Autocad Tutorial Notes 2009

Professional Skills AutoCAD Tutorial Notes Name: ________________

Table of contents

Table of contents ........................................................................................................... ii

1. Introduction to AutoCAD ......................................................................................... 1

1.2 Most Used Drawing Commands .......................................................................... 2

2. Drawing with AutoCAD ............................................................................................ 6

2.1 First Tutorial Task................................................................................................ 6

2.2 Create and Save a New AutoCAD File................................................................ 6

2.3 Create New Layers ............................................................................................... 7

2.4 Drawing Basic Shapes ..................................................................................... 8

2.4.1 Drawing Lines ............................................................................................... 8

2.4.2 Copy and Paste a Drawing ........................................................................... 9

2.4.3 Drawing a Square using the “Line” command .......................................... 10

2.4.4 Drawing a Square using the “Polyline” command .................................... 11

2.4.5 Drawing Circles .......................................................................................... 12

2.5 First Exercise ..................................................................................................... 13

3. Creating and Modifying .......................................................................................... 15

3.1 Line Type Selection and Use ............................................................................. 16

3.1.1 Create and Use a New Linetype .................................................................. 17

3.2 The Use of the Mirror Command....................................................................... 19

3.3 The Use of the Hatch Command ........................................................................ 20

3.4 The Use of the Blocks Command ...................................................................... 22

3.4.1 Creating and Inserting Blocks .................................................................... 25

3.5 Second Tutorial Exercise ................................................................................... 26

4. Dimensioning .......................................................................................................... 29

4.1 Dimensions and Modifying Dimensions Commands ........................................ 29

4.2 Creating a dimensioning style ............................................................................ 31

4.3 Third Tutorial‘s Exercise ................................................................................... 38

5. Model Space, Paper Space, Viewports and Plotting .............................................. 40

5.1 Before you start .................................................................................................. 40

5.2 Designing your paper layout .............................................................................. 41

5.3 Set the Viewport to the Correct Scale ................................................................ 44

5.4 Some Brief Notes about Printing ....................................................................... 45

University of Portsmouth Section 1

Professional Skills – AutoCAD Page -1-

1. Introduction to AutoCAD

AutoCAD allows you to have access to a large number of commands. The general

rule is that you will use 20% of the commands 80% of the time. The important thing

to remember is that AutoCAD will expect you give it information in a very particular

order. The most frustrating thing when you begin using this program is that you will

try to do something, but AutoCAD will 'not work'. In most cases, it means that you

are trying to input information at the wrong time. This is why it is very important to

look at the command line. The command line tells you what information AutoCAD

requires to continue.

It is very important to remember that the concept of drawing using AutoCAD is

similar to that when drawing by hand. The major difference is that AutoCAD allows

you to draw fast and accurately. An additional benefit of using AutoCAD is that you

can draw, erase and draw again as many times as you require without wasting paper.

Before you get started you need to consider:

1. Even the most complicated drawing can be divided into a number of more

simple components.

2. You can draw the same object using a number of different commands but this

does not mean that you are required to know all of them. Try to use the one

that is the simplest for you to understand.

3. For each new object1 you must decide what materials you will require. In the

world of AutoCAD different material means different layers. A proper

decision will make it easier for you to produce a correct and complete drawing.

4. AutoCAD is drawing software, produced to make your life easier when

drawing. Spend some hours to learn how to use it and this will save months

of your life when you use it as a Civil Engineer.

1 Probably a subdivision of your final drawing



1.2 Most Used Drawing Commands

We will start by introducing you to the most common drawing commands. When you

combine commands, you will be able to draw quite quickly. Table 1 summarises the

most common drawing and modifying commands and Table 2 summarises some of

the Zoom commands. It is very important spend some time on the 1st, 3

rd and 5

th,

column of the table in order to understand the use of each command.

Command Keystroke Icon Menu Result

Line Line / L

Draw > Line Draw a straight line

segment from one

point to the next

Circle Circle / C

Draw >

Circle >

Center, Radius

Draws a circle based

on a centre point and

radius.

Erase Erase / E

Modify >

Erase Erases an object.

Undo

U

(Don't use 'Undo'

for now)

Edit > Undo Undoes the last

command.

Polyline Pline / PL

Draw >

Polyline Creates a polyline of

arcs and/or lines.

Trim TRIM / TR

Modify > Trim Trims objects to a

selected cutting edge.

Extend EXTEND / EX

Modify >

Extend

Extends objects to a

selected boundary

edge.

Offset OFFSET / O

Modify >

Offset

Offsets an object

(parallel) by a set

distance.

Mirror Mirror / MI

Modify >

Mirror

Creates a mirror

image of an object or

selection set.

Layer Layer / LA

Format >

Layer

Starts the Layer and

Linetype property

dialog box

Copy Copy / CP

Modify >

Copy Copies object(s) once

or multiple times

Text Text Draw > Single

Line Text Creates a single line

of text

Hatch Bhatch / H

Draw > Hatch Covers an area with

a predefined pattern

Table 1 – The most common drawing and modifying commands of AutoCAD.



Table 2 – Zoom commands of AutoCAD.

The commands listed in the tables above are located in the AutoCAD environment as

presented in the next page, Figure 1.

Command Icon Result

Zoom Window

This option (also a 'hidden' default) prompts the user to pick

two corners of a box on the existing view in order to enlarge

that area to fill the display.

Zoom

Realtime

Zoom Realtime provides interactive zooming capability.

Pressing <ENTER> (after entering zoom) on the command

line automatically places you in Realtime mode. Hold the left

mouse button down at the midpoint of the drawing and move

the cursor vertically to the top (positive direction) of the

window to zoom in up to 100% (2x magnification). Hold the

left mouse button down at the midpoint of the drawing and

move the cursor vertically to the bottom (negative direction)

of the window to zoom out to100% (5x magnification). You

cannot zoom out beyond the extents of the current view.

Zoom In

Clicking this icon will zoom in to the drawing by about 50%.

This option is only available as an icon and cannot be invoked

by the command line.

Zoom Out

Similar to 'Zoom In' - this icon will zoom out of your drawing

and allow you to see about 50% more of your drawing space.



Figure 1 – Location of the most used commands in the AutoCAD environment.

In the following sections some drawings/tutorials are provided which get

progressively more complicated. In each of these sections the different commands that

will be used are described along with appropriate instructions. The series of tutorials

that follows has been built to teach you how to draw civil engineering drawings using

AutoCAD. By the completion of this series of tutorials everyone will be able to draw

drawings like that shown on the next page, Figure 2.

Erase

Undo Zoom window Layer

Extend

Trim

Copy

Hatch

Text

Mirror

Line

Polyline

Circle

Offset

Command Line



Figure 2 – Target drawing after the completion of AutoCAD tutorials.



2. Drawing with AutoCAD

2.1 First Tutorial Task

This is a basic task, but it is very important to understand how to give the program

accurate information. You will be required to draw some very basic objects like lines,

squares and circles. After you have drawn these objects, you will use some of the

most common commands like erase, copy, trim, extend and offset.

The commands you will use and the step by step procedure you will follow is given

below.

You will use the following commands:

Commands Icon

Save

Layer

Line

Polyline

Circle

Copy

Trim

Extend

Offset

2.2 Create and Save a New AutoCAD File

After you have open a new AutoCAD drawing click the Save icon. AutoCAD will ask

you to give a name to the new file. Name the new file with your I.D No and save it on

the N drive.



2.3 Create New Layers

You are now ready to start. Remember to set the materials you will require to

complete this drawing. You are about to draw a line, a square, and a circle therefore it

is a good idea to create three different layers one for each basic object.

Click on the Layer icon New Name the new layer as Line and choose the red

colour ok.

Click ―New‖ again and follow the procedure. Name the second and third layers as

―Square‖ and ―Circle‖ and choose blue and green colours respectively. Press ok to set

and exit the Layers. You have now successfully set the different Layers that will be

used, Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Set of the required Layers.



2.4 Drawing Basic Shapes

2.4.1 Drawing Lines

Under the drop-down menu of the layers click and select the layer ―Line‖. The Layer

―Line‖ is now active, Figure 4. You are now ready to draw your first line in

AutoCAD.

Figure 4 – Selection of layer “Line”.

Click the Line icon to select the command ―Line‖ and click in the drawing area to

select the first point2. Move your mouse to the right and press the number 5 on your

keyboard. Then press enter and you have now drawn a line of 5 units in length. Press

enter again to exit the command Line. In case of a mistake you can always erase the

line or undo your last command simply by clicking on the appropriate icon.

The units that we use when drawing in AutoCAD are called “Drawing Units”.

AutoCAD does not know if they are kilometres, metres, or millimetres. It is up to you

to decide what they represent (usually metres or millimetres). Once you decide, you

2 Make sure that the tab ―ORTHO‖ at the bottom of your monitor is activated. This allows you to draw

only vertical or horizontal lines.



must be consistent and ensure the drawing units represent the same “real world units”

for all elements of your drawing. You may need to zoom in or out to make your

drawing appear at a sensible size on your screen. We will decide on the size and scale

of the final printed drawing later on. In our tutorial examples, we will assume that the

drawings‘ units are metres, Figure 5.

Figure 5 – Your first Line using AutoCAD.

2.4.2 Copy and Paste a Drawing

Now click the copy icon and left click on your line to select it. Now your line appears

dashed, that means that you have successfully selected it. Then right click to accept

the selected line that is about to copied and left click again in the drawing area, move

your mouse upwards to set the direction in which you want to copy the line and type

the number 1 to set the distance between your existing line and your copied line.

Repeat the procedure 5 times, Figure 6.



Figure 6 – Completed section of drawing lines.

2.4.3 Drawing a Square using the “Line” command

In the previous section 2.4.1 you were taught how to draw lines of a given length (5 m)

by simply selecting the line command and with the appropriate use of the mouse. The

next target of this tutorial is to draw a square of 5 m side length. In order for this to be

achieved, follow the procedure listed below.

1. Under the drop-down menu of the layers click and select the layer “Square”

as you did in the previous Section 2.4.1. The Layer “Square” is now active.

2. Click on the AutoCAD drawing area somewhere next to the lines. Click the

Line icon to select the command “Line” and click in the drawing area to select

the first point. Move your mouse to the right and press the number 5 and then

enter one time. The first side of the square has now been drawn. Now move

your mouse downwards and again press 5 on your keyboard to draw the first

perpendicular side of the square. Repeat the procedure by moving your mouse

left and then upwards.



2.4.4 Drawing a Square using the “Polyline” command

The procedure used for the drawing of a square using the Polyline command is the

same one used when the line command is used. Therefore, select the Polyline

command simply by clicking on the polyline icon. Then follow the steps 1 and 2 of

the Section 2.4.3. The steps and the outcome in both cases are the same and presented

below, Figure 7.

Figure 7 – Steps of drawing a square using both Line and Polyline command.

The function of the “Line” and “Polyline” commands seem to be very similar.

However there are some unique applications of the ―Polyline” command when used

along with some other commands, which will be presented later on. For the moment

just consider that a square drawn using the ―Line” command consists of four



individual lines while when drawn using the “Polyline” it consists of a single

continuous line.

2.4.5 Drawing Circles

Under the drop menu of the layers, click and select the layer “Circle” as you did in

the previous Sections 2.4.1 and 2.4.2. The Layer “Circle” is now active.

Draw a circle simply by selecting the circle command. Click on the circle icon, click

in the AutoCAD drawing area to set the centre of the circle. Then type from your

keyboard the required length of the radius, 2.5 m. Remember that the typed length

sets the RADIUS and not the DIAMETER of the circle, Figure 8.

Figure 8 – Steps of drawing a circle using the “Circle” command.



2.5 First Exercise

You are now ready to draw your first drawing using AutoCAD which is a “Two Span

Frame”. It might be helpful if you follow the step by step procedure given below.

Complementary notes are given in Figure 9 and the dimensions of the two span frame

are given in Figure 10.

1. The given drawing consists of three different objects (columns, foundations

and beams) all of them are simple to draw. Create and name three different

Layers.

2. Start with the “Foundations” layer. Draw a rectangle of the given dimensions,

0.50 x 2.50m (height x width).

3. Then select the layer “Column” and draw again a rectangle, 3.00 x 0.50m.

4. Combine these two separate drawings such that the column is placed right in

the centre of the foundation.

5. Use the command “Trim” to cut the lines that should not appear in your

drawing, show Figure 9.

6. Copy both column and foundation that now appear as a continuous structure

and paste so that the C – C (Centre to Centre) spacing between the columns is

6.00m.

7. Draw and place the concrete beam on the top of the columns and using the

“Trim” command cut the lines that should not appear in the drawing.

8. You have now drawn your first single frame. Copy and combine appropriately

to form the whole frame, see Figure 10.

Figure 9 – Complementary notes for the first Exercise.

6.00 m C-C

Lines that need to be

removed



Figure 10 – Dimensions of the two span frame.



3. Creating and Modifying

This tutorial includes a review of Tutorial 1 and an introduction to some more

AutoCAD Commands. Believe it or not, if you understand the commands taught in

Tutorial 1, you understand almost all of the common commands used in AutoCAD,

for any version.

Table 3, summarises new commands that you will use in order to draw your 2nd

tutorial followed by a brief explanation of their function and their usage.


Line type None None Modifying

the style of

your line

Mirror Mirror / MI

Modify >

Mirror

Creates a

mirror

image of an

object or

selection set.

Block Wblock / W

None

Creates a

block and

writes it to a

file

(external)

Explode X

Transform a

Polyline to

many single

lines.

Boundary

Hatch

Bhatch / H

Draw >

Hatch

Covers an

area with a

predefined

pattern

Hatch Edit

HatchEdit /

HE

Modify >

Object >

Hatch...

Edits an

existing

Hatch

Table 3 – Commands used for the second tutorial‟s exercise.



3.1 Line Type Selection and Use

When drawing in AutoCAD it is always useful to remember that drawings are usually

something we draw for someone to read and use. Drawings are like text notes, if you

draw something in a correct way anyone will be able to read and understand it, if you

fail to do so, it will be hard to understand even for you who drew it.

Line types are important. A proper selection of the line type makes your drawing

better and easier for some one to ―read‖. It is like when you are typing a word

document and you are using bold, Italics, underline, or a combination of them, so as

to give emphasis to your text. Line types operate in the same way. We use thicker

lines, thinner lines, dashed lines and border lines to give emphasis on a part of the

drawing and to make it easier for somebody to read. There are no fixed rules for the

type or the lineweight of the lines we use when we draw. However there are some line

types commonly used to present a drawing. Table 4, summarises some of the different

line types and their usage.

Line type Appearance Lineweight Usage

Continuous3

0.40 to 0.70 Main drawing

objects

Continuous

0.15 to 0.35 For dimension

lines

Dashed

0.50 For different

levels description

ACAD_iso04w100

0.70 Indicates borders

and limits

Table 4 – The use of different line types.

The best way to draw correctly is to identify, before you get started, the different

objects you are going to draw and then to decide the style and the lineweight of each

line. You must select the line type any time you make a new drawing layer.

3 Continuous lines with lineweight about 0.40 are used for objects in our drawings where detail is more

important such as smaller objects like plate connections, bolts etc. Thicker continuous lines are used for

walls, concrete columns, beams etc.



3.1.1 Create and Use a New Linetype

Figures 11 and 12 shows how to select the line type and the lineweight of the line

used.

1. Click the new layer icon to open the “Layer Properties Manager”, window

(1)

2. Under the heading Linetype click on “Continuous” which is the default

linetype to open the “Select Linetype”, window (2)

3. Click the button “Load” and the “Load or Reload Linetypes” window now

appears, window (3).

4. Select from the list the line type you want to set active for the specific layer

and press ok to exit.

Once the linetype for the selected layer has been set, whenever you use the specific

layer to draw, the linetype will be activated automatically.

To set the lineweight of your line click on the “Layer Properties Manager”, window

(1), under the heading Lineweight the word Default and select from the list the

lineweight for your line, Figure 12.



Figure 11 – Procedure for Setting Line type.

Figure 12 – Procedure for Setting Lineweight.

1

2 3



3.2 The Use of the Mirror Command

The Mirror command allows you to mirror selected objects in your drawing by

picking them and then defining the position of an imaginary mirror line using two

points. It is an important and useful command especially when drawing objects with

at least one axis of symmetry.


Mirror Mirror / MI

Modify >

Mirror

Creates a mirror

image of an object

or selection set.

The procedure of the copy MIRROR command is listed below:

1. Click on the “Mirror” command icon.

2. Click on the object you want to copy and press enter to end the selection, P1.

3. Specify first point of mirror line, P2.

4. Specify second point of mirror line, P3.

5. Press enter to complete and exit the command, Figure 13.

Figure 13 – The copy “Mirror” command.

In order to create perfectly horizontal or vertical mirror lines use Orthogonal

(ORTHO).



3.3 The Use of the Hatch Command

Hatching in AutoCAD is a way of filling in areas of your drawing with a

preformatted pattern to represent certain materials. It is usually used in sectional

views. You can use a solid fill to completely fill in areas such as walls in a floor plan.

There are two types of hatching you can use. Generally it is better and easier to use

the “Boundary Hatch” command.


Boundary

Hatch

Bhatch / H

Draw > Hatch Covers an area

with a predefined

pattern

Hatch Edit HatchEdit / HE

Modify >

Object >

Hatch...

Edits an existing

Hatch

For better understanding of the hatch command draw a square of 5m by 5m and put a

circle with 1m radius in the middle of it.

Click the Boundary Hatch icon to select the command. When you start the following

dialog box appears, Figure 14.



Figure 14 – Settings for hatching.

1. Start at the top of the dialog box and work your way down. Assume that you

have drawn a cross section of piece of steel which has a hole in the middle, so

choose the predefined Hatch pattern called “Steel‖.

2. Now you want to select the area to be hatched. Pick somewhere inside the

rectangle, but outside of the circle and press <Enter>.

3. Set the scale of the hatch to 0.1. This is just a number that works for this object.

A larger number will make the hatch bigger (maybe so big you won't see it)

and a smaller number can make the hatch so dense that it looks solid. This is

something that you have to adjust empirically and with some trials. You firstly

set a scale and then you check how it looks in your drawing through the

preview. If you like it press ok or you repeat the procedure.

4. Make this "Associative" - this means that if you adjust the rectangle or circle,

the hatch will automatically correct itself to the new boundary.

1

3

2

4

5



5. Finally, hit the “Preview‖ button to see if this is what you are after, it should

match the image below.

Note that AutoCAD recognised the circle in the middle and didn't hatch over it. If the

lines appear 'jagged', don't worry - it is a video issue -the prints will come out clean

and straight.

If you want to edit the hatch, the easiest way is to just double-click on it. This will

bring up the same dialog box (almost) that you just used to create the hatch. Try

different settings in the Hatch Edit dialog box and preview the results. If you are using

a solid hatch, make the hatch WHITE so that it will print out as a solid black, any

other colour will appear grey (with lines) when printed.

3.4 The Use of the Blocks Command

In this lesson you will be introduced to blocks. By definition, a BLOCK is a

collection of simple entities (lines, arcs, circles, text, etc.) that form a more complex

entity that normally represents an object in the real world, e.g. a truss or a concrete

column with the reinforcement.



There are many advantages to using blocks, here are the major ones:

1. Blocks are a single entity. This means that you can modify – move, copy

or rotate – a block by selecting only one object in it.

2. You can build up a library of blocks consisting of the parts that you require

many times in your workday. These blocks can be stored in a separate

folder and even on a network so that all drafters have access to them.

3. Using blocks can help keep your file size down. AutoCAD stores block

definitions in its database. When you insert a block, AutoCAD only stores

the name of the block, its location (insertion point), scale and rotation. This

can be very noticeable in large drawings.

4. If you need to change something, you can redefine a block. For example,

you draw a concrete beam and turn it into a block, you can later change the

size.

5. You can very easily insert in your drawing a detail by making block parts

of your drawing that are very small, and insert them in multiple scales.

Table 4 summarises the commands that you will need to create and insert a block in

your drawing.


Block Bmake

/ B

Draw > Block >

Make

Creates a block from

separate entities (internal

to current drawing)

Write Block Wblock / W None None Creates a block and writes

it to a file (external)

Insert Insert / I

Insert > Block Inserts a block (internal or

external)



Draw a square 5m by 5m and put a circle in the middle with radius of 1m as shown

below.

Start the “Block” command by either typing Block in the command row or using the

pull down menu or the icon. You will see a dialog box that looks like the one shown

below.



3.4.1 Creating and Inserting Blocks

The procedure for making and inserting blocks is as follows:

1. The first thing that you want to do is give your block a name. Type “square”

in the edit box beside Block Name.

2. Now you need to select an insertion/base point. Click the “Pick Point” button

and then pick the top left corner of the square. Make sure that the retain button

is selected; this will keep your objects on the screen as individual objects.

3. Next you want to select the objects for your block. Click the “Select Objects”

button and then select both the square and circle and press <Enter>.

4. This is optional, but you can add a description in the description text area.

5. Pick the OK Button and the dialog box closes. It will look like nothing

happened, but the drawing file now has a “Block Definition” for a square in it.

Congratulations, you have created your first block.

Now that you have created a block, it's time to insert it. Start the Insert command

by typing I <Enter> or in the toolbar press insert then block or simply from the

insert block icon. You will see this dialog box on the screen:



Make sure that the Insertion Point - Specify On-screen box is checked, and the

Explode button is not checked. The Scale - Specify On-screen should not be checked.

In the insert dialog box you will see under the menu Scale that the default values for

the X, Y and Z have the value 1. That means that when AutoCAD will insert your

Block, all the dimensions of your inserted block will be multiplied by one4. Change

the value for y dimension from 1 to 0.5 and then press the OK button. Pick anywhere

on your screen and you will see the block appear. The block will be inserted in your

drawing and its Y axis dimension will be multiplied by 0.5

3.5 Second Tutorial Exercise

For this Tutorial, you will draw some details of a structure that you will probably face

throughout your studies and probably in your professional life.

This lesson will be a review of the first tutorial and will introduce the use of the new

commands taught in this tutorial. Believe it or not, if you understand the commands

taught in the first and second tutorial, you understand almost all of the common

commands used in AutoCAD - for any version.

4 When drawing in 2D the Z axis values do not change anything.



For this coursework, you will be drawing a two span truss which is supported on

concrete columns, Figure 15. Details of the dimensions of the drawing are shown in

Figure 16.

The first thing you have to do is to set up your drawing. There are a few basic steps to

approaching EVERY drawing you do in AutoCAD.

1. Make sure you have the ability to draw it. See if there is anything in the drawing

that you would not be able to reproduce. You should also see if you have all

the information you need to complete the drawing. One missing dimension can

make the entire drawing very difficult.

2. What layers will you need to start with? Remember that you can always add

more, or delete the ones you don't need. Moreover you can always use some

Layers while you draw just in order to help you and at the end you will not

print them.

3. Before you start, consider what will be the first object that you will draw such

as to minimise your work by copying it or setting it as a block or mirroring it.

4. Once you have this basic information, you can begin. As you can see, there is

a bit you have to do before drawing your first line. Get into the good habit of

beginning your drawings properly and not with the attitude that you can

always “Fix it later”!

Once your drawing is set up, think about how you will actually draw it. You should

start with the most basic components first. Remember that it is just like building a

structure. Start with the foundation and add more detail as you go. Be careful with

your measurements, because if you make a mistake at the start, it will cause BIG

problems later on as you continue through the drawing.

A general rule I use is to draw like I would build it. This basic approach will at least

give you a starting point for any project in any discipline.



Figure 15 – Second exercise drawing.



Figure 16 – Dimensions of the Second exercise drawing.



4. Dimensioning

This tutorial describes the options and commands available for dimensioning

drawings and how to use them. The correct use of AutoCAD‘s dimension tools is the

key to producing clear and concise measured drawings. To help you with the selection

of the dimensioning commands, you may wish to open the dimensioning toolbar and

place it on the AutoCAD window. Remember you will find this under Toolbars on

the View menu.

There are lots of dimension commands which include facilities for indicating

tolerances and alternate units dimensioning. However, this tutorial aims to cover the

most common commands for general use and constitutes an introduction to

dimensioning with AutoCAD.

4.1 Dimensions and Modifying Dimensions Commands

AutoCAD divides dimensions into four main categories: Linear, Radial, Ordinate and

Angular. For the purposes of this tutorial we will only consider some of the

commands within the Linear, Radial and Angular categories. AutoCAD provides a

whole range of dimensioning tools which can be used to quickly dimension any

drawing without the need for measurement. Dimensioning in AutoCAD is automatic,

lines, arrows and text are all taken care of by the dimension commands. AutoCAD

dimensions are special blocks which can easily be edited or erased as necessary.

AutoCAD allows you to adjust the position of the text of a dimension with the use of

the dimension edit commands, DIMEDIT and DIMTEDIT. This is usually only

necessary if the drawing is quite complex and the dimension would read more clearly

if the position of the text will be modified. Table 5 summarises the use and the

function of the most common used dimension commands in AutoCAD along with the

modifying dimension commands.



Dimensions

category Keystroke Icon Menu Result

Lin

ear

Dim

ensi

on

Linear Dimlinear

Dimension/

Linear

Generates horizontal

and vertical

dimensions

Continue Dimcontinue

Dimension/

Continue

Creates a string of

dimensions

Baseline Dimbaseline

Dimension/

Baseline

Generates a series of

dimensions from a

single base point

Aligned Dimaligned

Dimension/

Aligned

Generates aligned

dimensions

Radia

l D

imen

sion

Diameter Dimdiameter

Dimension/

Diameter

Annotates a circle or

an arc with a

diameter dimension

Radius Dimradius

Dimension/

Radius

Returns the

dimension of the

radius of a circle or

arc

Centre

Mark Dimcenter

Dimension/

Centre

Mark

Annotates a circle or

an arc with a cross at

the centre

Angular

Dimensions Dimangular

Dimension/

Angular

Indicates an angle in

almost any situation

Ordinate

Dimensions Dimordinate

Dimension/

Ordinate

Annotates co-

ordinate points with

X or Y values

Edit

ing

Dim

ensi

on

s

Dimension

Text Edit Dimtedit

Dimension/

Align Text

Modifies the text

position of any single

dimension

Dimension

Edit Dimedit

Dimension/

Oblique

Modifies and

changes the text of

any number of

dimensions

Table 5 – The most used dimension commands.



4.2 Creating a dimensioning style

To add dimensions efficiently, you should create a dimensioning style. Dimension

styles can simplify dimensioning by predefining certain dimension formats. The

dimension Style dialogue box is available under the Dimension Menu as Style or by

clicking on the Style button on the Dimension toolbar.

The Dimension Style command can be used to change the appearance of dimensions.

The best method is to create a new style before you start creating dimensions so that

you can leave the STANDARD style as a default option. Having created a new style

from STANDARD you can then apply any modifications you generally require to the

parent style and then more specific modifications to the child styles in order to create

a style family.

You can either edit an existing style or create a new one. Notice the current style

displayed in the style box is called ISO – 25. This is AutoCAD's default dimension

style. For this tutorial, you will create a style based on the ISO – 25 style, and save it

under a different name, Figure 17.

Figure 17 – Dimension style manager dialogue box.



To create your new dimensioning style, click on the New button. The Create New

Dimension Style dialogue box will appear. In this box, you can begin the definition

for a new style by modifying the existing one, Figure 18.

Figure 18 – Setting a new dimension style.

To create your new dimension style, type Tutorial 3 in the window by the heading

New Style Name:, make sure that ISO – 25 is selected in the window labelled Start

With:, and then click on Continue. The Modify Dimension Style dialogue box will

appear. The Modify Dimension Style has been designed so that you can define a

variety of dimension parameters. When it first appears, the Lines and Arrows tab

should be showing, Figure 19.

In all of the dimension dialogue boxes, an example of the changes you select will be

displayed in the window on the upper right. Occasionally this window does not

display the changes correctly, so do not panic. When you change to a new tab, the

window will show your changes to the style correctly.



Figure 19 – The modifying dimension style dialog box.

The changes you should make in the Lines and Arrowhead dialogue box should

include the following:

1. Under the Dimension Lines section, set Spacing to 6. This sets the space

between stacked dimensions. Note that the minimum space between

dimensions is 6mm. However, you will have some long dimensions and will

be orienting your dimension text horizontally so you will need to have more

space between the stacked dimensions.

2. Under the Extension Line section, at the Suppress option tick the Ext Line 1

and Ext Line 2 to suppress the extension lines.



3. Under Arrowheads, set Size to 0.15 to set the arrowhead lengths, and under

Centre Marks for Circles, set Size: to 0.15 to set the length for half of the

lines for a centre mark.

Next, click on the Text tab to bring that dialogue box forward, Figure 20. Inside this

box, make the following changes or make sure that the following categories are set.

Figure 20 –Modifying dimension text dialog box.



1. Under Text Appearance, modify the text style to Times new Roman and set

the Text colour to be By Block. This allows the colour to be controlled by the

layers and assures that the font is the default.

2. Under the Text Placement section, select Cantered in the window by

Vertical and Cantered in the window by Horizontal. This orients the text to

the dimension lines. Note that if a dimension placed in this location does not

work well with other dimensions, you can easily move a dimension to a new

location after it is placed.

3. Under the Text Alignment section—Click on the aligned with dimension

line button, this orients all of the dimension numbers align with the dimension

line.

4. In the window beside the heading Offset from dim line: type in 0. This

changes the size of the gap in the dimension line by establishing how far the

dimension line should be from the text.

Now, click the Fit tab to bring the Fit dialogue box forward, Figure 21. In this box

make the following changes or make sure that the following are set:

Figure 21 – Dimension fit settings.



1. Under Fit Option, click on the button next to the heading Either the text or

the arrow, whichever fits best. This gives you the flexibility to have a

dimension inside or outside of the extension lines.

2. Under Scales for Dimension Features, select Scale dimensions to layout.

This scales the elements of the dimensioning system – arrows, numbers, etc –

to the scale used in paper space.

3. Under Fine Tuning, select Place text manually when dimensioning. This

allows you the flexibility to place a dimension in the most appropriate position

relative to other dimensions.

Now, click on the Primary Units tab to bring this dialogue box forward, Figure 22.

1. In this box, make sure that Linear Dimensions are set to Decimal, Precision

is set to 0.00, and Round off is set to 0.

2. Under Measurement Scales, leave the Scale factor at 1.

3. Beside BOTH areas labelled Zero Suppression—click on the check box next

to Trailing (this will remove any excess 0's after a number.

Figure 22 – Setting of primary units.



Click on OK to return to the Dimension Style dialogue box. When the Dimension

Style Manager box appears, make sure that Tutorial 3 is still highlighted in the

Styles window and then click on the Set Current button to set this as your dimension

style and then on Close the close the window, Figure 23.

Figure 23 – Set active the new dimension style “Tutorial 3”.

Finally, click the Save button under the Dimension Style window and then OK to

exit the Dimension Style dialogue box. You have now created your dimensioning

style.



4.3 Third Tutorial’s Exercise

For this Tutorial, you will create your own dimension style and you will use it for

dimensioning your drawing. This lesson will be a review of the previous tutorial while

you will redraw the two span trusses which are supported on concrete columns shown

in Figure 24 and you will set the dimensions of the drawing. Details of the dimensions

of the drawing are shown in Figure 25.

Figure 24 – Third coursework drawing.



Figure 25 – Dimensions of the Second coursework drawing



5. Model Space, Paper Space, Viewports and Plotting

These notes are designed to help students as a general reference for scale drawing and

printing using AutoCAD.

5.1 Before you start

It is assumed that you have set up suitable LIMITS, and that you have used AutoCAD

to produce an initial ‗drawing‘ such as that shown in Figure 28.

Figure 26 – A „Model‟ drawn in AutoCAD using real world co-ordinates.

You will have used ‗real world‘ co-ordinates (for example metres or millimetres) and

you will not have considered final drawing size, paper size or scale. You will also not

have drawn any border or title block.

What you have drawn so far is called a ‗Model‘.

Draw one horizontal and one vertical LINE.

Use OFFSETs to draw the rest.

Use TRIM to remove unwanted line segments. Add two

circles, and change LINETYPES to CENTER and HIDDEN

where necessary.

Draw the central triangle on a layer called 'Triangle', draw

the circles on a layer called 'Circles', use Tangent snaps to

draw the outer lines on a layer called 'Lines'.

Practice turning the layers on and off.

Use TRIM to remove unwanted circle segments.

Practice turning the layers on and off.



5.2 Designing your paper layout

It is sometimes helpful if the things that are to be drawn as part of our paper layout

(border, title block, etc) are drawn on their own layer.

1. Create a layer called ‗Paper‘ on which to draw the border and title block

(the name ‗Paper‘ does not have any special meaning to AutoCAD – you

can call it something else if you wish) and make it the current layer

As you will see in a minute, we are also going to create a window on our sheet of

paper through which we will be able to see our Model. This window is called a

‗Viewport‘. It is often helpful if we create the Viewport on its own layer.

2. Create a layer called ‗Viewport‘ and make it the current layer (again, the

name ‗Viewport‘ does not have any special meaning to AutoCAD – you

can call it something else if you wish).

We are now ready to start designing the layout of our piece of paper.

3. To design the paper layout, make sure you have the Paper layer as your

current layer and select the ‗Layout1‘ tab at the bottom of the drawing

A ‗Viewport‘ is created in the centre of the paper, with the Model drawn inside it.

The Viewport is scaled so that all of the Model can be seen inside the Viewport – the

scale used is calculated automatically by AutoCAD and it will not be a very sensible

scale.

The Viewport is a drawing object, and it may be edited just like any other drawing

object (moved, deleted, re-sized, etc.). You can create more Viewports from the View

| Viewports pull-down menu (you can have lots of them on your piece of paper).

You are now in ‗Paper Space‘ and you are looking at the Layout of your piece of

paper. This is how it will look if you were to print it out. Notice how you cannot edit

your Model, even though you can see it – you cannot erase parts of it, for example.



You can get back to the Model by selecting the ‗Model‘ tab – this is called

‗Model Space‘.

You can get back to designing the paper layout by selecting the ‗Layout1‘ tab

– this is called ‗Paper Space‘

If you edit the Model, in Model Space, the view of the Model inside the Viewport will

be updated when you return to Paper Space. If you draw on the Layout, you are

drawing on the paper (Paper Space), and the Model is left unchanged.

If you want to edit the Model while you are in the Layout view, you can

double click inside the Viewport; to get back to drawing on the paper layout,

you double click outside the Viewport.

You can re-size the Viewport by clicking its corners (best with OSNAP off).

Remember that if we want all of the contents of the Viewport to be visible on the

paper printout, it must all be inside the ‗printable area‘.

The first time we select this Layout tab, we have to provide AutoCAD with some

details of our printer/plotter and paper

4. Select the ‗File – Page Setup Manager…‘ pull-down menu

5. Select ‗Modify…‘ to modify the current page setup

6. Select the required Printer/Plotter from the menu list (e.g. an A3 Laser

Printer)

7. Select A3 paper size and Landscape drawing orientation (or other size and

orientation, if you wish)

8. Make sure that ‗What to plot:‘ is set to ‗Layout‘ and the Plot scale is 1:1,

and the Plot scale units are ‗mm‘

9. You have now told AutoCAD everything you need to continue, so click

OK and then Close the Page Setup Manager



Figure 29 shows an example A3 landscape drawing layout, with the printable area, a

binding margin, a Viewport, and a 70 mm space on the right hand side for a vertical

Title Block. It is very helpful when planning the paper layout to sketch the layout in

your notepad, and mark on it important layout dimensions and co-ordinates.

Paper Space co-ordinates are in mm (you defined this above), and 0,0 is the bottom-

left corner of the ‗printable area‘.

10. To define the position of the Viewport, click on the bottom-left corner of

the Viewport to select it, then click the same corner again to move it, and

then click again at the point where you want to move the Viewport corner

to (see Figure 2). Now do the same with the top-right corner of the

Viewport. Remember the corners have to be inside the Printable Area.

11. You have now finished positioning the Viewport, so press the ‗Esc‘ key to

de-select it.

Well done! Nearly finished!

Figure 27 – A sketch of an A3 paper layout.

A3 paper

Space for Title

Block, say

70mm wide

Viewport

Viewport Printable area

At least 20mm

space for binding

margin

Printable area



5.3 Set the Viewport to the Correct Scale

To set the Viewport to the correct scale

Table 7 gives a list of Viewport scale factors for a variety of standard required scales,

depending on whether your Model Space is drawn in units of millimetres or metres.

Viewport Scale Factor

Required

Scale

Model Space

co-ordinates

in mm

Model Space

co-ordinates

in m

50:1 50xp 50000xp

20:1 20xp 20000xp

10:1 10xp 10000xp

5:1 5xp 5000xp

2:1 2xp 2000xp

1:1 1xp 1000xp

1:2 0.5xp 500xp

1:5 0.2xp 200xp

1:10 0.1xp 100xp

1:20 0.05xp 50xp

1:50 0.02xp 20xp

1:100 0.01xp 10xp

1:200 0.005xp 5xp

1:500 0.002xp 2xp

1:1000 0.001xp 1xp

Table 6 – Viewport scale factors for a variety of standard required scales, depending on

Model Space units (note that 50:1 is an enlargement scale, and 1:1000 is a reduction).



To set the Viewport scale factor:

12. Whilst in Paper Space, Double-click inside the Viewport to work on the

Model through the Viewport ‗window‘.

13. Type ‗Zoom‘.

14. Type the required Viewport Scale Factor from Table 1, above, for example

‗1xp‘.

15. Finally, you can position the Model nicely in the Viewport by typing ‗Pan‘

and using the mouse to drag the Model around (press ‗Esc‘ or ‗Enter‘ when

you have finished).

16. Now you can double click outside the Viewport to return to drawing in

Paper Space.

17. It is a good idea to prevent the box surrounding the Viewport from printing,

so click on the light bulb on the ‗Viewport‘ layer to turn it off.

18. You can now select the ‗Paper‘ layer, and draw a border and title block, as

you wish (make sure everything you draw is inside the ‗printable area‘ –

refer to your sketch of the paper layout from step 11 to help you with the

co-ordinates).

For guidance about the layout and content of the Title Block, see the notes on the

Professional Skills web site.

5.4 Some Brief Notes about Printing

Before you print, you should define all your layers to use the colour ‗white‘

(this will come out black on your printout!)

You should print from Paper Space (i.e. from the ‗Layout1‘ tab)

Choose the File | Plot… pull-down menu

Check that you still have the correct printer selected, that the drawing

orientation is correct, and that the Plot area is ‗Layout‘

As you have scaled the Viewport correctly, the Plot scale should be 1:1

You can have a ‗Preview…‘ to make sure it is going to look alright

When you are ready to print, click OK

Cross your fingers! (Very important – it will not work if you don‘t do this).

CHECK THE SCALE OF YOUR FINAL PRINTOUT USING A RULE



Original Tutorial document produced by

Dr Konstantinos Poutos

Documents

Autocad Tutorial Notes 2009