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C H A P T E R

Opening a
Drawing

In This Chapter

utoCAD offers a number of options for opening a

drawing. These options create a great deal of flexibility
and save you time as well. You can create complex templates
to avoid doing the same basic setup and drawing over
and over.

Opening a Drawing Using

the Default Template
Since Release 14 AutoCAD has used a file type called a
template. It is just like the templates in your word processor.
Previously, the term prototype was used, but the prototype
was a regular drawing.
To open a drawing based on the default template, choose Use
a Template from the Startup dialog box. AutoCAD lists all the
available templates, as shown in Figure 2-1. The first one is
Acad -named plot styles.dwt. The second is acad.dwt. Acad is an
abbreviation for AutoCAD. The template then becomes the
basis of your subsequent work. No matter which template you
choose, the new drawing is named Drawing1.dwg. Subsequent
drawings that you open are named Drawing2.dwg and so on.
When you save and name your drawing, the original template
file is unaffected.
CrossReference

The first template name refers to named plot styles, which

are covered in Chapter 17. For the exercises until that chapter, you can also use Acad.dwt.

Opening a new
drawing using the
default template
Working with
templates
Opening a drawing
with default settings
Opening a new
drawing within
AutoCAD
Opening an existing
drawing
Saving a drawing
with a new name

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Part I AutoCAD Basics

Figure 2-1: Using the Use a Template option to open

a drawing based on Acad -named plot styles.dwt.

If you are already in AutoCAD, you can start a new drawing by choosing File New.
The Create New Drawing dialog box opens, which is just like the Startup dialog box.
Choose Use a Template. A list of all template files provided by AutoCAD appears.
Select Acad -named plot styles.dwt. Click OK and a new drawing opens, using Acad named plot styles.dwt as its template.

Step-by-Step: Opening a Drawing Based

on Acad -named plot styles.dwt
1. Start AutoCAD.
2. In the Startup dialog box, choose Use a Template.
3. Choose Acad -named plot styles.dwt from the Select a Template list. (In most
cases, it is selected by default.)
4. Click OK. You now have a blank drawing called Drawing1.dwg, as shown in
Figure 2-2.

Working with Templates

A template contains ready-made settings to get you started drawing quickly. These
settings include the size of the drawing (called limits), the unit type (such as
decimal or architectural), and others. An important part of setting standards in an
office where people work together on drawings is the creation of a template so that
all users work with an identical setup.
A template may contain more than just settings it often contains a complete title
block, for example, and may include boilerplate (standardized) text as well.

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Chapter 2 Opening a Drawing

Figure 2-2: When you start a drawing based on a template, AutoCAD opens a
drawing called Drawing1.dwg.

Customizing Acad.dwt
To customize Acad -named plot styles.dwt, open a drawing based on it as described
in the previous section. Make any changes you wish. Click Save on the Standard
toolbar. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, click the Save as type drop-down list
box. Choose AutoCAD Drawing Template File (*.dwt). In the list of template files,
choose Acad -named plot styles.dwt. Click Save. When asked if you want to replace it,
click Yes. In the Template Description dialog box, revise the description as you like.
Click OK. You can do the same with acad.dwt.
Without templates, you would have to set up your drawing each time you start a
drawing a time-consuming project. Over time, the use of templates saves hours
and hours of work and improves consistency.
Caution

Dont change Acad.dwt or Acad -named plot styles.dwt if you are using someone
elses computer and copy of AutoCAD without first checking with that person. It
can be a frustrating experience to start a drawing based on the default template
and find that all the settings have been changed.

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Part I AutoCAD Basics

Spotlight on AutoCAD users:

Creative Edge in Fairfield, Iowa
Creative Edge has carved out its own niche in CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing). This company uses AutoCAD to create drawings that are then
used to cut out shapes of almost any material imaginable. Creative Edge provides services
to architects, interior designers, and even individual homeowners.
Heres how the process works. Creative Edge accepts anything from a completed drawing
to a sketch on a napkin as the front-end input. An example of the companys work is a floor
design for the Radisson Hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota. In this case, Creative Edges inhouse artist and vice president Harri Aalto created the design. Once the design was finalized, an AutoCAD drawing was created from the design. Often, the design is digitized by
putting the artwork on a large digitizer and picking points with the puck (Chapter 3
describes pucks in more detail). Here you see a close-up of the central part of the drawing,
showing Mount Rushmore.
Then the companys programmers use NC Polaris by NC Microproducts, Inc. (phone number: 214-234-6655) to convert the drawing into numerical code. This program determines
a cutting path for every section of the drawing. Here you see the first few lines of the code
created from the Radisson Hotel AutoCAD drawing.
%
;INW12.OUT
F20.O00;PRE-OFFSET
G92XY
G91
G41
H1
N1177A
G0X2.0787Y4.2481;_RAPID_TO_PIERCE
/P200;_CUTTER_ON
G91
G3X.1764Y.0121I.0821J.0942
G3X.3383Y.3909I-56.3796J49.1335
This code is entered into one of Creative Edges 16 high-pressure water-jet cutters, which
cuts out the pieces in the chosen material. In this case, the pieces were cut out of marble,
granite, limestone, and brass. Other common materials are vinyl, linoleum, ceramic tile, titanium, stainless steel, and composites such as bullet-proof materials. Finally, the pieces of cut
stone were set into the floor of the hotels lobby. As you can see, the results are stunning.

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Thanks to Harri Aalto of Creative Edge, Fairfield, Iowa, for this drawing and photo.

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Creating your own templates

You may want several templates to choose from on a regular basis. For example,
you may create drawings of several sizes. AutoCAD lets you create as many
templates as you wish. To create your own templates, either start a drawing based
on Acad -named plot styles.dwt (or acad.dwt) and make the changes you want or
open an existing drawing that already has some of the settings you want and make
any further changes you need.
Starting a new drawing. If you start a new drawing based on Acad -named
plot styles.dwt, choose Save from the Standard toolbar. In the Save Drawing
As dialog box, click the Save as type drop-down list box. Choose AutoCAD
Drawing Template File (*.dwt) or acad.dwt. In the File name text box, type a
name for your template. Click Save. In the Template Description dialog box,
revise the description as you wish. Click OK.
Opening an existing drawing. If you open an existing drawing, choose File
Save As. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, click the Save as type drop-down
list box. Choose AutoCAD Drawing Template File (*.dwt). In the File name text
box, type a name for your template. Click Save. In the Template Description
dialog box, write whatever description you like. Click OK.
Tip

Name your templates in a way that clearly differentiates them from regular drawings. You may want drawings set up for each of the standard paper sizes
(A through E), with a title block in each. Useful names might be tb-a.dwt, tb-b.dwt
(tb meaning title block), and so on.

Most AutoCAD users take advantage of these techniques as a standard practice.

You can usually make profitable use of a template or previous drawing as a basis for
a new drawing.

Opening a Drawing with Default Settings

Occasionally you want to open a drawing without any settings. It is actually
impossible for a drawing to have no settings at all, but you can open a drawing
with the minimum possible presets. You might want to do this if you are working
on someone elses computer and dont want to take the time to get rid of a large
number of complex settings that are not helpful for your work.
To open a drawing with the fewest possible settings, choose Start from Scratch
from the Startup dialog box. Choose either English or Metric as the default setting
and click OK.

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Chapter 2 Opening a Drawing

Creating a New Drawing within AutoCAD

If you are already working on a drawing in AutoCAD and want to start a new
drawing, choose New on the Standard toolbar. AutoCAD opens the Create
New Drawing dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-3. Your earlier drawing is still open,
and can be accessed by choosing it from the Window menu.

Figure 2-3: The Create New Drawing dialog box.

Choose one of the options and press Enter. The Use a Wizard option is discussed in
Chapter 5.

Opening an Existing Drawing

To open an existing drawing when starting AutoCAD, choose Open a Drawing from
the Startup dialog box when you start AutoCAD. AutoCAD displays the last few
drawings you opened in the Select a File box. To open one of these files, choose it
and click OK.
If your drawing is not listed, click Browse. AutoCAD opens the Select File dialog
box, shown in Figure 2-4. In the Look in drop-down list box, choose the drive where
your drawing resides. In the main box, double-click the folder you need. Then
choose your drawing. The Preview box lets you quickly look at the drawing to see
if its the one you want. Click Open. AutoCAD opens the drawing.

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Figure 2-4: The Select File dialog box is equivalent to the Open dialog box
in most Windows programs.
Note

Drawings created and saved in Release 12 or earlier versions of AutoCAD do not

show previews. Drawings created in Releases 13 and later have previews unless
this feature has been disabled.

To look for a file to open on the Web, click Search the Web. Windows also has a
Favorites folder that you can use to store files you use a lot. To look there, click
Look in Favorites. To add a drawing to the Favorites folder, click Add to Favorites.

Opening an existing drawing within AutoCAD

To open an existing drawing once you have already started working in
AutoCAD, choose Open from the Standard toolbar. The Select File dialog box
appears. Choose a drawing as explained previously and click Open.
You can also open a drawing by dragging it from Windows Explorer into AutoCAD.
However, you must drag the drawing anywhere but into the main drawing area
for example, into the command line or any blank area next to a toolbar. (If you drag
a drawing into the drawing area, AutoCAD inserts the drawing as an external
reference. Chapter 19 covers external references.)
You can also double-click a drawing in Windows Explorer to open it. If AutoCAD is
not running, Windows loads it and the drawing as well. If AutoCAD is running and a
drawing is active, the drawing opens as a second drawing within AutoCAD.
The AutoCAD DesignCenter, new for AutoCAD 2000, is a feature for managing
both drawing files and many of their components. The DesignCenter is covered in
more detail in Chapter 28 as well as in other chapters throughout this book.

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Chapter 2 Opening a Drawing

To open a drawing from AutoCAD DesignCenter, first choose AutoCAD DesignCenter

from the Standard toolbar. AutoCAD opens the DesignCenter palette, displaying an
Explorer-like list of drawings in the left pane. If necessary, choose Desktop from the
DesignCenter toolbar. Navigate and choose the drawings folder in the left pane.
The drawings in the folder are listed in the right pane. Right-click the drawing of
your choice and choose Open in Window.

Using dialog boxes to open drawings

You have many shortcuts you can use when working in dialog boxes that open or
save files, as follows:
You can double-click the drawing file to open it immediately without clicking
Open.
You can display the files in a list with or without details. Click the List icon to
see a simple list. Click the Details icon to see file size and the last date and
time the file was saved.
Right-click inside the dialog box to open a shortcut menu with more options.
You can click the name of a drawing to highlight it and then click it once more
to rename it (but dont double-click it that opens the drawing).
In the Select File dialog box, you can check Select Initial View to open a file with a
saved, named view. You can also open part of a drawing. Use this technique for
very large drawings that take a long time to load and save. You see only the section of the drawing that you choose. Chapter 8 covers named views and how to
open drawings partially.

CrossReference

Step-by-Step: Opening a Drawing

1. Place the AutoCAD 2000 Bible CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. If AutoCAD is
not open, start AutoCAD. In the Startup dialog box, choose Open a Drawing.
In the Open a Drawing screen, click Browse.
2.

If AutoCAD is already open, click Open on the Standard toolbar.

3. In the Select File dialog box, choose the drive for your CD-ROM in the Look in
drop-down list box.
4. In the main box, double-click the Results folder.
5. In the main box, click ab1-1.dwg. (Hint: Its after ab10-9.dwg.)
6. Click Open. AutoCAD opens the drawing. Keep this drawing open for the next
exercise.

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Using an Existing Drawing as a Prototype

While a template can be very useful, if you will only use the objects and settings in
a drawing a few times, you can simply use one drawing as a prototype for other
drawings.
You often need to draw a series of related drawings perhaps several related
electrical schematics or a group of similar apartments in an apartment complex.
When a significant part of the first drawing is applicable to subsequent drawings,
dont start over open an existing drawing, and immediately save it using a new
name, as described in the next section. Make the necessary changes and resave
the drawing.

Saving a Drawing Under a New Name

Whether you want to use an existing drawing as a prototype or simply make a
copy of a drawing, you need to save the drawing under a new name. First open
the drawing and then choose File Save As. The Save Drawing As dialog box
opens, as shown in Figure 2-5.

Figure 2-5: The Save Drawing As dialog box.

Type a new name in the File Name text box. Then click Save. You may also want to
change the location of the new drawing by changing the folder in the Save In dropdown list box.

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In the following exercise, you practice making changes in a drawing as well as saving it under a new name. If you did the previous exercise, you have drawing
ab1-1.dwg on your screen. If you didnt do that exercise, open ab1-1.dwg from the
Results folder of the CD-ROM.

On the
CD-ROM

Step-by-Step: Saving a Drawing Under a New Name

1. Choose File Save As. The Save Drawing As dialog box opens.
2. In the File name text box, change the file name to ab2-1.dwg. Choose your
AutoCAD Bible folder and click Save.
3. Choose Line from the Draw toolbar. Follow the prompts:
Specify
Specify
Specify
Specify

first point: 10,.5

next point or [Undo]: 6,.5
next point or [Undo]: 6,0
next point or [Close/Undo]:

Your drawing should look like Figure 2-6.

Figure 2-6: A simple title block.

4.

Click the drawing close box, which is just below the application close
box.

5. Because you havent saved the changes to the drawing, AutoCAD asks if you
want to save them, as shown in Figure 2-7.

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Figure 2-7: If you try to exit AutoCAD

without saving the changes you made
to a drawing, AutoCAD gives you a
chance to save the changes.

6. Click Yes. AutoCAD saves and closes the drawing. AutoCAD remains active on
your screen with no active drawing and most of the menus hidden.
7.

Click the application close box to close AutoCAD.

Summary
In this chapter you explored the various ways of opening a drawing. While you can
open a drawing from scratch, usually you use a template as the basis for a new
drawing. Templates may have only settings or may contain drawing objects such
as various size title blocks.
AutoCADs default templates are Acad -named plot styles.dwt and acad.dwt. You may
customize the default templates or create your own. You can use any existing
drawing as a prototype for a new drawing by opening the file and resaving it with
a new name (choose File Save As).
In the next chapter you learn about using commands.