Drawing 3D Headers & Sills

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This lesson is continued from the previous tutorial. In this exercise, you specify a default thickness, then use the LINE command to draw a 3D door header and a 3D sill.

Tip:
AutoCAD's ELEV command lets you specify the default elevation and thickness for new objects. If you use ELEV to specify a new elevation and thickness, lines and many other objects you draw after that time will be at the Z-height (elevation) and Z-depth (thickness) you specified.

1. Press ESC to make sure no objects in the drawing are selected.
2. In the Properties window, in the Thickness spinner, type 3' to specify the default thickness of new objects.

   

3. From the layer list, choose Walls.

   

4. From the Draw menu, choose Line.



5. Select OSNAP on the status bar, if required, to turn the feature on. This has already been set up to search for Endpoints.



6. Select the lower-left corner of the window opening, as shown in the image.



7. Select the remaining corners to create the window sill.
8. Press ENTER to exit the LINE command. Note that AutoCAD has created a 3D line.



9. Press ESC to make sure no objects are selected.
10. Type -1' in the thickness box. Make sure you put in the minus sign to give a negative thickness.



11. From the Draw menu, choose Line.
12. Select the points required to draw the 3D header shown in the image.



13. Press ENTER to exit the line command.
14. From the View menu, chose Hide to see your model with the hidden lines removed.



15. Using the techniques demonstrated previously set the default thickness to 0.

    

As you can see, there is a gap between the top of the sill lines. This can present a problem when you render, because it will allow the gap between the walls to be visible in your images and animations. In the next lesson you learn how to fix that gap.

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Creating & Formatting Tables in AutoCAD

In this tutorial, continued from the previous one, you learn how to create tables in AutoCAD using the table command.

1. From the Draw menu choose Table.
2. Select the . . . button to display the Table Styles.

   

3. Select New.
4. Type OpenCAD.

   

5. Choose OK.
6. On the Data Panel, in the Text Height box, type 1'.
7. Repeat this for the other panels.

   

8. On the Data tab, set the Horizontal and Vertical Cell Margins to 3.

   

9. Choose OK.
10. Choose Close.
11. From the list of table styles, choose OpenCAD.

    

12. Type 2 in the Columns row.
13. Type 4' in the width box.
14. Type 3 in the Data Rows box.
15. Type 1 in the Row Height Line(s).

    

16. Choose OK.
17. Click to place the table.

    

18. Type Schedule to title the table.
19. Choose OK.
20. Double-click in any cell and type something in that cell. You can use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to go to previous and subsequent cells. Use this technique to fill in all the cells. You may have to zoom in in order to do this.

    

You can find our version of the finished file in 7120d.dwg.