Setting Up a Drawing - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 96

Angular units

The angular unit types that AutoCAD uses are as follows:

Decimal This type uses 360° in a circle in decimal form, with no minutes and
no seconds. All angles are expressed as decimal degrees. For example, an angle
of 126°35 ′ 10 ″ is entered as 126.586 or 126d35 ′ 10 ″ and displays as 126.5861.
AutoCAD uses the letter d instead of the traditional degree symbol (°).

Deg/Min/Sec This is the traditional system for measuring angles. In AutoCAD's
notation, degrees are indicated by the lowercase d , the minutes use the traditional ',
and the seconds use the traditional ". The use of this system is generally reserved
to the civil engineering discipline, as most users now use decimal angles instead of
this system and choose their preference for precision.

Grads This unit is based on a circle being divided into 400 grads, so 90°
equals 100 grads. One degree equals 1.11 grads, and 1 grad equals 0.90 degrees.
AutoCAD uses g as the symbol for grads.

Radians The radian is the angle from the center of a circle made by the radius
of the circle being laid along the circumference of the circle.
One radian equals 57.3 degrees, and 360° equals 6.28 radians, or 2 π radians.
AutoCAD uses r as the symbol for radians.

Surveyor These units use bearings from the north and south directions toward
the east or west direction and are expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
They're discussed in Chapter 12. In this example, 126°35 ′ 10 ″ translates to N
36d35 ′ 10 ″ W in bearings, or Surveyor units.

The next chapter will focus on adding to the drawing, modifying the commands
you learned as part of Chapter 2, and creating strategies for solving problems that
occur in the development of a floor plan.

Are You Experienced?

now you can…

E set up linear and angular units for a new drawing

E make the grid visible and modify its coverage

E use the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands