Commands Review
 The following steps will be a review of
commands to create the window below.
AutoCAD
Basic Commands Review
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Settings
Rectangle
 Click Home>Draw>
Rectangle
 The following steps assume you have set up
your AutoCAD interface to the settings at
Kirkwood.
 Notice if the cursor
is paused on a
command, a
description
appears.
 Use the AutoCAD Setup pdf if you need to set
them up.
 If the cursor
remains pointing to
the command, a
more detailed tip is
displayed.
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Rectangle
Offset
 After the command is initiated type 0,0  3'4,5'2. this will create a
rectangle with one corner in the origin and the other at 3'-4", 5'-2"
 The completed rectangle.
 You do not need to type inches because the default drawing unit has
been set up as inches. Do not put a space in the entry. Spaces end the
input.
 Click Home>Modify>Offset or
type O  (does not need to be
in the command line).
 Notice how it shows up on the dynamic input bar
 You can toggle the bar on or off by pressing F12 or the button on the
bottom of the screen.
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 Sometimes it is easier/quicker
to type the command than use
the ribbon.
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Offset
Offset
 Select the rectangle and click inside.
 Notice the command line at the bottom. It has different
options.
 The command bar asks to pick the next object. This
command can be done multiple times. Press the ESC Key
to get out of the command.
 Type 3/4 .
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Properties
Properties
 The inner line
should be red. This
is changed by
changing the layer
the object is on.
 This lists everything about the rectangle.
 Click on the Layer info and change to a-elev-lw01. The
inner line is now red.
 Right click on the
inner rectangle.
Click Properties.
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Properties
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Printing
Always make sure color and linetype are always ByLayer.
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We are concerned with color because our print setup is
color dependent. That is the color of the line will determine
how thick the plotter will print the line - refer to the CAD
Guide. We do not want the inner part of the window to be as
thick as the outer edge so we choose red.
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Properties
Offset
We could also have changed the property by clicking on
the green line and going to the Layer Manager pulldown
and selecting the layer. There are many ways to get things
done in AutoCAD. See which works best for you.
 Press ENTER again to repeat
the Offset command.
 Type 1-1/2  for the inner
sash distance. You cannot
use a space between the 1
and the 1/2 because it will
end the command. You could
have typed 1.5 as well. Press
ENTER to end the command.
 This rectangle is red because
the one we selected was red.
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Object Snap
Line
 We need to set the object snaps. Right clicking on the
Object Snap button gives you a selection.
 Make a-elev-lw01 the current
layer.
 Use the following settings. Click OK when done.
 Click Home>Draw> Line or
type L .
 Notice as you get close to the
middle of the inner rectangle,
you get a midpoint snap. It is
noted by a triangle.
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Line
 You can toggle on snap
settings by pressing F3 or the
Object Snap at the bottom of
the screen.
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Move
 Click Draw>Modify>Move or type M  and move the line
down .75
 Make sure ortho is turned on (F8). Ortho keeps items
constrained in a horizontal or vertical direction.
Draw the line across. This will be the bottom of our top
sash.
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Offset
Trim
 Use offset to create the width of the sash. Offset 1.5
 Click Draw>Modify>Trim or
type TR  notice the
options on the command
line. Press Enter for now to
have all lines be cutting
edges.
 Remove the lines that are
not needed.
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Explode
Divide
 We need to explode the top sash so it acts as separate
lines instead of one continuous line. This will help us
divide the line into thirds for the muntins. Rectangles
are continuous polylines and since we offset a
rectangle, we got another polyline.
 Click Home>Draw(down triangle)>divide or type DIV 
 Select the top horizontal inner sash. Type 3. Nodes were
created that divided the top sash. Nodes do not print.
 Click Draw>Modify>Explode or type X  and select the
upper sash.
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Nodes
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Line
 Draw lines from the nodes down and from the midpoint
across. Erase the nodes (select and delete).
Click Home>Utilities>Point Style to see the node. Nodes
do not print. You don't need to keep this setting.
 The upper muntins are complete. Notice they are just
lines. Depending on the final scale of the drawing this is
acceptable. If it were a larger scale then we would draw
both lines.
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Copy
Rectangle
Click Home>Modify>Copy. Select the muntins and click
a point to copy from. Click again on the lower sash to
copy to.
 Set the current layer to 0. Draw the shutters. Click
Home>Draw>Rectangle. Click the bottom right corner of
the window.
 Hover near the top right and then move the mouse away
from the window. Type 12  to get a 12" wide shutter.
 You could also have
typed @12,5'2 
 Using the @ symbol
makes it relative to
where you click
first.
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Offset/Trim
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Block
 Offset the rectangle 2.5 for the border.
 We will make the shutter a block since we will need a shutter
on the other side.
 Draw a line in the middle. Offset 1.25 top and bottom.
Erase/trim unneeded lines.
 A block combines objects into a named set. They act as a
single entity, making the file size smaller.
 These can be edited using block editor . Changes to one
block affects all the instances of that block in a drawing.
 The elements in a block should be created in the 0 layer.

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Select
 Attributed blocks can provide information that can be used to
make schedules. See the slides at the end of this powerpoint
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for more detail.
Block
Select the shutter . Use a window selection. To deselect
items selected by mistake, use the SHIFT Key
Going from left to right is
a window selection. It only
selects items that are fully
within the window.
Blocks can be shared with other drawings.
Going from right to left is
a crossing selection. It
selects everything that
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crosses the window.
Click Home>Block>Create. Complete the dialog box as
below.
Click here first
Then click here for the
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insertion point
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Block
Blocks
 Use Home>Modify>Mirror to mirror the block. Click the
top middle of the window and then click the bottom
middle.
 The shutter block we made is only available in this drawing
and not readily available to other ones.
 The mirror of the shutter will appear on the other side of
the window. Click on the bottom if it looks OK.
 Note the command line.
 To make blocks available to other drawings don’t use Make
block instead use Insert >Block Definition>Create Block
drop down>Write Block or type W 
 Notice the settings are similar except you need to give it a
file name and path.
 The default is No so press
Enter. This is what we want.
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Blocks
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Block Editor
 AutoCAD comes with some blocks predefined. They can be
selected using Design Center. Click Insert>Content>
Design Center. Click on the home button and navigate to
the following drawing. Click on blocks.
Going back to the shutter… We need to modify the block
that was created. Double click on the shutter. Select the
shutter block.
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Block Editor
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Hatch
 Click Home>Draw>Hatch for the vent lines. A new
toolbar is displayed.
 New dialog box and tool palette
appears. Let's trim out a line.
 Notice Block Editor ribbon is still available.
 It is good practice to not overlap
lines. Since the left side of the block
will always be next to a window, use
Home>Modify>Trim to remove it.
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Hatch
Hatch
In properties group, click User Defined, angle 0, spacing
1.25, set origin to middle of vertical line of upper shutter.
Pick an internal point. Make sure associative is off.
Press Enter.
Press Enter again to repeat the command. Click in the
lower half of the shutter. Press Enter to finish the
command.
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Property
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Properties
 Click on both hatched areas
then right click and click
properties.
Typically we want all linetype and color to ALWAYS be
ByLayer. There are some instances where this rule may need
to be broken. Change the color to be color 9 so it doesn't print
too dark.
 Notice the information about
the hatch.
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Block Editor
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Group
Close block editor and save the changes. Each instance
of the block is automatically updated.
 Lets group the shutters together so they act as one
item. First click the croup button then the objects.
Click Home>Group>Group or type GROUP 
 Type n to name the group
 Type Shutters and press Enter.
 Click the shutters and press Enter.
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Group
Groups
 Click one shutter.
Both are selected.
Change the layer to
a-elev-lw01.
To deselect the group click the box.
The behavior when selecting a group is
controllable using the groups dialog box
by modifying the checkbox marked “selectable”.
You can also type PICKSTYLE 
 Using groups is a
quick way to select
items.
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Groups vs Blocks
One of the main advantages of using a group instead of a
block is that you are free to include the same entity in more
than one group. So, if a certain set of entities belong to more
than one commonly selected group of entities, you can just
create the two (or more) groups that contain the same set of
entities (and whatever other entities are relevant to that
group), and you’re now able to select the entire set by clicking
on only one of the entities, as you would with a block.
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Rectangle
 Set layer to a-elev-lw01. Create a rectangle under the
window for the brick sill.
Groups and blocks behave very similarly.
A group is a saved set of objects that you can select and
edit together or separately as needed. Each item is
treated as a separate entity. Groups cannot be shared
with other drawings. Grouping can be toggled on/off by
pressing Ctrl+Shift+A or the button on the ribbon.
 Click on the bottom left corner to start.
 Hover near the bottom right corner and then move the
mouse down and away from the window. Type 4  to
get a 4" wide rectangle.
A block also combines objects into a named set. They
act as a single entity. These can be edited using block
editor . Changes to one block affects all the instances of
that block in a drawing. The elements in a block should
be created in the 0 layer. Blocks can be shared with other
drawings.
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Display Order
Hatch
 Notice as we drew the brick sill, the bottom line of the
window looks red. This is because the sill was drawn
after and therefore on top. To change the order of the
display click Home>Modify(down triangle)>Draworder
 Set layer to a-elev-lw09.
 Click on the green rectangle of the window. Press Enter.
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 In properties group, click User Defined, angle 90,
spacing 8/3 (3 courses of standard brick plus mortar =
8"), set origin to the right corner of brick. Pick an
internal point. Press Enter.
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8
Layout
Modelspace
 Click Layout1 tab to switch from model tab.
 Double click inside the window to get into the
modelspace through the layout tab. Note how the
viewport looks different when in paper vs model.
 We are seeing paperspace with paper edge and
margins.
 We can now add dimensions and notes.
 A viewport is visible. It is like a window. Through this
viewport we will add text and dimensions.
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Paperspace
Modelspace
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Dimension
Annotative vs Non-annotative
 The following steps create dimensions and leaders. Use either
annotative or non-annotative styles. Be comfortable with
creating and using annotative or non-annotative styles.
 With non-annotative text we have only one text style. Text
must be created within a viewport. Visibility is determined by
the layer.
 Set a-anno layer current. Click Home>Annotation>Linear.
 Click the top left corner of the window and then click the
top right. Click away from the window to set the
dimension.
 With annotative text we need multiple text styles based on the
height of the text. Look at the text group in the Annotative
Ribbon. With non-annotative text we need to set the text
height when writing text.
 We will use annotative text style as the primary style in our
classwork.
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Dimension
Leader
 For vertical dimension, start at the bottom of the brick
ledge then click to the top of the ledge. Click away to the
side to set the location.
 Click Home>Annotation>Leader. Click on the window
and then click off to the side. Press F8 to remove ortho.
 Type the words in lowercase and then press Enter .
 Click Annotate>Dimensions>Continue. Note that the
Home ribbon has many standard commands but the
individual ribbons have a more complete selection. Click
the top of the shutter. Press ESC to end the command.
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Standards
Standards
 Architectural drawings always use capitalized text.
 You can also turn on AutoCAPS by the context sensitive
menu or on the text editor ribbon when text is selected.
Click Tools>AutoCAPS
 Double click on the text and select it.
 Now all your text will be capitalized without having to
use capslock on the keyboard.
 Right click and select change case>UPPERCASE.
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Text
Grips
 Typically we do not want a long line of text but more
paragraph-like.
 The dimension for the brick ledge is crossing the
shutters. This makes it hard to read. Let's change this.
 Double click on the text. Then click on the arrows.
 All items in AutoCAD have grips. Use crossing to select
the two dimensions pointing to the upper edge of the
brick ledge.
 Click and drag textbox to a preferred size.
 The blue dots are all the grippable items. Click on the
blue dot on the ledge and click back to the edge of the
shutter. This is a better location.
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Overkill
Overkill
 Occasionally we will draw small lines or draw lines
over lines by mistake. Or we will use another
drafter's drawing that needs some cleaning. We do
not want this because the drawing becomes larger
and lines may not print correctly.
 Make modelspace current. Click Home>Modify>Delete
Duplicate Objects or type OVERKILL 
 Select the items to affect (usually type all). Click OK. Save
the drawing.
 The Overkill command helps eliminate this. It
removes duplicate or overlapping lines, arcs, and
polylines. And combines partially overlapping or
contiguous ones.
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Print
DWF
 The completed window.
 A DWF (Drawing Web Format) is a digital file that
can be opened and marked up with the free
Autodesk Design Review program. Use the
following settings to plot to DWF.
 Run Spell check and purge! Now that the drawing
is cleaned up, plot it as a DWF.
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Save Changes
Print Preview
 When you set up printing on a drawing make sure to
click save changes to layout or the settings won't stay.
 Always use Print Preview to make sure all is
printing properly.
Click to
expand
Save changes
to Layout
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Blocks

Blocks
We can have blocks with attributes. This is useful for door/window marks and
room finishes because we can extract the info into a table. Click Insert>Block
Definition>Define Attributes. Note the options.
Invisible: Specifies that attribute values are not
displayed or printed when you insert the block.
Tag: Identifies each occurrence of an attribute in the
drawing. Enter the attribute tag using any combination
of characters except spaces. Lowercase letters are
automatically changed to uppercase.
Prompt: Specifies the prompt that is displayed when
you insert a block containing this attribute definition. If
you do not enter a prompt, the attribute tag is used as a
prompt. If you select Constant in the Mode area, the
Prompt option is not available.
Constant: Gives attributes a fixed value for block
insertions.
Verify: Prompts you to verify that the attribute value is
correct when you insert the block.
Default: Specifies the default attribute value.
Insertion Point: Specifies the location for the attribute.
Preset: Sets the attribute to its default value when you
insert a block containing a preset attribute.
Text Settings: Similar items to determine as DTEXT
settings.
Lock Position: Locks the location of the attribute within
the block reference. When unlocked, the attribute can
be moved relative to the rest of the block using grip
editing, and multiline attributes can be resized.
Multiple Lines: Specifies that the attribute value can
contain multiple lines of text. When this option is
selected, you can specify a boundary width for the
attribute.
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Boundary Width: Specifies the maximum length of the
lines of text in a multiple-line attribute before wrapping
to the next line. A value of 0.000 means that there is no
restriction on the length of a line of text. Not available
for single-line attributes.
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Blocks
Blocks
 Let’s pause on the window drawing for a moment and
assume we want to make an attributed Room Schedule
block.
 Although we can make the block in the current drawing
and wblock it out or start a new drawing. Name it roomno.dwg This will be the name of the block. We will not
need to make of block of this drawing. It will become a
block in the floor plan drawing.
 We first need to think about is the headings that we will
want in our block.
 Click Insert>Block Definition>Define Attributes. Set up the
first one as follows.
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Usually we select the insertion
point but in this case we want 0,0
because that will be the insertion
point of the block.
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Blocks
Blocks
 The Room Name definition appears in place at 0,0.
 Add the next one. This time make it invisible. We want to
have the attribute so it can be extracted but we don't want
it visible in the drawing. For the default, use the most
common option.
 Set the next attribute is as follows. Set the justification to
middle-center. This way we can add the rectangle later
more easily. Position it under the first attribute.
Click here to position the
text under the existing.
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Blocks
Blocks
 We can continue defining new attributes or we can copy
the last one and then double click and modify the
definition.
 We can also right click on a
definition and select
properties. This way we can
also set the other definition
options.
This one is now
changed. We need to
work on the rest.
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Blocks
Blocks
 Continue modifying the
drawing until all the
definitions are complete.
 Draw a rectangle. Make it 1/2 x 3/16. This will be a judgment
call from past experience as to the size. You want sufficient
space all around. After we insert the block, we can always
adjust using block editor.
 Use inferencing to move the center of the rectangle to the
insertion point of the Room-No attribute.
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Blocks
Blocks
 Save the drawing. Switch to another drawing and insert
the block. Set the drawing scale to 1/4" = 1'-0".
 If the questions were
asked in the wrong order,
you can use the attribute
manager to adjust the
order.
 Look at the command line and answer the questions based
on our schedule. Delete the old text.
 The order is based on the
order the attributes were
created or if this was a
made into a block in
another drawing, then the
order in which the
attributes were selected.
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Blocks
Schedules
 Copy the block and adjust the info to match the schedule
by double clicking on the block.
 Let's use our table style and attributed blocks
to create a schedule.
 Open a new drawing for the schedule
 Make A-ANNO-TEXT current.
 Save drawing as room-schedules.dwg
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Schedules
 Select Insert>Linking & Extraction>Extract Data.
Select create a new data extraction. If we had a
previous extraction file we could use it now and
not do the following steps.
Schedules
 Save as door-schedule.dxe in your Blocks Folder
on your USB
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Schedules
Schedules
 Select the drawing with attributed blocks. At this
point you can add other drawings - for example
other floors.
 Select Display Blocks with attributes. You can also
limit which blocks to extract. We will extract the
Door Schedule first.
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Schedules
Schedules
 Select only Attribute.
 Select only combine identical rows. Click and drag
the headings to be in the right order (match
schedule).
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Schedules
Schedules
 Click the door number column to arrange by
number.
 We could extract data at this point to Excel. Let's
put it in our drawing.
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Schedules
Schedules
 Now let's use our table style. We don't want
Standard!
 This is how the schedule should look like at the
beginning:
 Enter a title for our table.
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Schedules
Schedules
 We need to adjust the table created to match
the format of the schedule sheet.
 Select the row number (2). Right click to insert a
row above.
 We must unlock the cells to modify them. Select
the second row of the table, then right click to
unlock cells. Notice the new table cell ribbon.
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Schedules
Schedules
 Select the two
cells and merge
the cells. Retype
any lost text.
 Continue merging cells and retyping data until it
matches the schedule sheet.
 You can use the
ribbon or right
click and select
the merge option.
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Schedules
Schedules
 Select the cells that are not wide enough. We can
select both since they are together. Drag the
grips to resize.
 Notice that the data info is linked and locked. It is connected to
the drawing. If we change the source drawing and save it we
can update the cells. Right click on the data cells to update the
schedule.
 For the extraction update to work, the source file must be
closed!
 Save the schedules.dwg
 Select the rows we
adjusted, right click and
lock content and
format.
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