AutoCAD LT Drawing Template · PDF fileAutoCAD LT Introduction AutoCAD LT New Drawing Overview Section 4 - 2 Notes: All rights reserved by Lee Ambrosius for the material and contents

AutoCAD LT Section 4

All rights reserved by Lee Ambrosius for the material and contents. Do not make copies of this material.

AutoCAD LT Drawing Templates

This section covers:

1. Creating new files and working with existing filesa. Start a new drawing from scratchb. Use the new drawing wizardc. Create a new drawing from a templated. Open an existing drawing

AutoCAD LT Introduction AutoCAD LT Setup Overview Section 3 - 1

Notes:

All rights reserved by author of material. Do not make copies of this material.

Creating a new drawing file “Starting with a new drawing should never be achallenge but a welcoming event.”

Loading the Create New Drawing dialog box

Loading the Create New Drawing dialog box can be achieved through several ways in AutoCADLT. Lets go through the different ways of loading the Create New Drawing dialog box.

Menubar

To load the Create New Drawing dialog box from the menubar, locate the File menubar and thenselect New... or File>>New… .

The set of images shows the Files menubar and the location of New… under it (Fig 4.1). Noticethe Files menubar is located all the way to the left in the menubars section of the AutoCADEnvironment.

Fig. 4.1

Toolbar

To use the toolbar when you want to load the Create New Drawing dialog box. You will have tofirst have up on the screen the _Standard Toolbar. By default AutoCAD LT is installed with thistoolbar visible and docked in the upper left of the AutoCAD LT environment. The toolbar buttonthat you load the Create New Drawing dialog looks like the following:

- Create New Drawing icon

You will notice in later sections that a lot of the most commonly used commands have beenassembled on a toolbar that has a theme for you convenience.

AutoCAD LT Introduction AutoCAD LT New Drawing Overview Section 4 -2

Notes:


Command Line

The first type-in command is NEW. This command will bring up the Create New Drawingdialog box with the last New method as the active selection. The other type-in command is N andit will also bring up the Create New Drawing dialog box.

Accelerated Keys

In previous a section we talked about Accelerated Keys and how common that they are inWindows based software. So the Create New Drawing command is no different than otherWindows based programs when it comes to starting a new file. The Accelerated Key combinationto bring up the Create New Drawing dialog is CTRL + N.

Now that we can successfully bring up the Create New Drawing dialog box, lets take a closelook at all the features that this dialog box contains. AutoCAD LT can create a new drawingthrough three different methods. The first is usually the least useful for use in everyday drawings.This method is known as Start from Scratch. Starting from scratch is exactly that. There are nospecial settings that AutoCAD assigns to this file. The only two options you have as a user are theStart from Scratch with English or Metric (Fig. 4.2).

Fig. 4.2


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The second is usually the best method of creating a new drawing over Start from Scratch. Thismethod is called Use a Wizard (Fig. 4.3). This method is setup for the first time users ofAutoCAD LT that would like to try to force some kind of office standards without going throughand making their own Drawing Templates (DWT). Even though the drawing wizard maybe veryuseful it also can be very time consuming to use day after day and drawing after drawing.

Fig. 4.3

Tip: Whenever you see a dialog box for the first time in an application don’t just interact withthe dialog like you have in the past, take a little bit of time and look at what is all contained inthe dialog box. You maybe surprised to find out that there was an option that you or a co-worker might have been looking for.


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The third and final method of creating a new drawing is the best of all three choices for starting anew drawing. This method is called Use a Template (Fig. 4.4). This method is by far the best outof the three new drawing methods there is, due to the fact that they are usually customizedspecifically for a companies needs and drawing practices. These files are AutoCAD LT files thatare saved with a different file extension. The file extension that is used is DWT. A drawingtemplate also can carry a description with it so it can provide addition information to the end userabout the template. Now with a brief understanding of the three methods of creating a newdrawing lets now focus in on the more specific details of each type.

Fig. 4.4

Tip: If you get a dialog box that doesn’t come up, but instead you get a Command Lineversion of the command. Good chances are that the system variable FILDIA is set to thevalue of 0. To correct this problem simply type-in FILEDIA at the Command Line and set itto the value of 1. The re-issue the command and you should notice that the dialog box nowcomes up. Commands that are affected by this are NEW, OPEN, SAVE, EXPORT,IMPORT, DXFIN, 3DSIN, ACISIN, DXBIN, WMFIN, and PSIN.


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Start a new drawing from scratch

Lets take in depth look at exactly what you get when you choose the Start from Scratch whenstarting a new drawing. The Start from Scratch presents only two choices, and the two choices arevery different as far as end results go. The two choices are: English and Metric.

The English option will setup unit of measurement, drawing units, hatch and line types for Englishunits and nothing more. You will not be starting with a border or any drawing spaceconfigurations.

The Metric option will setup unit of measurement, drawing units, hatch and line types for Metricunits and nothing more. Just like the English selection you will not be starting with a border or anydrawing space configurations.

Even though the Start from Scratch is the fastest way to get right into drawing, for long term useit doesn’t provide as much flexibility and standardization as the new two options that we will betalking about have.

Using the new drawing wizard

The new drawing wizard was one of the most welcome new enhancements to AutoCAD LTwhen it first came out and still is to this day. The drawing wizard provides an excellent startingplace for new comers to the AutoCAD LT software as well as veterans of the software that aretrying to create standards for their company. The wizard is composed of two options: QuickSetup and Advanced Setup. Now lets take a little time and go through both options in the drawingwizard.

Quick Setup

The Quick Setup is simply used to setup some settings that are more drawing type specific thanthe Start from Scratch method. It would be similar to buying a new car and wanting a Tape or CDplayer versus the good old AM\FM radio. You truly didn’t change the external appearance of howthe car looks, but internally you changed it. So you are just change some of the things behind thescenes that depend on how you as the user will interact with AutoCAD LT. Now lets get startedand step through the screens and choices that are involved in the Quick Setup wizard.


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Quick Setup – Step 1

Fig. 4.5

Quick Setup Step 1 (Fig. 4.5) is used to setup the unit of measurement that you would like touse for you drawings. This measurement is an important on how AutoCAD reports back distancesto you as the user and also how AutoCAD will expect you to type in distances for constructingobjects in your AutoCAD LT drawings.

Tip: You can always change your unit of measurement inside of AutoCAD LT once you startdrawing. To change your units simply use the command DDUNITS for a dialog box orUNITS for a command line version of the units command.

Note: Drawing units are stored inside a drawing. So you might someday receive a drawingthat uses a different type of units. To correct this problem simply use the DDUNITS orUNITS command.


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Quick Setup – Step 2

Fig. 4.6

Quick Setup Step 2 (Fig. 4.6) is used to setup the area that your AutoCAD drawing will be usedto represent. In this section you are setting up the limits of your drawing . Drawing limits restrictthe coordinates you can enter, to within the area that was specified. The limits also drive the sizeof how much of the drawing will be covered by the grid that AutoCAD LT provides.

Tip: You can always change your area or limits inside of your AutoCAD LT drawing onceyou have already started drawing. To change your area simply use the command LIMITS fora command line version of the units command. Currently there is no dialog box version of theLIMITS command.

Note: The drawing grid can be a very useful tool at times. If you don’t want to use the gridsimply turn it off. You don’t have to drawing with the grid on, some users actually find itvery annoying to work with.


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Advanced Setup

The Quick Setup is simply used to setup some settings that are more drawing type specific thanthe Start from Scratch method. It would be similar to buying a new car and wanting a Tape or CDplayer versus the good old AM\FM radio. You truly didn’t change the external appearance of howthe car looks, but internally you changed it. So you are just change some of the things behind thescenes that depend on how you as the user will interact with AutoCAD LT. Now lets get startedand step through the screens and choices that are involved in the Quick Setup wizard.

Advanced Setup – Step 1

Fig. 4.7

Advanced Setup Step 1 (Fig. 4.7) is used to setup the unit of measurement that you would liketo use for you drawings. This measurement is an important on how AutoCAD reports backdistances to you as the user and also how AutoCAD will expect you to type in distances forconstructing objects in your AutoCAD LT drawings.

Note: You can always change your unit of measurement inside of AutoCAD LT once youstart drawing. To change your units simply use the command DDUNITS for a dialog box orUNITS for a command line version of the units command.


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Fig. 4.9

Advanced Setup Step 2 (Fig. 4.9) is used to setup the measurement of angle you will be usingwhen creating your AutoCAD drawing. In this section you are setting up both the precision ofangular measure and the units. These units are used when you inquiry about the properties of anobject in your drawing or how you have to input information into the commands of AutoCAD LTto draw your objects.

Note: You can always change your angular units and angular precision inside of yourAutoCAD LT drawing once you have already started drawing. To change your units simplyuse the command UNITS for a command line version of the angular units and angularprecision command or use the DDUNITS command for a dialog box interface.


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Fig. 4.10

Advanced Setup Step 3 (Fig. 4.10) is used to setup the direction of angle measurement forcreating your AutoCAD LT drawings. In this section you are setting up the direction and locationin which 0 Degrees is measured from. This setting greatly affects how you draw objects when youinput you angle of rotation.

Note: You can always change your direction of angular measurement inside of yourAutoCAD LT drawing once you have already started drawing. To change your angulardirection simply use the command UNITS for a command line version of the angular directioncommand or use the DDUNITS command for a dialog box interface.


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Fig. 4.11

Advanced Setup Step 4 (Fig. 4.11) is used to setup the direction of angle measurement forcreating your AutoCAD LT drawings. In this section you are setting up the direction of positiveand negative rotation angles. This setting greatly affects how you draw objects when you inputyou angle of rotation.

Note: You can always change your direction of angular measurement inside of yourAutoCAD LT drawing once you have already started drawing. To change your angulardirection simply use the command UNITS for a command line version of the angular directioncommand or use the DDUNITS command for a dialog box interface.


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Fig. 4.12

Advanced Setup Step 5 (Fig. 4.12) is used to setup the area that your AutoCAD drawing will beused to represent. In this section you are setting up the limits of your drawing . Drawing limitsrestrict the coordinates you can enter, to within the area that was specified. The limits also drivethe size of how much of the drawing will be covered by the grid that AutoCAD LT provides.

Note: You can always change your area or limits inside of your AutoCAD LT drawing onceyou have already started drawing. To change your area simply use the command LIMITS fora command line version of the units command. Currently there is no dialog box version of theLIMITS command.


Notes:



Fig. 4.13

Advanced Setup Step 6 (Fig. 4.13) is used to add a Title Block to your drawing on completionof using the Advanced Setup. In this section you can choose a Title Block by two differentmethods. The first method is to select a Title Block by a description and the second method isselecting a Title Block by File Name. If your Title Block isn’t listed in the list you can simplebrowse for the Title Block by clicking the Add button. A preview is also supplied for youconvenience which is located on the very right side of the tab.

Tip: If you need to add a Title Block to your drawing, but need to scale it up you will not beable to select a Title Block in Step 6 and have it automatically scale it up for you. You couldhowever have it added to the drawing and then you would just have to scale it up.


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Fig. 4.14

Advanced Setup Step 7 (Fig. 4.14) is used to setup your drawing so you can take advantage ofusing viewports in your drawing. In this section you can choose whether or not you want yourdrawing to be setup to use Paper Space and Model Space or just Model Space. Some companiesfind it hard to relate what they do to Paper Space, but other companies when implemented intotheir business process can actually save time and money by using a combination of Paper andModel Space in their drawings.

Notice how easy it is to use the Wizards for setting up your drawings compared to having to dothese tasks if you wanted to Start from Scratch. In the next part of this unit we will cover DrawingTemplates and why these are the most effective to use out of all the methods for starting a newdrawing.

Tip: If you wish to work in Paper Space later you will have to use several commands to setupyour viewports and also move between Model and Paper Space. The commands that you willneed are TILEMODE, MSPACE, PSPACE, and MVIEW. More about these commandsare covered in the Advanced class of AutoCAD LT ’97.


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Create a new drawing from a template

The AutoCAD LT drawing template is a base drawing in which you build on to generate allother drawings. There is no difference between a drawing template and a drawing outside of theextension differences. Drawing templates are one of the new editions to the AutoCAD LTdrawing process. Before AutoCAD LT ‘95 they were referred to as a drawing prototype, whichwas a drawing that was simply opened and used by AutoCAD for the base of all drawings.

Contents of a TemplateContext DescriptionLayer A template usually has a predefined set of layers. This allows you to be

standardize on how you name layers.

Styles Text and dimension styles can be stored in your drawing template toenforce text and dimension standards on your drawings. These are some ofthe first noticed features of a drawing. If your text is a different from floorto floor or plan to plan it is harder for the end user to read the plans. It alsodoesn’t make the drawings look very professional.

Blocks, Borders andTitle Blocks

Commonly used blocks can be stored in the drawing template to increasethe usage of these blocks and so you don’t have to worry about calling inblocks from an external file. Increases time for drawing will decrease timefor chasing down blocks. Title Blocks can be inserted and scaled in thedrawing template prior to using the template.

Line Types Commonly used line types can be pre-loaded into the drawing template soyou don’t have to worry about having to always load the line types afterloading AutoCAD LT and starting a new drawing.

Drawing Variables Drawing stored variables that can be predefined by a drawing template aswell. Many of these include such things as blipmode, aperture, dimensionvariables, orthomode, and osmode just to name a few.

Drawing Units Units are a very important part of how you drawing and how your drawingsend up looking in the end. Correct drawing units can help to increaseaccuracy in the drawings.


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Converting an existing Drawing to a Template

To convert any existing drawing into a drawing template just follow the steps below.

Step 1 - Open the drawing that all ready exists on your computer system and go to the menu bar.Select File>>Save As, and the Save Drawing As dialog (Fig. 4.15) will appear on thescreen. Select the Save as type to being Drawing Template File (*.dwt).

Fig. 4.15

Note:Watch the dialog close. When you select the DWT format from the Save as type list,AutoCAD LT will change the location of where it will save the file to for the template. Bydefault it will want to save it into the directory where AutoCAD LT looks for DrawingTemplates.

Tech Tip:Whenever you see a dialog box for the first time in an application don’t just interact with thedialog like you have in the past, take a little bit of time and look at what is all contained in thedialog box. You maybe surprised to find out that there was an option that you or a co-workermight have been looking for.


Notes:


Step 2 - Select Save, once you have entered a name for your template and changed the path of where the file will be saved to if you desire.

Step 3 - Give your template a description (Fig. 4.16) which is viewable when you go to use thetemplate to start up a new drawing, and also select whether your template will be basedon either English or Metric measurement.

Fig. 4.16

Step 4 - Select OK in the Template Description dialog box to use the description andmeasurements that have been entered.

Step 5 - Once the drawing has been saved as a drawing template you can then start a new drawingand select Use a Template (Fig. 4.17). If your drawing template doesn’t appear in theSelect a Template box you can select the More files… from that list and browse for youdrawing template.

Fig. 4.17


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Starting up with a template as the default

You can start AutoCAD LT with a drawing template through the /t switch. This switch uses thetemplate name that is provided with the /t switch as the default drawing template. This commandis placed behind the AutoCAD LT shortcut. Lets try this now.

Step 1 - Locate the icon called AutoCAD LT 97 that is on the desktop. This icon is the icon thatyou use to startup AutoCAD LT 97 with.

Step 2 - Now that you know where the icon is just Right-Click with the mouse over the top of it. This will force the Windows Popup menu to appear. Select the Properties option from this Popup menu (Fig. 4.18).

Fig. 4.18

Step 3 - Now that the Shortcut Properties Window (Fig. 4.19) is up you want to make sure thatyou are in the Shortcut tab. Locate the Target field (in the middle of the form). It shouldhave in that line the path to the AutoCAD LT executable and the file ACLT.EXE . Makesure that you don’t get rid of this path or AutoCAD LT won’t run from the iconanymore. Create a space at the end of this path and add the following:

/t “c:\hyperpics\aclt\icon.dwt”


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Fig. 4.19

This file was preset up ahead of time. It can be substituted with any DWT file. Click the OKbutton at the bottom of the form. When you double click on the icon now AutoCAD LT will notask you for a drawing template to start with. You will know if it worked correctly due to the factthat some green text will appear in the middle of the screen. The green text should containICON.DWT.


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Starting Up with my Template from the Command Line

You can also start a new drawing from the command line with a drawing template. Lets try thisnow. System variable FILEDIA must be set to 0.

Step 1 - Open AutoCAD if its not all ready going. Type in FILEDIA at the command line and set it to a value of 0.

Step 2 - Now with FILEDIA set to 0 type in New at the command line. The dialog box will be bypassed and ask you for the drawing template that you wish to startup with.

Step 3 - Type in the full path of the drawing template and hit enter.

C:\hyperpics\aclt\icon.dwt

Summary

This past section talked about starting up a new drawing through different methods. We talkedabout Start from Scratch all the way through Drawing Templates. You should have gotten thefeeling that Drawing Templates are the best way to starting any type of new drawing and add thegreatest flexibility. Along with starting up a new drawing through these methods we also talkedabout starting up AutoCAD LT with a pre-determined Drawing Template with the use of the /tswitch.

Documents

AutoCAD LT Drawing Template · PDF fileAutoCAD LT Introduction AutoCAD LT New Drawing Overview Section 4 - 2 Notes: All rights reserved by Lee Ambrosius for the material and contents