
polygon in this End View.
| | 02:17 | I am going to expand the Draw panel
and I will re-launch the Polygon command.
| | 02:21 | I will enter 4 for my number of sides
and hit Enter, where its' the center of my
| | 02:25 | polygon and when you use my Running
Object Snap, click, this circle to find the
| | 02:30 | Center and this polygon
inscribed or circumscribed.
| | 02:33 | In this case the diameter of this
circle that I am given, represents the
| | 02:36 | distance from corner to corner.
| | 02:38 | So this is an inscribed polygon.
| | 02:40 | In fact this dimensioned circle even
illustrates that the polygon is on the inside.
| | 02:44 | Finally, what's the radius of the circle?
| | 02:46 | Well if the diameter is 9,
my radius must be 4.5, Enter.
| | 02:51 | As you can see using the Polygon
command is a much more efficient way of
| | 02:54 | creating these shapes than
using the standard Line command.
| | 02:57 | Once you understand the meaning behind
inscribed and circumscribed, you could
| | 03:01 | easily create any polygon you can imagine.
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| Creating an ellipse| 00:00 | Back in the paper and pencil days,
creating an Ellipse required the use of
| | 00:03 | a plastic template.
| | 00:05 | Today using AutoCAD's Ellipse command,
we can create any size ellipse we like,
| | 00:09 | and it's as easy as creating a circle.
| | 00:11 | On my screen I have a diagram of an
ellipse and generally speaking an ellipse is
| | 00:15 | nothing more than a circle with two diameters.
| | 00:18 | There is a horizontal diameter.
| | 00:20 | This is called the Major Axis and there's
a vertical diameter called the Minor Axis.
| | 00:25 | Note that if we are looking at these
distances as measured from the center
| | 00:28 | point, they are called
the major and minor radius.
| | 00:31 | Creating an ellipse is very similar to
creating a circle. Let's try it out.
| | 00:34 | I am going to pan the drawing over and
I will push this up a little bit, and we
| | 00:39 | will try and recreate each of these
shapes using AutoCAD's Ellipse tool.
| | 00:43 | We will start with this one on the left.
| | 00:45 | Now the Ellipse tool is located
in the Draw panel of our Ribbon.
| | 00:48 | The icon is right here, I am going
to hover over this for just a second,
| | 00:52 | because I want to show you that the Default
method of creating an ellipse is the Center Method.
| | 00:57 | Let's launch the command and then I will
click to specify the center location of
| | 01:01 | my ellipse and then I am going to lock
my Ortho, I will do that by clicking the
| | 01:05 | toggle down here in the Status Bar.
| | 01:08 | Then I will pull to the right and I am
going to enter the Major Radius Distance.
| | 01:12 | If we look at the example above, we can
see the Major Axis is 24 Inches, so the
| | 01:16 | radius is half of that, it must be 12.
| | 01:18 | I will type 12 Inches, Enter.
| | 01:22 | Don't forget to use the quote symbol,
this is an architectural example.
| | 01:25 | Now I will pull up or down and
I will enter the Minor Radius.
| | 01:29 | We can see that the Minor Axis is 14, so
the Minor Radius must be 7 Inches, Enter.
| | 01:35 | Alright, let's recreate this Ellipse
now, except this time we will use a
| | 01:39 | different Ellipse method.
| | 01:40 | I am going to move back to the icon and
I am going to click this Fly-out right
| | 01:44 | next to it and you can see in the Menu that
there are a couple of ways to create an ellipse.
| | 01:48 | This time you will look at the Axis End method.
| | 01:51 | With Axis End, we will define the
Major Axis and then the Minor Radius.
| | 01:55 | I will click to launch the tool and then
I will pick a point on screen to define
| | 01:59 | the first point of my Major Axis, I am
going to pull to the right and in the
| | 02:04 | example above, the Major Axis is 15
Inches, so I will type 15 Inches, Enter.
| | 02:10 | Finally notice where I am pulling from.
| | 02:11 | I am pulling from the center, so I
am going to have to enter a radius.
| | 02:15 | I can see the Minor Axis is 8 Inches, so
the Minor Radius must be 4 Inches. Enter.
| | 02:22 | Now that we understand how to use
the Ellipse tool, let's apply it to
| | 02:25 | a practical example.
| | 02:26 | I am going to zoom out, and
I will pan my drawing over.
| | 02:29 | On my screen, I have an architectural example.
| | 02:32 | This is a floor plan for a single family hall.
| | 02:35 | Let's start out by zooming in on the
Master Bath area and I would like to focus
| | 02:39 | our attention on this counter top.
| | 02:41 | So I am going to zoom in a little bit further.
| | 02:43 | I will center this on screen.
| | 02:45 | I would like this
counter top to have two basins.
| | 02:48 | I have already created one of them
and let's see if we can use the Ellipse
| | 02:52 | command to create the other.
| | 02:53 | First of all, I would like the basin to
be centrally located within this area.
| | 02:57 | To do that I am going to
create some sketch geometry.
| | 03:00 | I will move up and launch the Line
command and I am going to create a line form
| | 03:04 | the end point here to the end point
down here, and then I will hit Esc.
| | 03:08 | Now I would like to draw
this large Ellipse first.
| | 03:10 | I am going to create using the Center
method and I am going to place the center
| | 03:14 | at the midpoint of this line.
| | 03:17 | So let's move up the Ellipse Tool, I
will click the Fly-out and I will select
| | 03:20 | the Center method and I don't have a
running object snap set for midpoint, so I
| | 03:24 | am going to Shift + right click.
| | 03:25 | I will select midpoint from the
menu and then I will click this line.
| | 03:29 | Now I am going to pull to the right
and I am going to enter my Major Radius.
| | 03:33 | In this case, that will be 10 Inches.
| | 03:35 | Enter, then I will pull up, and then I
will enter the Minor Radius, since the
| | 03:40 | Minor Axis is 16, the Minor
Radius must be 8 Inches. Enter.
| | 03:44 | At this point, I don't need my sketch
geometry anymore, so I will click to
| | 03:48 | select it and then I will
press my Delete key to erase.
| | 03:51 | Let's create the next ellipse.
| | 03:52 | I will move back up and launch the command.
| | 03:55 | Now I have a Running Object Snap of Center.
| | 03:57 | Watch this, if I place my cursor on top
of this ellipse, AutoCAD will find the
| | 04:02 | center of an ellipse, just like it
will find the center of a circle.
| | 04:05 | So I am going to click to accept this point.
| | 04:07 | I will pull to the right and I will enter
my Major Radius which is 8 Inches, Enter.
| | 04:12 | Then I will pull up, I will enter my
Minor Radius which in this case is 6 Inches.
| | 04:18 | Enter.
| | 04:19 | Alright the last thing we
have to draw is this drain.
| | 04:21 | This is this circle, it has a radius of
1 inch and it's center point is placed 4
| | 04:26 | Inches from the center of the basin.
| | 04:28 | I am going to move up and launch my
Circle command and I will place this center
| | 04:32 | of the circle using Temporary Tracking.
| | 04:34 | I will type TK, Enter, my first
tracking point will be the center of this
| | 04:38 | ellipse, and will then pull down, notice
it didn't want to pull down right away.
| | 04:43 | If that's the case, move your cursor
closer to your Object Snap and then pull
| | 04:47 | down, and it will work fine.
| | 04:49 | I am going to pull this down 4 Inches,
Enter, now that I am where I want to be,
| | 04:53 | I will hit Enter to accept this location.
| | 04:55 | I will type a Radius of 1 Inch, and press Enter.
| | 04:59 | As you can see creating an ellipse is very easy.
| | 05:02 | Once you understand the concept of the
Major and Minor Axis, drawing an ellipse
| | 05:06 | is as simple as drawing a circle.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Organizing with hatch patterns| 00:00 | Hatch patterns have been a part of
drafting since the days of paper and pencil.
| | 00:03 | Well-placed hatch patterns can add
visual interest to your drawings, as well as
| | 00:07 | represent materials to be used for construction.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to create some hatches.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have some abstract shapes.
| | 00:15 | We are going to use this geometry
to learn how the Hatch command works.
| | 00:19 | The Hatch command is located
in the Draw panel of the ribbon.
| | 00:22 | The icon is right here.
| | 00:23 | I am going to click to launch the
command and this brings up the Hatch
| | 00:27 | Creation tab on the ribbon.
| | 00:28 | This tab is where we can find all of
the settings used to create our hatch.
| | 00:32 | The first thing I'd like
to do is select the pattern.
| | 00:35 | To do that, I'll move up to the Pattern panel.
| | 00:37 | I am going to click this icon to open
up the menu and then I will click and
| | 00:41 | hold on this slider and I will drag down so
you can see some of the patterns available.
| | 00:46 | Using this menu we can select from
any of the Hatch patterns that come
| | 00:50 | pre-installed with AutoCAD 2011.
| | 00:52 | The hatches we can select range from vector
line work, to these gradient fill patterns.
| | 00:57 | I am going to click and hold on the
slider and I will push this back to the top
| | 01:01 | and I am going to select the ANSI31 pattern.
| | 01:03 | Now that I have chosen my pattern, I need to
tell AutoCAD the area I would like to hatch.
| | 01:08 | Essentially, I need to define my boundary.
| | 01:11 | To do that, I will place my cursor
inside a closed area and notice that AutoCAD
| | 01:15 | gives me an instant preview.
| | 01:16 | Let's say I'd like to hatch the area in
between this circle and these squares.
| | 01:21 | To do that I will move my cursor into
the area and then I will click to accept
| | 01:24 | it and then I can move up here
and adjust my Hatch settings.
| | 01:27 | Let's take a look at some of these.
| | 01:29 | This setting controls my Hatch
pattern scale or the size of my pattern.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to click on this value and I
will change it to 10 and then I'll press
| | 01:38 | Tab to accept the new setting and
notice how the pattern changes on screen.
| | 01:42 | Let's look at this one.
| | 01:43 | This setting adjusts the Hatch
Angle or the rotation of the pattern.
| | 01:47 | Now, I can adjust my rotation a couple of ways.
| | 01:49 | I can click and hold on this slider and
I can drag this left and right to adjust
| | 01:54 | the rotation visually on screen or I can
click on this value over here and enter
| | 01:59 | the rotation of my choice.
| | 02:00 | I am going to type 45 and then I
will press Tab to accept that value.
| | 02:05 | Take a look at this setting.
| | 02:06 | Hatch Transparency.
| | 02:07 | I can create Hatch that I can see through.
| | 02:10 | To adjust transparency, it's
the same as adjusting the angle.
| | 02:13 | I can click and hold on the slider to
adjust my transparency percentage or I can
| | 02:18 | change the value over here.
| | 02:19 | I am going to click and I will enter 75
to make this hatch 75% transparent and
| | 02:26 | then I will press Tab to accept the value.
| | 02:28 | Now that I am finished adjusting my
settings, I will press the Enter key
| | 02:31 | to accept my hatch.
| | 02:32 | Now take a look at my pattern on screen.
| | 02:34 | Notice my scale and my rotation look
good but I wanted this hatch to be 75%
| | 02:39 | transparent and it
obviously doesn't look that way.
| | 02:42 | This is the result of a mode setting.
| | 02:44 | I am going to come down on the status
bar and I am going to click this toggle.
| | 02:47 | the third one from the right side.
| | 02:49 | This toggle controls where the
transparency is displayed in our drawing.
| | 02:53 | Now that I have turned this on, you can
see that my Hatch looks more like what
| | 02:55 | you would accept if it was 75% transparent.
| | 02:58 | Let's create some more hatch.
| | 02:59 | This time I would like to hatch
the area inside these squares.
| | 03:02 | So I will move up and launch the Hatch command.
| | 03:04 | I am going to change my pattern.
| | 03:06 | I will select Angle this time and notice
that AutoCAD remembers my previous settings.
| | 03:11 | I would like to set
these back the way they were.
| | 03:14 | I can do that by clicking and dragging
the slider down to 0 or I can change the
| | 03:18 | percentage to 0 or I can click
this fly-out and select Use Current.
| | 03:23 | That will also set it back to 0.
| | 03:25 | Let's set the Angle back the way it was.
| | 03:26 | I will click and drag on this
slider and I will drag it down to 0.
| | 03:29 | I am going to leave the
scale as is for right now.
| | 03:32 | I am going to put my cursor inside
the area and I will preview the pattern.
| | 03:36 | Now, this looks a little bit big.
| | 03:37 | I am going to come back to scale and I will
click, I will change this to 5 and press Tab.
| | 03:42 | Let's take a look.
| | 03:43 | This looks pretty good.
| | 03:44 | So I am going to click
inside each of these shapes.
| | 03:47 | I can't emphasize this enough.
| | 03:49 | Make sure and explore all of these settings.
| | 03:52 | There is a lot of good things here.
| | 03:53 | we have a great deal of control over
the appearance of our Hatch patterns.
| | 03:57 | To find out what each setting does,
simply hover over it and AutoCAD will give
| | 04:00 | you more information.
| | 04:01 | As always, you can press F1 for more help.
| | 04:05 | Let's take a look at this setting.
| | 04:06 | Associative, notice this guy is turned on.
| | 04:09 | By default, all of the Hatch patterns
we create in AutoCAD are associative,
| | 04:13 | meaning the hatch is
linked to the boundary objects.
| | 04:16 | That means if the boundary changes, the
Hatch updates automatically. Let's try that.
| | 04:20 | I am going to hit Enter to accept
the hatch that I have been creating.
| | 04:24 | Then I am going to click
to select this boundary.
| | 04:26 | this brings up some blue grips.
| | 04:28 | I will click on this grip in the upper
-left corner and notice, as I move my
| | 04:32 | cursor, I can change the location of this grip.
| | 04:34 | I am going to pull it down to right
about here and then I'll click to place it
| | 04:39 | and notice how my patterns
adjust to match the new boundary.
| | 04:41 | Not just the pattern inside this shape,
but the one outside as well that's
| | 04:45 | because these Hatch patterns are
associative and they are both linked to that boundary.
| | 04:49 | I am going to press Esc to deselect this
entity and I would like to create one more hatch.
| | 04:53 | I would like to hatch this circle.
| | 04:55 | So I will move up and launch the
Hatch command and let me mention this.
| | 04:59 | by default, when we hatch objects,
we are using the Pick Points method.
| | 05:03 | That means that I am choosing my Hatch
boundary by clicking inside a closed area.
| | 05:08 | Now unfortunately, Pick Points isn't
going to help me much here because I'd have
| | 05:11 | to click inside each of these
areas to hatch this single circle.
| | 05:14 | Instead, I am going to come back to the
ribbon and I am going to click this option.
| | 05:18 | the Select Boundary Objects method.
| | 05:21 | Using this method, I can select the
boundary I would like to hatch and AutoCAD
| | 05:24 | will ignore everything else.
| | 05:26 | Now that I am finished, I will
press Enter to accept my hatch.
| | 05:28 | Now that we have an understanding of how
the Hatch tools work, let's try and use
| | 05:32 | them in a practical example.
| | 05:34 | I am going to zoom out a little
bit and we will pan the drawing over.
| | 05:36 | On my screen, I have got
an architectural example.
| | 05:39 | This geometry represents the
floor plan for a college dorm room.
| | 05:43 | In this example, I would like to apply
some hatch to the interior of my walls to
| | 05:47 | help simplify the appearance of this drawing.
| | 05:49 | So I am going to launch the Hatch
command, I am going to choose the ANSI31
| | 05:53 | pattern and I am going
to change the scale to 15.
| | 05:56 | We will see how that looks.
| | 05:58 | Press Tab to accept the value and then I
will place my cursor in between the walls.
| | 06:02 | That looks pretty good,
| | 06:03 | So I will click to accept this area.
| | 06:04 | I will move up and click to accept this area.
| | 06:07 | I will select this one and this one,
and when I am finished, I'll hit Enter
| | 06:11 | to accept my hatch.
| | 06:12 | Hatch patterns could be very effective in
helping you visually organize your drawings.
| | 06:16 | They can also transform an
average drawing into a professional
| | 06:19 | looking presentation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Making Primary ModificationsMaking geometric changes using the property changer| 00:00 | The Property Changer is the most
powerful palette within AutoCAD.
| | 00:03 | With it we can modify or
correct anything in our drawing.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson, we are going to use the
Property Changer to make some geometric
| | 00:09 | changes to our objects.
| | 00:11 | On my screen I have two mechanical parts,
now these are guys are suppose to be identical.
| | 00:15 | The part on the right has been drawn correctly.
| | 00:17 | and the part on the left is got a few problems.
| | 00:20 | The goal in this lesson is to
correct the geometry of this part by using
| | 00:23 | the Property Changer.
| | 00:24 | Now my Property Changer is anchored to
the interface, if yours is not, you can
| | 00:28 | always press Ctrl+1 to bring it up on screen.
| | 00:31 | Since I am going to be using this
palette frequently in this lesson, I am going
| | 00:34 | to click the Auto-hide button
to doc the palette to my screen.
| | 00:37 | Notice the palette is filled with
settings that are organized into groups.
| | 00:41 | If we want we can expand or collapse a
group by clicking on these triangles.
| | 00:45 | And it's important to note that the
number of settings that we see will change,
| | 00:49 | depending on what we select.
| | 00:50 | For instance, I am going to click and
select this circle, and if we look at
| | 00:54 | the top of the palette, we can see that
AutoCAD recognizes that I have selected a circle.
| | 00:58 | For the work we will be doing in
this lesson, we will be looking at the
| | 01:01 | geometry group of settings.
| | 01:03 | First of all take a look at the
settings that we have, notice they are all
| | 01:05 | specific to circles.
| | 01:07 | If I want to change a value, I can
click in a field, I am going to click on
| | 01:11 | Radius for instance, and from
here I can type a new value.
| | 01:14 | I am going to type 0.5 and I'll hit
Enter, and notice how my geometry changes
| | 01:18 | instantly on screen.
| | 01:20 | Take a look at the some of
the other things I can change.
| | 01:22 | I could change the circles Diameter or
Circumference, or I could change its Area.
| | 01:26 | Notice that some of these settings are
grayed out, if a setting is grayed out,
| | 01:30 | it means that you cannot change the value.
| | 01:32 | Now we know how this works, let's
assign the appropriate radius to the circle.
| | 01:36 | Based on my example, I can see this
radius should be 0.25, so I am going to
| | 01:41 | click in the Radius field
and I'll type 0.25, Enter.
| | 01:44 | Now when I am finished I'll
hit Esc to deselect my entity.
| | 01:47 | Alright, at this point I have
three more circles to correct.
| | 01:50 | Let's see if we can do them all at the time.
| | 01:52 | I am going to click on each of these
circles, and if we look at the Property
| | 01:56 | Changer, we can see AutoCAD
recognizes I have selected three of them.
| | 02:00 | Let's come down to the Geometry group,
notice the Radius setting says VARIES,
| | 02:04 | that's because each of this circle
has a different Radius, no problem.
| | 02:08 | I can still click in the field and
I'll set all of these to a Radius of 0.25,
| | 02:13 | and then I'll hit Esc to deselect.
| | 02:14 | Now let's correct the Ellipse, I'll
click to select this entity, and we can see
| | 02:19 | that an ellipse has several
more settings than a circle does.
| | 02:22 | So I am going to click on the slider,
and I'll drag this down, so we can see all
| | 02:27 | of the geometry settings on screen.
| | 02:29 | To fix this entity, I can see that the
major axis of the Ellipse is 4, so I am
| | 02:34 | going to come over and set the
Major radius to 2 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:38 | Then I'll come over and take a look at
the minor axis, that's 3.25, well the
| | 02:43 | Minor radius will be half
of that. And you know what.
| | 02:46 | I don't like doing math in my head.
| | 02:48 | Take a look at this, if I click in the
Minor radius field, there is a little
| | 02:52 | calculator icon here.
| | 02:53 | If I click this, it will bring
up AutoCAD's calculator on screen.
| | 02:57 | Now the calculator is coming up in a
minimized state, so I am going to click
| | 03:02 | this More Then, so I can
see all of the functions.
| | 03:05 | Then I'll press 3.25 divided by 2,
I'll click Equals, there is my answer.
| | 03:10 | I'll come down and click Apply, which
applies that value to that setting and my
| | 03:15 | Ellipse has been corrected.
| | 03:16 | Now when I am finished I'll press Esc
to deselect me entity, and since I am
| | 03:19 | through with the Property Changer for
now, I am going to move up and click
| | 03:22 | minimize to collapse this down to a single icon.
| | 03:25 | Without a doubt, the Property Changer is
the most valuable tool in our interface.
| | 03:29 | As we continue to explore AutoCAD and
learn to create more objects, keep looking
| | 03:33 | to the Property Changer as a means
of modifying anything on your screen.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Moving and copying elements| 00:01 | AutoCAD's Move and Copy commands work
side-by-side, allowing us to reposition or
| | 00:05 | duplicate our entities.
| | 00:06 | I say side-by-side, because these
commands essentially work the exact same way.
| | 00:10 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 00:11 | We're going to look at the Move command first.
| | 00:13 | Let's say I'd like to move this circle,
such that its center is located at the
| | 00:17 | upper left corner of this square.
| | 00:19 | To do that, I'll launch the Move
command, and we can find move in the Modify
| | 00:23 | panel of our Ribbon.
| | 00:24 | I will then select the object I'd
like to move, and I'll right-click to let
| | 00:28 | AutoCAD know that I'm
finished selecting objects.
| | 00:30 | Now, AutoCAD is asking me for a base point.
| | 00:32 | That's the point I would like
to use to pick this object up.
| | 00:35 | I have a running object snap set for
center point, so I'm going to click the
| | 00:39 | circle, to pick it up from the center.
| | 00:41 | As you can see, I'm
holding it from that location.
| | 00:43 | Finally, where I do I
want to put this object down?
| | 00:46 | Well, I'd like to put it down
at the end point of this line.
| | 00:49 | We've just completed our first move.
| | 00:51 | Let's move the circle again.
| | 00:52 | This time I'd like to move it to
the upper right corner of the square.
| | 00:55 | To do that, I'll launch the Move command.
| | 00:57 | I'll select the circle and right-click.
| | 01:00 | I'll pick it up from its center point.
| | 01:02 | I'd like to place it to the end point here.
| | 01:04 | I'm going to zoom out a little bit.
| | 01:06 | I'll pan this down on the screen.
| | 01:08 | This time, let's try and move the
circle using direct distance entry.
| | 01:12 | maybe I'd like to move this
circle 10 units above the square.
| | 01:15 | I'll launch the Move command, and
I'll select my circle. I'll right-click.
| | 01:19 | I'd like to pick the circle up from the center.
| | 01:21 | Then I'm going to come down and lock my Ortho.
| | 01:24 | I'll do that by clicking
the Toggle in the Status Bar.
| | 01:26 | Finally, I'm going to pull straight up, and
I'll type a distance of 10, and hit Enter.
| | 01:31 | So, not only can we move using
object snaps, we can also move using
| | 01:34 | direct distance entry.
| | 01:35 | Alright, let's take a look at the Copy command.
| | 01:37 | Functionality-wise, the Copy
command works the exact same way as Move.
| | 01:41 | Let's say I'd like to create a copy of my
circle at all four corners of this square.
| | 01:46 | We can find the Copy command in
the Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 01:49 | Copy is located right here.
| | 01:51 | I'll select my circle and right-click.
| | 01:53 | Now, where do I want to pick it up from?
| | 01:54 | I'd like to pick it from its center.
| | 01:56 | Where would I like to create my copy?
| | 01:59 | First of all, notice this.
| | 02:00 | My Ortho is still locked.
| | 02:01 | I'm going to press F8 to
turn that off. There we go!
| | 02:05 | I'd like to place my first
copy at the endpoint right here.
| | 02:08 | Notice that I'm still in the command.
| | 02:10 | That's because AutoCAD
automatically defaults to a Multiple Copy mode.
| | 02:14 | So, I could create another copy at
this endpoint, and this one and this one.
| | 02:19 | When I'm finished, I'll press Esc.
| | 02:20 | Now that we understand how the Move
and Copy commands work, let's try and use
| | 02:24 | them in a practical example.
| | 02:27 | I'm going to zoom out, pan
my drawing over a little bit.
| | 02:30 | On my screen, I have a
Civil Engineering drawing.
| | 02:32 | This is a site plan for a fast food restaurant.
| | 02:35 | Let me also mention that the units
in this drawing are set such that each
| | 02:38 | unit equals 1 foot.
| | 02:40 | I'm going to zoom in a
little bit on the restaurant.
| | 02:42 | We can see the drive-through area right here.
| | 02:45 | I'll zoom in a little bit further, and
let's say we would like to have a patio
| | 02:50 | on the north side of the building.
| | 02:52 | On that patio, we'd like to have some tables.
| | 02:55 | Well, I've already inserted a table into
this drawing, and I've got some targets
| | 02:59 | that represent where I'd
like to place my tables.
| | 03:01 | Let's see if we can place
these using Move and Copy.
| | 03:04 | First of all, I'm going to launch the Move
command, and I'll select my table and right-click.
| | 03:09 | Now, where would I like to pick it up from?
| | 03:11 | I'm going to pick it up from the center
of the circle, at the center of the table.
| | 03:16 | I would like to place it to
the center of this target.
| | 03:19 | Now, I'll create the rest of my tables
using the Copy command. I'll launch Copy.
| | 03:23 | I'll select my table and right-click.
| | 03:25 | I would like to copy it from the
center here, and I'll place a copy to the
| | 03:29 | centre of each of these targets.
| | 03:32 | When I'm finished, I'll press Esc.
| | 03:34 | Let me mention this.
| | 03:35 | When you're moving and copying objects,
don't think you'll always have to pick
| | 03:38 | an object up from a point on the object itself.
| | 03:41 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 03:42 | I'm going to zoom out a little bit,
and let's focus our attention on this
| | 03:46 | area of the parking lot.
| | 03:48 | In fact, I'm going to get a little bit closer.
| | 03:50 | Let's say I'd like to create some
copies of this car, and I'd like them all
| | 03:53 | placed at the exact same
location in the other stalls.
| | 03:56 | To do that, I'll launch the Copy command.
| | 03:58 | I'll select my car and right-click.
| | 04:01 | Now, where do I want to pick it up from?
| | 04:03 | Well, I'm going to pick it up from
the endpoint of this stripe, and I'll
| | 04:06 | place it to the endpoint of this stripe,
because that location was common for each stall.
| | 04:12 | Let's create one more copy by
selecting the endpoint of this stripe.
| | 04:16 | When I'm finished, I'll press Esc.
| | 04:18 | As you can see, the functionality
of the Move and Copy commands is
| | 04:21 | essentially the same.
| | 04:22 | Using either of these tools along
with object snaps, we can quickly modify
| | 04:26 | or add to our drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Rotating elements| 00:00 | The ability to rotate geometry is
another fundamental skill we need to work
| | 00:04 | effectively in AutoCAD.
| | 00:05 | I am sure you will agree that it's much
faster to rotate an object than it is to
| | 00:08 | draw a new object at a different rotation.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to use the Rotate command.
| | 00:13 | On my screen I have got a
drawing that represents a pseudo clock.
| | 00:17 | Let's start by rotating this hand.
| | 00:19 | The Rotate command is located in the Modify
panel of the Ribbon, the icon is right here.
| | 00:24 | Now that I have launched the command,
I will select the object I'd like to
| | 00:28 | rotate, and then I will right-click.
| | 00:30 | Now AutoCAD is asking for base point.
| | 00:32 | The base point is the point I
will be rotating my object around.
| | 00:35 | I would like to rotate the hand
around the center of this end.
| | 00:39 | Now be careful when you click your
object snap, I have a running object snap of
| | 00:42 | Center and end point.
| | 00:44 | So whichever one my cursor is
closest to, that's what I am going to get.
| | 00:47 | I am going to click right
here to make sure I get Center.
| | 00:50 | At this point I can specify my rotation
angle by free picking a point on screen
| | 00:55 | or I can type the angle of my choice.
| | 00:57 | I am going to type 45, and hit Enter.
| | 01:00 | I just rotated that object 45 degrees.
| | 01:02 | Now here is the trick.
| | 01:04 | When using the Rotate command, a
positive angle will rotate around
| | 01:07 | these counterclockwise.
| | 01:09 | If I wanted to rotate this geometry in a
clockwise direction, I'd have to use a negative angle.
| | 01:14 | Let's launch the Rotate command again, and
this time we will look at one of the sub-options.
| | 01:18 | I am going to select the object
I'd like to rotate and right-click.
| | 01:22 | I'd like to rotate it around the center
right here, and take a look at the command line.
| | 01:26 | Notice I have a sub-option of Copy.
| | 01:28 | I can create a rotated copy of my geometry.
| | 01:32 | To access the sub-option I will right-
click and select Copy from the menu, and
| | 01:36 | for my rotation angle, I am going
to type negative 65 and hit Enter.
| | 01:41 | Notice that my copy was
rotated clockwise from the original.
| | 01:45 | Now that we understand how Rotate works,
let's try it out in a practical example.
| | 01:49 | I am going to zoom-out, pan my drawing over.
| | 01:52 | On my screen I have got a
drawing of a workstation.
| | 01:55 | I have a chair, and a desk, and a computer.
| | 01:58 | The first thing I'd like to do is rotate
my chair such that it faces the computer.
| | 02:02 | To do that I will launch the Rotate command,
I will select my chair and right-click.
| | 02:07 | Now at what point would I
like to rotate the chair around?
| | 02:09 | Well, I don't have a nice object
snap and you know what, it's furniture.
| | 02:13 | So I don't need a high degree of accuracy.
| | 02:16 | So I am just going to click right in
the middle of the cushion here, and then
| | 02:19 | I will use a rotation angle of negative 90,
because I'd like the chair to rotate clockwise.
| | 02:25 | Let's take this concept even further.
| | 02:27 | Maybe this drawing is for
the interior of an office.
| | 02:30 | Maybe I'd like to create a
grouping of workstations.
| | 02:32 | I am going to zoom-out a little bit
and I will pan this down, then I will
| | 02:35 | re-launch the Rotate command, and I'd
like to rotate the entire workstation.
| | 02:40 | So I am going to use a Selection Window.
| | 02:43 | Rather than picking these objects
individually, I am going to click out in the
| | 02:46 | space here, and then I will move down
them to the right, and I'll click again
| | 02:50 | to finish my window.
| | 02:51 | That selects everything
that fell within the window.
| | 02:53 | I will right-click when I am finished.
| | 02:55 | I will then select the end point right here
for my base point, and I'd like to create a copy.
| | 03:00 | So let's right-click to access the sub-options.
| | 03:02 | I will select Copy, and I'd like
to rotate my copy 90 degrees, Enter.
| | 03:08 | Let's pan this down a little bit,
and we will take it even further.
| | 03:10 | I will launch the Rotate command again.
| | 03:13 | This time I am going to
rotate all of this geometry.
| | 03:16 | I will click right here, I will pull
down to the right, and I will click again
| | 03:19 | to finish my Selection Window,
and then I will right-click.
| | 03:22 | I'd like to rotate this
geometry from the end point right here.
| | 03:25 | I'd like to make a copy.
| | 03:27 | So let's right-click to bring up the
sub-options, I will select Copy, and my
| | 03:31 | rotation angle is going to be 180.
| | 03:34 | When using the Rotate command, the
most important thing to remember is the
| | 03:36 | significance of your rotation angle.
| | 03:38 | If the angle is a positive number, your
entities will rotate counterclockwise.
| | 03:43 | Once you understand this concept,
you can easily rotate your entities to
| | 03:46 | match their surroundings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Trimming and extending geometry| 00:00 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to clean up our geometry.
| | 00:03 | We are going to look at
the Trim and Extend commands.
| | 00:06 | Trim and Extend help us correct our
line work after we have made changes.
| | 00:10 | On my screen I have some simple geometry.
| | 00:12 | Let's say I'd like to remove this line
work on the inside of this small circle.
| | 00:17 | To do that, I will launch the Trim command.
| | 00:19 | Trim is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:22 | The icon is right here.
| | 00:23 | Now that I have launched the tool,
take a look at the command line.
| | 00:26 | AutoCAD is asking me to select a cutting edge.
| | 00:29 | When we use the Trim command, we are
essentially using one object to cut another.
| | 00:33 | So I am going to select this circle as my
cutting edge and then I will right-click.
| | 00:38 | Then I will click the objects I'd
like to Trim, and when I am finished, I
| | 00:41 | will hit my Esc key.
| | 00:42 | Notice AutoCAD trimmed those
entities back to meet that cutting edge.
| | 00:45 | Let's take a look at the
exact opposite situation.
| | 00:49 | Maybe I have had a design change.
| | 00:51 | I am going to select this circle and
then I will come over to my Property
| | 00:54 | Changer, and I will change its radius to 5.
| | 00:56 | I will hit Enter, and then I will move
outside the palette and I will hit Esc to
| | 01:01 | deselect the circle.
| | 01:02 | Now, instead of my lines being
too long, they are too short.
| | 01:06 | I would like to project my
lines to meet this circle.
| | 01:09 | To do that, I will use the Extend command.
| | 01:12 | Extend is also located in the Modify panel.
| | 01:14 | I am going to click this fly-out.
| | 01:16 | Notice that Trim and Extend share the same menu.
| | 01:19 | I will select the command and if we
look at the command line again, this time
| | 01:23 | AutoCAD is asking us for a boundary edge.
| | 01:26 | Now, Trim and Extend work the
exact same way, except instead of this
| | 01:30 | edge cutting my objects, this edge
will be used as the stopping point
| | 01:34 | for my projected geometry.
| | 01:36 | I am going to select this circle as my
boundary edge and I will right-click,
| | 01:40 | and then I will click on each of these
entities to project it to meet my boundary edge.
| | 01:46 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 01:47 | Now, I'd like to show you a shortcut,
because the Trim and the Extend commands
| | 01:51 | are so similar that we can
launch one from within the other.
| | 01:54 | Let's pan this over a little bit.
| | 01:56 | On my screen I have some simple line work.
| | 01:58 | Let's see if we can convert this
geometry into the shape of the ladder.
| | 02:02 | To do that, I am obviously going to
have to extend some of these lines and I
| | 02:06 | will have to trim some of the others.
| | 02:07 | I am going to start by launching the
Extend command since that was the one we
| | 02:11 | used last, and then I will select this
edge, and this edge as my boundary edges,
| | 02:16 | and I will right-click.
| | 02:17 | I will then click to extend this entity,
and this one, this one, and this one.
| | 02:22 | And instead of getting out of the
command and launching Trim to finish this up,
| | 02:27 | take a look at my cursor.
| | 02:28 | If I hold my Shift key, I
can toggle to the Trim command.
| | 02:32 | By holding down Shift, the
boundary edges become cutting edges.
| | 02:36 | So I can click this entity, this one,
I can trim this one, and this one.
| | 02:41 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 02:43 | So by holding down the Shift key, we can
easily toggle from one command to the other.
| | 02:48 | Alright!
| | 02:49 | Now that we understand how to use
Trim and Extend, let's try it out in
| | 02:52 | a practical example.
| | 02:53 | I am going to pan my drawing over.
| | 02:56 | On my screen, I have a pair of windows.
| | 02:59 | let's see if we can modify this window,
such that it looks like the one on the right.
| | 03:04 | First thing I am going to
do is create the arched top.
| | 03:07 | To do that, I will use the Circle
command and I'd like to create my circle from
| | 03:11 | the Shift+Right-click, mid-point of
this line, and the circle dimension, I can
| | 03:18 | get right down here.
| | 03:19 | the diameter of the circle must be 39.
| | 03:21 | So I am going to right-click to access
the Diameter sub-option, and then I will
| | 03:26 | type 39, and hit Enter.
| | 03:28 | Now, I am going to create the
circle for this arc on the inside.
| | 03:32 | We can get the dimension right here.
| | 03:33 | I can see the radius of that circle is an
inch-and-a-half less than the previous one.
| | 03:38 | So I am going to re-launch the Circle
command, I'd like to create my circle from
| | 03:42 | the center of this one, and
take a look at the command line.
| | 03:45 | I can see the radius of
the previous circle was 19.5.
| | 03:49 | If I take one-and-half away from that,
the radius of this circle must be 18, Enter.
| | 03:55 | Let's zoom-in a little bit.
| | 03:56 | Now, I can start cleaning up my geometry.
| | 03:58 | I am going to launch the Trim command,
and I will select this line as my cutting
| | 04:04 | edge, and I will right-click, and I
would like to remove the bottom half of
| | 04:08 | these circles, and then I will hit the Esc key.
| | 04:10 | Now, I don't need these little ends out here.
| | 04:13 | So I am going to launch the Trim command again.
| | 04:15 | I will select this arc as my cutting
edge and I will right-click and now I will
| | 04:20 | click to remove these ends.
| | 04:22 | Now, before I exit the command, I am
going to hold down my Shift key, and then I
| | 04:27 | will click each of these lines to
project them up to meet that edge.
| | 04:31 | Now that I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 04:33 | Okay, the only thing I have left to do is
remove a whole bunch of little tiny pieces.
| | 04:37 | Once again, I will launch the Trim
command, and instead of selecting a whole
| | 04:41 | bunch of cutting edges,
take a look at my cursor.
| | 04:44 | I can either select objects or if I
hit Enter, everything in this drawing
| | 04:49 | becomes a cutting edge.
| | 04:50 | Now, it's very easy.
| | 04:51 | I can just come around here and click
all the pieces that I'd like to remove and
| | 04:55 | when I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 04:57 | As you can see the Trim and Extend
commands have essentially the same workflow,
| | 05:01 | jumping from one to the other is as
simple as pressing your Shift key.
| | 05:05 | Knowing how to use both of these
commands will allow you to quickly and
| | 05:07 | accurately clean up your geometry.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating offsets| 00:00 | In this lesson we are going to look
at another way to copy our geometry.
| | 00:03 | This time we'll use the Offset command.
| | 00:05 | What makes Offset special is that it
makes parallel copies of our line work.
| | 00:09 | On my screen I have a couple of entities.
| | 00:11 | I have got a line segment and a circle.
| | 00:13 | Let's create a parallel copy
of this line segment first.
| | 00:16 | To do that, I will launch the Offset command.
| | 00:18 | Offset is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:22 | The icon is right here.
| | 00:23 | Now that I have launched the command,
AutoCAD is asking me for an offset distance.
| | 00:27 | This is the distance between my copies.
| | 00:29 | I am going to type 0.75 and hit Enter.
| | 00:32 | Then, I will select the object I'd
like to offset and finally I will click on
| | 00:37 | screen to identify which side of
the line I'd like to make my copy.
| | 00:41 | I am going to click on this side,
and notice I am still in the command.
| | 00:44 | This is because AutoCAD always assumes
you would like to create multiple offsets.
| | 00:48 | If I would like to offset the same
line to the other side, I could select the
| | 00:52 | line, and I will click to this side.
| | 00:54 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 00:56 | Let's create another offset.
| | 00:57 | Let's say I would like to offset
this circle to the inside 0.25 units.
| | 01:02 | I will launch the Offset command, my
offset distance will be 0.25, Enter, and
| | 01:07 | then I will select my circle
and I will click to the inside.
| | 01:10 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 01:12 | Not only is offset nice for
creating copies, we can also use it to find
| | 01:16 | locations and space.
| | 01:17 | For instance, let's say I would like
to create another circle using the same
| | 01:22 | measurements in the lower
left corner of the square.
| | 01:25 | Right now I can see that the center of
this circle is placed 0.75 units from
| | 01:30 | this edge and 0.75 units from this edge.
| | 01:33 | To place my circle, I will
launch the Offset command.
| | 01:36 | I will enter a distance of 0.75, Enter.
| | 01:39 | I will offset this edge to the right, and I
will offset this edge up, and then I will hit Esc.
| | 01:45 | This intersection represents the
location of the center of my new circle.
| | 01:49 | I will launch the Circle command,
I'd like to place my circle at the
| | 01:54 | Shift+Right-click, intersection of
these two lines, and I am given the
| | 01:58 | diameter in this case.
| | 02:00 | So I am going to right-click to
access the Diameter sub-option and my
| | 02:04 | diameter is 0.6, Enter.
| | 02:07 | Now that I am finished, I can delete
my sketch lines by clicking on each of
| | 02:10 | these and pressing the Delete key.
| | 02:13 | Let's pan the drawing over a little bit more.
| | 02:14 | I am going to zoom-out a little.
| | 02:16 | I'll push this up on screen.
| | 02:19 | Let's see if we can use the
Offset command to help us recreate the
| | 02:22 | simple mechanical part.
| | 02:24 | I am going to start by
creating some sketch geometry.
| | 02:26 | I will launch my line command and I will
create a line segment from right about here.
| | 02:31 | Then, I will lock my Ortho.
| | 02:33 | To do that, I will press the F8 key.
| | 02:34 | I will pull to the right, and click.
| | 02:37 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 02:39 | Then I will hit my Spacebar to go back
into the Line command and I will create
| | 02:42 | another segment from right about here.
| | 02:43 | I will pull straight down and
click, and then I will hit Esc.
| | 02:47 | I am going to use these sketch
lines to help me build this part.
| | 02:52 | The intersection that I created
right here, will represent the
| | 02:55 | intersection right here.
| | 02:56 | Let's draw the circles first.
| | 02:58 | I will launch the Circle command, I
would like to place my circle at the
| | 03:02 | intersection of these two lines
and the circle has a radius of 0.6.
| | 03:07 | Now we will do the larger circle.
| | 03:08 | I will hit my Spacebar to re
-enter the Circle command.
| | 03:11 | I would like to create my circle at the
center of this one, and this circle has
| | 03:14 | a radius of 1.5, Enter.
| | 03:17 | Now, I would like to find the
center location for these circles.
| | 03:21 | To do that, I am going
to use the Offset command.
| | 03:23 | What if I offset this line 7 units to the right?
| | 03:27 | That would give me another intersection
where I could start building my new circles.
| | 03:30 | I will launch the Offset command.
| | 03:32 | My distance will be 7, Enter.
| | 03:34 | I will offset this line to the
right, and then I will hit Esc.
| | 03:37 | Now, instead of creating two new
circles, why don't we just copy these?
| | 03:41 | I will launch the Copy command, I will
select this circle and this one, and right-click.
| | 03:46 | I would like to copy them from the
center location and I would like to place
| | 03:50 | them to the intersection right here.
| | 03:53 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 03:55 | Let's create the lower and upper lines.
| | 03:58 | Notice these lines are
parallel to the center line.
| | 04:02 | Another perfect opportunity to use offset.
| | 04:04 | What's our offset distance though?
| | 04:05 | Well, it's going to be the same distance
as the radius of the circle which is 1.5.
| | 04:10 | I will launch Offset, my distance is 1.5, Enter.
| | 04:13 | I will offset my center line up, and
then I will offset my center line down,
| | 04:19 | and I will hit Esc. Alright!
| | 04:20 | Let's do a little housekeeping.
| | 04:22 | We will use the Trim
command to clean up our line work.
| | 04:25 | I'll launch Trim, and I am going to use
this circle and this circle as cutting
| | 04:30 | edges, I will hit Enter, and I would
like to cut off this piece, and this one,
| | 04:35 | this one, and this one, and I will hit Esc.
| | 04:39 | Let's go back into the Trim command.
| | 04:40 | I will do that by hitting the Spacebar,
and I would like to use this object and
| | 04:44 | this object as cutting
edges and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:47 | I will trim off this piece,
and this one, and I will hit Esc.
| | 04:52 | All we have to do is build this notch.
| | 04:55 | Once again these lines are all
parallel to my sketch lines that I created.
| | 04:59 | So another perfect opportunity to use Offset.
| | 05:01 | I am going to start by offsetting
this line to the right 2 units and then 3
| | 05:06 | units to find these edges.
| | 05:08 | I will launch the Offset command.
| | 05:09 | My distance will be 2, Enter.
| | 05:12 | I will offset this line to the
right and then I will hit Esc.
| | 05:15 | Let's hit the Spacebar to go
right back into the Offset command, my
| | 05:18 | distance will be 3, Enter.
| | 05:20 | I will offset this line to
the right and I will hit Esc.
| | 05:25 | Finally, we will take care
of the depth of this notch.
| | 05:27 | I will do that by hitting the
Spacebar to re-launch Offset.
| | 05:31 | My distance is 1, Enter.
| | 05:33 | I will offset this line down,
and then I will hit Esc.
| | 05:36 | It looks like we can finish
this up with the Trim command.
| | 05:39 | I will launch Trim and I would like to
use this edge and this edge, this edge,
| | 05:45 | and this edge as cutting objects, Enter.
| | 05:48 | I would like to cut off this end
and this one, this one, and this one.
| | 05:53 | this one and this one, and I
will trim out this area as well.
| | 05:57 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 05:58 | At this point, the part is finished, and I
can erase the sketch lines that I started with.
| | 06:03 | To do that, I will click on each of these line
segments and then I will press my Delete key.
| | 06:08 | As you can see creating offsets is a
great way to build your geometry on screen.
| | 06:12 | I think you will find Offset to be
one of AutoCAD's most useful tools.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Erasing elements| 00:01 | Left Let's face it. You are never going
to keep all of the line work that you create in AutoCAD.
| | 00:04 | Along the way you may create some
sketch lines, your design may change.
| | 00:08 | you may even make a couple of mistakes.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to erase unwanted entities.
| | 00:13 | On my screen I have got an abstract
object, technically speaking this is
| | 00:16 | a double-nine domino.
| | 00:18 | Let's say I would like to
convert this to a double five.
| | 00:21 | To do that, I am going to have
to erase some of these circles.
| | 00:24 | One way to erase unwanted entities is
by clicking and selecting them first and
| | 00:29 | then pressing the Delete key.
| | 00:31 | Another way to erase entities
is by using AutoCAD's Erase tool.
| | 00:34 | Erase is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:37 | I am going to click the icon right here.
| | 00:40 | Now, I can select the objects I would like to
erase and when I am finished, I will hit Enter.
| | 00:45 | I am going to zoom-out a little bit.
| | 00:46 | We will pan the drawing over.
| | 00:48 | Let's center this geometry on screen.
| | 00:51 | Let's pretend we are designing some furniture.
| | 00:53 | On my screen I have got a drawing of a
medium sized cabinet that consists of
| | 00:57 | several drawers, and two glass doors.
| | 01:00 | We can see through the doors that
there is a shelf on the other side.
| | 01:04 | Let's use the Erase command to make
some design changes to this cabinet.
| | 01:07 | First of all, I would like to
remove the glass from the doors.
| | 01:10 | I would like these doors to be solid wood,
such that you can't see through them.
| | 01:14 | To do that, I am going to have to
erase some entities, so I will move up and
| | 01:18 | launch the Erase command, and I would
like to erase this line, this line, and
| | 01:22 | this line, and then I will erase the
shelf, and I will hit Enter. Alright!
| | 01:26 | Let's take care of the other door.
| | 01:28 | To do that, I will hit my Spacebar to
go back into the Erase command, and there
| | 01:32 | is a faster way to select these entities.
| | 01:34 | Since I am selecting multiple objects,
I am going to use a Window selection.
| | 01:38 | I am going to click right here, and
then I will pull down to the left.
| | 01:42 | This is creating a crossing window.
| | 01:44 | When I click to finish my window,
AutoCAD selects every object that fell within
| | 01:48 | the window or crossed over the boundary.
| | 01:50 | Now that I am finished selecting
objects, I will hit Enter. Let's try this.
| | 01:54 | Maybe I'd like to remove the doors
altogether and fill up the space with two
| | 01:58 | more of the white drawers.
| | 02:00 | Once again I will launch the
Erase command, and I am going to be
| | 02:03 | erasing multiple entities.
| | 02:05 | So I am going to use another window.
| | 02:06 | I will click right here, and
I will pull down to the right.
| | 02:09 | this is creating a window selection.
| | 02:12 | Let me click to finish the window and
AutoCAD selects everything that fell
| | 02:16 | completely within that boundary.
| | 02:18 | Now that I am finished selecting
objects, I will hit Enter to erase them.
| | 02:21 | To finish the cabinet, I
will use the Copy command.
| | 02:23 | I'd like to copy this drawer, and
both of the handles, I will right-click,
| | 02:28 | and I'd like to copy them from the endpoint
here, to the endpoint here, to the endpoint here.
| | 02:34 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 02:35 | One thing is certain, a good
design involves many revisions.
| | 02:39 | As you continue to make improvements,
you can always use the Erase command or
| | 02:42 | the Delete key to
eliminate your unwanted entities.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Undoing and redoing actions| 00:00 | If you ask most AutoCAD users what
their favorite command is, Undo is
| | 00:04 | usually the answer.
| | 00:05 | That's because we all make mistakes and
when we do, the Undo command will let us
| | 00:08 | put things back the way they were.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to use the Undo command.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a mechanical drawing.
| | 00:15 | this line work represents a gasket and
in order to demonstrate Undo, I first
| | 00:20 | have to do something.
| | 00:21 | So I am going to make a
design change to this geometry.
| | 00:24 | Currently, this geometry has two
tabs and the tabs are skewed 15 degrees.
| | 00:30 | Let's say, I would like these
tabs to be in perfect alignment.
| | 00:33 | So I am going to rotate some of this geometry.
| | 00:35 | I will move up and launch the Rotate
command and I am going to select this line
| | 00:40 | and this arc, this line, I'll select
this circle and select the geometry for
| | 00:45 | this slot and I'll select my center line.
| | 00:47 | Then I'll right-click, I would like to
rotate this geometry around the center of
| | 00:52 | this circle and normally, I would
rotate this 15 degrees to put these guys into
| | 00:57 | a straight alignment.
| | 00:59 | But remember, we are talking about
Undo, so I am going to make a mistake.
| | 01:02 | I am going to rotate this geometry
115 degrees and then I'll hit Enter and
| | 01:07 | this is obviously wrong. That's alright.
| | 01:09 | I can fix it by using the Undo command.
| | 01:11 | Undo is located here in
the Quick Access toolbar.
| | 01:14 | It looks like a backward facing arrow.
| | 01:17 | Now, before I click this, notice there
is also a forward facing arrow and it
| | 01:21 | happens to be grade out right now.
| | 01:23 | We will talk about this
command in just a second.
| | 01:25 | I am going to click Undo and notice
that AutoCAD backs me up a single command.
| | 01:30 | Also notice that the forward
facing arrow is now available.
| | 01:33 | This icon represents the Redo command.
| | 01:35 | Redo will reverse the effect than Undo.
| | 01:38 | If I click this, AutoCAD will put the
geometry back to the previous position.
| | 01:43 | Now, I don't want to do this.
| | 01:44 | So I am going to move up
and click Undo one more time.
| | 01:47 | Let me give you an
important tip when using Redo.
| | 01:49 | The Redo command can only follow an Undo.
| | 01:53 | Notice, the icon is still available right here.
| | 01:55 | But if I somewhat has panned my screen,
I'll lose the ability to do a Redo.
| | 02:00 | Alright, I would like to go ahead and
make that design change again, except this
| | 02:03 | time we will do it correctly.
| | 02:05 | I'll launch my Rotate command and I will
reselect this geometry and I'll right-click.
| | 02:11 | I would like to rotate the geometry
around the center of the circle and I would
| | 02:15 | like to rotate it 15 degrees.
| | 02:17 | Now, at this point, since this is a
straight line, l really don't need this
| | 02:20 | to mention anymore.
| | 02:21 | So I am going to erase it.
| | 02:23 | I'll launch the Erase command, select
the dimension and then I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:27 | Now I have obviously got some gaps and
I have got some overlapping line work.
| | 02:30 | I am going to clean this
up using Trim and Extend.
| | 02:33 | I'll start by launching the Extend
command and I'll select this line and this
| | 02:37 | line as my boundary edges and I'll
right-click and I will extend this arc and
| | 02:42 | this arc and then I'll hit Esc.
| | 02:44 | Then I'll move up and launch the Trim command.
| | 02:46 | I will select this line and this line
as my cutting edges and I'll right-click
| | 02:52 | and I would like to trim
off this arc and this one.
| | 02:54 | When I am finished, I'll hit Esc.
| | 02:56 | Now, after making these changes, what
if we were giving the direction to put
| | 02:59 | this part back the way it was.
| | 03:01 | Well, I can move up and click Undo, Undo,
Undo, Undo to put this thing back or
| | 03:07 | notice, there is a fly-out
right next to the Undo icon.
| | 03:10 | If click this, it brings up a menu that
allows me to back up several commands in one step.
| | 03:15 | Here is the trims that I just did,
here's extends, Here's where I erased the
| | 03:19 | dimension and here's
where I rotated my geometry.
| | 03:22 | I would like to take a way all of these
commands all the way back through Rotate.
| | 03:26 | So I will select Rotate from the menu
and notice my geometry is restored to
| | 03:30 | the previous state.
| | 03:31 | The Undo command is a lot
like an insurance policy.
| | 03:34 | No matter what we may do to our drawing,
we can always restore our geometry by
| | 03:38 | using the Undo command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
8. Selecting GeometrySelecting objects using windows| 00:00 | Selecting our entities one at a
time is okay, but it's not the most
| | 00:03 | efficient way to work.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we are going to learn how
to select multiple objects by using a window.
| | 00:09 | Now, we have touched on this concept
already in some of the previous lessons,
| | 00:13 | but in the interest of reinforcing
efficiency, I thought I was worth giving the
| | 00:17 | selection method a lesson all its own.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have several shapes.
| | 00:21 | Let's say I would like to
erase these six circles.
| | 00:24 | To do that, I am going to launch the
Erase command and instead of selecting
| | 00:28 | these guys one at a time, I am going to
click out here in space and then I will
| | 00:32 | pull down into the right
and create a selection window.
| | 00:36 | This selection method will select
everything that falls completely within this window.
| | 00:40 | I am going to click right here to
finish my window and then I'll right-click
| | 00:44 | to finish the command.
| | 00:46 | As you can see in just a couple of clicks,
I was able to select all of those circles.
| | 00:50 | Think about this for a second.
| | 00:52 | The majority of the AutoCAD
commands ask you to select objects.
| | 00:56 | One of the best ways to increase
your productivity is to master the art
| | 00:59 | of making selections.
| | 01:01 | I am going to click Undo to bring these
circle back and this time, let's say, I
| | 01:06 | would like to erase all of these rectangles.
| | 01:09 | To do that, I'll launch the Erase command.
| | 01:11 | This time I will click to the right side of
the geometry and I will pull it to the left.
| | 01:16 | This selection is called a Crossing
Window and this will select everything that
| | 01:19 | falls completely within the
window or crosses over the boundary.
| | 01:23 | I am going to click right here to
finish my window that selects all of those
| | 01:27 | rectangles and then I'll right-click
to finish the command.
| | 01:30 | Once again, I was able to select all of
those entities using only a couple of clicks.
| | 01:35 | We can use the Window and Crossing Window
selection any time AutoCAD asks us to select objects.
| | 01:40 | I am going to pan the drawing
over, let me zoom out a little bit.
| | 01:45 | On my screen, I have two mechanical parts.
| | 01:48 | the part above is considered a finished
part and the part below is unfinished.
| | 01:53 | Let's see if we can use some selection
windows to help us modify this part such
| | 01:57 | that it looks like the part above.
| | 01:59 | First thing I notice is the part on the
bottom has to get a little bit longer.
| | 02:03 | Currently, it measures 14.7 units
and obviously, it has to be 18.7.
| | 02:08 | So to make this longer, I am going to
use the Move command and I would like
| | 02:12 | to move the entire right side of
this part so I am going to make a quick
| | 02:16 | crossing selection.
| | 02:18 | That selects all of that geometry.
| | 02:20 | I'll right-click and then I would like
to pick my geometry up from the end point
| | 02:23 | here and my Ortho happens
to be locked which is good.
| | 02:26 | I'll pull this to the
right four units and hit Enter.
| | 02:30 | Now I'll clean this up using the Extend command.
| | 02:33 | I'll move up to the Modify panel and launch
Extend, then I'll select my boundary edges.
| | 02:37 | I am just going to make a quick crossing window.
| | 02:40 | It doesn't hurt to select more than what I need.
| | 02:42 | I'll right click when I am finished and
then I'll extend this line segment and
| | 02:46 | this one and when I am finished, I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:49 | Now let's take care of this
whole that has these two slots.
| | 02:52 | It looks like all we have to do
is rotate this geometry 90 degrees.
| | 02:57 | So I am going to launch my Rotate
command and then I will make a window
| | 03:00 | selection around this geometry.
| | 03:02 | Notice, the only entities selected
were the ones that fell completely
| | 03:05 | within that window.
| | 03:06 | I'll right-click and then I would like to
rotate these around the center of this circle.
| | 03:12 | Notice that AutoCAD is giving me a
hard time finding that object snap because
| | 03:15 | all of these end point are closer to my cursor.
| | 03:18 | If you have to, you can always grab that
object snap by moving to the center of the circle.
| | 03:23 | I'll click to select this and you
know what, here's another shortcut.
| | 03:26 | I want to rotate this 90 degrees.
| | 03:28 | Since my Ortho is locked, I
will use that to my advantage.
| | 03:31 | I will just pull straight down and click
and that gives me a 90-degree rotation.
| | 03:36 | More than half of the work you do in
AutoCAD will require you to make selections.
| | 03:40 | Knowing how to use windows to select
multiple objects is one of the fastest ways
| | 03:44 | to increase your productivity.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding and removing from selections| 00:00 | Sometimes when selecting objects, we
may select more than what we intended.
| | 00:04 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to remove objects from a selection.
| | 00:07 | Take a look at the geometry on my screen.
| | 00:09 | We're going to look at
these shapes on the left first.
| | 00:12 | Let's say I'd like to erase
all of these green circles.
| | 00:16 | To do that, I'll launch the Erase
command, and then I'll click right here and
| | 00:20 | I'll create a window
selection around this geometry.
| | 00:22 | Now, I've obviously selected too much, let
me show you how we can deselect entities.
| | 00:28 | If I hold down my Shift key, I can click
to select each of these rectangles, and
| | 00:33 | they will all be removed
from my current selection.
| | 00:36 | I can now remove my finger from the
Shift key, and since I'm finished selecting
| | 00:40 | objects, I'll right-click to finish the command.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to move up and click Undo to
bring this geometry back, and let's make
| | 00:46 | another selection, this
time we'll turn it up a notch.
| | 00:49 | Let's say I'd like to erase all of
the green circles in this drawing.
| | 00:53 | To do that, I'll launch my Erase command.
| | 00:56 | I'll click right here and I'll create
a window selection around everything.
| | 01:00 | Then I'll hold my Shift key, and
instead of clicking these rectangles one at a
| | 01:04 | time, I'm going to click in the middle
of this rectangle, and notice that we can
| | 01:08 | use a selection window to deselect entities.
| | 01:11 | I'm going to click right here to finish my
crossing window to deselect those rectangles.
| | 01:16 | I am continuing to hold Shift.
| | 01:18 | I'll come over here and click.
| | 01:20 | I'll make a crossing
selection across this geometry.
| | 01:23 | When I'm finished, I'll right-
click to complete the command.
| | 01:27 | I'm going to click Undo to restore the
geometry, and I'd like to try one more,
| | 01:31 | this time I'd like to move these rectangles.
| | 01:35 | Let's see how fast we can select them.
| | 01:37 | I'll launch the Move command, and then
I'll click right here and create a window
| | 01:41 | selection around these entities, and
then I'll hold my Shift key and create a
| | 01:45 | crossing selection to deselect these entities.
| | 01:48 | When I'm finished, I'll right-click,
and I'd like to move these rectangles from
| | 01:52 | the end point right here.
| | 01:54 | I'll come down and lock my Ortho, and I'd
like to move these guys' ten units to the left.
| | 02:00 | So, removing entities from a selection is
as simple as holding down the Shift key.
| | 02:05 | Let's pan this drawing over.
| | 02:07 | I'm going to zoom out a little bit.
| | 02:09 | Let's see if we can use this Removal feature to
help us make a design change to this geometry.
| | 02:15 | On my screen, I've got a
drawing of a large cabinet.
| | 02:18 | This top portion has a pair of glass doors.
| | 02:21 | Behind the doors are some shelves.
| | 02:23 | Now, I like the doors, but I'd like to
create a variation on this cabinet design
| | 02:27 | where the doors are removed, and I'm
wondering what that would look like.
| | 02:31 | So, I'm going to have to
erase some of this geometry.
| | 02:35 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 02:38 | I'll launch the Erase command and I'm
going to click right here and create a
| | 02:43 | crossing window that crosses
over all of these entities.
| | 02:46 | I'll click to finish the window,
and I've selected too much.
| | 02:49 | I'm going to hold my Shift key and
I'll make a crossing selection across my
| | 02:54 | shelves, because I'd
like to keep those entities.
| | 02:56 | I'll continue to hold Shift and I'll
click this right edge and the left edge,
| | 03:01 | because I'd like to keep that geometry as well.
| | 03:03 | Now that I'm finished, I'll right-click
to compete the command, and we'll clean
| | 03:07 | this geometry up using the Extend command.
| | 03:11 | I'll move up here and launch Extend and
I'll select the left and right edge as
| | 03:16 | my boundary edges, and I'll right-
click, and then I'll create a crossing
| | 03:20 | selecting across the endpoints of
these lines to extend them to the left.
| | 03:25 | I'll create another crossing window across
these endpoints to extend them to the right.
| | 03:29 | When I'm finished, I'll hit my Esc key.
| | 03:33 | So, the next time you're selecting
objects, and you select more than what you
| | 03:36 | need, whether it be intentional or
unintentional, you can always remove entities
| | 03:41 | from your selection by using the Shift key.
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| Using keyboard shortcuts| 00:00 | Sometimes using a window isn't the
most effective way to select our objects.
| | 00:04 | At times like these, we can use our
keyboard to select objects that are
| | 00:07 | difficult to select using a rectangle.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to select objects using some
| | 00:12 | keyboard shortcuts.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I've got a drawing
that represents a site plan for a
| | 00:17 | small commercial project.
| | 00:19 | This happens to be a civil engineering example.
| | 00:22 | So, in this drawing, each unit equals one foot.
| | 00:25 | Now, the first keyboard
shortcut I'd like to look at is All.
| | 00:28 | Let's say I'd like to erase all
of the geometry in this drawing.
| | 00:33 | I'll launch the Erase command and at
the Select objects prompt, I'm going to
| | 00:37 | type all, and hit Enter.
| | 00:39 | This selects everything in my drawing.
| | 00:42 | Let me mention that keyboard shortcuts work
with any command that asks us to select objects.
| | 00:47 | Now that I'm finished selecting my entities,
I will right-click to complete the command.
| | 00:51 | Alright, let's click Undo to bring the
geometry back and let's make a design change.
| | 00:57 | Let's say there is an ordinance that
requires that the building must be 15 feet
| | 01:01 | away from the parking lot.
| | 01:03 | First of all, let's find out
where the building should be.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 01:08 | I'll launch my Offset command.
| | 01:11 | My offset distance will be 15. I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:15 | The object I'd like to offset will be this line.
| | 01:18 | This represents the edge of the parking lot.
| | 01:20 | I'd like to offset it to
this side, and I'll hit Esc.
| | 01:24 | This line represents where the
front edge of the building should be.
| | 01:28 | Let's back up a little bit.
| | 01:30 | To correct this geometry, I'm going to
use the Move command. Let's launch Move.
| | 01:34 | Now, selecting my building geometry
is going to be a little bit difficult,
| | 01:38 | because when I create my window
selection, my window is going to be so large
| | 01:42 | that I'll end up grabbing quite
a bit of my parking lot as well.
| | 01:46 | Instead, I'm going to select this
geometry using a keyboard shortcut.
| | 01:50 | At the Select objects prompt here,
I'm going to type wp, and hit Enter.
| | 01:54 | WP stands for Window Polygon.
| | 01:57 | I will then pick a point right here.
| | 01:59 | I'll pick one here.
| | 02:01 | I'll pick one here.
| | 02:02 | I'll surround the building.
| | 02:03 | I'm being very mindful of
my running object snaps.
| | 02:07 | I'm going to turn those off for a second.
| | 02:08 | Let me click the Toggle here
on the Status Bar. Here we go!
| | 02:12 | I'll click, I'll work my way around the
building and take a look at the type of
| | 02:17 | selection I'm making.
| | 02:18 | Essentially, I'm making a window
selection, but I'm not having to conform to
| | 02:22 | a perfect rectangle.
| | 02:24 | Now that I'm finished with my window,
I'll right-click and select Enter.
| | 02:28 | I've actually selected a little bit too much.
| | 02:30 | I'm going to hold my Shift
key and deselect this line.
| | 02:33 | Then I'll right-click.
| | 02:35 | Let's zoom in a little bit, and I'd like to
pick this building up from the end point here.
| | 02:39 | Now, the running object snaps
are turned off. That's okay.
| | 02:42 | we'll do this the hard way.
| | 02:43 | I'll Shift+Right-click and select
Endpoint, and I'd like to place this to the
| | 02:48 | Shift+Right-click Intersection right there.
| | 02:52 | At this point, I don't need my sketch
line anymore, so I'll click to select
| | 02:55 | this, and then I'll press my Delete key.
| | 02:58 | Let's back up a little bit.
| | 02:59 | To finish clearing up this drawing, I
need to extend my sidewalk lines such that
| | 03:04 | they meet the building.
| | 03:05 | To do that, I'll launch the Extend command.
| | 03:08 | I'll select this edge and
this edge as my boundary edges.
| | 03:11 | Then I'll right-click.
| | 03:12 | Now, to select my sidewalk lines, I'm
going to use another keyboard shortcut.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to type F and hit Enter.
| | 03:19 | F stands for fence.
| | 03:21 | A fence works just like a crossing
window, except I make my selection using a
| | 03:26 | line segment instead of a rectangle.
| | 03:29 | I'll click right here, and then I'll
click here to make a line segment across
| | 03:33 | the entities that I'd like to select.
| | 03:35 | When I'm finished with my fence,
I'll right-click and select Enter.
| | 03:39 | My entities are extended, and
finally, I'll hit my Esc key.
| | 03:41 | Let's back up a little bit more.
| | 03:44 | We'll do one more example of the fence.
| | 03:46 | Let's say I'd like to erase all of these trees.
| | 03:50 | I'll launch the Erase command.
| | 03:51 | Then I'll press F for fence and hit Enter.
| | 03:55 | I'll click right here, and then here,
and here, I'll just create a line segment
| | 03:59 | that crosses over all of these entities.
| | 04:01 | When I'm finished, I'll right-click and
select Enter to complete the fence, and
| | 04:05 | then I'll right-click
again to finish the command.
| | 04:08 | Now, I'd like to keep these trees, so I'm
going to click Undo to restore that geometry.
| | 04:14 | As you can see, the keyboard
shortcuts are a helpful alternative to the
| | 04:17 | selection window, and they allow us
to work outside the box when selecting our entities.
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|
|
9. Refining GeometryCreating fillets| 00:00 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how
to clean up our intersecting line work.
| | 00:04 | We'll do that by using the Fillet command.
| | 00:06 | Fillet allows us to create rounded corners.
| | 00:09 | On my screen I have some intersecting lines.
| | 00:11 | We're going to use this geometry to
learn how the Fillet command works.
| | 00:15 | Fillet is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:19 | The icon is right here.
| | 00:20 | When I launch the Fillet command, AutoCAD
is essentially only looking for two objects.
| | 00:25 | I'll click my first object, and my second
one, and AutoCAD creates a rounded corner.
| | 00:31 | Now, I know what you're thinking.
| | 00:32 | This corner doesn't look very round.
| | 00:34 | That's because I neglected to do
one thing, I didn't set a radius.
| | 00:38 | I'm going to click Undo to restore those
lines, and let's try that Fillet again.
| | 00:44 | I'll launch the command, and
take a look at the command line.
| | 00:47 | Notice I have a sub-option here called Radius.
| | 00:50 | Also notice that I can see the
current Radius value is zero.
| | 00:53 | That's why I got a sharp
corner in the previous example.
| | 00:57 | I'm going to right-click and select
the Radius sub-option, and I'll set my
| | 01:02 | Radius to 0.75 and hit Enter.
| | 01:05 | Now, I'll select this line and
this line to create my rounded corner.
| | 01:09 | Let's create one more.
| | 01:11 | I'm going to press the
Spacebar to re-launch the command.
| | 01:14 | Notice AutoCAD remembers the previous radius.
| | 01:17 | I'm going to keep this value and I'll
click this line and this line to create
| | 01:22 | another rounded corner.
| | 01:24 | Now, let's take a look at this intersection.
| | 01:26 | What if I wanted this to be a sharp corner?
| | 01:29 | Well, I could set my radius to zero.
| | 01:31 | that would create a sharp corner.
| | 01:33 | Or, if I launch the Fillet command,
and hold my Shift key down, when I'm
| | 01:39 | selecting my two lines, AutoCAD will
create a sharp corner regardless of the
| | 01:44 | value of my current radius.
| | 01:46 | Now that we have a working knowledge of
the Fillet command, let's try and use it
| | 01:49 | in a practical example.
| | 01:50 | I'll pan this over and we'll
center the geometry on screen.
| | 01:55 | On my screen, I have a drawing
that represents an MP3 Player.
| | 01:59 | Let's use the Fillet command to
round the corners of this device.
| | 02:03 | I'll launch my Fillet command
and I'd like to set a new radius.
| | 02:07 | So, I'll right-click and
select Radius from the menu.
| | 02:10 | I'm going to use a value
of 0.25 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 02:14 | Then I'll select this line and this one.
| | 02:17 | Notice that AutoCAD drops me from the command.
| | 02:20 | One of the problems with Fillet is that
AutoCAD always assumes you only want to do one.
| | 02:25 | Let me show you how we can
quickly create the other three fillets.
| | 02:29 | I'll re-launch the command.
| | 02:31 | My radius is obviously good.
| | 02:33 | Notice I have a sub-option
down here called Multiple.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to right-click and
select Multiple from the menu.
| | 02:41 | Then I'll select this line and this line.
| | 02:43 | Notice I'm still in the command.
| | 02:45 | I can then select this line and
this line, this line and this line.
| | 02:50 | Using the Multiple sub-option, I can
create multiple fillets until such time as
| | 02:54 | I press the Esc key to
cancel out of the command.
| | 02:58 | Let's take a look at the screen quickly.
| | 03:00 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:02 | Maybe I'd like to fillet
all of these corners as well.
| | 03:05 | This geometry was created
using the Rectangle command.
| | 03:08 | So, this entity is considered a
polyline or a multi-segmented line.
| | 03:13 | I'm going to press Esc to deselect this entity.
| | 03:16 | Then I'll launch the Fillet command.
| | 03:18 | I'd like to set a new radius, so I'll
right-click, select Radius, and we'll use
| | 03:23 | a radius of 0.2 this time.
| | 03:26 | Now, take a look at the command line.
| | 03:27 | Notice I've got an option here called Polyline.
| | 03:30 | I'm going to right-click and
select Polyline from the menu.
| | 03:34 | By using the Polyline sub-option,
AutoCAD will apply the fillet to every
| | 03:39 | corner of my polyline.
| | 03:41 | Fillet is a tool that gives us more
control over our interesting line work.
| | 03:45 | Whether our design requires a
rounded corner or a sharp corner, we can
| | 03:49 | accomplish anything we need
by using the Fillet command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating chamfers| 00:00 | Sometimes, our design may
require a beveled or angular corner.
| | 00:04 | In cases like this, we can
use AutoCAD's Chamfer command.
| | 00:07 | Chamfer works the exact same way as Fillet,
except that it results in a beveled corner.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I have an architectural example.
| | 00:14 | This is a floor plan of a single family home.
| | 00:16 | We're going to use the Chamfer command to
make some modifications to this geometry.
| | 00:22 | Let's start by zooming in on the Kitchen area.
| | 00:25 | I'd like to focus our attention on this island.
| | 00:27 | So, I'm going to zoom in a little bit closer.
| | 00:30 | Currently, the outside corners of
this island are a sharp 90 degrees.
| | 00:34 | There is usually a lot of
traffic in the kitchen area.
| | 00:38 | I'd like to avoid as many
sharp outside corners as I can.
| | 00:41 | So, I'd like to chamfer these corners
much like the example that we see here.
| | 00:46 | To do that, I'll use the Chamfer command.
| | 00:48 | Chamfer is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to click this fly-out.
| | 00:54 | Notice that Chamfer and
Fillet share the same menu.
| | 00:58 | In fact, whichever command we use last,
that will become the default icon right here.
| | 01:04 | Now, Chamfer works just like Fillet.
| | 01:06 | All I have to do is select two objects.
| | 01:09 | But before I do that, I'm
going to enter some values.
| | 01:12 | If we look at the command Line, we
can see there are two ways to create a
| | 01:15 | Chamfer, the Distance
method and the Angle method.
| | 01:19 | Let's look at the Angle Method first.
| | 01:21 | I'm going to right-click and select
Angle from the menu, and then for my first
| | 01:25 | Chamfer length, I'm going to type 5
inches, don't forget to use the quotes,
| | 01:30 | this is an architectural example.
| | 01:33 | For my Chamfer Angle, I'm
going to type 45, and hit Enter.
| | 01:37 | Now, here's how it works.
| | 01:39 | When I click my first line, AutoCAD
is going to find a point 5 inches back
| | 01:44 | from the intersection.
| | 01:45 | Then when I select my second line,
it's going to rotate 45 degrees from that
| | 01:50 | first point to create the chamfer.
| | 01:52 | Now, just like the Fillet command,
AutoCAD drops me after I create my chamfer.
| | 01:56 | To chamfer these remaining three
corners, I'm going to press my Spacebar to
| | 02:00 | re-enter the command.
| | 02:01 | Notice that AutoCAD
remembers my previous values.
| | 02:04 | also note that I have a suboption of Multiple.
| | 02:07 | I'm going to right-click and select Multiple.
| | 02:11 | Then I can select this line and
this line to create a chamfer.
| | 02:15 | I'll chamfer this corner
and I'll chamfer this corner.
| | 02:18 | When I'm finished, I'll hit Esc.
| | 02:20 | This was an example of the Angle method.
| | 02:22 | Now, let's take a look at the Distance method.
| | 02:24 | I'm going to zoom out a little bit.
| | 02:26 | Let's pan over the Master Bedroom area.
| | 02:29 | I'll center this geometry on screen.
| | 02:31 | I am in the process of creating a tray
ceiling in this room, and I've already
| | 02:37 | chamfered two of the corners of my ceiling.
| | 02:39 | Notice that these corners are
chamfered using two distances.
| | 02:43 | Let's use the Distance method to
finish these remaining two corners.
| | 02:49 | I'm going to re-launch the Chamfer command.
| | 02:51 | I'll right-click and
select Distance from the Menu.
| | 02:54 | For my first Chamfer Distance,
I'll type 3 feet, Enter.
| | 02:59 | For my second Chamfer Distance, I'll
type 1 foot 6 inches, Enter.
| | 03:05 | Here's how the Distance method works.
| | 03:07 | When I select my first line,
AutoCAD is going to measure back from this
| | 03:10 | intersection, my first
distance, which was 3 feet.
| | 03:14 | Then when I select the second line,
AutoCAD is going to measure back the
| | 03:17 | second distance, which was 1 foot 6
inches, and it will use those two
| | 03:22 | points to chamfer the corner.
| | 03:23 | Let's take care of this last one.
| | 03:25 | I'm going to press the Spacebar to
go back into the Chamfer command.
| | 03:29 | To keep this symmetrical, I'm going to
click this line first, this line would
| | 03:33 | represent my 3 foot measurement.
| | 03:34 | Then I'll select this line to finish my chamfer.
| | 03:39 | The Chamfer command gives us yet
another choice when dealing with
| | 03:41 | intersecting geometry.
| | 03:43 | If a sharp or a rounded corner isn't
acceptable for our design, we can always
| | 03:47 | use the Chamfer command to
achieve a beveled corner.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Copying objects into a rotated pattern| 00:01 | Creating manual copies of our entities
can be tedious, especially if the copies
| | 00:04 | also need to be rotated.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to use the Array command to copy our
| | 00:09 | geometry into a rotated pattern.
| | 00:11 | On my screen, I have a simple
drawing of a round table and a chair.
| | 00:15 | Let's say I'd like to create some copies of
this chair around the outside of the table.
| | 00:19 | Well, if I was to do this
manually, it would be very tedious.
| | 00:22 | I'd have to copy this chair into each
location, and then I'd also have to rotate
| | 00:26 | it to face the table.
| | 00:27 | Instead, I'm going to use the Array command
to create all of my copies in a single step.
| | 00:32 | Array is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:35 | The icon is right here.
| | 00:37 | I click to launch the tool.
| | 00:38 | It brings up the Array dialog box.
| | 00:41 | This is where I get access to all of the
settings that I'll use to build my Array.
| | 00:45 | Notice, there are two types, the
Rectangular and the Polar Array.
| | 00:49 | We're going to look at
the Polar Array right now.
| | 00:52 | Polar Array allows us to create copies
of our entities in a rotational pattern.
| | 00:56 | I'm going to click Select objects, and
then I'll select the object I'd like to copy.
| | 01:01 | In this case, it's the chair.
| | 01:03 | Then I'll right-click.
| | 01:04 | Now let's take care of the center point.
| | 01:06 | The center point is the point at
which I will be copying my objects around.
| | 01:11 | I can enter a Coordinate here.
| | 01:12 | I can enter an X and a Y value, or if I
click this icon, I can pick a point on screen.
| | 01:18 | I happened to have a running object
snap set for center, so I'm going to select
| | 01:22 | the center of this circle.
| | 01:24 | Now let's take a look at the total
number of items, how many objects do I
| | 01:27 | want when I'm done?
| | 01:29 | Currently, this is set to 4.
| | 01:30 | I'm going to leave that alone for right now.
| | 01:33 | Angle to fill, 360, this means I am creating
my copies around a full 360 degrees circle.
| | 01:40 | On the right side of this dialog box, I
can see a rough preview of what my Array
| | 01:44 | is going to look like.
| | 01:45 | If I was to make a change, for instance,
I will change my Angle to fill to 90,
| | 01:51 | and I'll press Tab to accept that value.
| | 01:53 | We can see the preview change over here.
| | 01:56 | I'm going to change this back to 360.
| | 01:58 | Then I'll come down and click Preview.
| | 02:02 | This looks pretty good.
| | 02:03 | Take a look at my command Line.
| | 02:04 | Notice, we're in Preview Mode right now.
| | 02:07 | That means if I like the Array, I can
right-click to accept it, or if I want to
| | 02:12 | make a change, I can press the
Esc key to bring back the settings.
| | 02:17 | Now, I think we can fit a few
more chairs around this table.
| | 02:20 | I'm going to set my Total number of
items to 6, and I'll click Preview.
| | 02:25 | That looks a little better.
| | 02:26 | I'm going to right-click to accept my Array.
| | 02:28 | I'm sure you'll agree that making copies this
way is much faster than doing them manually.
| | 02:33 | Now that we understand the workflow
behind the Polar Array, let's try and use it
| | 02:37 | in a practical example.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to pan the drawing over.
| | 02:41 | On my screen, I have a finished
drawing of a motorcycle sprocket, and I also
| | 02:47 | have an unfinished version.
| | 02:49 | At first glance, it might appear like
this sprocket would be complicated to draw.
| | 02:52 | But, in fact, the only geometry that
we really need is this geometry that we
| | 02:56 | see on the left side.
| | 02:58 | The rest of this part can be
completed using Polar Array.
| | 03:01 | Let's take a look at these holes first.
| | 03:03 | In the finished example, it
looks like I need five sets.
| | 03:06 | So, I'm going to launch the Array command.
| | 03:08 | This will be a Polar Array.
| | 03:11 | I'll click Select objects, and I'll
make a window selection around these
| | 03:14 | circles, and right-click.
| | 03:17 | I will then select the center point of my Array.
| | 03:20 | That will be the center of this circle.
| | 03:22 | Total number of items will be 5.
| | 03:24 | I'll leave this at a full 360
degrees, and I'll click Preview.
| | 03:29 | That looks perfect!
| | 03:30 | I'll right-click to accept the Array.
| | 03:33 | Finally, let's take care of the teeth.
| | 03:35 | This finished sprocket has 42 teeth.
| | 03:38 | As you can see, I've already worked out
the geometry, and I've created a single
| | 03:42 | tooth and a single gap.
| | 03:44 | If my calculations are correct, we
should be able to create 42 teeth around this
| | 03:48 | part, and they should all
meet seamlessly end-to-end.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to re-launch the Array command.
| | 03:54 | I'll click Select objects
and I'll window this geometry.
| | 03:57 | Then I'll right-click.
| | 03:59 | I'll select the center point of my
Array, the center of this circle.
| | 04:03 | Total number of items will be 42.
| | 04:06 | Let's click Preview.
| | 04:08 | Everything looks really good!
| | 04:09 | I'm going to right-click to accept the Array.
| | 04:12 | Keep your eyes open for objects
that fall into a rotational pattern.
| | 04:15 | A Polar Array can save you a lot
of time over creating manual copies.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Copying objects into a rectangular pattern| 00:00 | The Array command can also be used
to create copies that are arranged
| | 00:04 | into columns and rows.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to create a rectangular array.
| | 00:09 | On my screen I have got some chairs.
| | 00:12 | This chair on the left represents what
I am starting with and these chairs on
| | 00:16 | the right represent the
array that I'd like to create.
| | 00:20 | To copy my chair into rows and
columns I am going to use the Array command.
| | 00:24 | Array is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:27 | I will click to launch the command and
then I will make sure that my Array type
| | 00:31 | is set to Rectangular.
| | 00:33 | I will come down here and click Select
Objects and then I will select the object
| | 00:37 | I'd like to copy and right-click.
| | 00:39 | Let me move this over a little
bit, and how many rows do we want?
| | 00:44 | The rows go left to right.
| | 00:47 | In this case, I want 4 rows.
| | 00:50 | So I am going to accept the default value.
| | 00:52 | It looks like I need 3 columns.
| | 00:54 | So I am going to change this to 3 and
I will press Tab to accept this value.
| | 01:00 | Notice as I make my changes we can
see the preview update over here.
| | 01:04 | Now, how far apart are the rows and columns?
| | 01:08 | I can see my Row offset is 42 inches.
| | 01:11 | That is a center to center distance,
not necessarily the walking space in
| | 01:15 | between these chairs.
| | 01:17 | So I will change my Row offset to 42 inches.
| | 01:21 | Could I also enter 3 foot
6 inches? Yes, I could.
| | 01:24 | That will also work.
| | 01:25 | In fact, when I click in the Column
offset you will see AutoCAD will make
| | 01:29 | that change for me.
| | 01:30 | My column offset is going
to be 36 inches or 3 feet.
| | 01:35 | I will press Tab to accept that value
and at this point I will move down and
| | 01:39 | click Preview to take a look at my array.
| | 01:42 | Now, if I like this, I can
right-click to accept it.
| | 01:45 | If not, I can press the
Escape key to adjust my settings.
| | 01:49 | Since I have built this array from
dimensions, I know this is perfect.
| | 01:52 | So I am going to right-click to accept it.
| | 01:55 | Now that we understand the workflow
behind the rectangular array, let's try and
| | 01:58 | use the tool in a practical example.
| | 02:03 | On my screen I have a design for a
bookshelf and I would like the shelves in
| | 02:08 | this bookshelf to be adjustable.
| | 02:10 | To accomplish this I am going to drill
some holes in the inside of these faces.
| | 02:16 | I will then be placing 3/8 inch dowels
into these holes to hold up the shelves
| | 02:20 | and I'd like to create a pattern of
holes such that I can adjust the shelves
| | 02:24 | in 3 inch increments.
| | 02:27 | Now, I have got a finished example
of what I am looking for right here.
| | 02:31 | Let's see if we can replicate this
rectangular array on this unfinished board.
| | 02:36 | The first thing I am going to do is
place the hole in the lower left corner.
| | 02:40 | To do that, I will use my Offset command.
| | 02:43 | My Offset distance is going to be 3
inches and I will offset this edge to the
| | 02:49 | inside and I will press Escape.
| | 02:52 | Now, I am going to offset
this lower edge up, 12 inches.
| | 02:56 | So I will press the Spacebar to
go back into the Offset command.
| | 03:00 | I will type 12 inches and I will offset
this line up and then I will hit Escape.
| | 03:05 | Now, I will launch the Circle
command and I will place the circle to the
| | 03:10 | intersection right here and this
circle has a diameter of 3/8th of an inch.
| | 03:16 | So I am going to right-click
and select Diameter from the menu.
| | 03:21 | I will type 3/8 inch and I will hit Enter.
| | 03:26 | Now this hole is quite small.
| | 03:27 | To make this a little easier to see I
am going to eliminate my sketch geometry.
| | 03:31 | I will do that by launching the eRase
command, I will select both of these lines
| | 03:36 | and I will hit Enter.
| | 03:37 | Alright, let's complete the rest of
the copies using a rectangular array.
| | 03:41 | I will launch the Array command.
| | 03:44 | This is going to be a rectangular array.
| | 03:46 | I will click Select Objects and I
will select my circle and right-click.
| | 03:51 | Let's move this over a little bit.
| | 03:53 | Now how many rows do I want?
| | 03:55 | There are 13 sets of holes.
| | 03:58 | So I am going to have 13 rows, I have 2 columns.
| | 04:04 | Let's take a look at Row offset,
how far are the rows apart?
| | 04:08 | We can see that right here, 3 inches.
| | 04:11 | I will enter my row offsets.
| | 04:13 | Finally, how far are my columns apart?
| | 04:15 | We can see that value right here.
| | 04:17 | I will set my Column offset to 10 inches.
| | 04:22 | Now that I am finished, I will click Preview.
| | 04:23 | That looks perfect.
| | 04:24 | If I like this I can right-click to
accept it or I could always press my Escape
| | 04:29 | key if I wanted to explore other options.
| | 04:32 | What if I wanted my shelves to be
adjustable at every 2 inch increments?
| | 04:37 | Let's click Preview.
| | 04:38 | We can see the difference.
| | 04:39 | I am going to put things back the way they were.
| | 04:42 | I will press Escape and I will change this
back to 3 and I will click OK to accept it.
| | 04:48 | As you can see a rectangular array is yet
another way to create copies of your entities.
| | 04:53 | It's the perfect tool to use when your
copies are arranged in columns and rows.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Stretching elements| 00:01 | In this lesson we are going to learn one
of the fastest ways to edit our geometry.
| | 00:04 | We will do that by taking a
look at the Stretch command.
| | 00:07 | Stretch allows us to change the
shape of our line work by pressing and
| | 00:11 | pulling on the end points.
| | 00:13 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
simple part as you can see this part
| | 00:16 | measures 6 inches long.
| | 00:18 | Let's say I'd like to
lengthen these arms another 6 inches.
| | 00:23 | To do that I will launch the Stretch command.
| | 00:25 | Stretch is located in the Modify panel.
| | 00:29 | Now that I have launched the tool
take a look at the command line.
| | 00:31 | Notice that AutoCAD is requiring us to
select our objects using a crossing window.
| | 00:37 | So I am going to click right here and I
will pull down into the left and here is
| | 00:41 | the trick, you only want to select
the end points that you'd like to move.
| | 00:46 | So I am going to click right here to
finish my window and then I'll right-click.
| | 00:50 | I'd like to pick my geometry up from
the end point here and as I stretch this,
| | 00:56 | notice that I am essentially moving the end
points that fell within my selection window.
| | 01:01 | Now, I'd like my stretch to be accurate.
| | 01:03 | So I am going to turn on my Ortho and
then I will pull to the right and I will
| | 01:08 | enter 6 inches, Enter.
| | 01:11 | Let's make one more change.
| | 01:13 | This time we will make this
upper arm 4 inches shorter.
| | 01:16 | To do that, I will press the
Spacebar to relaunch the Stretch command.
| | 01:20 | I will create a crossing window around
these end points and then I will right-click.
| | 01:25 | I will pick my geometry up from the
end point here and I will pull this back
| | 01:30 | to the left 4 inches.
| | 01:32 | Now before I hit Enter,
take a look at my screen.
| | 01:35 | Notice that in addition to my
measurement, AutoCAD is also seeing the end
| | 01:39 | point of that line.
| | 01:41 | Don't let your running
object snaps get in your way.
| | 01:44 | If I hit Enter to accept my distance,
AutoCAD gets confused, because it also
| | 01:49 | sees the object snap.
| | 01:51 | So I am going to move up and off the
line so the object snap disappears.
| | 01:56 | Then I will type my
measurement and I will hit Enter.
| | 01:59 | Always be mindful of your running object snaps.
| | 02:01 | I am going to zoom out a little
bit and we'll pan this drawing over.
| | 02:04 | On my screen I have a
drawing of a large cabinet.
| | 02:09 | Let's use the Stretch command to
revise this drawing and create a smaller
| | 02:13 | matching cabinet design.
| | 02:14 | I am going to start by using the eRase
tool and I am going to erase these doors.
| | 02:21 | Now I would also like to erase this
wide drawer and I am going to change the
| | 02:26 | width of the cabinet, essentially I am
going to stretch this right side over
| | 02:30 | to meet the left side.
| | 02:32 | But before I erase this large drawer, I
want to save this end point object snap.
| | 02:38 | To do that I will create a circle at
this end point, the radius isn't important.
| | 02:42 | This entity is only being used as a target.
| | 02:45 | I will launch the eRase command again
and I will get rid of this drawer geometry
| | 02:50 | and I will right-click.
| | 02:51 | Now I will launch the Stretch command,
I will create a crossing window around
| | 02:56 | this geometry and right-click.
| | 02:58 | I would like to stretch the line work from
the end point here to the center of this circle.
| | 03:05 | Now when I am finished I
don't need my target anymore.
| | 03:07 | So I will select it and
press my Delete key to erase.
| | 03:11 | Now, this overall design doesn't look
too bad, but you know what, this cabinet
| | 03:14 | is kind of small and having six drawers on a
small cabinet like this is kind of overkill.
| | 03:21 | Maybe I'd like to have
three wide drawers instead.
| | 03:24 | I am going to create another target.
| | 03:26 | I will launch my Circle command and I'd
like to hold this object snap momentarily.
| | 03:31 | So I will create a circle at that end point.
| | 03:33 | Then I will launch my eRase command and I
will eliminate these drawers and right-click.
| | 03:41 | I will then launch stretch, I will
create a crossing window around these end
| | 03:45 | points and right-click.
| | 03:47 | I will stretch them from the end
point here to the center of my circle.
| | 03:53 | Finally, I will remove the circle by
selecting it and pressing my Delete key.
| | 03:57 | As you can see the Stretch command is
one of the more powerful editing tools and
| | 04:00 | it can be a very efficient
way to modify your geometry.
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| Creating mirrored copies| 00:00 | In this lesson we are going to learn how
to get twice the amount of work done in
| | 00:04 | half the time by using the Mirror command.
| | 00:07 | Mirror allows us to create
symmetrical copies of our geometry.
| | 00:11 | On my screen I have drawn a little bit
more than half of a basketball court and
| | 00:15 | since this court geometry is symmetrical,
I don't have to draw the other side.
| | 00:19 | Instead, I can finish this
drawing by creating a mirrored copy.
| | 00:24 | To do that, I will launch the mirror command.
| | 00:26 | Mirror is located in the
Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:30 | Then I will select the
objects I would like to copy.
| | 00:33 | I am going to create a window around
all of these entities and then I will
| | 00:37 | hold my Shift key and create a window around
these circles, because I don't need to copy them.
| | 00:43 | When I am finished I will right-click.
| | 00:45 | Now I need to click two
points to define my mirror line.
| | 00:48 | This is the line that I will be
reflecting my geometry across.
| | 00:52 | I would like to reflect my
geometry across this line.
| | 00:56 | So I will select the end
point here and the end point here.
| | 01:01 | Finally, do I want to erase my source objects?
| | 01:04 | I am going to right-click and select No,
because I'd like to keep my original geometry.
| | 01:09 | We have just completed our first mirror.
| | 01:12 | I am going to zoom out a little.
| | 01:14 | Let's pan the drawing over and
we'll take a look at another example.
| | 01:20 | Over here I have a drawing
of a decorative light pole.
| | 01:22 | I am going to zoom in a little bit closer.
| | 01:26 | Now, I'd like to add another light to
this pole and instead of creating that
| | 01:30 | geometry from scratch let's use the
Mirror command to reflect this geometry
| | 01:34 | over to the other side.
| | 01:35 | I will move up and launch the command.
| | 01:38 | Then I will use a crossing window to
select the geometry I'd like to copy and
| | 01:44 | I will right-click.
| | 01:46 | Finally, I need to pick
two points on my mirror line.
| | 01:49 | Fortunately, I have a nice center line that
I have already drawn here that we can use.
| | 01:53 | I will select the end point
here and the end point here.
| | 01:57 | When I am finished, I will right-click
and select No to complete my mirror.
| | 02:02 | Remember that every time you are working
with symmetrical geometry you've got an
| | 02:05 | opportunity to use the Mirror command
and if you use it properly, you will be
| | 02:09 | making AutoCAD do half of your work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Scaling elements| 00:00 | If you have ever used a Copy Machine
to make enlargements or reductions of
| | 00:04 | images, you are already
familiar with the concept of Scale.
| | 00:07 | Just like we can make our images larger
or smaller by using Copy Machine, we can
| | 00:11 | make our geometry larger or
smaller, by using the Scale command.
| | 00:16 | On my screen, I have a drawing of three chairs.
| | 00:18 | Let's reduce this chair on the
left down to half its current size.
| | 00:24 | To do that I will use the Scale command.
| | 00:26 | Scale is located in the
Modify Panel of the Ribbon.
| | 00:30 | After I launch the command, I will
select the objects I'd like to resize and
| | 00:34 | then I will right-click.
| | 00:36 | Next, I will select my Base Point.
| | 00:39 | The Base Point is the point about which
my part is going to get larger or smaller.
| | 00:43 | I am going to select the end point right
here, and notice as I drag my Cursor, I
| | 00:48 | get the Rubberband effect, at this
point I could free pick a point on screen to
| | 00:53 | resize this geometry, or I could enter a value.
| | 00:58 | Now the Default value is 1,
and 1 represents no change.
| | 01:02 | it's a one-to-one scale.
| | 01:04 | To make this geometry half as big, I am going to
use a Scale Factor of 0.5 and I will hit Enter.
| | 01:12 | Let's make another change.
| | 01:14 | This time I am going to make this chair on
the right, twice as big as its current size.
| | 01:19 | To do that I will press the Spacebar to
re-launch the Scale command, I will then
| | 01:23 | select the objects I'd like to resize
and right-click and then I will choose my
| | 01:28 | Base Point, I am going to select
the end point right here this time.
| | 01:32 | Notice that the Base Point is the only
part of the object that doesn't move.
| | 01:37 | By choosing my Base Point at the end
of this leg, I can ensure that my chair
| | 01:41 | will always remain
sitting on this horizontal line.
| | 01:46 | Now to make this chair twice as big, I am going
to use a Scale Factor of 2 and I will hit Enter.
| | 01:52 | As you can see the Scale command can
make quick work out of design changes.
| | 01:56 | The Scale command also comes in handy,
if we have trouble with our drawing units.
| | 02:01 | Let's look at an example.
| | 02:02 | I am going to close this drawing.
| | 02:06 | I won't save changes and then I will
move up and click the Open icon, we
| | 02:10 | will look inside the Exercise
Files folder and it will go inside the
| | 02:14 | chapter_09 directory and I'd like to
open these two drawings, I will select
| | 02:18 | racquet and then I will hold my Shift key and I
will select court, and then I will click Open.
| | 02:25 | This opens both drawings in my
interface and now that they are both open, I'd
| | 02:29 | like to view them side-by-side.
| | 02:32 | To do that I will click the View tab,
then I will come down to the Windows Panel
| | 02:36 | and I will select Tile Vertically.
| | 02:38 | Alright, let's clean up our screen a little bit.
| | 02:41 | Currently the focus is on
this drawing on the left.
| | 02:44 | So I am going to pan this over and
center it a little bit better, then I will
| | 02:48 | click in this Window to put the focus over here.
| | 02:51 | I will zoom out a little bit
and I will pan this drawing over.
| | 02:56 | Now this drawing on the right
represents a standard tennis court and this
| | 03:01 | drawing was created such
that each unit equals one foot.
| | 03:05 | Let's verify that quickly.
| | 03:06 | I will open up the Application Menu, I
will come over to Drawing Utilities and
| | 03:10 | I will select Units.
| | 03:12 | We can see that right there.
| | 03:13 | Each unit equals a foot. Let's click OK.
| | 03:16 | Now I will click in this drawing on the left.
| | 03:19 | We will take a look at this one.
| | 03:21 | This drawing represents a standard
tennis racquet and this drawing was created
| | 03:25 | such that each unit equals one inch.
| | 03:29 | Once again we will verify that
quickly, we can see that right there.
| | 03:33 | I am going to click to select this
geometry and then I will click-and-hold on
| | 03:40 | a highlighted portion and I will drag this
into the other drawing and notice the problem.
| | 03:45 | The tennis racquet is huge.
| | 03:48 | AutoCAD only sees units.
| | 03:51 | In this drawing the racquet measured 26,
well that 26 represented 26 inches.
| | 03:56 | When the racquet came over it still
measures 26, except in this drawing it's 26
| | 04:02 | feet which is 12 times
larger than it needs to be.
| | 04:05 | To correct this geometry, I am
going to use the Scale command.
| | 04:09 | So I am going to jump back to the
Home tab, I will launch Scale and I will
| | 04:14 | select my racquet and right-click.
| | 04:17 | I will use the End Point down here for
my Base Point and for my Scale Factor, I
| | 04:22 | am going to type 1 over 12,
and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:27 | Then I will launch the Move
command and I will select my racquet and
| | 04:30 | right-click, I will pick it up from any
end point and then I will zoom over on
| | 04:36 | the right side of the drawing because
I have another racquet over here and I
| | 04:40 | will click and place my
scaled racquet right next to it.
| | 04:43 | And as you can see the geometry is now
appropriately sized for this drawing.
| | 04:49 | Whether we need to resize our entities
as part of a design change or to correct
| | 04:53 | the difference in drawing units we can
accurately make our geometry larger or
| | 04:57 | smaller by using the Scale command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Leveraging grips| 00:01 | Grips are probably the most
versatile tool in AutoCAD.
| | 00:03 | We can use them to make
quick revisions to our geometry.
| | 00:07 | In fact we can use Grips to accomplish
just about every modification command
| | 00:11 | that we have talked about so far.
| | 00:13 | Let's take a look at how they work.
| | 00:15 | Before I get started, notice
that my Dynamic Input is turned ON.
| | 00:19 | Dynamic Input gives us additional
functionality with our grips, so if you are
| | 00:23 | going to work along with me, and you
want your screen to watch mine, make sure
| | 00:27 | that your Dynamic Input Toggle is turned ON.
| | 00:30 | On my screen I have some simple geometry.
| | 00:32 | I am going to start by selecting
this line, and notice these little blue
| | 00:37 | squares, these guys are called
Grips and they act a lot like handles.
| | 00:43 | Watch this, if I place my Cursor over this End
Grip, I can use the grip to query my geometry.
| | 00:49 | Notice I can see the length of the line as
well as the angle at which the line was drawn.
| | 00:54 | I am going to select this circle, and
I will hover over this grip, this grip
| | 00:59 | tells me the circle's radius.
| | 01:02 | I'll click to select this arc,
and I will hover over this grip.
| | 01:05 | This grip shows me the arc's radius
as well as the arc's included angle.
| | 01:10 | So we can use grips to get some
geometric information about our line-work.
| | 01:14 | To clear the grips, I am going to
press my Escape key, this will also
| | 01:18 | deselect the geometry, and let's look
at how we can use grips to make some
| | 01:22 | changes to our line-work.
| | 01:23 | I am going to select this line and
then I will click on this grip, this makes
| | 01:29 | the grip hot and notice that I have some fields.
| | 01:33 | Currently we can see two fields,
there are actually four fields here.
| | 01:37 | To jump from one field to the
other, I can use my Tab key.
| | 01:41 | The field that's current right
represents the amount I would like to change the
| | 01:44 | length of this line.
| | 01:46 | If I press Tab, this field
represents the total length of the line.
| | 01:51 | I will press Tab again.
| | 01:53 | This field represents the total angle of
the line, and if I press Tab, this last
| | 01:58 | field represents the amount that
I'd like to change the line's angle.
| | 02:02 | Let's say I'd this line segment
to be seven-and-a-half units long.
| | 02:06 | To do that I will press my Tab key
until I get to the overall length, I will
| | 02:11 | type 7.5 and I will hit Enter.
| | 02:15 | And if I hover over this grip, we can see
this line segment is now 7.5 units long.
| | 02:20 | Let's say I would like to
change the angle of this line.
| | 02:22 | I'd like it to be 0 degrees, such that
this line runs horizontal on my screen.
| | 02:27 | To do that I'll click to select the grip, I'll
hit Tab two times to get to the overall angle.
| | 02:34 | I'll type 0 and I will hit Enter.
| | 02:35 | I am going to click to select this circle
and then I will click to select this grip.
| | 02:40 | Notice I have two fields, one represents
the radius of this circle and the other
| | 02:45 | represents the amount I'd
like to change the radius.
| | 02:48 | Just for a second, let's say the
radius of this circle needs to be 4.
| | 02:52 | I will enter a value of 4 and
then I will press the Enter key.
| | 02:56 | Now let's say I'd like the radius of
this circle to be one unit less than
| | 03:00 | its current radius.
| | 03:01 | To do that I will click on the grip, I
will Tab over to the amount I'd like to
| | 03:05 | change field, I am going to pull inward
and I will type a distance of one, and
| | 03:11 | then I will hit Enter.
| | 03:12 | If I hover over this grip, we
can see the radius is now three.
| | 03:17 | Finally I will click to select this
arc, and if we'd like to make numeric
| | 03:21 | changes to an arc, we need
to use these triangular grips.
| | 03:24 | I am going to click to select this grip,
this one gives me access to the arc's radius.
| | 03:31 | Let's give this arc a radius
of 5 units and I will hit Enter.
| | 03:35 | I can also use these grips on the end
to adjust the Start and End angle of the
| | 03:40 | arc or I can free-pick a point
on-screen to change the length of my arc.
| | 03:46 | And in this case my arc length didn't change
because my running object snap got in the way.
| | 03:50 | Let me click that again.
| | 03:53 | I'll pull this over and I'll
stay far enough off the line.
| | 03:56 | When I am finished making my changes, I will
press my Escape key to clear the grips.
| | 04:00 | Now there are even more changes that
we can make using grips, let's look at a
| | 04:04 | couple of more examples.
| | 04:06 | On my screen I have two circles and a
line segment, let's say I'd like to create
| | 04:11 | the shape of a Bar Bell.
| | 04:13 | To do that I will click to select this
line and then I will click to select this
| | 04:17 | grip, and notice that my
Cursor says, Specify Stretch Point.
| | 04:21 | AutoCAD defaults to Stretch
Mode when you select a grip.
| | 04:25 | So I can stretch this grip
to the center of this circle.
| | 04:29 | I will then select this grip and
stretch it to the center of this circle.
| | 04:32 | When I am finished I will hit Escape.
| | 04:35 | Now remember that I said that AutoCAD
defaults to Stretch, we can actually
| | 04:38 | do quite a bit more.
| | 04:39 | I am going to select the line again.
| | 04:42 | I will click to select this
grip and then I will right-click.
| | 04:46 | Notice I can also Move, Rotate,
Scale or Mirror this entity.
| | 04:51 | If I select Move, I am now moving this
geometry and my grip represents the Base Point.
| | 04:56 | If I right-click I can select Rotate, I
am now rotating the geometry around that
| | 05:01 | Base Point, I'll
right-click, let's select Scale.
| | 05:05 | As I drag back and forth, I am now
scaling my geometry about that grip location.
| | 05:11 | I am going to right-click again to
bring back the menu because I want to
| | 05:15 | mention that you should take some
time and explore some of the modification
| | 05:18 | options in this menu.
| | 05:20 | There are a lot of things
that we can do with grips.
| | 05:22 | I am going to press Escape to
close the Menu and then I will press Escape
| | 05:25 | to clear these grips.
| | 05:27 | Let's make one quick change.
| | 05:29 | Let's say I'd like to rotate
all of this geometry using grips.
| | 05:33 | To do that I will make a
window selection around everything.
| | 05:36 | I will select this middle grip, I will
right-click and select Rotate and then
| | 05:42 | I will enter a Rotation Angle of 90 degrees,
when I am finished I'll hit Escape.
| | 05:46 | Now that we have a working knowledge
of grips, let's try and use them in
| | 05:50 | a practical example.
| | 05:51 | I am going to pan the drawing
over, let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 05:55 | On my screen I have two mechanical
parts, this part on the right represents a
| | 06:01 | finished drawing and the
part on the left is unfinished.
| | 06:05 | Let's see if we can use grips to
convert this geometry such that it looks like
| | 06:09 | the geometry on the right.
| | 06:11 | Well, first of all, I don't need this
Tab anymore, that was obviously removed.
| | 06:16 | So I am going to create a window
selection around this geometry and then I will
| | 06:20 | press my Delete key to erase these entities.
| | 06:22 | Then I will select this line, I will
grab this end grip and I will stretch it
| | 06:28 | down to the end point of this
line and I will press Escape.
| | 06:32 | Next, I am going to take care of this top edge.
| | 06:35 | To do that I will select the geometry, I
will click this grip, I will Tab to the
| | 06:40 | overall length and I will give this a
length of 4.75, and I will hit Enter.
| | 06:45 | Next, I will select this line segment, I
will select this grip and I will Tab to
| | 06:50 | the overall length, I will give this a
length of 3 units and I will hit Enter.
| | 06:55 | When I am finished I will hit Escape.
| | 06:57 | Finally, I will launch my Line command
and I will create a new line from the end
| | 07:01 | point here to the end point here.
| | 07:05 | Using grips can be one of the fastest
ways to make changes to your geometry.
| | 07:09 | In fact, grips can do much
more than what we have seen here.
| | 07:12 | If you know how to use these little
blue handles, you are well on your way to
| | 07:15 | understanding future concepts
like Dynamic Blocks and 3D Modeling.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Exploding elements| 00:00 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to explode our geometry.
| | 00:04 | Now the word explode sounds a little more
exciting than what we will actually be doing.
| | 00:08 | You see the explode command is used to
convert compound objects back into their
| | 00:13 | individual components. Let's take a look.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have some simple shapes.
| | 00:19 | I created this geometry
using the rectangular command.
| | 00:23 | I created this hexagon using the
polygon command, and I have also created a
| | 00:28 | circle with some hatch.
| | 00:30 | If I select this geometry, notice that
AutoCAD treats this as a single object.
| | 00:36 | If I open up the property changer we
can see the AutoCAD views this object as a
| | 00:39 | ployline or a multisegmented line.
| | 00:44 | The same is true for this hexagon.
| | 00:46 | If I select this we can see that
AutoCAD views this as a polyline.
| | 00:51 | Finally, let's take a look at the hatch pattern.
| | 00:54 | Even though it looks like we have a lot
of line work here, if I select this, we
| | 00:58 | can see that AutoCAD views
this hatch as a single object.
| | 01:01 | I am going to deselect this and
let's start by exploding this geometry.
| | 01:08 | To do that, I will use the explode
command, explode is located in the Modify
| | 01:12 | panel of the Ribbon.
| | 01:14 | After I launch the command I'll select
the objects I would like to explode and
| | 01:18 | then I'll right-click.
| | 01:20 | And when I do, notice that these and
these have been converted back into their
| | 01:24 | individual components.
| | 01:27 | These and these are now simple line segments.
| | 01:30 | Let's deselect these and
we'll explode this hatch.
| | 01:35 | Once again I will launch the explode command,
I'll select my hatch and I'll right-click.
| | 01:40 | Let me mention that you
never want to explode your hatch.
| | 01:43 | Because if you do, it reverts to
individual segments and you will always have
| | 01:48 | more control over your hatch if it is
still considered a hatch or an object.
| | 01:53 | Now you may be wondering when you'd
ever want to explode your geometry.
| | 01:56 | Well, let's take a look at a practical example.
| | 01:59 | I am going to pan the drawing over.
| | 02:02 | On my screen I have a drawing
of a standard receptacle cover.
| | 02:06 | Let's see if we can reproduce this geometry.
| | 02:09 | I am going to start by launching the
rectangle command and I will click right
| | 02:14 | here and then I will right-click and
select dimensions, and the rectangle I am
| | 02:19 | creating has a length of 2.7 and a width of 4.5.
| | 02:26 | Finally, I will click on
screen to finish the rectangle.
| | 02:29 | Next, I would like to create the center line.
| | 02:32 | To do that I will launch the line
command, and I will create my line from the
| | 02:36 | mid point of this top edge and I
will draw to the mid point of the bottom
| | 02:41 | edge and I will hit Esc.
| | 02:44 | Next, I would locate the center of this circle.
| | 02:47 | To do that I will offset
the top edge down, 2.25.
| | 02:52 | Now here's my problem.
| | 02:53 | I can't offset this edge down, because
AutoCAD is viewing this as a single polyline.
| | 02:59 | So I am going to deselect my3:01, I'll
launch the explode command, I will select
| | 03:04 | the polyline and right-click.
| | 03:07 | Now I can launch the offset command,
we'll give this a distance of 2.25 and I
| | 03:12 | can easily offset this single edge down.
| | 03:15 | When I am finished, I will press my Esc key.
| | 03:18 | Let's launch the circle command and I
will create a circle at the intersection
| | 03:22 | of these two lines and the
circle has a radius of .13.
| | 03:28 | Next, I like to find the center of these shapes.
| | 03:31 | To do that I'll offset my line
up and down, a distance of .73.
| | 03:37 | So let's re-launch the offset command.
| | 03:40 | I'll enter my distance and I'll offset
this line up and down, and I'll hit Esc.
| | 03:47 | Then I will launch the circle
command and I'll create a circle at the
| | 03:51 | intersection right here.
| | 03:53 | The circle has a radius of .68.
| | 03:57 | I'll press my spacebar to go
back into the circle command.
| | 04:00 | I'll create a circle at the intersection
right here and then I will hit Enter to
| | 04:04 | accept the previous radius.
| | 04:07 | Now, at this point my drawing is
getting a little bit cluttered with sketch
| | 04:10 | geometry, so I am going to
launch the Erase command.
| | 04:13 | I will only erase my center line and
I will erase these horizontal lines.
| | 04:20 | Finally, I would like to
create these straight edges.
| | 04:23 | Once again I will use the offset command.
| | 04:25 | I will use a distance of 1 and since I
exploded this rectangle, it's very easy
| | 04:30 | to offset this top edge
down and this bottom edge up.
| | 04:34 | I will hit Esc and then the
spacebar to go back into offset and my next
| | 04:40 | distance is going to be 1.05, I'll offset this
edge up and this one down and I will press Esc.
| | 04:48 | Finally, we can clean this
drawing up using the Trim command.
| | 04:52 | I'll launch trim and then I will
select all of these annuities as cutting
| | 04:56 | objects and I'll right-click and I like
to trim this top edge and this bottom one.
| | 05:02 | I would like to trim all of
these edges and all of these.
| | 05:09 | Let's zoom in a little bit, I would
like to trim this arc and this one, this
| | 05:13 | one and this one, and it looks like I have
a couple extra objects I need to get rid of.
| | 05:18 | No matter if I right-click, notice that the
trim command also contains an erase sub-option.
| | 05:25 | If I select this, I can select the
annuities I would like to erase and right-click.
| | 05:30 | When I am finished, I will hit Esc.
| | 05:33 | If the time comes when you would
like to convert an object back into its
| | 05:36 | individual parts, use the Explode command.
| | 05:39 | Even though the command itself sounds
destructive, it's one of the fastest ways
| | 05:43 | to build geometry from your existing line-work.
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| Joining elements together| 00:00 | Sometimes it can be easier to work with
your line-work if you join it together.
| | 00:04 | In this lesson we are going
to look at the Pedit command.
| | 00:08 | Pedit allows us to join
entities into a single polyline.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have got some geometry
that represents a simple part and I am
| | 00:16 | just about finished with this drawing,
in fact, the only thing I have left to do
| | 00:19 | is trim up some line work.
| | 00:21 | So I am going to launch the Trim
command and then I will select all of the
| | 00:25 | geometry as my cutting objects and I
will right-click and I will trim these
| | 00:30 | segments, these segments
and these and I will hit Esc.
| | 00:36 | Now that I am finished with this part,
let's take a closer look at the geometry.
| | 00:40 | Notice that even though this
line work represents a single part.
| | 00:43 | AutoCAD is viewing it as a
bunch of individual segments.
| | 00:48 | Now I would like to join all of these
entities together into a single polyline.
| | 00:52 | To do that I will use the Pedit command.
| | 00:54 | I am going to start by deselecting
these entities and the pedit command is
| | 00:59 | located in the Modify panel of the Ribbon.
| | 01:02 | I'll click this fly-out to open up the panel.
| | 01:05 | This gives me access to the icon.
| | 01:08 | Once I launch the command, I will
select a single entity and AutoCAD says, hey,
| | 01:13 | that's not a polyline, do
you want it turned into one?
| | 01:15 | I am going to right-click to accept, Yes.
| | 01:19 | And notice that Pedit does a lot of things.
| | 01:22 | For right now we are going
to look at the Join Option.
| | 01:25 | So I'll select Join from the Menu and
then I will select all of the objects I
| | 01:29 | would join to that original
segment and I will right-click.
| | 01:34 | When I am finished, I will hit my Esc key.
| | 01:36 | Now if I select this geometry, I can see
that AutoCAD is viewing it as a single polyline.
| | 01:42 | Joining your line work together, makes it
easier to move, rotate, offset or erase.
| | 01:47 | Let me mention this, in order for
your entities to successfully join, they
| | 01:52 | must meet end to end.
| | 01:54 | So if you are having difficulty joining
entities together, take a closer look at
| | 01:58 | your connection points, you may have
gaps or you may have overlapping geometry.
| | 02:03 | Let's deselect this and now that we are
familiar with joining objects together,
| | 02:08 | let's try and use this
tool in a practical example.
| | 02:11 | On my screen I have a drawing of an MP3
player and I would like to make a design
| | 02:17 | change to this thumb control.
| | 02:19 | I am going to zoom in a little bit
and I will center this on screen.
| | 02:23 | I would like to apply a Fill
it to each of these corners.
| | 02:28 | Currently this thumb control is
made up of several individual segments.
| | 02:33 | I am going to make my fielding job
much easier by first joining all of
| | 02:37 | these entities together.
| | 02:39 | To do that I will launch the pedit
command and I will select one of the entities
| | 02:44 | and I will right click.
| | 02:45 | I will select the Join option and then
I will select everything I would like to
| | 02:49 | join to that original segment.
| | 02:52 | It doesn't matter that I select too much,
I really can't hurt anything, because
| | 02:56 | AutoCAD can only join the objects that
meet end to end to that original segment.
| | 03:01 | When I am finished selecting objects, I
will right-click and then I will hit Esc
| | 03:04 | to exit the command.
| | 03:06 | If I select this, I can see it's not
only single polyline, let's deselect, I
| | 03:11 | will launch my Fill it command, then I
will right-click, I will give my Fill it
| | 03:15 | a radius of .5 and then I will right-click
again, and I will select the
| | 03:20 | polyline sub-option.
| | 03:24 | Now if I select my new polyline,
AutoCAD will apply the Fill it to every
| | 03:28 | intersection at one time.
| | 03:31 | Use the pedit command to your advantage.
| | 03:33 | If you think you will need to move,
rotate, offset or even fill it,
| | 03:37 | several related entities.
| | 03:39 | you can save yourself a lot of
time by joining them together into a single polyline.
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| Editing hatch patterns| 00:01 | Once you have applied some Hatch to
your drawing, you may wonder how difficult
| | 00:04 | it is to make changes to it.
| | 00:06 | Well since AutoCAD views Hatch as a
single dynamic object it's very easy to
| | 00:10 | modify both in appearance and shape.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I have created a simple
square and I have also applied some Hatch.
| | 00:18 | First of all, let's talk about how
we can changes to our Hatch pattern.
| | 00:23 | To modify my Hatch, I am
going to click to select it.
| | 00:25 | It springs up the Hatch Editor tab on
the ribbon and this gives me access to
| | 00:30 | all of the same Hatch settings that I had
when I created this Hatch in the first place.
| | 00:35 | So it's kind of like I am
creating this Hatch for the first time.
| | 00:39 | I am going to select a new pattern, now
I can do that by clicking the arrow keys
| | 00:43 | to go up and down through the menu or
I can click this fly-out to expand the
| | 00:47 | menu so I can see more swatches at one time.
| | 00:50 | I am going to select the Angle pattern
and I am going to make a change to the
| | 00:56 | Scale as well, I will click in the Scale
field here and I will set this to 2 and
| | 01:00 | then I will press Tab to accept
the value and let's change the angle.
| | 01:04 | I will click and hold on this slider
and I will drag this over a little bit and
| | 01:07 | then I will release.
| | 01:10 | At this point I could
change any of the other settings.
| | 01:13 | Just for a second, notice that this
Hatch pattern is associative, that means
| | 01:17 | that it's linked to this boundary.
| | 01:19 | Now that I am finished making my
changes I am going to click the x to close the
| | 01:22 | Hatch Editor and accept my settings.
| | 01:25 | So modifying the appearance of
Hatch is as easy as selecting it and
| | 01:28 | adjusting the settings.
| | 01:30 | Now let's talk about how we
would modify the shape of our Hatch.
| | 01:34 | Remember that this Hatch is
associative, so it's tied to this boundary.
| | 01:38 | That means if I select the boundary
and click this grip and move it over here
| | 01:44 | the Hatch goes along for the ride.
| | 01:46 | Now let's do something catastrophic,
since my boundary is still selected, I am
| | 01:51 | going to come over and click
the Erase button to erase it.
| | 01:54 | If we look at the command line we can see
that the hatch associativity has been removed.
| | 01:58 | Obviously because the boundary is now gone.
| | 02:01 | Watch this, if I select this Hatch, notice
that AutoCAD remembers the original boundary.
| | 02:08 | I can even edit this boundary.
| | 02:10 | This means that if a Hatch pattern loses
its associativity I don't have to erase
| | 02:15 | it and start over I can simply
match the Hatch fit my revised geometry.
| | 02:19 | To modify this Hatch
boundary, I will use these grips.
| | 02:23 | Let's talk about the corner grips first.
| | 02:26 | If I hover over a corner grip,
AutoCAD will bring up a menu of Options.
| | 02:31 | If I select Stretch Vertex I can then
move this vertex wherever I like all I
| | 02:36 | have to do is click to put it down.
| | 02:38 | Let's hover over the grip again.
| | 02:40 | If I select Add Vertex, I can
add a vertex to the boundary.
| | 02:44 | Let's hover one more time I can
also select Remove to remove a vertex.
| | 02:50 | Now let's talk about these edge grips.
| | 02:52 | Edge grips are located at
the midpoint of each segment.
| | 02:56 | If I hover over an edge grip,
once again I get a menu.
| | 03:00 | Now if I select Stretch, actually I am
moving this segment, I can click to place
| | 03:05 | this wherever I like, I can select Add
Vertex and I can pull this edge out into
| | 03:10 | a new vertex and create two new edges.
| | 03:14 | Let's move over here I will hover over
this one, I will select Convert to Arc,
| | 03:18 | using this option I can pull
this straight edge out into an arc.
| | 03:22 | In case you are wondering if I hover
over the edge of an arc, I can convert
| | 03:27 | this back to a line.
| | 03:27 | When I am finished making my changes I
will hit Escape to deselect the entity.
| | 03:32 | Now that we understand the concepts
behind editing a Hatch, let's use these
| | 03:36 | tools in a practical example.
| | 03:41 | On my screen, I have a drawing of a
mechanical part and I have drawn this part
| | 03:44 | in Plane view and Section view.
| | 03:47 | As you can see the section view
geometry has been revised and the hatch no
| | 03:51 | longer matches the line work.
| | 03:53 | Let's start by correcting
the shape of this Hatch.
| | 03:56 | I am going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:58 | I will select the pattern, then I will
hover over this grip and I will select
| | 04:03 | Stretch and I would like to stretch
this to the end point of this line.
| | 04:08 | Let's do the same thing to the other side.
| | 04:10 | Lets pan this over and we will zoom in
a little more, it looks like an arc has
| | 04:16 | been added, let's correct our Hatch to
match this boundary, I will hover over
| | 04:20 | this grip and I will stretch
this to the end point here.
| | 04:24 | Then I will add a vertex, I will
place it to the end point here.
| | 04:30 | Finally, we will covert this straight
edge to an arc and I will place the arc to
| | 04:34 | the Midpoint right here.
| | 04:38 | When I am finished I will hit Esc to deselect.
| | 04:40 | Let me pan this up because I think we
have to do the same thing to the other side.
| | 04:44 | I will select my Hatch, I will stretch
the vertex to this endpoint, we will add
| | 04:54 | a vertex at this end point and finally,
I will covert the straight edge to an
| | 04:58 | arc and I will pull it out
to the Midpoint right here.
| | 05:05 | Finally, I would like to
modify the Hatch pattern itself.
| | 05:09 | Typically the Hatch in a
section view is an ANSI31 pattern.
| | 05:13 | To change this pattern I will click to
select it then I will open up my menu.
| | 05:18 | Let's push this to the top and I will
select ANSI31 that looks much better.
| | 05:22 | I will click x to close the Editor.
| | 05:26 | Now that I have one good hatch pattern, I
can modify these remaining ones fairly quickly.
| | 05:31 | All I have to do is select the hatch,
I will come over and select Match
| | 05:34 | Properties and then I will select a
Hatch that represents what I want and
| | 05:38 | AutoCAD will populate
all of the settings for me.
| | 05:41 | When I am finished I will close the editor.
| | 05:44 | Let's take care of this last one, I
will select it, I will click Match
| | 05:48 | Properties and I will select a Hatch.
| | 05:53 | As you can see AutoCAD is very
flexible when it comes to modifying Hatch.
| | 05:57 | Whether we want to adjust its
appearance or make it conform to a new shape, all
| | 06:01 | of our changes are just a couple clicks away.
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|
|
10. Organizing DrawingsUnderstanding layers| 00:00 | In this lesson we are going to
talk about the concept of Layers.
| | 00:03 | Layers are used in AutoCAD as the means
of organizing a drawing, by placing our
| | 00:07 | entities on logical layers we have the
ability to turn line work on and off, as
| | 00:12 | well as control color,
line type and line weight.
| | 00:15 | On my screen I have a mechanical
example, and I am sure you will agree this
| | 00:19 | drawing is quite busy.
| | 00:20 | Just for a second, let's imagine that I
created this drawing using a pencil and
| | 00:24 | paper, and let's say I gave a copy of
the drawing to you and you looked at it
| | 00:28 | and said, you know what this looks
great but you could you give me a copy of
| | 00:32 | this drawing without the dimensions.
| | 00:34 | Well, since I drew everything on the
paper, there is no way I can hide the
| | 00:38 | dimensions without using an
eraser or a bottle of a whiteout.
| | 00:42 | Now consider this, what if I drew the
part geometry on a piece of paper, and
| | 00:47 | then I laid a clear sheet of
plastic over the drawing and I drew the
| | 00:50 | dimensions on the plastic.
| | 00:52 | This way, if you wanted to see the
part without the dimensions, I can simply
| | 00:56 | peel back the plastic and
the dimensions are gone.
| | 00:59 | That is exactly how the layers work.
| | 01:02 | Each layer represents a sheet of plastic and
we can use layers to organize our drawings.
| | 01:06 | For instance, we can put
dimensions on their own layer.
| | 01:10 | We can put center lines on their own layer.
| | 01:13 | We can put notes or callouts on their own layer.
| | 01:16 | Having logical layers also
gives us more control when we plot.
| | 01:20 | As an example, the drawing on
screen was created using several layers.
| | 01:24 | Let's say I would like to plot this
drawing and I would like to plot it
| | 01:27 | without the dimensions.
| | 01:28 | To do that I will move up to the
Layers panel and I will click this fly-out,
| | 01:32 | this opens up my layer control.
| | 01:34 | Inside this menu I can see a listing
of all of the layers in this drawing.
| | 01:38 | I am going to come down to the
dimensions layer and then I will click this light
| | 01:41 | bulb to turn it off, and then I
will click on screen to close the menu.
| | 01:45 | As you can see my
dimensions are no longer visible.
| | 01:48 | You know what, why stop there.
| | 01:50 | let's turn off the center line layer as well.
| | 01:52 | I will click to open up the layer
control, I will click the light bulb on the
| | 01:56 | centerlines' layer and then I
will click on screen. You know what.
| | 01:59 | I am going to take it even further.
| | 02:00 | I am going to open up the
layer control one more time.
| | 02:03 | Let's turn off the layer that
contains my button geometry, and I will turn
| | 02:08 | off the layer that contains the geometry for
the trigger and then I will click on screen.
| | 02:12 | Not only can layers give us more
control over the appearance of our plots, they
| | 02:16 | also make it easier to work on our drawings.
| | 02:18 | I am sure you will agree it's much
easier to work on a drawing when it's not
| | 02:22 | cluttered with excess information.
| | 02:24 | I would like to turn those layers
back on, I am going to open up the layer
| | 02:27 | control and then I will click each
of these light bulbs to make those
| | 02:30 | layers visible on screen.
| | 02:32 | Incorporating layers gives
our drawing more flexibility.
| | 02:35 | If we use a logical system to organize
our line work, we give ourselves more
| | 02:39 | options when it comes to plotting
or viewing our geometry on screen.
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| Creating and adjusting layers| 00:00 | Once we decide we need to create some
layers, the place we want to visit is the
| | 00:04 | Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:05 | This is our one stop shop for creating
and managing the layers in our drawing.
| | 00:09 | As you can see I have just launched my
AutoCAD 2011, and I am sitting in the
| | 00:13 | default Drawing file.
| | 00:14 | I am going to open the Layer Properties
Manager by moving up to the Layers panel
| | 00:18 | and clicking this icon.
| | 00:21 | The first thing we notice is that
the Layer Properties Manager is huge.
| | 00:25 | Fortunately, this guy is a palette, so if I
were to move my cursor out, it will collapse.
| | 00:30 | Since we are going to be focusing on
the manager for a little while, I am going
| | 00:33 | to move my cursor back to open this up
and I will click the Auto-hide button to
| | 00:37 | turn that feature off.
| | 00:39 | This way the palette will stay open
until such time as I move up and click
| | 00:42 | this X to close it.
| | 00:44 | First of all, take a look
at the top of the palette.
| | 00:46 | This is where AutoCAD tells us
the name of the current layer.
| | 00:50 | Any geometry that I create will
be drawn on the Current layer.
| | 00:53 | in this case, it's layered zero (0).
| | 00:55 | Over here to there right, I can see a
listing of all of the layers in my drawing
| | 00:59 | as well as their settings, since this
is the default drawing I only have one
| | 01:03 | layer, just layer zero (0).
| | 01:05 | In fact, layer zero is kind of a
special layer, every AutoCAD drawing starts
| | 01:09 | with layer zero and you can
not rename or delete this layer.
| | 01:13 | Every AutoCAD drawing has to have a layer zero.
| | 01:15 | Let's take a look at the layer settings.
| | 01:17 | These guys are arranged in columns,
just like Microsoft Excel and sometimes the
| | 01:22 | columns are wide enough to read the headings.
| | 01:25 | To widen these up, you can click and
hold in between the columns and you can
| | 01:29 | drag these out to make
them whatever width you like.
| | 01:32 | Better yet, if you right-click on a
column heading, you can come down and select
| | 01:35 | Maximize all columns such that you
can read all of the header information.
| | 01:40 | Now this does make the columns take up
more space, so you may have to come down
| | 01:44 | here and click and hold down this
slider and drag it to the left or right such
| | 01:49 | that you can see all of your settings.
| | 01:50 | To change your layer setting,
all you have to do is click on it.
| | 01:53 | For instance, I am going
to click this first icon.
| | 01:56 | This light bulb turns the layer on and off.
| | 01:59 | If I click this, AutoCAD brings up a warning.
| | 02:01 | It says, hey, you are turning the
Current layer off, do want to do that?
| | 02:05 | In this case, yes, I do.
| | 02:06 | So I will click to accept this option,
and if I had any geometry on this layer,
| | 02:11 | that geometry would no
longer be visible on screen.
| | 02:14 | I am going to click the light bulb to
turn this layer back on, and let's take a
| | 02:18 | look at this setting.
| | 02:19 | Color, this controls the color of my layer.
| | 02:22 | If I click this Color swatch, it brings
up AutoCAD's color selector where I can
| | 02:27 | choose from any one of
255 standard color choices.
| | 02:31 | I am going to leave this set to the
default of white and I will click OK.
| | 02:36 | Let's take a look at this setting, Linetype.
| | 02:38 | This controls the appearance of my geometry.
| | 02:41 | Is it going to look like a solid
continuous line or is it going to be broken up
| | 02:46 | into various sizes to dashes?
| | 02:48 | I am going to click to make an
adjustment and AutoCAD brings up the select
| | 02:51 | Linetype dialog box, from here I can
select from any of the Linetypes that are
| | 02:57 | loaded in to the current drawing.
| | 02:59 | Right now I only have the
one lint type continuous.
| | 03:01 | I am going to come down and select Load,
and from this menu I can choose from
| | 03:06 | any of the line types that come
pre-installed with AutoCAD 2011.
| | 03:11 | As an example, I will select a Linetype
and click OK to load it into my drawing.
| | 03:16 | At this point if I wanted to, I can
select the Linetype and click OK to
| | 03:20 | assign it to a layer.
| | 03:22 | But I am going to leave layer zero (0
) set to the default if continuous, so
| | 03:25 | I will just click OK.
| | 03:28 | Finally, let's take a look at Lineweight.
| | 03:29 | I am going to click this to make it change.
| | 03:32 | this brings up the Lineweight dialog box.
| | 03:35 | From here I can select a line thickness
that I want the geometry on this layer
| | 03:39 | to have when my drawing is plotted.
| | 03:41 | Now we will talk more about Lineweights
when we get in to our chapter o plotting.
| | 03:45 | For right now I am going to leave this
set to the default, and I will click OK.
| | 03:49 | Let's create a new layer.
| | 03:50 | To do that I will click the new layer
icon then I will give my layer a name, I
| | 03:55 | am going to call this part,
and I will press Enter.
| | 03:57 | I will come down and click the Color
swatch, and I am going to make this layer
| | 04:01 | yellow, and I will click OK.
| | 04:03 | Finally, I will set this layer Current.
| | 04:06 | To do that I will ensure the layer is
selected and then I will click this green check.
| | 04:10 | Notice we can see the
current layer reflected here.
| | 04:12 | I am going to click the X to close the
manager, and as a side note, notice that
| | 04:16 | we can also see the current layer name here.
| | 04:18 | I am going to create some geometry and
notice how the circle is taking on the
| | 04:23 | appearance of the layer settings.
| | 04:25 | This circle appears yellow, because
the layer that it's sitting on is yellow.
| | 04:29 | In fact, anything that I create in this
layer will assume the properties of the layer.
| | 04:33 | Let's make a change.
| | 04:34 | I a going to click the icon to bring
back the Layer Properties Manager, and
| | 04:39 | let's say I would like to
change the name of this layer.
| | 04:41 | To do that I will click the layer to
select it, and then I will click again to
| | 04:45 | get access to the name, and may be this
layer was supposed to be called object,
| | 04:49 | I will press Enter to accept that, and
then I will click the Color swatch and
| | 04:53 | let's make this magenta and I will
click OK and then I will close the manager.
| | 04:58 | Notice how my geometry had
taken on the new layer settings.
| | 05:01 | I am going to create another new layer.
| | 05:03 | I will click the New layer icon.
| | 05:06 | And I would like to create
a layer for my hidden lines.
| | 05:10 | So I will call this layer
hidden lines and I will press Enter.
| | 05:14 | Now unfortunately the layer name is
being truncated, because the column width
| | 05:17 | isn't wide enough, so I am going to
click in between these columns and I will
| | 05:21 | drag this over a little bit and then
I will change the color of this layer.
| | 05:25 | I will make it Cyan and I will click OK.
| | 05:27 | Then I will come down and click on the
Linetype setting, I will select Load.
| | 05:32 | As long as I am here, notice that
several of the Linetypes at the top of those
| | 05:36 | list start with ACAD_ISO.
| | 05:39 | If you are working with imperial
measurements, stay away from these Linetypes,
| | 05:43 | because these guys are
pre-scaled for metric use.
| | 05:46 | I am going to come down to the hidden
lines area, notice I have three choices.
| | 05:51 | The difference between these
guys is the size of the dashes.
| | 05:54 | I will select the standard hidden
line (HIDDEN) type, and click OK.
| | 05:58 | This loads it in to the current drawing.
| | 06:00 | I will then select it and
click OK to assign it to my layer.
| | 06:04 | Finally, I will set this layer
Current by clicking the green check, I will
| | 06:08 | close the manager and I will create some more
geometry, this time I will create a rectangle.
| | 06:14 | Once again, since my rectangle was
created on the hidden lines layer, it's
| | 06:17 | taking on those properties.
| | 06:19 | Let's set layer at zero (0) Current,
here is a shortcut, a really quick way we
| | 06:23 | can set a layer current is by
simply double clicking on the layer name.
| | 06:26 | I will close the manager and now everything
that I create is being drawn on layer zero (0).
| | 06:32 | I would like to do one more thing, I am
going to launch the Erase command and I
| | 06:39 | will select this geometry and right-click.
| | 06:41 | Essentially, I have just erased
everything on the object layer.
| | 06:45 | Let's bring back the manager and take a
look at the icons in the Status column.
| | 06:50 | Notice the icon next to the object
layer is grayed out, that tells me that
| | 06:54 | there is nothing on this layer, and
at this point I could ask myself if I
| | 06:58 | really need this layer.
| | 06:59 | If not, I can select this and
click this red x to delete it.
| | 07:04 | Whenever you are adding geometry to
your drawing, ask yourself, does this
| | 07:08 | geometry need to be a
particular Linetype or Lineweight?
| | 07:11 | Is this something I may want to
turn off when I print my drawing?
| | 07:14 | If your answer is yes, you will want
to visit the Layer Properties Manager
| | 07:17 | and create a new layer.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using layers to organize a drawing| 00:01 | In this lesson, we are going to
create a simple drawing and we will use the
| | 00:03 | Layer Properties Manager to
organize our geometry on to logical layers.
| | 00:08 | On my screen I have got a mechanical example.
| | 00:11 | This is a drawing of a restrictor
plate and this drawing was created
| | 00:14 | using several layers.
| | 00:15 | What I would like to do is start a brand-new
file and recreate this drawing and
| | 00:21 | in doing so, I am going to use the Layer
Properties Manager to sort the geometry
| | 00:25 | on to logical layers.
| | 00:26 | Let me make one correction.
| | 00:28 | I am going to recreate
everything except for the dimensions.
| | 00:32 | I am only concerned with
the geometry in this lesson.
| | 00:35 | To create a new drawing, I am going
to move up and click the New icon.
| | 00:38 | Then I will start my drawing using the
default acad template, and I will select Open.
| | 00:45 | At this point I have two
drawings open in my interface.
| | 00:48 | I would like to view them side by side.
| | 00:51 | So I am going to select
the View tab on the Ribbon.
| | 00:53 | Then I will come down to the Windows
Panel and I will click Tile Vertically.
| | 00:58 | Now I just happened to be lucky enough
that I have a really nice view over here.
| | 01:02 | If you don't, click inside this window
to put the focus on this side and then
| | 01:07 | you can pan and zoom to
center your geometry on screen.
| | 01:11 | Since mine looks good, I am going to
click to put the focus on my blank drawing.
| | 01:15 | Then I will select the Home
tab and we will get started.
| | 01:19 | The first thing I would like
to do is create some layers.
| | 01:22 | To do that, I will click the icon to
bring up the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 01:26 | I will grab the Title bar here and
I will slide this over a little bit.
| | 01:29 | I will click the New Layer icon and I
am going to create a layer called part,
| | 01:36 | and I will set the color
of this layer to yellow.
| | 01:38 | Then I will create another New Layer.
| | 01:42 | Notice that if you create a layer when
there is a layer selected, AutoCAD will
| | 01:46 | duplicate the settings of that selected layer.
| | 01:48 | I am going to use this
layer for the hidden lines.
| | 01:52 | I will set its color to magenta.
| | 01:58 | Then I will click the Linetype setting.
| | 01:59 | I will select Load and then I will
select the standard Hidden Linetype from
| | 02:05 | the menu.
| | 02:07 | I will click OK to load this into the drawing.
| | 02:11 | Then I will select it and
click OK to assign it to the layer.
| | 02:14 | I would like to create one more
New Layer for my center lines.
| | 02:20 | Let's set the color of this layer to green.
| | 02:24 | Then I will click the Linetype setting,
I will select Load, and I will select
| | 02:31 | the Center Linetype. Then I will OK.
| | 02:35 | I will then select this to assign
it to my layer and I will click OK.
| | 02:39 | The layers that I have
created should match our example.
| | 02:42 | I would like to do one more thing.
| | 02:45 | I would like to set the part layer current.
| | 02:47 | I will do that by selecting it
and clicking the green check.
| | 02:50 | Rather than closing this manager, since
I am going to be using it frequently, I
| | 02:55 | am going to right-click on the Title bar.
| | 02:58 | I will make sure that Allow Docking is
selected and I will click Anchor Left.
| | 03:03 | This will minimize the
palette down to a single icon.
| | 03:07 | Now when I need it, all I
have to do is hover over it.
| | 03:09 | I can access my settings and then I
can move out and allow it to collapse.
| | 03:14 | I am going to start by drawing
the outer boundary of this part.
| | 03:18 | I will do that by using a rectangle.
| | 03:20 | So I will launch the Rectangle command.
| | 03:22 | I will pick a point on screen right here.
| | 03:25 | Then I will right-click and select
Dimensions, and this rectangle is 10X10 which
| | 03:31 | is perfect, because the default is 10X10.
| | 03:33 | I will just hit Enter to accept those values.
| | 03:36 | Then I will click on
screen to finish the rectangle.
| | 03:39 | I will zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:42 | We will center this on screen.
| | 03:44 | Now let's take care of the four holes.
| | 03:47 | Before I create these notice that the
center of each hole measures one unit away
| | 03:52 | from the adjacent edges.
| | 03:55 | So I am going to use this
rectangle to my advantage.
| | 03:57 | I am going to launch the Offset command.
| | 04:00 | I will set my Distance to 1 and I
will hit Enter, and I will offset my
| | 04:04 | rectangle to the inside.
| | 04:07 | The four corners of this shape
represent the centers of those circles.
| | 04:12 | Let's launch the Circle command.
| | 04:14 | I will create my circle
from the endpoint of this line.
| | 04:18 | This circle has a diameter.
| | 04:19 | Let me right-click and select
diameter of 1, and I will hit Enter.
| | 04:24 | Next, I will launch my Copy command and
I will select my circle and right-click
| | 04:29 | and I will copy this
circle to the remaining corners.
| | 04:34 | Now I don't need the sketch geometry
anymore, so I will launch the Erase command.
| | 04:38 | I will select the line work
and then I will right-click.
| | 04:42 | Next let's take care of these rounded corners.
| | 04:44 | I can see these have a Radius of 1.
| | 04:47 | Once again, I am going to use
the Polyline to my advantage.
| | 04:50 | I will launch the Fillet
command and I will right-click.
| | 04:53 | I will select Radius.
| | 04:56 | These have a Radius of one 1.
| | 04:58 | I will then right-click and select
Polyline, and when I select my Polyline
| | 05:03 | AutoCAD applies the
radius to all of the corners.
| | 05:06 | Now let's find the location of
these centers of these two circles.
| | 05:10 | To do that I will offset this
bottom edge up 2.9 and 5 units.
| | 05:16 | Now I am going to have to explode this shape.
| | 05:18 | I will launch the Explode command, I
will select the geometry and right-click.
| | 05:23 | Then I will launch my Offset command.
| | 05:26 | My first distance will be 2.9.
| | 05:29 | I will offset this bottom edge up.
| | 05:30 | Then I will launch the Offset command again.
| | 05:34 | My next distance is 5 units.
| | 05:37 | I will offset the bottom edge up and
then I will offset this left edge over
| | 05:41 | and I will hit Escape.
| | 05:42 | Alright, since my part layer is current
and I have one more object left to draw
| | 05:47 | on that layer, we will take
care of this circle first.
| | 05:50 | I will launch the Circle command
and I will create my circle from the
| | 05:56 | intersection of these two lines.
| | 05:58 | This circle has a diameter of 2.8.
| | 06:03 | Now we will set the Hidden lines layer current.
| | 06:06 | To do that I will hover over the palette
and I will double-click on the layer name.
| | 06:09 | Then I will move out and I will press the
Spacebar to relaunch the Circle command.
| | 06:15 | I will create this circle from the
intersection right here and this circle has a
| | 06:21 | diameter of 7 units.
| | 06:25 | Now let's take care of the center lines.
| | 06:27 | First, we will have to set that layer current.
| | 06:29 | I will go back to the palette.
| | 06:31 | I will double-click on the layer name and
I will move out and allow it to collapse.
| | 06:37 | To create my center lines I am going
to launch the Line command and I will
| | 06:41 | create a Line from the quadrants
here to the quadrants at the top.
| | 06:50 | And I will hit Escape.
| | 06:51 | Then I will go back into the Line
command and I will create another line from
| | 06:56 | the quadrant here to the
quadrant here, and I will hit Escape.
| | 07:03 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 07:04 | Notice that the line work is too short to
support the Linetype right now. That's okay.
| | 07:10 | I will fix this by using the Scale command.
| | 07:12 | I will launch Scale and then I will
select these objects and right-click and I
| | 07:18 | will scale them from the center of the
circle and I will zoom out a little bit.
| | 07:22 | We will pull these out until they are
approximately the same size as we see in our example.
| | 07:31 | Now I will launch the Copy command,
and I will select my center lines and
| | 07:35 | right-click and I will copy these from
the center of this circle to the center
| | 07:39 | of the remaining circles,
and I will press Escape.
| | 07:43 | Now wouldn't it be nice since I
already have the line work here that I could
| | 07:47 | just take and move these
lines onto another layer.
| | 07:50 | Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 07:52 | I am going to select this line work.
| | 07:54 | Then I will go to my Property Changer
and right here beneath the General heading
| | 08:00 | I have a Layer Control.
| | 08:02 | If I click in this field I can select
the fly-out and I can select the layer
| | 08:05 | that I would like to put this geometry on.
| | 08:08 | I will select center lines and then I
will hit Escape to deselect these entities.
| | 08:12 | Finally, I will make the center
lines look more like the example.
| | 08:15 | I will start by using the Scale command
and I will select these two and right-click.
| | 08:23 | I would like to scale them
from the center of this circle.
| | 08:25 | Let me pull this out until they are about the
size as we see in the example, and I will click.
| | 08:31 | Finally, I will take care of this
last one by creating a new circle.
| | 08:34 | I will create a circle
at the center of this one.
| | 08:38 | Then I will pull this circle out so
that the radius represents the line and
| | 08:42 | length that we see in our example.
| | 08:44 | I will use the Trim command.
| | 08:46 | I will select my circle and
right-click and I will trim off these ends.
| | 08:51 | Then I will right-click and select eRase.
| | 08:55 | I select my entity and I will right-click.
| | 08:57 | When I am finished I will hit my Escape key.
| | 09:01 | If we use the Layer Properties Manager
to organize our geometry on to layers, we
| | 09:05 | open up a whole new world of color and
Linetype possibilities for our designs.
| | 09:10 | And if we anchor the manager to our
interface we give ourselves instant access
| | 09:15 | to our Layer Management Tools.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Changing popular settings using the layer control| 00:00 | Now that we have seen the full blown
Layer Properties Manager, you maybe
| | 00:03 | wondering if there is a faster way to
adjust your layer settings. In fact, there is.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to use the Layer Control.
| | 00:11 | The layer control is located
right here in the Layers Panel.
| | 00:15 | First things first.
| | 00:16 | notice that the Layer Control
gives us the name of the current layer.
| | 00:20 | Right now that's layer part.
| | 00:21 | So anything I create at this
point will be drawn on layer part.
| | 00:26 | If I click the flyout I can see a
listing of all of the layers in my drawing
| | 00:30 | and if I would like to set a different
layer current, I can select the layer
| | 00:34 | name from this menu.
| | 00:35 | As you can see, layer 0
is now the current layer.
| | 00:39 | I am going to open the Layer Control
again and I would like to talk about these
| | 00:43 | icons to the left of the layer names.
| | 00:45 | These are the same icons that we see in
the Layers Properties Manager and they
| | 00:49 | reflect the current settings of each layer.
| | 00:52 | Let's say I would like to make a change.
| | 00:54 | Maybe I would like to change the
color of the center lines layer.
| | 00:57 | To do that I will click this color
swatch and I am going to select red for my
| | 01:02 | layer color and I will click OK.
| | 01:04 | Notice how my geometry
changes instantly on screen.
| | 01:08 | Maybe I would like to make another change.
| | 01:10 | Maybe I would like to turn
my center lines layer off.
| | 01:13 | To do that I will open the Layer
Control and then I will come down to the end
| | 01:16 | and I will click this light bulb.
| | 01:18 | That turns off the layer and then I
will click on the screen to close the menu.
| | 01:23 | Now I would like to keep that layer on.
| | 01:25 | So I am going to open this up again.
| | 01:27 | I will click this light bulb one more time and
then I will click on screen to close the menu.
| | 01:32 | It's important to note that the
layer control is not a replacement for
| | 01:35 | Layer Properties Manager.
| | 01:36 | The purpose of the layer control is to
give us quick access to several of the
| | 01:41 | popular layer settings.
| | 01:43 | If you wanted to create layers or
rename layers or delete layers or assign
| | 01:48 | line types and line weights, you will
still have to do that through the Layers
| | 01:51 | Properties Manager.
| | 01:53 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
would be considered a mechanical example,
| | 01:56 | and I am almost finished with this part.
| | 01:58 | In fact, all I have to do is
add one more hole right over here.
| | 02:02 | To do that I will launch my Circle
command and I am going to create my circle
| | 02:05 | from the center of this arc.
| | 02:08 | Now AutoCAD has given a hard time with that.
| | 02:10 | So I am going to Shift+Right-Click,
and I will select Center from the menu.
| | 02:14 | This forces a center object snap.
| | 02:18 | This circle has a Radius of 0.25.
| | 02:21 | Now here is my problem.
| | 02:22 | When I drew that circle layer 0 was current.
| | 02:25 | So this circle is sitting on the wrong layer.
| | 02:27 | The nice thing is I don't have to
erase the circle and start over.
| | 02:31 | Instead, I will move this circle to the
correct layer using the layer control.
| | 02:35 | I can do that my selecting the circle.
| | 02:37 | I will open the Layer Control and I will
select the appropriate layer from the menu.
| | 02:41 | When I am finished I will press Escape.
| | 02:43 | Now that my circle has been corrected,
I am going to copy my center lines down.
| | 02:48 | I will launch the Copy command.
| | 02:50 | I will select these center lines and
right-click and I will copy them from the
| | 02:54 | center of this circle to the center of this one.
| | 02:58 | You know, as I look at this drawing I
can see that I have a dimension that's
| | 03:01 | also on the wrong layer. Watch this.
| | 03:03 | If we look at the Layer Control
we can see the current layer is 0.
| | 03:07 | If I select this dimension AutoCAD will
tell me the name of the layer that, that
| | 03:11 | object is sitting on.
| | 03:12 | Sometimes that information can be handy.
| | 03:14 | I am going to open up the Layer
Control and I will place this object on
| | 03:17 | the dimensions layer.
| | 03:19 | When I am finished I will press Escape.
| | 03:20 | Using the Layer Control is the
fastest way to change your layer settings.
| | 03:24 | It's also the perfect tool for setting
a current layer or moving an entity from
| | 03:28 | one layer to another.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding the BYLAYER property| 00:01 | As we have seen when we place geometry
on a layer, it looks like that layer.
| | 00:05 | For instance, if I draw a circle on a
green layer, the circle appears green.
| | 00:09 | if I draw a rectangle on a layer that
has a hidden line type, the rectangle will
| | 00:14 | have a hidden line type.
| | 00:15 | This is because my geometry has
a ByLayer property applied to it.
| | 00:20 | ByLayer means the layer
settings dictate how our objects look.
| | 00:24 | Now, I have got a drawing open on my
screen, and this drawing contains no
| | 00:28 | geometry, but it does have a few layers.
| | 00:31 | To view the layers, I am going to
use the Layer Properties Manger.
| | 00:35 | Mine is currently anchored to the interface.
| | 00:38 | If yours is not visible on screen, you
can always click this icon to turn on the
| | 00:42 | Layer Properties Manager.
| | 00:43 | I am going to hover to open this up.
| | 00:47 | As you can see, I have
four layers in this drawing.
| | 00:50 | Each of these layers is a different
color and some of these layers have a
| | 00:54 | different line type.
| | 00:55 | I am going to move off the palette and
allow it to collapse, and if we look at
| | 00:59 | the Layer control, we can see
the current layer is layer part.
| | 01:03 | Let's start by creating a circle.
| | 01:06 | I'll launch the Circle command, and
I'll pick my center point right in the
| | 01:09 | middle of the screen, and then I'll
free pick a point to define my radius.
| | 01:14 | Notice how my circle is taking on
the appearance of the part layer.
| | 01:17 | Alright, let's select this, then I'll
open up the Layer control and I'll put the
| | 01:23 | circle on the center
lines' layer, and I'll hit Esc.
| | 01:27 | Now, the circle is taking on the
property of layer center lines.
| | 01:31 | Once again, this is because my circle
has a ByLayer property, and ByLayer means
| | 01:35 | that the layer is
dictating how this circle looks.
| | 01:39 | Now, it's important to note that we
can also force properties on our objects.
| | 01:43 | Over here in the Ribbon is a Properties panel.
| | 01:46 | Take a look at these three settings on the end:
| | 01:49 | this one controls color.
| | 01:51 | this one controls line weight.
| | 01:52 | and this one controls line type.
| | 01:54 | Notice that each of
these guys is set to ByLayer.
| | 01:57 | I am going to click the Color property,
and then I will select Cyan from the menu.
| | 02:05 | This means that everything that I
create from this point on will be forced to
| | 02:08 | have a color of cyan regardless
of the layer that it's sitting on.
| | 02:11 | I am going to create another circle.
| | 02:14 | Let's launch the Circle command again.
| | 02:16 | I'll create my circle from the center of
this circle, and once again, I am going
| | 02:20 | to free pick a point.
| | 02:22 | Notice that even though this circle
was created on the part layer, this
| | 02:25 | circle appears cyan.
| | 02:27 | Honestly, this is a terrible way to work.
| | 02:30 | If you force properties on your objects,
you are greatly reducing your ability
| | 02:33 | to change those objects later.
| | 02:36 | Just for a second, imagine if I created
700 copies of this circle on my drawing,
| | 02:41 | and then later I needed to change their color.
| | 02:44 | Well, if they had a ByLayer proper, I
could change the color of all of the
| | 02:48 | circles by changing the color of the layer.
| | 02:50 | If the color is forced on them, I am
going to have to manually select the
| | 02:54 | circles to change their color property.
| | 02:57 | Let's change the color of
this circle back to ByLayer.
| | 03:00 | To do that I'll select it, then I'll
come up to the Color property and I'll open
| | 03:04 | up the menu, and I'll select ByLayer.
| | 03:06 | When I am finished, I'll
press Esc. One more thing.
| | 03:10 | notice my current color is still set to cyan.
| | 03:13 | So, I am going to open up this menu one
more time, I'll set this to ByLayer, and
| | 03:18 | now every new object that I create
will have a ByLayer color property.
| | 03:23 | The best advice I can give about the
ByLayer property is don't touch it.
| | 03:27 | You should never force
properties on your objects.
| | 03:29 | If all of your entities are set to
ByLayer making color, line type or line
| | 03:33 | weight changes are as simple
as changing your layer settings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Restoring previous layer states| 00:00 | Sometimes changing layer settings can
make it easier to work on a drawing.
| | 00:04 | If you are working with a busy drawing,
it might be a good idea to turn off
| | 00:08 | layers that arent necessary for your work.
| | 00:10 | or maybe you could take the layers
that you are working on, and make them
| | 00:14 | a single color like white, such that the
objects are easily identifiable on screen.
| | 00:18 | Well, the nice thing is if we
adjust our layer settings to simplify our
| | 00:23 | drawing, we can always Layer Previous command to
return our layers back to the original settings.
| | 00:29 | Let's take a look.
| | 00:30 | On my screen, I have got
an architectural example.
| | 00:33 | Let's say, I would like to make
some changes to this floor plan.
| | 00:37 | I am going to start by coming
over to the Layer Properties Manger.
| | 00:40 | Now, mine happens to be
anchored to the interface.
| | 00:42 | if yours is not, you can always press
this icon to bring the Layer Properties
| | 00:46 | Manger up on screen.
| | 00:47 | I am going to hover to open this up
and I am going to start by selecting the
| | 00:53 | layers that I want to work with.
| | 00:54 | I am going to click to select interior
walls and then I will hold
| | 00:59 | my Ctrl key and I'll select interior walls
dashed and I'll select doors.
| | 01:05 | By holding down the Ctrl key, we
can select more than one layer.
| | 01:09 | Now, these layers are all different
colors, I am going to move down and click
| | 01:12 | the Color swatch and I am going to
change this color to white, and I'll click
| | 01:17 | OK, and AutoCAD applies that
color to all of the selected layers.
| | 01:21 | I am going to go back to the Layer control.
| | 01:24 | Notice these layers are still selected.
| | 01:26 | I am going to right-click over a
selected layer and then I'll come down and
| | 01:30 | select Invert Selection.
| | 01:33 | This selects all of the other layers.
| | 01:36 | Now, I can click one of these light bulbs
and that will turn all of the other layers off.
| | 01:41 | As you can see, this greatly simplifies
my drawing and makes it much easier to
| | 01:45 | focus on the floor plan.
| | 01:46 | In fact, take a look at this.
| | 01:49 | I am going to zoom in over here.
| | 01:51 | By isolating this geometry, I have
exposed an error in my line work.
| | 01:55 | That's alright, let's fix this.
| | 01:57 | I am going to launch the Erase
command and I'll erase this line.
| | 02:00 | Then I'll click to select this line, I'll grab
the grip, and I'll pull it up to this endpoint.
| | 02:07 | When I am finished, I'll press Esc.
| | 02:09 | Now, I would like to make a
design change to this floor plan.
| | 02:14 | I'd like to make some
modifications to my foyer area.
| | 02:18 | Let's zoom in a little bit.
| | 02:19 | I would like to move this wall back 2 feet.
| | 02:23 | That will make my foyer a little bit smaller,
but it will make my porch a little bit larger.
| | 02:28 | To make the change, I am going to lunch
the Stretch command, and then I'll make
| | 02:32 | a crossing window around this
geometry and I'll right-click.
| | 02:36 | I'll pick my geometry up from the
endpoint here and my Ortho was locked.
| | 02:41 | Now, as I pull this up, I am being
mindful of my running object snaps.
| | 02:45 | Notice where my cursor is, my
cursor is not sitting on the line.
| | 02:49 | I'll pull this back and I'll type 2 feet, Enter.
| | 02:52 | Finally, I am going to double-click my mouse
wheel to get a zoom extense of my geometry.
| | 02:57 | Alright, now that I am finished with
my changes, let's put the layer settings
| | 03:01 | back the way they were.
| | 03:02 | Remember that to get to
this point I made two changes.
| | 03:05 | I turned a group of layers off and
then I changed the color of some layers.
| | 03:10 | I am going to move up to the Layers
panel and click the Layer Previous button.
| | 03:14 | Layer Previous allows me to
back up through my layer changes.
| | 03:18 | It's kind of like an undo
for your layer settings.
| | 03:21 | The first time I clicked the icon,
AutoCAD restores the layers I turned off.
| | 03:25 | I am going to click the icon again, and
AutoCAD will restore the layer colors.
| | 03:31 | Don't be afraid of changing layer settings if
it makes it easier to work on your drawings.
| | 03:35 | Even if you make several adjustments,
you can always restore the layers to their
| | 03:39 | original state by using
the Layer Previous command.
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| Using existing geometry to set the current layer| 00:00 | In this lesson, we are going to learn
the fastest way to set a layer current.
| | 00:04 | We are going to look at the Set
Objects Layer Current command.
| | 00:07 | This tool allows us to choose a current
layer by selecting geometry in our drawing.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have got a mechanical
part that I have been working on and this
| | 00:16 | part also includes a section view.
| | 00:19 | I'd like to start by creating a
circle that represents the hole that passes
| | 00:23 | through this object, and if I look at
the Layer control, I can see the current
| | 00:28 | layer is dimensions, and I know I
don't want to draw my circle on that layer.
| | 00:32 | Instead of opening up the Layer
control and trying to search for the layer I
| | 00:36 | want to use, I am going to move up to
the Layers panel and I click this icon.
| | 00:40 | This is the Make Object's Layer Current command.
| | 00:43 | Once I launch the tool, I'll select an
entity in my drawing and AutoCAD will use
| | 00:48 | that entity to set the current layer.
| | 00:50 | As you can see, I am going to be
drafting on the mech-part layer.
| | 00:54 | I'll launch the Circle command and I'll
create my circle from the center of this
| | 00:58 | one, and I can see right over here
this circle must have a diameter of 1.
| | 01:03 | So, I'll right-click, select
Diameter, and I'll give this a value of 1.
| | 01:08 | I'd like to do one more thing.
| | 01:10 | Since this hole passes all the way
through the part, I'd like to add a center line.
| | 01:14 | To make that layer current, I'll click
the Make Object's Layer Current tool and
| | 01:20 | I'll select one of my center lines.
| | 01:22 | As you can see, if I use this tool,
I can set layers current without even
| | 01:25 | knowing the layer's name.
| | 01:27 | Let's launch the Line command, and I am
going to drawn this from the midpoint of
| | 01:32 | this line, and I'll drawn it to the
midpoint of this line, and I'll press Esc.
| | 01:39 | Now, I'd like to extend this line a
little bit longer in each direction.
| | 01:42 | I'll do that by using the Scale command.
| | 01:45 | I'll launch Scale, and I'll select my
line and right-click, and I'd like to
| | 01:49 | scale this from the midpoint of the
line segment, and I'll drag this out a
| | 01:54 | little bit and I'll free pick a point on screen.
| | 01:57 | As you can see, using the Set Object's
Layer Current tool takes the guess work
| | 02:01 | out of choosing the current layer, and
as your drawings increase in size, you'll
| | 02:05 | appreciate how fast this tool
allows you to work in your files.
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|
|
11. Adding General AnnotationsCreating single-line text| 00:00 | No matter what you are drafting, at some
point you are going to need to add some text.
| | 00:04 | Fortunately, AutoCAD has several
annotation tools to help you get the job done.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we're going
to look at single line text.
| | 00:11 | On my screen, I have a mechanical example.
| | 00:13 | This drawing contains a standard top view,
front view, right-side view and an isometric view.
| | 00:20 | Now I would like to create some
simple labels for these views.
| | 00:23 | In AutoCAD, we can create two types of text.
| | 00:26 | Single Line and Multi-line Text.
| | 00:28 | Since my labels are only going to be
a couple of words, I am going to use
| | 00:31 | the Single Line method.
| | 00:33 | First of all, take a look at my Layer control.
| | 00:35 | Notice, I have created a layer for my
text and I have set that Layer current.
| | 00:39 | Next, I am going to move up to the
Annotation panel, and I'll click this fly-out
| | 00:44 | and I will select Single Line from the menu.
| | 00:46 | Now I can choose the location
where I would like to place my label.
| | 00:49 | I am going to click right here and
now AutoCAD is asking me for height.
| | 00:53 | The text height is very important,
because you want to make sure that your text
| | 00:57 | is readable when the drawing is plotted.
| | 00:59 | We'll talk about setting appropriate
text heights a little bit later after we
| | 01:02 | have talked about plotting.
| | 01:04 | For right now, I am going to use a text
height of 0.55, and I will press Enter.
| | 01:09 | Finally, AutoCAD wants a rotation angle.
| | 01:11 | How do I want this text to read?
| | 01:13 | Well, I could free pick a rotation
angle on screen or I can enter a value.
| | 01:19 | In this case, I am going to press my
Enter key to accept the default value of 0.
| | 01:24 | This will ensure that my text
will read horizontally on screen.
| | 01:27 | I will then enter my text.
| | 01:29 | I will type TOP VIEW, I will press
Enter and then I'll press Enter again
| | 01:33 | to finish the command. Alright!
| | 01:35 | Let's label the front view.
| | 01:36 | I am going to move back to the Ribbon,
and since Single Line Text was our last
| | 01:41 | choice, that becomes the
default icon right here.
| | 01:44 | I'll click to re-launch the command and then
I'll pick a point on screen to place my label.
| | 01:49 | I will then hit Enter to accept the
default height and rotation angle, and I'll
| | 01:53 | type FRONT VIEW, Enter, Enter. Let's try this.
| | 01:57 | I'll press the Spacebar
to re-launch the command.
| | 02:00 | Let's label this view, make a point
on screen, I'll press Enter through the
| | 02:04 | defaults and we'll call this
the RIGHT SIDE VIEW, Enter, Enter.
| | 02:09 | And I'd like to create one
more label for the isometric view.
| | 02:12 | Let's do that, and this time
we'll use a rotation angle.
| | 02:15 | I am going to re-launch the command
and I'd like to start my text at the end
| | 02:20 | point of this line, and let's
make our text a little bit smaller.
| | 02:23 | I am going to type 0.45 for my
text type and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:28 | Now, my rotation angle.
| | 02:29 | rather than having this text read
horizontally on screen, I am going to define
| | 02:33 | the rotation angle by
selecting the end point of this line.
| | 02:37 | Then, I'll type ISOMETRIC
VIEW and I'll press Enter twice.
| | 02:41 | Now, this text is a
little bit close to the line.
| | 02:43 | It's important to note that text is
just like any other object in AutoCAD.
| | 02:47 | We can treat it just like standard geometry.
| | 02:50 | So I am going to launch the move
command, then I'll select my text, and
| | 02:53 | right-click, and I would like to pick
this up from the end point of this line,
| | 02:57 | and I will move it a little bit farther away.
| | 03:00 | Single Line Text is the perfect
choice for view labels, area labels, street
| | 03:04 | names, title block information or any
other annotation that doesn't require
| | 03:08 | Paragraph Style formatting.
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| Justifying text| 00:00 | With most software, your choices for
text justification are limited to left,
| | 00:04 | center or right justified.
| | 00:06 | AutoCAD however gives us complete
control over our justification allowing us to
| | 00:10 | position and justify our text at
nearly any conceivable location.
| | 00:14 | Now, I am currently working in a title
block drawing, and we'll be using this
| | 00:17 | title block later when we get
into our chapter on plotting.
| | 00:20 | If you look right over here, you can see I
have made a copy of a portion of the title block.
| | 00:24 | I am going to zoom-in a little bit,
and we'll center this on screen.
| | 00:28 | What I would like to do is use this
copy on the right side to show you how I
| | 00:32 | position the text objects in this title block.
| | 00:35 | Now before we get started creating text,
I would like to take a second and talk
| | 00:38 | a little bit about justification.
| | 00:39 | On my screen I have some text.
| | 00:42 | Now, just for a second, let's make the
assumption that this text is sitting on a baseline.
| | 00:46 | Most programs give us some
basic text justification options.
| | 00:50 | For instance, we have Left justified.
| | 00:52 | So all of my text will be created
and aligned to that left most point.
| | 00:56 | We also have Center as well
as Right justified options.
| | 00:59 | So these are the big three.
| | 01:01 | Now, AutoCAD gives us a lot more
choices for text justification.
| | 01:05 | Notice, I have a couple more baselines.
| | 01:07 | I have Top, Middle, and Bottom,
and each baseline contains three
| | 01:11 | justification points.
| | 01:13 | Left, Center, and Right.
| | 01:14 | So we have an insane amount of control when
it comes to positioning our text in a drawing.
| | 01:19 | Let's return to AutoCAD.
| | 01:21 | If you look at my geometry on the
right, you can see that I have created
| | 01:24 | these purple lines.
| | 01:25 | These are offsets that I created to
define the margins that I would like to use
| | 01:29 | inside my title block.
| | 01:31 | Let's start out by
creating these three text objects.
| | 01:34 | These identify the initials of the
people who have worked on this drawing.
| | 01:37 | Now, I would like to create Single
Line Text objects, so I will click this
| | 01:40 | fly-out, I will select Single Line,
then I'll zoom-in a little bit, and I would
| | 01:46 | like to place my text at the
intersection of my offsets.
| | 01:50 | I will give my text a height of 0.05 and
I'll hit Enter, and then I'll hit Enter
| | 01:56 | to accept the default value of 0 and
I'll type my text, and I will hit Enter
| | 02:00 | twice to finish the command.
| | 02:02 | I am going to zoom-in a little bit
further, because I want to mention that all
| | 02:05 | text that we create in AutoCAD
by default is Left justified.
| | 02:09 | You can see that this text is justified
to the intersection of these two offsets.
| | 02:13 | It's also important to note that we
can use the justification point to move
| | 02:16 | or copy a text object.
| | 02:18 | For instance, I'll launch the Copy command.
| | 02:21 | I will select my text and right-click.
| | 02:23 | Now, where do I want to pick this text up from?
| | 02:25 | Let's take a look at another object snap.
| | 02:27 | I am going to Shift+Right-click and
then I will come down and select Insert.
| | 02:32 | This stands for insertion point,
and this object snap will select the
| | 02:35 | justification point of your text.
| | 02:37 | If I hover over this, we can see
where AutoCAD is going to pick it up from.
| | 02:40 | Let me click to select, and my Ortho is locked.
| | 02:43 | I am going to press F8 to turn that off.
| | 02:45 | Notice I am holding my text from that
justification point, and I would like to
| | 02:49 | place a copy at the
intersection of these offsets.
| | 02:53 | Let's pan this up, and I will
place one, the intersection right here.
| | 02:58 | Let's zoom-out a little bit, and I'd
like to create this text object next.
| | 03:02 | I will launch Single Line Text and in this
case, Left justify text isn't going to help me.
| | 03:07 | Take a look at the command line.
| | 03:09 | Notice I have a Justify option.
| | 03:11 | I am going to right-click and select
Justify from the menu, and this is why I
| | 03:16 | showed you the slides. Look at these.
| | 03:18 | TL, TR, MC what do these stand for.
| | 03:21 | Top-Left, Top-Right, Middle-Center.
| | 03:25 | Basically, these are all of
our text justification points.
| | 03:28 | I'd like this text to be Right
justified and then I will select the
| | 03:32 | intersection of my offsets.
| | 03:34 | I will hit Enter to accept the
default height, and angle, I will type DSGN:
| | 03:40 | and I will hit Enter twice.
| | 03:41 | This text stands for designed by.
| | 03:43 | Let's create one more.
| | 03:45 | We'll add this DATE label.
| | 03:46 | I will launch my Single Line Text.
| | 03:48 | I am going to right-click and select
Justify, and I would like to justify this
| | 03:53 | text to the top-left.
| | 03:56 | So I will select TL.
| | 03:57 | I will place my text to the
intersection of my offsets, I will hit Enter to
| | 04:01 | accept the height and angle. I will type DATE:
| | 04:05 | and I will press Enter
twice to finish the command.
| | 04:08 | Generally speaking, I use the same
workflow to create all of the text that we
| | 04:12 | see in this title block.
| | 04:13 | Before I go, I'd like to
give you one more example.
| | 04:16 | Frequently in our CAD drawings,
we'll see text labels where the text is
| | 04:19 | placed in a circle.
| | 04:20 | Now, I have a circle in this drawing.
| | 04:22 | I am going to zoom-out a little bit.
| | 04:24 | We'll pan this down.
| | 04:25 | Then, I will open up the Layer Control.
| | 04:27 | we'll turn on Layer Circle.
| | 04:29 | Let's create some text that's properly
justified to the center of this circle.
| | 04:33 | I will launch the Single Line Text
command, I will right-click and select
| | 04:36 | Justify from the menu, and this
time I am going to use the Middle
| | 04:40 | justification point.
| | 04:41 | This ensures that my text will always
be justified to the middle point of the
| | 04:45 | text object, both horizontally and vertically.
| | 04:48 | I will place my text to the center of
this circle, and let's make the text
| | 04:51 | a little bit taller.
| | 04:52 | I am going to use a height of 0.075
and I will hit Enter, and then I'll
| | 04:57 | accept the rotation angle.
| | 04:59 | Let's zoom-in a little bit and notice
that whatever I type, it will always be
| | 05:02 | perfectly centered within the shape.
| | 05:05 | AutoCAD certainly gives us a lot of
choices when it comes to justifying our text.
| | 05:09 | Using these justification options
along with the Insert object snap, we can
| | 05:13 | insert or position any text
object with complete control.
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| Controlling appearance using text styles| 00:00 | When we want to control the
appearance of the text, normally, we think
| | 00:03 | about changing our font.
| | 00:04 | While AutoCAD would certainly allow us
to change fonts, we can actually go one
| | 00:08 | step further and create a Text Style.
| | 00:10 | A Text Style is a name that's
given to a collection of text settings.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I have a drawing
that represents a title block.
| | 00:17 | Typically, when we think about
title blocks, we think about text.
| | 00:20 | I am going to zoom in on the bottom of
this drawing, such that this text is a
| | 00:23 | little bit easier to see, because I
want to mention that the appearance of the
| | 00:27 | text objects in this title block is being
controlled by a couple different text styles.
| | 00:32 | For instance, I have created a style
for this large title text and I have
| | 00:37 | created another style for
the smaller text labels.
| | 00:41 | Let's create a new style so we
can see how the process works.
| | 00:44 | To create a text style, I am going to
move up to the Annotation Panel and I will
| | 00:48 | click this fly-out and right here I can
see the name of the current Text Style,
| | 00:52 | right now that is Standard.
| | 00:54 | Now all AutoCAD drawing starts with a
Standard Text Style because you have to
| | 00:58 | have at least one style in order to create text.
| | 01:01 | To create a new style, I
will click the Text Style icon.
| | 01:05 | This brings up a dialog box that
I can use to build my new style.
| | 01:09 | Notice, that the Current
style is listed right here.
| | 01:11 | In this box on the left, I can see a
listing of all of the Text Styles that are
| | 01:15 | defined in this drawing.
| | 01:17 | If I select a style from this list, I can
see a preview of that style right down here.
| | 01:22 | On the right-side of the dialog box,
there are some buttons that I can use
| | 01:25 | to manage my styles.
| | 01:26 | As you can see I can Set a style Current.
| | 01:29 | I can create a New text style or
I can Delete an unused text style.
| | 01:34 | Now I would like to create a new style,
so I will click the New button, and then
| | 01:38 | I will give my style a name.
| | 01:39 | I am going to call this General Notes.
| | 01:43 | It's always a good idea to make the
name of your style descriptive of what
| | 01:47 | the text is used for.
| | 01:49 | Let's click OK and now that my style
has been created, I can use these settings
| | 01:53 | in the middle of the dialog box to
control the appearance of the style.
| | 01:56 | I am going to start by selecting a font.
| | 01:59 | To do that, I will click the Font Name
fly-out and then I can click-and-hold
| | 02:02 | down on this slider and I can drag up
and down through the font list, and as I
| | 02:08 | drag through here, notice that some of
these fonts have a caliper next to the
| | 02:11 | font name and some of these
have a TT icon next to the name.
| | 02:16 | The caliper represents that this font
was installed with AutoCAD and the TT
| | 02:21 | stands for True Type, this is a Window's font.
| | 02:24 | Now everybody's system is a little bit
different, so you may see different font
| | 02:27 | names in my list than you see in yours.
| | 02:30 | I would like to select an AutoCAD font.
| | 02:32 | I am going to scroll down here to find
Simplex and I will select that font from the menu.
| | 02:38 | Next, if I wish I can
assign a Height to my Text Style.
| | 02:42 | For right now I am going to set this to 0
and then I will press Tab to accept the value.
| | 02:47 | It's probably a good idea at this point to use
zero for our text height when we make a style.
| | 02:52 | This way, anytime I create text using the
style, AutoCAD will ask me for a text height.
| | 02:58 | Finally, do I want my Text
Style to have any special effects?
| | 03:01 | For instance, whenever I create text
using this style, do I want the text to be
| | 03:05 | Upside down or Backwards or Vertical?
| | 03:09 | Maybe I would like to adjust the Width factor,
this controls the width of the characters.
| | 03:14 | If I change this value to 2, you can
see it makes my characters twice as wide.
| | 03:18 | I am going to set this back to 1.
| | 03:20 | Let's take a look at Oblique Angle.
| | 03:22 | This controls the slant of our text.
| | 03:24 | I have just set this to a 20 degree
angle and you can see this gives the style
| | 03:28 | somewhat of an italicized look.
| | 03:30 | I am going to set the Angle back to 0,
and since I am finished with my Style
| | 03:35 | Settings and my General Notes style is
Current, I am going to click Apply and Close.
| | 03:41 | Let's back up a little bit and I would
like to create a Single Line Text object.
| | 03:46 | To do that I will click this
fly-out and I will select Single Line.
| | 03:49 | I would like to start my text right
here and I am going to use a text height
| | 03:54 | of 0.15 and I will hit Enter, and then I will
hit Enter to accept the rotation angle of 0.
| | 04:01 | This is what the General Notes
style looks like, Enter, Enter.
| | 04:08 | It's important to note that since the
General Notes Style is current, all text
| | 04:12 | that I create from this point
on is going to look like this.
| | 04:16 | Now, if I would like to set a
different Text Style current, I can do that by
| | 04:20 | opening up the Annotation Panel and then
I will click the Text Style fly-out and
| | 04:25 | from here I can select from any of
the other text styles in this drawing.
| | 04:29 | I am going to set Titles current and then I
will create another Single Line Text object.
| | 04:34 | I will start right here and then I
will hit Enter to accept the default.
| | 04:39 | This is what the Titles style looks like.
| | 04:44 | Enter, Enter.
| | 04:47 | Now I created this style a little bit ago,
when I was working on this Title block.
| | 04:51 | This style is being used to control
the appearance of these large titles.
| | 04:55 | Now you maybe wondering,
why text styles are important?
| | 04:59 | Well, text styles give us more freedom
over the appearance of our text objects.
| | 05:03 | You see, if you modify the properties
of a text style, all of the text that was
| | 05:07 | created using that style
will update. Let's try that.
| | 05:10 | I am going to open up the Annotation
Panel, then I'll come down and click
| | 05:15 | the Text Style icon.
| | 05:17 | Right now, the Titles style is current.
| | 05:19 | Let's assign a different font to the style.
| | 05:22 | To do that, I will open up the fly-out,
and I would like to select a Times New
| | 05:26 | Roman style and instead of
clicking-and-dragging through the slider, I am just
| | 05:31 | going to type the letter T and notice
that AutoCAD will take me alphabetically
| | 05:35 | to that point in the list.
| | 05:36 | We can see the new preview right down here.
| | 05:38 | Let me drag this box up a little
bit and I will click Apply and Close.
| | 05:44 | And notice that all of the text
that was created using the Titles style
| | 05:48 | has updated on screen.
| | 05:50 | Now if for some reason your text
did not update, all you have to do is
| | 05:53 | regen your drawing.
| | 05:55 | Simply type RE and press
Enter to update your text.
| | 05:59 | Text Styles control the appearance
of all of the text in our drawing.
| | 06:02 | As you can see, by making a simple
modification to a style, we can automatically
| | 06:06 | update all text that was
created using that style.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Annotating with multi-line text| 00:00 | Sometimes, we have to go beyond
single-line notes and create paragraphs of text.
| | 00:05 | At times like these, it's nice to know that
AutoCAD has a fully featured word processor.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to create multiline text.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I have a detailed
drawing that I've been working on.
| | 00:15 | I'm at the point where I'd
like to create some general notes.
| | 00:18 | As you can see, I'm practicing good form.
| | 00:20 | If I open up the Annotation panel, you can
see I have created a text style for my notes.
| | 00:25 | I have also created a layer for my
notes, and I've set that layer current.
| | 00:29 | Now, since these notes may exceed a
couple of paragraphs, I'm going to create
| | 00:32 | them using Multiline Text.
| | 00:34 | To launch the command, I'm going to
move up to the Annotation panel and I'll
| | 00:37 | click this fly-out and I'll
select Multiline Text from the menu.
| | 00:41 | Before I create my real paragraph,
let's pan the drawing over, and we'll
| | 00:45 | create a demonstration paragraph over
here to the right, so we can get an idea
| | 00:49 | of how the tool works.
| | 00:50 | I'm going to zoom in a little bit, and
then I'll start by picking a point on
| | 00:54 | screen and moving down into the right.
| | 00:57 | Essentially, what I'm doing is
defining a rectangle that represents the size
| | 01:01 | of my column of text.
| | 01:02 | I'll click to finish the
rectangle, and then I can start typing.
| | 01:06 | This is an example of multi-line text.
| | 01:12 | Notice I now have word wrap.
| | 01:16 | Notice one more thing:
| | 01:17 | we have a new Text Editor tab in the Ribbon.
| | 01:20 | We will see this tab anytime we're
creating or editing multiline text.
| | 01:24 | You'll quickly find that the features
in this editor are very similar to the
| | 01:27 | features in Microsoft Word.
| | 01:29 | So, if you're familiar with Word at
all, you can leverage that experience
| | 01:32 | right here in AutoCAD.
| | 01:34 | First of all, notice, there is a
ruler at the top of the editor.
| | 01:37 | Now, if your ruler is not showing
up on screen, this can be turned off.
| | 01:41 | The icon is right here.
| | 01:42 | This will toggle it on and off.
| | 01:44 | This ruler shows us the
location of our tab stops.
| | 01:47 | If I click to place my cursor in front
of this text, and then I press my Tab
| | 01:51 | key, and I press it again, and again,
you can see the location of the tab stops.
| | 01:56 | I'm going to press my Backspace
key to remove this formatting.
| | 02:00 | If you'd like to add your own custom
tab stops, you can click on the ruler.
| | 02:04 | Now, when I press my Tab key, it
will stop at my custom location.
| | 02:08 | To remove a custom tab stop, click,
hold, and drag it off of the ruler.
| | 02:13 | Once again, I'm going to press
Backspace to remove this formatting.
| | 02:16 | If I click-and-hold on this diamond at
the end of the ruler, I can drag this
| | 02:20 | left and right to adjust my column width.
| | 02:22 | Let's take a look at our Ribbon.
| | 02:23 | Right here I have some Formatting options.
| | 02:26 | If I click, hold, and drag and
select this text, I can click this icon to
| | 02:30 | make it bold, I can click this one to
italicize it, I can also underline it or overline it.
| | 02:36 | Let me click to turn these off, and
let's talk about some of the paragraph
| | 02:40 | justification options.
| | 02:42 | By default, this text goes in left-justified.
| | 02:45 | If I click, hold, and drag to
select this text, I can click this icon
| | 02:49 | to center-justify it.
| | 02:51 | Now, here is a slight problem.
| | 02:52 | This is a bug in the program.
| | 02:54 | Notice, AutoCAD only
center-justified this top line.
| | 02:57 | Actually, everything is fine.
| | 02:59 | We just won't see the justification
until we close the editor. Watch this!
| | 03:03 | I'm going to come over and
click the X to close the editor.
| | 03:05 | As you can see, everything is fine.
| | 03:06 | It's not a huge problem.
| | 03:08 | Hopefully, they'll clean this
up with the first service pack.
| | 03:11 | To get back into the editor,
I'll double click on this text.
| | 03:13 | Notice, I have an icon here
to right-justify the text.
| | 03:17 | I can also full-justify or I can
full-justify with distributed text.
| | 03:22 | I am going to click, hold, and drag.
| | 03:24 | I'll select this, and I'll set it back
to Left-Justified, and then I'll click
| | 03:28 | the X to close the editor.
| | 03:29 | Now that we have the general idea of
how to create multiline text, I'm going to
| | 03:33 | launch my Erase command and
I'll erase this paragraph.
| | 03:37 | We'll pan the drawing over, and we'll
create some real general notes in this drawing.
| | 03:41 | First of all, I'll launch
the Multiline Text tool.
| | 03:44 | I can do that by clicking the fly-out,
or since this is the last command that we
| | 03:48 | launched, I can re-launch it by
clicking the large icon right here.
| | 03:52 | I will then click on the screen to
start my column, and just for a second, take
| | 03:55 | a look at that abc character.
| | 03:57 | This text represents my current text type.
| | 04:01 | Right now, that's a little bit large.
| | 04:02 | I'd like to make it a little bit smaller.
| | 04:04 | Take a look at my command line.
| | 04:05 | Notice there are some
suboptions here, one of which is Height.
| | 04:09 | Before I finish my column, I'm going to
right-click and select Height from the menu.
| | 04:14 | I'm going to give this text a height of 0.15.
| | 04:17 | Then I'll move over here to the
right and I'll click to finish my column.
| | 04:20 | Now, I can start typing my notes.
| | 04:26 | Now that I'm finished, I
could make some final tweaks.
| | 04:29 | I could click-and-hold on this diamond
and adjust my column width if I like.
| | 04:32 | I would like to make one change.
| | 04:34 | I'm going to click, hold, and drag to
select this text, and then I'll move up
| | 04:38 | and click this icon to underline it.
| | 04:40 | When I'm finished, I can close
the editor. Here's a shortcut:
| | 04:43 | we don't have to come all the way across
the screen and click this X, so long as
| | 04:47 | I click any place outside the editor
itself, it will close automatically.
| | 04:53 | Multiline Text or MText, as it's also
called, will definitely be your first
| | 04:57 | choice for all of the notes and
callouts you create in your drawing.
| | 05:01 | You'll find the Multiline Text editor
to be as close to a professional quality
| | 05:05 | word processor as you can get while
still being inside of CAD program.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Editing text| 00:00 | Computer drafting is all
about being able to make changes.
| | 00:03 | Fortunately, one of the easiest
things we can edit in AutoCAD is our text.
| | 00:07 | As an example, let's make some changes
to the text in this detailed drawing.
| | 00:11 | I'm going to start out by zooming in on this
title, and let's say this title is incorrect.
| | 00:15 | It should say CONCRETE DRIVEWAY APRON detail.
| | 00:18 | To edit this text, I don't
have to know any special commands.
| | 00:21 | All I have to do is double-click on it.
| | 00:23 | This selects all of the text.
| | 00:25 | I'm going to click to place my cursor
right here and then I'll click, hold, and
| | 00:29 | drag to select these characters, and
I'll press my Delete key to erase them.
| | 00:34 | I will then click down on this end,
I'll add a space, and I'll type DETAIL.
| | 00:38 | When I'm finished making my changes,
I'll click on screen to deselect the text.
| | 00:43 | Notice that AutoCAD is
looking for another text object.
| | 00:45 | AutoCAD always assumes you
want to edit more than one.
| | 00:48 | Let's take a look at this N.T.S
. This stands for Not to Scale.
| | 00:52 | Since AutoCAD is already looking for
text, I only have to click this once, and
| | 00:56 | let's type this out, NOT TO SCALE.
| | 01:01 | Now, as a side note, this is a
single-line text object, as is my title.
| | 01:05 | You may be wondering how I underlined
this, because when we create single-line
| | 01:09 | text, we don't see all of the same
formatting options that we have when we
| | 01:13 | create multi-line text.
| | 01:14 | Let me show you how to do this.
| | 01:16 | If you'd like to underline single-line
text, click, hold, and drag to select
| | 01:20 | the characters you'd like to
underline, and then press Ctrl+U. This is a
| | 01:25 | standard Windows function.
| | 01:26 | Now that I'm finished making my
changes, I'll click on screen.
| | 01:29 | To let AutoCAD know that I'm done editing text,
I'll press the Esc key to exit the command.
| | 01:34 | I'm going to zoom out a little bit,
and let's pan the drawing down, and we'll
| | 01:38 | make some changes to this multi-line text.
| | 01:40 | Once again, I don't have to
know any special commands.
| | 01:43 | All I have to do is double-click.
| | 01:45 | This brings back the text editor.
| | 01:47 | From here, I'm free to change
my text or any of these settings.
| | 01:50 | I'm going to change my
subbase from 4 inches to 6 inches.
| | 01:55 | I'm going to click, hold,
and drag to select this text.
| | 01:58 | Then I'll come up to the Ribbon and
I'll click the Color fly-out and I'll
| | 02:02 | change this to red.
| | 02:03 | Then I'm going to click on this
diamond, and I'll drag this to the right to
| | 02:07 | adjust my column width.
| | 02:08 | When I'm finished making my changes,
I'll click on screen to close the editor.
| | 02:12 | Now, one important note, we can
also edit multi-line text with grips.
| | 02:16 | If I click to select this,
notice I get three grips.
| | 02:19 | If you hover over a grip,
AutoCAD will tell you what it does.
| | 02:22 | This grip controls my MText Location.
| | 02:25 | So, if I click to select this, I
can use it to move this text object.
| | 02:29 | I'm going to click to move it right here.
| | 02:31 | I can use this grip on the
right to adjust the column width.
| | 02:34 | I'm going to click to select this and
I'll drag my column width over to here.
| | 02:39 | Let's back up a little bit.
| | 02:40 | There's one more grip left.
| | 02:42 | This guy controls the column height.
| | 02:44 | Now, if I click this and pull down, it
doesn't make much difference, because I
| | 02:47 | don't have enough text to fill that column.
| | 02:49 | But if I push this up,
AutoCAD will start another column.
| | 02:53 | Now, anything I type here will
automatically flow into the second column, and I
| | 02:57 | get a few more grips.
| | 02:58 | This guy controls the width of both
columns, and this guy controls the distance
| | 03:03 | between the columns.
| | 03:04 | You'll probably notice there's
another grip at the bottom of this column.
| | 03:07 | If I click this and push it up,
AutoCAD will start another column.
| | 03:11 | Imagine the possibilities.
| | 03:13 | Now, I don't need three columns here.
| | 03:14 | So, I'm going to click this grip, I'll
pull this down, so I only have one column.
| | 03:19 | Then I'll click this grip, and I'll drag
the column width over, so it fills my detail.
| | 03:24 | When I'm finished making my changes,
I'll press the Esc key to deselect the text.
| | 03:27 | We can also edit our text
objects using the Property Changer.
| | 03:31 | If I select this and come over to
the Property Changer, I'm going to
| | 03:35 | click-and-hold on this slider and drag it down.
| | 03:38 | Notice that I have multiple text
settings inside this text group.
| | 03:41 | I can use this fly-out to apply a
different text style to this text.
| | 03:46 | I can also change its
justification or the text height or rotation.
| | 03:50 | I can adjust the Line space factor.
| | 03:52 | Right now, this is set to 1.
| | 03:53 | This means it's single-spaced.
| | 03:55 | I'm going to set this to
1.5, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 03:58 | Notice the difference.
| | 03:59 | Maybe I'd like to tighten up the
distance between my text a little bit.
| | 04:03 | I'm going to click Line space factor, and
I'll change this to 0.85, and I'll hit Enter.
| | 04:08 | Make sure and explore all of the
settings in the Property Changer.
| | 04:11 | You'll be surprised how much
control you have over your text.
| | 04:14 | Now that I'm finished making changes,
I'm going to move my cursor outside the
| | 04:17 | palette and let it collapse.
| | 04:18 | Then I'll press Esc to deselect my text.
| | 04:21 | As you can see, if you have to
edit any aspect of your text, height,
| | 04:25 | style, location, or contents, AutoCAD
gives you multiple ways to make your
| | 04:29 | changes quickly and easily.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating bulleted and numbered lists| 00:00 | It's very common to find
numbered lists on construction drawings.
| | 00:04 | In the past, it was always a headache
to add or remove items from a numbered
| | 00:07 | list, because it meant a
lot of manual renumbering.
| | 00:10 | Well, that's not the case anymore
because all of the lists in AutoCAD are fully
| | 00:14 | automated and easy to change.
| | 00:16 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to create a numbered list.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have a drawing of a
split rail fence detail and I would like to
| | 00:23 | add a list of notes to this drawing.
| | 00:25 | Now I've already given myself some
space over here to the right and I'm
| | 00:28 | practicing good form.
| | 00:30 | I've created a layer from my Notes.
| | 00:31 | I've also created a text style.
| | 00:34 | To create my list, I'm
going to use Multiline Text.
| | 00:37 | I'll click to set the first corner.
| | 00:39 | Then I'll move down and I'll
click to set the size of my column.
| | 00:43 | Let's zoom in a little bit and I'll
start entering my notes. I'll type Notes.
| | 00:49 | I'll press Enter.
| | 00:50 | I'll add my first number.
| | 00:52 | Here's the trick to creating a numbered list.
| | 00:54 | Press the Tab key after placing the number.
| | 00:57 | That signifies to AutoCAD
that you're creating a list.
| | 01:00 | I will then add my note.
| | 01:04 | When I press Enter, notice that AutoCAD
adds the next number for me as well as
| | 01:08 | adjusting the formatting and word wrap.
| | 01:10 | Now all I have to do is keep adding
my notes and AutoCAD will take care
| | 01:13 | of everything else.
| | 01:14 | Now that I'm finished adding my
notes, I'm going to make a couple of
| | 01:21 | formatting changes of my own.
| | 01:23 | First, I'm going to select this text.
| | 01:26 | Then I'll underline it.
| | 01:28 | Then I'm going to click
and hold on this diamond.
| | 01:31 | I'll make my column a little bit wider.
| | 01:33 | When I'm finished, I'll click
on screen to close the editor.
| | 01:36 | Now let's take a look at how easy
it is to change your numbered list.
| | 01:39 | I'll start by double-clicking on the text.
| | 01:41 | It just brings back the editor.
| | 01:43 | Let's say I'd like to add a note.
| | 01:46 | To do that, I'll click to place my
cursor at the end of my last note.
| | 01:49 | Then I'll press Enter and AutoCAD
picks up right where we left off.
| | 01:57 | Now maybe I'd like to remove a note, maybe
one of these notes in the middle of the list.
| | 02:02 | To do that I'll select the text
and then I'll press the Delete key.
| | 02:06 | Then I'll press Backspace a
couple of times to remove the number.
| | 02:09 | Notice how AutoCAD renumbers the list for me.
| | 02:12 | Now this text is kind of close
together, maybe I'd like to add some space
| | 02:16 | between these notes.
| | 02:17 | Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 02:19 | You might think that we could click at
the end of a note and then press Enter.
| | 02:23 | Unfortunately, AutoCAD thinks
that we want to add another note.
| | 02:26 | Now I can press Backspace to remove this number.
| | 02:29 | This is actually what I want.
| | 02:31 | But let me show you a faster
way to create a blank space.
| | 02:34 | Place your cursor at the end of the note and
then hold down your Shift key and press Enter.
| | 02:39 | I am going to add a few
more spaces to this list.
| | 02:44 | When I'm finished, I'll click
on screen to close the editor.
| | 02:46 | Let's try something else.
| | 02:48 | I'm going to double-click to select
the text, and maybe I don't want this to
| | 02:51 | be a numbered list.
| | 02:53 | Maybe I'd like it to be a bulleted list.
| | 02:55 | To make that change, I'll
click-hold-and-drag and I'll select my text.
| | 02:59 | Then I'll move up to the Paragraph panel.
| | 03:01 | I'll click the Bullets and Numbering icon.
| | 03:04 | This controls the type of list that I have.
| | 03:07 | I will then come down and
select Bulleted from the menu.
| | 03:10 | If I don't like this look, I can
always come back and click the icon.
| | 03:14 | Maybe I'd like this to be a Lettered list
and I'd like the letters to be Uppercase.
| | 03:21 | As you can see AutoCAD lists are very flexible.
| | 03:24 | Creating and editing a list is as
easy as using your favorite word
| | 03:27 | processing program.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Incorporating symbols| 00:00 | Each discipline of drafting
has its own unique symbology.
| | 00:04 | Sometimes we need to incorporate
these special symbols into our text.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to use these extra characters that we
| | 00:10 | don't typically see on our keyboard.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have a surveying example.
| | 00:15 | This is a drawing of a plot of survey.
| | 00:17 | It's essentially a
dimensioned property boundary.
| | 00:20 | On the right, I have a finished
example and on the left, I have an
| | 00:23 | unfinished version.
| | 00:24 | Let's see if we can finish this drawing.
| | 00:27 | First of all, I'm going
to zoom-in on this label.
| | 00:30 | Notice this symbol right here.
| | 00:31 | This is a degree symbol.
| | 00:33 | This line was drawn at an angle of 30
?20'29" in a north-east direction.
| | 00:40 | Let's zoom-out a little.
| | 00:42 | Let's see if we can label this
property line using the same text and symbol.
| | 00:47 | I'll start by launching the Multiline Text tool.
| | 00:50 | Then I'll specify my first corner.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to select the midpoint of this line.
| | 00:55 | Now I'd like my text to
be aligned to this segment.
| | 00:59 | So I'm going to right-click and select Rotation.
| | 01:02 | Then I'll select the endpoint of this line.
| | 01:05 | As you can see my column is
now aligned to that entity.
| | 01:09 | I'm going to do one more thing.
| | 01:10 | I'll right-click and select Justify.
| | 01:13 | I'd like this text to be
middle-center justified.
| | 01:17 | Finally, I'll click to
define the width of my column.
| | 01:21 | Take a look at this.
| | 01:21 | Even though, my text is rotated, the
editor is displaying horizontal on the screen.
| | 01:26 | Any time AutoCAD thinks the
rotation angle is too steep.
| | 01:29 | it will automatically rotate the
editor to make the text easier to read.
| | 01:33 | I will now enter my label, north 30.
| | 01:36 | Now I need to enter the Degrees symbol.
| | 01:38 | Take a look at the Text Editor on the Ribbon.
| | 01:41 | Right here, I've got a large Symbol icon.
| | 01:43 | This is where I can find
all of the special characters.
| | 01:46 | I'll click to open this up.
| | 01:48 | Let's take a look at these top three first.
| | 01:50 | These are the ones that you'll use most often.
| | 01:52 | Up here, I have a Degrees
symbol, Plus/Minus and a Diameter.
| | 01:56 | I'll select Degrees.
| | 01:58 | You can see that symbol is
incorporated into my text.
| | 02:01 | Now I can finish this up,
20'29" East.
| | 02:07 | This line has distance of 168.79'.
| | 02:12 | When I'm finished, I'll click on screen.
| | 02:14 | Now my rotation is good, but my position is not.
| | 02:16 | Let me click to select this text.
| | 02:18 | Notice I get a grip at my justification point.
| | 02:21 | That's the middle-center
justification that I selected.
| | 02:24 | I'll click to select this grip.
| | 02:26 | I'd like to place this to
the midpoint of this line.
| | 02:29 | When I'm finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 02:31 | Let's pan this up a little bit.
| | 02:33 | I'd like to take care of this arc label next.
| | 02:35 | Let's get a little closer.
| | 02:37 | Take a look at this symbol. This is a delta.
| | 02:40 | This measurement represents
the included angle of this arc.
| | 02:44 | If you were to draw a line from this
endpoint to the center of the arc to this
| | 02:48 | endpoint, the angle of those two
lines would measure 38?56'33".
| | 02:54 | I'm going to back up, and we'll
pan over and we'll create this label.
| | 02:58 | I'll launch the Multiline Text tool.
| | 03:00 | I'll click on then screen.
| | 03:01 | Then I'll click again to define my column.
| | 03:04 | This arc has a length of
80' and radius of 120.01'.
| | 03:12 | Now I need that Delta symbol.
| | 03:14 | I'm going to move up and open the Symbol menu.
| | 03:17 | This time let's take a look at the
symbols beneath this horizontal line.
| | 03:20 | This list represents industry specific symbols.
| | 03:24 | These are standard symbols that are
used by architects, civil and mechanical
| | 03:28 | engineers, and surveyors.
| | 03:30 | I'm going to select the Delta symbol.
| | 03:32 | Then I'll continue working on my label.
| | 03:34 | Now I need the Degree symbol. Let's go back.
| | 03:36 | We'll open the menu and
I'll select Degrees, 56'33".
| | 03:42 | Let's make this look a
little bit closer to the example.
| | 03:44 | I'll select the label, I'll this grip,
and I'll move it over just a little bit.
| | 03:49 | Now I would like to add one
more symbol to this drawing.
| | 03:51 | I'd like to create a Copyright symbol.
| | 03:54 | To do that I'll launch the Multiline Text tool.
| | 03:56 | I'll click and define my column width.
| | 04:00 | I'll go back to the Symbol menu.
| | 04:02 | Unfortunately, the Copyright
symbol doesn't show up in this list.
| | 04:05 | If I want something in addition to what I
see here, I'll come down and select Other.
| | 04:11 | This brings up the Character Map.
| | 04:12 | Let me mention that my current
text style is using the Aerial font.
| | 04:18 | This Character Map allows me to
select any of the characters associated
| | 04:21 | with that font or if I open up this flyout,
any other font on my machine for that matter.
| | 04:27 | I'm going to click-and-hold on this slider.
| | 04:29 | Let me drag this down.
| | 04:30 | You can see the Character
list is quite extensive.
| | 04:32 | We have a lot of choices.
| | 04:34 | I'm going to drag this back to the top.
| | 04:37 | Let me also mention that these
characters are a little bit small.
| | 04:39 | If you click to select a
character, AutoCAD will blow it up.
| | 04:42 | So it's little bit easier to see.
| | 04:44 | The Copyright symbol is
right here. I'll select this.
| | 04:48 | Then I'll click the Select button.
| | 04:50 | This moves the character down
into the Characters to copy area.
| | 04:53 | From here I'll click the Copy button.
| | 04:55 | This copies the character
to my window's clipboard.
| | 04:58 | I'll click the X to close the Character Map.
| | 04:59 | Then I'll paste the symbol into the
editor by pressing Ctrl+V. Now as a
| | 05:05 | courtesy, AutoCAD has given me carriage return.
| | 05:08 | I'm going to click to place my
cursor right after this symbol.
| | 05:14 | I'll type Copyright 2010.
| | 05:18 | While AutoCAD will probably never have
all of the symbols that we could possibly
| | 05:21 | need, they have gone a long way to
provide us with many of the industry standard
| | 05:25 | symbols that we use on a regular basis.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Correcting spelling errors| 00:00 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to ourselves from ourselves.
| | 00:04 | I am speaking about spelling errors.
| | 00:06 | Let's face it we have all done it.
| | 00:08 | Fortunately, we don't have to worry
about that anymore, because AutoCAD has made
| | 00:11 | it difficult to misspell words.
| | 00:13 | On my screen I have a civil engineering example.
| | 00:15 | This is a paving plan
for an existing restaurant.
| | 00:18 | And I am at the point in my workflow
where I would like to create some labels.
| | 00:22 | So I am going to zoom in and
let's add a label to this building.
| | 00:25 | I will start by launching the Multiline
Text tool, then I will pick a point on
| | 00:29 | screen and I would like
to create a rotated label.
| | 00:33 | So I will right-click and select Rotation.
| | 00:35 | Then I will pick a point on screen to
define my Rotation angle and I will click
| | 00:40 | again to define the size of my column.
| | 00:49 | Notice that I have misspelled a word.
| | 00:51 | More importantly AutoCAD noticed it too,
and it drew a line underneath this text.
| | 00:55 | If you are not seeing a line, the
feature might be turned off on your system and
| | 00:59 | that's actually very easy to do by accident.
| | 01:01 | There is an icon right here in the
Ribbon, and this is a toggle that will turn
| | 01:05 | the underline feature on and off.
| | 01:07 | To correct this word, I will
right-click on it and at the top of the menu I can
| | 01:11 | see AutoCAD's top three
suggestions for this word.
| | 01:14 | Now if these don't work for me, I can
come down to More Suggestions and I can
| | 01:17 | see additional choices right here.
| | 01:19 | If this word is spelled correctly, I
can Add it to the Dictionary, or if I
| | 01:23 | don't want to go that far, I can select
Ignore All to remove the underline from this word.
| | 01:28 | I am going to select the correct
spelling and then I will click on screen
| | 01:32 | to finish the label.
| | 01:33 | Now this is nice, the fact that
AutoCAD is monitoring everything type for
| | 01:37 | errors, but what if we got
this drawing from someone else?
| | 01:41 | What if it already
contained a lot of existing text?
| | 01:44 | How can we spell check this?
| | 01:46 | Let me show you where we
can go to find the tool.
| | 01:48 | I don't know if you have noticed this
yet, but all of the text tools we have
| | 01:52 | used so far have been in this Annotation panel.
| | 01:54 | This is actually a
miniature set of Annotation tools.
| | 01:58 | Notice that there is also an Annotate
tab and this contains a full set of all of
| | 02:03 | the Annotation tools.
| | 02:05 | The Spell Checker is right here.
| | 02:06 | When this comes up on screen, you will
find that this tool looks and works very
| | 02:10 | similar to what you would find in
the program like Microsoft Word.
| | 02:14 | The first thing I have to do is tell
AutoCAD where I would like to search
| | 02:17 | for spelling errors.
| | 02:18 | By default it's going to
look at the Entire drawing.
| | 02:20 | If I click this icon, I can
search selected objects only.
| | 02:24 | I will click the Start button and when
I do, AutoCAD will pan and zoom around
| | 02:29 | the drawing looking for
words that it doesn't recognize.
| | 02:32 | I say, it doesn't recognize, because
if AutoCAD finds a word, it doesn't
| | 02:35 | necessarily mean the word is misspelled.
| | 02:38 | It only means that AutoCAD doesn't
have that word in its dictionary.
| | 02:41 | I am going to move this box over a
little bit and you can see that AutoCAD is
| | 02:45 | stopped on this road name.
| | 02:47 | If we look right here, we could see
the road name is not in the dictionary.
| | 02:49 | If I look a little lower I can see
AutoCAD's best suggestions for this word and
| | 02:54 | if this doesn't work, I do
have additional choices below.
| | 02:57 | I can use these buttons on the right
side to tell AutoCAD what I would like
| | 03:01 | to do with this word.
| | 03:02 | If it is spelled correctly, I could Add
it to the Dictionary or I could Ignore
| | 03:06 | this instance of the word.
| | 03:08 | I can also Ignore All instances of this word.
| | 03:11 | I could Change the word with
AutoCAD Suggestions or I could Change All
| | 03:15 | instances of this word.
| | 03:16 | Now in this case, the word is spelled
correctly, but I don't want to so far as
| | 03:20 | to add the word to my dictionary.
| | 03:22 | So I am going to click Ignore.
| | 03:24 | As you can see AutoCAD has found
another word that it doesn't recognize.
| | 03:27 | In this case, I am going to select the
correct spelling and then I will click on
| | 03:31 | screen to finish the label.
| | 03:32 | If you are someone who feels hesitant
about adding words to your dictionary,
| | 03:36 | because it seems awfully permanent,
let me show you where you can go to make
| | 03:39 | changes to the dictionary.
| | 03:41 | First, I will click the
Dictionaries button and as you can see we are
| | 03:44 | American English dictionary.
| | 03:46 | If I click this flyout you can see
that there are several other choices.
| | 03:51 | Down here at the bottom is a list of
words that have been added to this dictionary.
| | 03:54 | I am going to click-and-hold on this
slider and I will drag it to the bottom and
| | 03:58 | we can see SUPERPAVE right here.
| | 04:00 | If I wanted to remove this word
from the dictionary I can select it and
| | 04:04 | click the Delete button.
| | 04:06 | Likewise, if I wanted to add a word I can
enter it right here and I could click Add.
| | 04:11 | I am going to click the Close
buttons to close these dialog boxes.
| | 04:14 | As you can see not only does AutoCAD
monitor everything we type, it also allows
| | 04:18 | us to spell check the words we didn't.
| | 04:20 | This means that spelling errors may
finally have become a thing of the past.
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|
|
12. DimensioningCreating general dimensions| 00:00 | It's important to remember that
the drawings we create in AutoCAD are
| | 00:03 | construction drawings.
| | 00:05 | This means that someone somewhere
will be referring to our drawing to
| | 00:08 | construct our design.
| | 00:09 | Knowing this we need to be certain
that our design is well-dimensioned.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to add dimensions to a drawing.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have a mechanical example,
and before I create my first dimension
| | 00:20 | take a look at the Layer control.
| | 00:21 | Notice I am practice in good form.
| | 00:23 | I have created a layer for
dimensions and I have set that layer current.
| | 00:27 | In fact, I'm going to open up the
layer control and let's take a look at the
| | 00:30 | layers in this drawing.
| | 00:32 | I have my default layer 0, I have a
layer for my center lines, one for the
| | 00:36 | dimensions, and one for the part.
| | 00:38 | Now the dimensioning tools are
located in the Annotation panel.
| | 00:42 | The flyout is right here.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to start off by
creating a Linear dimension.
| | 00:46 | Let's say I would like to create a dimension
from the end point here to the end point here.
| | 00:52 | I will then pull this up and
click to place my dimension.
| | 00:55 | Be sure to use object snaps
whenever you are creating dimensions.
| | 00:58 | It's the only way to ensure
the dimensions are accurate.
| | 01:01 | Let's create another Linear dimension.
| | 01:03 | Since Linear was the last choice, I can
relaunch the command by clicking this icon.
| | 01:08 | It will then create a dimension from
the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 01:13 | A Linear dimension will give us the
Horizontal or Vertical distance between
| | 01:17 | the points we select.
| | 01:18 | It just depends on which
way you pull your cursor.
| | 01:20 | I'd like a Horizontal distance.
| | 01:22 | So I will pull this up and place it
to the endpoint of this arrowhead.
| | 01:26 | Let's create one more.
| | 01:27 | I'm going to create a
vertical measurement this time.
| | 01:30 | I'm going to press the Spacebar to
relaunch the command and I'll create a
| | 01:34 | dimension from the endpoint
to the center of this arc.
| | 01:39 | Now that I've created some dimensions,
let's take another look at the layer control.
| | 01:43 | Notice there is a new
layer here called Defpoints.
| | 01:45 | AutoCAD created this layer as
soon as I placed my first dimension.
| | 01:49 | If I zoom in on a dimension, notice
there is a small pixel right here that
| | 01:53 | identifies the point that's being dimensioned.
| | 01:56 | This is called a Definition Point and
AutoCAD uses this to maintain the accuracy
| | 02:01 | and location of our dimensions.
| | 02:02 | Now these pixels won't plot.
| | 02:04 | They are on layer Defpoints and
Defpoints is a non-plottable layer.
| | 02:08 | The only reason I mention this is in
the event you open up your layer control
| | 02:12 | and wonder where this Defpoints layer came from.
| | 02:14 | I'm going to zoom out and
let's create another dimension.
| | 02:21 | I'll open up the flyout and
this time I'll select Aligned.
| | 02:25 | Aligned gives us the true
distance between two points.
| | 02:29 | I'll select the endpoint here and the
endpoint here and I'll pull this out.
| | 02:33 | I'll then press the Spacebar to
relaunch the command and I'll dimension from
| | 02:37 | the endpoint here to the endpoint here and I'll
pull this out to the endpoint of this arrowhead.
| | 02:43 | Unless you require a horizontal or
vertical measurement, the Aligned dimension
| | 02:49 | is the one that you will
probably use most often.
| | 02:51 | Alright, let's create an angular dimension.
| | 02:54 | I'm going to reopen the
menu and I'll select Angular.
| | 02:57 | To create an Angular dimension,
all I've to do is select two lines.
| | 03:02 | I'll select this one and this one
and I'll pull my dimension out to here.
| | 03:06 | I'm going to do one more.
| | 03:08 | I'll relaunch the command and I'll
select this line and this one, and let me
| | 03:12 | zoom in a little bit.
| | 03:13 | Before I place this, notice if I
pull to the outside, I can dimension the
| | 03:17 | opposite angle or if I pull to the
left or right, I can dimension the
| | 03:21 | supplementary angles.
| | 03:26 | Let's create a radial dimension.
| | 03:29 | I'll go back to the menu and select Radius.
| | 03:32 | Now I can select the arc or
circle I'd like to dimension.
| | 03:36 | I'll select this one and I'll pull my
dimension out to here. Let's do one more.
| | 03:41 | I'll relaunch the command and I'll
dimension this small fillet right down here.
| | 03:45 | We can also dimension the
diameter of an arc or a circle.
| | 03:51 | I'll select diameter from the menu
and let's dimension this large circle.
| | 03:56 | I'll pull this down and place my dimension here.
| | 03:59 | Notice that AutoCAD's adds the
Diameter symbols for me automatically.
| | 04:03 | Using AutoCAD's dimensioning tools
along with our object snaps, we can
| | 04:07 | quickly and easily document our
drawing and allow a contractor to accurately
| | 04:11 | reproduce our design.
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| Creating continuous and baseline dimensions| 00:00 | Creating dimensions one at a time is
okay, but what if we want to create a
| | 00:04 | string of dimensions?
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to use the Continuous and
| | 00:08 | Baseline Dimensioning Tools.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I've got a mechanical part and
I'd like to add some dimensions to this drawing.
| | 00:14 | Now, I've already created a layer
for these and I'd like to start out by
| | 00:18 | creating a Linear Dimension from the
end point here to the end point here.
| | 00:23 | And I'll pull this out and
I'll place it right there.
| | 00:26 | Now, this is a nice overall
dimension, but what if I'd like to create a
| | 00:30 | dimension string to label the
location of all of these other points?
| | 00:34 | Well I could do that manually, but
instead, I'm going to use a Dimensioning Tool
| | 00:39 | that will do most of the work for me.
| | 00:40 | And I'm afraid, the tool we're looking
for is not in this menu, this is actually
| | 00:45 | a limited set of Dimensioning Tools.
| | 00:47 | Instead, I'm going to click on the
Annotate Tab, where I can get access to all
| | 00:52 | of the tools associated with Dimensioning.
| | 00:54 | The one that I'm looking for is right here.
| | 00:56 | This guy will let us create a
Continuous dimension string. Here's the trick.
| | 01:00 | I've to create the first dimension manually,
so I'm going to create a Linear dimension.
| | 01:05 | Notice, we have the same fly-out
here as we have on the Home Tab.
| | 01:09 | And I'll create my dimension from the
end point here to the end point here, and
| | 01:13 | I'll pull this out and place it.
| | 01:15 | Now, I'll move up and click the
Continuous icon, and notice that AutoCAD picks
| | 01:19 | up right where I left off allowing me to
dimension all of these other points and
| | 01:24 | it places the dimensions automatically.
| | 01:26 | When I'm finished, I'll press the Escape key.
| | 01:28 | Now this is nice, but what if I'd like to
create a series of dimensions to a common Baseline?
| | 01:34 | Well, I can do that also.
| | 01:35 | Once again, I'll start by creating a dimension.
| | 01:38 | I'll click Linear and I'll create my
dimension from the end point here to the
| | 01:42 | end point here, and I'll
pull this one down this time.
| | 01:45 | Next, I'll come back to the same
place and I'll click this fly-out and
| | 01:49 | I'll select Baseline.
| | 01:51 | And as you can see, AutoCAD pick up
where I left off and I can dimension all of
| | 01:55 | these other locations, except this time,
all of the measurements are going back
| | 01:59 | to the original baseline location.
| | 02:01 | So in the event, we need a series of dimensions.
| | 02:03 | It's nice to know that we don't have
to create them one by one, whether they
| | 02:06 | be a continuous string or Baseline
Dimensions, AutoCAD has a tool to create
| | 02:11 | them automatically.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Controlling appearance using dimension styles| 00:00 | All of the dimensions we create in our
drawing will conform to a Dimension Style.
| | 00:04 | A Dimension Style is very similar to
a Text Style, and that it controls the
| | 00:08 | appearance of our dimensions.
| | 00:10 | In fact, Dimension Styles and
Text Styles work the same way.
| | 00:14 | Just like a change in your Text Style
will modify existing text, a change to
| | 00:18 | your Dimension Style will
modify your existing dimensions.
| | 00:21 | On my screen, I have a
mechanical part to which I have applied
| | 00:24 | several dimensions.
| | 00:26 | Let me mention that all of these
dimensions were created using the Default
| | 00:29 | Standard Dimension Style.
| | 00:31 | To see my Style, I'll click to open
the Annotation fly-out and I can see the
| | 00:35 | Style name right here, Standard.
| | 00:38 | All drawings start with a Standard
Dimension Style because you have to have at
| | 00:42 | least one style in order to create dimensions.
| | 00:45 | If I click this fly-out, we can see that this
is the only dimension style in this drawing.
| | 00:49 | If I'd like to create a new style or
make changes to this style, I can click the
| | 00:54 | Dimension Style icon.
| | 00:56 | This brings up the Dimension Style Manager.
| | 00:58 | Notice once again, we can see the
name of the Current style right here.
| | 01:02 | On the left side of the dialog box, I
can see a listing of all of the Dimension
| | 01:06 | Styles that have been defined in this drawing.
| | 01:08 | On the right side, I have these
buttons that I can use to help me manage
| | 01:12 | my dimension styles.
| | 01:13 | As you can see, I can Set a Style Current,
I can create a New Dimension Style, I
| | 01:18 | can Modify an existing style, I can
Override the settings of a Dimension Style,
| | 01:23 | and I can Compare one style to another.
| | 01:26 | Let me move this over a little bit,
and since all of these dimensions were
| | 01:29 | created using an existing Style, we won't be
creating a new dimension style in this drawing.
| | 01:34 | If you did want to create a new style,
you can click the New button and you
| | 01:38 | could give the Style a name right here.
| | 01:40 | Notice that you'll always create
a new style from an existing one.
| | 01:44 | So in this case, our New Style
would start using the same settings as
| | 01:48 | the Standard Style.
| | 01:49 | I'm going to press Cancel and then I'll
click the Modify button to make changes
| | 01:53 | to the existing style.
| | 01:55 | First of all, notice that there are
seven tabs of settings that are used to
| | 01:59 | create a Dimension Style.
| | 02:01 | Now, we're not going to be going
through what each of these settings does, but
| | 02:04 | I'm going to show you how can
get information about each setting.
| | 02:07 | First of all, if you place your
cursor over a setting, AutoCAD will give
| | 02:11 | you more information.
| | 02:12 | Secondly, notice these settings are
organized into Tabs much like our Ribbon.
| | 02:17 | You can use these Tab names to make it
easier to narrow your search if you're
| | 02:21 | looking for a specific setting.
| | 02:22 | Let's take a look at the Lines Tab.
| | 02:24 | Notice, these settings are
arranged in two named groups.
| | 02:28 | These are kind of like Panels, if
we're using in it our Ribbon analogy.
| | 02:32 | Also, keep an eye on this preview.
| | 02:34 | If you're unsure what a setting does,
change it and watch the preview.
| | 02:38 | For instance, I'm going to adjust this setting.
| | 02:40 | Notice, it's suppressing
one of the Dimension Lines.
| | 02:43 | I'll change to this setting and we
can see it in the preview, this is
| | 02:46 | suppressing one of the Extension Lines.
| | 02:48 | Using these techniques along with a
little experimentation will help you learn
| | 02:52 | what all of these settings do.
| | 02:53 | Let's make a change.
| | 02:55 | I'm going to go to the Primary Units
Tab and I can see right here that the
| | 02:58 | precision of the Dimension
Text is four decimal spaces.
| | 03:02 | I'm going to open up this fly-out
and I'll switch this to two, notice the
| | 03:06 | change in the preview.
| | 03:07 | Then I'll click OK and I'll click Close.
| | 03:10 | And notice how all of my dimensions
are conforming to the new settings.
| | 03:14 | Well, except for this one.
| | 03:16 | Notice, my Angular Dimension
is still to the even integer.
| | 03:19 | Let's go back to the Dimension Style Manager.
| | 03:22 | I'll click Modify, and take a look right here.
| | 03:25 | Angular Dimensions have their own precision.
| | 03:28 | keep that in mind when you're making changes.
| | 03:30 | You know what, since we're on the
Primary Units Tab, I'm going to open up the
| | 03:34 | Unit Format fly-out and
I'll set this to Architectural.
| | 03:37 | This is how you can create
dimensions that read in feet and inches.
| | 03:41 | Now, this drawing is set up for Decimal
Units, so I'm going to switch this back.
| | 03:46 | And, let's make another change to this style.
| | 03:48 | I would like to change the Text Height.
| | 03:50 | That setting is probably
going to be on the Text Tab.
| | 03:54 | If we look right here, we can see the
current Text Height is 0.18, I'm going to
| | 03:58 | make this a little smaller.
| | 03:59 | I'll change this to 0.125 and
I'll press Tab to accept this value.
| | 04:04 | And let's take a look at Text Alignment.
| | 04:06 | Right now, my text is
reading Horizontal on screen.
| | 04:09 | Maybe I'd like the text to be
Aligned with the Dimension Line.
| | 04:12 | Once again, I'll click OK, let's move to this
Manager over a little bit and I'll click Close.
| | 04:17 | And you can see, my dimensions are
a conforming to the new settings.
| | 04:20 | I'd like to make one more change.
| | 04:22 | Right now, my arrowheads are looking
a little large, let's see if we can
| | 04:25 | make these smaller.
| | 04:27 | I'm going to press my Spacebar to
bring back the Dimension Style Manager,
| | 04:31 | I'll click Modify and the Arrowhead Settings
are probably on the Symbols and Arrows Tab.
| | 04:37 | Right here, I can see the
current Arrow Size is 0.18.
| | 04:40 | I'm going to change this to 0.
12, I'll click OK and Close.
| | 04:45 | Dimension Styles give us the
same flexibility of a Text Style.
| | 04:48 | If we need to make global changes to
the appearance of our dimensions, we can
| | 04:52 | simply change the style and all of the
dimensions will update automatically.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Modifying dimensions| 00:00 | AutoCAD dimensions are very flexible.
| | 00:02 | We can position them wherever we want,
and reposition them if necessary if we
| | 00:06 | need to make room for new dimensions.
| | 00:08 | We can even break the rules a little
bit when it comes to our dimension style.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we're going to learn how
to modify our dimensions to suit our needs.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have a mechanical
example and this drawing contains
| | 00:19 | several dimensions.
| | 00:21 | First of all, let's say I'd
like to move this dimension.
| | 00:24 | I can do that by using grips.
| | 00:26 | I'll select the dimension, and then
I'll select this grip right over the
| | 00:29 | dimension text and I can move and
reposition this wherever I like.
| | 00:33 | Notice, I can also reposition the text
and if I drag the text outside of the
| | 00:38 | extension lines, AutoCAD
automatically creates a leader.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to click to place the dimension
right here, and then I'll press Esc to deselect.
| | 00:46 | Let's make another change.
| | 00:47 | I'm going to zoom in on the top and I
would like to line-up these two dimensions.
| | 00:53 | To do that, I'll select this dimension,
and then I'll select the grip at the end
| | 00:57 | of this Arrowhead and I'll use my
running object snaps to snap this to the end
| | 01:01 | point of this Arrowhead, and then I'll deselect.
| | 01:04 | We can use grips to reposition any
of the dimensions in our drawing.
| | 01:07 | I'll select this Diameter
Dimension, I'll select the grip.
| | 01:11 | Notice that as I pull this guy around,
the text will automatically jump to
| | 01:15 | the other side of the Leader, so that
wherever I place this, it will always look correct.
| | 01:19 | In fact, if I pull this up far enough,
AutoCAD will automatically add an extension line.
| | 01:24 | I'm going to zoom out and I'll
place my dimension right over here.
| | 01:27 | Let's zoom in on this side, and in this case,
maybe I'd like to add some text to this dimension.
| | 01:33 | Normally, when we edit
text, we double-click on it.
| | 01:35 | Here's the problem.
| | 01:36 | If I double-click on this, AutoCAD
pops up the Property Changer, which
| | 01:41 | isn't going to help me.
| | 01:42 | So, I'm going to deselect this,
and we'll try something else.
| | 01:45 | If you want to edit text that's part
of a dimension, we're going to use a
| | 01:49 | command called ddedit.
| | 01:51 | This is the manual way
to launch the Text Editor.
| | 01:54 | I will then select the text.
| | 01:56 | This brings up the Text Editor in the Ribbon.
| | 01:58 | Notice that I have several of the settings
that we see when we create multi-line text.
| | 02:03 | I'm going to click the Right Arrow key to
move my Cursor after the dimension value.
| | 02:08 | I'll add a space and then I'll type
typical, I'll press Enter, and
| | 02:13 | then I'll type 4 Holes.
| | 02:15 | Notice the dimension text is blue.
| | 02:17 | This is a visual cue to let me know
that this value is being derived from
| | 02:22 | the dimension itself.
| | 02:23 | When I'm finished making my change,
I'll click outside the Editor and then I'll
| | 02:27 | press Escape to exit the command.
| | 02:28 | Let's pan this down and let's
take a look at this dimension.
| | 02:32 | I'd like to make some changes to this one.
| | 02:35 | I'll click to select it and instead of
using grips, I'm going to right-click,
| | 02:39 | and notice that there are several
options at the top of the menu that are
| | 02:42 | associated with dimensions.
| | 02:44 | Let's take a look at Dim Text position.
| | 02:46 | I'm going to come over
and select Move text alone.
| | 02:49 | This allows me to reposition this
dimension text independent of the
| | 02:53 | dimension geometry.
| | 02:55 | I can place it here, I can click on it,
grab this grip, I can move it over here.
| | 03:00 | I can pretty much place it wherever I like.
| | 03:02 | Now, let's look at how we can re-
associate this dimension text to the dimension.
| | 03:07 | It's still selected, so
I'm going to right-click.
| | 03:10 | I'll go back to Dim Text position, and
I'll select Move with dimension line.
| | 03:15 | Now this dimension is acting just
like it did when I first put it in.
| | 03:19 | I'd like these to line-up.
| | 03:20 | So, I'm going to click right here to place it.
| | 03:23 | Then I'll select it, I'll grab the
grip at the end of this Arrowhead and I'll
| | 03:26 | place it to the end of this Arrowhead.
| | 03:29 | I'm going to zoom out, let's pan over a little
bit, and let's take a look at this dimension.
| | 03:34 | I'll select this and I'll right-click.
| | 03:37 | Notice, I can modify my precision.
| | 03:39 | Remember I said that we could break
the rules a little bit when it comes to
| | 03:42 | our dimension style.
| | 03:43 | Well, right now, the dimension style
is dictating that this dimension be
| | 03:47 | two decimal spaces.
| | 03:49 | I can use this menu option to change
it to six decimal spaces.
| | 03:53 | So, as far as this dimension is
concerned, it's taking on all of the dimension
| | 03:57 | style settings with the exception of precision.
| | 04:00 | I'm going to select this
again, and I'll right-click.
| | 04:03 | Notice I can also use
this menu to flip arrowheads.
| | 04:06 | I can create a new dimension style from
an existing dimension, or I can assign a
| | 04:11 | different dimension style to this dimension.
| | 04:13 | I'm going to press the Escape
key a couple times to close these menus
| | 04:17 | and deselect my entity.
| | 04:18 | Then I'm going to double-click the
Scroll Wheel to get a Zoom Extents.
| | 04:22 | Probably the most powerful tool we have for
editing dimensions is the Property Changer.
| | 04:26 | I'm going to zoom in on this
dimension and I'll select it.
| | 04:29 | Then I'll come over to the Property
Changer, and there is a lot of settings here.
| | 04:34 | I'm going to click these
triangles to collapse these groups.
| | 04:43 | Notice that these group names match the
tabs that we see in the dimension style.
| | 04:47 | This means that I can modify any of
the dimension style settings for a
| | 04:51 | specific dimension only.
| | 04:53 | Now, currently this guy
is to two decimal spaces.
| | 04:55 | I'm going to open up the Primary Units group,
and we can see the Precision rate here as well.
| | 05:02 | I'll select this, click the fly-out,
and I'm going to change this to four
| | 05:06 | decimal spaces.
| | 05:07 | I'll close this group and I'll open up
the Text group, and I'd like to change
| | 05:11 | the Text height to 0.25.
| | 05:16 | I'd like to change the rotation
angle of the text to 25 degrees.
| | 05:20 | Then I'll move outside the Palette,
let it collapse and I'll press the Escape
| | 05:24 | key to deselect.
| | 05:25 | Now, this is just an example.
| | 05:27 | There is one realistic change I'd like to make.
| | 05:30 | Take a look at this radial dimension.
| | 05:32 | Notice that AutoCAD has added a center
mark, just like it did with this radial
| | 05:36 | dimension and these diameter dimensions.
| | 05:39 | Now, in this case, I'd rather not show
this center mark, I'd like to turn it off.
| | 05:43 | So, let's zoom in a little bit closer,
and I'll select this dimension, I'll go
| | 05:47 | to the Property Changer.
| | 05:49 | Inside the Lines & Arrows group, I'm
going to come over to the Center mark
| | 05:53 | setting, I'll click the fly-
out and I'll set this to None.
| | 05:58 | As you can see, AutoCAD
dimensions can be easily modified.
| | 06:01 | With a little effort, we can position
or customize them to suit any situation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating multileaders| 00:01 | Multileaders can be just as important as
dimensions when annotating your drawing.
| | 00:04 | They can be used to specify building
materials, typical conditions or give
| | 00:09 | special instructions to the contractor.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to create Multileaders.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a detailed drawing.
| | 00:16 | Let's zoom in a little bit, and I have
an example of a Multileader right here.
| | 00:20 | Sometimes, these guys are
also referred to as callouts.
| | 00:23 | Now, a Multileader is nothing more than a
text object that's associated with a leader.
| | 00:28 | Let's create one.
| | 00:29 | The Multileader Tool is located
right here in the Annotation Panel.
| | 00:33 | When I launch the command AutoCAD
wants me to place my Arrowhead first.
| | 00:38 | Now, I'd like to point this to the edge
of this sidewalk and my running object
| | 00:42 | snap of Endpoint isn't
helping me very much here.
| | 00:45 | Let's look at a new Object Snap.
| | 00:46 | I'm going to Shift+Right-Click and in
the Object Snap menu, I'll come down
| | 00:51 | and select Nearest.
| | 00:53 | This will ensure that I am selecting a
point on this line that's nearest to my Cursor.
| | 00:57 | This is an object snap that you'll
use frequently when placing callouts.
| | 01:01 | I will then pull this out and click to
define the size of my leader, and now
| | 01:05 | I can enter my text.
| | 01:07 | Notice that the text that's associated
with a Multileader is Multi-line text.
| | 01:11 | So, I have access to all of
the same formatting options.
| | 01:19 | As I type this, if I'd like Word Wrap,
I can click-and-hold on these arrows and
| | 01:24 | I can drag this out to
set the width of my column.
| | 01:30 | When I'm finished with my
note, I'll click on screen.
| | 01:32 | One of the nicest things about
multileaders is that AutoCAD lets me choose how
| | 01:36 | I'd like to create them.
| | 01:38 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 01:39 | I'm going to pan this over and then
I'll create another Multileader, and
| | 01:45 | instead of placing the Arrowhead first, I'm
going to right-click and select Content first.
| | 01:52 | Now, I can define my column
width and I'll add my note.
| | 02:02 | Let's drag this out a little bit wider.
| | 02:04 | When I click on the screen to
finish, now I can add my leader.
| | 02:08 | Depending on where my Cursor is, I can
attach the leader to either side of the note.
| | 02:12 | I'm going to place this Nearest to this line.
| | 02:16 | It's important to note that whichever
placement method you use last, that will
| | 02:20 | become the default method the next
time you launch the Multileader command.
| | 02:23 | I'm going to pan this up
and I'll create one more.
| | 02:27 | Now I prefer to place the Arrowhead first.
| | 02:30 | So, I'm going to right-
click and select Arrowhead.
| | 02:33 | I will point this to Nearest to this line.
| | 02:37 | I'll pull out and click,
and then I'll enter my note.
| | 02:43 | Finally, I'll drag this over to
give myself a little Word Wrap.
| | 02:47 | When it comes to adding callouts to
your drawing, nothing is as flexible or
| | 02:51 | fast as Multileaders.
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| Controlling appearance using multileader styles| 00:00 | You were probably wondering and you
were right, the appearance of your
| | 00:04 | Multileaders is also controlled by a style.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson, we're going to
take a look at Multileader Styles.
| | 00:09 | On my screen, I have a detail
drawing and this drawing contains
| | 00:12 | several Multileaders.
| | 00:14 | Let me mention that all of the leaders
in this drawing were created using the
| | 00:17 | default Standard
Multileader Style. Let's take a look.
| | 00:21 | I'm going to click to open up the
Annotation panel and right here, I can see the
| | 00:25 | name of the current Multileader Style.
| | 00:27 | it's called Standard.
| | 00:29 | All drawings start with the
Standard Multileaders Style.
| | 00:32 | Just like text and dimensions, you
need to have at least one style to
| | 00:35 | create Multileaders.
| | 00:37 | If I click this fly-out, we can see that
Standard is the only style in this drawing.
| | 00:41 | If I'd like to make changes to this
style or create a new Multileader Style,
| | 00:46 | I'll click the Multileader Style icon.
| | 00:49 | This brings up the Multileader Style
Manager, and notice this looks very similar
| | 00:54 | to the Dimension Style Manager.
| | 00:56 | In fact, it works the exact same way.
| | 00:58 | Right here I can see the
name of the Current style.
| | 01:01 | On the left side I can see a listing of
all of the Multileader Styles that have
| | 01:05 | been defined in this drawing.
| | 01:07 | Using these buttons on the right, I can
set a style Current, I can create a New
| | 01:11 | style, I can Modify an existing
style and I can Delete a style.
| | 01:16 | Notice that the Delete
button is grayed out right now.
| | 01:19 | That's because I only have one
Multileader Style in my drawing.
| | 01:23 | Now, since I have already created
several Multileaders in this file, I'm not
| | 01:27 | going to create a new style right now.
| | 01:29 | instead, we'll make changes to the existing one.
| | 01:31 | If you did want to create a new style,
you could click this New button and
| | 01:36 | right here is where you could give
the style a name, and just like with the
| | 01:39 | Dimension Style, your new Multileader Style will
start using the settings from an existing style.
| | 01:45 | I'm going to click Modify and notice
that Multileader Styles have far fewer
| | 01:50 | settings than a Dimension style.
| | 01:52 | That's because there isn't
as much too Multileaders.
| | 01:54 | Essentially we have settings for the
Leader Format, Leader Structure and Content.
| | 01:59 | Now, we're not going to be going through
all of the settings in this dialog box.
| | 02:03 | One great place you can go to learn
about Multileader settings is this
| | 02:06 | hyperlink right down here.
| | 02:07 | If you click this hyperlink, AutoCAD
will give you more information about the
| | 02:11 | concept of Multileaders and their styles.
| | 02:13 | For information about specific settings,
simply hover over it and AutoCAD will
| | 02:19 | give you a more detailed description
and don't forget about this preview.
| | 02:23 | This is a nice visual cue of
what the style will look like.
| | 02:26 | If you have questions about a
style setting, change it and see how it
| | 02:29 | affects the preview.
| | 02:31 | I'm going to start by changing the Text height.
| | 02:34 | Currently this is 0.18, I'm going to
make this a little smaller, I'll make it
| | 02:38 | 0.125, then I'll press OK and I'll
click Close, and notice how all of my
| | 02:44 | Multileaders are conforming to the new settings.
| | 02:47 | I'd like to make one more change.
| | 02:49 | Let's go back to the Multileader
Style Manager, I'll click Modify, and I'm
| | 02:53 | going to click on the Leader Structure tab,
and I'd like to adjust the landing distance.
| | 02:58 | Right now, this is set to 0.36.
| | 03:01 | This guy is controlling the length of this line.
| | 03:03 | I'm going to highlight this value and
I'll change it 0.15, I'll press Enter,
| | 03:08 | then I'll click OK and Close.
| | 03:12 | As you can see, Multileaders hold to
the same principle as text and dimensions.
| | 03:16 | Their appearance is controlled by a
style which standardizes their look and
| | 03:20 | makes it easy to make global changes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Modifying multileaders| 00:01 | Multileaders are one of the easiest
annotations to edit, which is nice
| | 00:03 | because in a busy drawing, they're
one of the first things you start moving
| | 00:07 | to give yourself more room.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to edit our Multileaders.
| | 00:10 | On my screen I have a drawing
that has several Multileaders.
| | 00:14 | Let's makes some changes.
| | 00:16 | I'm going to zoom in on this leader,
and we'll talk about text first.
| | 00:20 | If you'd like to edit
Multileader text, double-click on it.
| | 00:24 | This brings up the text editor
where you can make your changes.
| | 00:27 | I'm going to click and place my cursor
at the end of the note, and I'll add a
| | 00:31 | carriage return and another note.
| | 00:34 | Since this is the multi-line text
editor, I also have access to any of these
| | 00:38 | features up here as well.
| | 00:40 | When I'm finished, I'll click on screen.
| | 00:42 | Now, let's talk about how we
would reposition a Multileader.
| | 00:45 | We'll do that using grips.
| | 00:47 | If I select this Multileader,
notice a series of grips pop up.
| | 00:50 | If I select the grip closest to the leader,
I can use this to reposition the callout.
| | 00:56 | If I pull this far enough over, the
leader will snap to the other side the note.
| | 01:00 | If I select this grip farthest from the
leader, I can drag this back and forth
| | 01:05 | and adjust the column width.
| | 01:06 | I'm going to click to set
the column width right here.
| | 01:09 | Notice that's not what you were expecting.
| | 01:11 | That's not what I was expecting either.
| | 01:13 | I was expecting a very narrow column.
| | 01:15 | You know what happened?
| | 01:16 | My running object snap got in my way.
| | 01:18 | I'm going to click Undo, let's select
this again, I'll select my grip and notice
| | 01:23 | as I drag this over, my endpoint
running object snap is trying to grab the
| | 01:28 | endpoint of the landing line.
| | 01:30 | Be mindful of your running object snaps.
| | 01:32 | I'm going to come down and turn my
running object snaps off momentarily.
| | 01:36 | If I need an object snap, I'll
grab it manually from the menu.
| | 01:40 | Notice, there's a grip at
the end of the arrowhead.
| | 01:43 | I can use this to reposition the arrow
and point this callout to another location.
| | 01:47 | If I pull this far enough over, the
leader will snap to the other side of the note.
| | 01:51 | I'm going to press Esc to deselect this
and let's take a look at the landing line.
| | 01:55 | Notice there's some grips here.
| | 01:57 | If I use these arrows on either end, I
can drag these out to change the length
| | 02:02 | of the landing line.
| | 02:03 | If I select the grip in the middle, I can
reposition the callout by holding this landing line.
| | 02:09 | Let's zoom out and I'll pan this drawing
down and let's take a look at this Multileader.
| | 02:15 | Maybe I would like to add
a leader to this callout.
| | 02:18 | To do that, I'll move up and click the
Multileader fly-out and I'll select Add Leader.
| | 02:23 | I will then select the Multileader.
| | 02:26 | this gives me another arrow, I'm going to
pull this out and I'll point it right here.
| | 02:31 | Notice AutoCAD always assumes
you want to add more than one.
| | 02:34 | I'm going to pull another
one out and I'll place it here.
| | 02:37 | When I'm finished, I'll press my Esc key.
| | 02:40 | Now, even though there is three
leaders associated with this callout, if I
| | 02:44 | select it and try and move it, notice
all of the leaders go along for the ride.
| | 02:49 | Now, let's talk about how we can
remove a leader from a callout.
| | 02:52 | Once again, I'll come back to the
Multileader fly-out and I'll select Remove Leader.
| | 02:57 | I will then select my Multileader and
then I'll select the leader that I'd like
| | 03:01 | to remove and press Enter. Let's back up.
| | 03:05 | In this drawing I have several
Multileaders on this right side.
| | 03:09 | Maybe I would like to align them all.
| | 03:11 | To do that, I'll click the Multileader
fly-out and I'll select Align, I will
| | 03:15 | then select all of the Multileaders
that I'd like to align up and right-click.
| | 03:20 | Finally, I'll select the Multileader I
would like to align the rest of them too.
| | 03:24 | I'll select this one and
this looks little weird.
| | 03:27 | AutoCAD needs to know my alignment direction.
| | 03:30 | I'm going to press F8 to lock my Ortho,
I'll pull this straight up and click and
| | 03:35 | AutoCAD aligned all of
these Multileaders vertically.
| | 03:38 | I'm going to zoom in on this note.
| | 03:40 | I'll pan this over a little bit.
| | 03:42 | We can also make changes to our
Multileaders using the property changer.
| | 03:46 | I'll select this and then I'll
open up the property changer.
| | 03:49 | Now, there are a lot of settings here.
| | 03:51 | I'm going to click these triangles
to collapse a couple of these groups.
| | 03:55 | Notice, I have a Leaders Group and a Text Group.
| | 03:58 | This is where I can make changes
independently of my Multileader Style.
| | 04:02 | As an example, I'll change
the size of the arrowhead.
| | 04:04 | I'll select this value and I'll change the
Arrowhead Size to 0.1 and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:11 | Let's change the Text Height.
| | 04:12 | I'll come down to the Text Group,
I'll click on the Height setting and I'll
| | 04:15 | change this to 0.25 and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:19 | Finally, since this is multi-line text,
I'm going to come down to the Line space
| | 04:23 | factor and I'll change this to 0.7,
to tighten this text up a little bit.
| | 04:27 | Make sure to experiment with the
Multileader settings in the property
| | 04:30 | changer, you'll find that you can make
specific Multileaders look just about anyway you like.
| | 04:35 | Now that I'm finished, I'll let that
collapse and I'll press Esc to deselect.
| | 04:39 | Let's do one more thing, I'm
going to come back down and turn on my
| | 04:42 | running object snaps.
| | 04:43 | I'm sure you'll agree that Multileaders
are one of the most flexible annotation
| | 04:47 | tools and they're easy to
edit as your dimensions or text.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
13. Generating and Managing Reusable ContentInserting blocks| 00:00 | In this lesson we are
going to talk about blocks.
| | 00:02 | Blocks are something that we use
whenever we have geometry that's repeated
| | 00:06 | throughout our drawing,
they are a lot like symbols.
| | 00:09 | I would like to start off by inserting
a block into this file to give you an
| | 00:13 | idea of how they work.
| | 00:14 | On my screen I have a civil engineering example.
| | 00:16 | this is a site plan for a
proposed commercial development.
| | 00:20 | I am going to zoom in on the parking lot.
| | 00:22 | and I will center these stalls on
screen and I am going to insert a block
| | 00:27 | that represents a car.
| | 00:29 | To do that I will come up to the
Block panel and I will click insert.
| | 00:32 | and when the dialog box comes up, I am
going to make sure that the only setting
| | 00:36 | that's checked is this
one on the left hand side.
| | 00:39 | Then I will come down and click OK.
| | 00:41 | We will come back and talk
about this box in just a little bit.
| | 00:45 | Notice I am holding a car at my cursor
and I can position this in between some
| | 00:50 | parking stripes, and I will
click to place it in the drawing.
| | 00:53 | Now this car is a block.
| | 00:55 | If I select this, notice that
AutoCAD treats it as a single entity.
| | 00:59 | I am going to press Esc to deselect this,
and let's insert another one and this
| | 01:03 | time we will focus our
attention on the dialog box.
| | 01:06 | I am going to move back up and click Insert.
| | 01:09 | First of all, I can use this name
fly-out to select from any block that' been
| | 01:13 | defined in this file.
| | 01:15 | Right now I only have the one.
| | 01:17 | If a block name has been selected, I can
see a preview of the block, right over here.
| | 01:21 | Just below I have a series of
checkboxes, these guys represent questions, for
| | 01:26 | instance, where do you want to insert
the block, do you want to resize the
| | 01:31 | block, do you want to
change the rotation of the block?
| | 01:34 | Placing a check in one of these boxes
means that AutoCAD is going to ask me that
| | 01:38 | question when I insert the block.
| | 01:40 | As of right now, when I insert this car,
AutoCAD is only going to be asking me
| | 01:44 | for the insertion point.
| | 01:45 | Let's click OK and then I
will place this car right here.
| | 01:50 | Now I obviously didn't center
that car to well inside the stall.
| | 01:54 | Take a look at this, if I select the
block, I can see a single grip right here.
| | 01:59 | This grip represents the insertion point
that is the point at which I am holding
| | 02:03 | the block when I inserted into the drawing.
| | 02:05 | I can use this insertion point to help me
accurately position the block in this file.
| | 02:10 | I am going to click to select this grip,
now where do I want to put this block down?
| | 02:15 | Well, I like it to be centered inside the
stall, let's take a look at a new object snap.
| | 02:21 | I am going to Shift+Right click and then
I will select Mid Between 2 points from
| | 02:26 | the menu, and I will select the
endpoint of this stripe and the end point of
| | 02:31 | this stripe, and AutoCAD places my
block midway between those two points.
| | 02:36 | Now I move that block by clicking
on the grip at the insertion point.
| | 02:39 | Insert is also an object snap.
| | 02:41 | Take a look at this car.
| | 02:42 | it's obviously not
perfectly centered in the stall.
| | 02:45 | I am going to launch the Move command.
| | 02:47 | I will then select my block and
right-click, where do I want to pick this up
| | 02:51 | from, I am going to
Shift+Right click and select Insert.
| | 02:55 | Now when I place my cursor on the car,
AutoCAD selects the insertion point and
| | 03:01 | where do I want to place this, I will
Shift+Right click and I will select Mid
| | 03:05 | Between 2 Points and I will grab the
endpoint here and the endpoint here.
| | 03:09 | Let's insert another block.
| | 03:11 | This time I will insert it on the other
side of the lot and let's see if we can
| | 03:15 | position it correctly as its being inserted.
| | 03:19 | Click the Insert button and as far as
the questions are concerned, I still
| | 03:23 | want AutoCAD to ask me for the
insertion point, and since this car is going to
| | 03:26 | be facing in the other direction, I would
also like AuotCAD to ask me for the rotation.
| | 03:31 | You know what.
| | 03:32 | as long as we are talking about
checkboxes, notice there is another
| | 03:34 | checkbox down here.
| | 03:36 | this will explode the block when it's inserted.
| | 03:39 | So technically it wouldn't be a block
anymore, it would individual entities.
| | 03:43 | It's very important, if I need this
geometry to be a block, I want to make sure
| | 03:46 | that this box remains unchecked.
| | 03:48 | Let's click OK and where
do I want to place this?
| | 03:52 | I am going to use my new object snap.
| | 03:54 | I will Shift+Right click.
| | 03:55 | I will select Mid Between 2 points.
| | 03:57 | I will select the endpoint
of this stripe and this one.
| | 04:01 | Notice AutoCAD is now asking for a
rotation angle, at this point I could free
| | 04:05 | pick a point on the screen, or I could
enter an angle, instead I am going to
| | 04:09 | make easy on myself.
| | 04:11 | I am going to press F8 to lock my Ortho
and then I will snap to the angle that I
| | 04:15 | want, and I will click to place the block.
| | 04:18 | By having this geometry as a block,
I am sure you will agree, it's much
| | 04:21 | easier to work with.
| | 04:23 | It's certainly much easier to insert.
| | 04:24 | Now that we understand what a block
is and how we can insert them into a
| | 04:28 | drawing, we are ready to move on to
the next lesson, where we learn how to
| | 04:31 | create our own blocks.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating blocks| 00:00 | Whenever you have duplicated geometry
in a drawing, it's a good idea to convert
| | 00:04 | that geometry into a block.
| | 00:05 | Generally speaking, a block is a group
of geometry that has been given a name.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson we are going
to learn how to create a block.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have a civil engineering example.
| | 00:15 | This is a drawing of a
proposed commercial site plan.
| | 00:18 | Just for a second, let's assume we are
a landscape architect and we would like
| | 00:21 | to insert some trees into this drawing.
| | 00:24 | Now I have already created my
first tree over here to this side.
| | 00:27 | Let's zoom in, this geometry represents
a shade tree and it has 25 foot diameter.
| | 00:33 | Now currently it is a bunch of
individual segments and I am sure you would
| | 00:37 | agree, it would be very time consuming
to redraw one of these at each location
| | 00:42 | where I would like a shade tree in the drawing.
| | 00:44 | Likewise I don't want to copy this
geometry to each position, because I could
| | 00:48 | end up with literally thousands of
individual entities in this file.
| | 00:51 | Instead, I am going to
convert this geometry into a block.
| | 00:54 | To do that I will move up to the Block
panel and I will click the Create icon,
| | 00:58 | and in the Block Definition dialog box,
I will start by giving my block a name,
| | 01:04 | I'll call this Shade Tree, and then in
the Base Point group, I will click the
| | 01:08 | Pick Point button and I will
select the base point for this block.
| | 01:12 | This is the insertion point or the
point at which I will be holding the block
| | 01:16 | when I insert it into the drawing.
| | 01:17 | Now the most logical location
would be the center of this circle.
| | 01:21 | In the Objects area, I am going to
click the Select Objects button, and then I
| | 01:25 | will select the geometry that I would like to
be a part of my block, and I will right click.
| | 01:30 | Let's move this dialog box over a little bit.
| | 01:33 | Finally what do I want to do with this geometry?
| | 01:36 | Do I want to keep it as it is?
| | 01:37 | Do I want to convert this into the
first inserted block or do I want to
| | 01:42 | delete the geometry?
| | 01:43 | I am going to leave this set to
Delete, because I really don't need
| | 01:46 | this geometry anymore.
| | 01:48 | If I wanted the geometry back,
I could always insert the block.
| | 01:51 | Finally I will come down and click OK.
| | 01:53 | And as you can see the block has been
created and my geometry has been deleted.
| | 01:57 | Now I don't need this dimension anymore,
so I will launch my Erase command, I
| | 02:01 | will select this and right-click.
| | 02:03 | Let's zoom out, we will pan back over
to the parking lot, and we will insert
| | 02:06 | our first shade tree.
| | 02:08 | To do that I will move up to the
Block panel and click the Insert button.
| | 02:11 | Here is the Shade Tree that I just
created, and as far as the questions go, I
| | 02:16 | would like to specify the insertion
point on screen and I will leave the Scale
| | 02:20 | and the Rotation unchecked.
| | 02:22 | I will click OK, and I am going
to place my Shade Tree right here.
| | 02:26 | Having this geometry as a block makes it
easier to move, copy, or manipulate in this drawing.
| | 02:31 | For instance, if I needed another
tree, I could insert another or I could
| | 02:35 | create a copy of this one.
| | 02:37 | I am going to launch the copy command.
| | 02:39 | I will select my tree, AutoCAD treats it
as a single entity, I will right click,
| | 02:44 | and I will pick this up from the
insertion point of the block, and I will place
| | 02:49 | a copy here, I will put one here,
place one here and over here.
| | 02:54 | When I am finished, I will press Esc.
| | 02:56 | Blocks can be used for trees,
manholes, fire hydrants, labels, plumbing
| | 03:01 | fixtures, pretty much anytime you have
multiple instances of the same geometry.
| | 03:06 | it's a good idea to create a block.
| | 03:07 | Alright, let's create another block, and
this time we will take it to another level.
| | 03:11 | I am going to open up the Layer Control
and I am going to turn on a Layer that I
| | 03:15 | have been hiding from you.
| | 03:16 | We will turn on layer alt-tree, and I will
zoom in on this geometry over here to the right.
| | 03:21 | This line work represents another tree
symbol that you might see in a landscape
| | 03:25 | architect's drawing.
| | 03:26 | This one was created with a diameter of
one foot and we will use this diameter
| | 03:30 | to our advantage in just a second.
| | 03:32 | Let's convert this geometry into a block.
| | 03:35 | I will click to Create
button and give my block a name.
| | 03:37 | We will say, this geometry is
going to represent an Ornamental Tree.
| | 03:45 | I will then click Pick Point,
and specify my insertion point.
| | 03:49 | I am going to select the center of this circle.
| | 03:51 | Then I will click Select Objects
and I will select the geometry that
| | 03:56 | comprises my block, and I will right
-click and once again I am going to
| | 04:00 | delete this geometry.
| | 04:01 | You know, there is another important
setting in this box, right over here, it's
| | 04:04 | called Scale uniformly.
| | 04:06 | I am going to make sure
that this box is checked.
| | 04:09 | We will talk more about this
setting in just a little bit.
| | 04:12 | I will click OK to finish my block and
my geometry has been deleted, so I am
| | 04:16 | going to erase this unnecessary dimension.
| | 04:19 | Let's zoom out and pan back over to
the parking lot and I will insert my
| | 04:23 | first Ornamental Tree.
| | 04:24 | I will launch the insert command,
and I will select Ornamental Tree from
| | 04:28 | the block name menu.
| | 04:30 | Now when I place this in the drawing, I
want AutoCAD to ask me for an insertion
| | 04:34 | point and in this case, I also
want AutoCAD to ask me for Scale.
| | 04:38 | I will click OK and I would
like to place my tree right here.
| | 04:42 | Notice AutoCAD is asking for a scale factor.
| | 04:44 | Let's say this tree shade has 15 foot diameter.
| | 04:47 | So I am going to type 15 for
my scale and I will press Enter.
| | 04:51 | Remember that that original
geometry had a diameter of 1, so 15x1 = 15.
| | 04:57 | Let's insert another, I will click OK,
and I will place my tree here, maybe
| | 05:02 | this one should have a diameter of 10 feet,
so I will type 10 for my scale and press Enter.
| | 05:07 | You know what, if I wanted to I could
click Insert, and I could tell AutoCAD
| | 05:11 | don't even ask me for a scale, I am
going to hard code the scale right here.
| | 05:15 | I am going to insert a
tree with a 7 foot diameter.
| | 05:18 | Remember that Scale uniformly button
that was checked when we created this
| | 05:21 | block, that's what controls
these settings right here.
| | 05:25 | Because it was set to Scale uniformly, I am
able to control the scale using this one value.
| | 05:30 | If Scale uniformly was unchecked when
this block was created, I would have to
| | 05:34 | independently set the scale for the
length, width and height of this block.
| | 05:38 | I will move down and click OK, and
then I will place my block right here.
| | 05:42 | As long as we are here, what if I'd like
to make changes to these Ornamental Trees?
| | 05:46 | If I select this tree and come over to
the property changer, right down here in
| | 05:50 | the Geometry group, I can
see its Scale is set to 15.
| | 05:54 | So this tree must have a 15 foot diameter.
| | 05:57 | Well, maybe it was supposed to be 20
feet, so all I have to do is change the
| | 06:01 | value to 20 and the tree updates automatically.
| | 06:04 | Why stop there, maybe I would like to
update all of the ornamental trees at one time.
| | 06:08 | If I make a crossing window and
select these and come over to the Property
| | 06:12 | Changer, I can see AutoCAD found three
blocks, I am going to come down to Scale
| | 06:17 | inside the geometry group.
| | 06:18 | Right now this says VARIES.
| | 06:20 | I am going to set all of these to
have 15 foot diameter and as you can see,
| | 06:24 | having this geometry as a
block makes it very flexible.
| | 06:28 | Anytime you have geometry that's
repeated throughout your drawing, it's wise to
| | 06:32 | consider converting that geometry into a block.
| | 06:35 | Blocks are faster to insert, easier
to manage and they will keep your file
| | 06:38 | sizes much smaller.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Leveraging blocks| 00:00 | Now, that we know how to create a
block let's expand on the concept and learn
| | 00:04 | how we can use blocks to our advantage.
| | 00:06 | On my screen, I have an architectural example.
| | 00:08 | this is a floor plan for
a proposed medical office.
| | 00:11 | Let's zoom in and notice all of
the repeated geometry in this file.
| | 00:16 | I'm going to select some of these,
because I want to show you that virtually all
| | 00:19 | of the entities that you
see were created using blocks.
| | 00:23 | By using blocks I can add
furnishings to this building very quickly.
| | 00:26 | For instance, if I need an exam table,
I can insert and exam table, if I need a
| | 00:31 | desk, I can insert one.
| | 00:33 | And the whole time I'm certain that
my geometry is consistent throughout
| | 00:36 | the entire floor plan.
| | 00:37 | As an example, I'm going to insert one of
these exam tables that we see right here.
| | 00:41 | To do that I'll move up to the Block
Panel and launch the Insert command.
| | 00:44 | And I'll click the Block Name fly-out
and I'll select my block from the list.
| | 00:49 | Now, when I insert this, I want AutoCAD to
ask me for an Insertion point and a Rotation.
| | 00:56 | Finally, I'm going to place
my block right about here.
| | 00:58 | And I'm being mindful of
my running objects snaps.
| | 01:02 | You know what I'm going to
turn those off momentarily.
| | 01:04 | I'll place the block here and then
I'll rotate it such that it's similar to
| | 01:08 | the room next door.
| | 01:09 | Another, nice benefit of creating all
of these furniture blocks is that it's
| | 01:13 | very easy to move, or copy, or
rearrange the contents of my floor plan.
| | 01:18 | As an example, I'm going to launch the
Move command, and let's move these plants
| | 01:22 | away from the closet.
| | 01:24 | I'm going to pick this up from a point
somewhere in the middle of the plants and
| | 01:27 | I'll place it over here.
| | 01:28 | Then I'll launch my Copy command, I
will select these entities and I'd like to
| | 01:34 | copy them from the endpoint of
this wall to the endpoint of this one.
| | 01:41 | Now, notice that this block that I
inserted is a different color than some of
| | 01:45 | the other similar blocks in this drawings.
| | 01:47 | Remember this, because in a little bit
I'm going to give you a quiz and you're
| | 01:51 | going to tell me why this
block is a different color.
| | 01:54 | In the meantime I'm going
to pan the drawing over.
| | 01:57 | And let's talk a little bit
about block best practices.
| | 02:01 | First of all blocks should be
placed on a layer of their own.
| | 02:04 | I'm going to open up the Layer control.
| | 02:06 | Notice that I have a layer called furniture.
| | 02:09 | all of my furniture blocks have
been inserted onto that layer.
| | 02:12 | I also have a layer called plumbing fixtures.
| | 02:14 | This is where you'll find all
of my plumbing fixture blocks.
| | 02:17 | I've created several other
layers in this drawing for my blocks.
| | 02:21 | Dividing your blocks onto logical layers
can make it very easy to turn groups of
| | 02:25 | objects on and off using layers settings.
| | 02:27 | Another best practice.
| | 02:29 | It's very helpful if you create your blocks
from geometry that was drawn on layer zero.
| | 02:33 | As an example I'm going to create a new block.
| | 02:38 | This geometry right here
represents a desk chair.
| | 02:41 | And if I select these individual entities you
can see these guys were drawn on layer zero.
| | 02:47 | Let's convert this geometry into a block.
| | 02:49 | To do that I'll launch the Create
command then I'll give my Block a Name, I am
| | 02:55 | going to call this guest chair.
| | 02:58 | I will then select Pick points
and I'll select my Insertion point.
| | 03:01 | Now, this is furniture, so it
doesn't require a high degree of precision,
| | 03:05 | virtually any point will do.
| | 03:08 | I'm going to select the Midpoint right here.
| | 03:10 | I'll then click Select Objects, and I'll
select the objects that makeup my block.
| | 03:16 | And I'll right-click.
| | 03:17 | Finally, I would like to
Delete these original entities.
| | 03:22 | Let's backup, I'll pan this over, and we'll
insert one of our new chairs into this office.
| | 03:28 | First, I'm going to practice good form.
| | 03:29 | Let's create a layer for this block.
| | 03:32 | I'll do that by going to
the Layer Properties Manager.
| | 03:36 | I'll click the New icon, and I'm
going to call my layer, guest chairs.
| | 03:43 | Now, this is kind of, overkill.
| | 03:45 | I mean I could be inserting these
chairs onto the furniture layer.
| | 03:48 | I'm only doing this as an example.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to set the Layer Color to red.
| | 03:52 | And finally, let's set this layer current.
| | 03:55 | I'll do that by using the Layer control.
| | 03:57 | Alright, I'm ready to insert my chair.
| | 03:59 | I'll click the Insert button and
I'll select my new block from the list.
| | 04:04 | I'm going to keep the same settings as before.
| | 04:07 | I'll place my chair right here, and
I'll give this a little bit of rotation.
| | 04:11 | Now, notice this block is taking on
the properties of the current layer.
| | 04:15 | If you create your block from entities
that were drawn on layer zero that
| | 04:19 | block will assume the properties
of the layer it's inserting to that.
| | 04:22 | This is a very powerful concept.
| | 04:26 | Watch this, I'm going to set the
plants layer current, and then I'm going to
| | 04:30 | Insert another guest chair.
| | 04:35 | Notice, this new chair is taking on
the properties of the current layer.
| | 04:39 | This means we can have one symbol and
they can show up using different colors or
| | 04:43 | line types depending on the layer we put it on.
| | 04:45 | And as a bonus, this is also a visual
cue that shows me that I'm inserting my
| | 04:50 | block on the wrong layer.
| | 04:52 | All of my chair should appear red, this one
is green, it's obviously on the wrong layer.
| | 04:56 | To fix that I'll select it and then I'll
select the appropriate layer from the Layer control.
| | 05:00 | Now, let's pan back over to the Exam
Room and here's the quiz, why is this
| | 05:05 | exam table magenta?
| | 05:07 | Well, if I select this we
can see the answer right here.
| | 05:10 | It was inserted on the plumbing fixtures layer.
| | 05:13 | All of the blocks in this drawing were created
using geometry that was drawn on layer zero.
| | 05:18 | So let's correct this, I'll open up
Layer Control then I'll put this guy on
| | 05:23 | the furniture layer.
| | 05:24 | Use block to your advantage.
| | 05:26 | Anytime you have repeated geometry
in your drawing, you've a perfect
| | 05:29 | opportunity to create a block.
| | 05:31 | Using the blocks in this drawing, I
have more control over the furniture and I
| | 05:35 | can make fast revisions
or editions to floor plan.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Redefining blocks| 00:00 | Probably the most compelling
reason to use blocks is that they can be
| | 00:03 | redefined if necessary.
| | 00:05 | By simply changing the geometry of one
of the blocks, every other instance of
| | 00:08 | that block will automatically update.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to redefine a block.
| | 00:13 | On my screen I have a site plan for a
proposed restaurant and there are several
| | 00:17 | blocks in this file.
| | 00:19 | These tress were created using blocks, as
were the cars, these tables and these doors.
| | 00:26 | In this example, we're
going to focus on the trees.
| | 00:28 | Let's say I wanted to colorize this exhibit.
| | 00:31 | Normally we colorize a drawing by
filling everything with various colors
| | 00:35 | of solid-fill hatch.
| | 00:37 | Now, I'm sure you would agree it would
be very time consuming if we had to hatch
| | 00:40 | each of these trees individually.
| | 00:42 | Fortunately, we don't have to do that.
| | 00:44 | Since these trees are blocks, I can
modify the block definition and all of the
| | 00:48 | trees will update automatically.
| | 00:50 | Let's add some color to these ornamental trees.
| | 00:53 | To redefine a block, all you
have to do is double-click on it.
| | 00:56 | This brings up a dialog box where I can
confirm the Block that I want to modify,
| | 01:01 | I'll click OK and then
AutoCAD brings up the Block Editor.
| | 01:04 | This allows me to jump into the
Block itself and get access to the
| | 01:08 | individual components.
| | 01:09 | Notice the new Block Editor
tab and the additional tools.
| | 01:13 | Also notice the model space
background color has changed.
| | 01:16 | This is so that I don't forget
that I'm in the Block Editor.
| | 01:19 | Now, the Block Editor can do a lot of things.
| | 01:22 | We can add special grips
to modify the Block shape.
| | 01:25 | we can apply Parameter Constraints, we
can also create multiple Visibility states.
| | 01:30 | For right now, we're just going to
make some simple changes to the geometry.
| | 01:34 | I'd like to start by
erasing some of this line work.
| | 01:37 | So, I'm going to set the Home tab
current, and I'll launch the Erase command,
| | 01:41 | I'll select this geometry and this extra circle.
| | 01:45 | Now, I'll hatch this remaining shape.
| | 01:48 | To do that I'll launch the Hatch command
and then I'll click the Pattern fly-out
| | 01:52 | and let's kill two birds with one stone.
| | 01:55 | Let's take a look at the
gradient fill hatch as well.
| | 01:59 | I'm going to select Gradient
Spherical and I can see the colors of my
| | 02:03 | Gradient right here.
| | 02:04 | I'm going to click the Blue fly-
out, and I'll change this to Green.
| | 02:07 | Then I'll come down and I'll click to
turn off the Centered toggle and when I do
| | 02:12 | watch this preview, notice my second
gradient color is no longer centered and if
| | 02:17 | I wanted to, I could further refine this
by dragging the Angle slider, I'm going
| | 02:21 | to set this back the way it was.
| | 02:23 | This will give me the appearance of a
light source being cast down from above.
| | 02:27 | Since I'm happy with my settings, I'm
going to place my cursor inside the shape
| | 02:31 | and I'll click, and then I'll press
the Enter key to accept the hatch.
| | 02:35 | This is exactly how I want
my revised block to look.
| | 02:38 | So, I'm going to go back to the Block
Editor, I'll come down and click Close and
| | 02:44 | then I'll click to save my changes, and
notice that each instance of that block
| | 02:48 | has been updated in the drawing.
| | 02:50 | Redefining a block is one of the
biggest time savers in AutoCAD.
| | 02:53 | If you have the foresight to create
blocks for your repeated geometry, making
| | 02:57 | global changes later can be
done in seconds instead of hours.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Building a block library| 00:00 | Once you start using blocks, it won't
be long before you'll want to create a
| | 00:03 | library of your common symbols such
that you can use them in other drawings.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to use the DesignCenter to build a
| | 00:10 | custom block library.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I have an architectural
example and this drawing contains several blocks.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to move up and click the
Insert icon and then I'll open up the
| | 00:20 | Block Name fly-out and we can see a
listing of all of the Blocks that are
| | 00:24 | defined in this file.
| | 00:26 | Now, one of the shortcomings of blocks
is that they only exist in the drawing in
| | 00:30 | which they were created.
| | 00:31 | That means, if I was to start a new
drawing and attempt to insert a block, this
| | 00:35 | list would be empty.
| | 00:36 | What we're going to do is learn how to
take the Blocks that are in this file and
| | 00:40 | use them in any drawing we want.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to close this and then I'll
close the current drawing, don't forget
| | 00:47 | the name, number 5 Office.
| | 00:53 | I will then start a new AutoCAD drawing,
we'll use the default acad template and
| | 01:00 | let's do one more thing, let's set
this drawing to Architectural units.
| | 01:05 | To do that I'll open up the Application
menu, I'll select Drawing Utilities and
| | 01:10 | then I'll select units and right here
in the Length Type area, I'll set this to
| | 01:14 | Architectural and I'll click OK.
| | 01:16 | Since the drawing that contains my
blocks is set to Architectural, I want to
| | 01:20 | make sure that this
drawing is set to the same units.
| | 01:22 | otherwise I run the risk of AutoCAD resizing
the Blocks when I bring them into this drawing.
| | 01:27 | Now that our units match, I'm
going to open up the DesignCenter.
| | 01:30 | The DesignCenter is used to move content
from one drawing to another and there's
| | 01:35 | two ways we can open it.
| | 01:36 | One way is by going to the View tab
and I can come down to the Palettes panel
| | 01:40 | and click this icon.
| | 01:42 | Another way to open the DesignCenter
is by pressing Ctrl+2 and when this
| | 01:47 | guy pops up on screen, the first thing we
notice is that the DesignCenter is a palette.
| | 01:51 | This means that I can anchor it
or I can dock it to my interface.
| | 01:54 | Generally speaking, the tool
itself works just like Windows Explorer.
| | 01:58 | I can use this panel on the left to
navigate through the folders on my hard
| | 02:03 | drive and I can use these plus
icons to jump in and out of the folders.
| | 02:09 | Now, when we first open the
DesignCenter, it defaults to this DesignCenter
| | 02:12 | folder, which is located inside the
Sample folder, which is inside the
| | 02:17 | AutoCAD 2011 directory.
| | 02:19 | Since this folder's open,
notice it contains several drawings.
| | 02:22 | Feel free to explore the content in these files.
| | 02:25 | Many of them are based on
real world production work.
| | 02:27 | At this point, I'd like to navigate to
a different folder, but before we leave,
| | 02:31 | let's make it easy to return to this one.
| | 02:33 | I'm going to right-click on the
folder name and then I'll come down and
| | 02:36 | select Set as Home.
| | 02:39 | This means that no matter where I
navigate on my hard drive, I can always return
| | 02:43 | to this folder by clicking the Home icon.
| | 02:46 | I'm going to click and hold on this
Slider, I'll drag this down and I'll
| | 02:51 | navigate to the exercise files folder,
then I'll click the icon to open that, I
| | 02:57 | will click this icon to open up the
chapter_13 folder and where DesignCenter
| | 03:01 | surpasses Windows Explorer is right here.
| | 03:04 | Take a look at this icon.
| | 03:06 | If I click this plus, I can
navigate into this drawing and AutoCAD gives me
| | 03:11 | a list of all of the things
that I can steal from this file.
| | 03:14 | I'm going to select Blocks and when I
do, I can see a preview of all of the
| | 03:18 | Blocks that exist in this drawing.
| | 03:20 | I'll drag this up and down and
we can see all of the previews.
| | 03:24 | If I'd like to move a block from this
drawing into my current drawing, all I
| | 03:28 | have to do is click, hold and
drag it into my file and release.
| | 03:32 | I'm going to zoom out, let's pan
this over, looks like I need to REGEN.
| | 03:37 | I'll type RE and press Enter.
| | 03:40 | There we go, now I have a little bit more room.
| | 03:42 | I'll drag this down and
we'll bring in another block.
| | 03:45 | I'll click, hold and drag and
we'll bring in the floor plant.
| | 03:48 | Now, the only thing we're really
missing by inserting blocks this way is
| | 03:52 | the insertion point.
| | 03:53 | As you can I wasn't able to
place these with much precision.
| | 03:56 | If you'd like to insert a block from
the DesignCenter using the Standard dialog
| | 04:00 | box, all you have to do is double-click on it.
| | 04:04 | I'm going to double-click on the stool.
| | 04:06 | I can then determine which questions
I'd like AutoCAD to ask me and then I can
| | 04:11 | place this using a logical insertion point.
| | 04:14 | Now, imagine if I navigated to another file
and brought in additional furniture blocks.
| | 04:18 | Maybe I could call this current
drawing furniture.dwg and this drawing could
| | 04:23 | contain all of the
furniture blocks I've ever created.
| | 04:26 | I could then save this drawing on the
hard drive and the next time, I needed a
| | 04:29 | furniture block, I could use the
DesignCenter to navigate to this drawing, where
| | 04:33 | I would have access to
all of my standard symbols.
| | 04:36 | Imagine creating a drawing that
contained all of your landscape symbols.
| | 04:39 | You could create a drawing that
contains all of your fixtures and appliances.
| | 04:43 | Essentially, a block library is nothing
more than a drawing that contains all of
| | 04:46 | your common symbols.
| | 04:48 | I'm going to save this drawing, I'll
click the Save button and I'll save this
| | 04:52 | inside the chapter_13 folder, inside
the Exercise Files directory and I'm going
| | 04:58 | to call this Furniture Symbols.
| | 05:05 | Now, at any point in the future, if I
create another furniture block, I can use
| | 05:09 | the DesignCenter to add it to
my Furniture Symbols drawing.
| | 05:12 | Using the DesignCenter we can easily
organize a custom library that holds all of
| | 05:16 | the symbols that we use most and later,
as we create more symbols, we can return
| | 05:20 | to the DesignCenter to add them to our library.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
14. Accessing Specialized ToolsQuerying a drawing using rollover tooltips| 00:01 | In this lesson, we're going to talk
about a tool that you've probably already
| | 00:03 | discovered on your own.
| | 00:05 | It doesn't take long before you notice
that if you hover over an entity, AutoCAD
| | 00:10 | will display a pop up that tells
you a little bit about the object.
| | 00:13 | This is called a rollover tooltip and
we can use these to get information about
| | 00:18 | the entities in our drawing.
| | 00:20 | For instance, I'm going to hover over
this and notice that AutoCAD tells me what
| | 00:24 | this object is as well as some
additional general property information.
| | 00:29 | Now, if you're not seeing these
tooltips, it's because the feature's been
| | 00:32 | turned off on your system.
| | 00:34 | Let me show you where you
can go to turn it back on.
| | 00:37 | The Rollover Tooltips are a user preference.
| | 00:39 | So, we're going to visit the Options dialog box.
| | 00:43 | To get there, I'm going to right-click
and I'll select Options from the menu and
| | 00:49 | if we go to the Display tab, there's a
checkbox right here that controls the
| | 00:53 | display of the rollover ToolTips.
| | 00:55 | Now, I'm going to leave
mine on and I'll click OK.
| | 00:59 | Using this tool is a lot
like interrogating your drawing.
| | 01:02 | For instance, what layer is this on?
| | 01:05 | It's on the interior-walls-dashed layer.
| | 01:07 | How about this door?
| | 01:09 | Is this door a block? Yes it is.
| | 01:11 | How about the utility tub, is
this a block? No, it's not.
| | 01:15 | These are individual entities.
| | 01:17 | These are Polylines that were
drawn on the plumbing layer.
| | 01:21 | Since I'm not actually selecting this
geometry, Rollover Tooltips are a fast
| | 01:25 | way to get information.
| | 01:26 | They do however have one flaw and it has
to do with text, specifically text that
| | 01:32 | was created using a True Type font.
| | 01:35 | Watch this, if I hover over this text,
notice the tooltip doesn't show up.
| | 01:40 | In fact, I can hover around in here
all day and we'll never see the tooltip.
| | 01:45 | If you're dealing with the True Type
font and you want to see the Rollover
| | 01:48 | Tooltips, you have to hover
slightly outside the text object.
| | 01:52 | I know it seems odd, but once you
understand the tool's weakness, it's pretty
| | 01:56 | easy to work around.
| | 01:59 | The beauty of the Rollover Tooltip is
that you can get information without
| | 02:02 | having to select your geometry.
| | 02:04 | This means that Rollover Tooltips can
be one of the fastest ways to review your drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Taking measurements using the Distance command| 00:00 | Finding the distance between two
points doesn't always require us to create a
| | 00:04 | dimension, some times just
knowing the measurement is all we want.
| | 00:08 | In times like these we can
use AutoCAD's Distance tool.
| | 00:11 | On my screen I have a site
plan for a proposed restaurant.
| | 00:14 | Let me mention that, this is a civil
engineering drawing, so it was created such
| | 00:19 | that each unit equals one foot.
| | 00:22 | Let's verify some of the
measurements in this drawing.
| | 00:25 | First of all I would like to measure the
width of this parking stall, to do that
| | 00:29 | I am going to use the Distance tool.
| | 00:31 | Distance is located in the Utilities
Panel, if I click this fly-out, we can find
| | 00:36 | Distance at the top of the menu.
| | 00:38 | Also notice that Distance is the
default option, so if I wanted to, I could
| | 00:42 | launch the command by clicking this large icon.
| | 00:46 | Now to find a distance all I have to
do is click two points, and AutoCAD will
| | 00:50 | tell me how far apart they are.
| | 00:52 | I am going to select the endpoint here
and the endpoint here, and I could see
| | 00:57 | those points are 9 units apart,
so the stall must be 9 feet wide.
| | 01:01 | If I would like to take another measurement.
| | 01:03 | I can press the Enter key to repeat the command.
| | 01:06 | Let's find the depth of the stall
this time, I'll measure the distance from
| | 01:10 | the end point here to the intersection right
here, and I could see that stall is 18 feet deep.
| | 01:18 | Make sure and use Object Snaps when you
are taking measurements, it's the only
| | 01:21 | way to guarantee your measurements are accurate.
| | 01:24 | Let's find one more distance, I'll
press Enter to repeat the command, and I
| | 01:29 | would like to find the width
of this drive through lane.
| | 01:32 | So I'll measure a distance from a
point, nearest to this line to a point
| | 01:40 | perpendicular, to the other side,
and I could see the drive through lane
| | 01:45 | measures 12 feet wide.
| | 01:47 | When I am finished taking measurements,
I can select Exit from the menu or I can
| | 01:51 | click the Escape key.
| | 01:52 | Now taking individual measurements is
nice, but what if I like to find the
| | 01:56 | cumulative total of several measurements.
| | 01:59 | As an example may be I would like to
measure the parameter of my proposed building.
| | 02:04 | I'll move up and launch the Distance
tool, and then I will zoom in and select
| | 02:09 | this lower outside corner, and take a
look at my command line, notice I have an
| | 02:13 | option called Multiple points.
| | 02:16 | I'll right-click and select Multiple
and then I'll select the endpoint here,
| | 02:23 | endpoint here, I will select the endpoint here.
| | 02:26 | Each time I select a point,
AutoCAD is adding that distance to the
| | 02:30 | previous measurement.
| | 02:32 | I'll select the endpoint here, I'll
select this endpoint, and when I am
| | 02:38 | finished, I'll right-click and
select Close to close my shape.
| | 02:42 | And I can see the total
distance right here, 235.69 feet.
| | 02:50 | So if you'd like to verify some of the
measurements in your drawing, whether it
| | 02:53 | be one at a time or a cumulative total,
you can use AutoCAD's Distance tool and
| | 02:58 | avoid the hassle of
creating unnecessary dimensions.
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| Modifying properties using the Quick Properties tool| 00:01 | In this lesson, we're going to learn the
fastest way to change the properties of our objects.
| | 00:05 | I'm speaking of the Quick Properties Tool.
| | 00:07 | This tool is like having a miniature
Property Changer right at your Cursor.
| | 00:11 | Now Quick Properties is actually a Mode setting.
| | 00:14 | I'm going to come down to the Status Bar.
| | 00:16 | I'll click this toggle to turn the tool on.
| | 00:18 | When I do, we really don't notice anything
different, that is, until I select something.
| | 00:25 | I'm going to select this circle.
| | 00:27 | Notice that the Quick Properties Tool
looks very similar to the Property Changer.
| | 00:31 | Essentially it's the same thing.
| | 00:33 | It's just a smaller collection of settings.
| | 00:36 | Now the tool is coming up in a collapsed state.
| | 00:39 | If I move my Cursor over the tool, it
will expand and show me all of the settings.
| | 00:43 | As an example, I'd like to
change the Radius of this circle.
| | 00:47 | So I'll click on the Radius setting.
| | 00:49 | I'll change this to 0.1 and press Enter.
| | 00:53 | When I'm finished, I'll press my
Escape key to deselect the circle and
| | 00:56 | notice that the Quick
Properties Tool closes on its own.
| | 00:59 | So by having this tool turned on, each
time you select something, you get quick
| | 01:04 | access to many of the popular settings.
| | 01:07 | Now I'd like to make another change.
| | 01:08 | These center lines are on the wrong layer.
| | 01:11 | So I'm going to click each of these.
| | 01:13 | Then I'll come over and click this Layer
fly-out and I'll put these guys on the center layer.
| | 01:20 | As you can see, by having the
properties close to the Cursor, we can make
| | 01:23 | changes very quickly.
| | 01:26 | I'm going to select this circle one
more time and bring back the tool and this
| | 01:30 | time, we'll talk about the tool itself.
| | 01:33 | In the upper left corner, we can see
this bumpy pattern. This is a handle.
| | 01:38 | If I click
and-hold on this, I can
move the palette if it gets in my way.
| | 01:41 | There is an Options icon in
the right side of the Palette.
| | 01:45 | If I click this, I can adjust the
settings that are associated with this tool.
| | 01:50 | I'll select Settings from the menu
and Palette behavior controls whether
| | 01:55 | the Palette collapses and how many settings
that we see when it's in a collapsed state.
| | 02:01 | Palette Location controls where
the Palette pops up on screen.
| | 02:05 | If I set this to Static, I can drag
the Palette wherever I like and from then
| | 02:09 | on, it will always pop up in that same location.
| | 02:12 | By default this is set to Cursor-dependent.
| | 02:15 | This is my favorite setting by the way.
| | 02:17 | We can see that it pops up to
the Top-Right of the Cursor.
| | 02:21 | If I click this fly-out, I can change that.
| | 02:24 | And the Palette comes up 50
pixels away from the Cursor.
| | 02:29 | I'm going to click OK to dismiss this
dialog and then I'll set this circle
| | 02:33 | back the way it was.
| | 02:35 | I'll select it and then I'll
change its Radius back to 0.25.
| | 02:41 | Let me show you one more thing.
| | 02:43 | You're going to notice that some of the
objects that you select aren't going to
| | 02:46 | have all of the properties that you like.
| | 02:48 | For instance, take a look at this dimension.
| | 02:51 | This is on the wrong layer.
| | 02:52 | If I select this, notice in the Quick
Properties Tool, I have no Layer setting.
| | 02:58 | That's what this big button is for.
| | 03:00 | This allows us to personalize the Quick
Properties Tool to match the way we like to work.
| | 03:06 | If I click this, it brings up
the Customizable User Interface.
| | 03:11 | I can see right here that I
have a Dimension selected.
| | 03:14 | Over here on the right, I can see a
listing of the settings that I can choose
| | 03:17 | from to display in the Palette.
| | 03:19 | So every time I have a Rotated Dimension
selected, I'd like to be able to change its layer.
| | 03:26 | When I'm finished I'll click Apply and OK.
| | 03:30 | Now when I select this dimension, I can
move up and change its layer right here.
| | 03:37 | Now it's important to note
that all dimensions are not alike.
| | 03:40 | This is a Radial Dimension.
| | 03:43 | If I select this, notice
there is no Layer option.
| | 03:46 | That's because this is a different object type.
| | 03:49 | I'm going to go back to the Customize
button and I'll turn on the Layer setting
| | 03:53 | for Radial Dimensions as well.
| | 03:55 | While I'm here, I can select any of
these other object types and I can dial-up
| | 03:59 | my Quick Properties Tool to match
any of the settings that I use most.
| | 04:07 | Finally, I'll use my setting to put
this Radial Dimension on the correct layer.
| | 04:13 | Using the Quick Properties Tool, we can
change our settings much faster because
| | 04:17 | the tool is just inches from our Cursor.
| | 04:20 | As an added bonus, we can
customize the tool and load it up with the
| | 04:23 | settings that we use most.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Automating calculations using the Quick Calculator feature| 00:01 | Another helpful tool that AutoCAD gives
us is the Quick Calculator.
| | 00:04 | What makes the Quick Calculator nice is that it
can be used in the middle of an active command.
| | 00:09 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I have some sketched geometry.
| | 00:13 | Let's say, I'd like to draw a circle whose
Radius is .75 units smaller than this existing one.
| | 00:19 | To do that, I'll launch the Circle
command, and I'd like to start my circle at
| | 00:23 | the center of this one.
| | 00:25 | Now what's my radius going to be?
| | 00:27 | Typically, this is where we
reach for the Handheld Calculator.
| | 00:31 | Fortunately, I don't have to do that.
| | 00:32 | I'm going to press Ctrl+8 to bring up
AutoCAD's built-in Quick Calculator.
| | 00:38 | Now my calculator popped up in the
expanded state, yours may not have.
| | 00:42 | If that's the case, you can click this
more or less button to expand the calculator.
| | 00:47 | First of all, notice it
says Active command CIRCLE.
| | 00:51 | That means whatever value I come up with,
it's going to be applied to the Circle command.
| | 00:56 | I'm going to punch out 2.691-.75=.
| | 01:05 | There's my value right there.
| | 01:07 | I'm going to come down and click Apply.
| | 01:09 | Notice AutoCAD dumps that
value to the command Line.
| | 01:12 | From here, I can press Enter to
accept the value and finish the circle.
| | 01:16 | Now let's turn it up a notch.
| | 01:18 | Maybe I'd like to create a new circle
that is half the size of this last one.
| | 01:23 | I'll press the Spacebar to
relaunch the Circle command.
| | 01:26 | I'll start my circle
from the center of this one.
| | 01:29 | Now what's the radius? I'm not sure.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to press Ctrl+8.
| | 01:32 | We'll let the computer figure it out.
| | 01:35 | Take a look at this area
at the top of the Palette.
| | 01:38 | This is where AutoCAD maintains a
running history of all of my computations.
| | 01:42 | The best part about this
history is that we can steal from it.
| | 01:46 | Here's my solution from last time.
| | 01:48 | I'm going to double-click on it to
move it down into the expression area.
| | 01:53 | Then I'll press divided by two.
| | 01:54 | Now you don't always have to use this keypad.
| | 01:57 | You can also use the
numeric keys on your keyboard.
| | 02:01 | I'll click equals.
| | 02:02 | There's my value, I'll click
Apply, and then I'll press Enter.
| | 02:06 | Now I'd like to create one more circle.
| | 02:08 | Let's create one that is twice the
size as this circle that we started with.
| | 02:13 | Once again, I'll relaunch the Circle command.
| | 02:15 | I'll start my circle from the
center of this one. What's my radius?
| | 02:19 | I'll press Ctrl+8.
| | 02:21 | I'm doing this because I want to show you that
you can steal from both sides of the history.
| | 02:26 | You can steel the answers or
you can steal the equations.
| | 02:29 | I'm going to double-
click on this first equation.
| | 02:31 | Then I'll click, hold and drag across this text.
| | 02:35 | I'll change this to multiplied by two.
| | 02:39 | Notice, I'm using the Asterisk symbol.
| | 02:41 | Asterisk represents multiplication.
| | 02:43 | Here is another shortcut.
| | 02:45 | We don't have to push the equals button.
| | 02:47 | If you want, you can simply
come down and click Apply.
| | 02:52 | Then I'll press Enter to finish.
| | 02:54 | Let's try something else.
| | 02:56 | Over here to the right, I
have a simple rectangular shape.
| | 02:59 | This rectangle is made up
of individual line segments.
| | 03:02 | Let's say, I'd like to offset this
left edge over such that I divide this
| | 03:06 | into five equal shapes.
| | 03:09 | Now first of all, I don't
even know how long this line is.
| | 03:12 | You know what, I don't have to know.
| | 03:13 | I can let the computer
figure out the math for me.
| | 03:17 | I'll move up and launch the Offset command.
| | 03:19 | Now what's my offset distance?
| | 03:21 | I'm going to press Ctrl+8
to bring up the Calculator.
| | 03:24 | Then I'll move up to the top of the
Palette, and I'll click this button
| | 03:27 | Distance Between Two Points.
| | 03:30 | I'll select this endpoint and this
one and AutoCAD moves that distance in
| | 03:35 | the Expression box.
| | 03:37 | I will then type divided by five.
| | 03:40 | Let me mention that we have only
scratched the surface as far as what
| | 03:43 | this Calculator can do.
| | 03:45 | If you'd like to explore the Quick
Calculator further, you can click this Help
| | 03:48 | icon and AutoCAD will give you more information.
| | 03:51 | I'm going to click Apply.
| | 03:54 | That moves the value to the command Line.
| | 03:56 | I'll press Enter to accept it and then
I'll offset this line over, and then I'll
| | 04:01 | offset this line and this one and this one.
| | 04:05 | While the Quick Calculator may
not completely replace the Handheld
| | 04:08 | Calculator that we keep at our desk,
it certainly makes computations within
| | 04:12 | AutoCAD much easier.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
15. PlottingCreating quick plots| 00:01 | At some point in the design process,
we'll need to create a hard copy of our work.
| | 00:05 | Let's look at how we can create a quick
print of our drawing for review purposes.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I have a drawing
of a Split Rail Fence Detail.
| | 00:14 | Let me mention that the units in
this drawing are set to decimal inches.
| | 00:18 | As you can see, the detail
measures 18 inches wide by 14 inches tall.
| | 00:23 | Now, I'd like to produce a hard copy of
this drawing and I don't need this to be
| | 00:27 | a formal plot with a Title Block and everything.
| | 00:30 | I just want to put this drawing on paper so
I can give it to a client for their review.
| | 00:34 | To do that, I'll move up to the Quick
Access Toolbar and I'll launch the Plot command.
| | 00:39 | This brings up the Plot Dialog Box.
| | 00:42 | And first of all, if you have any
questions about Plotting, you can use this
| | 00:46 | hyperlink and AutoCAD will walk
you through the plotting process.
| | 00:50 | Likewise, if you have any questions
about Plot Settings, simply hover over the
| | 00:54 | Setting and AutoCAD will give
you a more detailed description.
| | 00:58 | Let's start out by selecting a printer.
| | 01:00 | I'm going to open up the Printer Name
fly-out and let's take a look at these
| | 01:04 | printers at the top of the list.
| | 01:06 | These represent System Printers that are
connected to my machine or visible on my network.
| | 01:12 | Generally speaking, these are the same
printers that you'd see when printing
| | 01:15 | from a program like Microsoft Word.
| | 01:18 | Now each person's system is different.
| | 01:20 | So the list of printers that you see on
my screen probably will now match yours.
| | 01:25 | Let's look at these
printers at the bottom of the list.
| | 01:28 | Notice they have a different icon.
| | 01:30 | These represent virtual printers
that are installed with AutoCAD 2011.
| | 01:35 | Now since I don't have a physical
printer connected to my computer, I'm going to
| | 01:39 | use the DWG To PDF Virtual Printer.
| | 01:43 | I'd like you to select any printer
connected to your machine that will print to
| | 01:46 | a letter size, physical piece of paper.
| | 01:49 | Next, let's look at Paper Size.
| | 01:52 | I want to print this to a Letter Size
Sheet, otherwise known as ANSI A. It
| | 01:56 | measures 8.5 by 11 inches.
| | 01:58 | If I click this fly-out, you can see
that I have several other paper choices.
| | 02:02 | Let me mention that this list will change
depending on the printer that you choose.
| | 02:07 | You'll only see Paper Sizes that
work with your selected printer.
| | 02:11 | So, I'm going to leave this set to
ANSI A. On your system, you may have
| | 02:15 | to select a letter.
| | 02:17 | Now, let's talk about Plot Area.
| | 02:19 | This is where I tell AutoCAD, how
much of the drawing I'd like to print.
| | 02:23 | There's a few ways I can do this.
| | 02:25 | I'm going to click this
fly-out and I'll select Window.
| | 02:30 | And then I'll click a point in the upper
left, and then I'll come down and click
| | 02:34 | a point in the lower right.
| | 02:36 | Essentially, I'm using this
rectangle to define my Plot Boundary.
| | 02:39 | Now, let's talk about Plot Offset,
where do I want my drawing on the paper.
| | 02:46 | I'm going to select center of the plot
and when I do, watch this little preview.
| | 02:51 | Notice, AutoCAD centers
the drawing on the sheet.
| | 02:53 | As far as this preview is concerned,
the large rectangle represents my paper
| | 02:58 | boundary and the hatched rectangle
represents the size of my drawing.
| | 03:03 | Next, we'll talk about Plot Scale.
| | 03:05 | Right now, this is set to Fit to
Paper, and this is probably the worst
| | 03:09 | choice that you can make.
| | 03:10 | Normally, we want to print our drawings to a
measurable scale, so I'm going to turn this off.
| | 03:17 | Then I'll open up the Scale list and
notice that I have several of the standard
| | 03:21 | engineering and mechanical
scales at the top of the Menu.
| | 03:25 | And down at the bottom, I have
several architectural scales.
| | 03:28 | If this drawing was set for
architectural units, I'd be using these scales.
| | 03:32 | Let's try and print this drawing
at a scale of one-to-one.
| | 03:38 | And notice, based on the preview, this
red rectangle shows me that the drawing
| | 03:42 | is larger then my piece of paper.
| | 03:44 | And that stands to reason, since
the drawing measures 18 X 14 Inches.
| | 03:51 | Let's try and print the drawing
at half scale or one-to-two.
| | 03:56 | Based on the preview, looks like this will work.
| | 03:58 | If you'd like to create your own custom
Scales, you can use these settings right here.
| | 04:03 | If I wanted to print this at a scale
of one-to-three for instance, I'd
| | 04:07 | change this value to 3,
I'll press Tab to accept that.
| | 04:11 | Essentially what this means is, one
printed inch equals three units in Model Space.
| | 04:17 | And since my Model Space units are
inches, this drawing will plot at
| | 04:20 | one-third of its normal size.
| | 04:23 | I'm going to set this back to half scale,
I'll do that by changing this number
| | 04:27 | to 2 and I'll press Tab.
| | 04:29 | Then I'll come down and click Preview.
| | 04:32 | And as you can see, I have a
representation of my printed sheet.
| | 04:35 | Now, this Plot Preview
works just like Model Space.
| | 04:38 | I can use my scroll wheel to
zoom-in or pan around the drawing.
| | 04:44 | If I get a little closer, you can
even see the Pen Weights on my lines.
| | 04:47 | Now, there's only one problem.
| | 04:50 | Everything is wanting to
plot using the Layer Color.
| | 04:53 | Let's address that issue.
| | 04:56 | I'm going to X to close this preview
and then I'll click this More Than button
| | 05:01 | to expand the Plot Dialog Box to give
me access to the additional settings.
| | 05:06 | I will then click the Plot style table
fly-out and I'm going to select some pens.
| | 05:12 | I'll select the monochrome pen
table and then I'll click Yes.
| | 05:17 | We'll talk about the concept of Pen
Tables in much more detail a little bit later.
| | 05:22 | I'm going to select Preview again, and
notice that my Plot Preview looks more
| | 05:26 | like what you'd expect.
| | 05:28 | At this point, I'm ready to create
my print, so I'm going to close the
| | 05:31 | preview, and I'll click OK.
| | 05:35 | Now, if you just plotted your
drawing to your printer, your paper is
| | 05:37 | probably already coming out.
| | 05:39 | Since I'm plotting mine to a PDF,
I have to give my plot file a name.
| | 05:44 | I'm going to save my PDF on the
Desktop and I'll call it split rail detail,
| | 05:50 | and I'll click Save.
| | 05:52 | The image that you see on screen
is an example of my final plot.
| | 05:56 | If your drawing doesn't require the
formality of a Title Block, plotting a
| | 05:59 | window from Model Space is a great way
to produce a hard copy of your design.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Selecting a pen table| 00:00 | You may be wondering why it's
necessary to select a Plot Style table when
| | 00:04 | printing your AuoCAD drawings.
| | 00:06 | We certainly don't need a plot style when we
print from Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop.
| | 00:12 | Remember that AutoCAD is a
vector-based program, which means that the
| | 00:15 | information that we see on screen is
mathematically-based lines and curves and not pixels.
| | 00:22 | Each color choice that we have
represents a virtual pen that can be configured
| | 00:26 | to plot our line-work however we like.
| | 00:29 | Let's talk about Plot Styles.
| | 00:31 | I am going to open up the Layer
Properties Manager, and then I will move over to
| | 00:35 | the Color column and I will
select one of these swatches.
| | 00:39 | This brings up AutoCAD's Color
Selector and in reality, we are not really
| | 00:43 | choosing a color here, we are
actually choosing a virtual pen.
| | 00:48 | Watch this, if I place my Cursor over
the color Red, I can see just above it
| | 00:52 | that it has a number. number 1.
| | 00:54 | I am going to hover over the color
Yellow, that's number 2, I will hover over
| | 00:59 | the color Green, that's number 3.
| | 01:02 | You know only these first seven colors
have real color names, the rest of the
| | 01:07 | colors in this box are
only referred to by number.
| | 01:11 | These numbers represent the pen
number that's assigned to each color.
| | 01:15 | Here is the way to look at it.
| | 01:17 | Any layer that's set to pen
number one, will appear Red.
| | 01:20 | any layer that's set to pen
number 2, will appear Yellow.
| | 01:24 | pen number 3 will appear Green and so on.
| | 01:28 | There are 255 unique pens available in
AutoCAD and each of these pens can be
| | 01:34 | configured to plot different way.
| | 01:35 | I am going to close this box and then I
will move up and launch the Plot command.
| | 01:42 | We assign our Plot Style tables right here.
| | 01:45 | Notice this even says pen assignments.
| | 01:47 | I am going to open this up and I will select
the monochrome pen table, and I will click Yes.
| | 01:54 | This pen table is configured
such that all pens plot as Black.
| | 01:58 | I am going to click the Edit button, so
we can take a closer look at this table.
| | 02:03 | Now there are two ways to view our table data.
| | 02:05 | There is Table View, this is very
similar to Microsoft Excel and there is
| | 02:12 | Form View.
| | 02:14 | This is the method that I prefer to use.
| | 02:16 | On the left side, I can see a listing of
all of the pens that are in this table.
| | 02:21 | If I grab this Slider and drag
down, we can see there are 255 pens.
| | 02:28 | If I select a pen, I can then
configure how this pen is going to print by
| | 02:33 | adjusting these settings on the right.
| | 02:34 | But right now, notice this
pen is going to print as Black.
| | 02:39 | Pen number 2 will print as Black,
pen number 9 will print as Black.
| | 02:44 | They are all going to print as Black,
because this is the monochrome pen table.
| | 02:49 | Let's make a change.
| | 02:50 | I am going to select pen number 2, then
I will click this Color fly-out, and I'd
| | 02:55 | like pen number 2 to plot as Red.
| | 02:58 | This is the only change I am going to make.
| | 03:01 | Let's save this pen table, I will do
that by clicking Save As, because I don't
| | 03:05 | want to overwrite my original.
| | 03:08 | And I am going to call this, my
custom pens, and I'll click Save, then I
| | 03:15 | can close this.
| | 03:18 | I'll click the Pen Table fly-out
and I will select my new pens, and now
| | 03:24 | let's finish this plot.
| | 03:25 | I am going to select my Printer first.
| | 03:29 | Since I am not connected to a physical
printer, I am going to select the DWG To
| | 03:33 | PDF virtual printer.
| | 03:35 | You can select any printer
that's connected to your machine.
| | 03:38 | I am going to go with the 8.50-11.00
ANSI A size paper, also known as Letter Size.
| | 03:45 | For my plot area, I will click this
fly-out and I will select Window, and I
| | 03:48 | will define my plot boundary by
clicking this corner and I will come down and
| | 03:55 | click this one.
| | 03:58 | I'd like to center my plot on the sheet.
| | 04:01 | Finally we will take care of Plot scale.
| | 04:02 | I'd like to print this to a measurable scale.
| | 04:05 | So I am going to turn off Fit To paper.
| | 04:08 | Then I will click the Scale fly-out
and let's see if this drawing will fit on
| | 04:12 | the paper at a scale of 1:1.
| | 04:15 | Based on the Preview, looks like it's
not going to work, let's open up the Scale
| | 04:18 | fly-out again, I will try half scale or 1:2.
| | 04:23 | It looks like that will work, now at
this point, I am ready to click Preview,
| | 04:27 | but before I do that, I am
going to pull this dialog box down.
| | 04:31 | And take a look at the drawing.
| | 04:33 | Remember, that in our pen table, we
said pen number 2 will plot as Red.
| | 04:38 | Pen number 2 corresponds to Yellow.
| | 04:40 | Notice the geometry in this
drawing that appears Yellow.
| | 04:43 | Let me pull this back up and I will
click Preview and notice that we can see
| | 04:48 | that change on screen.
| | 04:50 | We will also see this
change on the printed page.
| | 04:54 | To finish this plot, I am going to show
you a shortcut, rather than closing the
| | 04:58 | Preview, and going back to the Plot
Dialog Box, I am going to right-click and
| | 05:02 | select Plot from this menu.
| | 05:05 | Now, if you have sent your drawing
to a physical printer, it's probably
| | 05:08 | already coming out.
| | 05:10 | Since I am printing mine to a PDF,
I am going to give mine a filename.
| | 05:13 | I am going to save mine to the Desktop,
and I will call this fuel pump bracket
| | 05:23 | and I will click Save.
| | 05:24 | On my screen is an example of the finished plot.
| | 05:29 | One of the benefits of having a Pen
Table is that you can customize AutoCAD to
| | 05:32 | your own office standards.
| | 05:34 | Most offices will configure a Pen Table
to be used for all of their plotting needs.
| | 05:39 | For now, as a beginning student, it's
probably best to stick with the Monochrome
| | 05:43 | Pen Table, such that all of your
line-work will plot using the color Black.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Choosing line weights| 00:01 | Since we are getting into the topic of
plotting, it's important to take a minute
| | 00:04 | and talk about Lineweights.
| | 00:06 | Our Lineweight setting controls the thickness
of the line work when it's printed on paper.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we are going
to learn how to set Lineweights.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a mechanical
example, and this drawing is essentially
| | 00:17 | finished, but before I print it,
I would like to visit the Layer
| | 00:20 | Properties Manager.
| | 00:23 | Let's pan this over, and
then I will open the Manager.
| | 00:26 | And notice that all of the layers in
this drawing are currently set to a
| | 00:30 | Lineweight of default.
| | 00:32 | That means when I print this drawing,
all of the lines are going to have
| | 00:35 | the same thickness.
| | 00:37 | Now, typically we use Lineweights to
emphasize the important parts of our drawing.
| | 00:41 | For instance, I would the geometry
of my part to plot using a heavier
| | 00:46 | Lineweight than my dimensions.
| | 00:48 | And I would like my dimensions to plot
using a heavier Lineweight than my center lines.
| | 00:54 | So let's change some of these weights.
| | 00:57 | To do that, I will reopen the Manager,
and I will come down and select one of
| | 01:01 | these Lineweight settings, and using
this dialog box, I can select from any of
| | 01:06 | these other thicknesses.
| | 01:09 | Now, here is my problem, I don't
know the thickness of the default
| | 01:12 | Lineweight, so how do I know if I am
picking something heavier or thinner
| | 01:16 | than what I already have?
| | 01:18 | Second of all, this drawing was set to
be Decimal Inches, and AutoCAD is showing
| | 01:23 | me these Lineweights using Millimeters.
| | 01:25 | I am going to click Cancel and let's see if
we can get some answers to these questions.
| | 01:31 | I am going to visit the Options dialog box.
| | 01:34 | I will right-click and
select Options from the menu.
| | 01:37 | Then I will set the User Preferences tab
Current, and I will come down and click
| | 01:42 | the Lineweight Settings button.
| | 01:45 | This is where we can get our answers.
| | 01:47 | Notice that AutoCAD is defaulting
to Millimeters for the Lineweights.
| | 01:51 | If I want, I can select Inches to see
the Inches equivalents of these weights.
| | 01:58 | Now, Millimeters has always been the
default measurement, so I am going to set
| | 02:01 | this back the way it was.
| | 02:03 | And notice that the default
Lineweight measures 0.25 Millimeters.
| | 02:08 | If I wanted to, I could open
this flyout and select a different
| | 02:11 | default measurement.
| | 02:12 | I am going to leave this setting alone,
for right now at least we know what
| | 02:16 | the default width is.
| | 02:19 | Since I haven't made any changes, I am
going to click Cancel and then Cancel to
| | 02:24 | close these dialog boxes.
| | 02:26 | Let's reopen the Layer Properties
Manager, and I am going to start by setting a
| | 02:30 | printed Lineweight for my part geometry.
| | 02:33 | Now, my geometry is on three
different layers, so I am going to select the
| | 02:37 | trigger layer, then I will hold my Ctrl
key and select the controller layer and
| | 02:42 | then the buttons layer.
| | 02:44 | By holding Ctrl, I'm able to
select more than one layer at a time.
| | 02:47 | Then I will come down to the
Lineweight Setting and click, and I am going
| | 02:52 | to give my part geometry a plotted line
thickness of .6 Millimeters, and I will click OK.
| | 02:59 | Now, I would like the dimensions to
plot a little bit thinner than the part, so
| | 03:02 | I will select the dimensions layer and
I will give this a Lineweight of .20.
| | 03:11 | Finally, I would like my center
lines to be a little thinner than the
| | 03:14 | dimensions, so I will select that layer and I
will give this a Lineweight of .13 millimeters.
| | 03:20 | I am not concerned about the
Lineweight of the Defpoints layer, because that
| | 03:24 | layer won't plot anyway.
| | 03:26 | And I am not concerned about the Lineweight
for layer 0, there is no geometry on that layer.
| | 03:31 | I am going to move off of the
palette and let it collapse.
| | 03:35 | And I will center this geometry.
| | 03:37 | And to see the Lineweights in action,
let's take a look at a Plot Preview.
| | 03:41 | I will launch the Plot command, then I
will select my Printer, I am going to use
| | 03:46 | the DWG To PDF virtual printer.
| | 03:49 | I am going to go with and 8.
50 x 11.00 Inch size sheet.
| | 03:52 | I will define my plottable area using a Window.
| | 03:56 | I will click to the upper left, and then I
will come down and click to the lower right.
| | 04:02 | I would like to center my plot on the
paper and then I will turn off the Fit to
| | 04:07 | paper setting, and let's see if this
will fit on the sheet at a scale of 1:1.
| | 04:11 | It looks like that will work nicely.
| | 04:14 | As you can see, I am using the monochrome pens.
| | 04:17 | Let's come down and click Preview.
| | 04:21 | Notice that you can see the Lineweights
as they will appear on the final plot.
| | 04:25 | Creative use of Lineweights is a great
way to create visual interest and draw
| | 04:29 | attention to specific areas of your drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a layout, pt. 1: Choosing a paper size| 00:01 | Most production drafting will
require us to create formal plots.
| | 00:04 | These plots will typically have a
title block that contains our company logo,
| | 00:08 | client information, scale
information, drawing title and other things.
| | 00:13 | To create our formal plots, we are
going to use what's known as a layout.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson, we'll set up our
layout and choose a paper size.
| | 00:20 | On my screen, I have a mechanical example.
| | 00:23 | Let's say, I'd like to plot this
drawing using our company title block.
| | 00:27 | To do that, I am going to set up a layout.
| | 00:30 | If we click at the lower-left corner, we
can see that this drawing has two layouts.
| | 00:34 | Each layout represents a sheet of
paper that we can use to print our drawing.
| | 00:38 | I am going to select Layout1 and notice
that this looks like a sheet of paper.
| | 00:44 | Also notice there is a rectangle on the
paper, inside of which we can see our part.
| | 00:49 | This rectangle is called a Viewport,
and we are going to talk about Viewports
| | 00:53 | a little bit later.
| | 00:54 | So since I have selected this, I am
going to press my Delete key to erase it.
| | 00:59 | Now the paper that we see on screen
is a representation of what our plot is
| | 01:02 | going to look like when it
comes out of the printer.
| | 01:05 | Notice it has this dashed
line around the outside.
| | 01:09 | This line represents the printable margin.
| | 01:11 | Anything that falls
outside this line will not print.
| | 01:15 | It's important to note that the
shape of this paper and the shape of this
| | 01:18 | boundary will change depending on the
printer and the paper size that I select.
| | 01:23 | Let's select a piece of paper for our plot.
| | 01:26 | To do that, I will right-click on the
Layout tab name and I will select Page
| | 01:30 | Setup Manager, and then I will click Modify.
| | 01:34 | Notice that the Page Setup Manager
looks very similar to the Plot Dialog Box,
| | 01:39 | that's because we are essentially
setting up our plot ahead of time.
| | 01:43 | You see a layout is merely a visual
representation of our plot settings.
| | 01:46 | I am going to choose a printer, I will
click the Printer name fly-out and I am
| | 01:51 | going to select DWG To PDF.
| | 01:54 | You can select any printer
that's connected to your machine.
| | 01:57 | I am going to go with the 8.50 ? 11.00
inch Paper size and as far as Plot area,
| | 02:03 | I would like to plot my layout,
so this setting is also good.
| | 02:07 | Finally, let's take a look at Scale.
| | 02:09 | Notice this is set at 1:1.
| | 02:11 | If you plot using a layout, your Scale
will always be 1:1, because our layout is
| | 02:16 | a true size environment.
| | 02:18 | Our paper is measured in inches and we
want the paper to print at a 1:1 scale.
| | 02:23 | Since I am finished with my settings,
I am going to click OK and then close.
| | 02:28 | Layouts are essentially a visual
display of saved plot settings.
| | 02:32 | The piece of paper that we see on
screen is a real-life representation of our
| | 02:36 | paper as it will come out of the printer.
| | 02:38 | In our next lesson, we'll add
a title block to this layout.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a layout, pt. 2: Inserting a title block| 00:01 | Now that we have set up our layout and
established a paper size, our next goal
| | 00:04 | is to add the title block.
| | 00:06 | Generally speaking, a layout
acts just like Model Space.
| | 00:09 | So if I wanted to, I could draft my
title block right here on the Layout tab.
| | 00:14 | I could launch the Rectangle command, and I
could pick a point here and draw it to here.
| | 00:20 | I can then press my Spacebar to
relaunch the command and then let me turn on my
| | 00:24 | running object snaps, I could start my
rectangle at this endpoint and draw it to
| | 00:29 | here, and I could slowly
start building my title block.
| | 00:33 | Instead, in an effort to save time,
I have already created a drawing that
| | 00:37 | contains my title block geometry.
| | 00:39 | Let's drag that geometry onto this layout.
| | 00:42 | I am going to erase these rectangles,
because I don't need these anymore, and
| | 00:47 | then I will move up and launch the Open command.
| | 00:50 | And then I will jump into the chapter_
15 folder, inside of our Exercise Files
| | 00:54 | directory and I will select this
titleblock drawing, and I will click Open.
| | 00:57 | Now that I have two drawings open in my
interface, I am going to click the View
| | 01:02 | tab, and then I will come down and
click the Titled Vertically button.
| | 01:06 | This gives me a nice
side-by-side view of my files.
| | 01:10 | Let's clean up these views a little.
| | 01:12 | I will start by zooming out and
centering my title block geometry in this
| | 01:16 | window, and then I will click to put
the focus in this window, and I will pan
| | 01:21 | this over and center my layout.
| | 01:24 | To move this geometry onto my layout,
I am going to click to put the focus on
| | 01:28 | the titleblock drawing, and then I
will select this geometry, and then I will
| | 01:33 | click-and-hold on a highlighted portion of a
line, and I'll drag this into the other file.
| | 01:40 | Now I will visually center
this as well as I can. Alright.
| | 01:43 | I don't need my titleblock
drawing anymore, so I will close this.
| | 01:49 | And then I will maximize
the other drawing on screen.
| | 01:52 | At this point, my title block
looks like its centered fairly well.
| | 01:56 | If necessary, I can always come back
later and adjust its locations after I
| | 02:00 | make my first plot.
| | 02:02 | Now that the title block is here, I can
zoom in and edit the text to suit my needs.
| | 02:09 | The drawing that I am printing
is a HEADLAMP MOUNTING PLATE.
| | 02:15 | In addition to title blocks, layouts
are also a great place to put notes,
| | 02:19 | legends, north arrows, and scale bars.
| | 02:23 | In our next lesson, we'll complete our
layout by adding a Viewport and setting
| | 02:26 | our geometry to a measurable scale.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a layout, pt. 3: Cutting viewports| 00:01 | Now that we have added a title block
to our layout, we are ready to finalize
| | 00:04 | our settings and create a Viewport,
such that we can see our part and set it to
| | 00:08 | a measurable scale.
| | 00:10 | First of all, let's take a look
at the geometry in this layout.
| | 00:13 | Notice the geometry is
displaying using the layer colors.
| | 00:16 | Wouldn't it be nice if our layout
displayed just like a plot preview?
| | 00:20 | Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 00:22 | I am going to right-click on the Layout
name, and then I will select Page Setup
| | 00:27 | Manager, and then I will select Modify.
| | 00:30 | Now, we have already taken care of
these plot settings ahead of time.
| | 00:34 | Let's take a look at the plot style table.
| | 00:36 | I will open up this menu and I will
select the monochrome pens, and notice that
| | 00:41 | since I am using a layout, I have the
option of displaying the plot styles.
| | 00:45 | I will turn this feature on,
I'll click OK, and close.
| | 00:50 | Now, my geometry is displaying using
the colors in the plot style table.
| | 00:55 | We can take this concept even one step further.
| | 00:57 | Maybe I would like to
see my Lineweights as well.
| | 01:00 | I can do that by adjusting a
Mode setting in the Status Bar.
| | 01:03 | I am going to come down and click this toggle.
| | 01:06 | this controls the display of the Lineweights.
| | 01:09 | When I turn this on, we can see the
Lineweights in the drawing, and now I am
| | 01:13 | truly able to work in a plot preview style mode.
| | 01:17 | At this point you may be asking yourself,
where is our part in relation to this Layout tab?
| | 01:22 | Let's take a look.
| | 01:22 | I am going to come down to the lower
left and I will click the Model tab, this
| | 01:27 | returns me to Model Space,
where my part geometry is located.
| | 01:31 | Notice Model Space looks a little
different now, because our Lineweight
| | 01:34 | toggle is turned on.
| | 01:36 | If you find the display of the
Lineweights to be a problem, you can always
| | 01:39 | turn them back off.
| | 01:40 | The Lineweights will plot just fine
whether this toggle is turned on or not.
| | 01:44 | I am going to leave mine on and
then I will return to the Layout tab.
| | 01:49 | Layouts sit on top of Model Space.
| | 01:51 | So if I want to see my part, I
need to cut a hole in this layout.
| | 01:55 | This hole is called a Viewport, and if
I am going to create a Viewport, I need
| | 01:59 | to put it on a layer of its own.
| | 02:02 | So I am going to open up the Layer
Properties Manager and I'll click the New icon.
| | 02:05 | I will call my layer Viewport, and then
I will click the green check to set this
| | 02:10 | layer Current, and I will return to the drawing.
| | 02:13 | To create the Viewport, I will click the
View tab, and the tool I am looking for
| | 02:17 | is down here in the Viewports Panel.
| | 02:20 | Now, launching this command
is essentially three clicks.
| | 02:23 | I am going to click New,
then Single, and then OK.
| | 02:29 | Now, I will pick two points to define
the rectangular shape of my Viewport.
| | 02:33 | I am going to select the
endpoint here and the endpoint here.
| | 02:37 | Notice we can now see the
part through this Viewport.
| | 02:41 | A Viewport is a lot like
a window into Model Space.
| | 02:44 | Watch this, if my cursor is inside
the Viewport and I double click, AutoCAD
| | 02:49 | gives me access to Model
Space through the window.
| | 02:52 | From here, I can pan, zoom.
| | 02:54 | I can even work through this Viewport.
| | 02:56 | It's a lot like reaching
your hand through a window.
| | 02:59 | In fact, we'll adjust the plotted scale of
this geometry by adjusting the zoom factor.
| | 03:04 | Now, I don't have to do that manually,
instead, once I am in the Viewport, I am
| | 03:08 | going to come down to the Viewport Scale
Menu and I can set the Scale from here.
| | 03:13 | Notice that I have several of the
standard engineering and mechanical Scales
| | 03:17 | at the top of the menu and I have several
architectural Scales down here at the bottom.
| | 03:22 | Let's see if this drawing will fit
in the Viewport at a Scale of 1:1.
| | 03:26 | It looks like that will work nicely.
| | 03:28 | I am going to pan this over and
center it a little better in the Viewport.
| | 03:33 | Once you finalize your Viewport,
it's a good idea to come down and click
| | 03:36 | this padlock to lock it.
| | 03:39 | Otherwise, if you accidentally roll
your scroll wheel, you will change the
| | 03:42 | scale of the Viewport.
| | 03:44 | You might think that you could
roll the wheel back to fix this,
| | 03:47 | unfortunately, it never works.
| | 03:49 | The only way to correct the Scale is to
come back to the Viewport Scale Menu and
| | 03:53 | reselect the Scale from this list.
| | 03:56 | Now that I have set my Scale, I am
going to come down and click this padlock to
| | 03:59 | lock it, and from now on, if I pan or
zoom in the Viewport, AutoCAD is going to
| | 04:04 | pan and zoom the entire layout.
| | 04:07 | If I would like to jump out of the
Viewport, I am going to move my cursor
| | 04:10 | outside the Viewport
boundary and I will double click.
| | 04:14 | Now my cursor is back on the Layout tab
and I have access to all of the layout
| | 04:18 | geometry and objects.
| | 04:20 | I would like to do one more thing in
keeping with my plot preview analogy.
| | 04:24 | I would like to turn off this grid.
| | 04:26 | This grid is coming from Model Space
and it really doesn't benefit me that much
| | 04:30 | on the Layout tab, so I
would like to turn it off.
| | 04:33 | To do that, I will double click to
jump into the Viewport, and then I'll come
| | 04:37 | down to the Status Bar and I will click
the Grid toggle to turn it off, and it
| | 04:41 | will be turned off in this Viewport only.
| | 04:43 | When I am finished, I'll double click
outside the Viewport boundary to jump out.
| | 04:48 | Now, remember when I created my
Viewport, I put it on a layer of its own.
| | 04:52 | You may be wondering why that's
necessary? Let's take a look.
| | 04:55 | I am going to go to the Home tab, and
if I turn off the Viewport Layer, notice
| | 05:02 | that the rectangle disappears and I
don't have to worry about this Viewport
| | 05:06 | showing up on my plots.
| | 05:07 | That's why it's a good idea to
put it on a layer of its own.
| | 05:10 | Now, I would like to do one more thing,
I would like to rename this layout.
| | 05:14 | Layout1 is kind of generic.
| | 05:16 | To change the name, I will double click
on it and I will call this Final Design,
| | 05:22 | and I'll press Enter.
| | 05:24 | When the time comes to plot this layout,
remember that all of the plot settings
| | 05:27 | have been taken care of ahead of time.
| | 05:29 | All I have to do to send this to
my printer is click Plot, and OK.
| | 05:34 | And since I am plotting this to a
PDF, I have to give it a file name.
| | 05:38 | I am saving this to my Desktop, and I
will call the file final design, and
| | 05:45 | I will click Save.
| | 05:47 | On my screen is an example of the final plot.
| | 05:50 | Layouts are the most powerful
way of creating plots in AutoCAD.
| | 05:54 | Their benefits even go beyond the
Viewports, plot preview, and naming features
| | 05:58 | that we have seen here.
| | 05:59 | If we can incorporate layouts into
our workflow, we have taken the first
| | 06:03 | step towards using even more
powerful features, like Sheet Sets, Page
| | 06:06 | Setups, and Publishing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reusing layouts| 00:00 | The best part about layouts
is that you can reuse them.
| | 00:04 | This means you only have to set up your
8.5-11 Inch layout one time and then you
| | 00:08 | can use it for any other drawing
you wish to print to 8.5-11 paper.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we are going to learn how
to plot a drawing using an existing layout.
| | 00:17 | On my screen I have an architectural example.
| | 00:20 | Let's say I'd like to plot this on
an 8.5-11 Inch size sheet using our
| | 00:24 | company title block.
| | 00:25 | Now, we have already seen that setting up
a layout from scratch takes a little time.
| | 00:30 | But you know what, I don't have to set up
a new layout, I already have an 8.5-11
| | 00:34 | layout in another drawing.
| | 00:36 | I am going to extract the layout from my
existing drawing and use it in this one.
| | 00:39 | I will do that by using the Design Center.
| | 00:42 | I will start by pressing
Ctrl+2 to open up the palette.
| | 00:46 | And then on the left side, I will
navigate to the folder that has the drawing
| | 00:50 | containing my layout.
| | 00:51 | I am currently in the Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:55 | So I am going to close up the Chapter_13 folder.
| | 00:59 | I will open the Chapter_15 folder, and
the drawing that I am interested in is
| | 01:03 | this one, 06_layoutPt3_finished.dwg.
| | 01:06 | I will click the Plus (+) icon to
navigate into this drawing, and then I will
| | 01:11 | select Layouts, and over here on the
right I can see both of the Layouts that
| | 01:15 | exist in this drawing.
| | 01:17 | I'd like to use the Final Design Layout.
| | 01:20 | So I will click, hold-and-drag this
Layout into my file, and then I will release.
| | 01:25 | And if you look right down here, you can see
the Layout has been copied into the current file.
| | 01:30 | So I am going to close the Design Center
and then we'll take a look at the new Layout.
| | 01:35 | It's important to note that if you
copy a Layout from one drawing to another,
| | 01:39 | the only geometry that comes along is
the geometry that exists on the Layout.
| | 01:43 | All of the Model Space geometry is left behind.
| | 01:46 | You know, I seem to recall that this
Layout also contained a Viewport and I
| | 01:50 | remember turning that layer off.
| | 01:52 | So I am going to open up the Layer Control,
and I will turn Layer Viewport back on.
| | 01:58 | Then I will double-click inside the
Viewport, and I will double-click the scroll
| | 02:02 | wheel on my mouse to do a Zoom
Extents, so that I can see my geometry.
| | 02:07 | And that didn't work.
| | 02:08 | You know why, because this
Viewport is still locked.
| | 02:11 | Let me click the padlock to unlock this.
| | 02:14 | I will do another Zoom Extents, there we go.
| | 02:16 | Now I can see my geometry.
| | 02:18 | The next step is to set this
geometry to a measurable scale.
| | 02:21 | I am going to open up the
Viewport Scale Menu, and since this is an
| | 02:26 | architectural example, I am going to be
using these scales at the bottom of the list.
| | 02:31 | Let's try 1/4? = 1'-0.
| | 02:34 | It looks like that's going to be too big.
| | 02:36 | I am going to open up the
menu and I will try 1/8? = 1'-0.
| | 02:41 | It looks like that scale
is going to work perfectly.
| | 02:44 | So I am immediately going to come back
down and lock the Viewport, and then I
| | 02:48 | will jump out of the Viewport by double-
clicking outside the Viewport boundary.
| | 02:52 | At this point, I would revise
my title block text as necessary.
| | 02:56 | I am going to change this
to ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLE.
| | 03:02 | I will revise the Scale as well.
| | 03:08 | When I am finished revising all of the
title block text objects, I will press
| | 03:12 | Esc to exit the text command, and then
I will turn my Viewport Layer back off.
| | 03:20 | Finally, to print this drawing, I
will select Plot and I will click OK.
| | 03:26 | And since I am printing this to a
PDF, I will give this a file name.
| | 03:29 | I am saving this to the Desktop, I
will call this Architectural Example, and
| | 03:36 | I will click Save.
| | 03:39 | On my screen you can see an
example of the finished plot.
| | 03:43 | Imagine if you created a master
drawing on your network that contained all of
| | 03:46 | your typical title blocks saved as layouts.
| | 03:49 | Anytime you needed to add a title block
to a drawing, you could simply drag and
| | 03:53 | drop the title block from the master file.
| | 03:55 | Layouts give you the power of
automating your title block insertions and reduce
| | 03:59 | the effort of plotting to a
couple clicks of the mouse.
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| Organizing layouts| 00:00 | AutoCAD drawings can contain several layouts.
| | 00:03 | This means we have complete control
over how or how much of our model space
| | 00:07 | geometry that we plot.
| | 00:09 | Since we can have multiple layouts,
let's look at how we can organize the
| | 00:13 | layouts in a drawing.
| | 00:14 | On my screen I have an architectural example.
| | 00:17 | this is a drawing of a proposed medical office.
| | 00:20 | Take a look at my Layout tabs.
| | 00:22 | Notice that I have already copied a
layout into this drawing and if I select the
| | 00:26 | layout, you can see that I have set my
geometry to a scale and I filled out the
| | 00:31 | rest of the title block information.
| | 00:33 | So essentially, this layout is finished.
| | 00:36 | Well, except for the name, I call
this sheet OV1, so I'd like to rename
| | 00:41 | the Layout tab as well.
| | 00:43 | To do that, I will double-click on the tab name.
| | 00:45 | I will call this OV1 and I will press Enter.
| | 00:50 | Notice that I also have two
other layouts in this file.
| | 00:53 | You can have as many layouts
as you want in your drawing.
| | 00:57 | If you have several layouts and you
don't like the way the tabs are arranged,
| | 01:01 | you can click, drag and release
the tabs to change their order.
| | 01:06 | Now, these two generic tabs are
currently unused, so I'd like to delete them.
| | 01:11 | To delete a layout, you can right-click
on the tab name, and select Delete
| | 01:14 | from the menu and you'll get a warning saying,
hey, you are trying to delete the layout.
| | 01:19 | do you want to do this? Yes, I do.
| | 01:21 | I will click OK.
| | 01:22 | I am going to do the same
thing to delete Layout2.
| | 01:27 | No sense keeping layouts that we are not using.
| | 01:30 | Now, maybe I'd like to create a new
layout similar to this one, and maybe I'd
| | 01:35 | like to use this layout to
focus on one of the Exam Rooms.
| | 01:38 | I will start by creating a copy of this layout.
| | 01:42 | To do that, I will click and drag on
this tab name, and then I will hold my Ctrl
| | 01:46 | key and I will release my mouse button.
| | 01:49 | If I select this tab, you can see it's
an exact duplicate of the original layout.
| | 01:54 | From here, I will change the scale of
this Viewport to focus on this Exam Room.
| | 01:59 | I will start by opening the Layer
Control and I will turn the Viewport layer on.
| | 02:03 | Then, I will double-click in the
Viewport, I will come down, and unlock it, and
| | 02:09 | I will pan this over to center
the Exam Room inside the Viewport.
| | 02:14 | Now, I will change the scale. Let's try 3/8
| | 02:17 | = 1'-0. That's not bad.
| | 02:20 | I think I can go larger.
| | 02:21 | I am going to try 1/2 = 1'-0.
| | 02:26 | that looks like it will work well.
| | 02:27 | I am going to re-center this and then I will
immediately come back down and lock the Viewport.
| | 02:34 | Now that I am finished, I am
going to jump out of the Viewport by
| | 02:37 | double-clicking outside the boundary.
| | 02:40 | As I look at this, take a look at some
of this extraneous geometry that we are
| | 02:44 | seeing outside the room.
| | 02:46 | Remember that a Viewport is
a window into model space.
| | 02:49 | Watch this, if I select the Viewport
boundary, I can adjust its size using these grips.
| | 02:55 | I will click this grip, and
I will pull it up to here.
| | 02:59 | Now, I am being mindful
of my running object snaps.
| | 03:02 | In fact, I am going to
turn t hose off momentarily.
| | 03:05 | I will pull the Viewport corner up to
here, and then I will grab this corner,
| | 03:11 | and I will pull it down to here.
| | 03:13 | When I am finished, I will press Esc.
| | 03:15 | By adjusting my Viewport boundary, I
was able to focus on exactly the geometry
| | 03:20 | that I wanted to see.
| | 03:22 | Let's turn the Viewport Layer back off,
and now I need to take care of some
| | 03:27 | housekeeping, let's revise
some of this title block text.
| | 03:31 | First of all I will change
the scale, this is 1/2 = 1'-0.
| | 03:34 | We will call this drawing ER1.
| | 03:42 | This is going to be sheet 2 of 2 and
I will call this TYPICAL EXAM ROOM.
| | 03:52 | Finally, I will do a Zoom Extents
and let's rename this layout tab.
| | 03:57 | I am going to double-click
and I will change this to ER1.
| | 04:03 | Using these layouts, I am able to
take my model space geometry and create
| | 04:07 | two separate plots.
| | 04:09 | AutoCAD drawings can support
an unlimited number of layouts.
| | 04:13 | With a little organization, we can take
the same model space geometry and plot
| | 04:17 | it any number of ways.
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|
|
16. Creating Properly Sized Annotations on Plotted DrawingsUsing the Annotative property to automatically size text| 00:01 | Let me start by saying that we should
never place text in a drawing until we
| | 00:04 | know our intended plot scale.
| | 00:06 | That's because the scale of our plot
will dictate how large our text needs to be
| | 00:10 | such that it's readable on the printed sheet.
| | 00:13 | Fortunately, if I know my plot scale,
AutoCAD will size my text automatically.
| | 00:18 | In this lesson, we are going to learn how to
create predictably-sized text in our drawings.
| | 00:22 | On my screen I have architectural floor plan
and I would like to label each of these rooms.
| | 00:29 | Before I get started, let me mention
that there is already a layout set up for
| | 00:32 | this drawing and if I look at
the SCALE here on the Title Block.
| | 00:36 | I can see this drawing is going to
plot at three-eighths of an inch equals
| | 00:39 | a foot.
| | 00:41 | You know what, good practice says, you
should never take the title blocks word for it.
| | 00:45 | So I am going to verify the Scale by
double-clicking in the Viewport and I will
| | 00:50 | check right down here, and yes, in fact,
this Viewport is three-eighths of an
| | 00:53 | inch equals a foot.
| | 00:54 | Alright, I am going to double-click out,
I will do a Zoom Extents of the sheet
| | 01:00 | and then I will return to Model
space where I can create my labels.
| | 01:04 | Now here is a question for you, what
should my text type be such that I am sure
| | 01:08 | that it's readable on the printed sheet?
| | 01:10 | Better yet, how large should I make my
text, if I wanted to measure a specific
| | 01:15 | size on the printed sheet?
| | 01:17 | A couple of years ago, we used to
have to work out the math to set our text
| | 01:21 | heights in Model space.
| | 01:22 | Now AutoCAD does
everything for us automatically.
| | 01:25 | Let me show you how it works.
| | 01:27 | I am going to create a text style, I
will open up the Annotation Panel and I
| | 01:31 | will click the Text Style icon.
| | 01:34 | Notice I already have a couple text
styles in this drawing, these text styles
| | 01:39 | are being used in the Title Block.
| | 01:40 | I will come over and click New and then I will
call my style, Room Labels, and I will click OK.
| | 01:48 | I am going to go with the Arial font,
I'd like this to be Bold, and before I
| | 01:54 | give this a height, I am going to come
over and click the Annotative button.
| | 01:58 | Notice that my text style
now has an icon next to it.
| | 02:01 | This icon means the text style will
automatically size itself to match my plot scale.
| | 02:07 | Since this is set to Annotative, I can
come over here and set the height I'd
| | 02:11 | like my text to appear on the printed page.
| | 02:14 | I'd like it to measure one
quarter of an inch tall.
| | 02:17 | Alright my text style is current, so I
will come down and click Apply and close
| | 02:22 | and I am ready to create my text.
| | 02:24 | Actually we have to do one more thing
first, take a look down here, this is the
| | 02:28 | Annotation Scale fly-out.
| | 02:30 | I am going to open this, and then I
will set it to match the plot scale.
| | 02:35 | The plot scale was three-eighths of
an inch equals a foot.
| | 02:38 | Now when I create my text or any
annotative object, AutoCAD is going to properly
| | 02:44 | size it for this plot scale.
| | 02:46 | Since these are simple labels I am
going to create some single line text.
| | 02:50 | I will start my text right here and
then I will press Enter for the Rotation
| | 02:55 | angle and I will type Bedroom.
| | 02:59 | Let's do one more, I will press the
Spacebar to re-launch the command, I will
| | 03:03 | put one here, and I will press
Enter, I will call this Bath.
| | 03:08 | Notice if I place my Cursor
over this text, I can see an icon.
| | 03:12 | This is a visual reminder that this
text is tied to a specific plot scale.
| | 03:17 | Now I'd like to create one more label,
and instead of typing it manually I am
| | 03:21 | going to launch the Copy command, and I will
copy this label, from this room, to this one.
| | 03:27 | Now that I am finished, I am
going to return to the layout.
| | 03:30 | Notice that the text is very easy to read,
I am going to zoom in, and let's take
| | 03:35 | a quick measurement.
| | 03:37 | Remember, we wanted our text to measure one
quarter of an inch tall on the page.
| | 03:41 | I will launch the Distance command, and
there aren't any object snaps here, so I
| | 03:47 | am just going to click as close as
possible, I will click here and then I will
| | 03:50 | press F8 to lock my Ortho and I will
pull this up to the top and you can see
| | 03:55 | this text measures a quarter of an inch.
| | 03:59 | From this point on, it would be a good idea
to make all of your text styles annotative.
| | 04:04 | By using Annotative Text, we can be
certain that our text will always be a
| | 04:08 | consistent size on our plots,
regardless of the scale we use for our drawing.
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| Using the Annotative property to automatically size dimensions| 00:00 | Our rule for dimensions is
the same as our rule for text.
| | 00:04 | We should never place dimensions in a
drawing until we know our intended plot scale.
| | 00:08 | Fortunately, dimension
styles can also be annotative.
| | 00:11 | So once I know my plot scale
AutoCAD will set the size of my
| | 00:14 | dimensions automatically. Let's take a look.
| | 00:17 | On my screen I have a mechanical
example and I would like to add some
| | 00:20 | dimensions to this drawing.
| | 00:22 | Before we get started, let me mention
that I have already created a layout for
| | 00:26 | this drawing, and if I look right down
here, you can see that my part is being
| | 00:30 | displayed at a SCALE 1:2 or Half Scale.
| | 00:35 | Now I have already verified my
Viewport Scale so I know that's good.
| | 00:39 | Let's return to Model space and
we will create some dimensions.
| | 00:43 | At this point I have not yet created a
dimension style, so we will do that first.
| | 00:47 | I will open up the Annotation Panel and
then I will open the Dimension Style Manager.
| | 00:52 | I will select New and then I
will give my Dimension Style a name.
| | 00:56 | I am going to call this Annotative Dimensions.
| | 01:01 | I will be starting with the same
settings as the standard style, and then I am
| | 01:06 | going to put a check in the Annotative Box.
| | 01:08 | This will ensure that my
new style is annotative.
| | 01:11 | I will click Continue and then I can go
through and adjust the settings for my new style.
| | 01:17 | Here's the way it works.
| | 01:19 | Anytime you have a size setting, you
want to set this to the size you want your
| | 01:23 | dimension to appear on the printed sheet,
so all of these sizes are paper sizes.
| | 01:28 | I am going to go to the Lines tab
and I'd like to make a change to my
| | 01:33 | Extension lines first.
| | 01:34 | I will change the length of the
Extension to .10 and I will press Enter.
| | 01:40 | This is the distance from the Arrowhead to
the end of the Extension line by the way.
| | 01:45 | Then I will go to the Symbols and
Arrows tab and I'd like to make my Arrow
| | 01:48 | size a little smaller.
| | 01:49 | I will change this from .18 to .12.
| | 01:54 | Next, I will go to the Text tab and .18
is rather large for a Text Height, so I
| | 02:00 | am going to change this to .12.
| | 02:03 | Since we are looking at text, you may
wonder, if you are making an Annotative
| | 02:07 | Dimension Style, do you have to use an
Annotative Text Style with it? No, you don't.
| | 02:12 | It's perfectly fine to use
a Non-Annotative Text Style.
| | 02:16 | Let's do one more thing, I will set
the Primary Units tab Current and I will
| | 02:20 | change my Precision to 2 decimal spaces.
| | 02:23 | Then I will click OK, and notice that my
new style has an Annotative icon next to it.
| | 02:29 | This means it will size itself
to match my desired plot scale.
| | 02:33 | I can see my new style is Current,
so I will move down and click Close.
| | 02:36 | Now I am going to come down to the
Annotation Scale fly-out and I will set this
| | 02:41 | to match my plot scale, my plot scale is 1:2.
| | 02:45 | And now that I have made that
change, I am going to do a regen.
| | 02:48 | I will type re and press Enter,
and when I do, watch my line types.
| | 02:54 | Notice the line types also
can form the Annotation Scale.
| | 02:57 | Let's pan this down and I am
going to create a linear dimension.
| | 03:03 | I'll dimension the distance from the
endpoint here to the endpoint here and
| | 03:07 | I will pull this up.
| | 03:09 | I will then press the
Spacebar to create another dimension.
| | 03:11 | I will create it from the endpoint here to
the endpoint here and I will pull this one out.
| | 03:17 | Now I am not going to dimension
everything, I am going to create a few
| | 03:20 | dimensions as an example.
| | 03:22 | Let's make one more.
| | 03:23 | I will dimension the distance from
the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 03:29 | Now let's try a scientific experiment,
I am going to open up the Annotation
| | 03:33 | Scale and I will change this to 1:4,
will this affect my existing dimensions?
| | 03:38 | No, it will only affect any new
annotative objects that I create.
| | 03:43 | For instance, I am going to create a
radial dimension, I'll select this circle
| | 03:49 | and I'll pull it out to there.
| | 03:50 | Notice the size difference.
| | 03:52 | In the event my part was being
plotted at quarter scale, this would be an
| | 03:56 | appropriately sized dimension.
| | 03:59 | Now I don't need this,
so I am going to erase it.
| | 04:03 | I will then set the Annotation
Scale back to 1:2, and I will create an
| | 04:08 | appropriately sized radial
dimension for this drawing.
| | 04:10 | Alright, this looks pretty good.
| | 04:14 | Let's return to the Layout and take a look.
| | 04:18 | As you can see my dimensions are legible and
they are appropriately sized for this Viewport.
| | 04:23 | From this point on it would be a good idea to
make all of your dimension styles annotated.
| | 04:28 | This way you can ensure that your
dimensions are consistently sized regardless
| | 04:32 | of the scale of your plot.
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| Using the Annotative property to automatically size multileaders| 00:00 | You were probably wondering
about this and you were right.
| | 00:04 | Multileaders can also be annotative.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to create predictably sized
| | 00:09 | Multileaders in our drawings.
| | 00:11 | On my screen I have an architectural
example, this is a drawing of a proposed
| | 00:14 | medical office, and I would like to
create some Multileaders to label some part
| | 00:19 | numbers of the furniture in a typical Exam Room.
| | 00:23 | Before I do that, I want to verify the
plot scale of this drawing, so let's take
| | 00:28 | a look at the layout that I am interested in.
| | 00:30 | I say that because there are
two layouts in this drawing.
| | 00:34 | Layout OV1 is an overall presentation
of the entire facility and layout ER1
| | 00:41 | focuses on a single exam room.
| | 00:44 | This is the view where I
would like to display my callouts.
| | 00:48 | If I look right down here, I can see
that my drawing is displaying at a scale of
| | 00:51 | one half of an inch equals a foot (1/2" = 1')
knowing that, I am going to return
| | 00:58 | to model space and I am going to
create an annotative multileader style.
| | 01:02 | I will open up the Annotation panel, and
then I will open the Multileader Style Manager.
| | 01:08 | I will click New and then I will give
my style a name Annotative Multileaders.
| | 01:17 | My style will be starting with the
same settings as the standard style.
| | 01:21 | I am going to put a check in the
Annotative box to ensure that my new style is
| | 01:25 | annotative and then I will click continue.
| | 01:29 | Now I can adjust the settings for my new style.
| | 01:32 | Just like with the Dimension style, any
time you see a size setting, you want to
| | 01:36 | set this to the size you want
your leaders to appear on paper.
| | 01:39 | All of the sizes are paper sizes.
| | 01:42 | I am going to start on the Leader Format
tab and I would like to change the size
| | 01:47 | of the arrowheads, let's
make these a little smaller.
| | 01:50 | I will set these to 1/8".
| | 01:52 | Then we will go to Leader Structure, I
would like to change the length of the
| | 01:57 | landing distance that's the line
right here, let's set this to 1/8".
| | 02:06 | Finally, I will go to the Content tab
and let's make our text size smaller.
| | 02:10 | I will make this 1/8".
| | 02:12 | When I am finished adjusting my
settings I will come down and click OK.
| | 02:18 | Notice that my new Multileader style
has the annotative icon next to the name.
| | 02:22 | This means that this style will size
itself automatically to match my plot scale.
| | 02:27 | If I look up here I can see my new
style is current, so I will come down
| | 02:31 | here and click Close.
| | 02:33 | I will then set my Annotation
scale to match my desired plot scale.
| | 02:37 | The plot scale I am interested in is 1/
2" = 1' and I will start by creating a
| | 02:44 | label for this tool.
| | 02:46 | I will launch the Multileader command,
I would like to point this to nearest to
| | 02:53 | this line and I will enter my callout.
| | 03:03 | Let's create one more
label for this exam room table.
| | 03:05 | Alright these look pretty good, let's
go back to the layout and take a look.
| | 03:18 | As you can see, these callouts are
sized appropriately for this layout.
| | 03:22 | Now let's do a scientific experiment. Question.
| | 03:25 | will these callouts show up
on the other layout? Answer.
| | 03:30 | no, they won't.
| | 03:33 | Annotative objects will only display at
the plot scale for which they were intended.
| | 03:38 | This means that you can put all of your
callouts on a single layer, regardless
| | 03:41 | of size, and they will only show up
in the ViewPorts where you want them.
| | 03:47 | From this point on it would be a good
idea to make all of your multileader
| | 03:50 | styles annotative, if you do this, your
Multileaders will always be legible, and
| | 03:55 | they will be consistently
sized on all of your plots.
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| Changing the scale assigned to annotations| 00:00 | In this lesson, I'm going to show you
how to fix a problem that many beginning
| | 00:04 | students run into, when they start
using Annotative Styles, and that is, what
| | 00:08 | do you do if you've already annotated your
drawing and you find out you've used the wrong scale?
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a mechanical
example, and this drawing contains
| | 00:17 | several annotations.
| | 00:20 | If I hover over these, you can see they
were created using an Annotative Style.
| | 00:25 | Now all of my annotations were created
using an Annotative Scale of 1:1 because
| | 00:30 | I made the assumption that my drawing
would fit on the sheet at that scale.
| | 00:34 | Let's take a look at our Layout.
| | 00:36 | This is a standard 11-17 inch sheet
and this layout contains a Viewport.
| | 00:42 | I'm going to open up the Layer
Control, and I'll turn Layer Viewport on.
| | 00:47 | I will then double-click to get in the
Viewport and I'll do a Zoom Extents, so I
| | 00:51 | can see my geometry.
| | 00:53 | Now let's set this
Viewport to a measurable scale.
| | 00:57 | I'll open the Viewport Scale fly-out
and I'll select 1:1. Here's my problem.
| | 01:03 | My annotations look great, but
unfortunately my drawing doesn't fit on the sheet.
| | 01:07 | Let's try this.
| | 01:09 | I'm going to change the Viewport Scale to 1:2.
| | 01:14 | Notice the part fits on the sheet,
but all of my annotations disappeared.
| | 01:18 | That's because my annotations were
designed for a 1:1 Viewport and this
| | 01:22 | Viewport isn't 1:1.
| | 01:24 | Let's take a look at how we can fix this.
| | 01:26 | First of all, I know I have to go with
this scale, so I'm going to center this,
| | 01:31 | a little better and then I'll
come down and lock the Viewport.
| | 01:34 | Then I'll double-click to jump out of
the Viewport and I'm immediately going to
| | 01:39 | change this scale such that it's accurate.
| | 01:46 | Then I'll return to Model space and
to fix this, I'm going to go to the
| | 01:50 | Annotation Scale fly-out.
| | 01:53 | I'll set this to what I should have used, 1:2.
| | 01:56 | Then I'll click the Annotate tab and I'll
come down to the Annotation Scaling Panel.
| | 02:01 | I'll click this fly-out and
I'll select Add Current Scale.
| | 02:05 | This will add the current
annotation scale to any object that I select.
| | 02:11 | I'm going to select all of
these objects and I'll right-click.
| | 02:15 | Now my annotations are
appropriately sized for a half-scale Viewport.
| | 02:20 | Let's zoom in a little bit and notice,
if I place my Cursor over this object, we
| | 02:25 | can see that it has two annotative icons.
| | 02:28 | That's because my annotations are now
supporting two different annotation scales.
| | 02:33 | If I select this, notice we can see the
other scale right there, that's the 1:1 size.
| | 02:38 | Now this isn't a bad thing, but
you know what, I don't need the 1:1
| | 02:42 | scale version anymore.
| | 02:44 | So I'm going to deselect this.
| | 02:46 | Then I'll do a Zoom Extents and
let's remove the unnecessary scale.
| | 02:52 | I'm going to go back to the
Annotation Scale fly-out, I'll select 1:1.
| | 02:56 | Then I'll click the Annotation Scaling fly-
out, and I'll select Delete Current Scale.
| | 03:01 | This will delete the current
scale from any object I select.
| | 03:05 | I'm going to select all of
my entities and right-click.
| | 03:09 | Finally, I'll make sure that the
Annotation Scale is set to 1:2, in the event I
| | 03:13 | add more annotations later.
| | 03:16 | Now my annotations look pretty good.
| | 03:18 | I'd like to make one change.
| | 03:20 | These dimensions are a little tight.
| | 03:22 | So I'll select this 6.00 and I'll pull
this out a little and I'll pull out the 3.65.
| | 03:30 | Let's do a Zoom Extents, and now that
I'm finished, let's return to the layout.
| | 03:36 | As you can see, I didn't have to
erase my annotations since start over.
| | 03:40 | We were able to correct the ones we already had.
| | 03:43 | The only thing, I have left to do
is turn off my Viewport boundary.
| | 03:48 | So I'll go back to the Home tab.
| | 03:49 | I'll open the Layer Control
and I'll turn off Layer Viewport.
| | 03:54 | In the event, we annotate our drawing using
the wrong scale, we don't have to start over.
| | 03:58 | We can simply add the correct scale
and then remove the incorrect one from
| | 04:02 | our annotative objects.
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|
|
17. Sharing DataSaving drawings to other formats| 00:00 | Occasionally, we maybe asked to send
our AutoCAD drawing to someone else.
| | 00:04 | When this happens, it's important to
remember that everyone doesn't necessarily
| | 00:07 | use the most current version of AutoCAD.
| | 00:09 | Some firms, in fact, don't use AutoCAD at all.
| | 00:11 | they may use a completely different CAD program.
| | 00:14 | Let's look at how we can save our
drawings for clients who may not be using the
| | 00:17 | same software as we are.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have a
drawing of a commercial site plan.
| | 00:22 | Let's say that I'm a civil engineer,
and I need to send this drawing to an
| | 00:25 | architect such that they can do the
landscaping design around this parking lot.
| | 00:30 | Let's also say that the architect is
not using a current version of AutoCAD.
| | 00:33 | Maybe they're using AutoCAD 2000.
| | 00:36 | Let me show you how we can save this
drawing to an older release such that the
| | 00:39 | architect can use it.
| | 00:41 | To do that, I'll open the Application menu.
| | 00:43 | Then I'll select Save As.
| | 00:45 | Then down at the bottom, I'm going
to open up the Files of type menu.
| | 00:50 | Here's where I can select an older release.
| | 00:52 | Notice we can save this all
the way back to release 14.
| | 00:55 | As a side note, we're using AutoCAD 2011.
| | 00:58 | Notice we can't save to the 2011 version.
| | 01:01 | That's because technically,
there is no 2011 version.
| | 01:05 | Historically, AutoCAD changes their
file format about every three years.
| | 01:09 | It last changed in 2010, so even though
we're using AutoCAD 2011, each time we
| | 01:15 | save, we're saving as the 2010 release.
| | 01:19 | Take a look at the bottom of the menu.
| | 01:20 | Notice, we can also save
our drawings as a DXF file.
| | 01:24 | DXF stands for Drawing Exchange Format.
| | 01:27 | You would select this format if your
client is using a CAD program other than
| | 01:31 | AutoCAD because just about every
CAD package, you can open a DXF file.
| | 01:35 | Now my client is using
AutoCAD 2000, so I'll select this.
| | 01:40 | I'd like to save this file to my desktop.
| | 01:43 | I'm also going to add a suffix
to the file name. I'll put -2000.
| | 01:48 | Now I'm ready to click Save.
| | 01:49 | Now, before I click this, it's important
to note that there are several features
| | 01:53 | that exist now that
didn't exist in older releases.
| | 01:57 | So certain things like annotative
objects aren't going to work for my client
| | 02:01 | like they work for me.
| | 02:02 | AutoCAD will convert these objects into
something else like plain text, so that
| | 02:06 | my client will be able to see it.
| | 02:08 | I'm going to click Save.
| | 02:09 | The file on my desktop is now
ready to be emailed to the architect.
| | 02:13 | He should be able to open
this without any problems.
| | 02:15 | No matter what CAD package your client
maybe using, whether it would be an older
| | 02:19 | version of AutoCAD or a program from
another company, you can still provide them
| | 02:23 | a file they can use by simply
saving as an alternate format.
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| Plotting to the Design Web format| 00:00 | Sometimes a client may want to review our
CAD drawing but they don't have AutoCAD.
| | 00:04 | So, a DWG file isn't helpful.
| | 00:07 | At times like these, we can
ship our client a DWFx file.
| | 00:11 | DWFx stands for Design Web Format.
| | 00:13 | And a DWFx file can be opened or printed
from a current version of Internet Explorer.
| | 00:17 | On my screen I hae a finished drawing.
| | 00:20 | Let's say, I'd like to send this drawing
to a client for their review, and let's
| | 00:24 | also say that my client
doesn't have a version of AutoCAD.
| | 00:26 | What I am going to do is
plot this drawing as a DWFx.
| | 00:30 | I'll do that by launching the Plot
command and then regardless of the printer I
| | 00:34 | was using, I am going to click this
fly-out and I'll select DWFx ePlot.
| | 00:40 | This is a virtual printer that is
installed automatically with AutoCAD, and
| | 00:43 | that's all I have to do.
| | 00:45 | I'll come down and click OK, and I am
going to save this inside the chapter_17
| | 00:49 | folder inside of our exercise files directory.
| | 00:52 | I'll accept the default
file name and I'll click Save.
| | 00:56 | The file I just created can be
opened natively in Internet Explorer.
| | 00:59 | I am going to open my Windows Explorer.
| | 01:02 | I'll jump out to the Desktop.
| | 01:04 | We'll open up the exercise files folder,
and I'll come down and open up chapter_17.
| | 01:09 | Here is the DWF file that we just created.
| | 01:11 | I am going to right-click, I'll come down to
Open with, and I'll select Internet Explorer.
| | 01:17 | Now, if you are not seeing Internet
Explorer on your system, you can select
| | 01:20 | Choose default program, come down and
select Browse, navigate into the Internet
| | 01:25 | Explorer folder, and the
executable is right here.
| | 01:29 | Since Internet Explorer is selected, I
am going to click OK, and this is how my
| | 01:33 | client can review the drawing.
| | 01:35 | I can roll my scroll wheel or use
these sliders to pan around in my drawing.
| | 01:41 | Underneath the Page fly-out, I have access to
my zoom controls where I can zoom in and out.
| | 01:45 | Likewise, I can press Ctrl++ (
Plus) or Ctrl+- (Minus) to zoom.
| | 01:50 | If I'd like to print the drawing,
I can use the icon right here.
| | 01:53 | Using the DWFx format, our client can
view or print our drawings without the
| | 01:57 | need for a special viewer.
| | 01:59 | I am going to close this
and we'll return to AutoCAD.
| | 02:03 | Plotting our files to the DWFx format
allows our clients to collaborate on the
| | 02:07 | design process even if they don't have AutoCAD.
| | 02:10 | So long as they have a current
versin of Internet Explorer, they can view
| | 02:12 | or print our drawings.
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| Plotting to PDF| 00:00 | The PDF file format is the industry
standard for exchanging documents.
| | 00:04 | In AutoCAD 2011, we can print
our drawings directly to PDF.
| | 00:08 | This means we can easily share our
files in a format that is acceptable
| | 00:12 | to almost everyone.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to print a drawing to PDF.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have a finished drawing.
| | 00:19 | To convert this to PDF, I am going to
launch the Plot command, and regardless
| | 00:23 | of the printer I was using, I am going to
open this flyout and I'll select DWG To PDF.
| | 00:29 | This is a virtual printer that is
installed automatically with AutoCAD 2011.
| | 00:34 | And that's all I have to do.
| | 00:35 | AutoCAD will match the
paper size and settings for me.
| | 00:38 | I am going to select OK, and I am
going to save my PDF file inside the
| | 00:43 | Chapter_17 folder, inside
our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:47 | I'll accept the default
file name and I'll click Save.
| | 00:51 | And provided you have a version of
Acrobat Reader on your machine, the PDF
| | 00:55 | will open automatically.
| | 00:57 | Now, as a side bonus, the PDFs that
we create using this method will retain
| | 01:01 | the Layer information.
| | 01:02 | This means that our clients have a
little more freedom when it comes to
| | 01:05 | reviewing or printing our drawings.
| | 01:08 | Let's close this and return to AutoCAD.
| | 01:10 | When it comes right down to it, no
matter who your client is, they can
| | 01:13 | always view a PDF file.
| | 01:15 | Plotting to PDF may be the easiest
way to make your drawings accessible
| | 01:19 | to everyone.
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| Sending drawings via email| 00:00 | Email is the primary way companies communicate.
| | 00:03 | Using email, we can ship our drawings to
clients or sub-consultants in a matter of seconds.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we are going to learn
how to use AutoCAD to email our drawings.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have a mechanical part.
| | 00:14 | Let's say I would like to get this part
mass produced, and I would like to email
| | 00:18 | the drawing to a
machinist to get a cost estimate.
| | 00:21 | The easiest way to do that is
to open the Application Menu.
| | 00:24 | I will come down to Send, and I
will select Email, and AutoCAD
| | 00:29 | automatically launches my Email
program, creates a New document, and adds
| | 00:33 | my file as an Attachment.
| | 00:35 | All I have to do is enter
my machinist's email address.
| | 00:38 | I can type a brief
message, and I can click Send.
| | 00:43 | As you can see, emailing a
drawing from AutoCAD couldn't be easier.
| | 00:46 | In less than five clicks you can send
the file on its way and be certain that
| | 00:50 | your clients have the most
current version of your design.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Well, we have reached the end of the course.
| | 00:02 | Let me say that I've had a great time
working with you for the last few hours.
| | 00:06 | Now, it's time for you to take the AutoCAD
foundation that we have started and build on it.
| | 00:11 | The sky is the limit when it comes to your
opportunities to use AutoCAD in the workforce.
| | 00:15 | With some perseverance and a strong desire to
learn, there is no telling how far you can go.
| | 00:19 | Good luck!
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