Rays Systems

Layers as an Organization Tool To understand what layers are and why they are so useful, think again about the transparent overlay sheets used in hand drafting. Each overlay is designed to be printed. The bottom sheet may be a basic floor plan. To create an overlay sheet for a structural drawing, the drafter traces over the lines of the floor plan that they need in the overlay and then adds new information pertinent to that sheet. For the next overlay, the same thing is done again. Each sheet, then, contains some information in common, in addition to data unique to that sheet. In AutoCAD, using layers allows you to generate all the sheets for a set of overlays from a single file (. Nothing needs to be drawn twice or traced. The wall layout will be on one layer and the roof lines on another. Doors will be on a third. You can control the visibility of layers so that all objects residing on a layer can be made temporarily invisible. This feature lets you put all information...

Printing an AutoCAD Drawing Overview Setting up a drawing to be printed Using the Plot dialog box Assigning lineweights to layers in your drawing Selecting the part of your drawing to print Previewing a print Printing a layout Looking at plot styles First of all, with today’s equipment, there is no difference between printing and plotting. Printing used to refer to smaller-format printers, and plotting used to refer to pen plotters, most of which were for plotting large sheets. But the terms are now used almost interchangeably. Pen plotters have a few extra settings that other printing devices do not have. Otherwise, as far as AutoCAD is concerned, the differences between plotters and laserjet, inkjet, dot-matrix, and electrostatic printers are minimal. So in this book, printing and plotting mean the same thing. Getting your drawing onto paper can be very easy or very hard, depending on whether your computer is connected to a printer that has been set up...

Drawing a Site Plan The site plan you will use has been simplified so that you can draw it with a minimum of steps and get on with the external referencing. The following are essential elements: Property line Access road to the site North arrow Indication of where the building is located on the site The first step is to draw in the property lines. Using Surveyor Units You draw property lines using Surveyor units for angles and decimal feet for Linear units. In laying out the property lines, you will use relative polar coordinates, so you will enter coordinates in the format @ distance angle , in which the distance is in feet and hundredths of a foot, and the angle is in Surveyor units to the nearest minute. Surveyor Units Surveyor units, called in civil engineering, describe the direction of a line from its beginning point. The direction (bearing), described as a deviation from the north or south toward the east or west, is given as an angular measurement i...

Drawing a Site Plan Drawing a Site Plan The site plan you will use has been simplified so that you can draw it with a minimum of steps and get on with the external referencing. The following are essential elements: Property lines Access road to the site North arrow Indication of where the building is located on the site The first step is to draw in the property lines. Using Surveyor Units You draw property lines using Surveyor units for angles and decimal feet for Linear units. In laying out the property lines, you will use relative polar coordinates, so you will enter coordinates in the format @ distance angle , in which the distance is in feet and hundredths of a foot, and the angle is in Surveyor units to the nearest minute. Surveyor Units Surveyor units, called bearings in civil engineering, describe the direction of a line from its beginning point. The direction (bearing), described as a deviation from the north or south toward the east or west, is gi...

The Keyboard The keyboard is an important tool for entering data and commands. If you are a good typist, you can gain speed in working with AutoCAD by learning how to enter commands from the keyboard. AutoCAD provides what are called alias keys —single keys or key combinations that will start any of several often-used commands. You can add more or change the existing aliases as you get more familiar with the program. In addition to the alias keys, you can use several of the F keys (function keys) on the top row of the keyboard as two-way or three-way toggles (switches) to turn AutoCAD functions on and off. Although buttons on the screen duplicate these functions (Snap, Grid, and so on), it is sometimes faster to use the F keys. Finally, you can activate commands on the drop-down menus from the keyboard, rather than using the mouse. If you press the Alt key, an underlined letter, called a hotkey , appears on each menu. Pressing the key for the underlined letter activat...