IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | Hi! I am Jeff Bartels. Welcome to
AutoCAD Essentials 5, Working With References.
| | 00:09 | In this title, we'll explore how
AutoCAD allows us to save time by leveraging
| | 00:13 | our existing content.
| | 00:15 | We'll start by looking at blocks.
| | 00:17 | Blocks represent symbols that can be
inserted using a couple clicks of the mouse.
| | 00:21 | I'll show you how to create and edit
these blocks, and I'll show you how existing
| | 00:26 | blocks can be incorporated into any drawing.
| | 00:29 | Next we'll create external references,
such that we can link drawing files together.
| | 00:34 | I'll show you how to take advantage of
this concept, so the changes made in one
| | 00:37 | drawing will automatically
display in all of the others.
| | 00:41 | External references can also be used
to incorporate images into a design.
| | 00:45 | AutoCAD will then display and print
these images with the same fidelity you'd
| | 00:49 | expect from a photo editing program.
| | 00:51 | I'll show you how to properly attach an
image, and control its display in the drawing.
| | 00:56 | Finally, I'll give you an opportunity
to take the skills you've learned in this
| | 00:59 | title, and apply them to a small project.
| | 01:02 | So whenever you're ready,
follow me, and we'll get started.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you've purchased a DVD, or are a
premium subscriber to Lynda.com, you'll have
| | 00:05 | access to the exercise files
used in this title.
| | 00:08 | They will be in a folder called
exercise files.
| | 00:10 | If you download them,
place them on your Desktop.
| | 00:13 | In there, you'll find content divided
up into directories, named after the
| | 00:17 | chapters where they're used.
| | 00:19 | By placing the exercise files on the
Desktop, you'll be able to access them the
| | 00:23 | same way that I do in the course.
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|
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1. Managing BlocksInserting blocks| 00:00 | One of the best parts about drawing
with a computer is you never have to draw
| | 00:03 | the same thing twice.
| | 00:05 | You can simply reuse
geometry over and over again.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we're going to insert
some pre-made geometry called blocks.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I have an architectural
example. This is a floor plan for an
| | 00:16 | office building, I am going to zoom in a little
bit, and you can see that these rooms are labeled.
| | 00:22 | Now, I don't need the labels in this
session, so I'm going to turn this layer off.
| | 00:26 | Let me show a shortcut to do that.
| | 00:28 | I'm going to move up to the Layers
panel, and I'll click the Layer Off button.
| | 00:32 | I will then select one of the text
objects, and I can turn that layer off without
| | 00:36 | even knowing the layer's name.
| | 00:38 | When I am finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 00:40 | Now, let's say that we're an
interior designer, and we need to insert
| | 00:44 | furniture into this office.
| | 00:45 | Rather than drawing each individual
furniture component, I'm going to insert some
| | 00:50 | furniture geometry that I created earlier.
| | 00:53 | I'll do that by moving up to the Block
panel, and I'll click the Insert button.
| | 00:57 | This brings up the Insert dialog box.
| | 00:59 | If I open the Name menu, I can see a listing
of all of the blocks that are in this file.
| | 01:04 | If I select a block, we can see a
preview of that symbol over here.
| | 01:08 | I'd like insert a desk first, so I'll open
the menu, and I'll choose desk executive.
| | 01:15 | Next I can determine whether I'd like
AutoCAD to ask me some questions when
| | 01:18 | this block is inserted.
| | 01:20 | There are three possible questions.
Insertion point; where do you want to put it?
| | 01:25 | Scale; do you want to
change its size? And Rotation;
| | 01:29 | well that one is pretty self-explanatory.
| | 01:31 | When I insert this desk, I would only
like AutoCAD to ask me for the Insertion
| | 01:36 | point, so I'll remove the
checks from the other boxes.
| | 01:39 | As a side note, if a box is unchecked,
AutoCAD will use the default setting below.
| | 01:44 | I'll click OK when I am ready, and you can
see that I am holding that desk in my cursor.
| | 01:49 | I'm going to drop it in the
southwest corner of this office.
| | 01:52 | I'm sure you'll agree that's much
faster than drawing the desk by hand.
| | 01:56 | Let's zoom in.
Let's add a chair to this room.
| | 02:00 | I'll go back to Insert, I'll
select chair from the menu.
| | 02:04 | This time I'd like AutoCAD to ask me for
an Insertion point, and a Rotation angle.
| | 02:10 | I'll click OK, I'll place the chair
behind the desk, and now I can specify the
| | 02:15 | rotation angle by typing a number,
or by picking a point on screen.
| | 02:20 | A really nice trick is to come to lock your
Ortho, and then you can snap to 90 degree increments.
| | 02:25 | I am just going to pull straight up,
and click on screen to place the block.
| | 02:29 | If I hover over this chair, you can see
AutoCAD sees it as a block; it's looking
| | 02:33 | at it as a single object.
| | 02:35 | Same goes for the desk.
| | 02:37 | When you use a block, the
geometry is very easy to manipulate.
| | 02:41 | If I wanted to move the chair, I could
launch Move, click once on the chair,
| | 02:46 | I'll pick it up from the midpoint of the front,
and I'll move it a little closer to the desk.
| | 02:51 | Let's insert another symbol.
| | 02:54 | This time I'll place a computer.
| | 02:57 | I would like AutoCAD to ask me
Insertion point and Rotation.
| | 03:01 | One box that you probably never
want to check is the Explode box.
| | 03:05 | When Explode is selected, the
geometry is placed in the file as individual
| | 03:10 | entities, so you won't have a block.
| | 03:12 | I'll click OK, I'll place the computer
on the desk, and then I'll use my Ortho to
| | 03:18 | rotate this, such that it
faces the chair, and I'll click.
| | 03:22 | Let's make more change. We'll make the
assumption this person might like to have
| | 03:25 | a meeting, so we'll add some
chairs to the other side of the desk.
| | 03:29 | Now, I don't have to keep going back
to the Insert menu to place blocks.
| | 03:33 | Once you've placed the first block in the
file, you can copy it around if you like.
| | 03:37 | I'll launch Copy, and select my chair;
| | 03:40 | I'll pick it up from the midpoint of the
front, and copy it to the other side of the desk.
| | 03:46 | I will then rotate the chair from a
point somewhere in the middle of the
| | 03:51 | cushion. It's furniture; I don't need a high
degree of specificity when I pick my object snap.
| | 03:56 | Let's rotate this 180 degrees. I'll copy it
one more time, and I'm going to pick it up
| | 04:03 | from out in space here.
Copy it straight up.
| | 04:06 | Finally, I'll launch the Move command,
I'll select both of these chairs, I'll
| | 04:11 | pick them up from a point out in
space here, and I'll center them a little
| | 04:15 | better on the desk.
| | 04:18 | If you look at the room next door, you
can see it's the same shape as the room
| | 04:22 | that we're currently working on,
| | 04:23 | so why don't we launch the Copy command,
I'll select this furniture, and I'll
| | 04:27 | copy it from the southwest corner of this
room, to the southwest corner of this room.
| | 04:32 | Just think of the amount of time you
can save by using blocks whenever you have
| | 04:36 | repeated geometry in a file.
| | 04:39 | Now that you understand how to insert
blocks, see if you can add additional
| | 04:43 | furniture to this drawing using the
other blocks available in this file.
| | 04:46 | When you're ready, jump over to the
next video, where I'll show you how easy it
| | 04:50 | is to create these custom symbols.
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| Creating blocks| 00:00 | When you have geometry that is
repeated throughout a file, it's a perfect
| | 00:03 | time to create a block.
| | 00:05 | Once a block has been made, it can
easily be inserted in each location where
| | 00:09 | the geometry is needed.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're
going to create some blocks.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
represents an office floor plan, and over
| | 00:18 | here to the right, I have drawn some geometry
that represents a common symbol. Let's zoom in.
| | 00:24 | If I hover over these entities, you can
see these are all individual objects.
| | 00:29 | I would like to convert
this geometry into a block.
| | 00:32 | To do that, I'll move up to the
Block panel, and click the Create button.
| | 00:37 | I will then give my block a name.
| | 00:39 | I'll call this toilet.
| | 00:41 | Then, in the Base point area, I can
identify the insertion point of the block;
| | 00:46 | that's the point at which I'll be
holding it when I place it in the file.
| | 00:49 | Now, I can do that by entering a specific
coordinate. Probably the easiest way is
| | 00:54 | by clicking the Pick point button, and
then I can select a point on screen.
| | 00:59 | I'm thinking the most logical place to
be holding this symbol when I insert it
| | 01:03 | would be the midpoint of the back.
| | 01:05 | Next I'll come over and click the
Select objects button, and I'll select the
| | 01:09 | entities that make up the block.
| | 01:11 | I'll press Enter when finished.
| | 01:13 | Finally, take a look at
these three radio buttons.
| | 01:15 | What do you want to do with this
geometry after you turn it into a block?
| | 01:20 | Do you want to retain it, and
keep the individual entities?
| | 01:23 | Do you want to convert this
geometry into the first inserted block?
| | 01:27 | Or, do you want to delete the objects?
| | 01:29 | I'm going to delete them, because I
really don't need these objects anyway.
| | 01:33 | It's not like it's in the right position,
| | 01:35 | and if I need this geometry in the
file, I can always insert the block.
| | 01:39 | When I'm finished, I'll come down
and click OK, and you can see that
| | 01:42 | geometry disappears.
| | 01:44 | The block I just created
is now defined in this file.
| | 01:47 | Let's try inserting one.
| | 01:49 | I'm going to pan over to the southernmost
restroom, and I would like to place that
| | 01:56 | symbol halfway between the sink and the wall.
| | 01:59 | So I'll move up to the Block
panel, and launch the Insert command.
| | 02:03 | I'll select my new block from the list,
and when I insert this, I'd like AutoCAD
| | 02:08 | to ask me for an Insertion
point, and a Rotation angle.
| | 02:11 | I'm going to make sure that
Scale and Explode are unchecked.
| | 02:15 | I will then click OK.
| | 02:17 | As you can see, I'm holding that symbol
at my cursor, and I'd like to place this
| | 02:21 | at Shift+right-click, I'll choose Mid
Between 2 Points, and I'll select the end
| | 02:27 | point of the sink, and the end point
of the wall, and I'd like to define the
| | 02:31 | rotation angle by grabbing the
northwest corner of the room.
| | 02:36 | Now that this symbol is in the file, I
can easily copy this to the other room.
| | 02:42 | I'll select this one, and pick it up
from the northeast corner of this sink, and
| | 02:46 | place it to the northeast corner of this one.
| | 02:48 | All right, let's take the block
concept a little bit further.
| | 02:53 | If I pan down to this office, you
can see that I've drawn a door swing.
| | 02:57 | As you can see, this opening measures 36
inches. I have to insert several other
| | 03:02 | doors in this file, so I'd like to create a
block out of this geometry. Here's the catch:
| | 03:09 | not all of my door openings are the same size.
| | 03:11 | The ones going to the restroom are 30
inches wide, and this one going into the
| | 03:16 | closet is only 24 inches.
| | 03:18 | I'd like to use one symbol
for all of these door openings.
| | 03:22 | No problem. Let's pan back down to
this office, and before I convert this
| | 03:26 | geometry into a block,
I'm going to scale it down.
| | 03:29 | I'll launch the Scale command, I'll
select both of these entities, and I'll scale
| | 03:35 | them from the corner of the door frame,
| | 03:37 | and I'm going to use a scale factor that
sets my final door size to 1 inch wide.
| | 03:43 | The easiest way to do this is by pressing
Control+8. Then I'll type 1 divided by 36, equals,
| | 03:52 | I'll click Apply, and then I'll press Enter.
| | 03:57 | If I zoom in, just as a check, I'll
launch the Distance command, and if I find the
| | 04:03 | distance between the two end points,
I can see that door is 1 inch wide.
| | 04:07 | Now, why did I do that?
| | 04:08 | Well, if my block is only 1 inch wide, I
can use the Scale factor to insert this
| | 04:14 | into any size door frame.
| | 04:16 | A Scale factor of 36 would make
this door fit in a 36 inch frame.
| | 04:21 | To put it in a 30 inch frame, the door
would have to have a scale factor of 30.
| | 04:25 | So it makes the math easy.
| | 04:27 | Let's turn this geometry into a block.
| | 04:29 | I'll come back up to the Block
panel, and launch the Create command.
| | 04:33 | I'll call this block door swing.
| | 04:36 | I will then click Pick point to
define my base point, and I'll select the
| | 04:40 | corner of the door frame.
| | 04:42 | I'll choose Select objects, and I will
select both entities that make up the door
| | 04:47 | swing, and press Enter.
| | 04:48 | After the block is created, I'd like to
delete these entities, because they're not needed.
| | 04:53 | I am going to make sure that
Scale uniformly is checked.
| | 04:57 | This will ensure that as the door
is scaled up and down, it will scale
| | 05:00 | proportionally in the X, Y, and Z directions.
| | 05:03 | When I'm finished, I'll come down and click OK.
| | 05:05 | Now let's back up, and I'll
insert one of the door blocks.
| | 05:13 | I'll select the symbol from the list.
| | 05:16 | I'd like AutoCAD to ask
me for the Insertion point.
| | 05:19 | Don't ask me for the Rotation, because
the original orientation is just fine.
| | 05:24 | And for the Scale, I'm
going to preset a scale of 36.
| | 05:28 | When I click OK, the door is scaled up
to 36 inches wide, and I can place it to
| | 05:33 | the corner of the door frame.
| | 05:34 | Now let's pan this up, and we'll
place one in the 30 inch opening.
| | 05:43 | Insert, same symbol, specify a point
onscreen, I do want to specify a Rotation
| | 05:50 | angle this time, and this
one will be a 30 inch opening.
| | 05:56 | I want the door to be connected
on the north side of the frame.
| | 06:00 | For the rotation angle, I'm going to
lock my Ortho, and I'll pull straight up, so
| | 06:05 | the door is opening out.
| | 06:07 | Now, actually, that's incorrect, but
I can always use the Mirror command.
| | 06:11 | Select my block, and use the inside corners of
the door frame to flip it to the other side.
| | 06:18 | When prompted here, I'm going to
type Y to erase the original door.
| | 06:21 | Finally, we'll take care of the door
for this closet. I'll click Insert,
| | 06:29 | ask for the Insertion point, I'm not
going to worry about the Rotation, because
| | 06:33 | the original orientation is just fine.
| | 06:35 | And in this case, I'm not
even going to enter a Scale;
| | 06:38 | I'm going to have AutoCAD ask for the Scale.
| | 06:42 | I'll place the door on
the right side of the frame.
| | 06:45 | At this point, I could type 24 for my
Scale factor, or I could just pull over and
| | 06:49 | select the end point on
the other side of the frame.
| | 06:54 | As you can see, using this one block,
I can add a door swing to any opening,
| | 06:58 | regardless of its size.
| | 07:00 | So the next time you have duplicated
geometry in a file, consider creating a block.
| | 07:04 | With a little foresight and creativity,
you'll be surprised at how far this
| | 07:08 | concept can take you.
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| Leveraging blocks| 00:00 | Now that we understand how to create
and insert blocks, let's explore some
| | 00:04 | concepts that make blocks even more powerful.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson, we'll look
at some block best practices.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I have a drawing
that represents some handicapped stalls.
| | 00:15 | Over here to the right, I've constructed some
geometry that I'd like to convert into blocks.
| | 00:19 | We'll start by zooming in on this symbol.
| | 00:24 | If I select these entities, you can see
they were all drawn on Layer 0. This is
| | 00:28 | actually a great idea.
| | 00:30 | Whenever you create a block, it's
important that your entities be drawn on layer
| | 00:34 | 0. We'll see why in just a minute.
| | 00:36 | I am going to deselect these entities,
and we'll convert them into a block.
| | 00:41 | To do that, I'll move up to the Block
panel, and launch the Create command.
| | 00:45 | I'm going to call this block handi-symbol.
| | 00:49 | I will then click Pick point, and I will
select a centrally located in insertion point.
| | 00:55 | I'm going to choose the endpoint right here.
| | 00:59 | I will then choose Select objects, and I will
select the entities that make up the block.
| | 01:04 | I'll press Enter when finished.
| | 01:06 | I would like to delete these
entities after the block is created.
| | 01:10 | When I am finished, I
will come down and click OK.
| | 01:13 | Now that I've defined the block,
let's insert one into this drawing.
| | 01:17 | If I hover over this geometry, you can
see it was created on Layer striping.
| | 01:21 | I would like to place my
block on this same layer.
| | 01:25 | To set that layer current, I'll choose
the Make Object's Layer Current button,
| | 01:29 | and I will select an object on that layer.
| | 01:32 | I will then insert the block. We'll do
that by clicking the Insert icon. I will
| | 01:37 | select the block that I just made, and
when I place this in the drawing, I will
| | 01:41 | make sure AudoCAD asks me for Insertion
point, and a Rotation angle. I'll click OK,
| | 01:46 | and take a look at the symbol;
| | 01:48 | if you create a block from entities
that were drawn on Layer 0, that block will
| | 01:52 | assume the properties of
the layer it's inserted on.
| | 01:56 | This symbol looks yellow, because
it's being inserted on a yellow layer.
| | 01:59 | Now, I'd like to place this in the
middle of the stall, so I am going to
| | 02:04 | Shift+right-click, and choose Mid Between
2 Points, and I will select the opposite
| | 02:09 | endpoints of this stall.
| | 02:11 | I will then define the rotation
angle by the midpoint of the right side.
| | 02:15 | Let's insert another symbol.
| | 02:17 | This time I am going to change the
layer, so we can see the difference.
| | 02:21 | I will click Insert;
| | 02:22 | I'll use the same settings as before,
and choose OK. Notice the difference.
| | 02:27 | As you can see, by creating your blocks
from entities that were drawn on Layer 0,
| | 02:32 | your blocks can have a variety of appearances.
| | 02:34 | It's also a great way to identify when
you are inserting blocks on the wrong layer.
| | 02:39 | Let's finish this up.
| | 02:40 | I'd like to place it in the middle of the
stall, so I'll choose Mid Between 2 Points.
| | 02:45 | I will select opposite endpoints, and I'll
rotate it to the midpoint of the right side.
| | 02:51 | When I am finished, I'll select the block,
and I'll place this on the striping layer.
| | 02:56 | Finally, I am going to use the Copy
command, I'll select my last block, and I am
| | 03:01 | going to copy it from the lower left
corner of the stall to the remaining stall.
| | 03:05 | Let's pan the drawing back over to the
right, and we will look at another example.
| | 03:11 | In this case, I'd like to
add some parking bumpers.
| | 03:14 | As you can see, I've drawn a
parking bumper right here. These entities
| | 03:17 | were created on Layer 0.
| | 03:19 | I have also constructed a typical
parking stall around this geometry.
| | 03:24 | What I'd like to show you here is
the importance of the Insertion point.
| | 03:27 | When I insert parking bumpers, I
typically like to place them a half a foot from
| | 03:31 | the front of the stall.
| | 03:33 | Since I've constructed this geometry, I
can easily find that point by grabbing
| | 03:37 | the midpoint of this line.
| | 03:39 | By not having the insertion point on the
object itself, I can easily place these
| | 03:43 | bumpers exactly where I need them
when they're inserted into the drawing.
| | 03:47 | Let's convert this geometry into a block.
| | 03:51 | I'll call it bumper, I'll select Pick
point, and my insertion point will be the
| | 03:58 | Midpoint of the front of the stall.
| | 04:00 | I will then choose Select,
and I will select the parking bumper
| | 04:04 | geometry, and press Enter.
| | 04:07 | I would like to delete this
geometry after the block is created.
| | 04:11 | When I'm finished, I'll click OK.
| | 04:13 | Now, I don't need this extra line work
anymore, so I will select it, and click Erase.
| | 04:19 | Let's pan the drawing over,
and we'll insert a bumper.
| | 04:22 | I'll start by setting the
parking bumper layer current.
| | 04:25 | I will then choose Insert.
I will select my block.
| | 04:30 | When I insert this, I'd like
AutoCAD to ask me for the Insertion point,
| | 04:33 | and Rotation angle.
| | 04:36 | And I'd like this to be placed in the
middle of the end of the stall, so I am
| | 04:40 | going to Shift+right-click, I'll choose
Mid Between 2 Points, and I'll select the
| | 04:44 | endpoints on either side of the front
of the stall, and then I will identify the
| | 04:49 | Rotation angle by this
endpoint in the upper right corner.
| | 04:53 | As you can see, using a little
foresight with my Insertion point, I can easily
| | 04:56 | place these bumpers
exactly where they need to be.
| | 05:01 | Let's place one more.
| | 05:04 | I'll use the same settings.
| | 05:05 | We'll insert this to the Mid Between 2 Points.
| | 05:11 | I will select both endpoints, and
we'll rotate it to the upper right corner.
| | 05:15 | Finally, I'll finish the
remaining stall using the Copy command;
| | 05:19 | we'll copy this bumper all
the way over to the right.
| | 05:24 | So the next time you're creating a block,
spend some time preplanning its creation.
| | 05:29 | With a little foresight, your blocks
will be easier to insert, and assume the
| | 05:33 | properties of the layer on which they're placed.
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| Redefining blocks| 00:00 | One of the best parts about blocks is
that they all share the same definition.
| | 00:04 | Change that definition, and
all of the blocks will update.
| | 00:07 | In this lesson,
we're going to redefine a block.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I have a drawing
that represents some parking stalls.
| | 00:14 | Inside this stalls,
I've inserted some blocks.
| | 00:17 | Now, I'd like to change
the geometry of the symbol.
| | 00:20 | Since inserted these as blocks, I only
have to edit one of them, and the rest of
| | 00:25 | them will update automatically.
| | 00:27 | To edit a block, we do it the same
way we edit text: double-click on out.
| | 00:32 | This brings up the Edit Block
Definition dialog box, where my block is
| | 00:36 | currently selected.
| | 00:37 | I'll come down click OK, and
this takes me into Block Editor.
| | 00:41 | The Block Editor works just like model space.
| | 00:44 | It's an environment were AutoCAD
allows us to reach inside the block
| | 00:48 | definition and make changes.
| | 00:49 | As you can see, the insertion point of
the block is located at the origin of
| | 00:54 | the coordinate system.
| | 00:56 | Now, there a lot of things
we can do in this Editor.
| | 00:59 | For right now, I'd just
like to change the geometry.
| | 01:01 | So I'm going to come over to the Home
tab, and I'd like to start by erasing the
| | 01:06 | straight lines at the end of the arcs.
| | 01:08 | So I will select these, and press Delete.
| | 01:11 | I will then launch the Extend command,
and I will select the straight lines as my
| | 01:17 | boundary edges, and I would like
to extend the arcs to meet those.
| | 01:21 | Finally, I am going to launch the Hatch
command, and I will make sure the SOLID
| | 01:28 | pattern is selected, and then I
will click inside these open shapes.
| | 01:32 | When I'm finished, I'll press Enter, and
when I'm finished editing my block symbol,
| | 01:37 | I'll come over and click the
X to close the Block Editor.
| | 01:40 | When I do, AutoCAD asks me if
I'd like to save changes to my symbol.
| | 01:44 | When I choose Save, you will see that every
one of the associated blocks has been updated.
| | 01:50 | Now in this case, we only had three symbols.
| | 01:53 | What if we had 700?
| | 01:55 | Just imagine how powerful this command can be.
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| Building a block library| 00:00 | Whenever you create a block, that
block is stored in the current drawing.
| | 00:04 | In this lesson, we are going to learn
how to share blocks, such that we can use
| | 00:08 | them in any drawing.
| | 00:09 | On my screen, I have some geometry that
represents an office floor plan, and this
| | 00:13 | file contains several blocks.
| | 00:15 | If I move up to the Block panel, and
click the Insert icon, and then open this
| | 00:19 | menu, we can see a listing of all
the blocks that exist in this file.
| | 00:23 | Now, what if I wanted to insert some
of these symbols into another drawing?
| | 00:28 | Let me show you how we can do that.
| | 00:30 | I'll start by closing this dialog box, and
then I am going to close the current drawing.
| | 00:34 | Take a look at the top of the screen.
Remember the file name; 05_blockLib.
| | 00:41 | I will then create a new file. We will
use the acad template, and this is an
| | 00:47 | architectural example, so
let's adjust the units quickly.
| | 00:50 | I will open the Application menu,
| | 00:52 | I will come down to Drawing
Utilities, and I will select Units.
| | 00:56 | From here, I will open the Length, Type,
and we will set that to Architectural,
| | 01:00 | and I will click OK.
| | 01:01 | Now that my units match the original file,
I would like to extract some of those
| | 01:06 | symbols, and place them into this drawing.
| | 01:08 | To do that, we will use a
tool called DesignCenter.
| | 01:11 | Now, DesignCenter is a palette, and we
can turn on this palette just like we
| | 01:15 | access any other palette in AutoCAD.
| | 01:18 | I can go to the View tab, and come down
to the Palettes panel, and I can find the
| | 01:22 | DesignCenter icon right here.
| | 01:24 | Probably the quickest way to access
this tool is using the keyboard shortcut
| | 01:28 | Control+2. Now, when DesignCenter comes up
onscreen, it's divided into two panes.
| | 01:34 | This pane on the left is essentially
Windows Explorer, which makes the tool
| | 01:38 | very intuitive to use.
| | 01:41 | We simply use this left pane to
navigate our hard drive, and select the file
| | 01:45 | we are interested in.
| | 01:47 | Since the file I want is in the
exercise files folder, and my exercise files are
| | 01:51 | on the Desktop, I am going to move
up and click this Minus symbol to
| | 01:55 | collapse these folders.
| | 01:57 | I will then click to expand exercise files.
| | 02:01 | I'll expand ManageBlocks, and this drawing
down at the bottom is the one we were just in.
| | 02:06 | Take a look at the icon
next to the drawing name.
| | 02:09 | This is where DesignCenter
surpasses Windows Explorer.
| | 02:12 | Using this tool, I can navigate into
this drawing, and extract any of this data
| | 02:17 | without actually opening the file.
| | 02:19 | Now that the file is expanded, I am
going to select Blocks, and in the pane on
| | 02:24 | the right, I can see all of the block
symbols that are created in that drawing.
| | 02:28 | To insert a block from that drawing into the
current one, we can do it via drag-and-drop.
| | 02:33 | For example, if I'd like to insert a
desk, I will click and hold on the desk
| | 02:38 | icon, and drag it into the current drawing.
| | 02:40 | Now it looks like we need to zoom out;
let's zoom back a little, and it appears I
| | 02:45 | need to regen as well. I
will type RE, and press Enter.
| | 02:49 | This allows me to continue
using the dynamic pan and zoom.
| | 02:53 | I am going to insert a chair as well.
| | 02:56 | We'll drag in one of those symbols.
| | 02:58 | Maybe we could drag in a floor plant.
| | 03:00 | You know, the only thing we really miss
about dragging and dropping these symbols
| | 03:04 | is AutoCAD is not asking us for the
insertion point, the rotation, or the scale.
| | 03:09 | If you would like to insert a symbol using
those options, you can double click the icon.
| | 03:13 | For example, if I would like to insert
a computer on the desk, I will double
| | 03:18 | click the icon, and you can see AutoCAD
is allowing me to insert this block as
| | 03:22 | though it was defined in the current drawing.
| | 03:24 | In this case, I'd like AutoCAD to
ask me for the Insertion point, and
| | 03:28 | the Rotation angle. I will click OK.
| | 03:30 | I will place the computer on the desk,
and I will rotate this, such that it's
| | 03:35 | perpendicular to the top edge.
| | 03:37 | Now let's take this concept even further.
| | 03:40 | What if you navigated to other
drawings on your hard drive that contained
| | 03:43 | furniture blocks that you'd defined?
| | 03:45 | What if you dragged all of those
symbols into one common drawing, like this one?
| | 03:51 | And then what if you saved this
drawing, and called it furniture blocks?
| | 03:54 | Now, whenever you need a furniture
symbol, you can use DesignCenter, and simply
| | 03:59 | navigate to this file to extract
your symbology. Let's try that.
| | 04:03 | I am going to close the DesignCenter,
and we will stick with my current drawing;
| | 04:08 | this file contains 4 blocks.
| | 04:09 | I will move up and click Save As, and I
will save this in the exercise files folder.
| | 04:21 | I will call this 05_furnitureBlocks.
| | 04:23 | I have just started my own block library.
| | 04:25 | Now, in the future, if I wanted to
access these symbols, I will go back to
| | 04:29 | DesignCenter. I'll will press Control+2,
let's collapse the previous drawing, and my
| | 04:33 | new drawing is not showing up just yet.
| | 04:35 | I am going to press F5 to refresh the view.
| | 04:39 | I will then click to expand my new
drawing, and select Blocks, and you can see
| | 04:43 | this file has four symbols that are
ready to be inserted into any other drawing.
| | 04:48 | As you can see, a block library is
nothing more than an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 04:52 | Consider organizing your blocks in
separate files based on the blocks usage, like
| | 04:56 | landscaping, plumbing, or furniture.
| | 04:59 | Any blocks you create in the future
can simply be dragged into these drawings
| | 05:03 | and made available to any other file.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Linking to Other DrawingsUnderstanding external references| 00:00 | Earlier, when we talked about
redefining blocks, we saw that if we changed a
| | 00:04 | block's definition, all associated
blocks in the drawing were updated.
| | 00:08 | We can take that concept even farther.
| | 00:10 | Imagine making changes to a drawing
and having those changes show up in
| | 00:14 | several other drawings.
| | 00:16 | To do this, will use a
concept called external referencing.
| | 00:19 | On my screen, I have some geometry
that represents an office floor plan.
| | 00:24 | Now, there's not a whole lot in this file.
| | 00:26 | If I open the Layer control you can see
that we pretty much just have walls and doors.
| | 00:32 | Let's say that this drawing was created
by an architect, and the architect has an
| | 00:36 | interior designer on staff, and the
architect asked this person to design the
| | 00:41 | furniture layout for this office.
| | 00:43 | I'd like to close this drawing, and
take a look at the file that the interior
| | 00:47 | designer is working on.
| | 00:49 | I'm not going to save changes.
| | 00:52 | I'll move up and click Open, and we'll
open this file called 01_furniture.
| | 00:57 | If I zoom in, we can see some of the
furniture blocks that have been inserted.
| | 01:02 | Take a look at the floor plan geometry.
| | 01:05 | This matches what we saw in the other drawing.
| | 01:07 | Now, this line work was not copied
into this file; it was linked using
| | 01:12 | an external reference.
| | 01:13 | In fact, if I hover over the line
work, we can see that it's referenced.
| | 01:17 | By referencing this geometry, any time
the architect makes changes to the floor
| | 01:21 | plan file, those changes will
also be reflected in this drawing.
| | 01:25 | Let's demonstrate that.
| | 01:26 | I'd like to reopen the
original floor plan drawing.
| | 01:30 | To do that, I'm going to open the
application menu, and in the Recent Documents
| | 01:34 | list, I will select the archPlan file,
and we'll make some changes to the walls.
| | 01:40 | Let's say I'd like to remove
this kink from the hallway.
| | 01:43 | To do that, I'll launch the Erase command, and
I'll remove some of these lines I don't need.
| | 01:49 | I will then launch Extend, and I'll use
the end of this wall as my boundary edge,
| | 01:56 | and I'll project these lines to it.
| | 01:58 | I will then press the
spacebar to relaunch Extend.
| | 02:01 | I'll select my new wall, and
I'll project these lines to it.
| | 02:05 | Finally, I'll launch the Trim command.
| | 02:09 | I'll select this intersecting line work,
and I'll trim out this piece I don't need.
| | 02:13 | Now that I have made some changes, I'm
going to move up and save the drawing.
| | 02:19 | I don't want to close it just yet.
| | 02:21 | What I want to do now is flip
back over to the other file.
| | 02:24 | It's still open in the interface.
| | 02:27 | One quick way to switch to the other
drawing is by using the keyboard shortcut
| | 02:30 | Control+Tab, and notice, once we get here,
AutoCAD brings up a pop-up message letting
| | 02:35 | us know that the floor
plan geometry has changed.
| | 02:39 | If I look right here, I can see the
name of the changed file, and the login
| | 02:43 | name of the person who is
currently working in the drawing.
| | 02:46 | If I click this hyperlink, I can reload
the floor plan geometry into this file.
| | 02:52 | As you can see, using external
references, we never have to worry about
| | 02:56 | outdated geometry, because we are always
viewing the most current state of every linked file.
| | 03:02 | Now, I'd like to put
things back the way they were.
| | 03:04 | To do that, we'll jump back to the
floor plan drawing. I'm going to press
| | 03:07 | Control+Tab, and to Restore this hallway, we'll
need to run the Undo command several times.
| | 03:15 | I'm going to do that by opening the
menu next to undo, and I'll come down to the
| | 03:20 | point just before I erased the first line.
| | 03:23 | Now that the drawing is restored, I'm
going to save it, and then I'll close it.
| | 03:28 | And once again, AutoCAD is giving us a
message letting us know that our linked
| | 03:32 | geometry has changed again.
| | 03:34 | To reload the line work,
I'll click the hyperlink.
| | 03:37 | Using external referencing,
everyone on a project team can share their
| | 03:41 | drawings, and be assured they're
working with the most current design
| | 03:44 | information available.
| | 03:45 | In the next several lessons, we'll
explore how to incorporate external
| | 03:49 | references into our workflow.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a link to a DWG file| 00:00 | To create an external reference, we need to
establish a connection to an existing file.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we'll
explore how to link to a drawing.
| | 00:09 | Just for a second, let's assume that
we are an interior designer, and we are helping
| | 00:12 | an architect design a proposed restaurant.
| | 00:15 | Let's also assume that the architect
has finished the floor plan, and they have
| | 00:19 | asked us to do the
furniture layout for the building.
| | 00:22 | Rather than inserting the floor
plan drawing into my file, I'm going to
| | 00:27 | externally reference it.
| | 00:28 | That way, if the floor plan drawing
changes, I will see those changes
| | 00:32 | reflected in my drawing.
| | 00:34 | To externally reference the floor plan,
I am going to select the Insert tab, and
| | 00:39 | then in the Reference panel,
I'll click Attach.
| | 00:41 | Now, AutoCAD can reference
many different types of files,
| | 00:45 | so in the Files of type menu, I'll
make sure that .dwg is selected. And then in
| | 00:51 | the exercise files folder, inside the
LinkingDWGs directory, I'm going to select
| | 00:56 | the number 02-floorPlan.dwg
drawing, and I'll click Open.
| | 01:00 | External references are a lot like blocks.
| | 01:03 | In fact, you can see the same
three questions right here.
| | 01:07 | Typically, when we reference a file,
we want to leave all of these boxes
| | 01:11 | unchecked, because we want the geometry
coming in to be in the same location,
| | 01:15 | size, and rotation as the original file.
| | 01:19 | Since this is linked, and not inserted
geometry, I can use the Path type menu
| | 01:24 | to tell AutoCAD how I want this drawing to
remember the path back to the linked file.
| | 01:29 | I'm going to select Relative, the
default option, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:34 | At this point, I can see the
linked geometry on my screen.
| | 01:37 | If I hover over this, AutoCAD will
tell me it's an External Reference.
| | 01:41 | If I select it, we can see that AutoCAD
treats an external reference as a single object.
| | 01:47 | Think of this as being a lot like a
smart block that represents the current
| | 01:51 | state of the linked file.
| | 01:52 | I am going to press Escape to deselect,
and at this point, I can start drawing
| | 01:57 | right over the top of this geometry.
| | 01:59 | If we were an interior designer, we would
probably start inserting some furniture.
| | 02:03 | I am going to jump to the Home tab.
| | 02:06 | I'll click the Insert button, and as an
example, I am going to insert a booth.
| | 02:11 | I'd like AutoCAD to ask
me for the Insertion point.
| | 02:14 | I'll leave the other two boxes
unchecked, and I'll click OK, and I'll place the
| | 02:19 | booth in the northwest corner of the building.
| | 02:23 | Now, I'm going to select this
block, and I'll press Delete.
| | 02:27 | In an effort to save time, I have already
designed a furniture layout for this building.
| | 02:31 | The reason we can't see the geometry is
because the layers are currently turned off.
| | 02:36 | One way we can quickly turn all the
layers on in this drawing is by opening the
| | 02:39 | Layers panel, and click the
Turn All Layers On button.
| | 02:43 | Now let's simulate a change.
| | 02:45 | Maybe the architect would like to move the
entrance to the northwest corner of the building.
| | 02:50 | That change will need to be
made in the floorPlan file.
| | 02:53 | The quickest way to access that
drawing would be to select the Reference, and
| | 02:57 | then in the Contextual Ribbon tab,
I'll click the Open Reference button.
| | 03:01 | This takes me right to the floorPlan file.
| | 03:04 | From here, I'll select the Stretch
command, and I'll select the door geometry.
| | 03:09 | I am going to pick it up from the upper
right corner, and my ortho is locked, and
| | 03:15 | I'll drag this up to the northwest corner.
| | 03:17 | When I am finished, I'll do a zoom
extents, and then I'll save the drawing.
| | 03:21 | Now let's press Control+Tab to
flip back to the other drawing.
| | 03:25 | AutoCAD lets us know that our
referenced geometry has changed.
| | 03:28 | I'll click the hyperlink to
update the floorplan in this file.
| | 03:31 | And it's obvious that I need to make
some changes to the layout of my furniture.
| | 03:36 | Now, in an effort to keep the exercise
files consistent, I'd like to put things
| | 03:40 | back the way they were.
| | 03:41 | So I'll press Control+Tab to go back into
the floorPlan drawing, and then I'll
| | 03:46 | open the menu next to the Undo button,
and we'll back up to the point right
| | 03:50 | before we moved the door.
| | 03:52 | I will then click Save,
| | 03:54 | I'll close this drawing, and
then I'll reload the reference.
| | 03:59 | As you can see, by linking drawings
together, edits can be applied to
| | 04:02 | multiple files at one time.
| | 04:05 | From now on, keep your eyes open for
geometry that is duplicated in multiple drawings.
| | 04:10 | By externally referencing this
geometry, you can save yourself hours of
| | 04:13 | unnecessary editing time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Controlling the appearance of referenced drawings| 00:00 | Even though a reference to geometry
cannot be edited in the current file, we can
| | 00:04 | change the way it looks.
| | 00:06 | You see, when you reference a drawing,
all of the layers are included in the
| | 00:09 | reference, and making changes to
the layer properties is fair game.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we're going to
change the visual properties of a
| | 00:16 | referenced geometry.
| | 00:18 | Let's say that I need to create an
exhibit to take to a board meeting, and this
| | 00:22 | exhibit represents a proposed property
development that I've been working on.
| | 00:26 | I'd like to create this exhibit
from externally referenced files.
| | 00:30 | That way, if the files change, I don't
have to worry about recreating my exhibit.
| | 00:35 | I'll start by creating a new drawing.
| | 00:37 | I'll use the acad template,
and I'll click Open.
| | 00:40 | This is a civil engineering example,
| | 00:42 | so I'm going to change the units.
| | 00:45 | I'll open the Application menu, come
down to Drawing Utilities, and I'll select
| | 00:49 | Units, and I'll change the
Insertion scale to Feet.
| | 00:54 | The reason why the Insertion scale
is so important is because when you
| | 00:57 | reference a drawing, that drawing will
look to the Insertion scale to know if
| | 01:01 | it needs to be resized.
| | 01:03 | The drawings that I'll be referencing
have an Insertion scale set to Feet, so
| | 01:07 | I'm going to make sure that
my exhibit is also set to Feet.
| | 01:10 | I'll click OK when finished,
and then I'll save this drawing.
| | 01:14 | I'll save it inside the exercise files
folder, within the LinkingDWGs directory,
| | 01:20 | and I'll call this 03_exhibit.
| | 01:25 | Let's take a quick look at the layers.
| | 01:27 | Since this drawing was created from an
empty template, we only have one layer: layer 0.
| | 01:32 | I'd like to start by referencing the
drawing that represents the vacant lot.
| | 01:36 | This is the drawing that I
received from a surveyor.
| | 01:39 | To make that reference, I'll click
the Insert tab, I'll come down to the
| | 01:43 | Reference panel, and I'll click Attach.
| | 01:45 | I will then select this drawing, 03 existing
conditions, and I'll click Open.
| | 01:51 | I will then make sure that all
of these boxes are unchecked.
| | 01:54 | I'll change the Path type to
Relative, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:59 | Now, that geometry has been
referenced into the drawing.
| | 02:02 | The problem is, it didn't pop up
where I happened to be looking.
| | 02:06 | I'm going to double click the
wheel on my mouse to do a zoom extents.
| | 02:10 | First thing's first; whenever we reference
geometry, AutoCAD will screen it back by 50%.
| | 02:16 | It does this as a courtesy.
| | 02:17 | That way it's easy to tell the
difference between geometry that's being
| | 02:20 | referenced, and geometry
that exists in the local file.
| | 02:24 | To change the External Reference Fading,
we can open the Reference panel, and you
| | 02:28 | can drag the Fading slider left and right.
| | 02:31 | You can also enter a new
screening value right here.
| | 02:34 | To turn the feature off
completely, you can click this toggle.
| | 02:37 | I'm going to turn it off;
| | 02:38 | that way the geometry
appears much brighter onscreen.
| | 02:41 | Let's open up the Layer Properties
manager and take a look at the layers.
| | 02:45 | As you can see, all of the referenced
layers have come along for the ride, and
| | 02:48 | each referenced layer uses
the file name as a prefix.
| | 02:53 | Let's move out for a second.
| | 02:55 | Even though I can't edit this geometry
from here, since all of the layers are in
| | 03:00 | this drawing, I can turn things on and
off, I can adjust the line types of these
| | 03:04 | objects; I can also change their colors.
| | 03:07 | As an example, I'll select the first
referenced layer, and then I'll hold my
| | 03:12 | Shift key, and select the last one.
| | 03:14 | Now that they're all selected, I will
click the Color property, and I will set
| | 03:18 | all of the layers to be white.
| | 03:19 | Let me mention that the change that I made
does not affect the original file at all.
| | 03:24 | It only affects the way that
drawing is displayed in my current file.
| | 03:28 | I'd like to make one more change.
| | 03:30 | I really don't need this existing
text to be displayed in the exhibit.
| | 03:34 | One way I can quickly turn that off
is by going to the Home tab, and in the
| | 03:38 | Layers panel, I'll click
the Layer Off button.
| | 03:41 | I will then select an object on the
layer I'd like to turn off, and I can hide
| | 03:45 | that layer from display without
even knowing the layer's name.
| | 03:48 | When I'm finished, I'll
press Escape. All right.
| | 03:51 | Let's reference the drawing that
contains the proposed lot geometry.
| | 03:55 | I'll go back to the Insert tab, and
click Attach, and I'll select this drawing;
| | 03:59 | 03_propSub, and I'll click Open.
| | 04:04 | I will make sure that all
of these boxes are unchecked,
| | 04:07 | and this time I'd like to change the Path type.
| | 04:10 | I'll select Full path.
| | 04:11 | I'll click OK when finished, and now my
proposed geometry is visible onscreen.
| | 04:16 | Let's go back to the Layer Properties manager.
| | 04:19 | As you can see, I have
several new layers in this file.
| | 04:22 | Since the file name is incorporated
into the layer names, these layers are
| | 04:26 | nicely grouped inside the manager.
| | 04:28 | I'm going to move back out.
| | 04:29 | We'll let this collapse, and we'll look at
some of the other display options that we have.
| | 04:35 | I'll start by selecting the existing conditions
reference, and then in the Contextual Ribbon
| | 04:40 | tab, I'll choose External References.
| | 04:43 | This brings up the External References
palette, where I can manage my referenced files.
| | 04:48 | Right here, I can see the file names
of the two drawings that I'm linked to.
| | 04:52 | If I drag the slider left and right, we
can see information about those files.
| | 04:57 | To change some of that information, we
can select the file from the list, and
| | 05:01 | then any of the values that are not
grayed out, we can adjust down here below.
| | 05:05 | As you can see, the existing conditions drawing is
using a relative path, and if I select
| | 05:12 | proposed sub, we can
see what a full path looks like.
| | 05:16 | If you'd like to hide the display of
your referenced geometry, we could go into
| | 05:20 | the Layer manager, and turn of
all of the associated layers.
| | 05:23 | A quicker way would be to right-click the
file name in the Xref manager, and select Unload.
| | 05:30 | This removes the geometry from the
file, while maintaining the reference.
| | 05:34 | So if I ever want to bring that
geometry back, I can right-click the file
| | 05:38 | name, and choose Reload.
| | 05:40 | To remove a reference from a drawing,
right-click the file name, and select Detach.
| | 05:45 | Now, I'd like to keep this geometry, so
I'm going to move my cursor in the model
| | 05:49 | space, and I'll press Control+Z to bring it back.
| | 05:52 | Sometimes it may be tempting to
remove a reference by selecting it, and
| | 05:56 | pressing the Delete key.
| | 05:58 | When I do that, watch the manager.
| | 06:01 | Notice the shield,
and the exclamation point.
| | 06:04 | Anytime you see a Status of Unreferenced,
it means that that external reference
| | 06:09 | has been erased from the file.
| | 06:11 | Now, if this file was in a saved state,
there's really no coming back from that,
| | 06:15 | other than right-clicking, selecting
Detach, and then reattaching the file.
| | 06:19 | Since I have not saved the drawing
since that change, I'm going to press Control+Z
| | 06:23 | to bring back the reference.
| | 06:25 | When I'm finished, I'll click the
X to close the Reference manager.
| | 06:28 | At this point, I will save the drawing,
because it contains both of my references,
| | 06:31 | and it's now ready to be
printed, and taken to the meeting.
| | 06:34 | So when it comes to referenced drawings, the
geometry isn't quite as static as you may think.
| | 06:39 | Using layer settings, and the External
References manager, we have complete
| | 06:43 | control over the display of referenced files.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Choosing between Attach and Overlay| 00:00 | When creating an external reference
the reference type is very important.
| | 00:04 | If you select the wrong setting, someone
who references your drawing may get more
| | 00:08 | than what they bargain for.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we will discuss the
difference between the attachment and
| | 00:13 | overlay reference methods.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
represents a floor plan, and I would like to
| | 00:19 | externally reference the file containing
the furniture layout for this building.
| | 00:23 | To do that, I'll move up to the Insert
tab, and then I'll click the Attach button.
| | 00:28 | Inside the exercise files, I will
select this drawing called 04_furniture,
| | 00:33 | and I'll click Open.
| | 00:35 | I will make sure that all of
the questions are unchecked,
| | 00:37 | I'll keep my Path type set to
Relative, and then we'll talk about this
| | 00:42 | Reference Type setting.
| | 00:44 | This setting controls what happens
to this reference if someone were to
| | 00:47 | reference my drawing.
| | 00:48 | For instance, if I referenced this
furniture via Attachment, and someone were to
| | 00:54 | reference my floorPlan drawing, this
furniture will go along for the ride,
| | 00:58 | because it's attached to this file.
| | 01:00 | If, however, I referenced the
furniture via Overlay, and someone were to
| | 01:04 | reference my floor plan, the
furniture will not be included.
| | 01:08 | Overlay is by far the safest method to use,
because it prevents unwanted drawings
| | 01:13 | from being included in the external references.
| | 01:15 | I am going to leave the Reference
Type set to Overlay, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:20 | Now let's reference the drawing
that represents the site plan.
| | 01:24 | Once again, I'll click Attach, I'll select
this file called 04_PropCivil, and click Open.
| | 01:30 | I'll keep the same settings as before,
except this time I will reference the
| | 01:35 | final via Attachment, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:38 | If I do a zoom extents, you can see
the geometry from all three files.
| | 01:42 | Now let's save this drawing.
| | 01:46 | I'll close it, and then
I'll create a new drawing.
| | 01:50 | We'll use the acad template, and let's
reference the floor plan into this file.
| | 01:55 | I'll select Attach, click
the floorPlan drawing and open.
| | 02:01 | I'm going to go with the default
settings here on the right side.
| | 02:04 | I am going to practice good form, and
use the Overlay setting, and I'll click OK.
| | 02:09 | I will then do a zoom extents to see the
floorPlan file, and you can see that the
| | 02:14 | site plan has gone along for the ride.
| | 02:17 | Since the site plan was connected to the
floorPlan drawing via Attachment, it was
| | 02:21 | included in this reference, even though I
didn't necessarily need it. Let's close this.
| | 02:28 | I'm not going to save changes, and we
will go back to the floorPlan drawing, and
| | 02:34 | we will put this exercise
file back to its original state.
| | 02:38 | I'll do that by selecting one of
the references, I'll bring up the
| | 02:41 | External References manager,
I'll select each of these referenced
| | 02:44 | drawings, and I'll Detach them.
| | 02:46 | When I'm finished, I'll close the manager,
and we'll center the geometry on screen,
| | 02:52 | and I'll Save the file.
| | 02:54 | So to avoid connecting unnecessary
files to your drawings, choose the
| | 02:58 | Overlay reference method.
| | 03:00 | Using Overlay, you have complete
control over the amount of data included in
| | 03:04 | each reference.
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| Clipping an external reference| 00:00 | When creating external references,
we can even link to drawings that are
| | 00:03 | significantly larger than our project area.
| | 00:06 | After connecting, AutoCAD makes it easy
to clip large reference files down to size.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson, we will explore
how to clip a referenced drawing.
| | 00:14 | On my screen, I have an exhibit that
represents a small proposed subdivision.
| | 00:19 | One thing I'd like to add to this exhibit
is the existing topography across this site.
| | 00:25 | So I have contacted the GIS person in
the office, and they've sent me a file
| | 00:29 | containing the contours in this area.
| | 00:31 | Let's reference that drawing.
| | 00:34 | To do that, I'll go to the Insert tab,
and then I'll click the Attach button.
| | 00:38 | In the exercise files folder, I'll select
this drawing, 05_exTopo, and I'll click open.
| | 00:45 | I will then make sure that
all of the boxes are unchecked.
| | 00:48 | I'm going to use a Relative path, and
for the Reference Type, I'll make sure
| | 00:52 | it's set to Overlay.
| | 00:53 | When I'm finished, I'll click OK.
| | 00:56 | If I zoom in, you can see these contour lines.
| | 00:59 | These lines represent the elevation of
the property in even two foot increments.
| | 01:03 | Using these contours, it's easy to
find the high and low points on the site.
| | 01:09 | If I do a zoom extents, you can see that
the contour file that I have is quite a
| | 01:13 | bit larger than what I need. No problem!
| | 01:15 | AutoCAD makes it easy to
clip an external reference.
| | 01:18 | To clip this file, I'll select the
reference, and then in the contextual ribbon
| | 01:23 | tab, I'll choose Create Clipping
Boundary. And there's a few ways I can do this:
| | 01:28 | I could select an existing polyline
as my clipping boundary, I can define a
| | 01:32 | Polygonal clipping boundary, or I can
create a Rectangular clipping boundary.
| | 01:37 | Note that we have the same
options down here at the command line.
| | 01:40 | I'm going to select Polygonal, and then
I'm going to turn my running object snaps
| | 01:44 | off momentarily, so they don't get in the way.
| | 01:47 | I'll pick a point here in
the northwest, the northeast,
| | 01:51 | I'll work my way around the project,
and when I'm finished, I'll press Enter,
| | 01:55 | and then I'll press Escape
to deselect the reference.
| | 01:58 | Now when I do a zoom extents, you can
see AutoCAD is focusing on only the area
| | 02:02 | of the project that I'm interested in.
| | 02:04 | To edit a clipping boundary, I can
select the reference, and then I can choose a
| | 02:09 | grip, and pull these out wherever I like.
| | 02:14 | I can also invert the clipping
boundary by clicking this arrow.
| | 02:19 | To remove the clipping boundary, I can
come back to the ribbon, and choose Remove.
| | 02:23 | Now, I'd like to keep the boundary,
so I'm going to press Control+Z to undo.
| | 02:28 | Finally, I'm going to do a zoom
extents, and then I'll turn my running
| | 02:31 | object snaps back on.
| | 02:33 | So when it comes to referenced
files, size doesn't really matter.
| | 02:36 | Using AutoCAD's clipping tools, we can
easily crop any reference down to match
| | 02:41 | the size of our project.
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| Binding references| 00:00 | External references can pose some
challenges when e-mailing a drawing to a client.
| | 00:05 | You see, in addition to sending the
current file, you also need to ensure you're
| | 00:09 | sending the geometry from any
linked references.
| | 00:12 | Fortunately, AutoCAD makes it easy to
consolidate all of the references into a single file.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson, we'll explore
the options of the Bind tool.
| | 00:20 | On my screen, I have a civil
engineering example, and this drawing contains a
| | 00:25 | couple of the external references.
| | 00:26 | In the event you're having trouble
finding the referenced geometry, you can
| | 00:30 | always come up to the Insert tab, and then on
the Reference panel, click this small arrow.
| | 00:35 | This will bring up the External
References manager, where you can see the names
| | 00:39 | of the linked drawings.
| | 00:41 | If you select the file name in the manager,
that geometry will highlight in the drawing.
| | 00:46 | Just for a second, I'm going to right-click
on each of these files, and unload
| | 00:49 | them, because I want to show you that
this is the only geometry in this file.
| | 00:55 | If I was to e-mail this drawing to a
client, this is all they will get.
| | 00:59 | In order to include the geometry from
these other drawings, I need a way to
| | 01:03 | insert that geometry into the current file.
| | 01:06 | We'll do this using the Bind tool.
| | 01:08 | Let's right-click, and reload each of
these drawings, and just for a second, we'll
| | 01:13 | open the Layer manager.
| | 01:15 | As you can see, the referenced layers
are prefixed by the file name, then a
| | 01:19 | vertical bar, and then the layer name
from the referenced drawing. Move back out.
| | 01:24 | I'm going to bind the floorPlan first.
| | 01:27 | To do that, I'll right-click on the
file name and select Bind, and then in the
| | 01:31 | Bind dialog box, I'll make sure the
Bind option is selected, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:37 | This converts the floorPlan geometry into a
block that is inserted in the current file.
| | 01:42 | If I come back to the Layer Properties
manager, take a look at the layer names.
| | 01:46 | Using the Bind method of Bind, all of
the layers and settings are preserved.
| | 01:52 | This method is the best choice if
you want to ensure that your geometry
| | 01:56 | maintains its current appearance.
| | 01:58 | You know, as long as we are binding
these files, it's not a bad idea to create
| | 02:02 | some bound copies of your
drawings once in a while.
| | 02:05 | These files are a great way to
document the history of a project.
| | 02:08 | I'm going to move outside the manager,
and let this collapse, and we'll bind the
| | 02:12 | furniture geometry next.
| | 02:14 | To do that, I'll right-click
on the file, and select Bind,
| | 02:17 | and I'll use the Insert method
this time, and I'll click OK.
| | 02:22 | As you can see, the furniture
geometry has been converted into a block.
| | 02:26 | If I come back to the Layer Properties
manager, notice the change to the file names.
| | 02:31 | Using the Insert method, these layers
will act the same as if you had copied and
| | 02:35 | pasted the geometry into this file.
| | 02:38 | At this point, all of my
external references are gone.
| | 02:41 | I'll close the manager, and then I
will save this file with a new name.
| | 02:45 | To do that, I'll click the Save As
button, and I will save this inside the
| | 02:50 | exercise files directory as 06_propCivilEMAIL.
| | 02:58 | This file is now ready to be
attached to an e-mail and sent to my client.
| | 03:02 | As you can see, using the Bind tool, we
can easily consolidate referenced files
| | 03:06 | into a single drawing.
| | 03:08 | This drawing can then be e-mailed to a
client, or used as an archive to record the
| | 03:12 | history of a project.
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|
|
3. Incorporating ImagesInserting images| 00:00 | Sometimes the best way to convey
your design intent is with a photograph.
| | 00:04 | Fortunately, AutoCAD makes it
easy to insert images into a drawing.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we'll
learn how to attach an image.
| | 00:11 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
represents a portion of a floor plan.
| | 00:15 | You know, sometimes looking at your
geometry like this, it's hard to convey to
| | 00:20 | your client what the
finished project will look like.
| | 00:23 | What I've done is create a rendered
image of this waiting room, and I'd like to
| | 00:27 | insert that image into this drawing.
| | 00:30 | I'll start by panning this over, and to
insert the image, I'll select the Insert
| | 00:35 | tab, and then I'll come down and click Attach.
| | 00:38 | Images are considered external
references, just like drawings.
| | 00:42 | In the Files of type menu, I'll make
sure that All image files is selected.
| | 00:47 | And then in the exercise files folder,
within the AttachingImages directory, I'll
| | 00:52 | select this image, 01_
archRender, and I'll click Open.
| | 00:56 | This brings up the Image Attach dialog
box, where you'll see a lot of the same
| | 01:01 | settings that we see
when we attach to a drawing.
| | 01:03 | Typically, when inserting an image, you will
want to specify the Insertion point and Scale.
| | 01:09 | That way, you can set the location
onscreen, and drag it out to size.
| | 01:13 | As far as the Rotation angle is
concerned, I am going to leave this unchecked.
| | 01:17 | I'm happy with an angle of zero.
| | 01:19 | I'm also happy with the Relative path.
| | 01:22 | If I open this, you'll see the same
options that we have when we link to a drawing.
| | 01:26 | I'll click OK when finished.
| | 01:28 | I am now holding the image at my cursor.
| | 01:31 | I'll click once to place it,
| | 01:32 | I'll pull out,
and click again to set the size.
| | 01:36 | I'm sure you will agree that this
is a lot more descriptive than this.
| | 01:40 | As a bonus, this image will display and
print with the same fidelity you would
| | 01:44 | expect from a photo editing program.
| | 01:47 | I should also mention that when you
insert an image into your drawing, that image
| | 01:51 | will be placed on the current layer.
| | 01:53 | As you can see, a layer was
already created for this image.
| | 01:56 | As far as AutoCAD is concerned, it
treats these images like a single object,
| | 02:01 | which makes them easy to
move, rotate, or scale.
| | 02:04 | As an example, I'd like to move this
image down, such that top edge is flush with
| | 02:09 | the north wall of this building.
| | 02:10 | To do that, I'll use the Move
command, and I will select the image.
| | 02:14 | Very important, we have to
select images from the edge.
| | 02:17 | I'll pick it up from the upper
left corner, and I'd like to place it
| | 02:21 | perpendicular to this wall.
| | 02:24 | Images can be scaled using these grips.
| | 02:26 | I'm going to select the grip in the
lower right corner, and so long as my Ortho
| | 02:31 | is turned off, I can drag this up or
down, and set it to whatever size I like.
| | 02:37 | As you can see, AutoCAD makes it easy
to incorporate imagery into your design.
| | 02:41 | Images are also a great way to display
company logos, location maps, even signatures.
| | 02:47 | When it comes to referenced images,
there is virtually no limit to what you
| | 02:50 | can do.
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| Editing the appearance of images| 00:00 | Since images are treated as external
references, you're not able to edit them
| | 00:04 | from within AutoCAD. That being said,
AutoCAD does allow us to change how images
| | 00:08 | are displayed in a drawing.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we'll adjust
the appearance of an image.
| | 00:13 | On my screen, I have a 3D example;
| | 00:15 | this is a concept for a wooden toy.
| | 00:18 | It's a rubberband-powered catapult.
| | 00:21 | If you'd like to view this object in 3D,
hold down your Shift Key, and then the
| | 00:25 | middle wheel on your mouse.
| | 00:27 | As you drag the mouse, you can
orbit your view around the part.
| | 00:30 | I am going to release both buttons, and then
I'll come down and click this 11 by 17 Layout.
| | 00:38 | The geometry that we see on this
layout was extracted from that 3D model. As you
| | 00:43 | can see, we've got a front view,
a right side view, and a top view.
| | 00:48 | I'd like add a rendered image.
| | 00:50 | Since we're talking about image
display, I thought it would be best to use a
| | 00:54 | layout, because this'll give us the most
realistic plottable view of the image.
| | 00:58 | If you look at the Layer control, you can see I
have already created a layer for the reference.
| | 01:02 | I'll move up and click the
Insert tab, and then I'll click Attach.
| | 01:06 | In the exercise files folder, I'll select
this, image 02_woodToy, and I'll click Open.
| | 01:12 | When I place this, I'd like to
specify the Insertion point, and Scale.
| | 01:17 | I'm going to keep the
Relative path, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:21 | I'm now holding the image at my cursor,
I'll click to place it in the drawing,
| | 01:24 | I'll drag it out the size,
and I'll click to Finish.
| | 01:27 | Now I'd like to move it over just a
little bit. To do that, I'll go to the Home tab,
| | 01:32 | I will launch the Move command, and I
will select the image from the edge.
| | 01:37 | I'll pick it up from the lower right
corner, and I'll drag this over to the
| | 01:40 | right a little bit.
| | 01:42 | Now let's talk about some of the
image display options that we have.
| | 01:46 | If I select the image, in the contextual
ribbon tab, you'll find some sliders that
| | 01:50 | control the Brightness, Contrast, and Fade.
| | 01:54 | To change these values you can drag the
slider left and right, or you can change
| | 01:58 | the number at the end of the row.
| | 02:01 | My favorite setting is Fade; if I drag
this to the right, it'll screen the image
| | 02:06 | back. This is a great tool to use if
you'd like to draw on top of a photograph.
| | 02:11 | Lets change the Fade value back to 0,
and if I move down to the Options panel,
| | 02:15 | we'll see a toggle that I can
use to hide or display the image.
| | 02:19 | Since the image is an external
reference, I can click this icon to bring up the
| | 02:23 | External Reference manager. Here
is the attached image right here.
| | 02:27 | AutoCAD uses the same
manager for all referenced files.
| | 02:31 | If I drag the slider left and right, I
can see some statistical information
| | 02:34 | regarding this image.
| | 02:36 | If I select the file name, I could
make changes to the information down here
| | 02:40 | in the details area.
| | 02:42 | Any setting that is not grayed can
be changed. Probably the most valuable
| | 02:46 | setting we have is Saved Path.
| | 02:49 | Since we're working with a linked
file, in the event this image is moved, I
| | 02:53 | could click in the Save Path setting,
and then use the ellipses button to point
| | 02:57 | to the new location of the file.
| | 03:00 | If I right-click on the file name, I
can Unload or Reload this reference. I can
| | 03:06 | also use this menu to detach the reference.
| | 03:10 | This is the best way to
remove a referenced image.
| | 03:13 | Now I'd like to bring this back, so
I'll make sure my cursor is here in the
| | 03:16 | layout, and I'll press Control+Z to undo.
| | 03:19 | I'll then close the External Reference manager.
| | 03:22 | Take a look at this border
around the outside of the image.
| | 03:25 | This border will match the properties of the layer
that the image is inserted on, and it will plot.
| | 03:32 | In my case, this drawing would look
much better if this border was hidden.
| | 03:35 | To hide the border, I can go to the
Insert tab, and in the Reference panel, I'll
| | 03:40 | open the Frames menu. From here I can
choose to Hide the frame, Display and plot
| | 03:46 | the frame, or Display but don't plot the frame.
| | 03:49 | This menu is used to control the
frames for several referenced file types.
| | 03:53 | I am going to select Hide frames.
| | 03:56 | Now, even though that frame is
hidden, AutoCAD still knows it's there.
| | 04:00 | If I create a crossing window, AutoCAD
will find and allow me to select the image.
| | 04:06 | At this point, my exhibit is finished;
I am going to double-click the mouse
| | 04:09 | wheel to do zoom extents.
| | 04:11 | As you can see, using AutoCAD's toolset,
we can easily change the appearance of
| | 04:14 | a referenced image.
| | 04:16 | Using the Frame menus, you can even hide
the image frame, giving your image is a
| | 04:19 | borderless appearance in the drawing.
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| Clipping images| 00:00 | Some of the images you reference
aren't going to fit nicely into a rectangle.
| | 00:04 | For this reason, AutoCAD allows us to
crop images to almost any shape.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson, we will explore
how to clip a referenced image.
| | 00:12 | On my screen, I have an exhibit that represents
a stop sign installation at a rural intersection.
| | 00:18 | Based on the callout, we can see the name
of the sign, the size, and the part number.
| | 00:23 | I would also like to add an image.
| | 00:26 | To do that, I'll click the Insert tab,
I will then click Attach, and in the
| | 00:30 | exercise files folder, I'll select this
image, 3_stopSign, and I'll click Open.
| | 00:36 | When I insert the image, I would like
to specify the Insertion point and Scale.
| | 00:41 | I will also accept the default
Relative path, and I'll click OK.
| | 00:46 | I will then click to place the image, I'll
drag it out to size, and then we will zoom in.
| | 00:52 | As you can see, this photograph is
showing me more than more I need.
| | 00:55 | I would like to clip this image, such
that I am viewing the sign geometry only.
| | 01:00 | To do that, I will select the image
from the edge, and in the contextual ribbon
| | 01:04 | tab, I'll choose Create Clipping Boundary.
| | 01:07 | Now, there's a few ways to define a
clipping boundary: I can draw a Rectangle, I
| | 01:11 | can create a Polygonal boundary, or
I can select an existing polyline to
| | 01:16 | represent the boundary.
| | 01:17 | I am going to choose Polygonal; I
will then zoom in, and click close to this
| | 01:22 | corner. I will then click near the
corner in the upper left, upper right, and I
| | 01:30 | will continue to work my way around the sign.
| | 01:32 | I don't have to be too specific when I
select these points, because I can always
| | 01:36 | a grip edit these corners later.
| | 01:38 | When I am finished, I will press Enter,
and you can see the AutoCAD has clipped
| | 01:45 | that photograph to match my boundary.
| | 01:48 | The best part about this
boundary is that its live.
| | 01:50 | If I click a grip, I can pull this
out and expose as much or as little of
| | 01:55 | the photo as I like.
| | 01:56 | I'm going to drag this back.
| | 01:59 | To invert the clipping
boundary, I'll click the arrow.
| | 02:02 | This is a great tool use if you're
working with a large aerial photograph, and
| | 02:06 | you're trying make some room for notes.
| | 02:08 | Let's flip it back. To remove the
boundary, I can select Remove from the ribbon.
| | 02:13 | I am going to press Control+Z
to undo that last step.
| | 02:17 | You know, one thing we haven't talked
about too much with referenced files --
| | 02:21 | I'm going to select this -- don't
forget about the Properties palette.
| | 02:26 | Many of the things you see in the
ribbon can also be found right here. In fact,
| | 02:31 | using the Properties palette, I can
choose to display the clipped boundary, or not,
| | 02:37 | while keeping the boundary.
| | 02:39 | At this point, I'm happy with the shape of
the sign. It is a little on the gray side.
| | 02:43 | Knowing what we know now, I'm going to come
up and drag the Brightness up little bit,
| | 02:47 | and I will also increase the Contrast.
| | 02:51 | When I am finished I will press Escape.
| | 02:54 | I well then zoom out, we will go back
to the Home tab, and I will launch Move.
| | 02:59 | I'll select the sign, and I'll pick it
up from the lower right corner, and place
| | 03:04 | it next to the call out.
| | 03:05 | As you can see, attached images
don't always have to conform to a simple
| | 03:09 | rectangle. Using the Clip tool, we
have complete control over the shape of
| | 03:13 | our referenced imagery.
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| Sizing images to a measurable scale| 00:00 | When properly sized, referenced images
can even be used in place of geometry.
| | 00:05 | In this lesson, we will learn how to
scale an image, such that it can be
| | 00:09 | incorporated into a design.
| | 00:10 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
represents a proposed floor plan for gymnasium,
| | 00:15 | and I need to add a
basketball court to this drawing.
| | 00:19 | As you can see, I've already created the
boundary based on the dimensions of a typical court.
| | 00:23 | Fortunately, the company in charge of
the flooring on this project has sent me a
| | 00:27 | rendering of the final court design.
| | 00:30 | So instead of drawing this court
geometry by hand, I'd like to incorporate their
| | 00:35 | rendering into my file.
| | 00:37 | To do that, I'll go to the
Insert tab, and I'll click Attach.
| | 00:41 | In the exercise files folder, I will
select this, Image 04_court, and I'll
| | 00:46 | click Open. When placing the image, I would
like to specify the Insertion point and Scale.
| | 00:51 | I will also accept the default
Relative path, and I'll click OK.
| | 00:56 | I'll click to place the image somewhere down
here in the lower left corner of the boundary.
| | 01:00 | I'll drag this out to size,
and I'll click to finish.
| | 01:04 | Now, since this image is proportional to
my boundary, I should be able to scale it
| | 01:08 | up, and have it fit perfectly within that shape.
| | 01:11 | The tool I'm going to use is the Align command.
| | 01:14 | We can find Align on the Home tab, inside
the Modify panel; the icon is right here.
| | 01:21 | After launching the command, I will
select the object I'd like to align; that is
| | 01:25 | this image, and I'll press enter. All I
have to do now is match up some points.
| | 01:30 | I would like to match the upper left
corner of the image to the upper left
| | 01:34 | corner of my boundary, and the upper
right corner of the image to the upper
| | 01:38 | right corner of the boundary.
| | 01:39 | Notice that AutoCad is asking
me for a third source point.
| | 01:42 | That's because the Align
command also works with 3D geometry.
| | 01:46 | In this case, the third point isn't
necessary, so I'll press Enter to continue,
| | 01:50 | and then I will click Yes to
scale my image to match the points.
| | 01:53 | And the image now fits
perfectly within that boundary.
| | 01:57 | As you can see, using the Align command, we
can easily scale any image to a specific size.
| | 02:03 | Try using this technique with aerial
photographs, location maps, or scanned
| | 02:07 | details, and get the most value out of
the images attached to your drawing.
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|
|
4. Checking Your SkillsChallenge: working with references| 00:00 | In this lesson, we are going to
deviate from the standard format.
| | 00:04 | This time I want to see what you can do.
| | 00:06 | On my screen, I've created a
challenge drawing for you. This exercise will
| | 00:11 | require you to use many of the
tools we've talked about in this title.
| | 00:15 | Your goal is to re-create this exhibit.
| | 00:18 | This drawing represents a proposed
site plan for a fast food restaurant.
| | 00:22 | Let me show you what you need to do to do.
| | 00:24 | First I'd like you to open a drawing.
| | 00:27 | In the exercise files folder, you will
find this drawing called 04_propCond.
| | 00:34 | After opening the drawing, go to the
View tab, and then in the User Interface
| | 00:38 | panel, I'd like you to select Tile Vertically.
| | 00:41 | This way you get a nice side
by side view of both drawings.
| | 00:45 | The first thing I'd like you to
do is externally reference these
| | 00:48 | existing conditions.
| | 00:50 | You'll find this drawing in
the exercise files folder.
| | 00:53 | If I select it, and go to Properties
palette, you can see the file name right here.
| | 01:01 | After referencing this drawing, I'd like you
to set all of the layer colors to be gray.
| | 01:05 | One more thing; you will find a large
text object in the middle of the vacant lot.
| | 01:10 | I'd like you to turn that layer off.
| | 01:12 | After working with the reference;
I'd like you to create a block;
| | 01:15 | specifically, this arrow that represents
the traffic flow pattern in the parking lot.
| | 01:21 | If you look at the drawing I've provided,
you'll see that I have already created
| | 01:24 | the geometry for this arrow.
| | 01:26 | Simply turn this geometry into a block.
| | 01:29 | I've also provided some center lines
to help you place these in the drawing.
| | 01:34 | If you center the symbols on this line
work, they will fall in the same place
| | 01:37 | that you see in the finished example.
| | 01:39 | Finally, I'd like you to reference this
image that represents the no parking sign.
| | 01:44 | This image is also located
in the exercise files folder.
| | 01:47 | If I select it, and come
over the Properties palette,
| | 01:50 | you can see the file name right here.
| | 01:53 | After referencing this image, it will
need to be clipped, and I'd like the
| | 01:56 | boundary frame turned off,
just like we see in the example.
| | 01:59 | All right. At this point I am
ready to hand this project off to you,
| | 02:03 | so spend a little time with this file,
see how much you can accomplish, and
| | 02:07 | when you're ready, jump over to the
next video, and I'll show you how I would
| | 02:11 | approach this same challenge.
| | 02:12 | Good Luck!
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| Demo: working with references| 00:00 | In this lesson, I'm going to
show you how I would approach the
| | 00:03 | reference challenge drawing.
| | 00:04 | As a bonus, this task will also give us
a chance to review many of the concepts
| | 00:08 | we've looked at in this title.
| | 00:10 | As you can see, we're picking up
right where we left off in the last video.
| | 00:14 | I'd like to start by externally
referencing this existing conditions drawing.
| | 00:18 | To do that, I'll go to the
Insert tab, and then I'll click Attach.
| | 00:22 | I will make sure that the Files of type
is set to .dwg, and in the exercise files
| | 00:27 | folder, I'll select this drawing,
04_exCond, and I'll click Open.
| | 00:33 | Now, when I attach this geometry, I
want to make sure it comes in at the same
| | 00:36 | location, size, and rotation
as it is in the original file,
| | 00:41 | so I will leave all of these boxes unchecked.
| | 00:44 | I will also accept the default,
Relative path, and I'd like to use the
| | 00:48 | Overlay Reference Type.
| | 00:50 | That way if someone were to externally
reference my drawing, the existing conditions won't
| | 00:54 | go along for the ride.
| | 00:57 | I'll click OK when finished.
| | 00:58 | We can now see the
existing conditions in my file.
| | 01:02 | The next thing I'd like to
do is adjust the layer colors.
| | 01:05 | To do that, I'll open the
Layer Properties manager.
| | 01:07 | Right here, we can see the
externally referenced layers.
| | 01:10 | They're very easy to find, because the
layer names will be preceded by the file name.
| | 01:15 | I'm going to select the first referenced
layer, and then I'll hold my Shift key,
| | 01:19 | and grab the last one.
| | 01:21 | When they're selected, I'll click on the
Color property, and I will change all of
| | 01:25 | these to be a light gray.
| | 01:27 | The next thing I'd like to do
is turn off this text object.
| | 01:30 | To do that, I'll go to the Home tab,
and then in the upper right corner of the
| | 01:34 | Layers panel, I'll click the Layer Off button.
| | 01:38 | I will then select an object that
represents the layer I'd like to turn off.
| | 01:41 | When I'm finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 01:45 | Now let's turn our
attention to this block symbol.
| | 01:49 | If I come back to my drawing, you can
see that we already have the geometry for
| | 01:53 | this object in the file.
| | 01:55 | Before I convert this into a
block, I'm going to rotate it 90 degrees.
| | 02:01 | I'll rotate it from the endpoint, and
then I will lock the Ortho, and pull down,
| | 02:06 | such that the arrow is pointing to the right.
| | 02:09 | I do this to take advantage of the
rotation angle when I insert this symbol.
| | 02:13 | You'll see what I'm
talking about in just a second.
| | 02:16 | Let's select this, and I can see the
geometry is on Layer 0; that's perfect.
| | 02:22 | To create a block, I'll click the Create
button, and I'll call this symbol arrow.
| | 02:28 | I will then click Pick point, and I will
select the insertion point for this block.
| | 02:33 | I'd like to pick a point
at the middle of the symbol.
| | 02:36 | To do that, I'll Shift+right-click,
and choose Mid Between 2 Points.
| | 02:40 | The point I want will be midway
between the tip of the arrowhead, and the
| | 02:44 | midpoint of the other side.
| | 02:47 | I will then click Select objects, and I'll
select the geometry that makes up the block.
| | 02:51 | Finally, since I don't need this
geometry anymore, I'll make sure that Delete is
| | 02:55 | selected, and I'll click OK. All right.
| | 02:59 | Let's pan over, and before I insert my
first symbol, I'm going to make sure that
| | 03:03 | the proposed stripe layer is current.
| | 03:08 | To insert a block, I'll click the Insert icon.
| | 03:10 | I will then select the block that I created.
| | 03:13 | When I place this in the drawing, I
would like to specify the Insertion
| | 03:17 | point and Rotation angle.
| | 03:19 | I will then place this to the midpoint
of the line, and I will turn off my Ortho,
| | 03:24 | and you can see, by defining that
block using geometry that was rotated 90
| | 03:28 | degrees, it's very easy to align this.
| | 03:31 | I can just snap to this lower endpoint.
| | 03:34 | To insert another symbol, I'll press
the spacebar, I'll click OK, I'll grab the
| | 03:38 | midpoint of this line, and
snap to the upper endpoint.
| | 03:41 | Now let's zoom out on the finished
example, so we can see the orientation for the
| | 03:45 | rest of the arrowheads.
| | 03:47 | I will then pan over my drawing, and I'll
take care of the drive-through lane first.
| | 03:57 | Whenever you're creating a block,
always think about how the block is inserted.
| | 04:02 | Sometimes, just by rotating the symbol 90
degrees, it makes insertion a lot faster.
| | 04:07 | Now that I'm finished with my
symbols, I don't need the sketch geometry
| | 04:13 | anymore, so I'll click the Layer Off button
again, and I'll click one of those center lines.
| | 04:19 | Finally, let's take care
of this referenced image.
| | 04:23 | I'll start by zooming in
on that area in my drawing.
| | 04:26 | I will then set the proposed sign layer current.
| | 04:29 | I do that because images are
inserted onto the current layer.
| | 04:33 | To place the image, I'll click
Insert, and then I'll click Attach.
| | 04:37 | I will then set the Files of type to
All image files, and I will choose this
| | 04:42 | image, 04_noParkSign, and I'll click Open.
| | 04:46 | When I place the image, I'd like to
specify the Insertion point and Scale.
| | 04:50 | I will keep the default
Relative path, and I'll click OK.
| | 04:54 | I will then click to place the image
in the drawing, I'll drag it out the
| | 04:58 | size, and I'll click.
| | 04:59 | Now, this appears to be a little bit
smaller than my example, so I will click the
| | 05:03 | image edge, I will select a grip, and
I'll pull this out a little bit larger.
| | 05:09 | Now, it looks like I have a little more
image than what I need, so let's clip this.
| | 05:14 | Since it's still selected, I'll
click Create Clipping Boundary.
| | 05:17 | I will turn off my running object
snaps, so they don't get in the way, and I'm
| | 05:21 | going to go with a Rectangular
boundary. I'll zoom in, and I'll click.
| | 05:27 | Little hard to see right now, but I
can always adjust the grips layer.
| | 05:32 | That's pretty good for the lower right corner.
| | 05:34 | Let's come up back up to the upper
left; I will adjust this slightly.
| | 05:38 | When I'm finished,
I'll launch the Move command.
| | 05:43 | I'll pick this up from the edge, and
I'll move the image into position.
| | 05:47 | Finally, I'd like to turn off the image frame.
| | 05:50 | To do that, I'll go to the Insert tab,
and then in the Reference panel, I'll open
| | 05:54 | up the Frames menu, and I'll select Hide frames.
| | 05:58 | At this point, my exhibit is finished.
| | 05:59 | Let's zoom out, and we'll center
both of these drawings on screen.
| | 06:03 | Well, how did you do?
| | 06:05 | If you've got the drawing
finished, congratulations!
| | 06:07 | You're doing outstanding.
| | 06:09 | If you struggle with the project, don't worry.
| | 06:11 | Hopefully this drawing has helped
you identify some of the strengths and
| | 06:14 | weaknesses in your skill set.
| | 06:16 | Now that you've seen how to
complete the project, try working through
| | 06:19 | the challenge again.
| | 06:20 | With a little review, and some more
practice, it won't be long and you'll be
| | 06:23 | finishing this drawing faster than I can.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Well, AutoCAD Essentials 5 has
officially come to a close.
| | 00:04 | I hope you've enjoyed our time
together as much as I have.
| | 00:07 | After working through these
tutorials, you are now in a position to start
| | 00:10 | assembling and managing
your very own block library.
| | 00:14 | Not only that, just think of the
time you're going to save when you start
| | 00:17 | incorporating referenced
drawings and images into your workflow.
| | 00:21 | Don't stop here. Take your skills even
farther by viewing the next title in the
| | 00:25 | series: AutoCAD Essentials 6. In this
title, we will learn how to prepare our
| | 00:30 | drawings for production by creating
customized layouts and annotation scales.
| | 00:35 | We will also explore some of the
collaborative tools, such that we can easily
| | 00:39 | share our drawings with others.
| | 00:40 | See you there.
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