Construction of 2D Objects

When you draw lines of a precise length in AutoCAD, you use one of five kinds of linear
units. Angular units can also be any of five types. The combination you choose will largely
depend on the type of drawings you plan to prepare. Each of these linear and angular units is
presented at the end of this chapter, but for now let’s focus on getting ready to begin drawing the
cabin.

When you start a new drawing, AutoCAD displays a blank drawing called Drawing#.dwg.
By default, the linear and angular units inside this drawing are set to decimal numbers. The units
and other basic setup parameters applied to this new drawing are based on a prototype drawing
with default settings, including those for the units. This chapter covers some of the tools for
changing the basic parameters of a new drawing so that you can tailor it to the cabin project or to
your own project.

Begin by setting up new units.

1. With AutoCAD running, click the Start Tab at the top of the user interface.
2. Expand the Templates menu within the Start Drawing tool on the Create page of the Start Tab
shown in Figure and select the acad.dwt template.
3. Choose Application menu ➢ Drawing Utilities ➢ Units to open the Drawing Units dialog box
(equivalent to typing UNITS at the com- mand line), shown in Figure 3.2. In the Length group,
Decimal is currently selected. Similarly, in the Angle group Decimal Degrees is the default.
4. Within the Drawing Units dialog box, in the Length group, click the arrow in the Type drop-
down list and select Architectural (metric users can leave this set to Decimal). These units are
feet and inches, which you’ll use for the cabin project.
Notice the two Precision drop-down lists under the Length and Angle groups. When you
changed the linear unit specification from Decimal to Architectural, the number in the Precision
drop-down list on the left changed from 0.0000 to 0′-0 1⁄16″. At this level of precision, linear
distances are displayed to the nearest 1⁄16″. Metric users should set this to 0 because you won’t
be using units smaller than a millimeter here.
5. Select some of the other Length unit types from the list, and notice the way the units appear in
the Sample Output group at the bottom of the dialog box. Then select Architectural again or
leave it set to Decimal for metric use.
6. Click the down-arrow button in the Precision drop-down list in the Length group to display the
choices of precision for Architectural units.
7. Click 0′-0 1⁄16″ (0) to maintain the precision for display of linear units at 1⁄16″ (nearest millimeter).

What Hatch Properties can be defined in Advance CAD?

The “Hatch” feature is a popular choice for detailing 2D drawings in Advance CAD. It is a
highly customizable tool, as the user is able to change patterns, scaling, spacing as well as other
attributes. Pattern properties are available for both predefined and user-defined hatch patterns.
How to specify hatch pattern properties
In the Boundary Hatch window box, click the Pattern Properties tab and choose between
the “Predefine” or “User Defined” options from the “Pattern Type” drop-down menu. You can
choose options for the pattern or copy the pattern from a sample pattern already in your drawing.
The hatch can be set to be associative or non-associative.

Options in the Pattern Properties tab of the Boundary Hatch Dialog Box
Properties section

 Pattern Type: you can choose from two types: “Predefined” and “User Defined”.
o Predefined: choose this option if you want to use a hatch pattern from the
standard or ISO hatch pattern library files;
o User Defined: enables you to define a new hatch pattern.
 You can fill existing objects or enclosed areas with hatch patterns, solid color fills, or
gradients, or you can create new hatch objects.

Choose from:

 Predefined hatch patterns. Choose from over 70 ANSI, ISO, and other industry-standard
hatch patterns, or add hatch pattern libraries supplied by other companies.
 User-defined hatch patterns. Define your own hatch patterns based on the current linetype,
with spacing, angle, color, and other properties you specify.
 Custom hatch patterns. Hatch patterns are defined in
the acad.pat and acadiso.pat (acadlt.pat and acadltiso.pat for AutoCAD LT) files. You can
add custom hatch pattern definitions to these files.
 Solid fill. Fill an area with a solid color.
 Gradient fill. Fill an enclosed area with a color gradient. A gradient fill can be displayed as
a tint (a color mixed with white), a shade (a color mixed with black), or a smooth transition
between two colors.

Gradients that mimic colors displayed on a cylinder, a sphere, or other shapes are available.

Hatch Boundaries and Associativity

In the following illustration, the concrete hatches are bounded, while the earth hatches
are unbounded.

By default, bounded hatches are associative, which means that the hatch object is associated
with the hatch boundary objects: changes to the boundary objects are automatically applied to the
hatch.

Nonassociative hatches are not updated when their original boundary is changed.

Hatch associativity is turned on by default and is controlled by the HPASSOC system

variable. You can change hatch associativity using the Associate button on the Options palette,
the Properties palette, or the Hatch Edit dialog box.

Note: The OS OPTIONS system variable controls how object snaps work with hatch objects.
Current Layer Override
By default, all new objects are created on the current layer. For new hatch objects, you can
specify a default layer that's different than the current layer by specifying the layer with the
HPLAYER system variable.

Line Type

Linetype is a visual property assigned to geometric objects. Linetypes can be a pattern of

dashes, dots, text, and symbols, or unbroken and continuous.

The current linetype setting defines the default appearance of all new geometric objects. You
can see which linetype is current in the Properties panel of the ribbon Home tab when no objects
are selected.

 The Continuous linetype displays objects with a solid, unbroken pattern.

 The ByLayer linetype displays objects with the linetype assigned to the current layer.
 An explicitly set linetype, for example DASHDOT, displays objects with that linetype
regardless of the current layer.
 The ByBlock linetype displays objects with the Continuous linetype until the objects are
combined into a block definition. When the block is inserted into the drawing, it
displays the current linetype for those objects.
Load Linetypes
Before you can use different linetypes, you must load them in the drawing with the Linetype

Manager. Find

For linetypes that you use frequently, you can load them in a template drawing. Then when
you create drawings from the template, the linetypes are already loaded. Linetypes are defined in
a linetype definition (LIN) file. When you load a linetype, you select the linetype definition file
and a specific linetype from within that file. Two linetype definition files are
available: acad.lin for imperial units, and acadiso.lin for metric units.

Note: Due to scaling, do not mix imperial and metric linetypes in the same drawing.

You can remove unreferenced linetype definitions from a drawing with the PURGE
command, or from the Linetype Manager. The BYBLOCK, BYLAYER, and CONTINUOUS
linetypes cannot be removed.

Linetype Scale
Linetype scale controls the size and spacing of repetitions of the linetype pattern for each
drawing unit. There are a number of scaling options that can affect how linetypes display and
plot.

Global Scale Factor

The global scale factor affects the appearance of all the linetypes in the drawing. You can set
the global scale factor by changing the LTSCALE system variable at the Command prompt or
with the Linetype Manager. The default global scale factor is 1.0. The smaller the scale factor,
the more repetitions and the smaller the spacing in each linetype pattern.

If you change the global scale factor, the appearance of all the linetypes in the drawing
change.

Current Object Scale

 The current object scale, also called the current linetype scale, controls the linetype scale for
new objects. You can set the current object scale by changing the CELTSCALE system variable
or with the Linetype Manager. The default current object scale is 1.0. When you create
geometry, the current object scale value becomes the object’s linetype scale property. You can
change the linetype scale of an existing object in the Properties palette.

The linetype scale for objects is based on both the global scale factor, and the linetype scale
property. A line created with CELTSCALE = 2 in a drawing with LTSCALE set to 0.5 would
appear the same as a line created with CELTSCALE = 1 in a drawing with LTSCALE = 1.

Paper Space Linetype Scale

When you work in paper space the layout viewports might be set to different scales. When
you plot from paper space, set the PSLTSCALE system variable to 1 to plot all linetype patterns
consistently between viewports regardless of scale. If PSLTSCALE is set to 0, all linetypes use
the global setting of LTSCALE.

Model Space Linetype Scale

When you work in the Model tab, the annotation scale can affect linetype scaling. If you do
not want the annotation scale to affect linetypes when plotting from the Model tab, set the
MSLTSCALE system variable to 0. The default value of MSLTSCALE is 1.

Linetype Scale and Short Segments

If the linetype of an object looks solid even though you assigned a linetype with a pattern,
you may need to specify a different linetype scale for the object.

You can change the linetype scale of the object in the Properties palette to get the desired
look.

Linetypes and Polyline Vertices

For polylines, you can specify whether a linetype pattern is centered on each segment or is
continuous across vertices throughout the entire length of the polyline.
 Use the PLINEGEN system variable to specify this option for new objects. You can update
existing polylines on the Properties palette in the Linetype Generation setting.