Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005

Editing More Efficiently

The apartment building plan you've been working on is incomplete. For example, you need to add the utility room you created in Chapter 11. In the real world, this building plan would also undergo numerous changes as the project developed. Wall and door locations would change, and more notes and dimensions would be added. However, in the space of this book's tutorials, you can't develop these drawings to full completion. But I can give you a sample of what is in store while using AutoCAD on such a project.

In this section, you will add a closet to the Unit plan. (You will update the Plan file later in this chapter.) In the editing you've already done, you've probably found that you use the following commands frequently: Move, Offset, Fillet , Trim, Grips, and the Osnap overrides . Now you will learn some ways to shorten your editing time by using them more efficiently.

As you continue to work with AutoCAD, you'll find that you use a handful of commands 90 percent of the time. You can collect your favorite commands into a single toolbar by using AutoCAD's toolbar customization feature. This way, you can have ready access to your most frequently used commands. Chapter 20 gives you all the information you need to create your own custom toolbars .

Editing an Existing Drawing

First, let's look at how you can add a closet to the Unit plan. You'll begin by copying existing objects to provide the basis for the closet:

1.  On the CD       Open the Unit file.

2. Make Wall the current layer by trying the following: click the Make Object's Layer Current tool on the Properties toolbar and then click a wall line.

3. Make sure the Notes and Flr-pat layers are frozen. This will keep your drawing clear of objects you won't be editing.

   Tip	If you didn't create a Unit plan, you can use 12a-unit.dwg from the companion CD.

4. If they are not already on, turn on Noun/Verb Selection and the Grips feature. Turn off Running Osnaps and Polar Tracking for now. They might get in the way of point selection in these exercises.

5. Click the right-side wall and then click its midpoint grip.

6. Enter C to start the Copy mode; then enter @2 ¢ <180 . Metric users should enter @60<180 (see Figure 12.1).

   Figure 12.1: Copying the wall to start the closet

7. Press the Esc key to exit the Grip mode.

8. Zoom in to the entry area shown in Figure 12.2.

   Figure 12.2: Using an existing wall as a distance reference for copying

9. Click Offset on the Modify toolbar or type O .

10. At the Offset distance or [Through] <Through>: prompt, use the Nearest Osnap and pick the outside wall of the bathroom near the door, as shown in Figure 12.2.

11. At the Specify second point: prompt, use the Perpendicular Osnap override and pick the other side of that wall (see Figure 12.2).

12. Click the copy of the wall line you just created and then click a point to the left of it.

13. Press to exit the Offset command.

In steps 9 and 10 of the previous exercise, you determined the offset distance by selecting existing geometry. If you know you want to duplicate a distance but don't know what that distance is, you can often use existing objects as references.

Next , use the same idea to copy a few more lines for the other side of the closet:

1. Click to highlight the two horizontal lines that make up the wall at the top of your view.

2. Shift+click the midpoint grips of these lines (see Figure 12.3).

   Figure 12.3: Adding the second closet wall

3. Click one of the midpoint grips again, and then enter C to select the Copy option.

4. Enter B to select a base point option.

5. Use the upper-right corner of the bathroom for the base point and the lower-right corner of the kitchen as the second point (see Figure 12.3).

6. Press the Esc key twice to clear the grip selection.

   Tip	In these exercises, you are asked to enter the grip options through the keyboard. This can be a quicker method to access the Copy and Base grip options. You can also right-click your mouse and select the Copy and Base options from the shortcut menu.

Now you have the general layout of the closet. The next step is to clean up the corners. First, you'll have to do a bit of prep work and break the wall lines near the wall intersections:

1. Click Break on the Modify toolbar. This tool creates a gap in a line, an arc, or a circle.

2. Click the vertical wall to the far right at a point near the location of the new wall (see Figure 12.4).

   Figure 12.4: Breaking the wall lines

3. Click the vertical line again near the point you selected in step 2 to create a small gap, as shown in Figure 12.4.

4. Use the Break tool again to create a gap in the horizontal line at the top of the unit, near the door, as shown in Figure 12.4.

5. Click Fillet on the Modify toolbar or type F , and join the corners of the wall, as shown in Figure 12.5.

   Figure 12.5: Filleting the corners

   Warning

   Note that as soon as you click the Fillet tool, you see the radius specification of 0 in the command line. It's good to check this setting before you start to fillet corners or you might end up with very small arcs joining your lines. To change the fillet radius, enter R instead of selecting lines. You can then enter a fillet radius.

   Tip	If Fillet is not trimming lines, type Trimmode 1 . This sets the Trimmode system variable to 1, which causes the Fillet and Chamfer tools to "trim" objects back to their intersection points.

In steps 2 and 3, you didn't have to be too exact about where to pick the break points because the Fillet tool takes care of joining the wall lines exactly. Now you are ready to add the finishing touches:

1. At the closet door location, draw a line from the midpoint of the interior closet wall to the exterior (see the top image in Figure 12.6). Make sure this line is on the Jamb layer.

   Figure 12.6: Constructing the closet door jambs

2. Offset the new line 3 ¢ in both directions (90 cm for metric users). These new lines are the closet door jambs.

3. Erase the first line you drew at the midpoint of the closet wall.

4. Click Trim on the Modify toolbar or type Tr .

5. Click the two jambs and then press .

6. Type F to invoke the Fence selection option; then click a point to the left of the wall, as shown in the bottom image in Figure 12.6.

7. As you move the cursor, you see a rubber-banding line from the last point you picked. Click a point to the right of the closet wall so that the rubber-banding line crosses over the two wall lines, as shown in Figure 12.6.

8. Press to finish your fence selection. The wall lines trim back to the jambs.

9. Press again to exit the Trim command.

10. As shown in Figure 12.7, add the door headers and the sliding doors and assign these objects to their appropriate layers.

    Figure 12.7: The finished closet

11. Choose File   Save to save the file. If you used the file from the companion CD, choose File   Save As and save the file under the name Unit .

    Tip

    You can use the Match Properties tool to make a set of objects match the layer of another object. Click Match Properties on the Standard toolbar (it looks like a paintbrush), select the objects whose layer you want to match, and then select the objects you want to assign to the objects layer. See Chapter 6 for more on the Match Properties tool.

In this exercise, you used the Fence selection option to select the objects you wanted to trim. You could have selected each line individually by clicking it, but the Fence selection option offered you a quick way to select a set of objects without having to be too precise about where they are selected. You'll get a closer look at the Fence selection option a bit later in this chapter.

This exercise also showed that it's easier to trim lines and then draw them back in than to try to break them precisely at each jamb location. At first this might seem counterproductive, but trimming the lines and then drawing in headers actually takes fewer steps and is a less- tedious operation than some other routes. And the end result is a door that is exactly centered on the closet space.

Building on Previously Drawn Objects

Suppose your client decides that your apartment building design needs a few one-bedroom units. In this section, you will use the studio unit drawing as a basis for the one-bedroom unit. To do so, you will double the studio's size , add a bedroom, move the kitchen, rearrange and add closets, and move the entry doors. In the process of editing this new drawing, you will see how you can build on previously drawn objects.

As you work through this section, you'll be using commands that you've seen in previous exercises, so I won't describe every detail. But do pay attention to the process taking place, as shown in Figures 12.8 through 12.12.

Start by setting up the new file:

1. You've already saved the current Unit file. Now choose File   Save As to save this file under the name of Unit2.dwg . This way, you can use the current file as the basis for the new one- bedroom unit.

2. Turn on the Notes layer and type Z A to get an overall view of the drawing.

3. Move the dimension string at the right of the unit, 14 ¢ -5 ² (439 cm) farther to the right, and copy the unit the same distance to the right. Your drawing should look like Figure 12.8.

   Figure 12.8: The copied unit

4. Now erase the bathroom, kitchen, door, closet, room labels, and wall lines, as shown in Figure 12.9.

   Figure 12.9: Objects to be erased

   Tip

   Although you could be more selective in step 4 about the objects you erase and then add line segments where there are gaps in walls, this is considered bad form. When editing files, it's wise to keep lines continuous rather than fragmented . Adding line segments increases the size of the drawing database and slows down editing operations.

Using the Temporary Tracking Point Feature

The living room of this one-bedroom unit will be on the right side. You will want to move the Living Room label from the left half to the right half. Normally, you would probably just move the label without worrying about accuracy, but I'll take this opportunity to show how the Temporary Tracking Point feature works.

In this exercise, you will place the Living Room label in the center of the living room area:

1. Make sure the Osnap and Polar buttons are off in the status bar; then click the Living Room label in the unit to the left.

2. Click the top-center grip in the label, as shown in the first image in Figure 12.10.

   Figure 12.10: Using the Temporary Tracking Point feature to move the Living Room label to the center of the new living room

3. Shift+right-click the mouse to open the Osnap menu.

4. Choose Temporary Tracking Point. LT users should select Tracking.

5. Shift+right-click again and then choose Insert from the Osnap menu.

6. Click the insertion point of the Balcony label of the unit to the right, as shown in the first image in Figure 12.10. Notice a tracking vector emanating from the selected insertion point, as shown in the second image in Figure 12.10.

7. Shift+right-click and select Temporary Tracking Point. LT users should select Tracking.

8. Shift+right-click again and select Midpoint.

9. This time, click the midpoint of the vertical wall between the two units, as shown in the second image in Figure 12.10. Notice that a tracking vector now emanates from a point that represents the intersection of the text insertion point and the midpoint of the wall.

10. Move the text to the middle of the room on the right, as shown in Figure 12.11. Notice that two tracking vectors appear and converge in the middle of the room (LT users will not see the tracking vectors).

    Figure 12.11: The tracking vectors intersect in the middle of the room.

11. With the tracking vectors crossing and the text in the approximate location shown in Figure 12.11, click the mouse. (LT users can just press without clicking the mouse.) The text moves to the middle of the unit on the right.

In earlier chapters, you saw how to use the Object Snap Tracking feature with Running Osnaps. Here, you used Object Snap Tracking in a slightly different way through the Temporary Tracking Point feature (or Tracking in LT). The Temporary Tracking Point feature works by enabling you to select points that are aligned orthogonally, like the insertion point of the balcony text and the midpoint of the wall in the previous exercise. But unlike Object Snap Tracking with Running Osnaps, the Temporary Tracking Point feature lets you focus on specific object snap points.

The following exercise shows how you can use Temporary Tracking Point in conjunction with the Polar Tracking tool to move the endpoint of a line to align with the endpoint of another line:

1. Click the line at the top-right side of the unit to expose its grips, as shown in the top image in Figure 12.12.

   Figure 12.12: Stretching a line by using the Tracking function

2. Click the grip at the right end of the line.

3. As in the previous exercise, choose Temporary Tracking Point from the Osnap menu.

4. Open the Osnap menu again and choose Endpoint.

5. Click the Polar button in the status bar to turn it on.

6. Select the rightmost endpoint of the short line at the bottom-right corner of the unit, as shown in the top image in Figure 12.12.

7. Move the cursor so that the Polar Tracking vector crosses the Osnap Tracking vector in the upper-right corner of the drawing, as shown in the bottom image in Figure 12.12; then click that point.

8. Press the Esc key twice to clear the grip selection.

9. Move the kitchen to the opposite corner of the unit, as shown in Figure 12.13.

   Figure 12.13: Moving the closet and kitchen

10. Click the Move tool and select the closet area, as shown in Figure 12.13.

11. Move the closet down 5 ¢ -5 ² (165 cm), as shown in Figure 12.14.You can use the corners of the bathroom as reference points.

    Figure 12.14: Using an existing door to create a door opening

When a drawing gets crowded, Running Osnaps might get in the way of your work. The Temporary Tracking Point feature lets you access the Osnap Tracking vector without having to turn on Running Osnaps.

The Temporary Tracking Point feature and the other tools that use tracking vectors take a little practice to use, but after you understand how they work, they are an indispensable aid in your drawing.

Working with the Fence Selection Option

Next, you'll work on finishing the new bedroom door and entry. Once again, you will get a chance to work with the Fence selection option. Fence is a great tool for selecting locations on objects that would otherwise be difficult to select. With Fence, you can select objects by crossing over them with a rubber-banding line. It's like selecting objects by crossing them out. In addition, the point at which the rubber-banding line crosses the object is equivalent to a pick point. This is important when using commands that respond differently depending on where objects are selected.

The following exercise shows how the Fence selection option can be helpful in selecting objects in tight spaces:

1. Copy the existing entry door downward, including header and jambs (see Figure 12.14). Use the Endpoint override to locate the door accurately.

2. Clean up the walls by adding new lines and filleting others, as shown in Figure 12.15.

   Figure 12.15: Cleaning up the wall

   Tip	Use the midpoint of the door header as the first axis endpoint.

3. Mirror the door you just copied so it swings in the opposite direction.

4. Use Stretch (click Stretch on the Modify toolbar) to move the entry door a distance of 8 ¢ (244 cm) to the right, as shown in Figure 12.16. Remember to use a crossing window to select the objects and endpoints you want to stretch.

   Figure 12.16: Moving the door

5. After you've moved the entry door, mirror it in the same way you mirrored the other door.

In this exercise, you once again used parts of a previous drawing instead of creating new parts . In only a few instances are you adding new objects.

Next, you'll use the Fence selection option to add a new closet wall:

1. Set the view of your drawing so it looks similar to the first image in Figure 12.17, and turn off Polar Tracking and Running Osnaps if they are on.

   Figure 12.17: Adding walls for a second closet

2. Click Extend on the Modify toolbar or type Ex at the command prompt.

3. At the prompt

   Select boundary edge(s)

   Select objects:

   pick the wall at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 12.17, and press . Just as with Trim, the Extend command requires that you first select a set of objects to define the boundary of the extension and then select the objects you want to extend.

4. At the Select object to extend or shift-select to trim or [Project/Edge/Undo]: prompt, you need to pick the two lines just below the closet door. To do this, first enter F to use the Fence selection option.

5. At the First Fence point: prompt, pick a point just to the left of the lines you want to extend.

6. Make sure the Ortho mode is off. Then at the Specify endpoint of line [Undo]: prompt, pick a point to the right of the two lines so that the fence crosses over them (see the first image in Figure 12.17).

7. Press . The two lines extend to the wall.

8. Press again to exit the Extend command.

You've extended the wall to form another closet space. The next step is to clean up the wall connections at the balcony:

1. Click Trim and then select the two lines you just extended.

2. Press to finish your selection.

3. Type F and then pick two points to place a fence between the endpoints of the two selected lines (see the second image in Figure 12.17).

4. Use a combination of Trim and Fillet to clean up the other walls.

5. Add another closet door on the right side of the new closet space you just created. Your drawing should look like Figure 12.18.

   Figure 12.18: The second closet

The Extend tool works just like the Trim tool: first you select the boundary objects and then you select the objects you want to modify. Here again, you used the Fence selection option to select the object to extend. In this situation, the Fence option is crucial because it can be more difficult to select the lines individually.