Chapter 5: Editing for Productivity

Overview

At least five AutoCAD commands are devoted to duplicating objects, ten if you include the Grips options. Why so many? If you're an experienced drafter, you know that you frequently have to draw the same item several times in many drawings. So AutoCAD offers a variety of ways to reuse existing geometry, thereby automating much of the repetitive work usually associated with manual drafting.

In this chapter, as you finish drawing the studio apartment unit, you will explore some of the ways to exploit existing files and objects while constructing your drawing. For example, you will use existing files as prototypes for new files, eliminating the need to set up layers , scales , and sheet sizes for similar drawings. With AutoCAD you can also duplicate objects in multiple arrays. In Chapter 3 you saw how to use the Object Snap (Osnap) overrides on objects to locate points for drawing complex forms. This chapter describes other ways of using lines to aid your drawing.

And, because you will begin to use the Zoom command more in the exercises in this chapter, you will review this command as you go along. You'll also discover the Pan command ”another tool to help you get around in your drawing.

You're already familiar with many of the commands you will use to draw the apartment unit. So, rather than going through every step of the drawing process, the exercises will sometimes ask you to copy the drawing from a figure, using notes and dimensions as guides, and put objects on the indicated layers. If you have trouble remembering a command you've already learned, just go back and review the appropriate section of the book.