Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Follow these steps to create a new drawing from a template drawing:
1. Run the NEW command by pressing Ctrl+N or clicking the Application button
and choosing New.
The Select Template dialog box appears.
The first button on the Quick Access Toolbar runs the QNEW (Quick
NEW) command instead of the ordinary NEW command. If you or someone else has
changed the Default Template File Name for QNEW in the Options dialog box,
QNEW will
not
open the Select Template dialog box; instead, it simply presents you
with a new, blank drawing — possibly not the one you wanted. You
can
take advant-
age of QNEW, though — for information about how, see the “Making Templates Your
Own” section, later in this chapter.
2. Click the name of the template you want to use as the starting point for your new
drawing and then click the Open button.
A new drawing window with a temporary name, such as
Drawing2.dwg
, appears.
(The template you opened remains unchanged on your hard drive.)
Depending on which template you choose, your new drawing may open in a paper
space layout, not in model space. If that's the case, click the Model button on the
status bar before changing the settings described in the next section. (I describe
how to set up and take advantage of paper space layouts in Chapter 5.)
3. Press Ctrl+S or click the Application button and choose Save to save the file un-
der a new name.
Take the time to save the drawing to the appropriate name and location now.
4. Make needed changes.
With most of the templates that come with AutoCAD, consider changing the units,
limits, grid and snap settings, linetype scale, and dimension scale. See the next sec-
tion for instructions.
5. Save the drawing again.
If you'll need other drawings in the future similar to the current one, consider sav-
ing your modified template as a template in its own right. See the section “Making
Templates Your Own,” later in this chapter, for the lowdown on saving templates.
A few of the remaining templates that come with AutoCAD include title blocks
for various sizes of sheets. In addition, most templates come in two versions —
