Chapter 2

PRECISE DRAFTING IN AUTOCAD

1. Setting the Units
Units are important in assigning measurement to a drawing. To set up the units to be used before drawing you can
choose from the following process:
a. Click the application menu, choose the drawing utilities and select the units. A dialog box will appear. Under the
Insertion Scale, you can choose your desired unit then click ok.

b. Type: Units and the same dialog box will appear then do the same on step A.

2. Ortho Mode vs. Polar Tracking

The Ortho function will force the lines to be at right angles (orthogonal) using the following angles:0, 90,180, and 270. In
order to turn on/off the Ortho, use the following button in the status bar:

However, what if we want to use other

angles such as 30, 45, 60, etc.? Ortho will not help in this case; for this reason AutoCAD introduced another function
called Polar Tracking, which will show in the graphical area rays starting from the current point heading toward angles like
30, 45, etc., and based on the settings, you can specify angles. Since Ortho and Polar Tracking contradict each other,
when you switch one on, the other will be turned off automatically. In order to turn on/off Polar Tracking, use the following
button in the status bar:
If you click the You can select
small triangle at the desired angle
the right of the or select
button of the Tracking
polar tracking, Settings to
you will see the change some of
following menu: the default
settings of Polar
Tracking. You
will see the
following dialog
box:

Increment Angle is the angle to be used along with its multiples. Select one from the list or type your own.

When you are using Polar Tracking, you have the ability to specify anglesas an absolute angle (based on 0o at the
east) or use the last line segment to be your 0 angle. Check the following illustration:

While you control the angle using either Ortho or Polar Tracking, you can type in the distance desired and then
press [Enter] to draw accurate distances. This method is called Direct Distance Entry.

3. Object Snap

Object Snap, or OSNAP, is the most important accuracy tool to be used in AutoCAD for 2D and 3D as well. It is a way to
specify points on objects precisely using the AutoCAD database stored in the drawing file.

Some of the Object Snaps are:

Perpendicular: To catch the Perpendicular point on an
Endpoint: To catch the Endpoint of a line object (any object)

Midpoint: To
catch the Midpoint of an a line
Nearest: To catch a point on an object Nearest to your
click point (any object)

Intersection: To catch the Intersection of two

objects (any two objects)

To activate running OSNAPs in the drawing, click on the Object Snap button in the status bar or press F3 on the
key board.
4. Drawing Lines (L)

To create lines, type L as the shortcut command for line then enter, or click the icon on the ribbon for line which appears
like:

The following prompt on the command window will appear:

Specify first point: you can specify first point by typing the x and y coordinates or simply click a point
as a direct distance entry.

Once you have entered the first point as the starting point of the line, another prompt will appear on
the command window:

Specify next point: you can specify next point by typing the x and y coordinates or simply click a point
as a direct distance entry. You can also apply distance by typing a measurement and press enter.

5. Drawing Circles (C)

To issue this command, go to the Home tab, locate the Draw panel, and then
select the arrow near the Circle button to see all the available methods: If you know the
coordinates of the center, there are two possible methods. If the user knows the
coordinates of points at the diameter of the circle, there are another two methods.
Finally, if there are drawn objects like lines, arcs, or other circles which can be
used as tangents for the to-be-created circles, there are two more methods. The
following are the six methods to draw a circle in AutoCAD:

Or type C as the shortcut command for circle, and a prompt will appear:
Specify center point for circle: you can click from any point as a center point.
Then another prompt will appear:
Specify radius: or you can change it to Diameter by Typing D.

Circle options:

1. Center, Radius - Once you select the center, radius option, Autocad will require the distance of the radius after you
have specified the center point. You can directly click a point as a center or enter coordinates, and then specify the
dimension of the radius by typing it then press enter.

2. Center, Diameter – This option is just like the center, radius option but instead of specifying the radius, you will specify
the diameter.

3. 2-Point – This option would be helpful if you do not know the definite location of the diameter of the circle but there are
locations available assuming that the points are tangent to the circle you are creating. From this, you just have to click the
first point of the diameter of the circle and then do the same to the second point.

4. 3-Point – This option is just the same as the 2-Point option. Instead of specifying 2 tangent points, you are now able to
specify 3 tangent points.

5. Tan, Tan, Radius – It creates a circle of specified radius tangent to two objects. Using this option, you have to specify
the first and then the second tangent points from the two objects and then specify the distance of the radius.

6. Tan, Tan, Tan – this command is helpful if the measurement of a circle is unknown but there is an existing polygon by
which the circle could be created inscribed to it by specifying three tangent points. You just have to specify the three
tangent points from the object which will define the diameter of the circle.
6. Drawing Arcs (A)

This command will draw an arc part of a circle. To make our lives easier, AutoCAD uses
eight pieces of information related to a circular arc. These are:

 The starting point of the arc

 Any point as a second point on the parameter of the arc
 The ending point of the arc
 The Direction of the arc, which is the tangent that passes through the Start
point. User should input the angle of the tangent.
 The distance between the starting point and the ending point which is called
Length of Chord
 The Center point of the arc
 The Radius
 The angle between
 Start-Center-End which is called Included Angle

Check the Parts of An Arc:

7. Polyline (PLINE)

A 2D polyline is a connected sequence of segments created as a single planar

object. You can create straight line segments, arc segments, or a combination of
two.

To issue the command, click Polyline from the Draw panel of the Home tab.

The following prompt will appear:

Specify start point: Current line-width is 1.0000

Specify next point or [Arc/Half width/Length/Undo/ Width]:

AutoCAD will ask you to specify the first point, and when you do, AutoCAD will
report to you the current line-width; if you like it, continue specifying points using the
same method we learned in the Line command. If not, change the width as a first step by typing the letter W, or right-
clicking and selecting the Width option, which will bring up the following prompt:

Specify starting width <1.0000>:

Specify ending width <1.0000>:

Specify the starting width, press [Enter], and then specify the ending width. The next time you use the same file, AutoCAD
will report these values for you when you issue the Polyline command. The process for Half width is the same, but instead
of specifying the full width, you specify half width.

Length will specify the length of the line using the angle of the last segment. Arc will draw an arc attached to the line
segment; you will see the following prompt: Specify endpoint of arc or [Angle/CEnter/CLose/ Direction/
Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]:

8. Spline (spl)

This command will draw smooth curves based on more than two points. It will draw a spline curve based on exact
mathematical equations. There is one command, but two keys used to invoke two different methods, which are: Fit Points
or Control Vertices. To issue these two commands, go to the Home tab, locate the Draw panel, and then select one of the
following two buttons:

a. Using the Fit Point option:

This method will draw a spline with fit points coinciding with it. The following prompts will come up:

Specify first point or [Method/Knots/Object]:

Enter next point or [start Tangency/tolerance]:

Enter next point or [end Tangency/tolerance/Undo]:

AutoCAD is asking you to specify the desired points to draw the spline with an option to close the shape automatically.
We used to specify start tangency and end tangency in old versions of AutoCAD, but in this version there is no need, as
AutoCAD will make this based on the points specified. Though the above argument is true, AutoCAD prompts will allow
you to specify a start and end tangency. AutoCAD will draw a curve connecting the points you select. Check the following
illustration:
b. Using the Control Vertices Method:

This method will draw a spline using control vertices, which will define a control frame. Control frames provide a
convenient method to shape the spline. The following prompts will come up:

Specify first point or [Method/Degree/Object]:

Enter next point:

Enter next point or [Undo]:

Enter next point or [Close/Undo]:

AutoCAD is asking you to specify the desired points to draw the spline with an option to close the shape automatically.
Meanwhile you can specify the degree of the spline, which sets the polynomial degree of the resulting spline. The user
can input degree 1 (linear), degree 2 (quadratic), and degree 3 (cubic), and so on up to degree 10. You will get something
like the following:
 Activity No. 2

Line Exercises

Instruction:

Set the units to millimetres before creating the drawing.

On the first box, make use of the ortho mode to make straight lines.

On the second square, make use of the polar tracking to create 45˚ lines. You are free to give any measurement for the
gaps between each line as long as they were parallel.

On the third partition, create concentric circles of any size you want as long as it will not go beyond the block.

On the fourth partition, create arcs by choosing the start, center, end option. Make sure that the center of each arc are the
same.

Use the rectangle command for the next partition.

On the last partition, you can create your own image by using all the commands you learned.

Scoring Rubric:
Accuracy – 5
Speed – 10
Creativity – 10
_______________
Total: 25 points (perfect score)