Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Setting Up and Using
AutoCAD's Drafting Tools
Chapters 1 and 2, “Exploring the AutoCAD Interface” and “Creating Your First Drawing,” cov-
ered the basic information you need to understand the workings of AutoCAD. Now you'll put
this knowledge to work. In this architectural tutorial, which begins now and continues through
Chapter 14, “Advanced Editing and Organizing,” you'll draw an apartment building composed
of studios. The tutorial illustrates how to use AutoCAD commands and gives you a solid under-
standing of the basic AutoCAD package. With these fundamentals, you can use AutoCAD to its
fullest potential regardless of the kinds of drawings you intend to create or the enhancement
products you may use in the future.
In this chapter, you'll start drawing an apartment's bathroom fixtures. In the process, you'll
learn how to use AutoCAD's basic tools. You'll also be introduced to the concept of drawing
scale and how the size of what you draw is translated into a paper sheet size.
In this chapter, you'll learn to do the following:
Set up a work area
•u
Explore the drawing process
•u
•u
Plan and lay out a drawing
Use the AutoCAD modes as drafting tools
•u
Setting Up a Work Area
Before beginning most drawings, you should set up your work area. To do this, determine the
measurement system
, the
drawing sheet size
, and the
scale
you want to use. The default work area is
roughly 16˝
×
9˝ at full scale, given a decimal measurement system in which 1 unit equals 1 inch.
Metric users will find that the default area is roughly 550 mm
×
300 mm, in which 1 unit equals
1 mm. If these are appropriate settings for your drawing, you don't have to do any setting up. It's
more likely, however, that you'll make drawings of various sizes and scales. For example, you
might want to create a drawing in a measurement system in which you can specify feet, inches,
and fractions of inches at 1˝ = 1´ scale and print the drawing on an 8½˝-
×
-11˝ sheet of paper.
In the following sections, you'll learn how to set up a drawing exactly the way you want.
