atp253_autocad 101 survival guide

8/8/2019 ATP253_Autocad 101 Survival Guide

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/atp253autocad-101-survival-guide 1/22

1

ATP253AutoCAD 101 – A Survival Course

For Beginners Segment 1

Date: September 7, 2009

Instructor: Kenneth C. Leary Level: Beginning Category: AutoCAD General

Web : www.AUGI.com



2

Welcome to AutoCAD 101

Is this class for you? Well I think most people who signed up for it can get something out of it.Perhaps you’re just new to the business and you don’t want to look like you’re new to the business. Ormaybe you’ve been in the business a little while and hope to learn some new tip and tricks. In eithercase you’ve come to the right place.

It’s a scary feeling, being inexperienced, and AutoCAD is a big and intimidating program. Thereare literally thousands of commands and system variables. Most vocational and technical schools onlyteach the very basics. Often the former students are shocked to find that they weren’t taught some ofthe important tools most companies use on a regular basis.

Amazingly, most experienced users only use about a third of the tools the program has to offer.The people who get into the program and use it to a greater potential are referred to as “power users”.Even power users don’t always use a lot of the new tools that are available in new releases.

Here’s the good news, it’s not as bad as it seems. You can be on the road to becoming a poweruser before you know it. This course will teach you the basics you don’t usually learn in school, helpyou avoid the common mistakes most people make, and get you up to speed and working like a profaster than you thought possible.

Always know where your towel is

Some of you may have read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. If youdidn’t that’s all right I won’t hold it against you. One of the mantras of the hitchhikers is to always knowwhere your towel is. This means always be prepared and always carry with you the tools that you willneed. In case that reference still doesn’t make sense, a towel is a very handy multipurpose tool for

hitchhikers.I always suggest new employees whether it is CAD Drafter or Engineer (maybe Architect in your

case) that they carry a notepad with them at all times. Well perhaps taking it with you to lunch or therestroom is a bit extreme. Regardless, there are so many commands and system variables that you willbe learning that, unless you’re an AutoCAD savant, you won’t commit them all to memory the first timeyou hear them. Just like any other craft or skilled trade it’s important to have the right tool for the job.One very important thing that I would like to stress is this; AutoCAD is your favorite new tool. It maylook like a big scary tool with a bunch of switches, knobs and sharp edges, but it is just that, a tool.

This is very important for you to keep a good perspective. Weather you are a CAD Technician,CAD Drafter, Drafter, CAD operator, Designer, etc. In this course I will use the term CAD Drafter but thetitle is really of little significance for our purposes, it is your job to draw something well and this is thetool you use. Think of yourself as a drafter first, computer operator second.

Lastly, always keep a drawer stocked with Antacid and Aspirin (or Ibuprofen). You will needthem eventually, often at the same time.



3

Good Sources for Support

Just like a good reporter how well you do all depends upon how reliable your sources are.Whether it’s learning new tools and functions of AutoCAD or finding out how to fix a problem you arefacing and can’t solve yourself (and there will be plenty). Having a good reliable source or sources forgood information at your fingertips is important. I’m going to cover some of the more reliable sourcesavailable to you, all are effective and the more of them you use the better it is for you.

First, you’re already in one of the best places. AUGI is a great place to get valuable informationabout AutoCAD and the add-on packages that are offered by AutoDesk. The Forums are a good placefor asking questions and getting answers. There is also a Tips and Tricks forum that is really handy forfinding the quickest ways to do things.

In addition there are software specific forums that are specific to whatever type of AutoDesk

product or Add-on you’re using. Last but not least, if you have a spare few minutes Coffee Without CADis a great place to meet AutoCAD users you can relate with and not talk shop.

Fig. 01This is a screen shot of the AUGI Forums. A great source of information

for AutoCAD related questions.



4

Second, you may have support though AutoDesk already, but if not there is still plenty of goodfree information available on the AutoDesk Support website. The Discussion groups are similar to theAUGI forums in that you can post questions and get answers, often quickly, from experts that are onlinepretty much twenty four hours a day seven days a week. I would also suggest doing a forum searchbefore posting questions; you’re probably not the first person to have the problem and it many havealready been answered.

Fig. 02This is a screen shot of the AutoDesk Support Page.

The link for the discussion groups is circled in red.

So you thought you were done with school

I run into a lot of CAD drafters in the business that pick a version as “theirs” and benchmarkeverything on that. There are still people who are happy with Release 14 and don’t want to move on, no

really. The new commands and productivity tools don’t appeal to them. That kind attitude can be acareer killer. Don’t let yourself get too attached to a version or a specific way of doing things, there’salways a good reason to make a new release.

My point is this; one of the keys to being an effective and successful AutoCAD user is to alwayskeep learning. So now would be a good time to accept that you will never know it all. By the time you



5

do, there are new tools with every release, and you’ll need to learn them. Besides no one really likes aknow it all anyway.

Good Sources for Learning

Always try to stay ahead of the learning curve if you can. With one cravat that I should mention,it’s more important when you start a new job to learn what you are drawing first. You may be too busylearning how to do your job properly to invest a lot of time to improving your AutoCAD skills. Don’t letthis worry you; remember you’re a drafter first. Drafting quickly and wrong is always worse thandrafting slowly and correctly.

You may want to start learning more about AutoCAD simply and slowly. I used to dedicate afew minutes at lunch every day to simply look up a new command in the AutoCAD help menu. Onenew command and just a few minutes a day added up to a lot of information before I knew it. Once Iwas fairly competent at what I was doing at my job is when I started to look at different sources ofinformation.

Books are on of your best sources. There are a lot of books available for AutoCAD and most arevery helpful and may even target your specific experience level. I’m not a big fan of giving freeadvertising so don’t consider my opinions to be a specific endorsement of any of these books. A quicksearch of any of the popular online book buying sites will give you quite a few results.

AutoCAD for Dummies, Mastering AutoCAD , and AutoCAD: No Experience Required are allgood books with a lot of good reviews. But I have to say that a lot of people The AutoCAD Bible byEllen Finkelstein to be the definitive book on AutoCAD. I would suggest simply reading as many of thecustomer reviews as possible before making any choices.

I don’t know how many of you are first time users of the AUGI training program. Some of youmay already have gone through and looked into the ATP course archives for past classes. If youhaven’t done so yet, I strongly suggest that you find the time to do so. Go ahead and look you won’thurt my feelings, honest. There are usually about three classes per month and all contain aconsiderable amount of helpful information on a range of subjects.

A lot of these classes offer information on specific tools and features that you will encounterwhile using AutoCAD, so check back often. For example, you might not need to use Dynamic Blocksnow but if your company decides to try them out a quick search will find the June 2005 course ATP076- Dynamic Blocks and block Enhancements. Some quick reading and you can be the company experton the subject!



6

Learn from the Pros

There are a lot of good informal ways to learn good solid and effective information aboutAutoCAD. Look around your office and see how the other drafters work. There are a lot of interestingpersonality types that are in the drafting industry and just observing them can be helpful. You maythink that the ones to learn from are the fastest ones clicking away like they’re playing a video game.That’s not always the case, what you want to do is seek out the drafters who are doing just as muchwork but don’t seem to be as stressed out.

There’s a reason the less stressed out drafters are making the same progress. It may simply bethey have better medication or drink Decaf. Usually, these are the people who have customizedAutoCAD, have custom lisp routines and have developed techniques over the years that havestreamlined the design process. If you are lucky they are the “old guard” who were board draftingbefore computers became the industry standard.

I know nowadays that seems slightly more advanced than painting the walls of caves but itwasn’t that long ago. Admittedly my perspective may be skewed because I’m still trying to figure outwhen Van Halen became “classic” rock. But there was an advantage to board drafting that AutoCADsimply can’t duplicate. When you are board drafting you see exactly what the final product looks like asyou draw it, you don’t have that luxury while drafting in AutoCAD. You can do a plot preview but it’s justnot the same as seeing it full scale on paper. I’ll go into more detail on effective plotting in a latersegment.

Spend some time around the more experienced drafters when you can. They may have somegreat advice, and if you show an interest in how they do things, they’ll be more eager to share with you.There are techniques that develop over time that are never in manuals because every company does

things differently. You’ll see this again because it’s important; don’t be afraid to ask questions. Theonly stupid question is the one you don’t ask.

Good Drafting Practices

What CAD managers like to see is most likely not what you would expect. I did a thread a whileback in the CAD managers forum to see what they thought I should focus on for this class. I wassurprised to see how many of them were saying the same things I was already planning on saying.Here is a list of good general drafting practices that I have compiled.

• None of the CAD Managers said I want someone who’s fast. It’s easy to want morespeed so you can prove yourself at the new job. Experienced drafters and CAD

Managers often see someone who is clicking their mouse like they’re playing a videogame as someone who has potential to make mistakes. You don’t want them to havethat impression of you.

• Always remember doing it fast twice is still slower that doing it carefully once. Don’t justwork fast, work smart and find the right tool (command) for the job.



7

• If you find yourself saying, “there must be a better way to do this” then you’re probablyright. There is almost always more than one way to do something in AutoCAD. Theremay be a faster way that is worth investing a minute or two to discover.

• If you’re not sure about something, ask a question. But only ask it once. Write down theanswer so you can look it up later. There is such a thing as a stupid question; it’s the oneyou don’t ask, and the one you ask twice.

• Always check your plots before turning it in to the Engineer or Architect who gave it toyou. Sometimes a mistake is obvious on paper that isn’t obvious on the screen.

• Always spell check a drawing before plotting it. Even someone with exceptional spellingskills can transpose letters when typing.

In the next two segments I’ll cover how to get a better result out of your plotted drawings and

show you some quick and easy ways to get a good drawing with very little headache involved. I’ll alsocover some good general drafting practices and let you in on what your bosses are looking for in agood drafter. Not to mention some AutoCAD Do’s and Don’ts and a lot of Tips and Tricks.



1





Web: www.AUGI.com



2

Welcome to Segment 2Good to see you survived the first Segment. My intention is to get you a proper perspective and goodsources for continuing your education before we get into specifics of the program. So you probably

want to learn how to actually use AutoCAD like a pro now right? Well it’s about time isn’t it? Great, but just one more thing first.

Output is the final judgePerspective and attitude are always understated in most Drafting programs, which is a real shame.There are some things to keep in mind. It doesn’t matter how fast you complete the drawing or whattools you use to do it. When it goes to the client all they see is the final product, the plotted drawing.The design is up to the Engineer or Architect, it’s your job to put that design on paper in a way that isclear and accurate. That may seem like a simplified answer but it’s painfully true.

I’m going to show two cut outs from the same drawing. This is not something I made up for this coursethis is an actual drawing that was sent to a client.

In the figure on the right you can see a portion the drawing as it originally went to the client. This is aGrading and Drainage drawing; you may notice that the last things you notice are the Drainagestructures and the elevations used for grading the site. Some of the elevations can’t even be readproperly because they are covered by the lines that should be in the background.



3

In next figure you see the drawing as it’s supposed to look. It’s clear what information is pertinent, thebackground information is thinner and doesn’t direct you eyes away from what you should be looking at.I’ve also turned off some objects that didn’t even belong on this type of drawing, like doors for example.There were several different text sizes and styles the smallest ones are ironically the most important.They are now all a uniform style and scale. You can’t really tell in this drawing but the scale of thedrawing was also incorrect.

Page Setups – Plotting made easyIt never fails to amaze me how much time people spend plotting a drawing. They have to go throughchanging the plotter, pen settings, paper sizes, scale, etc. every time they want to plot a drawing.Wouldn’t it be nice to plot a drawing with only three mouse clicks? That’s where Page Setup Manager comes in. All of the plot settings can be saved as a Page Setup , so all you have to do is select plot,then the setup you wish to use, and then select OK and your plot is sent. Three clicks, not eight or ten,and you can Import the Page Setups to other drawings.

There is an additional bonus to using page setups with Layout tabs. It’s not meant to be strictly forplotting, it configures the Layout tab as well.



4

First, Right mouse click on the Layout tab that you wish toconfigure, select the Page Setup Manager .

This will bring up the Page Setup Manager dialog box. If you lookat the figure on the left you see the name of the Layout and PageSetup that is current in between the two asterisks. On the rightside are the Set Current, New, Modify , and Import buttons. It alsodisplays some information describing the current Page Setupunder the window in the Selected page setup details box.

Select the New option and you can configure the Page Setup justlike you would during the normal Plot process, only this time

you’re creatingtheconfiguration,not an actualplot. You canrepeat the process for however many differentsettings you need, full size, half size, and PDF forexample.

Once you complete the Page Setups select OK andyou will go back to the Page Setup Manager .Highlight the page setup that you wish to use andpick the Set Current button.

This will change the Layout tab settings to match thePage Setup settings that you made current. Now,when it’s time to plot, you simply need to select thepage setup you wish to use and you’re ready to plot.The “current” setup will be the default settings for

plotting.

One of the best things about the Page Setup Manager is the ability to Import the page setupsfrom another drawing. Now that you havecreated the page setups you can open the otherdrawings in your project and Import the pagesetups you created in the first drawing. You canalso import the Page Setups from one layouttab to another.



5

Dimension StylesDimensions are difficult to get “just right”. There are so many variables and settings that getting themthe way you want is something that can take a long time. Different industries have different standards,so it’s a difficult thing to teach too, because what’s right for one person could be completely wrong for

another. Let’s review a few things that should help you develop your dimension style knowledge.

To access the DimensionStyle Manager type inDDIM at the commandprompt. This will allow youto create New, Modify,Override, Compare, or Setdimension styles to becurrent.

When creating a dimension

style set the sizes andvariables as if it weredrawn 1 to 1 in Paperspace.Then it only needs to bemodified to change thescale factor to match thedrawing. There are twoways this should be setdepending on the situation.

Scenario 1. If you are labeling and dimensioning a file that will be referenced into several drawings,

you will need to set a specific dimension scale. In the DDIM command select the FIT Tab and underthe Scale for Dimension Features section select the radio button for Use Overall Scale of: and set thescale that the drawing will be viewed at. You can also create several styles with different scales andname them for that scale. For example, create a style called 50_scale and set the overall scale to 50.

Scenario 2. You need to add dimensions to a plan sheet that has multiple viewports at different scales.In the DDIM command Select the FIT Tab and under the Scale for Dimension Features section selectthe radio button for Scale dimensions to Layout (paperspace) and the dimensions will automaticallyscale to match the scale of the viewport you are drawing it in.



6

Once you have the dimensionstyle set the way you like it,use the DIMEX to Export thedimension style you justcreated. This will create a .DIMfile that you can import intoyour other drawings using theDIMIN command.

Template filesThe more you use AutoCAD the more you realize exactly how you like your drawing to be setup.Starting a new drawing with your settings already configured exactly how you like is a pretty great idea,isn’t it? That’s where the template file comes in. Template files contain all the information you wouldnormally have in a Drawing file without the line work. Dimension styles, text styles, system variables,layers, plot styles and page setups are all contained in a template file. Not having to add these settingsto each drawing could save you hours of set up work on each project.

Creating a template file is so easy that it seems to good to be true. Simply create a drawing witheverything in it configured the way you want. Do a Save As and select the Drawing Template *.dwt filetype. You can make as many template files as you like. More importantly, you also have the ability to goback and add or change any system variables or other information as you wish.

The QNEW command is the fastest way to start a new drawing with your settings. When youuse the following settings, QNEW immediately starts a new drawing without displaying anydialog boxes or prompts: Set the STARTUP system variable to 0. Open the Options dialog,switch to Files tab and specify QNEW template in Template Settings as the template file you

created. This will open a new drawing with all of your layers and system variables already set.

Template files are also handy if you have a “problem drawing” which is either corrupted, or simply amess. This is common with drawings from other companies. Create a new drawing with your templatefile, select all of the drawing entities from the problem drawing select the Edit pull down menu -> Copywith base point. Paste those entities into the new drawing you created from the template. You nowhave a drawing with all your settings and none of the extra garbage from the other drawing.

For a complete list of system variables and a description of what they do: typeSYSVDLG at the command prompt.



7

Which Way is Up?When possible North should always be up (pointing to the top) of a drawing. The big debate in a lot of

offices is if it isn’t practical to go up which way should it point. I could get into great detail on this onebut I'll try to keep it short. The industry standard for Civil and Architectural has been different for manyyears. Most people don't know the reasons for why they are different. Both tend to claim the other iswrong, but both are actually correct to do it the way they are doing it. Short and sweet here's thereasons.

• On architectural drawings text should be read from the bottom and left sides (with the boundside away from you). So the industry standard matches that thought with north also being upor to the left.

• On civil drawings the baseline stationing should generally be south to north and west to east.(For some crazy reason a lot of engineers and CAD techs aren't taught this in their Civil

drafting courses). The stations should always go from left to right on the sheet. Q.E.D. Ifyour stations are going south to north then north is to the right.

Tips and TricksThere is system variable called MTJIGSTRING – use this to set the default text (up to 10 characters)for Mtext. There are no time savings here, but it’s cool. Not that I would ever condone this behavior, butthere is great practical joke potential here. See the figure below for an example.

One of my favorites is to hold down the SHIFT key and click the right mouse button. This will bring upthe Object Snap menu on the screen. Some of you will remember that was middle button function inold releases of AutoCAD.

When drawing an object, pressing the TAB key will scroll through the current object snaps. This ishandy when AutoCAD insists on snapping to the wrong object.



8

A nice function first introduced in AutoCAD 2004 inthe time sensitive right click. A quick click is thesame as pressing ENTER . A longer click displays ashortcut menu. You can set the duration of thelonger click in milliseconds with the Options command.

In order to repeatedly use a command in AutoCADyou often have to re-enter it on the command line or press the [Spacebar]. However, there's a fasterway. For times when you know you'll be repeating the same command multiple times, you can use theMULTIPLE command to do so quickly. For example, if you want to move multiple objects in succession,enter multiple on the command line. Then at the "Enter command name to repeat:" prompt, enter Move .After you select and move your first object, the Move command automatically appears again at thecommand prompt.

When you edit with grips, you can use the Copy optionto copy as you edit. If you want to create a leaderwhich points to more than one object, first create theleader pointing to one object. Then select the leaderarrow. Click the grip at the arrow end to make it "hot."Choose the Copy option at the Specify stretch point or [Base point/Copy/Undo/exit]: prompt. Specify as manynew end points as you want. Each new leader will beattached to the original Mtext at the end of the firstleader. Use the eXit option to end the command.

Conclusion of Segment 2 I hope you found some useful information in this segment. In the next Segment we’ll cover someAutoCAD customizations the will help speed you up and some more Tips and Tricks.

Remember: this material is only a portion of the class, support is always available online in the privatecourse forum. I encourage you to visit the forum and ask any questions you may have about thissegment, or simply join in the discussions. The ATP Mantra is: the only stupid question is the one youdon’t ask! Thanks again for attending this course, and we’ll see you online!



1





Web: www.AUGI.com



2

Customizing AutoCAD

The fewer keystrokes you have to make the better. Every second you save will add up duringthe course of a day. Now even mentioning customization of AutoCAD sends shivers down people’s

spines, but I can show you some safe and easy ways to make changes to your AutoCAD that willspeed you up without going to extensive training.

Customizing can come in many different forms from script files, macros, custom menus, Lispand VBA routines just to name a few. I’m going to focus on some of the easier and most effectivemethods for you get your system fine tuned to your needs.

Command Alias

Keyboard shortcuts are easy and effective. Since AutoCAD started using icons instead of simplyusing menus there’s always been a debate over which is more efficient the icon or typing in a command.While Icons are certainly efficient there is much to be said for typing in a command, here’s why.Commands can have a shortcut or alias. These alias keys can be two or even (although I don’t suggestit) one button. The best part is they’re easy to create.

In order to create custom short cuts you have to edit the Acad.pgp file. You do this by going tothe Tools pull down and selecting Customize then Edit Custom Files and Program Parameters. Asshown in the image below. This will bring up Acad.pgp file in the text editor.



3

From here you can see the Command Aliases that are already in place. The example I amusing below is for the command Explode. Rather than type in the entire command you will only need totype EP and it will execute the explode command (just don’t use it to explode a dimension or a hatch).

Important note : It’s always better to err on the side of caution so don’t change an Alias that alreadyexists. AutoCAD reads the PGP file in order, the last of to identical aliases being the one that is used.So, for example, if you want EX to mean Explode instead of Extend simply place the text after the EXthat is already there for Extend. AutoCAD will read your alias last and use it.

Script Files

Script files are a simple way to automate common commands that you use frequently. Thereare also very effective at reducing repetitive tasks and setting system variables. There’s no trickyprogramming language to learn either, just a few simply rules to remember.

A script file is simply typed out commands with a space in between letters acting as the enterkey. There are two ways to create a script file. In typical AutoCAD form, there is more than one way todo this. You can simply open the text editor, like Notepad, and type in the command leaving a spacewhere each Enter would be. If you are using multiple steps it may be easier to use the second method.

The second method consists of an extra few steps but saves a lot of time with trial and error. Ifyou have multiple repetitive tasks do them to one of the drawings. The example I’m using is to turn onthe USC icon and set it to No origin (so it’s always in the bottom left hand corner of your screen).

First open one of the drawings and do the tasks, once you have completed them open theAutoCAD text window, use the F2 button. Copy and Paste the command text from the Text window intoyour external text editor, Notepad in this case. Remove the extraneous text, save the text file as a .scrfile and you’re ready to go. All you have to do is drag and drop the file from you explorer into thedrawing area in AutoCAD and the script file will execute.



4

Important notes : Don’t use Microsoft Word, it may add additional formatting information that will confuseAutoCAD, use a simple text only Editor like Notepad. Also, every space is viewed as an “Enter”, makesure you don’t leave any spaces after the last command or it will try to run your last command again.

Fig. 01This is a screen shot of the AutoCAD text window.

This is what you will copy to the Text Editor.

Fig. 02This is a screen shot of the text Editor. Note that I have removed all extraneous text and saved the file

as an .scr file.



5

Keyboard Short-cuts

The following table lists the default actions for shortcut keys. They are very handy, but I honestly

don’t think I know anybody that uses or even knows all of them. Find the ones you’ll use often and jotthem down in your notebook (you’re using the notebook right?).

Shortcut key Shortcut Shortcut key ShortcutCTRL+0 Toggles Clean Screen CTRL+P Prints current drawingCTRL+1 Toggles Properties palette CTRL+R Cycles layout viewportsCTRL+2 Toggles DesignCenter CTRL+S Saves current drawingCTRL+3 Toggles the Tool palettes window CTRL+T Toggles Tablet modeCTRL+4 Toggles Sheet Set Manager CTRL+V Pastes data from ClipboardCTRL+5 Toggles Info Palette CTRL+X Cuts objects to ClipboardCTRL+6 Toggles dbConnect Manager CTRL+Y Cancels the preceding Undo actionCTRL+7 Toggles Markup Set Manager CTRL+Z Reverses last actionCTRL+8 Toggles the QuickCalc calculator CTRL+[ Cancels current commandCTRL+9 Toggles the command window CTRL+\ Cancels current commandCTRL+A Selects objects in drawing F1 Displays HelpCTRL+B Toggles Snap F2 Toggles text window on/offCTRL+C Copies objects to Clipboard F3 Toggles OSNAPCTRL+D Toggles coordinate display F4 Toggles TABMODECTRL+E Cycles through isometric planes F5 Toggles ISOPLANECTRL+F Toggles running object snaps F6 Toggles COORDSCTRL+G Toggles Grid F7 Toggles GRIDMODECTRL+H Toggles PICKSTYLE F8 Toggles ORTHOMODECTRL+J Repeats last command F9 Toggles SNAPMODE

CTRL+L Toggles Ortho mode F10 Toggles Polar TrackingCTRL+M Repeats last command F11 Toggles Object Snap TrackingCTRL+N Creates a new drawing F12 Toggles Dynamic InputCTRL+O Opens existing drawing



6

AutoCAD Do’s and Don’ts

This is always a hot topic amongst CAD managers and most experienced users. These can’t always befollowed but that is only in very rare circumstances. Feel free to print this out and frame it for your office.

AutoCAD Don’ts

• Never explode a dimension. When you think it’s necessary to explode one, don’t.• Never explode a hatch.• Do not place the Titleblock or border in Model Space.• Do not scale the Titleblock or border, larger or smaller, than 1:1• Do not scale or rotate reference files. The only exception to this is when you are dealing with a

consultant who uses a different scale of units or a different origin. For example, Architecturalunits and Civil units are different by a factor of 12.

• Do not “plot to fit” when plotting a drawing. Force the drawing to an accurate scale. Plot 1:1 or2:1. Contractors and clients will most likely take scale measurements off your drawing. If thescale is off even a small amount it could be very costly, or dangerous.

• Do not draw on layer “0”. If you do, move it to the appropriate layer after it’s complete.• Do not draw on the “defpoints” layer. This layer is for AutoCAD to use for dimension information.

AutoCAD Do’s

• Always check over a drawing before you plot it.• Always save a drawing before you print. Most often a drawing crashes right around the time you

finish it and go to plot it out.• Whenever possible, use a reference when you have the same information that is shown in more

than one drawing.• Limit the number of reference files you create. Don't use a reference file when a layer will do!• Zoom Extents before closing a drawing.• Set "AutoSave" to 10 minutes, 15 minutes max.• Change the default temporary save location to something like C:\TEMP or you could even

create a C:\AutoSave folder so you can find the files easier. The default location is buried inyour windows user configuration folders.

• When drawing dimensions, avoid dog legs (more than three lines in a leader), crossovers, anddraw the leaders at a consistent angle whenever possible.

• Make sure the leader actually touches the object it is calling out. Use your object snaps.• Lock your Model space viewports.



7

More Tips and Tricks

AutoCAD supports multiple justification points (also known as attachment points). Some methods of

changing a text object's justification point move the insertion point to preserve the text position, whileother methods do not (causing the text to move). The JUSTIFYTEXT command changes text justification without moving the text position. Both the justification point and insertion point are relocated.

If you have AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 you are now able to attach or overlay multiple drawing fileswithin the same folder at once (using SHIFT or CTRL keys, or CTRL-A to select all). No longer do youhave attach one file, click attach again, find the next file, attach, enter, enter, enter, etc.

There's no excuse to keep using individual lines of text for your notes anymore. The improvedAutoCAD Multiline Text Editor enables you to create well formatted notes within a single text object.It now has ability to use tabs and indents. You can also drag the right edge of the ruler to change thewidth of the text.

The Multiline Text Editor bar has an OK button for closing the editor, but an easier way is to clickanywhere outside the editor (but within the drawing area).

When using the Trim command, you have the option to trim many entities at one time. Once you haveselected the cutting edge, type "FENCE" at the "select edges to trim". This will allow you to draw a lineor "fence" across all the lines you want to trim. Once drawn, hit the enter key and all the lines will trim.

Also, while in the Trim or Extend command, you can do the opposite function. If you hold the "shift" keyyou can extend a line to the cutting edge in the Trim command. Likewise in the Extend command youcan hold the shift key and trim a line at the boundary edge.

In Conclusion I hope you found some useful information in this segment. If you want more tips and tricks go to theAUGI Tips and Tricks forum, there are a lot of great minds coming up with wonderful short cuts in there.

Remember that this material is only a portion of the class, support is always available online in theprivate course forum. I encourage you to visit the course forum and ask any questions that you mayhave about this segment or simply join in the discussion. The ATP Mantra is: the only stupid question isthe one you don’t ask. Thanks again for attending this course.

atp253_autocad 101 survival guide

Documents