Creating & Using Dimension Families in AutoCAD

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In general, you control the way dimensions look by defining a dimension style. After you define the dimension style you can update your dimensions so they take on the characteristics defined in the style, or you can create new dimensions which will automatically take on the properties of the current dimension style.

Sometimes, however, a single dimension style doesn't seem to be enough. For example, you may want to have your linear measurements measured to the nearest thousandth of a unit, but you may only want to have your radial measurements shown in the nearest hundredth of a unit. You could create two dimension styles, one for linear measurements and one for radial measurements. A better solution, however, is to create a single dimension style, and then use families of that style to tell AutoCAD how radial dimensions should be treated differently that linear dimensions.

In this exercise, you modify a dimension style so it supports families of dimensions.

Prior to proceeding with this lesson, open the 7401e.dwg.

1. From the Dimension menu, choose Dimension Style.



2. From the list of Dimension styles, choose ANSI-MECH.



3. Choose New.
4. In the Use for list, choose Linear Dimensions.



5. Choose Continue to exit this window.
6. On the Lines tab, from the Color list, choose Red.



7. Choose OK to exit this dialog box.



8. Choose Close to exit this dialog box. Note that the previously created linear dimension reflects the new linear dimension style.



9. From the Dimension menu, choose Dimension Style.



10. Select ANSI-MECH from the list of dimension styles, if it's not already selected.
11. Choose Modify.



12. On the Text tab, in the Text height list, type .25.



13. Choose OK to exit this dialog box.
14. Choose Close to exit this window. Note that all the dimension text changed size. This is because you made the change to the parent dimension style.

Now you understand that dimension styles can have dimension families which define special rules for specific kinds of dimensions (linear, radial, etc) and that changes to the parent dimension style will filter down to all families.

©1997-2005 OpenCAD International, Inc. www.opencad.com

This tutorial continues . . .

Working with XREF Files in AutoCAD

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Introduction

In this project you learn how to use external references to create background drawings. You'll find techniques demonstrated in this project useful whenever you use external references.

You learn how to:

• Externally reference data from one drawing into another
• Specify the colors used to display externally referenced drawing data
• Modify externally referenced blocks to show the colors specified by the layers on which they reside.

By the time you complete this project you should feel comfortable externally referencing drawings for use as architectural backgrounds.

©1997-2005 OpenCAD International, Inc. www.opencad.com

For exclusive use of Registered User

Attaching a Drawing with Xref

In this lesson you learn how to display drawing data stored in one drawing in another using the XREF command. You also learn how to use the LAYER command to specify the colors used by the referenced data. You use the VISRETAIN command to ensure that the colors you specify appear whenever you open the drawing that contains the Xref drawing.

Prior to proceeding with this project, unpack the source files contained in the 7207a.exe or 7207a.zip file to a folder on your local hard disk. To unpack files from a self-extracting executable, just save the .exe file to a folder on your local hard disk. From the Windows Start Menu choose Run. Select the .exe file, choose OK and specify where you want source files to be placed.

1. Open the 7207b.dwg drawing file.
2. From the Insert menu choose External Reference.

   

3. Use the file selection tools to select 7207a.dwg.

   

4. Choose Open to open the drawing.
5. Make sure that no Specify On-Screen check boxes are selected. When these boxes are checked, you enter position, scale and rotation information after you exit the dialog box. In this case, we want the incoming drawing to be placed at 0,0 with no rotation and no change in scale.

   

6. Choose OK to insert the external reference.

   

7. From the Layers toolbar, choose Layer Properties Manager. You can type LAYER if you prefer.

   

8. Hold down the Shift key and select all the layers that start with 7207.

   

9. Select one of the color squares to the right of the 7207 layers.
10. From the list of colors choose a light gray color.

    

11. Choose OK to exit the color selection window.
12. Choose OK to exit the layers window. Note that what all layers you attached are gray. The only exception is that the doors in the attached drawing are still displaying in yellow and red. This is because the elements of the door blocks were assigned the colors yellow and red before they were blocked. In the next lesson you learn how to make the doors obey the layer settings.

    

13. At the command prompt type VISRETAIN.
14. Type 1 to insure that the next time you open this drawing the referenced layers will display in gray.

    

In this lesson you learned how to attach one drawing to another, how to specify colors for referenced layers and how VISRETAIN will make sure properties you assign to referenced layers are held over each time you open a drawing.

This tutorial continues . . .

Exporting Block Geometry with WBLOCK

You can export any block, or any group of objects, out to a new drawing. This is a great way to grab just part of a drawing (like the first floor walls) for use in creating a new drawing (like a second floor).

1. At the Command prompt type WBLOCK.
2. Type c:\great-bed. You are naming the new file great-bed.dwg and putting it at the root directory on the C drive. Note that some computers have been configured to make it impossible for you to write to the C:\drive. If you get an error, you can select any folder you like to put the new great-bed.dwg file in.
3. Select the Block radio button.
4. Select the Bed block.

   

5. Choose OK to exit this window. The BED block geometry will be written out to its own drawing file called great-bed.dwg. To look at this geometry, From the File menu choose Open and select the drawing file as you would any other drawing file you've created.

Tip:
If you find a drawing becoming very, very slow, or it appears to be corrupt, turn on all the layers you want to have. Zoom all the way out. Then, use the WBLOCK command with the Objects option to select and export all the visible geometry to a new drawing file. That usually results in a new drawing file which is much much easier to work with and has all the geometry, layers and blocks you need. If you work in a large drawing office, talk to your manager before doing this. Its a drag to end up with two versions of a drawing file (one small, one large) wandering around a drawing office.

You will find our version of the finished drawing in 7201e.dwg.

Inserting Blocks in AutoCAD Drawings

Inserting Blocks in a Drawing

After you create blocks, you will probably want to place them in your drawing. To do this, you can use either the INSERT, AutoCAD DesignCenter or the Tool Palette.

In this lesson you use multiple techniques to insert a block.

1. From the Object Properties toolbar, in the Layer Control list, select all the On/Off icons required to turn all the layers on, except for the Landscape layer. Leave this layer off.



2. From the Insert menu, choose Block.



3. From the Name list, choose Bed.



4. Choose OK to exit this dialog box. Note that you now have the BED block attached to your cursor. You should also note that it is attached to your cursor by the lower-right corner, which is the corner you selected as a base point when you made the block.
5. Select OSNAP on the status bar, if necessary, to turn this feature off. This will let you place your block without snapping to intersections and endpoints.
6. Select the point shown in the following image to position the bed. The object is placed in the drawing at its original size. Options in the Insert dialog box would have let you change the insertion scale if required.



7. From the Tools menu, choose DesignCenter.
8. Select the Open Drawings tab.
9. Select Blocks from the list of options. Note that you are looking at a list of blocks in the current drawing. You can use DesignCenter to see the list of blocks in any drawing.

10. 

    Select the BED block and drag it into the drawing.

    

11. 
    
12. Release your left mouse button when the bed is correctly positioned. This will place the bed.
13. Use the techniques just demonstrated to create and place a BIG-DESK block in the scene.

    

14. From the File menu choose Save. You must save the drawing before you move on to the next step or you will receive an error message.
15. Right-click in the DesignCenter's block area, then choose Create Tool Palette. This will add all the blocks in the drawing to a new tool palette.

    

16. Drag the BIG-DESK symbol from the Tool Palette into the drawing.

    

    You will find our version of the drawing to this point in 7201c.dwg.

    Tip:
    Once blocks are inserted, you can move, copy, rotate and scale them just like any other AutoCAD identity.

    Tip:
    Use the PROPERTIES command to change the scale of a block after insertion.

    Tip:
    Right-click on blocks displayed in DesignCenter and select Insert to display the standard insertion dialog box. This will let you specify position, scale and rotation by typing values in text boxes if desired.

    

This tutorial continues . . .

©1997-2005 OpenCAD International, Inc. www.opencad.com

Working with Blocks and Symbols in AutoCAD

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Introduction

In this project, you learn to create, place, and modify symbols as you lay out an interior floor plan for a residential building.

You learn how to:

• Create blocks.
• Place blocks in a drawing using the INSERT command, Design Center and Tool Palettes.
• Edit blocks.
• Add blocks to tool palettes.
• Export blocked and unblocked to create stand alone drawing files containing just the selected geometry.

By the time you have finished this project, you should feel comfortable working with blocks in your own drawings, and in those you receive from other AutoCAD professionals

Creating Blocks with BMAKE

In this lesson, you create a block using the BMAKE command. The objects you block in this lesson were drawn on the Furniture layer. Once they become part of a block, they will always appear to reside on the Furniture layer.

Tip:
If the elements you are about to block had been drawn on layer 0, the resulting blocks would take on the linetype and color of any layer upon which they were inserted.

If you want a block to always appear to be on a given layer, draw its elements on that layer. If you want a block to be able to change layers, draw its components on layer 0.

Important: If you insert a block created on the Furniture layer on another layer, then Freeze that layer, the entire block will disappear. If you turn that layer Off, then the block will still be visible. That is the big difference between freezing layers and turning them off.

Prior to proceeding with his project, open 7201a.dwg.

1. From the Draw menu, choose Block then choose Make.



2. In the Name box, type BED.



3. In the Base Point area, choose Pick Point.
4. Select the corner of the bed, as shown in the following image.



5. In the Block Definition dialog box, choose Select Objects.
6. Select two points to put a window around the bed.



7. Press ENTER to indicate that you don't want to select any more objects.
8. Choose the Delete radio button to insure objects are deleted from the drawing after they are blocked. This will delete the elements of the block after the block is created. This will make it easy to see if all the elements of the bed made it into the block.



9. Choose OK to exit this dialog box and create the block. The bed will disappear from the drawing.You don't have to do this every time you create a block, but its a great way to make sure that ALL the elements you wanted to put in the block got into the block. If something doesn't disappear and it should have, then type U to undo the BMAKE command. The create the block again with all the desired objects.
10. Use the techniques just demonstrated to convert the objects identified in the image into a block called BIG-DESK.



You will find our version of the drawing to this point in 7201b.dwg.

Tip:
The Retain option, found in the Block Definition dialog box, tells AutoCAD not to delete the individual elements of the block when the block operation is complete.



The Convert to block option will convert the objects you select into an inserted block after the block is created. This is the most commonly used option.

Tip:
The Insert Units option allows you to specify the units in which the object is currently drawn, so that if you take this object into another drawing that uses other units it can be automatically scaled. Generally, you should leave this set to Unitless because you will always be drawing in the same units and scaling will happen automatically. You may want to select another option if you frequently work in multiple units and you want to place blocks created in one unit into drawings that use another.

Note, this option only works if you use the INSUNITS command in every drawing to specify the drawing units.

This tutorial continues . . . .

Using the UCS Command to Draw on 3D Walls

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You may wish, from time to time, to draw objects on your walls. For example, you may want to add signs, planking or hatch patterns.

In this lesson you learn how to use the UCS command to draw on any plane in 3 dimensional space.

1. From the Tools menu, choose New UCS, then 3 Point.
2. Select the lower left corner of the wall. You are defining the 0,0,0 for the coordinate system.

   

3. Select the lower right corner of the wall indicated in the image. You are defining a point on the X-axis of the new coordinate system.

   

4. Select the upper left corner of the wall indicated in the image. This is a point on the Y axis of the new coordinate system. Note the change in the UCS icon located in the lower left corner of the screen. This is showing you the orientation of the X, Y and Z axes.

   

5. From the Color list choose Red.

   

6. From the Draw menu, choose Polyline.

   

7. Select the point indicated in the image.

   

8. Type W to indicate that you want to specify a width for the polyline.
9. Type 2" to specify the starting width.
10. Press ENTER to specify the ending width.
11. Select points to define a rectangle as shown in the image.

    

12. Use the techniques just demonstrated to create rectangles around the windows.

    

13. From the Draw menu, choose Hatch.
14. From the list of hatch patterns, choose Brick.

    

15. Select Pick Points.
16. Click on the wall elevation you just traced in the area you want to fill with a hatch.

    

17. Right-click to finish the hatching process.

    

18. From the Tools menu choose New UCS, then choose World. This will return the coordinate system to its normal X,Y & Z orientation.
19. From the View menu choose Hide.

    

You will find our version of the finished drawing in 7602d.dwg.

TIP: The technique just demonstrated can be very useful for generating 2D elevations from a 3D model quickly.

TIP: Turning objects drawn on one user coordinate system into a block, then switching to another user coordinate and inserting them is a quick way to move objects from one coordinate system to another.

©1997-2005 OpenCAD International, Inc. www.opencad.com