Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Developing Your Drawing
As mentioned briefly in Chapter 3, when you're using AutoCAD, you first create the basic geometric
forms used in your drawing, and then you refine them. In the following sections, you'll create two
drawings—the studio apartment unit and the lobby—that demonstrate this process in more detail.
First, you'll construct a typical studio apartment unit by using the drawings you've created
thus far. In the process, you'll explore the use of lines as reference objects.
You'll also further examine how to use existing files as blocks. In Chapter 4, “Organizing
Objects with Blocks and Groups,” you inserted a file into another file. The number of files you
can insert is limitless, and you can insert files of any size. As you may already have guessed,
you can also
nest
files and blocks; that is, you can insert blocks or files in other blocks or files.
Nesting can help reduce your drawing time by enabling you to build one block out of smaller
blocks. For example, you can insert your door drawing into the bathroom plan. In turn, you can
insert the bathroom plan into the studio unit plan, which also contains doors. Finally, you can
insert the unit plan into the overall floor plan for the studio apartment building.
Importing Settings
In this exercise, you'll use the Bath file as a prototype for the studio unit plan. However, you
must make a few changes to it first. After the changes are made, you'll import the bathroom and
thereby import the layers and blocks contained in the bathroom file.
As you go through this exercise, observe how the drawings begin to evolve from simple
forms to complex, assembled forms.
Use these steps to modify the Bath file:
1.
Open the Bath file. If you skipped drawing the Bath file in Chapter 5, “Keeping Track of
Layers and Blocks,” use the file 05c-bath.dwg (or 05c-bath-metric.dwg), which can be
obtained from the companion website.
2.
Start the Base command using one of the previously mentioned methods. Select the
upper-left corner of the bathroom as the new base point for this drawing so you can posi-
tion the Bath file more accurately.
3.
Save the Bath file. If you use the file from the website, choose Save As and save it as Bath
in the Documents folder.
4.
Click the red Close button in the upper-left corner of the drawing window, choose File
Close from the menu bar, or press F-W to close the bath drawing.
Next you'll create a new file:
1.
Click File
New to open the Select Template dialog box.
2.
Locate and select the acad.dwt template file. Metric users should locate the acadiso.dwt
template file.
3.
Click Open to open the new file.
4.
If you're using Imperial (English) measurements, choose Format
Units from the menu
bar; then in the Drawing Units dialog box, select Architectural from the Length group's
Type pop-up menu and click Save. Metric users, use the default Decimal length type.
