Developing Drawing Strategies: Part 1 - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 107

Creating the Exterior Wall Lines

Here you will use the OFFSET command to create all the interior lines for the
exterior walls at one time.

1. If 04A-FPLAY1.dwg is not already open, click the Open button on the
Quick Access toolbar.

2. Start the OFFSET command by clicking the Offset button on the
Modify panel.

3. At the Specify offset distance or: Dynamic Input prompt, enter
6 ↵ ( 150↵ ).

NOTE You don't have to enter the inch sign ( ″ ), but you're required to
enter the foot sign ( ′ ) when appropriate.

4. At the Select object to offset or: prompt, select the polyline.

5. Click in a blank area inside the cabin's perimeter. All segments of the
polyline are offset 6 ″ (150 mm) to the inside (see Figure 4.12). The
Offset command is still running; press ↵ to terminate it.
As you can see, there is no need to fillet the corners, and using
polylines can reduce the number of steps and picks required to draw
the inside lines. I'll diverge from the cabin exercise briefly to exam-
ine the capabilities of the Fillet command when used in conjunc-
tion with polylines.

O

You can restart the
most recently used
command by press-
ing the spacebar
or ↵ at the com-
mand prompt or by
right-clicking and
choosing the repeat
option from the con-
text menu.

FiGuRE 4.12 All line segments are now offset 6 ″ (150 mm) to the inside.