A Two-Page Tutorial on The Basics of AutoCAD and DraftSight Version 1.

0 June, 2011

A Two-Page Tutorial on

THE BASICS OF AUTOCAD AND

MODEL AND SHEETS (STATUS BAR)

Do all the design in the Model view and print layouts in

the layout view. Zombies will dismember you if you
put your sheets in your Model view. Drawings will
never look right and you will be constantly fighting with
the software to get it proper. Instead, you need to realize
what parts of your drawings belong to the Model or the
layout. For example, scale information on the drawing
belongs in the Layout View and not in the model so you
can have the same drawing referenced properly in
multiple sheet sized layouts.

Set your title page layout in your layout view, and

customize separate ones for different paper types, colors,
line weights, types, etc.

DRAFTSIGHT
Ahmed Dassouki, 2011- dassouki@gmail.com
This tutorial covers DraftSight and AutoCAD 2006. The
presented techniques should translate between the 2006 and
2010+ versions but I could be wrong. If you understand the
concepts below and memorize them, you will be a CAD guru
in no time.

THE ENVIRONMENT
ESNAP, POLAR, AND ETRACK (STATUS BAR)

ESnap: Enable all options. Note that when in a command,

you can type mid, per, etc to get a specific snap.

Polar: Enable and view the guides set at 22.5 degrees.

ETrack: Enable and set the tracks to view across the screen.

Disable, Grid, Ortho, and Snap modes as the above options

are better usability wise.

UNITS (MENU: FORMAT
UNIT SYSTEM)

For Imperial units change the unit system to Architectural.

Set the dimensions to have high precision. In some occasions

an operation might screw up (especially when extending,
stretching, etc). With high precision set, you can easily detect
the discrepancies. For example, a wrong dimension on a
line might read as 10.00453 instead of 10.00000. You will
have to backtrack and figure out which line is misbehaving.

Set your dimension properties (not unit properties) to show

different unit systems. To display drawings in both unit
systems, draw in imperial and then enable and display the
metric as a secondary unit in your dimension settings.
Scale up drawings dimensions (not the drawing itself) in the
dimension properties to be n times larger. For example, if
the main unit is metres but want to display the dimensions in
millimetres, set the dimension scale factor to a 1,000.

TOOLBARS

LAYERS (TOOLBAR)

Create a maintainable amount of layers that you can

easily interchange between documents and project types.
Remember that you will get drawings from different
individuals on different aspects of a project. Careful
planning and proper nomenclature is essential to having a
good document. Check with the Architectural Graphic
Standards or with the firm you work for about layer
systems and standards. Always follow a standard!

You can group, show, freeze, and set the layer to

print/un-print. For example, you can create a grid type
layer with light colors) that is locked and unprintable.

In the layers property window, change the line weights

and types. Depending on your practice and firm you
work at, standards are different, therefore, consult with
local companies and see what they use. To add line types
click on Load and select additional line types. In the
same window set the line type scale and weight for the
layer.

PRINTING AND PLOTTING (FILE
PRINT)

Most firms have their own print files. In a drawing, go to

print
additional options, you can find the ctb files
under print style tables. Create a new style for each
plotter and digital copies. This is an iterative process and
you will always continuously improve it.

Always export as PDF with the proper line types,

weights, and color schemes.

If you are doing 2D work, you only need these toolbars enabled:

Standard: for basic file and printing operations.

Layer and properties: for layer options and customization.

Component: To edit and modify blocks.

CREATE YOUR OWN TEMPLATE

Once the basic blocks, entities, layers, and title blocks

are properly working, save the file as a template.

A Two-Page Tutorial on The Basics of AutoCAD and DraftSight Version 1.0 June, 2011

2 AUTOCAD/DRAFTSIGHT BASIC COMMANDS

The following is a list of commands that are used with AutoCAD
or DraftSight that you should know very well. Remember you
can change and customize any of these commands.

DRAWING COMMANDS (COMMAND THEN SPACE)

l: line, you can either click the first point, move the mouse in
the desired direction, then enter the distance; or use the snap
to the second point location, or do a detailed entry, for
example: l space 5,5 or l click with your mouse then @50<45
that translates to a line of length = 50, angle = 45.

xl: infinity line.

pl: polyline, Draws a polyline based on user defined vertices.

In a polyline, you can change from a line to an arc by typing
a, or l. For example, pl, then draw your line, then a, to draw
an arc, then l again to draw a line: IMPORTANT: If you are
creating a CLOSED polyline, and you are at your last
segment in creating the polyline, press c to close the
polyline. Otherwise your polyline is fucking useless!

pe: polyline edit, this commands adds or removes a section of

a polyline. When in pe mode, you can use trim, extend, etc to
edit your polylines. IMPORTANT while in pe, you should
join (j) and close (c) the mother fucking polyline,
otherwise it is useless!

s: stretch.

al: align that uses three points.

sc: scale.

spl: spline, takes a while to handle properly.

ml: multiline, draws a multiline, I usually set the

justification to zero. You will need to explode the ml to
use it as a regular line.

h: hatches, by pattern or objects. The benefit of doing it

by objects is that the hatch will adjust automatically
when you modify the object.

w: weld, combines multiple overlapping or regular lines

into one.

br: break an existing line into multiple pieces.

div: divide a line into multiple divisions, resulting in a

series of points.

OBJECTS

b: block, creates a block. Usually set the block to be on

Layer 0 for easy movement between files.

i: insert, inserts the block you just created.

x: explode, breaks up a multiline, polyline, object into

regular lines.

pt: point.

simplenote: annotation tool.

a: arc.

ed: edits a simplenote.

c: circle.

el: ellipse.

mt: multiple text, another way of inserting text into your

document.

rec: rectangle.

cc: copy, by default it multi copies.

m: move, moves objects based on a base point.

ma: match, this command matches two objects to have the

same properties (layer, text, type, weights, etc. this useful
when you offset a line, and want to change its type.

o: offset, it draws a parallel line by a certain distance.

mi: mirror, to mirror an object along an axis.

tr: trim, trims one or multiple lines.

f: fillet, joins two lines without end tails based on a radius.

ex: extend, extends one or multiple lines to a user specified

object. If you press shift, extend becomes a trim command.

ro: rotates.

OTHER

area: area, it also gives perimeter, this can only be used

on regions (reg) or on closed polylines)

di: distance.

d: distance settings.

e: erase.

layon: layer on, turns all layers on.

layoff: layer(s) off, turns specific layer(s) off.

Layiso: layer(s) isolate, isolate specific layer(s).

ltscale: line type scale, sometimes this differs from

model to view.

plot: opens up the print settings.

r: refresh, redraws the canvas.