the two lines will have been filleted with a radius of 5 as we specified. repeat the procedure to fillet the remaining 3 corners.
as with the chamfer lesson above, we can apply the fillet command to a polyline which will fillet all intersecting lines. while using the fillet command be careful not to specify a radius too large.
explode- the explode command is very straightforward. it simply breaks down an object object down to its basic line entities.
for example, a rectangle drawn with the rectangle command is drawn as a polyline;
the separate lines making the rectangle can't be selected or edited. if we choose the explode button , then select the rectangle object, it will be broken down (or exploded!) into its 4 separate lines.
explode can also be used to break apart a block and also hatching (covered later).
a basic rule of thumb would be: if you can't select an object you wish to edit, or wish to edit only part of an object, try exploding it to break it down to its basic form of lines and arcs.
that concludes our modify tools tutorial. with the modify commands covered in this tutorial, you should be able to create most 2d drawings you would ever need too! (of course - combined with the basic draw tools covered earlier).
lesson 7
layers
layers are a way of managing, tidying and also controlling the visual layout of a drawing. a whole section of a drawing can be turned on or off, or simply one aspect can be controlled - text for example. this is all done by using layers within autocad.
the concept of layers is used in other software applications, such as paintshop programs. for those not aware of the concept, we'll start from the beginning:
when a new autocad drawing is created, everything which is drawn is drawn on the one default layer, named 0. when creating drawings, the layer 0 shouldn't really be used. new layers should be set up with names corresponding to the content
contained on them.
what is a layer?
a layer can be thought of as a large piece of clear plastic, as infinitely large as the drawing area in autocad. when drawing in autocad, everything is drawn on the default layer which is set current. only the objects you are drawing are visible on the layer, the layer itself can never be seen - it is invisible. each new layer is created by you, the user. normally, it is acceptable to have a layer for each different part of a drawing. the layers created for a simple house plan could be as follows:
wall_external
the separate lines and shapes representing each part of the house would be arranged on its relevant layer above. each layer could be assigned its own colour so that everything drawn on that layer appeared the same colour.
remember we said that layers can be used to manage drawings? well for example, in order to see the drawing more clearly, we may want to remove all the text and dimensions from the drawing. we want to keep the information, just remove it from view. deleting it wouldn't be appropriate as we would lose all of our work! all we have to do is tell autocad to not display the text notes and dimensions layers by turning off the layers in layer manager. the layers can then be turned back on again whenever we choose.
layers are controlled by the layer properties manager button which is located on the object properties toolbar:
the layer property manager is where all the layers are controlled. the layout above shows a typical use of layers.
from the layer property manager we can:
add a new layer - press the new button to create a new layer.
delete a layer - press the delete button to delete the selected layer.
set current layer - press the current button to set the selected layer current. all objects drawn will then be drawn on this current layer.
show details - press the show details button to see more detailed information about the selected layer.
each layer also has the following options against it:
name - displays the layer name.
on - controls if the layer is on or off. select the light bulb to turn the layer off on the drawing.
freeze in all vp - pressing this will freeze the layer in all viewports as well as the current model view (see lesson 10 to learn about viewports)
lock - this handy feature locks a layer preventing any content of the layer from being modified.
colour - change this to whichever colour you like. all objects drawn on the layer will display the chosen colour provided that the objects colour setting in the object properties toolbar (shown above) is set to 'by layer'.
linetype - set the default linetype for all objects drawn on the layer. i.e. continuous, dashed, dotted etc.
lineweight - set the thickness a line appears .default is no thickness. this option can be toggled on/off on the display by the lwt button above the command console.
plot - select if the layer will be shown when the drawing is plotted (printed).
the current layer, layer colour, linetype and lineweight can all be controlled outside of the layer properties manager via the object properties toolbar.
that's it for basic layer controls! get used to using layers as you will be using them often - especially when you find you need to start managing large drawing files that contain a lot of information.
lesson 8
text
text can be added to an autocad drawing to create notes and labels on your
drawings. there are two different text commands used to add text to drawings: text and mtext.
the text command is a simple way to add basic text notes. the height and rotation of the text can be quickly specified and the text can be viewed on the drawing while being typed.
try adding a small piece of text in a new drawing using the text command:
1) enter the command text into the command console then hit return
2) when prompted for a start point, select somewhere in the screen just left of centre
3) when asked for a height, enter 3
4) when asked for a rotation angle, hit enter to accept the default of 0.
5) now simply enter your text. type: autocad central then hit return to start a new line
type: lesson 8
6) hit return twice to exit the text command.
the text should be on two separate lines as shown below:
try selecting the text. notice how each line is separately selectable and independent of the previous line? although the text command is simple to use, as each line is separately editable, modifying notes on a drawing can become a nightmare! this text
type is called single line text.
multiline text
multiline text is the more advanced text tool within autocad. it can be chosen from the 'draw' toolbar by this icon: .
the multiline text command has its own editor, with all the options available that you'd expect to see in a word processing program. also, all text on separate lines is treated together, so editing notes and sentences is simple.
1) select the multiline command button
2) we are prompted to select a first corner then second corner. this invisible boundary sets the horizontal extent of the text. when text is entered into the multiline text editor, it will automatically start a second line when it comes to the edge of the text box we specified. similar to getting to the right hand margin in a text editor. select a box roughly a quarter of the drawing area.
3) the multiline text editor then appears:
the main character tab of the text editor box is where we choose the font style, text height, colour and also add symbols such as diameter or degrees symbols.
the properties tab is where we can change the text rotation and paragraph justification settings.
change the text style to 'arial'.
4) set text height to 3
5) enter the following text into the text editor window: autocad central 6) hit enter for a new line, then enter: lesson 8
7) press the ok button to place the text into the drawing (the text placement will be justified as set in the properties-justification setting in the text editor, relative to the text area box we selected in step 1)
notice how when the text is selected, it is treated as one entity rather than separate lines? this makes it much easier and quicker to edit. to edit the text in the drawing area, simply double click the text with the cursor to open up the text editor.
text in autocad is treated like every other object, it can be rotated, mirrored, exploded, moved layers etc.
when setting the text height, it is important to remember that it is relative to the units you are using. for example, if you decide that 1 autocad unit is equal to a
metre, then setting a text height of 3 would result in 3m high text, and would tower over the drawing! a text size of somewhere around 0.02 would probably be more appropriate. when first using text, a small amount of trial and error is required to get the text height to a suitable size. try to aim for a text height which measures
between 2 and 3mm in paperspace for general notes.
text can be added to an autocad drawing to create notes and labels on your
drawings. there are two different text commands used to add text to drawings: text and mtext.
the text command is a simple way to add basic text notes. the height and rotation of the text can be quickly specified and the text can be viewed on the drawing while being typed.
try adding a small piece of text in a new drawing using the text command:
1) enter the command text into the command console then hit return
2) when prompted for a start point, select somewhere in the screen just left of centre
3) when asked for a height, enter 3
4) when asked for a rotation angle, hit enter to accept the default of 0.
5) now simply enter your text. type: autocad central then hit return to start a new line
type: lesson 8
6) hit return twice to exit the text command.
the text should be on two separate lines as shown below:
try selecting the text. notice how each line is separately selectable and independent of the previous line? although the text command is simple to use, as each line is separately editable, modifying notes on a drawing can become a nightmare! this text type is called single line text.
multiline text
multiline text is the more advanced text tool within autocad. it can be chosen from the 'draw' toolbar by this icon: .
the multiline text command has its own editor, with all the options available that you'd expect to see in a word processing program. also, all text on separate lines is treated together, so editing notes and sentences is simple.
1) select the multiline command button
2) we are prompted to select a first corner then second corner. this invisible boundary sets the horizontal extent of the text. when text is entered into the multiline text editor, it will automatically start a second line when it comes to the edge of the text box we specified. similar to getting to the right hand margin in a text editor. select a box roughly a quarter of the drawing area.
3) the multiline text editor then appears:
the main character tab of the text editor box is where we choose the font style, text height, colour and also add symbols such as diameter or degrees symbols.
the properties tab is where we can change the text rotation and paragraph justification settings.
change the text style to 'arial'.
4) set text height to 3
5) enter the following text into the text editor window: autocad central 6) hit enter for a new line, then enter: lesson 8
7) press the ok button to place the text into the drawing (the text placement will be justified as set in the properties-justification setting in the text editor, relative to the text area box we selected in step 1)
notice how when the text is selected, it is treated as one entity rather than separate lines? this makes it much easier and quicker to edit. to edit the text in the drawing area, simply double click the text with the cursor to open up the text editor.
text in autocad is treated like every other object; it can be rotated, mirrored, exploded, moved layers etc.
when setting the text height, it is important to remember that it is relative to the units you are using. for example, if you decide that 1 autocad unit is equal to a metre, then setting a text height of 3 would result in 3m high text, and would tower over the drawing! a text size of somewhere around 0.02 would probably be more appropriate. when first using text, a small amount of trial and error is required to get the text height to a suitable size. try to aim for a text height which measures
between 2 and 3mm in paperspace for general notes.
lesson 9
hatching
hatching is used to add shaded patterns to objects and shapes within an autocad drawing. hatch patterns can be used to indicate a material to be used, such as a concrete hatch. alternatively it could be used to make an area of a drawing stand out.
a foundation detail with the autocad default ar-conc hatch pattern applied.
the hatch command can be found on the draw toolbar, or the draw drop down menu. when entered, a dialogue box appears as shown below:
type - custom hatch patterns can be created in autocad. leave it set to predefined to use autocad’s built in hatch patterns.
pattern - this is where we select a hatch pattern from autocad’s default list. select to view more patterns. the hatch pattern palette appears, with hatch patterns arranged under the categories; ansi', 'iso', 'other predefined' and 'custom'. the most common hatch patterns required are under the 'other predefined' tab.
angle - this sets the angle of the hatch pattern, the default value is 0.
scale - this sets the size of the hatch pattern. this must be set correctly dependant on if you are drawing in metres or millimetres. a little trial and error is required to obtain a suitable scale (see preview below).
pick points & select objects - these are autocad's two different methods of hatching an area. using pick point, clicking inside an area (such as a rectangle) will result in the hatch pattern being applied to all blank space within the boundary.
select object simply hatches within a selected object.
great care must be taken to ensure that the area to be hatched is closed, and all line endpoints are meeting each other. if a small gap is left open, the hatch command will fail, usually with the error: unable to hatch boundary.
preview - enables a quick preview of the hatch before applying it, letting us quickly change and preview settings before we ok them. very useful when trying different hatch scales.
inherit properties - this command enables the hatch settings of a hatch already in use in the drawing to be brought into the boundary hatch dialogue box.
composition - this is how autocad is to treat objects to be hatched. for the moment, leave it set to associative.
pick point
the above hatch was created by using the pick point method. the hatch stays within all the solid lines.
select object
the above hatch was created by using the select object command. the rectangle was selected, and as a result the entire rectangle becomes hatched. interestingly, if both the hexagon and rectangle were selected (i.e. both boundaries) then the hatch pattern would have had the same result as in the above 'pick point' example.
be careful to ensure that there are no gaps in the boundary to be selected (zoom in if required). usually, this results in either unexpected results, or a hatch error as shown below.
have a go with the hatch command with the following autocad drawing file:
lesson9.dwg (autocad 2000 file) lesson9r14.dwg (autocad 14 file)
use the select object method to apply the hatch pattern ar-conc (found in other predefined in the hatch pattern palette) to the concrete foundation. use a hatch scale of 1 and angle 0.
use the pick point pattern to apply the hatch pattern ansi32 (found in ansi in the hatch pattern palette) to the bricks. use a hatch scale of 3 and an angle of 0. note:
separate multiple areas can be selected with the pick point method, all in one go!
your finished drawing should look like the one below:
lesson 10
model space & layout (paper) space
there are two drawing areas within an autocad drawing, model space and paper
space. when autocad is loaded, the drawing area which we see is known as model space. all drawing or 'modeling' done within autocad is drawn in model space. the autocad screen tells us we are in model space in the two following locations:
the left hand model tab has two default tabs next to it named 'layout1' and 'layout2'.
these are shortcuts to the two default paper space views 'layout1' and 'layout2'.
by double clicking the right hand model button shown above, this will take us to the default paper space view layout1.
what is paper space?
many beginners to autocad get confused about paper space, so we'll try and make it as painless as possible! the concept is in fact very simple!
by now you should be familiar with model space, and what it is. to summarize;
model space is the main drawing area in autocad.
paper space is an area used in autocad to plot (print) the drawing created in model space. paper space is a lot more powerful than simply letting us plot the entire model space drawing; we can set up views called viewports within the paper space area to separately show different areas of the model space drawing.
paper space is actually a blank sheet; the separate viewports showing different views of the model are what creates a printable drawing.
the screen shot above shows a paper space layout created named 'a4 layout view - paper space 1'. notice how earlier where the screen showed us that we were in model space, it now says paper to indicate paper space.
a rectangle measuring 275x200mm was drawn in paper space, so that it would fit nicely on an a4 sized sheet of paper.
all autocad commands that are used in model space can be used in paper space, however everything in paper space should be drawn at 1:1 (full size) in millimetres if the drawing is to be printed to scale.
the rectangle drawn is simply a frame which will provide a border to the drawing,
the rectangle drawn is simply a frame which will provide a border to the drawing,