Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
some crucial parameters for your specific drawing. AutoCAD can't really do its job
until you tell it how to work.
Dead-trees paper:
Creating a great drawing on-screen that doesn't fit well on paper
is all too easy. After you finish creating your drawing on the smart paper that
AutoCAD provides on-screen, you usually have to plot it on the good old-fashioned
real-world paper that people have used for thousands of years. At that point, you
must deal with the fact that people like to use certain standard paper sizes and
drawing scales. (Most people also like everything to fit neatly on one sheet of pa-
per.) If you set up AutoCAD correctly, good plotting is the automatic result; if not,
plotting time can become one colossal hassle.
It ain't easy:
AutoCAD provides templates and Setup Wizards for you, but the tem-
plates don't work well unless you understand them, and some of the wizards don't
work well even if you
do
understand them. This deficiency is one of the major
weaknesses in AutoCAD. You must figure out on your own (with the help of this
topic, of course) how to make the program work right. If you just plunge in
without carefully setting up, your drawing and printing efforts are likely to wind
up a real mess.
Fortunately, setting up AutoCAD correctly is a bit like following a roadmap to a new des-
tination. Although the directions for performing your setup are complex, you can master
them with attention and practice. Even more fortunately, this chapter provides a de-
tailed and field-tested route. And soon, you'll know the route like the back of your hand.
While you're working in AutoCAD, always keep in mind what your final output
should look like on real paper. Even your first printed drawings should look just
like hand-drawn ones — only without all those eraser smudges.
Before you start the drawing-setup process, you need to make decisions about your new
drawing. The following four questions are absolutely critical; if you don't answer them
or your answers are wrong, you'll probably need to rework the drawing later:
What system of measure — metric or imperial — will you use?
What drawing units will you use?
At what scale — or scales — will you plot it?
On what size paper does it need to it?
