Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
In some cases, you can defer answering one additional question, but it's usually better
to deal with it up front: What kind of border or title block does your drawing require?
If you're in a hurry, it's tempting to find an existing drawing that was set up
for the drawing scale and paper size that you want to use, make a copy of that
DWG file, erase the objects, and start drawing. Use this approach with care,
though. When you start from another drawing, you inherit any setup mistakes
that may lurk in that drawing. Also, drawings that were created in much older ver-
sions of AutoCAD may not take advantage of current program features and CAD
practices. If you can find a suitable drawing that was set up in a recent version of
AutoCAD by an experienced person who was conscientious about doing setup
right, then consider using it. Otherwise you're better off setting up a new drawing
from scratch.
Choosing your units
AutoCAD is extremely flexible about drawing units; it lets you have them
your
way. Usu-
ally, you choose the type of units that you normally use to talk about whatever you're
drawing: feet and inches for a building in the United States, millimeters for a metric
screw, and so on.
Speaking of millimeters, there's another choice you have to make even before you
choose your
units
of measure, and that's your
system
of measure.
Enter the metric system
. . . or, “Let's forget everything we learned about measuring stuff and start over again!” All (well, nearly
all) the world is metric. Instead of a system of linear measure based on twelves, of volume measure
based on sixteens, and of temperature measure based on who knows
what,
metric bases all types of
measure on tens. (Of course,
ForDummies
books are in the metric vanguard because every single
For
Dummies
title includes a Part of
Tens.
)
The metric system first gained a toehold (ten toes, of course) in France during the Revolution. Over time,
it became apparent that some standardization was called for, and a mere century and a half later, SI
Metric became that standard. SI is short for
SystemeInternationald'Unites.
(That's International Sys-
tem of Units in English. Isn't it great to speak more than one language?)
