Document Organization

Last Updated: 05/07/01 09:27 PM

Week 3

Layers:

Concepts:  using layers to control drawing information, controlling display, color.

Creating new layers

Layer Controls: Current, On/Off, Freeze/Thaw, Lock/Unlock, Color, Linetype, Details

Filters: Use to quickly control the amount of information you see.

Layer Names: Importance of naming conventions. AIA conventions, see AIA CAD Layer Guidelines (from AIA).

 

Weather you use the AIA standard or not, try to be exceptionally organized with layer names.

Properties: Modify>Properties. Changing object properties . Match Properties

Blocks

Creating blocks: Draw>Block>Make... in drawing

Writing Blocks: File>Export>Block... or WBLOCK at command line

Inserting blocks: Insert>block..., DDINSERT, when to use blocks

Explode: reduce a block to it's components.  Block definition remains in drawing until PURGED (more on that later...)

Updating: Blocks are embedded, non-updating.  Must be done manually.  See Xref...

Blocks and Layers:  Blocks use the layers of the drawing into which they are inserted.  If the block has layers that do not exist in the drawing into which it is inserted, new layers are created in the drawing.

External References (XREF)

XREF: Insert>External Reference... Use to attach one drawing to another.  Use when you want the information in the attached drawing, when changed, to update in the base drawing.   Attach Displays the Attach Xref dialog box or the Select File to Attach dialog box. Detach Detaches one or more xrefs from your drawing, erasing all instances of a specified xref and marking the xref definition for deletion from the symbol table. Only the xrefs attached or overlaid directly to the current drawing can be detached; nested xrefs cannot be detached. AutoCAD LT cannot detach an xref referenced by another xref or block. Reload Marks one or more xrefs for reloading. This option rereads and displays the most recently saved version of the drawing. Unload Unloads one or more xrefs. Unloaded xrefs can be easily reloaded. Unlike detach, unloading does not remove the xref permanently. It merely suppresses the display and regeneration of the xref definition, to help current session editing and improvement of performance.

Xref: You can change the place AutoCAD looks for your file by changing the PATH.  You can force AutoCAD to go look for recent changes to the referenced file by selecting the file to be updated, and clicking RELOAD. When you open or plot a drawing containing xrefs, AutoCAD LT automatically reloads the latest version of each xref.

AutoCAD search order: If you move the xref and AutoCAD can not follow the path, the program will search for the xref in a given order.

External References and Layers: the layers of xrefs are independent of the drawing into which they are inserted.  They are named in the syntax: XREF_NAME|LAYER_NAME

Model Space and Paper Space

Model Space:  This is the place to DRAW THE MODEL. The space in which a default drawing starts.

Paper Space: This is the place to DISPLAY THE MODEL. Use MODEL on status bar or set TILEMODE to 0.

Quick Review of Paper Space tools: Make View, Scale Viewport.

Text

Style: Format>Text Style... Review creating new text styles.

Single-Line Text: Draw>Text...>Single-Line text, DTEXT

Multi-Line Text: Draw>Text...>Multi-Line Text MTEXT

Text in Model Space: Must consider scale to which you will plot to configure scale of text.

Text in Paper Space: Set text scale to actual size.

Simple Printing

File>Print...

To print in BLACK only (no grayscale...):  go to Tools>Preferences>Printer tab>Modify>Reconfigure

and uncheck the box labeled "Allow dithered output"...

Reading: Frey, Skill 5

Syllabus