DRAFTING SYSTEMS

BASIC GEOMETRIC COMMANDS

Point
This is the most basic command used in AutoCAD. It is
used to specify a point or a node in the drawing for any
given purpose.
For example, it can be used for the centre of a circle or
for the starting point of a straight line. It is also used as
NODE in object snap options.
The point coordinates can be input into the system in a
number of ways; for example, by the direct input of
coordinate values in their respective order, x, y and z. If
Z coordinate is not specified, it is considered as the
current Z level given through the ELEVATION command.
AutoCAD puts a marker at the specified location.
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It is also possible to specify the coordinates in incremental
format as the distances from the current cursor position in the
drawing area.
The distance is specified by using the ‘@’ parameter before
the actual value as shown below.

It is also possible to specify the point coordinates using the

polar coordinate format.

The first value refers to the length of the line or polar radius,
while the second quantity refers to the angle at which the line
is drawn from the current point.
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Line
The LINE command allows the user to draw straight lines.
The user can specify the desired end points using either 2D
or 3D coordinates.
To erase the latest line segment without exiting the LINE
command, enter ‘U’ (UNDO) when prompted for a ‘To’ point.
The user can continue the previous line by responding to
the From point: prompt with a space or RETURN.
If the user is drawing a sequence of lines that will become a
closed polygon, the user can reply to the ‘To point’ prompt
with ‘C’ to draw the last segment (close the polygon)
Lines may be constrained to horizontal or vertical by the
ORTHO command. The CLOSE option uses the start point of
the first line segment in the current LINE command as the
next point.
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Circle
The CIRCLE command is used to draw a full circle. The
user can specify the circle in many ways.
For specifying a circle, we need at least two values.
There are at least 5 ways as follows:
• Centre point and radius
• Centre point and diameter
• Two points on the circumference across the diameter
• Three points on the circumference
• Tangents to two other already drawn entities and
radius
The simplest method is by means of a centre point and
the radius
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•To specify the radius, the user can designate a point

to be on the circumference or make use of the ‘DRAG’
facility in response to the
‘Diameter/<Radius>‘prompt to specify the circle size
visually on screen.
•If it is more convenient to enter the diameter than
the radius, reply to the ‘Diameter/<Radius>‘prompt
with ‘D’. This is generally done when the diameter is
specified in the drawing.
•The circle can also be specified using three points on
the circumference (reply ‘3P’ when prompted for the
centre point), or by designating two end points of its
diameter (reply ‘2P’).
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In addition, the user can draw a circle by specifying two entities
(such as lines, circles, etc.) to which the circle should be
tangent, and a radius. Enter ‘TTR’ for this option.
Arc
The ARC command draws an arc (segment of a circle) as
specified by any of the following methods.
• three points on the arc
• start point, centre, end point
• start point, centre, included angle
• start point, centre, length of chord
start point, end point, radius
• start point, end point, included angle
• start point, end point, starting direction
• continuation of previous line or arc
To continue the previous line or arc, reply to first prompt with
RETURN.
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The ARC is always drawn in the counter-clockwise

direction. Depending upon the data available, it is
necessary to plan carefully the sequence in which the
data is to be specified.
Drawing a circle is easier than an arc, since the data
to be given is more while care has to be taken to see
that the data needs to be given in the proper
sequence.
It is also possible to use the OSNAP options when the
various points are to be specified.
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The three points can be specified in any order; however,

the arc will be generated in the sequence in which the
points are specified.
LAYERS
Drawings normally consist of lot of information which is
of varying types such as geometric and alphanumeric.
It becomes difficult to see all this information in one
frame because of the cluttering effect it produces. Also,
it is not necessary always to have all the information.
A layer is basically one which contains some information
which can be geometric and alphanumeric.
The reason of distributing all the information present in
the drawing into various layers is that at any given time,
some of the layers can be deleted from view (OFF) or can
be made visible (ON).
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Thus, each layer may be considered as a transparent

sheet with information present. At any stage, the
unwanted layers may be pulled out leaving only the
requisite information visible.
Each layer has a name which can be up to 31
characters. The default layer name given by AutoCAD
is 0.
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Some typical names could be note, remarks, etc.

Alternatively, only numbers could be used for the layer
name.
A layer could be ON or OFF. When a layer is ON, the
information present in it is visible on the screen (or
in a plot).
When OFF, though the information is not lost from the
drawing, it is not visible in the drawing. More than one
layer can be ON at any given time.
A layer is either ‘Current’ or ‘Inactive’. All the
information being entered goes into the current layer.
By virtue of this, only one layer can be Current at any
given time.
If the current layer is ON then the information being
entered is visible on the screen.
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Each layer has a colour associated with it.

All the information entered into that layer gets that colour.
The colour of individual information can be altered by
using the CHANGE command or by using the COLOR
command.
Similarly, each layer has a default line type associated,
which can be any one of the valid line types. It is also
possible, as in the case of color, to change the line type of
individual elements in a layer.
DISPLAY CONTROL COMMANDS
ZOOM is used to change the scale of display. This can be
used to magnify part of the drawing to any higher scale for
looking closely at some fine details in the drawing.
This is often quite useful during the construction stage
since the size of the display screen is limited compared to
the size of drawing.
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Options available with Zoom

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All
Adjusts the magnification of the drawing area to
accommodate the extents of all visible objects in the
drawing, or visual aids such as the grid limits (the
LIMITS command), whichever is larger.

In the illustration on the right, the grid limits are set

to a larger area than the extents of the drawing.
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Center
Zooms to display a view defined by a center point
and a magnification value or a height. A smaller
value for the height increases the magnification. A
larger value decreases the magnification. Not
available in perspective projection.
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Choosing the DYNAMIC option displays all the drawing

up to limits in a small window so that the entire
drawing is visible in the display screen.
The current visible window is shown as a rectangle
linked to the cursor. Pressing the left button of the
mouse and moving the mouse makes the window
smaller or larger than the previous display.
Once the window rectangle size is satisfactory, another
pressing of the mouse left button fixes the size of the
rectangle.
The mouse can now be moved to any position to place
the display window on the drawing.
Then pressing the right mouse button correspondingly
shows the image in the window in the full size of the
screen.
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PAN
The PAN command allows the user to move the
display window in any direction without changing the
display magnification.
The window can be moved to any location within the
display limits, although no dynamic movement is
possible. This shows details that are currently off the
screen.
REDRAW
This is used to refresh the screen.
REGENERATE
The drawing database is updated using
REGENERATE command.
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VIEWPORTS
The screen can be divided into 2,3 or 4 parts to
display different views of the same drawing.
Object Snap
It is often desired to have drawings made in
relation to already existing objects.
Sometimes, it may be required to start a line
from an unknown precise tangent point on a
circle. All that the user may know is a specific
area where the tangent may be lying.
Then by selecting the OSNAP option, the
system is able to automatically calculate
the tangent point in the region selected.
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CENter
Centre of arc or circle
ENDpoint
Closest end point of line/arc or closest corner of
trace/solid/3D face
INTersection
Intersection of lines/arcs/circles or corner of trace/solid/3D
face
MIDpoint
Midpoint of line/arc or midpoint of an edge of trace/solid/3D
face
NEArest
Nearest point on line/arc/circle/point
TANgent
Tangent to arc or circle
PERpendicular
Perpendicular to line/arc/circle
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Text Handling
AutoCAD provides a large range of text-
entering capabilities including various fonts,
and other text-handling features.
In each of the fonts (styles), it is possible to
have lettering with the various attributes which
are specified during the selection of the style.
For example, the text, when originally stored,
has a certain aspect ratio (height-to-width
ratio) built in depending upon the text height
chosen.
It is possible to alter this by changing the width
factor > 1 which makes the letters elongated
and < 1 which makes them compressed
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EDITING COMMANDS
MOVE
The MOVE command is used to move one or
more existing drawing entities from one
location in the drawing to another.
The user can ‘drag’ the object into position on
the screen. To do this, designate a reference
point on the object in response to the ‘Base
point...’ prompt, and then reply ‘DRAG’ to the
‘Second point:’ prompt. The selected objects
will follow the movements of the screen
crosshairs.
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COPY
The COPY command is used to duplicate one or
more existing drawing entities at another
location (or locations) without erasing the
original.
The user can ‘drag’ the object into position on
the screen. To do this, designate a reference
point on the object in response to the ‘Base
point...’ prompt, and then reply ‘DRAG’ to the
‘Second point:’ prompt. The selected objects
will follow the movements of the screen
crosshairs.
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To make multiple copies, respond to the ‘Base

point’ prompt with ‘M’. The ‘Base point’ prompt
then reappears, followed by repeated ‘Second
point’ prompts.
When the user made all the copies that are
needed, gives a null response to the ‘Second
point’ prompt to come out of the COPY
command.
CHAMFER
The CHAMFER command creates a bevel
between two intersecting lines (or two
adjacent line segments of a polyline) at a given
distance from their intersection.
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•It can also trim the lines from the bevel edge
and connect the trimmed ends with a new line
if the TRIMMODE variable is set to 1.
•If it is set to 0, it leaves the selected edges
intact. Different trim distances can be set for
the two lines, and are retained with the
drawing.
If the specified lines do not intersect, CHAMFER
will extend them until they do and then
proceed as above.
Chamfers can be applied to an entire polyline,
chamfering all the intersections.
A chamfer can only be applied between line
segments and not on any other objects.
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FILLET
The FILLET command connects two lines, arcs,
or circles with a smooth arc of specified radius.
It adjusts the lengths of the original lines or
arcs so they end exactly on the fillet arc.
The fillet value specified remains in force until
it is altered by another value. If the fillet radius
is zero then the two lines will meet exactly at a
point which is normally used to make a sharp
corner.
Filleting can also be done to two circles, a line
and a circle, a line and an arc, and a circle and
an arc.
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Lines and arcs are trimmed (depending upon

the TRIMMODE setting) after filleting while
circles are not trimmed.
An entire polyline can also be filleted with a
single command.
OFFSET
The OFFSET command constructs an entity
parallel to another entity at either a specified
distance or through a specified point
The user can OFFSET a line, arc, circle, or
polyline.
Offset lines are parallel, while the offset
circles and arcs make concentric circles and
arcs respectively.
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Once the object is selected, it is highlighted on

the screen. Depending on whether the user
specified an offset distance or selected
‘through point’ in the original prompt, the user
will receive one of the following prompts:
Side to offset:
Through point:
The selected object will be de-highlighted and
the ‘Select object to offset’ prompt is re-
issued. <RETURN> exits the command.
ARRAY
The ARRAY command makes multiple copies of
selected objects in a rectangular or circular
(polar) pattern.
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For a rectangular array, the user is asked for

the number of columns and rows and the
spacing between them.

For a polar or circular array the user must first

supply a centre point.
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Following this, the user must supply two of the

following three parameters:
• the number of items in the array
• the number of degrees to fill
• the angle between items in the array
Optionally, the user can rotate the items as the
array is drawn.
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DIMENSIONING
After creating the various views of the model or after
preparing the drawing, it is necessary to add
dimensions at the appropriate places.
AutoCAD provides semi-automatic dimensioning
capability with a way of associating the dimensions
with the entities.
As a result, once dimensioning is created, there is no
need to redo it after modifications to the drawing.
While dimensioning, the information to be specified is
as follows:
• where is the dimension
• where the dimension text should go
• how big and what style the text will be
• whether tolerance range is to be included
• how big and what the arrows will look like
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The procedure to be followed in dimensioning in
AutoCAD is as follows:
Set up the basic parameters for dimensioning. They are
• Arrowhead type
• Arrowhead size
• Extension-line offset
• Placement of dimension text
These need not be changed for every drawing but could
be incorporated in the prototype drawing itself.
• Identify what the user wants to measure
Pick end points, lines, arcs or circles, or other points of
existing drawing entities using OSNAP if necessary.
• Specify where the dimension line and text are to be
located.
• Approve AutoCAD’s measurements as dimension text
or type in your own text.
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