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Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Objects

2009-03-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Objects
So far, you’ve been reading about how to work with linear dimensions. You can also dimension
non-orthogonal objects, such as circles, arcs, triangles, and trapezoids. In this section, you’ll practice dimensioning a non-orthogonal object.
For the following exercises, you’ll use a drawing of a hexagonal-shaped window. Open the 12awind.
dwg file from the sample files; metric users should open the 12a-wind-metric.dwg file. You
can use this file to follow along with the next set of exercises.

Adding a String of Dimensions with a Single Operation

2009-03-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Adding a String of Dimensions with a Single Operation
AutoCAD provides a method for creating a string of dimensions by using a single operation. The
Qdim command lets you select a set of objects instead of having to select points. The following exercise demonstrates how the Qdim command works:
1. If you haven’t done so already, zoom out so you have an overall view of the Unit floor plan.
2. Choose Dimension Quick Dimension, or click Quick Dimension on the fly-out of the
Dimensions control panel.
3. At the Select geometry to dimension: prompt, place a selection window around the
entire left-side wall of the unit.
4. Press ↵ to finish your selection. The following prompt appears:
Specify dimension line position, or [Continuous/Staggered/Baseline/Ordinate/Radius/Diameter/ datumPoint/Edit/seTtings] :
5. Click a point to the left of the wall to place the dimension. A string of dimensions appears,
displaying all the dimensions for the wall.

6. When you’ve finished reviewing the results of this exercise, exit the file without saving it.
The prompt in step 4 indicates several types of dimensions you can choose from. For example,
if you want the dimensions to originate from a single baseline, you can enter B↵ in step 4 to select the Baseline option.
The Qdim command can be a time-saver when you want to dimension a wall quickly. It may not
work in all situations, but if the object you’re dimensioning is fairly simple, it can be all you need.
TIP In this exercise, you used a simple window to select the wall. For more complex shapes, try
using a crossing polygon selection window. See Chapter 2 for more on crossing polygons.

Adding or Removing the Alternate Dimensions
You may eventually encounter a drawing that contains alternate dimensions, as shown in some of the figures earlier in this chapter. You can remove those alternate dimensions by turning off the alternate dimension features. Here’s how it’s done:
1. Choose Dimension Dimension Style, or enter D↵ to open the Dimension Style Manager
dialog box.
2. Select the style that uses the alternate units. In the Styles list box, choose Modify.
3. Click the Alternate Units tab.
4. Click the Display Alternate Units check box to remove the check mark.
5. Click OK, and then click Close to close the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
The dimensions that use the style you just edited change to remove the alternate dimensions.
You can also perform the reverse operation and add alternate dimensions to an existing set of
dimensions. Follow the steps shown here, but instead of removing the check mark in step 4, add the check mark, and make the appropriate setting changes to the rest of the Alternate Units tab.

Using Osnap While Dimensioning
When you pick intersections and endpoints frequently, as you do during dimensioning, it can be inconvenient to use the Osnap shortcut menu. If you know you’ll be using certain osnaps frequently, you can use Running Osnaps (See “The Osnap Options” in Chapter 3 for more on setting up Running Osnaps).
After you’ve designated your Running Osnaps, the next time you’re prompted to select a point, the selected osnap modes are automatically activated. You can still override the default settings by using the Osnap shortcut menu (Shift+click the right mouse button).
There is a drawback to setting a Running Osnap mode: When your drawing gets crowded, you can end up picking the wrong point by accident. However, you can easily toggle Running Osnap mode off by clicking Osnap in the status bar or by pressing F3.

Associating Dimensions with Objects

2009-03-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Associating Dimensions with Objects
You’ve seen how dimensions and the objects they’re associated with can move together so the
dimension remains connected to the object. In the process of editing a drawing, dimensions may
lose their association with objects; so, you may need to re-create an association between a dimension and an object. The following steps show you how this is done:
1. Choose Dimension Reassociate Dimensions. You can also type Dimreassociate↵ at the
Command prompt.
2. At the prompt
Select dimension to reassociate
Select Objects:
select the dimension that you want to reassociate with an object, and then press ↵.
3. At the Specify first extension line origin or [Select object] : prompt,
an X appears at one of the dimension’s definition points.

4. Use the Endpoint osnap, and click the end of the object you want to have connected to the
definition point indicated in step 3.
5. An X appears at the dimension’s other definition point. Use the Endpoint osnap again, and
click the other endpoint of the object you want associated with the dimension. You now have
the dimension associated with the endpoints of the object.
In step 3, you see an X at the location of a dimension definition point. If the definition point is
already associated with an object, the X appears with a box around it. The box is a reminder that the definition point is already associated with an object and that you’ll be changing its association. In this situation, you can press ↵ to switch to the dimension’s other definition point.

Also in step 3, you have the option to select an object. This option enables you to associate the
dimension with an entire object instead of with just one endpoint. If you type S↵ at that prompt in step 3, you can then select the object you want to associate with the dimension. The dimension
changes so that its definition points coincide with the endpoints of the object. The dimension
remains in its original orientation. For example, a vertical dimension remains vertical even if you
associate the dimension with a horizontal line. In this situation, the dimension dutifully dimensions the endpoints of the line but shows a distance of zero.
TIP You can remove a dimension’s association with an object by using the Dimdisassociate command. Type Dimdisassociate↵ at the Command prompt, select the dimension(s), and then press ↵.

Editing Dimensions and Other Objects Together.....

2009-03-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

Editing Dimensions and Other Objects Together
It’s helpful to be able to edit a dimension directly by using its grips. But the key feature of AutoCAD’s dimensions is their ability to automatically adjust themselves to changes in the drawing.
To see how this works, try moving the living room closer to the bathroom wall. You can move
a group of lines and vertices by using the Stretch command and the Crossing option:
1. Click the Stretch tool in the Modify toolbar, or type S↵ and then C↵. You’ll see the
following prompts:
At the Select objects to stretch by crossing-window or crossing-polygon...
Select objects: C
Specify first corner:
2. Pick a crossing window, as illustrated in Figure 12.9, and then press ↵ to confirm your
selection.

3. At the Specify base point or Displacement : prompt, pick any point
on the screen.
4. At the Specify second point or : prompt, enter
@2´<90↵ to move the wall 2´ in a 90° direction. The wall moves, and the dimension text changes to reflect the new dimensions, as shown in Figure 12.10.

5. After viewing the result of using the Stretch tool, click the Undo button in the toolbar or type U↵ to change the drawing back to its previous state. You can also use the Mirror, Rotate, and Stretch commands with dimensions. The polar arrays also work, and you can use Extend and Trim with linear dimensions. When you’re editing dimensioned objects, be sure to select the dimension associated with the object being edited. As you select objects, using the Crossing Window (C) or Crossing Polygon (CP) selection option helps you include the dimensions. For more on these selection options, see Chapter 2. TIP If a hatch pattern or solid fill completely covers a dimension, you can use the Draworder command to have AutoCAD draw the dimension over the hatch or solid fill. See Chapters 7, 14, and 18 for more on various uses of the Draworder command. Modifying the Dimension Style Settings by Using Override
In the “Moving Fixed Dimension Text” section, you used the Properties palette to facilitate the moving of the dimension text. You can also choose Dimension Override (Dimoverride command) to accomplish the same thing. The Override option enables you to change an individual dimension’s style settings.
Here’s an example that shows how you can use the Override option in place of the Properties
palette in the first exercise of the “Moving Fixed Dimension Text” section:
1. Press the Esc key twice to make sure you aren’t in the middle of a command. Then, choose Dimension Override from the drop-down menu.
2. At the next prompt Enter dimension variable name to override or [Clear overrides]: type Dimfit↵.
3. At the Enter new value for dimension variable <3>: prompt, enter 4↵. This has the same
effect as selecting Move Text, Add Leader from the Fit option of the Properties palette.
4. The Enter dimension variable name to override: prompt appears again, enabling you to
enter another dimension variable. Press ↵ to move to the next step.
5. At the Select objects: prompt, select the dimension you want to change. You can select a group
of dimensions if you want to change several dimensions at once. Press ↵ when you’ve finished with your selection. The dimension settings change for the selected dimensions.
As you can see from this example, the Dimoverride command requires that you know exactly which dimension variable to edit in order to make the desired modification. In this case, setting the Dimfit variable to 4 lets you move the dimension text independently of the dimension line. If you find the Dimoverride command useful, consult Appendix C to determine which system variable corresponds to the Dimension Style dialog box settings.

Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions

2009-03-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions
In some cases, you have to change an individual dimension’s style settings in order to edit that
dimension. For example, if you try to move the text of a typical linear dimension, you may find
that the text and dimension lines are inseparable. You need to make a change to the dimension
style setting that controls how AutoCAD locates dimension text in relation to the dimension line.
This section describes how you can change the style settings of individual dimensions to facilitate
changes in the dimension.
TIP If you need to change the dimension style of a dimension to match that of another, you can
use the Match Properties tool. See Chapter 7 for details on how to use this tool.

Moving Fixed Dimension Text
You’ve seen how dimension text is attached to the dimension line so that when the text is
moved, the dimension line follows. You may encounter situations in which you want to move
the text independently of the dimension line. The following steps show how you can separate
dimension text from its dimension line. These steps also show how you can change a single
dimension’s style settings:
1. Click the dimension you want to edit, to expose its grips.
2. Right-click, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Properties palette.
3. Scroll down the list of properties until you see the Fit category. If you don’t see a list of
options under Fit, click the downward-pointing arrow to the right to display a new set
of options.
4. Scroll farther down the list until you see the Text Movement option to the right of the Text
Movement listing, and then click this option.
5. Click the arrow that appears next to the Keep Dim Line With Text listing to open the dropdown
list; then, select the Move Text, Add Leader option.

6. Close the Properties palette.

In the Properties palette, the Move Text, Add Leader option in the Fit category lets you move the dimension text independently of the dimension line. It also draws a leader from the dimension line to the text. Another option, Move Text, No Leader, does the same thing but doesn’t include a leader.
You can also set these options for a dimension style by using the Text Placement options in the Fit tab of the New Dimension Style or Modify Dimension Style dialog box.
As you can see from these steps, the Properties palette gives you access to many of the settings
you saw for setting up dimension styles. The main difference here is that the Properties palette
affects only the dimensions you’ve selected.
In a previous exercise, you changed the format setting of a single dimension after it was placed.
These settings can be made a standard part of your Architectural dimension style by using the
Modify button in the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.

TIP If you have multiple dimension styles and you want to change an existing dimension to the currentdimension style, use the Dimension Update tool. Choose Dimension Update on the Dimensionscontrol panel, or choose Dimension _Update from the drop-down menu. Then, select the dimensionsyou want to change, and press ↵. The selected dimensions will be converted to the current style.
Rotating and Positioning Dimension Text
Once in a while, dimension text works better if it’s kept in a horizontal orientation, even if the dimension itself isn’t horizontal. To rotate dimension text, choose Dimension Align Text Angle, select the dimension text, and then enter an angle or select two points to graphically indicate an angle. You can also enter 0↵ to return the dimension text to its default angle.
If you need to move the dimension text to the left, center, or right of the dimension line, you can use the Left, Center, or Right option under the Dimension Align Text menu options.

Using Grips to Make Minor Adjustments to Dimensions

2009-03-03T04:29:00.000-08:00

Using Grips to Make Minor Adjustments to Dimensions
The definition points, whose location you can see through their grips, are located on their own
unique layer called Defpoints. Definition points are displayed regardless of whether the Defpoints
layer is on or off. To give you an idea of how these definition points work, try the following exercises, which show you how to directly manipulate the definition points.
In this exercise, you’ll use coordinates to move a dimension line:
1. With the grips visible, click the grip near the dimension text.
TIP Because the Defpoints layer has the unique feature of being visible even when turned off, you can use it as a layer for laying out your drawing. While Defpoints is turned off, you can still see objects assigned to it, but the objects won’t plot.
2. Move the cursor around. When you move the cursor vertically, the text moves along the
dimension line. When you move the cursor horizontally, the dimension line and text move
together, keeping their parallel orientation to the dimensioned floor plan.
TIP Here the entire dimension line, including the text, moves. In a later exercise, you’ll see how
you can move the dimension text independently of the dimension line.
3. Enter @9´<0↵. Metric users should enter @275<0↵. The dimension line, text, and dimension
extensions stretch to the new location to the right of the text (see Figure 12.8).

TIP If you need to move several dimension lines, select them all at the Command prompt; then,
Shift+click one set of dimension-line grips from each dimension. After you’ve selected the grips,
click one of the hot grips again. You can then move all the dimension lines at once.
In step 3 of the previous exercise, you saw that you can specify an exact distance for the dimensionline’s new location by entering a relative polar coordinate. Cartesian coordinates work just as well. You can even use object snaps to relocate dimension lines.
Next, try moving the dimension line back by using the Perpendicular osnap:
1. Click the grip at the bottom of the dimension line you just edited.
2. Shift+click the right mouse button, and choose Perpendicular from the Osnap shortcut menu.
3. Place the cursor on the vertical dimension line that dimensions the balcony and click it.
4. Choose View Zoom All, and then choose File Save to save this file in its current state.
The selected dimension line moves to align with the other vertical dimension, back to its original
location.

Appending Data to Dimension Text

2009-03-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

Let’s see how this works by changing an existing dimension’s text in your drawing:
1. Choose Modify Object Text Edit, or type ED↵.
2. Click the last horizontal dimension you added to the drawing at the top of the screen, to
open the Text Formatting toolbar.

3. Press the End key to place the cursor at the end of the 14´-0˝ text, and then type to face
of stud.
4. Click OK on the Text Formatting toolbar, and then press ↵ to exit the Ddedit command. The
dimension changes to read 14´-0˝ to face of stud.
5. Because you don’t need the new appended text for the tutorial, click the Undo button in the
Standard toolbar to remove the appended text.

TIP In this exercise, you were able to edit only a single dimension. To append text to several
dimensions at once, you need to use the Dimension Edit tool. See the “Making Changes to MultipleDimensions” sidebar in this chapter for more on this command.
If you need to restore the original dimension text for a dimension whose value has been completelyreplaced, you can use the steps shown in the previous exercise, but in step 3, replace the textwith the <> bracket symbols.
You can also have AutoCAD automatically add a dimension suffix or prefix to all dimensions,
instead of just a chosen few, by using the Suffix or Prefix option in the Primary Units tab of the NewDimension Style or Modify Dimension Style dialog box. See Appendix C for more on this feature.
AutoCAD provides the associative dimensioning capability to automatically update dimension textwhen a drawing is edited. Objects called definition points determine how edited dimensions are updated.
The definition points are located at the same points you pick when you determine the dimension
location. For example, the definition points for linear dimensions are the extension line origins. The definitionpoints for a circle diameter are the points used to pick the circle and the opposite side of the circle.
The definition points for a radius are the points used to pick the circle, plus the center of the circle.
Definition points are point objects. They’re difficult to see because they’re usually covered by
the feature they define. You can, however, see them indirectly by using grips. The definition pointsof a dimension are the same as the dimension’s grip points. You can see them by clicking a dimension.
Try the following:

1. Make sure the Grips feature is turned on. (See Chapter 2 to refresh your memory on the
Grips feature.)
2. Click the longest of the three vertical dimensions you drew in the earlier exercise. You’ll see
the grips of the dimension, as shown in Figure 12.7.

Making Changes to Multiple Dimensions
You can use the Dimension Edit tool to quickly edit existing dimensions. This tool gives you the ability to edit more than one dimension’s text at one time. One common use for the Dimension Edit tool is to change a string of dimensions to read Equal instead of showing the actual dimensioned distance. The followingexample shows an alternative to using the Properties palette for appending text to a dimension:
1. Type Ded↵.
2. At this prompt Enter type of dimension editing [Home/New/Rotate/Oblique]:
type N↵ to use the New option. The Multiline Text Editor opens, showing 0 in the text box.
3. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor behind or in front of the 0, and then enter the text you wantto append to the dimension. Or, you can remove the 0 and replace the dimension with your text.
4. Click OK.
5. At the Select objects: prompt, pick the dimensions you want to edit. The Select objects:
prompt remains, enabling you to select several dimensions.
6. Press ↵ to finish your selection. The dimension changes to include your new text or to replace the existing dimension text.
The Dimension Edit tool is useful in editing dimension text, but you can also use this tool to make graphicalchanges to the text. Here is a list of the other Dimension Edit tool options:
Home Moves the dimension text to its standard default position and angle.
Rotate Rotates the dimension text to a new angle.
Oblique Skews the dimension extension lines to a new angle. (See the “Skewing Dimension
Lines” section, later in this chapter.)

Editing Dimensions

2009-02-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

Editing Dimensions
As you add more dimensions to your drawings, you’ll find that AutoCAD occasionally places the
dimension text or line in an inappropriate location, or you may need to modify the dimension text.
In this section, you’ll take an in-depth look at how you can modify dimensions to suit those special
circumstances that always crop up.
Appending Data to Dimension Text
So far in this chapter, you’ve been accepting the default dimension text. You can append information
to the default dimension value or change it entirely if you need to. At the point when you see
the temporary dimension dragging with your cursor, enter T↵. Then, using the less-than (<) and
greater-than (>) symbols, you can add text either before or after the default dimension or replace
the symbols entirely to replace the default text. The Properties button on the Properties toolbar lets
you modify the existing dimension text in a similar way.

Continuing from an Older Dimension

2009-02-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

Continuing from an Older Dimension
You may have noticed in step 7 that you had to press ↵ twice to exit the command. As with Continue,
you can draw the baseline dimension from an older dimension by pressing ↵ at the Specify
a second extension line origin [Undo/Select]

Drawing Linear Dimensions

2009-02-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

Drawing Linear Dimensions
The most common type of dimension you’ll be using is the linear dimension. The linear dimension
is an orthogonal dimension measuring the width and length of an object. AutoCAD provides three
dimensioning tools for this purpose: Linear (Dimlinear), Continue (Dimcont), and Baseline (Dimbase).
These options are readily accessible from the Dimensions control panel’s fly-out toolbar or
the Dimension drop-down menu.

WARNING In the following set of exercises, you’ll see figures displaying dimensions in both
Imperial and metric units. I’ve included both measurements so that both Imperial and metric
users can more easily follow the tutorial. But in your own drawing, you’ll see only one dimension
value displayed above the dimension line.

Finding the Dimensions Control Panel
Before you apply any dimension, you should study the Dimensions control panel. This control
panel contains nearly all the commands necessary to draw and edit your dimensions. It contains atoolbar fly-out to the right of the row of tools; this fly-out is similar to the one in the 2D Draw controlpanel. To open it, click the downward-pointing arrow to the far right of the row of tools.

You can also open the Dimension toolbar, which contains many of the same tools as the Dimensionscontrol panel. Right-click any toolbar, and choose Dimension from the shortcut menu. TheDimension commands are also available from the Dimension drop-down menu. Now, you’re
ready to begin dimensioning.

Using Dimensions

2009-02-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

Chapter 12 Using Dimensions
Before you determine the dimensions of a project, your design is in flux, and many questions
may be unanswered. After you begin dimensioning, you’ll start to see whether things fit or work
together. Dimensioning can be crucial to how well a design works and how quickly it develops. The dimensions answer questions about code conformance if you’re an architect; they answer questions about tolerances, fit, and interference if you’re involved in mechanical applications. After you andyour design team reach a design on a schematic level, communicating even tentative dimensions to others on the team can accelerate design development. Dimensions represent a point from whichyou can further develop your ideas.
With AutoCAD, you can easily add tentative or final dimensions to any drawing. AutoCAD
gives you an accurate dimension without your having to take measurements. You pick the two
points to be dimensioned and the dimension line location, and AutoCAD does the rest. AutoCAD’s
associative dimensioning capability automatically updates dimensions whenever the size or shape ofthe dimensioned object changes. These dimensioning features can save you valuable time and
reduce the number of dimensional errors in your drawings.
Topics in this chapter include the following:
◆
Understanding the Components of a Dimension
◆
Creating a Dimension Style
◆
Drawing Linear Dimensions
◆
Editing Dimensions
◆
Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Objects
◆
Adding a Note with a Leader Arrow
◆
Applying Ordinate Dimensions
◆
Adding Tolerance Notation

Understanding the Components of a Dimension
Before you start the exercises in this chapter, it will help to know the names of the parts of a dimension.Figure 12.1 shows a sample of a dimension with the parts labeled. The dimension line is the linethat represents the distance being dimensioned. It’s the horizontal line with the diagonal tick markson either end. The extension lines are the lines that originate from the object being dimensioned.They show you the exact location from which the dimension is taken. The dimension textis the dimension value, usually shown inside or above the dimension line.

Another component of a dimension line is the dimension line extension.This is the part of the dimension line that extends beyond the extension line. Dimension line extensions are usually used only on architectural dimensions. The extension lines usually extend beyond the dimension linesin all types of dimensions. The extension line offset from originis the distance from the beginning ofthe extension line to the object being dimensioned. The extension beyond dimension lineis the distance the dimension line extends past the extension line and is most commonly used in architectural drawings.
You can control each of these components by creating or editing dimension styles.
Dimension stylesare the settings that determine the look of your dimensions. You can store multiple styles ina single drawing. The first exercise in this chapter will show you how to create a dimension style.
Dimensioning Standards
In addition to the components of a dimension, you should know about the standards that govern the placement and style of dimensions in a drawing. Each industry has a different set of standards for text size, text style, arrow style, dimension placement, and general dimensioning methods. These issues are beyond the scope of this book; however, I urge you to become familiar with the standards associated with your industry. Many resources are available to you if you want to find out more about dimension standards. Here are a few resources on the subject:
◆
For mechanical drafting in the United States, check the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) website:http://www.asme.org.
◆
For European standards, see the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) website:
http://www.iso.org.
◆
For architectural standards in the United States, see the American Institute of Architects (AIA) website:http://www.aia.org.

Creating a Dimension Style
Dimension styles are similar to text styles. They determine the look of your dimensions as well as the size of dimensioning features, such as the dimension text and arrows. You can set up a dimension style to have special types of arrows, for instance, or to position the dimension text above orin line with the dimension line. Dimension styles also make your work easier by enabling you tostore and duplicate your most common dimension settings.
AutoCAD gives you one of two default dimension styles,ISO-25orStandard,depending on whether you use the metric or Imperial (also called English) measurement system. You’ll probably add many other styles to suit the types of drawings you’re creating. You can also create variations ofa general style for those situations that call for only minor changes in the dimension’s appearance.In this section, you’ll learn how to set up your own dimension style based on the Standard dimension style (see Figure 12.2). For metric users, the settings are different, but the overall methods are the same.

Follow these steps to create a dimension style:
1.
Open the Unit
file you edited in the preceding chapter. If you didn’t create one, use the12aunit.dwgfile and rename it Unit.dwg. Metric users should open12a-unit-metric.dwgand rename itUnit.dwg.
2.
Issue Zoom All to display the entire floor plan.
3.
Click the Dimension Style tool in the Dimensions control panel. You can also choose Format
Dimension Style or typeD↵at the Command prompt to open the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
4.
Select Standard from the Styles list box. Metric users should select ISO-25.

5.
Click New to open the Create New Dimension Style dialog box.

6.
With the Copy Of Standard or ISO-25 name highlighted in the New Style Name input box,enter My Architectural.
7.
Click Continue to open the detailed New Dimension Style dialog box.

You’ve just created a dimension style called My Architectural, but at this point it’s identical to
the Standard style on which it’s based. Nothing has happened to the Standard style; it’s still availableif you need to use it.
Setting Up the Primary Unit Style
Now, you need to set up your new dimension style so that it conforms to the U.S. architectural style of dimensioning. Let’s start by changing the unit style for the dimension text. Just as you changed the overall unit style of AutoCAD to a feet-and-inches style for your bath drawing in Chapter 3, you must do the same for your dimension styles. Setting the overall unit style doesn’t automatically set the dimension unit style. Follow these steps:
1.
In the New Dimension Style dialog box, click the Primary Units tab.

2.
In the Linear Dimensions group, open the Unit Format drop-down list, and choose Architectural.
Notice that this drop-down list contains the same unit styles as the main Drawing
Units dialog box (choose Format Units). Metric users can skip this option.
TIP
The Decimal Separator option a few settings below the Unit Format option lets you choose
between a period and a comma for decimal points. Metric users often use the comma for a decimal point, and U.S. users use a period. This option doesn’t have any meaning for measurements other than decimal, so it’s dimmed when the Architectural unit format is selected.
3.
Select 0´-01⁄4˝from the Precision drop-down list, just below the Unit Format list. Metric users
should select 0.00. The Precision option enables you to set the level of precision that is displayed
in the dimension text. It doesn’t limit the precision of AutoCAD’s drawing database.
This value is used to limit only the display of dimension text values.

TIP
Every dimension style setting has an equivalent system variable. See Appendix C for more on
system variables that are directly associated with dimensions.
4.
Just below the Precision drop-down list, open the Fraction Format drop-down list, and select
Diagonal. Notice what happens to the graphic: The fractional dimensions change to show
how your dimension text will look. Metric users can skip this step, because it isn’t available
when the Decimal unit format is selected.
5.
In the Zero Suppression group in the lower-left corner, click 0 Inches to deselect this check
box. If you leave it turned on, indications of 0 inches will be omitted from the dimension text.
(In architectural drawings, 0 inches are shown as in this dimension: 12´-0˝.) Metric users can
ignore this option.If you use the Imperial measurement system, you’ve set up My Architectural’s dimension unit style to show dimensions in feet and inches, the standard method for U.S. construction documents.Metric users have changed the Precision value and kept the Decimal unit system.

Setting the Height for Dimension Text
Along with the unit style, you should adjust the size of the dimension text. The Text tab of the New Dimension Style dialog box lets you set a variety of text options, including text location relative to the dimension line, style, and height.
Follow these steps to set the height of your dimension text:
1.
Click the Text tab to display the text options.

2.
Highlight the contents of the Text Height input box.
3.
Type1/8↵to make the text1⁄8˝ high. Metric users should enter0.3↵for the text height.
Unlike the text you created in Chapter 10, you specify the text height by its final plot size. You
then specify an overall dimension scale factor that affects the sizing of all dimensioning settings,
such as text and arrows.If you want to use a specific text style for your dimensions, select a text style in the Text Style drop-down list in the Text tab. If the style you select happens to have a height specification greater than 0, that height will override any text height settings you enter in the Text tab.
Setting the Location and Orientation of Dimension Text
AutoCAD’s default setting for the placement of dimension text puts the text in line with the
dimension line, as shown in the example at the top of Figure 12.2, earlier in this chapter. However,you want the new Architectural style to put the text above the dimension line, as is done in the center of Figure 12.2. To do that, you’ll use the Text Placement and Text Alignment options in the Text tab of the New Dimension Style dialog box:
1.
In the Text Alignment group in the lower-right corner of the dialog box, click the Aligned
With Dimension Line radio button.
2.
In the Text Placement group, open the Vertical drop-down list, and select Above. The
appearance of the sample image changes to show how your new settings will look.
3.
Again in the Text Placement group, change the Offset From Dim Line value to
1⁄16. Thissetting controls the size of the gap between the dimension line and the dimension text.

Each time you change a setting, the graphic gives you immediate feedback about how your
changes will affect your dimension style.
TIP Metric users may not need to change these settings, depending on your preference for dimension styles.

Choosing an Arrow Style and Setting the Dimension Scale
Next, you’ll specify a different type of arrow for your new dimension style. For linear dimensions
in architectural drawings, a diagonal line, ortickmark, is typically used, rather than an arrow.
In addition, you want to set the scale for the graphical components of the dimension, such as
the arrows and text. Recall from Chapter 10 that text must be scaled up in size in order to appearat the proper size in the final output of the drawing. Dimensions too must be scaled so they lookcorrect when the drawing is plotted. The arrows are controlled by settings in the Symbols AndArrows tab, and the overall scale of the dimension style is set in the Fit tab.

Here are the steps for specifying the arrow type and scale:
1.
Click the Symbols And Arrows tab to display the options for controlling the arrow style and
dimension line extensions.

2.
In the Arrowheads group, open the First drop-down list, and choose Architectural Tick.
The graphic next to the arrowhead name shows you what the arrowhead looks like.
TIPSee Appendix C for details on how you can create your own arrowheads. AutoCAD also lets
you set up a separate arrow style for leaders.
3.
In the Arrowheads group, change the Arrow Size setting to1⁄8. Metric users should enter.3.Next, you need to set the behavior of the dimension line and extension lines:
1.
Click the Lines tab to display the options for controlling the dimension and extension lines.

2.
In the Dimension Lines group, highlight the value in the Extend Beyond Ticks input box,
and enter1/16. (Metric users should enter0.15.) This causes the dimension lines to extend
past the tick arrows. This is a standard graphic practice used for dimensioning linear dimensions
in architectural plans.

3.
In the Extension Lines group, change the Extend Beyond Dim Lines setting to1⁄8. Metric
users should change this to.3. This setting determines the distance the extension line
extends past the dimension line.

4.
Again in the Extension Lines group, change the Offset From Origin setting to1⁄8. Metric users should change this to.3. This sets the distance from the point being dimensioned to the beginning of the dimension extension line.

5.
Click the Fit tab of the New Dimension Style dialog box to display the options for overall
dimension scale and miscellaneous settings.

6.
Turn on the Annotative option in the Scale For Dimension Features group. You may recall
from Chapter 10 that the Annotative option allows AutoCAD to automatically scale an
object to the drawing’s annotation scale.
7.
Click OK to close the New Dimension Style dialog box. The Dimension Style Manager dialog
box opens again.

Scale for Dimensions in Legacy Drawings
Drawings created prior to AutoCAD 2008 relied on scale factors to determine the scaling of dimensions.Because it’s likely that you’ll run into legacy drawing files, here is some information about the settingsused for those earlier dimensions.
Instead of using the Annotative option, the Use Overall Scale Of option is used in the Scale For DimensionFeatures group. You select the Use Overall Scale Of radio button and enter a drawing scale factor inthe Use Overall Scale Of input box.
All the values you enter for the options in the New Dimension Style dialog box are multiplied by this Use Over all Scale Of value to obtain the final size of the dimension components. For example, the text height you entered earlier,1⁄8˝, is multiplied by 48 for a dimension text height of 6˝. For metric users, the text height of 0.3 is multiplied by 50 for a text height of 15 cm. For more on the scaling of text and other objectin AutoCAD, see Chapter 3.

TIP
If you use the Scale Dimensions To Layout option in the Scale For Dimension Features group
of the Fit tab, AutoCAD uses the Layout view port scale to size the dimension components. See
Chapter 8 for more information about view port scale settings. This can be useful if you have a
drawing that you want to print at multiple scales.
Setting Up Alternate Units
You can use the Alternate Units tab of the New Dimension Style dialog box to set up AutoCAD to
display a second dimension in centimeters or millimeters. Likewise, if you’re a metric user, you canset up a second dimension to display feet and inches. The following exercise shows you how to setup alternate dimensions. You don’t have to do this exercise now; it’s here for your information. Ifyou like, come back later and try it to see how it affects your dimensions. You can pick up the tutorialin the next section, “Setting the Current Dimension Style.”
TIP
If you decide later that you don’t want the alternate units to be displayed, you can turn them
off by returning to this dialog box and removing the check mark from the Display Alternate Unitscheck box.
Here are the steps for setting up alternate dimensions:
1.
In the Dimension Style Manager, select a style, and then click Modify. Or, if you want to
create a new style, click New.
2.
In the New Dimension Style dialog box, click the Alternate Units tab.

3.
Click the Display Alternate Units check box. The options in the tab become available for
your input.
4.
Select the appropriate option from the Unit Format drop-down list. U.S. users should select
Decimal to show metric alternate units. Metric users should select Architectural.
5.
Select an appropriate precision value from the Precision drop-down list.
6.
Enter a scale factor for your alternate dimension in the Multiplier For Alt Units input box.
For U.S. users, the default value is25.4. This value converts feet-and-inch dimensions to millimeters.In our metric examples, you’ve been using centimeters, so change this setting to2.54. Metric users should enter0.3937to convert centimeters to feet and inches.
7.
In the Placement group, select where you want the alternate dimension to appear in relation
to the main dimension.
8.
Click OK to close the New Dimension Style dialog box. The Dimension Style Manager dialog
box opens again.

Setting the Current Dimension Style
Before you can begin to use your new dimension style, you must make it the current default:
1.
Click My Architectural in the Styles list box in the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
2.
Click the Set Current button at far right in the dialog box.
3.
Click Close to exit the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.
You can also select a dimension style from the Dim Style Control drop-down list in the Dimensions control panel. You’re now ready to use your new dimension style.

Fitting Text and Arrows in Tight Places
Every now and then, you’ll need to dimension a small gap or a small width of an object that won’t
allow dimension text to fit. The Fit tab includes a few other settings that control how dimensions actwhen the extension lines are too close. The Text Placement group contains three options to place thetext in tight situations:
Beside The Dimension Line Places text next to the extension line but close to the dimension line.You’ll see how this affects your dimension later.
Over Dimension Line, With Leader Places the dimension text farther from the dimension line,and includes an arrow or a leader from the dimension line to the text.
Over Dimension Line, Without Leader Does the same as the previous setting, but doesn’t include the leader.
The options in the Fit Options group let you control how text and arrows are placed when there isn’tenough room for both between the extension lines.

In the next set of exercises, you’ll use the My Architectural style you just created. To switch to
another style, open the Dimension Style Manager dialog box again, select the style you want from the Styles list, and click Set Current, as you did in the previous exercise.

Modifying a Dimension Style
To modify an existing dimension style, open the Dimension Style Manager dialog box, highlight
the style you want to edit, and then click Modify to open the Modify Dimension Style dialog box.
This is virtually identical to the New Dimension Style dialog box you’ve been working with. You
can then make changes to the different components of the selected dimension style. When you’vefinished making changes and closed both dialog boxes, all the dimensions associated with theedited style update automatically in your drawing. For example, if you decide you need to changethe dimension scale of a style, you can open the Modify Dimension Style dialog box and change theScale value in the Fit tab.
This section introduces you to the various settings that let you determine the appearance of a
dimension style.
This section doesn’t discuss every option; to learn more about the other dimensionstyle options, consult Appendix B. There, you’ll find descriptions of all the items in the NewDimension Style and Modify Dimension Style dialog boxes, plus reference material covering thesystem variables associated with each option.

TIP If your application is strictly architectural, you may want to make these same dimension stylechanges to the Acad.dwt template file or create a set of template files specifically for architectural drawings of different scales.

Creating Table Styles

2009-02-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

Creating Table Styles
If you find that you’re creating the same table layout over and over, you can set up predefined tablestyles. You can set up the properties of the title, column headings, and data in advance so you don’t haveto set them up each time you create a table. For example, if you prefer to use Arial bold at 0.25˝ for thetitle and standard Arial at 0.125˝ for the column headings, you can create a table style with those settings.
The next time you need to create a table, you can select your custom table style and specify the
number of columns and rows; then, you’ll be ready to add the data without having to format the text.
To create a table style, follow these steps:
1. Choose Format Table Style from the menu bar to open the Table Style dialog box. You see
the Standard table style in the list box. This is the one you used in the previous exercises.

2. Click the New button to open the Create New Table Style dialog box. This is where you give
your new table style a name.

3. Enter My Table Style, and click Continue to open the New Table Style dialog box (see Figure 11.5).

4. You’ll learn more about the options in this dialog box next. For now, click OK to close the
dialog box.
5. Your new table style now appears in the Styles list of the Table Style dialog box. If you want
to edit an existing table style, you can select the style from the list and click the Modify button.
The Modify Table Style dialog box will appear, enabling you to edit the existing style.
The Modify Table Style dialog box is identical to the New Table Style dialog box shown in
Figure 11.5.
6. Click Close to exit the dialog box.
After you’ve created a style, you can select it from the Table Style Settings group of the Insert
Table dialog box that you used to create the sample table (choose Draw Table).

You can also open the New Table Style dialog box by clicking the Table Style Dialog button just
to the right of the Table Style Name drop-down list in the Insert Table dialog box.
The Table Style Options
Let’s take a closer look at the New Table Style dialog box shown earlier in Figure 11.5. It may seema bit bewildering at first, but once you take the time to explore the parts of this dialog box, it’s fairlystraightforward. The following offers a description of the parts of the New Table Style dialog boxby group:Starting Table Typically, you can set up a new table style using the settings in the othergroups of this dialog box, but the Starting Table group gives you the ability to use an existingtable in the drawing as the basis for your new table style. This can be helpful if you’ve alreadydone some work formatting a table in your drawing. This group includes two buttons. The oneon the left lets you select an existing table in the drawing for your new style. If you click this button,the dialog box closes temporarily to allow you to select a table in your drawing. The buttonon the right removes your in-drawing table selection and reverts to the settings in the dialog box.
General The General group offers only one setting: the direction for the table. Typically, you’ll
use the Down option, which means the table reads from top to bottom. If for some reason you
need a table with titles at the bottom, choose the Up option.
Cell Styles You have a high degree of control over the appearance of individual cells through
the cell styles. By default, your new table style will have three cell styles called Data, Header,
and Title. You can select these cell styles from the drop-down list at the top of the Cell Styles
group. You can then edit the selected style using the three tabs below the drop-down list. Here
is a brief description of the function of each tab:
◆ General give you control over the background color, alignment, format, and type of
information presented in the cell. The Margins options control the margins in the cell.
The Merge Cells On Row/Column Creation option at the bottom of the General tab
causes the cells to merge into a single cell for the selected cell style.
◆ Text gives you control over the default text style, height, and color, and the angle of the
text in the cell.
◆ Borders lets you control the lineweight for the borders of the cell.
You can also create your own cell style using the two buttons to the right of the Cell Styles dropdownlist. The left button lets you create a new cell style. The button on the right lets you create,rename, or delete a cell style through the Manage Cell Style dialog box.
Cell Style Preview This window gives you a preview of what the cell style will look like with
the settings you make in the tabs of the Cell Styles group. This preview changes in real time as
you change the settings in the General, Text, or Borders tab.

The Bottom Line
Using Fields to Associate Text with Drawing Properties Fields are a special type of text object
that can be linked to object properties. They can help to automate certain text-related tasks.
Master It Name two uses for fields that you learned about in the first part of this chapter.
Solution Fields can be used to update text that labels a block. They can also be used to
update text and report the area enclosed by a polyline.
Adding Tables to Your Drawing The Tables feature can help you make quick work of
schedules and other tabular data that you want to include in a drawing.
Master It What is the name of the dialog box that appears when you click the Table tool
from the Tables control panel?
Solution Insert Table.Editing the Table Line Work Because tables include line work to delineate their differentcells, AutoCAD gives you control over table borders and lines.
Master It How do you get to the Cell Border Properties dialog box?
Solution Select the cell or cells in the table, right-click, and choose Borders.
Adding Formulas to Cells Tables can also function like a spreadsheet by allowing you to add
formulas to cells.
Master It What type of text object lets you add formulas to cells?
Solution Field.
Importing and Exporting Tables The Table feature allows you to import Microsoft Excel
spreadsheets into AutoCAD.
Master It Describe how to import a spreadsheet from Excel into AutoCAD.
Solution Open the spreadsheet, and select the cells you want to import. Choose Edit Copy
to copy the spreadsheet data into the Clipboard. In AutoCAD, choose Edit Paste Special. In
the Paste Special dialog box, select AutoCAD Entities, and click OK.

Adjusting Table Text Orientation and Location

2009-02-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

Adjusting Table Text Orientation and Location
You now have the basic layout of the table, with one difference. The Floor, Base, Walls, and Ceiling
labels you just added are oriented horizontally, but you want them oriented vertically, as in Figure 11.1.The following steps will show you how to rotate a set of labels in a table so they appear in the orientation you want:
1.
Click in the cell labeled Floor to select it.
2.
Shift+click in the cell labeled Ceiling to select all four of the cells below the Finish heading.
The combined cells have four grips, one on each side of the group.

3.
Click the grip at the bottom of the selected group, and move it down about four rows. The
entire row becomes taller. This provides room for the text when you rotate it.
4.
Right-click in the selected cells, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to open the
Properties palette.
5.
In the Properties palette, click the Text Rotation input box under the Content group.

6.
Enter90↵for a 90-degree rotation of the text. The text rotates into a vertical orientation.
7.
Close the Properties palette.
With the text in this orientation, the columns are too wide, so you’ll change the cell width for
the selected cells.
8.
Move the right grip to the left to decrease the width of the cells.

9.
For the final touch, you’ll center the text in the cells. With the cells still selected, right-click
in the selected cells, and choose Alignment Bottom Center. The text becomes centered in
the cells and aligned at the bottom of the cells.

TIP
You can also control the margin between the text and the cell border by using the Cell Margin
options in the Properties palette. Select the entire table, right-click, and choose Properties. In theProperties palette, click the Vertical Cell Margin option or the Horizontal Cell Margin option inthe Table group.
In the last exercise, you learned how you can adjust the text orientation through the Properties
palette. You can also adjust the width of multiple cells by adjusting the grip location. If you need
to be more precise about the cell width, you can use the Cell Width option in the Properties palettefor a set of cells.Now, continue to add text to the cells and adjust their sizes:
1.
Double-click in the cell in the Number column just below the row that contains the Floor,
Base, Walls, and Ceiling cells. A text cursor appears in the cell, and the Text Formatting toolbar
opens.

2.
Enter110, and press↵. Instead of advancing to the next cell to the right, you advance to thenext cell below.
3.
Enter 111, and press ↵ again. Continue to enter each room number in this way. When you’ve
finished entering the room numbers, click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar to close it.
Next, you’ll reduce the width of the column to fit the text a bit better.

4. Click in the cell with the Number text label. It’s the first column heading in the table.

5. Shift+click in the bottom cell of the Number column to select the entire column.

6. Click the grip to the left of the column, and move the grip to the right so the column width
is approximately half the width of the Room column. You can zoom in on the column to
allow more control over the positioning of the grip.
7. Press Esc to exit the selection and view your table so far.

Now, suppose you want to delete one of the extra rows of cells at the bottom of the table or add
a new row. Here’s what to do:
1. Click the bottom-left cell of the table to select it.
2. Right-click, and choose Rows Delete from the shortcut menu. The row disappears.
3. To add a row, select a cell, right-click, and choose Rows Insert Above or Rows Insert
Below, depending on where you want the new row.
You may notice the Delete Columns and Insert Columns options in the shortcut menu that let
you add or delete columns. These options function in a similar way to the Delete Rows and Insert
Rows options.
Editing the Table Line Work
So far, you’ve concentrated on how you can format text and cells in a table, but you’ll also want
some control over the lines in the table. Typically, heavier lines are used around the border of the
table and between the title and the rest of the table.
The Cell Borders shortcut menu option lets you modify the outline of the border. When you
select this option, the Cell Border Properties dialog box opens.

You can use this dialog box to fine-tune the appearance of the line work of the table. Try the following exercise to see firsthand how this dialog box works:
1. Turn on the display of lineweights by choosing Format Lineweight.
2. In the Lineweight Settings dialog box, turn on the Display Lineweight setting; then, click OK.
3. Click in the title cell at the top of the table to select the cell, and then right-click and choose
Borders to open the Cell Border Properties dialog box.
4. Click the Lineweight drop-down list, and select 0.30 mm.
5. Click the Outside Borders button in the Apply To group to tell AutoCAD to change the
borders of the cell to the selected lineweight.

6. Click OK. The title cell is now outlined in a heavier line. To see it clearly, press the Esc key
to close the Table toolbar.
You can also adjust the lineweights that encircle a group of cells, as in the following exercise:
1. Click the cell in the upper-left corner with the Number label.
2. Shift+click the cell in the lower-right corner of the table so that all the cells from the secondfrom-
the-top row down are selected.
3. Right-click, and choose Borders.
4. Select 0.30 mm from the Lineweight drop-down list. Then, click the Outside Borders button
as you did in step 5 of the previous exercise.
5. Click OK. The outlines of the selected cells are given the new lineweight setting.
6. Save this file for future reference.

TIP In addition to the table borders, you can change the background color for the cells of the
table through the Background Fill option in the Properties palette. Select a group of cells in
the table that you want to affect (but don’t select the entire table), right-click, and choose
Properties. In the Properties palette, click the Background Fill option in the Cell group.
The Cell Border Properties dialog box also lets you set the line colors by selecting a color from
the Color drop-down list before selecting an Apply To option.
In addition, the Apply To group offers four buttons: All Borders, Outside Borders (which you’ve
already tried), Inside Borders, and No Borders. The All Borders option applies the changes to all
borders. The Inside borders option applies the changes to just the inside borders. This option worksonly if you’ve selected multiple cells. The No Borders option lets you clear your border selectionsif you change your mind.
If you want to select only the vertical or horizontal inside borders, you can use the graphic in the
Cell Border Properties dialog box to select either the vertical or horizontal inside border. You can
also use the graphic to select individual sides of the outside border by clicking the sample border
in the graphic. The sample changes to show you which border lines are affected.
Adding Formulas to Cells
In the beginning of this chapter, I mentioned that you can include formulas in cells of AutoCAD
tables. This can be a great timesaver, because you can set up a table with quantities that automatically
adjust to changes in values in the table. You don’t have to manually calculate the changes.
You may recall that formulas are actually a type of field and that a field can be linked with
objects in a drawing so that the field displays the linked object’s properties. The formula field can
be linked to several numeric text values.
Although fields are the tool you use for formulas, you don’t have to consciously choose to add
a field to a cell every time you want to add a formula. The following exercise will demonstrate how
you can add a formula by typing directly in a cell. AutoCAD takes care of converting your input
into a field.
Using Formulas Directly in Cells
The simplest way to add a formula to a cell is to double-click the cell and then, when the Text Formatting
toolbar appears, enter the formula directly in the cell with the addition of an = (equal sign)
at the beginning. Try the following exercise to see how it works.
1. Open the FieldSample.dwg file.
2. Double-click in the cell, as shown in Figure 11.3, to select the location for your formula.

3. Enter the following text in the cell to add the values in cell A2 and cell D4:
=A2+D4
4. Press ↵ after you enter the value. The value of A2 plus D4 appears in the cell.

In step 3, the equal sign tells AutoCAD to convert the text into a formula field. You may have
noticed that when you start to edit a cell in a table, the row and column labels appear along the topand left side of the table. You can use these labels to determine the cell addresses for your formula.
In typical spreadsheet fashion, you can change the formula in a cell any time. Double-click the
cell containing the formula, and then edit the formula values and operators.
You can also use the Formula drop-down list from the Table toolbar to select from a set of
predefined math operations.

Click in the cell where you want to place the formula; then, in the Table toolbar, click the Formula
drop-down list, and select the operation you want to use. Next, place a selection window around the
cells you want to include in the formula. Click in the first cell that you want to include in the formula,
and then click in the second cell. As you do this, a selection window appears. All the cells that are
included in the selection window are included in the formula.

Using Other Math Operations
In the previous exercise, you used the plus sign to add the value of two cells. You can string
together several cells’ addresses to add multiple cells, as follows:
=A2+A3+A4...
You can also subtract, multiply, or divide by using the – (subtract or minus), * (multiply or asterisk),or / (divide or hash) sign. To perform multiple operations on several cells, you can group operationswith parentheses in a way similar to a typical spreadsheet formula. For example, if you want to add twocells together and then multiply their sum by another cell, use the following format:
=(A2+A3)*A4
The Average, Sum, and Count buttons that appear in the Formula drop-down list of the Table toolbargive you quick access to these frequently used functions. You can obtain the average value of a setof cells, quickly get the sum of a set of cells, or get a count of the number of cells you select. When youclick one of these options, you’re prompted to select several cells with a selection window. Onceyou’ve selected a set of cells, you see the appropriate formula in the selected cell. Clicking the Averagebutton, for example, produces a formula similar to the following:=Average(A1:B5)
Clicking the Sum button produces a formula like the following:=Sum(A1:B5)
In both cases, a range of cells is indicated using a colon, as in A1:B5. You can use this format whenentering formulas manually. You can also include a single cell with a range by using a comma:=Sum(A1:B5,C6)
Importing and Exporting Tables
Frequently, tables are created outside AutoCAD in a spreadsheet program such as Excel. You can
import an Excel worksheet as an AutoCAD table by using the AutoCAD Entities option in the Paste
Special feature. The ability to import tables lets non-AutoCAD users create the table data while you
concentrate on the drawing.
Try the following exercise to see how you can import a table from a worksheet:
1. Open the Excel worksheet called 11a-plan.xls, and highlight the door data, as shown in
Figure 11.4.

2. Choose Edit Copy to place a copy of the selected data into the Windows Clipboard; then,
switch back to AutoCAD.
3. Choose Edit Paste Special to open the Paste Special dialog box.
4. With the Paste radio button selected, click AutoCAD Entities in the list, and then click OK.
5. At the Specify insertion point or [paste as Text]: prompt, click a point in the lowerright
area of the drawing. The worksheet data appears in the drawing, although it’s very
small. You also see the Text Formatting toolbar.
6. Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar to close it.
7. If needed, use the Scale tool to enlarge the table to a readable size.
In this exercise, you imported the worksheet by using the default standard table style. This givesyou a simple-looking table using the AutoCAD Txt font. You can set up a custom table style, asdescribed later in this chapter, with the fonts and borders you want, and then import the table fora more custom appearance. Make sure your custom table style is the current style before you
import the worksheet.

Exporting Tables
Some day, you might want to export your AutoCAD table to a spreadsheet program or database.
You can do this through a somewhat hidden option in a shortcut menu. Follow these steps:
1. Select the entire table. You can do so by clicking in a spot above and to the right of the table.
With the crossing selection window, completely enclose the table, and click.
2. Right-click anywhere in the table, and choose Export from the shortcut menu to open the
Export Data dialog box.
3. Specify a name and location for your exported table data, and click Save.
The file is saved with a .csv filename extension. This type of file is a comma-delimited file and
can be read by most spreadsheet programs, including Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately, the .csv file
doesn’t retain the AutoCAD table formatting.
To open the exported file from Excel, choose File Open in the Excel menu bar; then, in the
Open dialog box, select Text File (*.prn, *.txt, *.csv) in the Files Of Type drop-down list. You can
then locate the exported table and open it.

Adding Graphics to Table Cells
One of the more interesting features of the Table tool is its ability to include blocks in a cell. This can be
useful if you want to include graphic elements in your table. Adding a block to a cell is a simple process.
Here are the steps:
1. Click in a cell to select it.
2. Right-click, and choose Insert Block from the shortcut menu to open the Insert A Block In A Table
Cell dialog box.

3. Select a block name from the Name drop-down list. You can also click the button to the right of the
list to open a file dialog box that enables you to select a drawing file for import to the cell.
4. After you’ve selected a block and specified the settings in the Properties group of the dialog box,
click OK. The block appears in the cell you’ve selected.
The Properties group in the dialog box enables you to specify the alignment and size of the inserted
block. By default, the AutoFit option is turned on. This option adjusts the size of the block to make it fit
in the current cell size.

2009-02-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

Using Fields and Tables

Adding text to a set of drawings can become a large part of your work. You’ll find that you’re editing
notes and labels almost as frequently as you’re editing the graphics in your drawings. To make
some of those editing tasks easier, AutoCAD provides a few special text objects.
In this chapter, you’ll look at fields and tables, two features that can help automate some of the
more common tasks in AutoCAD. Fields are a special type of text that can automatically update to
reflect changes in the drawing. Tables are a tool that helps to automate the process of creating and
editing tables and schedules. Tables are a common part of technical drawings and are similar to
spreadsheets. In fact, AutoCAD tables behave much like spreadsheets with the capability of adding
formulas to cells.
You’ll start this chapter with an introduction to fields and then go on to learn about tables.
Toward the end, you’ll revisit fields to see how they can be used to add formulas to tables.
◆
Topics in this chapter include the following:
◆
Using Fields to Associate Text with Drawing Properties
◆
Adding Tables to Your Drawing
◆
Editing the Table Line Work
◆
Adding Formulas to Cells
◆
Importing and Exporting Tables
◆
Creating Table Styles
Using Fields to Associate Text with Drawing Properties
The text labels you worked with in Chapter 10 are static and don’t change unless you edit them
by using the tools described there. Another type of text object, called a
field
, behaves in a more
dynamic way than the multiline text. A field can be linked to the properties of other objects and
updates itself automatically as the associated properties change. For example, you can create a
field that is associated with a block name. If the block name changes, the field text automatically
changes as well.
Try the following exercise to see how this works:
1.
Open the
11c-unit.dwg
file. This file is similar to the drawing you worked on in Chapter 10.
2.
Double-click the Kitchen text to highlight it and make it available for editing.
3.
Right-click the highlighted Kitchen text, and then choose Insert Field to open the Field
dialog box. A list to the left shows the types of fields available.

4.
In the Field Category drop-down list, select Objects. This limits the display of field types to
object fields.
5.
In the Field Names list, select NamedObject.
6.
Make sure that Block is selected in the Named Object Type drop-down list in the top of the
dialog box; then, select Kitchen. This associates the field with the Kitchen block name.
7.
In the Format list to the far right, select First Capital. This causes the field text to be lowercase
with a capital first letter, regardless of how the block name is actually spelled.
8.
Click OK to exit the Field dialog box; then, press↵
twice to return to the Command prompt.

When you return to the drawing, the text appears in a gray background. This tells you that the
text is a field rather than an Mtext or a Dtext object. The gray background is just a device to help youkeep track of field text; it doesn’t plot.
You’ve converted existing text into a field that is linked to a block name. Now, let’s see how the
field works:
1.
EnterRename↵at the Command prompt to open the Rename dialog box.
2.
Make sure Blocks is selected in the Named Objects list; then, select Kitchen from the Items
list. The wordKitchenappears in the Old Name input box near the bottom of the dialog box.
3.
EnterKitchenettein the input box just below the Old Name box; then, click the RenameTo button.
4.
Click OK to close the Rename dialog box.
5.
Choose View Regen. The field you created changes to reflect the new block name.

Fields can be associated with a wide variety of properties. You’ve just seen how a block name
can be associated with a field. In this exercise, you’ll use a field to display the area of an object:
1.
Choose View
Zoom
Extents to view the entire plan.
2.
Place a rectangle in the living room area so that it fills the area.

3.
Double-click the Living Room text to open the Text Formatting toolbar.
4.
Highlight the text that reads
230 square feet.
Right-click the selected text, and choose Insert
Field from the shortcut menu.
5.
In the Field dialog box, select Object from the Field Names list.
6.
Click the Select Object button next to the Object Type input box at the top of the Field dialog
box. The Field dialog box momentarily closes to enable you to select an object.

7.
Select the rectangle you just added. The Field dialog box returns.
8.
In the Property list just below the Object Type input box, select Area.
9.
Select Architectural from the Format list to the far right.

10.
Click OK. The field you just added appears in the drawing as the area of the rectangle.
11.
Click OK to close the Text Formatting toolbar.
Next, you’ll alter the rectangle to see how it affects the field:
1.
Click the rectangle to expose its grips. Then, select the top two grips and move them upward
so they align with the bathroom wall. Remember to Shift+click to select multiple grips.

2.
Choose View Regen. The field you just added updates to reflect the new area of therectangle.
3.
After reviewing the results, close11c-unit.dwg.
TIP
In previous exercises in this section, you changed existing text into fields. You can create new
fields in either the Dtext or Mtext command by selecting Insert Field from the shortcut menu
whenever you’re typing the text content.
In this exercise, you used a rectangle, but you can use any closed polygon to create an area field.
You’ve touched on just two of the many possible uses for fields. You can associate other types of
properties including the current layer, the drawing name, linetypes, and more. You can include Diesel
macros as part of fields. (You’ll learn about Diesel macros in Chapter 26.) Fields can also be used
in AutoCAD’s Table feature, described in the next section, which enables you to quickly create tables
and schedules. Fields are used to coordinate sheet labels with reference symbols in the AutoCAD
Sheet Set feature described in Chapter 28.
For most of your work, the standard text objects will work just fine, but you may find fields useful
when you know a label has to be associated with specific types of data in your drawing. In later
chapters, you’ll have more opportunities to work with fields.
Adding Tables to Your Drawing
One of the more common text-related tasks you’ll do for your drawings is to create schedules, such
as door and window schedules or parts schedules. Such schedules are tables used to provide more
detailed information regarding the elements in your design.
In the past, AutoCAD users used Mtext or Dtext to create the text for schedules and then used
line-drawing tools to create the cells of the schedule. Since AutoCAD 2006, you can use tables to
help you generate schedules more quickly. Tables allow you to automatically format the columns
and rows of text in a way similar to spreadsheet programs.

Creating a Table
The first step in creating a table is to determine the number of rows and columns you want. Don’tworry if you aren’t certain of the exact number of rows and columns; you can add or subtract themat any time. In this exercise, you’ll create a table that contains 12 rows and 9 columns, as shown inFigure 11.1.
Start by creating the basic table layout:
1.
Choose File New, and use the standardAcad.dwtdrawing template.

2.
Click Table from the 2D Draw control panel, or choose Draw
Table from the menu bar toopen the Insert Table dialog box.

3.
In the Column & Row Settings group, enter9for Columns and12 for Data Rows.
4.
Click OK. The dialog box closes, and the outline of a table follows your cursor.
5.
Position the table in the center of your drawing area, and click to place the table. The table
appears with a cursor in the top cell of the table. You also see the Text Formatting toolbar
above the table.
6.
EnterRoom Finish Schedule, and press
↵. The cursor moves to the next cell.
7.
Click OK to exit the Text Formatting toolbar.

Adding Cell Text
You’ve just created a table and added a title. Notice that the table actually contains 14 rows, including
the title row at the top and an additional row for the headings of each column. You can delete these
additional rows if you don’t need them, but for now, you’ll start to add some text to the table:
1.
Adjust your view so the table fills most of the drawing area.
2.
Double-click in the first cell at the top left, just below the Room Finish Schedule label. The
cell turns gray, and the Text Formatting toolbar opens. You also see labels across the top and
left side showing the row and column addresses.

3.
EnterNumberfor the room number column at the far left, and then press the Tab key toadvance to the next cell to the right.
4.
EnterRoom, and press the Tab key again.
5.
EnterFinish, and press the Tab key four times to advance four columns. You do this
because the Finish heading shown in Figure 11.1 has four columns under it: Floor, Base,
Walls, and Ceiling. In the next exercise, you’ll learn how to format those four columns
under the single heading.
6.
EnterCeiling Ht., and press the Tab key again.
7.
EnterArea, press the Tab key, and enterRemarks
.
8.
Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar to close it.
You have the column headings in place. Now, you need to do a little extra formatting. In step 5,
you left four cells blank because four of the columns will be combined under one heading: The
Finish heading covers the Floor, Base, Walls, and Ceiling columns. Next, you’ll combine the blank
headings with the Finish heading:
1.
Click in the center of the cell with the Finish label to select it.
2.
Shift+click in the third cell to the right of the Finish cell to select all four cells.

3.
Right-click in the selected cells, and choose Merge All. The four selected cells merge intoa single cell with the wordFinish.Now, you need to add the subheads under the Finish header:
1.
Double-click in the leftmost cell below the Finish cell to open the Text Formatting toolbar.

2.
EnterFloor, and press the Tab key.
3.
EnterBase,Wall, andCeiling in each of the following columns as you’ve been doing.
Remember that the Tab key advances you to the next cell to the right. Your table should look
like Figure 11.2.
4.
Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar to close it.

Finding and Replacing Text

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Finding and Replacing Text
One of the most time-consuming tasks in drafting is replacing text that appears repeatedly throughout
a drawing. Fortunately, you have a Find And Replace tool to help simplify this task. AutoCAD’s
Find And Replace works like any other find-and-replace tool in a word-processing program. A few
options work specifically with AutoCAD. Here’s how it works:
1. Click the Find tool in the Text control panel. You can also choose Edit Find from the menu
bar or enter Find↵ at the Command prompt to open the Find And Replace dialog box.

2. Enter the text you want to locate in the Find Text String input box.
3. Enter the replacement text in the Replace With input box.
4. Click Find. When AutoCAD finds the word, it appears in the Context window, along with
any other text next to the word.
5. If you have any doubts, click the Zoom To button to display the text in the AutoCAD
drawing area.
6. When you’ve made certain that this is the text you want to change, click Replace.
If you want to replace all occurrences of a word in the drawing, click Replace All. You can also
limit your find-and-replace operation to a specific area of your drawing by clicking the Select
Objects button in the upper-right corner of the Find And Replace dialog box.

When you click the Select Objects button, the Find And Replace dialog box closes temporarily
to enable you to select a set of objects or a region of your drawing. Find And Replace then limits itssearch to those objects or the region you select.

You can further control the types of objects that Find And Replace looks for by clicking the
Options button to open the Find And Replace Options dialog box.

With this dialog box, you can refine your search by limiting it to blocks, dimension text, standard
text, or hyperlink text. You can also specify whether to match case or find whole words only.
NOTE If you need to edit a large drawing that contains a lot of text, but you don’t need to edit the
text, you can use the Qtext command to help accelerate redraws and regenerations when you’re
working on the drawing. Qtext turns lines of text into rectangular boxes, saving AutoCAD from
having to form every letter. This enables you to see the note locations so you don’t accidentally
draw over them. To use it, enter qtext↵ at the command prompt, and enter On or select the On
option from the dynamic input display.

Manipulating Text beyond Labels
This chapter concentrates on methods for adding labels to your drawing, but you also use text in otherways with AutoCAD. Many of the inquiry tools in AutoCAD, such as Dist and List, produce text data. Youcan use the Windows Clipboard to manipulate such data to your benefit.
For example, you can duplicate the exact length of a line by first using the List command to get a list of its properties. After you have the property list in the AutoCAD Text window, you can highlight its lengthlisting and then press Ctrl+C to copy it to the Windows Clipboard. Next, start the Line command, andpick the start point for the new line. Click the Command window, and press Ctrl+V to paste the linelengthdata into the Command window; then, add the angle data, or use the Direct Distance method todraw the line.
You can copy any text data from dialog box input boxes or from the AutoCAD Text Window to the Clipboardby using the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut. You can likewise import that data into any part ofAutoCAD that accepts text.
Consider using the Clipboard the next time you need to transfer data in AutoCAD or even when you needto import text from some other application.

The Bottom Line
Preparing a Drawing for Text AutoCAD offers an extensive set of features for adding text to
a drawing, but you need to do a little prep work before you dive in.
Master It Name two things you need to do to prepare a drawing for text.
Solution Set up a layer for your text. Create a text style for your drawing.

Setting the Annotation Scale and Adding Text Before you start to add text, you should set
the annotation scale for your drawing. Once this is done, you can begin to add text.
Master It In a sentence or two, briefly describe the purpose of the Annotation Scale feature.
Name the tool you use to add text to a drawing.
Solution The Annotation Scale feature converts your text size to the proper height for the
scale of your drawing. To add text to a drawing, use the Mtext tool.
Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD Because text styles contain the font and text-size settings,
you can usually set up a text style and then begin to add text to your drawing. For those
special cases where you need to vary text height and font or other text features, you can use the
Text Formatting toolbar.
Master It What Text Formatting tool can you use to change text to boldface type?
Solution The Bold button.
Adding Simple Single-Line Text Objects In many situations, you need only a single word or
a short string of text. AutoCAD offers the Single Line Text object for these instances.
Master It Describe two of the three methods for starting the single-line text command.
Solution Click the Single Line Text tool in the Text control panel. Choose Draw Text
Single Line Text. Enter DT↵ at the command prompt.
Using the Check Spelling Feature It isn’t uncommon for a drawing to contain the equivalent
of several pages of text, and the likelihood of having misspelled words can be high. AutoCAD
offers the Check Spelling feature to help you keep your spelling under control.
Master It What option do you select in the Check Spelling dialog box when it finds a misspelled
word and you want to accept the suggestion it offers?
Solution Change.
Finding and Replacing Text A common activity when editing technical drawings is to have
to find and replace a word throughout a drawing.
Master It True or false: The Find And Replace feature in AutoCAD works very differently
than the find-and-replace feature in other programs.
Solution False.

Using Special Characters with Single-Line Text Objects

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Using Special Characters with Single-Line Text Objects
Just as with multiline text, you can add a limited set of special characters to single-line text objects. Forexample, you can place the degree symbol (°) after a number, or you can underscore (underline) text. To this, you use double percent (%%) signs in conjunction with a special code. For example, tounderscore text, you enclose that text with %% followed by the letter u, which is the underscore code.So, to create this text, “This is underscored text.” you enter the following at the prompt:This is %%uunderscored%%u text.
Overscoring (putting a line above the text) operates in the same manner. To insert codes for symbols,you place the codes in the correct positions for the symbols they represent. For example, toenter 100.5°, you type 100.5%%d. Table 10.2 shows some other examples of special character codes.

Table 10.2: Here is a list of the codes you can use:
Code What It Does
%%o Toggles overscore on and off.
%%u Toggles underscore on and off.
%%c Places a diameter symbol where the code occurs.
%%d Places a degree sign (°) where the code occurs.
%%p Places a plus/minus sign where the code occurs.
%%% Forces a single percent sign. This is useful when you want a double percent sign to appear or
when you want a percent sign in conjunction with another code.
%%nnn Allows the use of extended characters when these characters are used in a text-definition file.
nnn is the three-digit value representing the ASCII extended character code.

Using the Character Map Dialog Box to Add Special Characters
You can add special characters to a single line of text in the same way you add special characters to
multiline text. You may recall that to access special characters, you use the Character Map dialog box.
To open the Character Map dialog box, choose Start All Programs Accessories System
Tools Character Map. You can then use the procedure discussed in the “Adding Symbols and
Special Characters” section, earlier in this chapter, to cut and paste a character from the Character
Map dialog box. If you use the Character Map dialog box often, create a shortcut for it, and place
the shortcut in your Start menu or on your Desktop.

Using the Check Spelling Feature
Although AutoCAD is primarily a drawing program, you’ll find that some of your drawings contain
more text than graphics. Autodesk recognizes this fact and has included a spelling checker
since AutoCAD Release 14. If you’ve ever used the spelling checker in a typical word processor,
such as Microsoft Word, the AutoCAD spelling checker’s operation will be familiar to you. These
steps show you how it works:
1. Click the Spell Check tool in the Text control panel. You can also choose Tools Spelling
from the drop-down menu or type Sp↵.
2. At the Select objects: prompt, select any text object you want to check. You can also enter
All↵ to select everything in the drawing. AutoCAD ignores nontext objects. You can select
a mixture of multiline and single-line text. When the spelling checker finds a word it doesn’t
recognize, the Check Spelling dialog box opens.

In the Check Spelling dialog box, you see the word in question, along with the spelling checker’s
suggested alternate word in the Suggestions input box. If the spelling checker finds more than one
suggestion, a list of suggested alternate words appears below the input box. You can then highlight
the desired replacement and click the Change button to change the misspelled word, or you can
click Change All to change all occurrences of the word in the selected text. If the suggested word
is inappropriate, choose another word from the replacement list (if any), or enter your own spelling
in the Suggestions input box. Then, click Change or Change All.
Here is a list of the options available in the Check Spelling dialog box:
Ignore Skips the word.
Ignore All Skips all occurrences of the word in the selected text.
Change Changes the word in question to the word you’ve selected (or entered) from the Suggestions
input box.
Change All Changes all occurrences of the current word when there are multiple instances of
the misspelling.
Add To Dictionary Adds the word in question to the current dictionary.
Dictionaries Lets you use a different dictionary to check spelling. This option opens the
Change Dictionaries dialog box, described in the upcoming section.
The Check Spelling feature includes types of notation that are more likely to be found in technical
drawings. It also checks the spelling of text that is included in block definitions.

Choosing a Dictionary
Clicking the Dictionaries button in the Check Spelling dialog box opens the Dictionaries dialog
box, where you can select a particular main dictionary for foreign languages or create or choose
a custom dictionary. Main dictionary files have the .dct extension. The main dictionary for the
U.S. version of AutoCAD is Enu.dct.

In the Change Dictionaries dialog box, you can also add or delete words from a custom dictionary.
Custom dictionary files are ASCII files with the .cus extension. Because they’re ASCII files,
you can edit them outside AutoCAD. Click the Current custom dictionary drop-down list to view
a list of existing custom dictionaries.
If you prefer, you can select a main or custom dictionary by using the Dctmain system variable.
Click the Help button and search for Dctmain for more on the Dctmain system variable.
You can also select a dictionary from the Files tab of the Options dialog box (choose Tools
Options). You can find the dictionary list under Text Editor, Dictionary, And Font File Names.
Click the plus sign next to this item, and then click the plus sign next to the Main Dictionary item
to display the dictionary options.

Substituting Fonts
At times, you’ll want to change all the fonts in a drawing quickly. For instance, you might want to
convert TrueType fonts into a simple Txt.shx font to help shorten redraw times while you’re editing.Or you might need to convert the font of a drawing received from another office to a font thatconforms to your own office standards. The Fontmap system variable works in conjunction with afont-mapping table, enabling you to easily substitute fonts in a drawing.
The font-mapping table is an ASCII file called Acad.fmp. You can also use a file you create yourself.You can give this file any name you choose, as long as it has the .fmp extension.
This font-mapping table contains one line for each font substitution you want AutoCAD to
make. A typical line in this file reads as follows:
romant; C:\Program Files\Acad 2008\Fonts\txt.shx
In this example, AutoCAD is directed to use the txt.shx font in place of the romant.shx font.
To execute this substitution, you type Fontmap↵ Fontmap_filename.
Fontmap_filename is the font-mapping table you created. This tells AutoCAD where to look for
the font-mapping information. Then, you issue the Regen command to view the font changes. To
disable the font-mapping table, type
Fontmap↵↵
You can also specify a font-mapping file in the Files tab of the Options dialog box. Look for the TextEditor, Dictionary, And Font File Names listing. Click the plus sign next to this listing, and then clickthe plus sign next to the Font Mapping File listing to display the current default font-mapping filename.If you hold the cursor over the name, AutoCAD displays the full location of the file.

You can double-click this filename to open the Select A File dialog box. From there, you can
select a different font-mapping file.

Making Substitutions for Missing Fonts
When text styles are created, the associated fonts don’t become part of the drawing file. Instead,
AutoCAD loads the needed font file at the same time the drawing is loaded. If a text style in a drawing
requires a particular font, AutoCAD looks for the font in the AutoCAD search path; if the font is there, it’s
loaded. Usually this isn’t a problem if the drawing file uses the standard fonts that come with AutoCAD
or Windows. But occasionally, you’ll encounter a file that uses a custom font.
In earlier versions of AutoCAD, you saw an error message when you attempted to open such a file. This
missing-font message often sent new AutoCAD users into a panic.
Fortunately, AutoCAD automatically substitutes an existing font for the missing font in a drawing. By
default, AutoCAD substitutes the simplex.shx font, but you can specify another font by using the Fontalt
system variable. Type Fontalt↵ at the Command prompt, and then enter the name of fontyou want to
use as the substitute.You can also select an alternate font through the Files tab of the Options dialog box. Locate the Text Editor,Dictionary, And Font File Names listing, and then click the plus sign at the left. Locate the Alternate Font Fileitem, and click the plus sign at the left. The current alternate is listed. You can double-click the font name toselect a different font through a standard file dialog box.Be aware that the text in your drawing will change in appearance, sometimes radically, when you use asubstitute font. If the text in the drawing must retain its appearance, substitute a font that is similarin appearance to the original font as possible.

What Do the Fonts Look Like?

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What Do the Fonts Look Like?
You’ve already seen a few of the fonts available in AutoCAD. Chances are, you’re familiar with the
TrueType fonts available in Windows. You have some additional AutoCAD fonts from which to
choose. You may want to stick with the AutoCAD fonts for all but your presentation drawings,
because other fonts can consume more memory.
Figure 10.9 shows the basic AutoCAD text fonts. The Romans font is perhaps the most widely
used because it offers a reasonable appearance while consuming little memory. Figure 10.10 lists
some of the symbols and Greek fonts.
This section shows you samples of the AutoCAD fonts. You can see samples of all the fonts,
including TrueType fonts, in the preview window of the Text Style dialog box. If you use a word
processor, you’re probably familiar with at least some of the TrueType fonts available in Windows
and AutoCAD.

Importing Text Files
With multiline text objects, AutoCAD enables you to import ASCII text or Rich Text Format (RTF) files.
RTF files can be exported from Microsoft Word and most other word-processing programs and retain
most of their formatting in AutoCAD. Here’s how you import text files:
1. With the Text Formatting toolbar open, right-click in the text panel, and choose Import Text.
2. In the Select File dialog box, locate a valid text file. It must be a file in either a raw text (ASCII) format,
such as a Notepad (.txt) file, or RTF (.rtf). RTF files can store formatting information, such
as boldface and varying point sizes.
3. After you’ve highlighted the file you want, double-click it or click Open. The text appears in the Edit
Mtext window.
4. Click OK, and the text appears in your drawing.
In addition, you can use the Windows Clipboard and the Cut and Paste functions to add text to a drawing.
To do this, follow these steps:
1. Select some text, and then choose Cut or Copy in any Windows program to place text on the Windows
Clipboard.
2. Open AutoCAD. Choose Edit Paste; the pasted text appears in your drawing. However, it isn’t
editable in AutoCAD.
If the text is from a text editor like Windows Notepad, the text is inserted as AutoCAD text. If the text
contains formatting from a word processor like Microsoft Word, the text is an OLE object.
Because AutoCAD is an OLE client, you can also attach other types of documents to an AutoCAD
drawing file. See Chapter 19 for more on AutoCAD’s OLE support.
The Textfill System Variable
Unlike the standard sticklike AutoCAD fonts, TrueType and PostScript fonts have filled areas. These
filled areas take more time to generate; so if you have a lot of text in these fonts, your redraw and regen
times will increase. To help reduce redraw and regen times, you can set AutoCAD to display and plot
these fonts as outline fonts, even though they’re filled in their true appearance.
To change this setting, type Textfill↵, and then type 0↵. Doing so turns off text fill for PostScript and
TrueType fonts. (This is the same as setting the Textfill system variable to 0.)

Adding Simple Single-Line Text Objects
You might find that you’re entering a lot of single words or simple labels that don’t require all the
bells and whistles of the Multiline Text Editor. AutoCAD offers the single-line text object, which is
simpler to use and can speed text entry if you’re adding only small pieces of text.
Continue the tutorial on the Unit.dwg file by trying the following exercise:
1. Adjust your view so it looks like Figure 10.11.
2. Make sure Notes1 is the current text style; then, click the Single Line Text tool in the Text control
panel.

2. You can also enter Dt↵ or choose Draw Text Single Line Text to issue the Dtext command.
3. At the Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]: prompt, pick the starting
point for the text you’re about to enter, just below the kitchen at coordinate 16´-2˝,21´-8˝
(490,664 for metric users). Note that the prompt offers the Justify and Style options.

4. At the Specify rotation angle of text <0>: prompt, press ↵ to accept the default, 0.
You can specify any angle other than horizontal (for example, if you want your text aligned
with a rotated object). You see a text I-beam cursor at the point you picked in step 3.
5. Type Kitchenette. As you type, the word appears directly in the drawing.
TIP If you make a typing error, use the Right and Left arrow keys to move the text cursor in the
drawing area to the error; then, use the Backspace key to correct the error. You can also paste text
from the Clipboard into the cursor location by using the Ctrl+V keyboard shortcut or by rightclicking
in the drawing area to access the shortcut menu.
6. Press ↵ to move the cursor down to start a new line.
7. This time, you want to label the bathroom. Pick a point to the right of the door swing at coordinate
19´-11˝,26´-5˝ (610,805 for metric users). The text cursor moves to that point.
8. Type Bathroom↵. Figure 10.11 shows how your drawing should look now.
9. Press ↵ again to exit the Dtext command.
TIP If for some reason you need to stop entering single-line text objects to do something else in
AutoCAD, you can continue the text where you left off by pressing ↵ at the Specify start
point of text or [Justify/Style]: prompt of the Dtext command. The text continues
immediately below the last line of text entered.
Here you were able to add two single lines of text in different parts of your drawing fairly
quickly. Dtext uses the current default text style settings.
To edit single-line text, you can double-click the text. The text is highlighted, and you can begin
typing to replace the entire text, or you can click a location in the text to make single word or character changes.

NOTE This is the end of the tutorial section of this chapter. The rest of this chapter offers additional
information about text.

Justifying Single-Line Text Objects
Justifying single-line text objects works in a slightly different way from justifying multiline text. For
example, if you change the justification setting to Center, the text moves so the center of the text is
placed at the text-insertion point. In other words, the insertion point stays in place while the text
location adjusts to the new justification setting. Figure 10.12 shows the relationship between singleline
text and the insertion point based on different justification settings.

To set the justification of text as you enter it, you must enter J↵ at the Specify start point of
text or [Justify/Style]: prompt after issuing the Dtext command.
TIP You can also change the current default style by entering S↵ and then the name of the style at
the Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]: prompt.
After you’ve issued Dtext’s Justify option, you get the following prompt:
Enter an option
[Align/Fit/Center/Middle/Right/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR]:
Here are descriptions of each of these options (I’ve left Fit and Align until last, because these
options require more explanation):
Center Centers the text on the start point, with the baseline on the start point.
Middle Centers the text on the start point, with the baseline slightly below the start point.
Right Justifies the text to the right of the start point, with the baseline on the start point.
TL, TC, and TR TL, TC, and TR stand for Top Left, Top Center, and Top Right. Text using
these justification styles appears entirely below the start point, justified left, center, or right,
depending on which option you choose.

ML, MC, and MR ML, MC, and MR stand for Middle Left, Middle Center, and Middle Right.
These styles are similar to TL, TC, and TR, except that the start point determines a location midwaybetween the baseline and the top of the lowercase letters of the text.
BL, BC, and BR BL, BC, and BR stand for Bottom Left, Bottom Center, and Bottom Right. These
styles, too, are similar to TL, TC, and TR, but here the start point determines the bottommost locationof the letters of the text (the bottom of letters that have descenders, such as p, q, and g).
Align and Fit With the Align and Fit justification options, you must specify a dimension in
which the text is to fit. For example, suppose you want the word Refrigerator to fit in the 26˝-widebox representing the refrigerator. You can use either the Fit or the Align option to accomplish this.
With Fit, AutoCAD prompts you to select start and end points and then stretches or compresses
the letters to fit within the two points you specify. You use this option when the text must be a consistentheight throughout the drawing and you don’t care about distorting the font. Align workslike Fit, but instead of maintaining the current text style height, the Align option adjusts the textheight to keep it proportional to the text width without distorting the font. Use this option whenit’s important to maintain the font’s shape and proportion. Figure 10.13 demonstrates how Fit andAlign work.

You can change the justification of single-line text by using the Properties palette, but the text
moves from its original location while maintaining its insertion point. If you want to change the justificationof text without moving the text, you can use the Justifytext command. Choose Modify Object Text Justify, or type Justifytext at the Command prompt; then, select the text you wantto change. Justifytext works on both multiline and single-line text.
Keeping Text from Mirroring
At times, you’ll want to mirror a group of objects that contain some text. This operation causes the mirrored
text to appear backward. You can change a setting in AutoCAD to make the text read normally,
even when it’s mirrored:
1. At the Command prompt, enter Mirrtext↵.
2. At the Enter new value for MIRRTEXT <1>: prompt, enter 0↵.

Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD

2009-02-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD
You’ve seen how you can set up a style and make scale adjustments. AutoCAD also offers a wide
range of text-formatting options that are typical to most word-processing programs. You can control
fonts, text height, justification, line spacing, and width. You can even include special characters such
as degree symbols or stacked fractions. With these additional formatting tools, you can make adjustments
to the text style you started with.
Adjusting the Text Height and Font
To get some firsthand experience using the text-formatting tools in AutoCAD, try the following
exercise. You’ll use the Multiline Text tool again, but this time you’ll get to try out some of its
other features.
In this exercise, you’ll see how you can adjust the size and font of text in the editor:
1. Pan your view so the kitchen is just at the top of the drawing, as shown in the first image in
Figure 10.3.
2. Click the Multiline Text tool; then, select a text boundary window, as shown in the first
image in Figure 10.3.

3. In the text editor, type the following:
Living Room
14´-0˝ by 16´-5˝ [427 cm by 500 cm]
Make sure you press ↵ after Living Room, but make the rest of the text a continuous string.
As you type, the words wrap. AutoCAD uses word wrap to fit the text inside the text boundary
area.
4. Highlight the text 14´-0˝ by 16´-5˝ [427 cm by 500 cm] as you would in any word processor. For
example, you can click the end of the line to place the cursor there; then, Shift+click the
beginning of the line to highlight the whole line.
5. In the Text Formatting toolbar, click in the Text Height text box and enter 1/16. Metric users,
enter 0.08. The highlighted text changes to a smaller size.
6. Highlight the words Living Room.
7. Click the Font drop-down list to display a list of font options

8. Scroll up the list until you find Arial. The text in the text editor changes to reflect the new font.
9. With the words Living Room still highlighted, click the Underline button in the Text Formatting
toolbar.
10. Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar. The label appears in the area you indicated in step 2
(see the bottom image in Figure 10.3).
11. To see how you can go back to the Text Formatting toolbar, double-click the text. The Text
Formatting toolbar and text editor appear, enabling you to change the text.
12. Click OK to exit the Text Formatting toolbar.

While using the Multiline Text tool, you may have noticed the [Height/Justify/Line spacing/
Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]: prompt immediately after you picked the first point of the text
boundary. You can use any of these options to make on-the-fly modifications to the height, justification,line spacing, rotation style, or width of the multiline text.
For example, after clicking the first point for the text boundary, you can type R↵ and then specify arotation angle for the text window, either graphically with a rubber-banding line or by entering an anglevalue. After you’ve entered a rotation angle, you can resume selecting the text boundary.

Understanding the Text Formatting Toolbar
You’ve just experimented with a few of the Text Formatting toolbar features. A variety of additionalformatting tools are available. Figure 10.4 shows where these tools are, and Table 10.1 describes theiruses. They’re fairly straightforward, and if you’ve used other word-processing programs, you shouldfind them easy to use. Most are common to the majority of word processors, although a few, such asSymbol, Oblique Angle, and Width Factor, are unique to AutoCAD. Look at Table 10.1, and see ifthere are any tools you think you’ll find useful for future reference.

Table 10.1: Text Formatting Tools
Tool Use
Bold/Italic/Underline/Overline Select text, and then select one of these options to add bold, italic,underline, or overline to the text.

Undo/Redo Click to undo or redo current edits.
Stack/Unstack Fraction Select a fraction, and then click this tool to either stack
or unstack the fraction text.

Color Select text, and then choose a color from this drop-down
list.

Ruler Click to turn the ruler at the top of the Text panel on or off.
Columns Indicate the number of columns and how the columns are
set up.

Paragraph Set up paragraph formatting, including tabs, indents, and
paragraph spacing.

Mtext Justification Select the appropriate option to align the text to the top,
middle, bottom,or other position within the text boundary.

Line Spacing Set the line spacing in paragraphs. You can also set line
spacing in theProperties palette for an mtext object, or by
using the Paragraph dialog
box (see “Setting Indents and Tabs” later in this chapter).

Left/Center/Right/Justify/ Click the appropriate tool to align the text to the left, center
Distribute , or rightside of the text boundary. Justify adds space
between words to forceleft and right Distribute adds space between letters toalignment.
force left and right alignment.

Numbering Select a list of text, click this tool, and then select Letter,
Number, or Bullet to add letters, numbers, or bullets to the
list.

Insert Field Click to open the Fields dialog box, where you can add a field
text. See“Adding Formulas to Cells,” in Chapter 11, for more
about fields.

Uppercase/Lowercase Select a single letter or set of words, and then select the
Uppercase orLowercase tool to change the selection’s case.

Symbol Place the cursor at a location for the symbol, and then click the
Symbol tool to find and add a symbol. (See Figure 10.5, later
in this chapter, for theavailable symbols.)

Oblique Angle Select text, and then enter an Oblique Angle value. The effect
is to skewthe text characters in a way similar to an italic
formatting.

Tracking Select text, and then enter a tracking value in the Tracking
text box. Avalue greater than 1 increases the spacing between
letters, and a value lessthan 1 decreases the spacing.

Width Factor Select text, and enter a width value in the Width text box. A
value greaterthan 1 stretches the text, including ivalue
greaterndividual letters, horizontally. A value less than 1
compresses the text, including the letters.

Adding Symbols and Special Characters
The Text Formatting toolbar also offers a tool called Symbol. This tool lets you add special symbols
common to technical drawing and drafting. Figure 10.5 shows the symbols that are offered in the
Symbol tool in the form of a drop-down list.
At the bottom of the Symbol drop-down list is an option called Other. By clicking the Other
option, you open the Windows Character Map dialog box. Characters such as the trademark (™)
and copyright (©) symbols are often available in the fonts offered in the Character Map dialog box.
The contents of the Symbol drop-down list depend on the font currently selected.

WARNING TheCharacter Map dialog box is a Windows accessory. If it doesn’t appear when you
choose Other from the Text Formatting Symbol tool menu, you may need to install the Character
Map from your Windows installation CD.
Finally, if your application requires music, math, astronomy, Greek, or other symbols, AutoCAD
offers a set of fonts with special symbols. Figure 10.10, later in the chapter, shows these fonts and the
symbols they contain. You can set up text styles with these fonts or call them up directly from the Text
Formatting toolbar’s Font option.

Text Justification and Osnaps
You may have noticed that the object-justification list offers three center options: Top Center, Middle
Center, and Bottom Center. All three of these options have the same effect on the text’s appearance,
but they each have a different effect on how osnaps act on the text. Figure 10.6 shows where the osnap
point occurs on a text boundary, depending on which justification option is selected. A multiline text
object has only one insertion point on its boundary, which that you can access with the Insert osnap.

The Osnap point also appears as an extra grip point on the text boundary when you click the
text. If you click the text you just entered, you’ll see that a grip point now appears at the top center
of the text boundary.
Knowing where the Osnap points occur can be helpful when you want to align the text with
other objects in your drawing. In most cases, you can use the grips to align your text boundary, but
the Top Center and Middle Center justification options enable you to use the center and middle
portions of your text to align the text with other objects.

Changing Justification of Multiple Text Objects
You’ve seen how you can change the justification of an individual text object, but you’ll often find that
you need to change the justification of several text objects at one time. AutoCAD offers the Justifytext
command for this purpose. To use it, choose Modify Object Text Justify, or type Justifytext↵
at the Command prompt. At the Select objects: prompt, select the text you want to change, and
then press ↵ to confirm your selection. You’ll see the following prompt in the command line:
[Left/Align/Fit/Center/Middle/Right/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR] :
Enter the letters corresponding to the type of justification you want to use for the text. (See the section
“Justifying Single-Line Text Objects,” later in this chapter, for a description of these options.)
After you enter an option, the selected text changes to conform to the selected justification optio

Setting Indents and Tabs
You should also know about the indent and tab features of the Text Formatting toolbar’s text
window. You may have noticed the ruler at the top of the text editor. Figure 10.7 shows that ruler,
including tab and indent markers.

The indent markers let you control the indention of the first line and the rest of the paragraph. The
tab markers give you control over tab spacing. For new text, the tab markers don’t appear until you
add them by clicking the ruler. The following exercises will demonstrate the use of these markers
more clearly.
Start by practicing with the indent markers:
1. Save the Unit drawing, and then open the Indent.dwg file. This file contains some text that
you’ll experiment with.
2. Double-click the text at the top of the drawing to open the Text Formatting toolbar.
3. Press Ctrl+A to highlight all the text in the text editor. This is necessary to indicate the group
of text to be affected by your indent settings.
4. Click and drag the top indent marker two spaces to the right. The indent of the first line
moves with the marker. A note appears above the ruler, showing you how much indent
you’re applying. Also notice that the text at the first tab remains at its starting location.

5. Click and drag the bottom indent marker two spaces to the left. The rest of the paragraph
moves with the marker. Again, you see a note by the ruler showing how much indent
you’re applying.
6. Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar to exit.
Here you see how you can control the indents of the selected text with the indent markers. You can
set paragraphs of a single Mtext object differently, giving you a wide range of indent-formatting possibilities.
Just select the text you want to set, and then adjust the indent markers.
Now, try the tab markers. For this exercise, you’ll try the text-import feature to import a tabdelimited
text file:
1. Click the Multiline Text tool on the Draw toolbar.
2. For the first corner, click the upper-left corner of the large rectangle in the drawing, just
below the paragraph.
3. For the opposite corner, click the lower-right corner of the rectangle.
4. Right-click in the text editor of the Text Formatting toolbar, and select Import Text.
5. In the Select File dialog box, locate and select the tabtest.txt file. The contents of the
tabtest.txt file are displayed in the text editor.
The file you just imported was generated from the Attribute Extraction feature of AutoCAD.
You’ll learn more about this feature in Chapter 13. This file contains tabs to align the columns of information.
You can adjust those tabs in the Text Formatting toolbar, as you’ll see in the next set of steps.
Now, use the tab markers to adjust the tab spacing of the columns of text:
1. Press Ctrl+A to select all the text.
2. Click the ruler at a point that is at the twelfth mark from the left (that’s three of the taller tick
marks in the ruler). An L-shaped marker appears, and the first tab column of text moves to
this position.

3. Click the ruler again at the twentieth mark. The second tab column aligns to this position

4. Continue to click the ruler to add more tab markers so the text looks similar to Figure 10.8.
Don’t worry about being exact; this is just for practice. After you’ve placed a marker, you can
click and drag it to make adjustments.
5. Click OK on the Text Formatting toolbar. The text appears in the drawing as a door schedule.

Here you saw how you can create a table or a schedule from an imported text file. You can also
create a schedule from scratch by composing it directly in the text editor of the Text Formatting
toolbar. AutoCAD also offers the Table feature, which is specifically designed for creating tables
(see Chapter 11). Still, this example offers a way to demonstrate the tab feature in the Multiline Text
tool, and you may encounter a file in which a table is formatted in the way described here.
In addition to using the indent and tab markers on the ruler, you can control indents and tabs
through the Paragraph dialog box. Do the following to get a firsthand look:
1. Double-click the text at the top of the Indent.dwg drawing (the one you edited in the first
part of this section), and then press Ctrl+A to select all the text.
2. Right-click the ruler above the text editor, and select Paragraph to open the Paragraph
dialog box.

NOTE The Paragraph dialog box also lets you set other paragraph settings such as alignment,
spacing between paragraphs, and line spacing in the paragraph.
3. Change the value in the First Line input box to 1.5 and the Hanging input box to 2.2.
4. Double-click the tab position input box in the upper-left corner, just below the row of tab
symbols in the Tab group. Enter 2.2, and click the Add button.
5. Click OK. The text now appears with the text indented from the numbers.

6. Close the Text Formatting toolbar. The text in the drawing is now formatted as it appeared
in the text editor of the Text Formatting toolbar.
7. Exit the Indent.dwg file.
In this exercise, you used the Paragraph dialog box to set the paragraph indent and the first tab
marker to be the same value. This causes the text portion of the list to be aligned at a distance of 2.2
drawing units from the left text boundary, leaving the list number extended farther to the left. This
gives the list a more professional appearance.
The Paragraph dialog box gives you fine control over the formatting of your text. It lets you
delete tabs by highlighting the tab in the list and clicking the Remove button. You can also add tabs
at specific distances from the left margin of the text boundary by entering new tab locations in the
Tab input box and clicking the Add button.
You specify distances in drawing units. If your drawing is set up to use Architectural units, for
example, you can enter values in feet and inches or just inches. The First Line and Hanging input
boxes you enter a numeric value for paragraph indents. As you’ve just seen, you can use the First
Line and Hanging input boxes to create a numbered list by setting the Hanging input box value to
be the same as the first tab stop position.
TIP You may have noticed the Set Mtext Width and Set Mtext Height right-click shortcut menu
options in step 2 of the preceding exercise. The Set Mtext Width option opens a dialog box that
enables you to enter a width for the text boundary for situations where you need an exact width.
You can also click and drag the right inside edge of the ruler to change the text-boundary width.

Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options

2009-02-15T02:51:00.000-08:00

Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options
You’ve just taken nearly all the steps you’ll need to know to add text to any drawing. Now, let’s
take a step back and look more closely at some of the finer points of adding text, starting with text
styles. This section gives you more detailed information about the text style settings you saw in the
early part of this chapter. The following is a list of those settings and their purposes. Some of them,
such as Width Factor, can be quite useful. Others, such as the Backwards and Vertical options, are
rarely used. Take a moment to study this list to become familiar with what is available and make
a mental note of these items for future reference.

Style
In the Style list box you’ll see a list showing the current style. This list also contains other styles that
may be present in the drawing. You can use the drop-down list to select a default style. In addition,
there are the following buttons:
New/Set Current/Delete
Newlets you create a new text style.Set Currentmakes the selected style the current one.Delete
letsyou delete the selected style. This option isn’t available for the Standard style.
Font
In the Font group, you have the following options:
Font Name
Lets you select a font from a list of available fonts. The list is derived from the font

Font StyleOffers variations of a font, such as italic or bold, when they’re available.
Height/Paper Text HeightLets you enter a font size. With the Annotative option turned off,
this option is namedHeight and will set the absolute height of the text. With the Annotative
option turned on, it shows Paper Text Height and will set the height of the text when printed.
A 0 height has special meaning when you use the Dtext command to enter text, as described laterin this chapter.
Use Big Font Applicable to Asian fonts. This option is offered only with AutoCAD .shx font

EFFECTS
In the Effects group, you have the following options:
Upside Down Prints text upside down.
Backwards Prints text backward.
Vertical Prints text in a vertical column.
Width Factor Adjusts the width and spacing of the characters in the text. A value of 1 keeps the
text at its normal width. Values greater than 1 expand the text, and values less than 1 compress
the text.

Oblique Angle Skews the text at an angle. When this option is set to a value greater than 0, the
text appears italicized. A value of less than 0 (–12, for example) causes the text to lean to the left.

TIP You can also set the width factor and oblique angle directly for text using the Width Factor
and Oblique Angle tools in the Text Formatting toolbar. These tools are located toward the lowerrightend of the toolbar.

Renaming a Text Style or Other Named Object
If you need to rename a text style or other named object in AutoCAD, you can do so using the Rename
command. Choose Format Rename, or enter Ren↵ at the Command prompt to open the Rename dialog
box. In the Named Objects list box to the left, choose Text Styles. Click the name of the style you want
to change from the Items list on the right; the name appears in the Old Name input box below the list.
In the input box next to the Rename To button, enter the new name. Click the Rename To button, and
click OK.

Adding Text to Drawings

2009-02-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER 10 ADDING TEXT TO DRAWINGS

One of the more tedious drafting tasks is applying notes to your drawing. Anyone who has had to
manually draft a large drawing containing a lot of notes knows the true meaning of writer’s cramp.
AutoCAD not only makes this job go faster by enabling you to type your notes into the same document
as the corresponding drawing, but it also helps you to create more professional-looking
notes by using a variety of fonts, type sizes, and type styles.
In this chapter, you’ll add notes to your apartment building plan. In the process, you’ll explore
some of AutoCAD’s text-creation and -editing features. You’ll learn how to control the size, slant,
type style, and orientation of text and how to import text files. You’ll start by working through
some exercises that show you the process of preparing a drawing for text. You’ll then add a few
lines of text to the drawing and learn how text size and drawing scale interrelate. The rest of the
chapter shows you the tools available for formatting text to fit your application.
Topics in this chapter include the following:
◆
Preparing a Drawing for Text
◆
Setting the Annotation Scale and Adding Text
◆
Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options
◆
Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD
◆
What Do the Fonts Look Like?
◆
Adding Simple Single-Line Text Objects
◆
Using the Check-Spelling Feature
◆
Substituting Fonts
◆
Finding and Replacing Text

Preparing a Drawing for Text
In this first section, you’ll go through the process of adding text to a drawing that currently has no
text. By doing this, you’ll gain firsthand experience in using all the tools you’ll need for adding text
to a drawing. Start by setting up a drawing to prepare it for the addition of text:
1.
Start AutoCAD, and open the
Unit
file. If you haven’t created the
Unit
file, you can use the
file called
10a-unit.dwg
. Metric users should use
10a-unit-metric.dwg
. After it’s open,
choose File
Save As to save the Unit drawing to a file called
Unit.dwg
.
2.
Create a layer called Notes, and make it the current layer. Notes is the layer on which you’ll
keep all your text information.
3.
Turn off the Flr-pat layer. Otherwise, the floor pattern you added previously will obscure
the text you enter during the exercises in this chapter.
TIP
It’s a good idea to keep your notes on a separate layer, so you can plot drawings containing
only the graphics information or freeze the Notes layer to save redraw/regeneration time.
4.
Set up your view so it looks similar to the top image in Figure 10.1.

Organizing Text by Styles
Before you begin to add text to your drawing, you should set up a text style or two. You can think
of text styles as a tool to store your most common text formatting. Styles store text height and font
information so you don’t have to set these options every time you enter text. Generally, you’ll only
need a few text styles.
Even if you started to add text without creating your own text style, you would still be using
a text style. That’s because every text object must have a style, so AutoCAD includes the Standard
text style in every new drawing. The Standard style uses an AutoCAD font called
txt
and includes
numerous other settings that you’ll learn about in this section. These other settings include width
factor, oblique angle, and default height. In this next exercise, you’ll create a text style called Note1,
which you’ll use to add notes to the Unit plan you’ve been working on:

TIP
If you don’t like the way the AutoCAD default style is set up, open the
Acad.dwt
template file
and change the Standard text style settings to your liking. You can also add other styles that you
use frequently. Remember, AutoCAD files that use the
.dwt
filename extension are just
AutoCAD
.dwg
files with a slightly different extension to set them apart.
1.
Choose Format
Text Style, or type
St
↵
. You can also click the Text Style tool in the Text
control panel. This opens the Text Style dialog box.

2.
Click the New to the right of the dialog box to open the New Text Style dialog box.
3.
Enter
Note1 (Note one)
for the name of your new style; then, click OK.
4.
Select a font for your style. In the Text Style dialog box again, click the Font Name drop-down
list in the Font group.
5.
Locate the Courier New TrueType font, and select it. A quick way to locate the font is to click
in the list and start typing the font name.
6.
Select the Annotative option in the Size group.

7.
In the Paper Text Height input box, enter
0.1
. You’ll see your input change to
1
⁄
8
˝. Metric
users should enter
0.15
.
8.
Click Apply, and then close the dialog box.
The Annotative option you turned on in step 7 is an important feature for keeping your text at the
proper size for your drawing scale. You’ll see how it works firsthand in the following section’s exercises.
NOTE
Once you’ve created several styles, you can set the default current style by selecting it
from the Text Style drop-down list in the Text control panel.

Getting Familiar With the Text and Annotation Scale Control Panels
Before you get much further into AutoCAD’s text features, take a moment to get familiar with the
Text control panel and the Annotation Scale control panel (see Figure 10.2). You’ll be using a few
of these options in this chapter. If you need to, you can refer to this graphic as you work through
the exercises.

Setting the Annotation Scale and Adding Text
You’ve got a text style set up and ready to use. Now, you’ll add some text to your unit plan. Before
you begin, you should determine a drawing scale. This is important because, with the annotative
feature turned on, AutoCAD needs to know the drawing scale in order to set the size of the text.
1.
In the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window, click the arrow next to Annotation Scale.

1.
Click the Multiline Text tool in the Text control panel. You can also choose Draw
Text
Multiline Text from the menu bar, or type
MT<.You see a prompt that tells you the current text style and height: Current text style: "Note1" Text height: 1/8 Annotative: Yes Specify first corner: Add/Delete Scale Delete Current Scale Add Current Scale Spell Check Find2. Click the first point indicated in the top image in Figure 10.1 to start the text boundary window. This boundary window indicates the area in which to place the text. Notice the arrow near the bottom of the window: It indicates the direction of the text flow. TIP You don’t have to be too precise about where you select the points for the boundary because you can adjust the location and size later. 3. At the Specify opposite corner of [Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/ Width]: prompt, click the second point indicated in the top image in Figure 10.1. The Text Formatting toolbar appears, with the Multiline Text Editor superimposed over the area you just selected.

4. Click the text panel, and type Entry . As you type, the word appears in the text panel, just as it will appear in your drawing.
5. Press ↵ to advance one line; then, enter 6´ by 7´ .
6. Press ↵ to advance another line, and enter [182 cm by 213 cm] .
7. Press ↵ again to advance another line, and enter carpet floor .
8. Click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar. The text appears in the drawing just as it did in the text editor. (See the bottom image in Figure 10.1.)

NOTE After you’ve added text, if the text doesn’t quite fit in the area you’ve indicated, you can make adjustments to the text boundary. Click the text to expose the text boundary, including the boundary grips. Then, click and drag the grips to resize the boundary. AutoCAD’s word-wrap feature automatically adjusts the text formatting to fit the text boundary.

You may have noticed that the Text Formatting toolbar and text editor work like any text editor; if you make a typing error, you can highlight the error and retype the letter or word. You can also perform other word-processing functions such as search and replace, you can import text, and you can make font changes.
You also saw that the text editor shows how your text will appear in the location you selected using the text boundary. If your view of the drawing is such that the text is too small to be legible, the Text Formatting toolbar enlarges the text so you can read it clearly. Likewise, if you’re zoomed in too close to see the entire text, the Text Formatting toolbar adjusts the text in its text editor to enable you to see all the text.

TIP If text is included in a selection where a hatch pattern is to be placed, AutoCAD automatically avoids hatching over the text. If you add text over a hatched area, you must rehatch the area to include the text in the hatch boundary.

Exploring Text and Scale
Even though your text height is 0.1˝ or 0.15 cm, it appears at the appropriate enlarged size for the current
scale. If the text were drawn to the size of 0.1˝, it would be very small and barely visible; but the
Annotative scale feature makes the adjustment to your text size based on the Annotation Scale setting.
You can see firsthand how the Annotation Scale setting affects your text:
1.
In the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window, click the Annotation Scale setting,
and select
1
⁄
4
˝=1´-0˝. Metric users should select 1:50.
2.
Click the Add Current Scale tool in the Annotation Scale control panel, or enter
Objectscale
↵.
3.
At the
Select annotative objects:
prompt, select the text, and press
↵.
4.
At the
Enter an option [Add/Delete/?] :
prompt, press
↵.
5.
At the
Enter named scale to add or [?] <1:50>:
prompt, press
↵.
6.
At the prompt
1 object updated to support annotation scale <1:50>.
Enter named scale to add or [?]:
press
↵.
The text changes to a smaller and more appropriate size for the new scale you selected in step 1.
Now, test your settings by changing the Annotation Scale value back to the previous setting:
1.
In the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window, click the Annotation Scale setting, and
select
1
⁄
8
˝=1´-0˝. Metric users should select 1:100.
2.
The text changes back to its original size.
In steps 2 through 6 of the first exercise in this section, you added a new annotation scale to the
text. This is necessary in order for the text to be aware of the new annotation scale you want to use.
Each time you include a new scale for your drawing, you need to add an annotation scale to the text
in your drawing. Once it’s added, you can quickly change between scales by selecting a scale from
the Annotation Scale list.
So far, you’ve only used a single multiline text object; but if you have many notes distributed
throughout a drawing, you’ll need to add an annotation scale to all of them before they can automatically
adjust themselves to the different scales you’ll use with your drawing. This is easy to do,
because you have the option to select as many objects as you need when adding annotation scales.

Text and Scale in Legacy Drawings
AutoCAD 2008 offers the Annotation Scale feature to automate the scaling of text and other objects to
their proper sized based on the drawing’s annotation scale. But there is a good chance that you’ll
encounter drawings that were created before the Annotation Scale feature was available. For that reason,
you should have a basic understanding of scale factors as they apply to text.
As you know by now, AutoCAD lets you draw at full scale; that is, you can represent distances as values
equivalent to the actual size of the object. When you later plot the drawing, you tell AutoCAD the scale
at which you want to plot, and the program reduces the drawing accordingly. This gives you the freedom
to enter measurements at full scale and not worry about converting them to various scales every time
you enter a distance. Unfortunately, in earlier versions of AutoCAD, this feature created problems when
users entered text and dimensions. You had to make the text height very large in order for it to be readable
when scaled down.
To illustrate this point, imagine you’re drawing the Unit plan at full size on a very large sheet of paper.
When you’re finished with this drawing, it will be reduced to a scale that enables it to fit on an 8.5˝
×
11˝
sheet of paper. So, you have to make your text large to keep it legible after it’s reduced. If you want text
to appear
1
⁄
8
˝ high when the drawing is plotted, you must convert it to a considerably larger size when
you draw it. To do this, you multiply the desired height of the final plotted text by a scale-conversion factor
(see Chapter 3 for more on scale-conversion factors).
For example, if your drawing is at a
1
⁄
8
˝ = 1´-0˝ scale, you multiply the desired text height,
1
⁄
8
˝, by the scaleconversion
factor of 96 to get a height of 12˝. This is the height you must make your text to get
1
⁄
8
˝-high
text in the final plot.
With AutoCAD 2008, you don’t have to work through the math to get the right text size for your drawing.
But if you encounter a drawing that was created in an earlier version of AutoCAD and you notice that the
text size is very large, you’ll know why.

Assigning Plot Styles to Objects The Bottom Linecont.....1

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The Bottom Line

Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables Plot styles let you control
the way lines are printed on paper. You can control lineweights, shading of filled areas,
corner treatment of thick lines, and more.
Master It Describe some of the differences between named plot styles and color-dependent
plot styles.
Solution Color-dependent plot styles use the color of objects to control lineweights and
other printed features. Named plot styles can be used to assign printed features to individual
objects.
Creating a Color Plot Style Table Both color and named plot styles are stored as files. You
can create custom plot styles and apply them to any drawing.
Master It In what dialog box do you select and edit plot styles?
Solution Go to the Plot dialog box or the Page Setup dialog box; then, select New from the
Plot Style Table drop-down list. You can also choose File Plot Style Manager and, in
the Plot Styles window, double-click the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard.
Editing and Using Plot Style Tables Plot styles give you a lot of control over the appearance
of lines in your plotted output.
Master It Name some of the settings offered in the Plot Style Table Editor.
Solution Color, Screening, Lineweight, Line End Style, and Line Join Style are a few of the
available options.
Assigning Named Plot Styles Directly to Layers and Objects Named plots styles offer a bit
more control over the way lines are plotted. If you choose, you can assign named plot styles to
objects bypassing layer assignments.
Master It Describe a method for assigning a plot style to an object.
Solution You can assign a plot style to an object through the Plot Style setting in the Properties
palette. You can also use the Plot Style Control drop-down list in the Properties toolbar.

Assigning Plot Styles to Objects

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Assigning Plot Styles to Objects
After you’ve set up AutoCAD to use named plot styles, you can begin to assign plot styles to objects
through the Properties palette. Here are the steps to assign plot styles to objects:
1. Back in the Plan-named.dwg file, click the Layout1 tab.
2. Choose File Page Setup Manager; then, click the Modify button in the Page Setup Manager
dialog box.

WARNING If your plotter configuration is set up for a nonexistent printer, you’ll see a warning
message telling you that a driver for the plotter assigned to this drawing can’t be found. This often
occurs when you receive a file that has been set up to plot on a printer in another location. As the
warning message explains, AutoCAD will set your plot device to None. You must then make sure
your printer plotter is selected in the Printer/Plotter group of the Page Setup dialog box.
3. In the Page Setup dialog box, select Mynamedstyle1.stb from the drop-down list in the Plot
Style Table (Pen Assignments) group.
4. Make sure the Display Plot Styles check box is selected; then, click OK.
5. Click Close to close the Page Setup Manager dialog box.
You’ve assigned a named plot style table to Layout1. Note that you can assign different named
plot styles to different layouts.
Next, make sure the plot styles will be displayed in the drawing:
1. Choose Format Lineweight, make sure that the Display Lineweight check box is selected,
and click OK.
2. Set up your view so you see a close-up of the lower-left corner unit.
3. Click the Model Or Paper Space button on the status bar so that the word Model shows in the
button. This enables you to select objects in the drawing while in a Layout tab.

4. Select the line representing the outer wall of the unit at lower left in the plan, as shown in
Figure 9.6; then, right-click, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

5. In the Properties palette, click the Plot Style option. The option turns into a drop-down list
with a downward-pointing arrow to the far right.

6. Click the downward-pointing arrow, and then select Other from the list to open the Select
Plot Style dialog box.

7. Select Style 1, and click OK. Style 1 now appears as the value for the Plot Style in the Properties
palette.
8. Close the Properties palette.
9. Choose View Regen All. If you have the lineweight visibility turned on, you see the results in the
drawing editor. (Depending on how your display is set up, you may need to zoom in further.)
Another way to assign plot styles to individual objects is through the Plot Style Control dropdown
list found in the Properties toolbar.

This enables you to select a plot style in a manner similar to the Layer & Linetype drop-down
list. You can assign plot styles to individual objects by selecting the objects and then selecting a plot
style from the Plot Style Control drop-down list. If you’re using a color plot style table like the one
you created in earlier exercises, the Plot Style Control drop-down list is unavailable.

Assigning Plot Style Tables to Layers
You can also assign named plot style tables to layers. This has a similar effect to using the color plot
style tables. The main difference is that with named plot style tables, you assign the plot style tables
directly to the layer instead of assigning a plot style to the color of a layer. Here’s how to assign a
plot style table to a layer:
1. In the Layers toolbar, click the Layer Properties Manager button to open the Layer Properties
Manager dialog box.
2. Select the Wall layer.
3. Click the Normal label in the Plot Style column of the Wall layer listing. You may have to
scroll to the right to see the Plot Style column.

The Select Plot Style dialog box opens.

4. Select Style 1 from the Plot Styles list.
5. Click OK. You return to the Layer Properties Manager dialog box; this time, it shows the Plot
Style property for the Wall layer listed as Style 1.
6. Click OK to close the Layer Properties Manager dialog box; then, choose View Regen All.
Your view of the plan changes to reflect the new plot style assignment to the Wall layer.

Converting a Drawing from Color Plot Styles to Named Plot Styles
If you need to convert a color plot style drawing to a named plot style drawing, you can use the Convertctb
and Convertpstyles commands. The conversion is a two-part process. In the first stage, which is
needed only the first time you perform the conversion, you convert a color plot style table file into a
named plot style table file. Then, you convert the drawing file.
Here are the steps for the first part of the process:
1. Start AutoCAD, and, at the Command prompt, enter Convertctb↵. This command lets you convert a
color plot style table file into a named plot style table file. A Select File dialog box opens to enable you
to select a color plot style table file; these files have the filename extension .ctb. For this example,
choose the Acad.ctb file.
2. Click Open to open the Create File dialog box, where you can provide a name for the converted file.
If you opened the Acad.ctb file in step 1, you may want to give the new file the name AcadConvert
so you know it’s a converted .ctb file. AutoCAD automatically adds the .stb filename extension.
3. After you click Save, AutoCAD creates a new named plot style table file, with the .stb filename
extension, from the .ctb file you selected in step 1.
The next part is to convert the drawing file:
1. Open the file you want to convert, and enter Convertpstyles↵ at the Command prompt. You’ll see
a warning message to make sure you’ve converted a .ctb file to a .stb file.
2. Click OK to open the Select File dialog box.
3. Select the converted .stb file you created using the Convertctb command. The current drawing is
converted to use a named plot style table.
In the process shown here, I’ve suggested converting the Acad.ctb file; but if you’ve saved some
custom settings in another .ctb file, you may want to convert your custom .ctb file instead.
To convert a drawing that uses a named plot style table to one that uses a color plot style table, open the
file in question, and use the Convertpstyles command. You’ll see a warning message telling you that all
the named plot styles will be removed from the drawing. Click OK to convert the drawing.

UNDERSTANDING PLOT STYLES count......1

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Assigning Named Plot Styles Directly to Layers and Objects
So far, you’ve learned that you can control how AutoCAD translates drawing colors into plotter output.
You’ve been using a color plot style table, which assigns a plot style to each color in AutoCAD. You can
also assign plot styles directly to objects or layers. To do this, you need to employ a named plot style
table. As we said earlier, named plot style tables enable you to create plot styles that have names rather
than being assigned directly to colors in AutoCAD. You can then assign a plot style by name to objects
or layers in your drawing. In this section, you’ll learn how to set up AutoCAD with a named plot style
table to assign plot styles to objects; then, you’ll create a new plot style table.

Using Named Plot Style Tables
Out of the box, AutoCAD uses the color-dependent plot style table for all new drawings. You can
create a new drawing that uses named plot style tables in two ways. The simpler way is to use any of
the named plot style template files when you create a new drawing. You’ll see these templates under the
Use A Template option in the Create New Drawing dialog box or in the Select Template dialog box.

By offering both color and named plot style drawing templates, AutoCAD makes it easy to create
and select the type of plot style for your drawing regardless of the current default style.
If you prefer, you can set up AutoCAD to use a named plot style by default when you create a
drawing by using the Start From Scratch option in the Create New Drawing dialog box. To set up
the default plot style table for new drawings, follow these steps:
1. Choose Tools Options to open the Options dialog box, and click the Plot And Publish tab.
This tab offers a variety of settings geared toward your plotter or printer.
2. In the lower-right corner of the dialog box, click the Plot Style Table Settings button.
3. In the Plot Style Table Settings dialog box, click the Use Named Plot Styles radio button.
Notice that the Default Plot Style For Layer 0 and Default Plot Style For Objects options
become available. Click OK.

4. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.
To create and try out a new named plot style, you can open an existing file from an earlier version
of AutoCAD. In the next few exercises, you’ll use the Plan-named.dwg file. This is a Release 14 file
that you’ll assign the type of plot style table that is currently the default as determined by the Use
Named Plot Styles option you set in the previous exercise. Follow these steps:
1. Open the Plan-named.dwg file.
2. Choose File Plot Style Manager to open a window to the Plot Styles folder.
3. Double-click the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard icon to start the Plot Style Table Wizard.
4. Click Next to open the Begin screen, choose Start From Scratch, and then click Next to open
the Pick Plot Style Table screen.
5. Click the Named Plot Style Table radio button, and then click Next to open the File
Name screen.
6. Enter Mynamedstyle1 in the File Name input box, and click Next to open the Finish screen.
Here you can exit, or you can edit the new plot style table. This time, you’ll edit the table
from the wizard.
7. Click the Plot Style Table Editor button to open the Plot Style Table Editor dialog box.

Notice that you have only one style named. Unlike the color plot style tables, you aren’t assigning
a style to each AutoCAD color; you don’t need a style for each of the 255 colors. Instead, you
can create a limited set of styles, giving each style the characteristics you want to apply to objects
or layers. Continue by adding some plot styles:
1. Click the Add Style button to display a new Style 1 column. If you choose, you can give the
style a different name at this point by clicking in the Name box and typing a new name.

2. Click the Form View tab, and then select Style 1 from the Plot Styles list.
3. Click the Lineweight drop-down list, and select 0.5000 mm.
4. Click the Add Style button, and then click OK in the Add Plot Style dialog box.
5. Select Style 2 from the Plot Styles list; then, click the Lineweight drop-down list, and select
0.7000 mm.
6. Click Save & Close to return to the Add Plot Style Table dialog box.
7. Click Finish to exit the wizard, and then close the Plot Styles window.
You may have noticed that the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard works in a slightly different way
when you start it from the Plot Styles window. It adds an extra option (in step 5 of the exercise
before the preceding one) that lets you choose between a color plot style table and a named plot
style table.
You’ve just created a named plot style. Next, make Mynamedstyle1.stb the default plot style:
1. Open the Options dialog box, and click the Plot And Publish tab.
2. Click the Plot Style Table Settings button. Then, in the Default Plot Style Table drop-down
list, select Mynamedstyle1.stb, the table you just created.
3. Click OK to exit the Plot Style Table Settings dialog box, and then click OK again to exit the
Options dialog box.
Now, you’re ready to start assigning plot styles to the objects in your drawing.

UNDERSTANDING PLOT STYLES

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CHAPTER 9 UNDERSTANDING PLOT STYLES

The File Information group gives you the basic information about the file location and name, as
well as the number of color styles included in the plot style table.
The Apply Global Scale Factor To Non-ISO Linetypes check box lets you specify whether ISO
linetype scale factors are applied to all linetypes. When this item is selected, the Scale Factor input
box becomes active, enabling you to enter a scale factor.
NOTE International Organization for Standardization (ISO) linetypes are special linetypes that
conform to ISO standards for technical drawings.
The Table View Tab
The Table View tab offers the same settings as the Form View tab, only in a different format. Each
plot style is shown as a column, with the properties of the plot style listed along the left side of the
tab. To change a property, click it in the column.

To apply the same setting to all plot styles at once, right-click a setting you want to use from a
single plot style, and choose Copy from the shortcut menu. Right-click the setting again, and then
choose Apply To All Styles from the shortcut menu.
Click the Edit Lineweights button to open the Edit Lineweights dialog box, which lets you adjust
the lineweight settings for the plot styles.

The Form View Tab
You’ve already seen and worked with the Form View tab, shown in Figure 9.1 earlier in this chapter.
This tab contains the same settings as the Table View tab but in a different format. Instead of displaying
each color as a column of properties, the properties are listed as options along the right side, and
the colors are listed in a list box.
To modify the properties of a color, you select the color from the list and then edit the values in
the Properties group on the right side of the dialog box. For example, to change the screening value
of the Color 3 style, you highlight Color 3 in the Plot Styles list, double-click the Screening input
box, and enter a new value.
You’ve already seen what the Screening, Color, Lineweight, and Line Join Style options do.
Here’s a description of the other style properties:
TIP The names of the properties in the Table View tab are slightly different from those in the
Form View tab. The Table View property names are enclosed in brackets in this listing.
Description This option enables you to enter a description for each color.
Dither [Enable Dithering] Dithering is a method that enables your plotter to simulate colors
beyond the basic 255 colors available in AutoCAD. Although this option is desirable when you
want to create a wider range of colors in your plots, it can also create distortions, including broken,
fine lines and false colors. For this reason, dithering is usually turned off. This option isn’t available
in all plotters.
[Convert To] Grayscale This option converts colors to grayscale.
[Use Assigned] Pen # This option lets you specify which pen number is assigned to each color
in your drawing. This option applies only to pen plotters.
Virtual Pen # Many ink-jet and laser plotters offer “virtual pens” to simulate the processes of
the old-style pen plotters. Frequently, such plotters offer as many as 255 virtual pens. Plotters
with virtual pens often let you assign AutoCAD colors to a virtual pen number. This is significant
if the virtual pens of your plotter can be assigned screening, width, end style, and join
styles. You can then use the virtual pen settings instead of using the settings in the Plot Style
Table Editor. This option is most beneficial for users who already have a library of drawings that
are set up for plotters with virtual-pen settings.
You can set up your ink-jet printer for virtual pens under the Vector Graphics listing of the
Device And Documents Setting tab of the Plotter Configuration Editor. See Appendix B for more
on setting up your printer or plotter configuration.
Linetype If you prefer, you can use this setting to control linetypes in AutoCAD based on the
color of the object. By default, this option is set to Use Object Linetype. I recommend that you
leave this option at its default.
Adaptive [Adjustment] This option controls how noncontinuous linetypes begin and end. It’s
on by default, which forces linetypes to begin and end in a line segment. With this option turned
off, the same linetype is drawn without regard for its ending. In some cases, this can produce a
line that appears incomplete.
Line End Style This option lets you specify the shape of the end of simple lines that have a
lineweight greater than zero.
Line Join Style This option lets you determine the shape of the corners of polylines.

Fill Style This option lets you set up a color to be drawn as a pattern when used in a solid filled
area. The patterns appear as follows:

Add Style Clicking this button lets you add more plot styles or colors. This option isn’t available
for color plot style tables.
Delete Style Clicking this button deletes the selected style. This option isn’t available for color
plot style tables.
Save As Clicking this button lets you save the current plot style table with a different filename.

Setting Up Line Corner Styles

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Setting Up Line Corner Styles
You may notice that the corners of the wall lines appear to be rounded, as shown in Figure 9.4,
instead of crisp and sharp.

You can adjust the way AutoCAD draws these corners at plot time through the Plot Style
Table Editor:
1.
Open the
Mystyle.ctb
plot style table, as you did in the previous exercise.
2.
Click the Form View tab, and then click Color 3 in the Plot Styles list box.
CHAPTER 9
UNDERSTANDING PLOT STYLES
3.
Click the Line End Style drop-down list, and
select Square.

4.
Click Save & Close; then, click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
5.
Choose View
Regen All to view your changes. Now the corners meet in a sharp angle, as
shown in Figure 9.5.

NOTE
The Line Join Style setting can have an adverse affect on AutoCAD fonts. If text appears
distorted, check to see whether it’s on a layer that uses a line join style other than the default Use
Object End Style setting.
The Square option in the Line End Style drop-down list extends the endpoints of contiguous
lines so that their corners meet in a clean corner instead of a notch. The Line Join Style drop-down
list offers a similar set of settings for polylines. For example, you can round polyline corners by
using the Round option in the Line Join Style drop-down list.

NOTE
The Line Join Style setting can have an adverse affect on AutoCAD fonts. If text appears
distorted, check to see whether it’s on a layer that uses a line join style other than the default UseObject End Style setting.
The Square option in the Line End Style drop-down list extends the endpoints of contiguous
lines so that their corners meet in a clean corner instead of a notch. The Line Join Style drop-downlist offers a similar set of settings for polylines. For example, you can round polyline corners byusing the Round option in the Line Join Style drop-down list.

Setting Up Screen Values for Solid Areas
The last option you’ll look at is how to change a color into a screened area. Frequently, you’ll want
to add a gray or colored background to an area of your drawing to emphasize that area graphically,as in a focus area in a map, or to designate functions in a floor plan. The settings you’re about to use
enable you to create shaded backgrounds:
1. Open the Page Setup Manager, and click Modify to open the Page Setup dialog box again.
Then, open the Plot Style Table Editor.
2. Select Color 3 from the Plot Styles list box.
3. In the Screening list box, click the number 100 to select it.

4. Type 50↵.
5. Click Save & Close. Click OK in the Page Setup dialog box, and click Close in the Page Setup
Manager dialog box.
6. Choose View Regen All. The walls are a shade of gray instead of solid black.
In this exercise, you turned a wide black line into a gray one. The Screening option lets you tone
down the chosen color from a solid color to a color that has 50 percent of its full intensity.
You can use the Screening option in combination with color to obtain a variety of tones. If you
need to cover large areas with color, you can use the Solid hatch pattern to fill those areas and then
use the Screening option in the Plot Style Table Editor to make fine adjustments to the area’s color.
Controlling the Visibility of Overlapping Objects
You should also know about the Draworder command in conjunction with solid filled areas. This
command lets you control how objects hide or overlap when displayed or plotted. If your solid
hatches are hiding text or other graphics, you need to learn about Draworder. See Chapter 14 for
more information. Some output devices offer a Merge Control option that determines how overlapping
graphics are plotted. For more information, see Appendix B.

Other Options in the Plot Style Table Editor
You’ve seen a lot of the plot style options so far, but there are many others that you may want to use
in the future. This section describes those options that weren’t covered in the previous exercises.
TIP The options in the Plot Style Table Editor are the same regardless of whether you’re editing a
color plot style table or a named plot style table.
The General Tab
You didn’t really look at the General tab of the Plot Style Table Editor in the exercise presented earlier.
The General tab offers information regarding the plot style you’re currently editing. You can
enter a description of the style in the Description box. This can be useful if you plan to include the
plot style with a drawing you’re sending to someone else for plotting.

Making Changes to Multiple Plot Styles

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Making Changes to Multiple Plot Styles
Chances are, you’ll want to plot your drawing in black and white for most of your work. You can
edit your color plot style table to plot one or all of your AutoCAD colors as black instead of the
AutoCAD colors.
You saw how you can open the Plot Style Table Editor from the Page Setup dialog box to edit
your color plot style table. In this exercise, you’ll try a different route:
1.
Choose File
Plot Style Manager to open the Plot Styles window. This is a view to the
Plot
Styles
folder under the
C:\Documents and Settings\
Username
\Application Data\
Autodesk\AutoCAD 2008\R17.1 \enu\
folder.
2.
Locate the file
Mystyle.ctb
, and double-click it to open the Plot Style Table Editor
dialog box.
3.
Click the Form View tab.
4.
Click Color 3 in the Plot Styles list box.

5.
Click the Color drop-down list, and select Black.

6.
Click Save & Close; then, close the Plot Styles window.
7.
Choose View
Regen All to view your drawing. The green objects appear black in the
Layout tab.
8.
Click the Model tab to view your drawing in Model Space. The objects are still their original
colors. This shows that you haven’t changed the colors of your objects or layers—you’ve
only changed the color of the plotted output.
Next, try changing all the output colors to black:
1.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 of the previous exercise to open the
Mystyle.ctb
file.
2.
Click the Form View tab; then, click Color 1 in the Plot Styles list box.
3.
Shift+click Color 9 in the Plot Styles list box to select all the plot styles from Color 1 to
Color 9.

4.
Click the Color drop-down list, and select Black.
5.
Click Save & Close, and close the Plot Styles window.
6.
Click the Layout1 tab, and then choose View
Regen All. All the colors have changed
to black.
Now, when you plot your drawing, you’ll get a plot that is composed entirely of black lines.
These exercises have shown that the Plot Style Table Editor lets you set the color of your printed
output to be different from the colors you see in Model Space. In the exercises, you set the pen colors
to black, but if you look down the Color drop-down list, you’ll see that you can choose from any
number of colors. The Select Color option in the Color drop-down list lets you select colors from the
Select Color dialog box.

NOTE
To see the view shown here, make sure the True Color tab is selected and the HSL option is
selected in the Color Model drop-down list. LT users won’t see a Color Books tab.
In Chapter 5, you were introduced to the Select Color dialog box in the context of selecting colors
for layers. Here, you can use it to assign colors to plot styles. The same three tabs are available:
Index Color, True Color, and Color Books. (LT users won’t see the Color Books tab.) The Index
Color tab lets you select from the standard AutoCAD 255 index colors. The True Color tab lets you
choose virtually any color you want. The Color Books tab lets you use PANTONE colors.

Making Your Plot Styles Visible

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Making Your Plot Styles Visible
You won’t see any changes in your drawing yet. You need to make one more change to your
drawing options:
1.
Choose Format
Lineweight to open the Lineweight Settings dialog box. The Lineweight
Settings dialog box lets you control the appearances of lineweights in the drawing. If lineweights
aren’t showing up, this is the place to look to make them viewable. You can find out
more about the Lineweight Settings dialog box in Chapter 16.

TIP
You can also click the User Preferences tab in the Options dialog box and then click the Lineweight
Settings button to open the Lineweight Settings dialog box.
2.
Click the Display Lineweight check box to turn on this option.
3.
Just below the Display Lineweight option, click the Default drop-down list, and select 0.09
mm. This makes any unassigned or default lineweight a very fine line.
4.
Click Apply & Close. The layout displays the drawing with the lineweight assignments you
set up earlier (see Figure 9.3).

WARNING
If your view doesn’t reflect the Plot Style settings, make sure you have the Display
Plot Styles option selected in the Plot Style Table (Pen Assignments) group of the Page
Setup dialog box.

Editing and Using Plot Style Tables

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Editing and Using Plot Style Tables
You now have your own plot style table. In this exercise, you’ll edit the plot style and see firsthand
how plot styles affect your drawing:
1.
In the Page Setup dialog box, the filename
Mystyle.ctb
should appear in the drop-down
list of the Plot Style Table (Pen Assignments) group. If it doesn’t, open the drop-down list to
select it.
2.
Click the Edit button to open the Plot Style Table Editor. The Edit button is the one just to
the right of the Plot Style Table drop-down list. Click the Form View tab, which is shown
at the top of Figure 9.1.
TIP
You can also open and edit existing plot style tables by choosing File
Plot Style Manager to open
the Plot Styles dialog box. You can then double-click the plot style you want to edit. A third option is to
double-click the
Plot Style Table
file in
C:\Documents and Settings\
Username
\
Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2008\R17.1\enu\Plot Styles

The Plot Style Table Editor dialog box has three tabs that give you control over how each color
in AutoCAD is plotted. The Form View tab lets you select a color from a list box and then set the
properties of that color by using the options on the right side of the tab.
TIP
The Table View tab displays each color as a column of properties. Each column is called a plot
style. The property names are listed in a column to the far left. Although the layout is different,
both the Table View tab and the Form View tab offer the same functions.
Next, you’ll continue by changing the line width property of the Color 3 (green) plot style.
Remember that green is the color assigned to the Wall layer of your Plan drawing.
1.
Click Color 3 in the Plot Styles list box.
2.
Click the Lineweight drop-down list, and select 0.5000 mm.

3.
Click Save & Close to return to the Page Setup dialog box.
4.
Click the Display Plot Styles check box in the Plot Style Table (Pen Assignments) group.
Then, click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box, and click Close to close the Page Setup
Manager dialog box.

5.
Zoom in to the plan to enlarge the view of a unit bathroom and entrance, as shown in Figure 9.2.

Creating a Color Plot Style Table

2009-02-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

Creating a Color Plot Style Table
You can have several plot style table files on hand to quickly apply plot styles to any given plot
or Layout tab. You can set up each plot style table to create a different look for your drawing.
These files are stored in the
Plot Styles
folder of the
C:\Documents and Settings\
Username
\
Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2008\R17.1\enu\
folder. Follow these steps to create a
new plot style table. You’ll use an existing file that was created in Release 14 an example to demonstrate
the plot style features:
TIP
If you change your mind about a selection you make while using a wizard, you can move forward
or backward by clicking the Next and Back buttons.
1.
Open the sample file called
Plan-color.dwg
; then, click the Layout1 tab.
2.
Right-click the Layout tab, and select Page Setup Manager. In the Page Setup Manager
dialog box, click Modify.
3.
The Page Setup dialog box is similar to the Plot dialog box. The main difference is that the
Page Setup dialog box doesn’t have the Apply To Layout button at the bottom.

4.
In the Plot Style Table (Pen Assignments) group at upper right, open the drop-down list and
select New to start the Add Color-Dependent Plot Style Table Wizard.

5.
Click the Start From Scratch radio button, and then click Next. The next screen of the wizard
asks for a filename.
6.
Enter
Mystyle
for the filename, and click Next. The next screen of the wizard lets you edit
your plot style and assign the plot style to your current, new, or old drawings. You’ll learn
about editing plot styles a bit later.
7.
Click Finish to return to the Page Setup dialog box.
With the Add Color-Dependent Plot Style Table Wizard, you can create a new plot style table
from scratch, or you can create one based on an AutoCAD R14 CFG, PCP, or PC2 file. You can also
access the Add Color-Dependent Plot Style Table Wizard by choosing File
Plot Style Manager
and then double-clicking the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard icon.
The steps shown here are the same whether your drawing is set up for color plot styles or named
plot styles.

Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables

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Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables

You can think of a plot style as a virtual pen that has the attributes of color, width, shape, and screen
percentage. A typical drawing may use several different line widths, so you use a different plot
style for each line width. Multiple plot styles are collected into
plot style tables
that allow you to control
a set of plot styles from one dialog box.
AutoCAD offers two types of plot style tables: color and named.
Color plot style tables
enable you
to assign plot styles to the individual AutoCAD colors. For example, you can assign a plot style
with a 0.50 mm width to the color red so that anything that is red in your drawing is plotted with
a line width of 0.50 mm. You can, in addition, set the plot style’s color to black so that everything
that is red in your drawing is plotted in black.
Named plot style tables
let you assign plot styles directly to objects in your drawing, instead of
assigning a plot style in a more general way through a color. Named plot style tables also enable
you to assign plot styles directly to layers. For example, with named plot styles, you can assign a
plot style that is black and has a 0.50 mm width to a single circle or line in a drawing, regardless of
its color.
Named plot styles are more flexible than color plot styles; but if you already have a library of
AutoCAD drawings set up for a specific set of plotter settings, the color plot styles are a better
choice when you’re opening files that were created in AutoCAD R14 and earlier. This is because
color plot styles are more similar to the older method of assigning AutoCAD colors to plotter
pens. You may also want to use color plot style tables with files that you intend to share with an
individual or office that is still using earlier versions of AutoCAD.
The type of plot style table assigned to a new drawing depends on the settings in the Plot Style
Table Settings dialog box, which you access through the Plot And Publish tab of the Options dialog.
TIP
You can change the type of plot style table assigned to a drawing. See the sidebar “Converting
a Drawing from Color Plot Styles to Named Plot Styles,” later in this chapter, for more information
on plot style conversions.
Here’s how to set up the plot style type for new files:
1.
Open the Options dialog box, and click the Plot And Publish tab.
2.
Click the Plot Style Table Settings button to open the Plot Style Table Settings dialog box.

3.
In the Default Plot Style Behavior For New Drawings button group, click the Use Color
Dependent Plot Styles radio button. In a later exercise, you’ll use the Use Named Plot
Styles option.
4.
Click OK. Then, click OK again in the Options dialog box to return to the drawing.
After you’ve set up AutoCAD for color plot style tables, any new drawings you create are
allowed to use only color plot style tables. You can change this setting at any time for new files,
but after a file is saved, the type of plot style that is current when the file is created is the only type
of plot style available to that file. If you need to change a color plot style to a named plot style
drawing, see the sidebar “Converting a Drawing from Color Plot Styles to Named Plot Styles,”
later in this chapter.
Next, you’ll set up a custom color plot style table. Plot style tables are stored as files with the
.ctb
or
.stb
filename extension. The table filenames that end with
.ctb
are color plot style tables.
The table filenames that end with
.stb
are named plot style tables.
TIP
You can also select between color and named plot styles when selecting a new drawing template.
When you choose File
New, you’ll see that many of the template files in the Select Template
dialog box have “Color Dependent Plot Styles” or “Named Plot Styles” as part of their name. If you
have AutoCAD set up to use the Startup dialog box, you’ll see the color and named plot style template
files when you select the Use A Template option from the Create New Drawing dialog box.

Understanding Plot Styles

2009-02-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

Understanding Plot Styles
To gain full control over the appearance of your output, you’ll want to know about plot style tables.
By using
plot style tables
, you can control how colors are translated into plotted lineweights and how
area fills are converted into shades of gray or screened colors in your printer or plotter output. You
can also control other aspects of how the plotter draws each object in a drawing.
If you don’t use plot style tables, your plotter will produce output as close as possible to what
you see in the drawing editor, including colors. With plot style tables, you can force all the colors
to print as black, or you can also assign a fill pattern or a screen to a color. This can be useful for
charts and maps that require area fills of different gradations. You can create multiple plot style
tables to produce plots that fit the exact requirements of your project.
This chapter will show you firsthand how you can use plot style tables to enhance your plotter
output. You’ll look at how to adjust the lineweight of the walls in the
Plan
file and make color
changes to your plotter output. Topics in this chapter include:
◆
Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables
◆
Creating a Color Plot Style Table
◆
Editing and Using Plot Style Tables
◆
Assigning Named Plot Styles Directly to Layers and Objects

The Bottom Line

2009-02-10T20:45:00.001-08:00

The Bottom Line
Understanding the Plotter Settings Unlike other types of documents, AutoCAD drawings can
end up on nearly any size sheet of paper. To accommodate the range of paper sizes, the AutoCAD
plotter settings are fairly extensive and give you a high level of control over your output.
Master It Name a few of the settings available in the Plot dialog box.
Solution Paper size, plot area, plot scale and printer/plotter name are a few of the settings
available in the Plot dialog box.
WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs The layout tabs in AutoCAD offer a way to let you
set up the way a drawing will be plotted. You can think of the layout tabs as a kind of paste up
area for your drawings.
Master It Name some of the items that you see in a layout tab.
Solution The layout tab shows the paper orientation, plotter margins, and the location of
your drawing on the final plotted output.
Adding an Output Device Typically, AutoCAD will use the Windows system printer as an
output device, but often you will find that the printer you use is a dedicated plotter that is not
connected to Windows in the usual way. AutoCAD lets you add custom plotter and prints
through the Add-A-Plotter wizard.
Master It How do you start the Add-A-Plotter wizard?
Solution Choose File Plotter Manager, double-click the Add-A-Plotter Wizard application
in the Plotters window.
Storing a Page Setup Most of the time, you will use the same set of plotter settings for your
drawings. You can save plotter settings using the Page Setup feature.
Master It Describe a way to create a page setup. Describe how to retrieve a setup.
Solution Choose File Page Setup Manager then click New at the Page Setup Manager
dialog box. Enter a name for your page setup in the New Page Setup dialog box, then click
OK. You can retrieve a page setup by selecting it from the Page Setup drop-down list in the
Plot dialog box.

Knowing Your Plotter’s Origins

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Knowing Your Plotter’s Origins
Another important consideration is the location of your plotter’s origin. For example, on some plotters,
the lower-left corner of the plot area is used as the origin. Other plotters use the center of the plot area
as the origin. When you plot a drawing that is too large to fit the sheet on a plotter that uses a corner for the origin, the image is pushed toward the top and to the right of the sheet (see Figure 8.5). When you
plot a drawing that is too large to fit on a plotter that uses the center of the paper as the origin, the image
is pushed outward in all directions from the center of the sheet.

In each situation, the origin determines a point of reference from which you can relate your
drawing in the computer to the physical output. After you understand this, you’re better equipped
to accurately place your electronic drawing on the physical medium.

Using Batch and Electronic Plots
The focus of this chapter so far has been printer or plotter hard-copy output. But a major part of your
work will involve the transmission of electronic versions of your documents. More than ever, architects
and engineers are using the Internet to exchange documents of all types, so AutoCAD offers several tools
to make the process easier.
I’ve mentioned that you can control some of your output settings thorough the Plot And Publish tab of
the Options dialog box. The Publish features includes items that enable you to “print” your drawings as
a file that can be e-mailed to clients and consultants or posted on an FTP site or website. The Publish features
let you create a single file that contains multiple pages so you can combine several drawing sheets
into one file.
The Publish feature also enables you to plot several drawings at once without having to load and print
each one individually. This can be helpful when you’ve finished a set of drawings and want to plot them
during a break or overnight. Chapter 27 gives you a detailed look at the Publish feature.

Understanding Your Plotter’s Limits

2009-02-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Understanding Your Plotter’s Limits
If you’re familiar with a word-processing or desktop-publishing program, you know that you can set
the margins of a page, thereby telling the program exactly how far from each edge of the paper you
want the text to appear. With AutoCAD, you don’t have that luxury. To accurately place a plot on
your paper, you must know the plotter’s hard clip limits. The hard clip limits are like built-in margins,
beyond which the plotter won’t plot. These limits vary from plotter to plotter (see Figure 8.4).

It’s crucial that you know your printer’s or plotter’s hard clip limits in order to place your drawings
accurately on the sheet. Take some time to study your plotter manual and find out exactly
what these limits are. Then, make a record of them and store it somewhere, in case you or someone
else needs to format a sheet in a special way.
Hard clip limits for printers often depend on the software that drives them. You may need to
consult your printer manual or use the trial-and-error method of plotting several samples to see
how they come out.
After you’ve established the limits of your plotter or printer, you’ll be better equipped to fit your
drawing in those limits. You can then establish some standard drawing limits based on your plotter’s
limits. You’ll also need to know the dimensions of those hard clip limits to define custom sheet
sizes. Although AutoCAD offers standard sheet sizes in the Paper Size button group of the Page
Setup and Plot dialog boxes, these sizes don’t take into account the hard clip limits.

Plot to File

2009-02-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

Plot to File
You have the option to plot to a file that can be downloaded to your printer or plotter at a later date. The
Plot To File group lets you specify the default destination for the plot files.

Plot and Publish Log File
You can maintain a plot log file that records information about each plot you make. This can be helpful
when you must keep records of hard-copy output for billing purposes. The location of the plot and publishing
log file can be specified in the Files tab of the Options dialog box under the Plot And Publishing
Log File Location listing. The log file has a .csv filename extension.

Background Processing Options
AutoCAD performs background plots so that after you begin a plot you can immediately return to your
drawing work instead of waiting for the plot to be completed. The options in this group let you turn on this
feature either for standard plotting or for the Publish feature discussed in Chapter 27. You can also control
this option through the Backgroundplot system variable.

Plot Stamp Settings
This button opens the Plot Stamp dialog box, which you saw earlier in the “Plot Options” section of this
chapter. The Plot Stamp dialog box lets you determine what information is displayed in a plot stamp,
which is a label placed on the print of a drawing to provide information about the source file.

Plot Style Table Settings
When you click this button, the Plot Style Table Settings dialog box opens. This dialog box controls the
type of plot styles used in AutoCAD. In the case of named plot styles, you can also select a default plot
style for Layer 0 and a default plot style for objects. Note that the Use Color Dependent Plot Styles and
Use Named Plot Styles radio buttons don’t have an effect on the current drawing; they affect only new
drawings and pre–AutoCAD 2000 drawings being opened for the first time. The Default Plot Style Table
drop-down list lets you select a default plot style table for new and pre–AutoCAD 2000 drawings. These
settings are also controlled by the Pstylepolicy system variable.
The Add Or Edit Plot Style Tables button opens the Plot Styles dialog box. From there, you can doubleclick
an existing plot style table file or start the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard to create a new plot style.

Specify Plot Offset Relative To
Here you can determine whether the plot offset is set in relation to the printable area of your printer or
the edge of the paper. The printable area is determined by the printer margin.

Plotter and Printer Hardware Considerations

2009-02-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

Plotter and Printer Hardware Considerations
Positioning an AutoCAD drawing on the printer output is something of an art. Before you face a
deadline with hundreds of plots to produce, you may want to create some test plots and carefully
refine your plotter settings so that you have AutoCAD set up properly for those rush jobs.
Part of the setup process is to understand how your particular printer or plotter works. Each device
has its own special characteristics, so a detailed description of printer hardware setup is beyond the
scope of this section. However, here are a few guidelines that will make the process easier.

Understanding the Plot and Publish Tab in the Options Dialog Box
I mentioned the Plot And Publish tab in the Options dialog box earlier in this chapter. This tab contains several
options related to plotting that can be useful. Here’s a summary of those options and their purposes.

Default Plot Settings For New Drawings
The settings in this group let you control the default plot settings for new drawings and for drawings
from earlier versions of AutoCAD that are opened for the first time in AutoCAD 2008. The Use As Default
Output Device radio button and drop-down list let you select the default plotter or printer to be used
with new drawings. When selected, the Use Last Successful Plot Settings radio button uses the last successful
plotter settings for subsequent plots. This is how earlier versions of AutoCAD worked. The Add
Or Configure Plotters button opens the Plotters window. This is the same as choosing Files Plot Manager
from the AutoCAD menu bar. From the Plotters window, you can launch the Add-A-Plotter Wizard
to add new plotter configurations. You can also edit existing plotter configurations.

General Plot Options
These options control some of the general plotter parameters. The Keep The Layout Paper Size If Possible
radio button causes AutoCAD to attempt to plot to the paper size specified in the Plot dialog box,
regardless of the paper size in the plotter. If the specified size is larger than the capacity of the plotter,
a warning message is displayed. The Use The Plot Device Paper Size option causes AutoCAD to use the
paper size specified by the system printer or the PC3 plot configuration file currently in use. Both settings
are also controlled by the Paperupdate system variable.
The System Printer Spool Alert drop-down list offers control over printer-spooling alert messages. The
OLE Plot Quality drop-down list lets you control the quality of OLE objects embedded in or linked to a
drawing. This setting can also be controlled through the Olequality system variable.

When the Use OLE Application When Plotting OLE Objects check box is selected, AutoCAD launches any
application that is associated with an OLE object embedded or linked to the AutoCAD drawing that is
currently being plotted. This helps improve the plot quality of OLE objects. You can also set this option
through the Olestartup system variable.
The Hide System Printers option affects the Printer/Plotter group’s Name drop-down list in the Plot and
Page Setup dialog boxes. With this option turned on, you see only printers that have a .pc3 file associated
with them. These include printers that have been set up using the Add-A-Plotter Wizard discussed
earlier in this chapter.

Storing a Page Setup

2009-02-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

Storing a Page Setup
Unlike most other programs, AutoCAD offers hundreds of page setup options. It can be quite a chore
to keep track of and maintain all these options. But as you settle into using AutoCAD, you’ll probably
find that you’ll set up a few plotter configurations and stick to them. AutoCAD 2008 lets you save a
page setup under a name to help you store and manage the settings you use most.
You’ve already seen the Page Setup Manager dialog box on your way to preparing a page for
printing. In this section, you’ll take a closer look at this useful tool.
Follow these steps to create a page setup.
1. In AutoCAD, choose File Page Setup Manager. You can also right-click a Layout tab and
choose Page Setup Manager. The Page Setup Manager dialog box opens. So far, you’ve used
only the Modify option in this dialog box to modify an existing page setup. Now you’ll try
creating a new setup.

2. Click the New button to open the New Page Setup dialog box.

To create a new page setup, first enter a name in the New Page Setup Name input box, and select
a setup from the Start With list box. AutoCAD will use the setup you select as the basis for the
new setup. Notice that AutoCAD offers the name Setup1 as a default name for a new setup.
4. Click OK when you’re finished. AutoCAD opens the Page Setup dialog box, where you can
choose the settings for your new page setup.
5. Click OK to return to the Page Setup Manager. Your new page setup is listed in the Current
Page Setup list box. From here, you can select a page setup from the list box and then click
the Set Current button to make it the current page setup for the layout.
You can also import other user-defined page setups by clicking the Import button. Because page
setups are stored in the drawing, the Import button opens a standard file dialog box that displays
drawing files. You can then select a file from which you want to import a page setup.
The current page setup applies to the current Layout tab; but after you create a new page setup,
it’s offered as an option in the Page Setup Manager dialog box for all other Layout tabs. You can also
select a page setup directly from the Plot dialog box by using the Name drop-down list in the Page
Setup group.

Page setups can be used with the Publish feature described in Chapter 27 to set up batch plots,
or in the Sheet Set feature to quickly setup sheet layouts. If you decide that you want to create an
entirely new page setup while in the Page Setup dialog box, you can click the Add button. This
opens a simple dialog box that enables you to enter a name for your new setup. After you enter a
new name and click OK, you can proceed to set up your page settings. Then, click OK again, and
the setup will be saved under the new name.

Editing a Plotter Configuration

2009-02-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Editing a Plotter Configuration
In step 8 of the previous exercise, you exited the Add-a-Plotter Wizard without editing the newly
created plotter configuration. You can always go back and edit the configuration by opening the
Plotters window (choose File Plotter Manager) and double-clicking the configuration you want
to edit. You can recognize a plotter configuration file by its .pc3 filename extension.
Many users use their Windows system printer or plotter for other applications besides AutoCAD,
and frequently the AutoCAD settings for that printer are different from the settings used for other applications.
You can set up AutoCAD to automatically use its own settings so you don’t have to reconfigure
your Windows system printer every time you switch applications. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Choose File Page Setup Manager to open the Page Setup Manager dialog box.
2. Click the Modify button to open the Page Setup dialog box.
3. Select the printer that you want to configure in the Name drop-down list of the Printer/
Plotter group.
4. Click the Properties button just to the right of the drop-down list to open the Plotter Configuration
Editor dialog box. A list box displays all the properties of the printer or plotter. Not
all these properties are editable, however. Each time you click a property in the list box, the
lower half of the dialog box displays the options associated with that property.
5. Click the Custom Properties item in the list box. The lower half of the dialog box displays the
Custom Properties button.

6. Click the Custom Properties button. You’ll see the Windows system printer options. These
are the same options you see when you edit the properties of your printer by choosing
Start Printers And Faxes or Start Control Panel Printers And Other Hardware.
7. Adjust these settings the way you want them when you plot from AutoCAD, and click OK.
8. Back in the Plotter Configuration Editor dialog box, click the Save As button. A standard file
dialog box appears.
9. Enter the name of the plot configuration you’ve set up, or accept the default name, which is
usually the name of the Windows printer or plotter, and click Save.
10. Click OK in the Plotter Configuration Editor dialog box; then, click OK in the Page Setup
dialog box.
The Plotter Configuration Editor offers a wide variety of options that are fairly technical in
nature. If you want to know more about the Plotter Configuration Editor, see Appendix B.

Plotting Image Files and Converting 3D to 2D
If your work involves producing manuals, reports, or similar documents, you may want to add the Raster File
Export option to your list of plotter configurations. The Raster File Export option lets you plot your drawings
to a wide range of raster file formats including CALS, JPEG, PCX, Targa, Tiff, and BMP. You can then import
your drawings into documents that accept bitmap images. Images can be up to 8,000 × 8,000 pixels (set
through the Plotter Configuration Editor) and can contain as many colors as the file format allows. If you need
several raster formats, you can use multiple instances of this or any plotter configuration.
To convert your 3D wireframe models into 2D line drawings, use the Flatshot tool described in Chapter 20.
You can then include your 2D line drawings with other 2D drawing for plotting and printing.

Adding an Output Device.....Cont.....01

2009-02-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

7. Enter a name for this configuration in the space provided; then, click Next to open the
Finish screen.
8. This screen gives you the option to make adjustments to the configuration you’ve just created by
clicking the Edit Plotter Configuration button. Click Finish to exit the Add-a-Plotter Wizard.
Your new configuration appears in the Plotters window.

This editor lets you fine-tune your plotter settings. For example, you can calibrate your plotter
for more accurate scaling of your plots; or, if you’re creating a raster file output configuration, you
can create a custom page setting for extremely high-resolution raster images.
After you’ve set up a plotter, the plotter information is stored as a file with the .pc3 filename
extension in the Plotters subfolder under the Documents and Settings folder for your Windows
user profile.

Adding an Output Device

2009-02-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

Adding an Output Device
This chapter mentioned that you can set up AutoCAD for more than one output device. You can
do this even if you have only one printer or plotter connected to your computer. You might want
multiple printer configurations in AutoCAD for many reasons. You might want to set up your
system so that you can print to a remote location over a network or the Internet. Some printer configurations
are strictly file oriented, such as the AutoCAD .dwf format for Internet web pages or
raster file output. (See Chapter 27 for more on .dwf files.)
AutoCAD works best with printers and plotters configured as Windows system devices. Although
you can add devices through the AutoCAD Plot Manager, Autodesk recommends that you set up your
plotters and printers as Windows devices and then use the System Printer option in AutoCAD to select
your output device. (In Windows XP, choose Start Control Panel Printers And Other Hardware
Add A Printer to configure a new printer.) You can use the Add-A-Plotter Wizard to create predefined
settings for your system printer so that you can quickly choose a printer or plotter setup.
You can also configure additional printers through the AutoCAD Plot Manager; this method
also uses the Add-A-Plotter Wizard. Here’s how it’s done:
1. Choose File Plotter Manager to open the Plotters window. Your view of the Plotters window
may look a little different depending on your operating system, but the same basic
information is there.

You can also open this window by clicking the Add Or Configure Plotters button in the Plot
And Publish tab of the Options dialog box. It’s just an Explorer window showing you the
contents of the Plotters folder under the Documents and Settings folder for your Windows
user profile.
2. Double-click the Add-A-Plotter Wizard icon to open the Add Plotter dialog box. You see the
Introduction screen, which describes the purpose of the wizard.
3. Click Next. The next screen of the wizard lets you select the type of setup you want. You’re
offered three options: My Computer, Network Plotter Server, and System Printer. The My
Computer and the Network Plotter Server options offer plotter options based on AutoCADspecific
drivers. The main difference between these two options is that the Network Plotter
option asks you for a network server name. Otherwise, they both offer the same set of options.
The System Printer option uses the existing Windows system printer as the basis for the setup.
4. If you click the My Computer radio button and then click Next, you see a listing of plotter
models that are supported by AutoCAD directly through AutoCAD’s own drivers. If you
use a PostScript device, or if you want to convert drawings to raster formats, this is the place
to select those options. You can select the plotter or printer manufacturer name from the
Manufacturers list on the left and then select a specific model from the list on the right. If you
have a driver for a specific plotter or printer that isn’t listed, you can click the Have Disk button
to browse to your driver location.
5. After you’ve made a printer or plotter selection, click Next. You’re then asked if you want
to use an existing PCP or PC2 configuration file for the selected plotter. PCP and PC2 configurations
files are plotter configuration files from earlier releases of AutoCAD.
6. Unless you plan to use one of those files, click Next on the Import PCP Or PC2 screen. If
you selected My Computer in step 4, the Ports screen opens. With the Plot To A Port option
selected, you can select a port from a list to which your printer or plotter is connected. The
Configure Port button lets you set up the port if you have a specific requirement for the port.
Or, if you intend to plot to a file instead of to a port, you can select the Plot To File radio button
at the top. An AutoSpool option is also offered if your printer requires this feature.

If you selected an option in step 4 that doesn’t require a port setup, click the Next button to skip
this option; the Plotter Name screen opens. You can enter a descriptive name in the Plotter
Name text box. This name will appear in the Printer Name drop-down list of the Plot Or Page
Setup dialog box.

Plot Scale in the Layout Tab Viewports

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Plot Scale in the Layout Tab Viewports
In the first part of this chapter, you plotted your drawing from the Model tab. You learned that to
get the plot to fit on your paper, you had to either use the Fit To Paper option in the Plot dialog box
or indicate a specific drawing scale, plot area, and drawing orientation.
The Layout tab works in a different way: It’s designed to enable you to plot your drawing at
a 1-to-1 scale. Instead of specifying the drawing scale in the Plot dialog box, as you did when you
plotted from the Model tab, you let the size of your view in the Layout tab viewport determine the
drawing scale. You can set the viewport view to an exact scale by making changes to the properties
of the viewport.
To set the scale of a viewport in a Layout tab, try the following exercise:
1. Press the Esc key to clear any selections. Then, select the viewport border, right-click, and
choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Properties palette for the viewport appears.
2. Scroll down the Properties palette by using the scroll bar on the left side, and locate the Standard
Scale option under the Misc category. Click this option. The item to its right turns into
a list box.

3. Open the list box, and select 1⁄16´ = 1˝ (metric users should select 1:20). The view in the drawing
window changes to reflect the new scale for the viewport. Now most of the drawing fits
into the viewport, and it’s to scale.
TIP The scale of 1⁄16´ = 1´ is similar to the metric 1:200 scale, but because you used centimeters
instead of millimeters as the base unit for the metric version of the Plan file, you drop the second
0 in 200. The metric scale becomes 1:20.
4. Close the Properties palette.
5. Use the viewport grips to enlarge the viewport enough to display all of the drawing, as
shown in Figure 8.3. You need to move only a single corner grip. As you move a corner grip,
notice that the viewport maintains a rectangular shape.

6. Choose File Plot, and, in the Plot dialog box, make sure the Scale option is set to 1:1 and
your system printer is selected in the Printer/Plotter group; then, click OK. Your drawing is
plotted as it appears in the Layout tab, and it’s plotted to scale.
7. After reviewing your plot, close the drawing without saving it.
In step 2, you saw that you can select a scale for a viewport by selecting it from the Properties
palette. If you look just below the Standard Scale option, you see the Custom Scale option. Both
options work like their counterpart, the Plot Scale group, in the Plot dialog box.
TIP Veteran AutoCAD users can still choose View Zoom Scale to control the scale of the viewport
view.
Layout tabs and viewports work in conjunction with your plotter settings to give you a better
idea of how your plots will look. There are numerous plotter settings that can dramatically change
the appearance of your Layout tab view and your plots. In the next section, you’ll learn how some
of the plotter settings can enhance the appearance of your drawings. You’ll also learn how Layout
tabs can display those settings, letting you see on your computer screen exactly what will appear
on your paper output.

WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs

2009-02-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs
You’ve probably noticed the tabs at the bottom of the drawing area labeled Model, Layout1, and
Layout2. So far, you’ve done all your work in the Model tab, also known as Model Space. The other
two tabs open views to your drawing that are specifically geared toward printing and plotting. The
Layout views enable you to control drawing scale, add title blocks, and set up different layer settings
from those in the Model tab. You can think of the Layout tabs as page-layout spaces that act
like a desktop-publishing program.
You can have as many Layout tabs as you like, each set up for a different type of output. You can,
for example, have two or three Layout tabs, each set up for a different scale drawing or with different
layer configurations for reflected ceiling plans, floor plans, or equipment plans. You can even
set up multiple views of your drawing at different scales in a single Layout tab. In addition, you can
draw and add text and dimensions in Layout tabs just as you would in Model Space.
TIP When you create a new file, you see two Layout tabs. If you open a pre–AutoCAD 2000 file,
you see only one Layout tab.
To get familiar with the Layout tabs, try the following exercise:
1. With the Plan file open, click the Layout1 tab at the bottom of the AutoCAD window. A
view of your drawing appears on a gray background, as shown in Figure 8.2. This is a view
of your drawing as it will appear when plotted on your current default printer or plotter.
The white area represents the printer or plotter paper.

2. Try zooming in and out using the Zoom Realtime tool. Notice that the entire image zooms
in and out, including the area representing the paper.
Layout tabs give you full control over the appearance of your drawing printouts. You can print
a Layout tab just as you did the view in the Model tab, by using the Plot option on the Layout1 tab’s
shortcut menu.
Let’s take a moment to look at the elements in the Layout1 tab. As mentioned previously, the
white background represents the paper on which your drawing will be printed. The dashed line
immediately inside the edge of the white area represents the limits of your printer’s margins.
Finally, the solid rectangle that surrounds your drawing is the outline of the Layout viewport. A
viewport is an AutoCAD object that works like a window into your drawing from the Layout tab.
Also notice the triangular symbol in the lower-left corner of the view: This is the UCS icon for the
Layout tab. It tells you that you’re currently in the Layout tab space. You’ll see the significance of
this icon in the following exercise:
1. Try selecting part of your drawing by clicking in the lobby area. Nothing is selected.
2. Click the viewport border, which is the solid rectangle surrounding the drawing, as shown
in Figure 8.2. This is the viewport into the Model tab. Notice that you can select it.
3. Right-click, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. You can see from the Properties
palette that the viewport is just like any other AutoCAD object with layer, linetype, and
color assignments. You can even hide the viewport outline by turning off its layer.
4. Close the Properties palette.
5. With the viewport still selected, click the Erase tool in the Modify toolbar. The view of your
drawing disappears with the erasure of the viewport. Remember that the viewport is like a
window into the drawing you created in the Model tab. After the viewport is erased, the
drawing view goes with it.
6. Type U↵ or click the Undo button in the Standard toolbar to restore the viewport.
NOTE You can create new viewports using the Vports command (View Viewports New
Viewports). See “Creating New Paper Space Viewports” in Chapter 16 for more information.
7. Double-click anywhere within the viewport’s boundary. Notice that the UCS icon you’re used
to seeing appears in the lower-left corner of the viewport. The Layout UCS icon disappears.
8. Click the lobby of your drawing. You can now select parts of your drawing.
9. Try zooming and panning your view. Changes in your view take place only within the
boundary of the viewport.
10. Choose View Zoom All, or type Z↵A↵ to display the entire drawing in the viewport.
11. To return to Paper Space, double-click an area outside the viewport.
TIP You can also type PS↵ to return to Paper Space or MS↵ to access the space within the viewport.
Or, click the Paper/Model button in the status bar at the bottom of the AutoCAD window.
This exercise shows you the unique characteristics of the Layout tab. The objects in the viewport
are inaccessible until you double-click the interior of the viewport. You can then move about and
edit your drawing in the viewport, just as you would while in the Model tab.
The Layout tabs can contain as many viewports as you like, and each viewport can hold a different
view of your drawing. You can size and arrange each viewport any way you like, or you can
create multiple viewports, giving you the freedom to lay out your drawing as you would a page in
a desktop-publishing program. You can also draw in the Layout tab or import Xrefs and blocks for
title blocks and borders.

Plot Stamp On

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Plot Stamp On
The Plot Stamp feature lets you place pertinent data on the drawing in a location you choose. This
data includes the drawing name, date and time, scale, and other data. When you click the Plot
Stamp On check box to turn on this option, an additional button appears.
Click this button to gain access to the Plot Stamp dialog box. This dialog box offers many controls
over the plot stamp. This is a fairly extensive tool, so rather than fill this chapter with a description
of all its features, see Appendix B for a complete rundown of the Plot Stamp options.

Save Changes to Layout
When this option is turned on, the changes you make to Plot dialog box settings are saved with the
current layout. You’ll learn more about layouts in the next section.
TIP The Plot dialog box has the usual OK, Cancel, and Help buttons at the bottom. You’ll also see
the Apply To Layout button. This button lets you save the plot settings you make without sending
your drawing to the printer or plotter for output. This option is convenient for those times when
you decide halfway through your plot setup not to plot your drawing.

Plot Options

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Plot Options
The options in the Plot Options group offer a greater amount of control over your output and
require some detailed instruction. Here is a brief description of these options. You’ll learn more
about them in the next section.

Plot in Background
If you think your plot will take some time to complete, this option plots your drawing in the background
so that after you begin a plot you can immediately return to your drawing work. You can
also control this option through the Backgroundplot system variable.

Plot Object Lineweights
As mentioned earlier, AutoCAD lets you assign lineweights to objects either through their layer
assignment or by directly assigning a lineweight to the object. If you use this feature in your drawing,
this option lets you turn lineweights on or off in your output.

Plot with Plot Styles
Plot styles give you a high degree of control over your drawing output. You can control whether
your output is in color or black and white, and you can control whether filled areas are drawn in
a solid color or a pattern. You can even control the way lines are joined at corners. You’ll learn more
about these options and how they affect your work in the next section.

Plot Paperspace Last
When you’re using a Layout tab, otherwise known as Paper Space, this option determines whether
objects in Paper Space are drawn before or after objects in Model Space. You’ll learn more about
Model Space and Paper Space later in this chapter.

Hide Paperspace Objects
This option pertains to 3D models in AutoCAD. When you draw in 3D, you see your drawing as
a Wireframe view. In a Wireframe view, your drawing looks like it’s transparent even though it’s
made up of solid surfaces. Using hidden-line removal, you can view and plot your 3D drawings
so that solid surfaces are opaque. To view a 3D drawing in the editor with hidden lines removed,
use the Hide command. To plot a 3D drawing with hidden lines removed, use the Hidden option
from the Shade Plot drop-down list.

WARNING Hide Paperspace Objects doesn’t work for views in the Layout tab viewport described
in the next section. Instead, you need to set the viewport’s Shade Plot setting to Hidden. (Click the
viewport, right-click, and choose Shade Plot Hidden from the shortcut menu.)

Plot Offset

2009-02-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

Plot Offset
Sometimes, your first plot of a drawing shows the drawing positioned incorrectly on the paper.
You can fine-tune the location of the drawing on the paper by using the Plot Offset settings. To
adjust the position of your drawing on the paper, you enter the location of the view origin in relation
to the plotter origin in X and Y coordinates (see Figure 8.1).

For example, suppose you plot a drawing and then realize that it needs to be moved 1´ to the
right and 3´ up on the sheet. You can replot the drawing by making the following changes:
1. Double-click the X input box, type 1, and press the Tab key.
2. Double-click the Y input box, type 3, and press the Tab key.
Now, proceed with the rest of the plot configuration. With the preceding settings, the image is
shifted on the paper exactly 1´ to the right and 3´ up when the plot is done.
You can also tell AutoCAD the location from which the offset is to occur. The Plot And Publish
tab of the Options dialog box (choose Tools Options from the menu bar) offers the Specify Plot
Offset Relative To button group. This group offers two radio buttons: Printable Area and Edge Of
Paper. You can select the option that makes the most sense for you.

Quality and DPI

2009-02-10T20:20:00.002-08:00

Quality and DPI
The Quality drop-down list determines the dots per inch (dpi) setting for your output. These
options aren’t available if you select Wireframe or Hidden from the Shade Plot drop-down list:
Draft
plots 3D views as wireframes.
Preview
offers 150 dpi resolution.
Normal
offers 300 dpi resolution.
Presentation
offers 600 dpi resolution.
Maximum
defers dpi resolution to the current output device’s settings.
Custom
lets you set a custom dpi setting. When Custom is selected, the DPI input box is made
available for your input.

TIP
If some of the terms discussed for the Shaded Viewport Options are unfamiliar, don’t be
alarmed. You’ll learn about 3D Shaded and Rendered views in Part IV of this book. And when you
start to explore 3D modeling in AutoCAD, come back and review the Shaded Viewport Options.

Scale Lineweights

2009-02-10T20:20:00.001-08:00

Scale Lineweights
AutoCAD offers the option to assign lineweights to objects either by their layer assignments or by
directly assigning a lineweight to individual objects. The lineweight option, however, doesn’t have any
meaning until you specify a scale for your drawing. After you specify a scale, the Scale Lineweights
option is available. Select this check box if you want the lineweight assigned to layers and objects to
appear correctly in your plots. You’ll get a closer look at lineweights and plotting later in this chapter.

Shaded Viewport Options
Most of your plotting will probably involve 2D technical line drawings, but occasionally you may
need to plot a shaded or rendered 3D view. You may need to include such 3D views combined with
2D or 3D Wireframe views. AutoCAD offers Shaded Viewport Options that enable you to plot
shaded or rendered 3D views of your AutoCAD drawing. These options give you control over the
quality of your rendered output. (LT users don’t have the Shaded Viewport Options.)
TIP
Remember that you need to click the More Options button in the lower-right corner of the
Plot dialog box to get to the Shaded Viewport Options group. The More Options button looks like
a circle with a greater-than sign. You also need to select a printer name in the Printer/Plotter
group before these options are made available.
Shade Plot
The Shade Plot drop-down list lets you control how a Model Space view is plotted. You can choose
from the following options:
As Displayed
plots the Model Space view as it appears on your screen.
Wireframe
plots the Model Space view of a 3D object as a wireframe view.
Hidden
plots your Model Space view with hidden lines removed.
3D Hidden/3D Wireframe/Conceptual/Realistic
plots the Model Space using one of these
visual styles. These selections override the current Model Space visual style. See Chapter 20 for
more on visual styles.
Rendered
renders your Model Space view before plotting (see Chapter 22 for more on rendered
views).
Draft/Low/Medium/High/Presentation
sets the quality of the plot.
The Shade Plot options aren’t available if you’re plotting from a Layout tab. You can control the
way each layout viewport is plotted through the viewport’s Properties settings. You’ll learn more
about layout viewport properties later in this chapter.

Custom Scale

2009-02-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

Custom Scale
In some cases, you may need to set up a nonstandard scale to plot your drawing. If you can’t find
the scale you want in the Scale drop-down list, you can select Custom from this list and then enter
custom values in the Inches = and Units input boxes.
Through these input boxes, you can indicate how the drawing units in your drawing relate to
the final plotted distance in inches or millimeters. For example, if your drawing is of a scale factor
of 96, follow these steps:
1.
Double-click the Inches = input box, enter
1
, and press the Tab key.
2.
Double-click the Units input box, enter
96
, and press the Tab key.
Metric users who want to plot to a scale of 1:10 should enter
1
in the MM input box and
10
in the Units input box.
If you’re more used to the Architectural unit style in the Imperial measurement system, you can
enter a scale as a fraction. For example, for a
1
⁄
8
´ scale drawing:
1.
Double-click the Inches = input box, enter
1
⁄
8
, and press the Tab key.
2.
Double-click the Units input box, enter
12
, and press the Tab key.
If you specify a different scale than the one you chose while setting up your drawing, AutoCAD
plots your drawing to that scale. You aren’t restricted in any way as to scale, but entering the correct
scale is important: If it’s too large, AutoCAD will think your drawing is too large to fit on the sheet,
although it will attempt to plot your drawing anyway. See Chapter 3 for a discussion of unit styles
and scale factors.
TIP
If you plot to a scale that is different from the scale you originally intended, objects and text
appear smaller or larger than is appropriate for your plot. You’ll need to edit your text size to
match the new scale. You can do so by using the Properties palette. Select the text whose height
you want to change, click the Properties tool on the Standard toolbar, and then change the
Height setting in the Properties palette.

Adding a Custom Scale to the Scale Drop-Down List
If you use a custom scale frequently, you may find it annoying to have to input the scale every time
you plot. AutoCAD offers the ability to add your custom scale to the Scale drop-down list shown
earlier. You can then easily select your custom scale from the list instead of entering it through the
text box.
Here are the steps you use to add a custom scale to the Scale drop-down list:
1.
Choose Tools
Options to open the Options dialog box.
2.
Select the User Preferences tab, and then click the Edit Scale List button at the bottom of the
dialog box.

3.
In the Edit Scale List dialog box, click the Add button.

4.
In the Add Scale dialog box, enter a name for your custom scale in the Name Appearing In
Scale List text box, and then enter the appropriate values in the Scale Properties text boxes.

5.
Click OK in each dialog box to close it.
There are several options besides Add in the Edit Scale List dialog box. Clicking the Edit button
lets you edit an existing scale in the list. Clicking the Move Up and Move Down buttons lets you
change the location of an item in the list. Clicking Delete deletes an item or a set of items from the
list. Clicking the Reset button restores the list to its default condition and removes any custom items
you may have added.
TIP
Instead of opening the Options dialog box and clicking Edit Scale List on the User Preferences tab,
you can enter
Scalelistedit
↵
at the Command prompt to open the Edit Scale List dialog box directly.

Window

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Window
The Window option enables you to use a window to indicate the area you want to plot. Nothing
outside the window prints. To use this option, select it from the drop-down list. The Plot dialog box
temporarily closes to allow you to select a window. After you’ve done this the first time, a Window
button appears next to the drop-down list. You can then click the Window button and then indicate
a window in the drawing area. If you let AutoCAD fit the drawing onto the sheet by using the Fit
To Paper option in the Plot Scale group, the plot displays exactly the same thing that you enclose
in the window.
Plot Scale
In the previous section, the descriptions of several Plot Area options indicate that the Fit To Paper
option can be selected. Bear in mind that when you instead apply a scale factor to your plot, it
changes the results of the Plot Area settings, and some problems can arise. This is where most new
users have difficulty.
For example, the apartment plan drawing fits nicely on the paper when you use Fit To Paper. But
if you try to plot the drawing at a scale of 1˝ = 1´, you’ll probably get a blank piece of paper because,
at that scale, hardly any of the drawing fits on your paper. AutoCAD will tell you that it’s plotting and
then tell you that the plot is finished. You won’t have a clue as to why your sheet is blank.
TIP
Remember that the
Plan1.dwg
file was set up for an 18´
×
24´ (A2, or 594 mm
×
420 mm for
metric users) sheet at a scale of
1
⁄
8
´ = 1˝-0´ (1:10 for metric users). If, when plotting from the Model
tab, you select these settings from the Plot dialog box (provided your printer or plotter supports
18´
×
24´, or A2, paper) and you also select Limits for your plot area, your drawing will fit on the
paper and will be at the appropriate scale.
If an image is too large to fit on a sheet of paper because of improper scaling, the plot image is
placed on the paper differently, depending on whether the plotter uses the center of the image or
the lower-left corner for its origin. Keep this in mind as you specify scale factors in this area of the
dialog box.

Scale
You can select a drawing scale from a set of predefined scales in the Scale drop-down list. These
options cover the most common scales you’ll need to use.

You’ve already seen how the Fit To Paper option enables you to avoid giving a scale and forces
the drawing to fit on the sheet when plotting from the Model tab. This works fine if you’re plotting
illustrations that aren’t to scale. If you select another option, such as
1
⁄
8
´ = 1˝-0´, the inches and units
input boxes change to reflect this scale. The Inches = input box changes to 0.125, and the Units input
box changes to 12.
If you’re plotting from a layout, you’ll use the 1:1 scale option or perhaps a 1:2 scale if you’re
plotting a half-size drawing. In a layout, the drawing scale is typically set up through the viewport.
While plotting from a layout, AutoCAD automatically determines the area to plot based on the
printer and sheet size you select. For more information, see “WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout
Tabs” later in this chapter.

Plot Area

2009-02-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

Plot Area
The What To Plot drop-down list in the Plot Area group lets you specify which part of your drawing
you want to plot. You may notice some similarities between these settings and the Zoom command
options. Each Plot Area option is described next. Most of these options are used only in a Model tab.
Typically, when plotting from a Layout tab, you’ll use the Layout option.

Limits
The Limits option (available in Model Space only) uses the limits of the drawing to determine the
area to print. If you let AutoCAD fit the drawing onto the sheet (by selecting the Fit To Paper check
box in the Plot Scale group), the plot displays exactly the same image that you would see on the
screen if you selected View
Zoom
All.

Layout
The Layout option (available in Layout tabs only) replaces the Limits option when you plot from
a Layout tab. (See the section “WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs” later in this chapter.) This
option plots everything displayed within the paper margins shown in the Layout tab view. Typically,
this is the only option you’ll use when printing from a layout.

Extents
The Extents option uses the extents of the drawing to determine the area to print. If you let AutoCAD
fit the drawing onto the sheet (by selecting the Fit To Paper check box in the Plot Scale group), the plot
displays exactly the same image that you would see on the screen if you chose View
Zoom
Extents.

Display
Display is the default option; it tells AutoCAD to plot what is currently displayed on the screen. If
you let AutoCAD fit the drawing onto the sheet (that is, you select the Fit To Paper check box from
the Plot Scale group), the plot is exactly the same as what you see on your screen, adjusted for the
width and height proportions of your display.

View
The View option is available when you’ve saved a view in the drawing by using the View command.
When you select View from the What To Plot drop-down list, another drop-down list appears, offering
a list of views available in the drawing. You can then select the view that you want to plot. If you
let AutoCAD fit the drawing onto the sheet (by selecting Fit To Paper from the Plot Scale group), the
plot displays exactly the same thing that you would see on the screen if you recalled the view you’re
plotting. Objects that don’t appear in the view are clipped in the plotted view.

TIP
Do you get a blank printout, even though you selected Extents or Display? Chances are, the Fit
To Paper check box isn’t selected, or the Inches = Units setting is inappropriate for the sheet size
and scale of your drawing. If you don’t care about the scale of the drawing, make sure the Fit To
Paper option is selected. Otherwise, make sure the Plot Scale settings are set correctly. The next
section describes how to set the scale for your plots.

Drawing Orientation

2009-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

Drawing Orientation
When you used the Preview button in the first exercise in this chapter, you saw your drawing as it
would be placed on the paper. In that example, it was placed in a
landscape orientation
, which places
the image on the paper so that the width of the paper is greater than its height. You can rotate the
image on the paper 90° into what is called a
portrait orientation
by selecting the Portrait radio button
in the Drawing Orientation group. A third option, Plot Upside-Down, lets you change the orientation
further by turning the landscape or portrait orientation upside down. These three settings let
you print the image in any one of four orientations on the sheet.
In AutoCAD, the preview displays the paper in the orientation that it leaves the printer. For most
small-format printers, if you’re printing in the portrait orientation, the image appears in the same
orientation as you see it when you’re editing the drawing. If you’re using the landscape orientation,
the preview image is turned sideways. For large-format plotters, the preview may be oriented in the
opposite direction. The graphic in the Drawing Orientation group displays a capital
A
on a sheet
showing the orientation of your drawing on the paper output.
TIP
Remember that you need to click the More Options button in the lower-right corner of the
Plot dialog box to access the Drawing Orientation group. The More Options button looks like a
circle with a greater-than sign. You can also press Alt+Shift+>.

Understanding the Plotter Settings

2009-02-10T20:11:00.001-08:00

Understanding the Plotter Settings
In this section, you’ll explore all the settings in the Plot dialog box. These settings give you control
over the size and orientation of your image on the paper. They also let you control which part of
your drawing gets printed. All these settings work together to give you control over how your
drawing fits on your printed output.

WARNING
If you’re a veteran AutoCAD user, be aware that AutoCAD 2008 relies mainly on the
Windows system printer configuration instead of its own plotter drivers. It also remembers
printer settings that are specific to AutoCAD so you don’t have to adjust your printer settings
each time you use AutoCAD. This gives you more flexibility and control over your output. Be
aware that you’ll need to understand the Windows system printer settings in addition to those
offered by AutoCAD.

Paper Size
You use the option in this group to select the paper size for your output. You can select a paper size
from the Paper Size drop-down list. These sizes are derived from the sizes available from your currently
selected system printer. You’ll find out how to select a different printer later in this chapter.
AutoCAD 2008 offers sheet sizes in both Imperial and metric measurements with a drop-down
list located in the Plot Scale group. AutoCAD assumes that if you pick a metric sheet size such as
A4 or A5, you’ll want the sheet dimensions specified in metric measurements, and it adjusts the
dialog box settings accordingly.

Plotting the Plan.....Cont 02

2009-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

2.
Click the More Options button; this is the round button with the > symbol in the lower-right
corner of the dialog box. You’ll see some additional options appear on the right side of the
dialog box.

3.
If your last printout wasn’t oriented on the paper correctly, select the Landscape option in
the Drawing Orientation group.
TIP
The appearance of the print preview depends on the type of output device you chose when
you installed AutoCAD or when you last selected a Plotter Device option (described in the section
“WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs” later in this chapter). The print preview is also affected
by other settings in the Plot dialog box, such as those in the Drawing Orientation, Plot Offset, and
Plot Area groups. This example shows a typical preview view using the Windows default system
printer in landscape mode.
4.
In the Plot Scale group, clear the Fit To Paper check box. Then, select
1
⁄
16
´ = 1´-0˝ from the
Scale drop-down list. Metric users should select 1:20. As you can see, you have several
choices for the scale of your output.
5.
In the Paper Size group, select Letter. Metric users should select A4. The options in this dropdown
list depend on your Windows system printer or the output device you configured for
AutoCAD.
6.
In the Plot Area group, select Limits from the drop-down list. This tells AutoCAD to use the
limits of your drawing to determine which part of your drawing to plot.
7.
Click the Preview button again to get a preview of your plot.
8.
Right-click, and choose Plot from the shortcut menu. This time, your printout is to scale.
Here, you were asked to specify a few more settings in the Plot dialog box. Several settings work
together to produce a drawing that is to scale and that fits properly on your paper. This is where it
pays to understand the relationship between your drawing scale and your paper’s size, discussed
in Chapter 3. You also saw how you can expand the options in the Plot dialog box.
TIP
The next section is lengthy but doesn’t contain any exercises. If you prefer to continue with the
exercises in this chapter, skip to the section “WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs.” Be sure to
come back and read the following section while the previous exercises are still fresh in your mind.

Plotting the Plan.....Cont 01

2009-02-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

9.
Go ahead and plot the file: Right-click, and choose Plot from the shortcut menu. AutoCAD
sends the drawing to your printer.
10.
Your plotter or printer prints the plan to no particular scale.
You’ve just plotted your first drawing to see how it looks on paper. You used the minimal
settings to ensure that the complete drawing appears on the paper.
You may notice that a message bubble appears in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window.

If you click the text that reads
Click to view plot and publish details...,
the Plot And Publish Details
dialog box opens to display some detailed information about your plot.

As you become more experienced with AutoCAD and your projects become more demanding,
the information presented in the Plot And Publish Details dialog box may be useful to you. For
now, make a mental note that this information is available should you need it.
Next, try plotting your drawing to an exact scale. This time, you’ll expand the Plot dialog box to
show a few more options:
WARNING
It’s important to make sure you use the appropriate unit settings in this chapter. If
you’ve been using the metric measurements for previous exercises, make sure you use the metric
settings in the exercises of this chapter; otherwise, your results won’t coincide.
1.
Choose File
Plot again to open the Plot dialog box. If the Name option in the Printer/
Plotter group shows None, click the drop-down arrow and select your current Windows
system printer.

Plotting the Plan

2009-02-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

Plotting the Plan
To see first hand how the Plot command works, you’ll plot the
Plan
file by using the default settings
on your system. You’ll start by getting a preview of your plot, before you commit to printing your
drawing. As an introduction, you’ll plot from the Model tab of an AutoCAD drawing, but be aware
that typically you should plot from a Layout tab. The Layout tabs give you a greater degree of control
over how your output will look. You’ll be introduced to the Layout tab later in this chapter. Now, let’s
get started!
First, try plotting your drawing to no particular scale:
3.
Choose View
Zoom
All to display the entire drawing.
4.
Choose File
Plot to open the Plot dialog box. You can also right-click the Model tab at the
bottom of the AutoCAD window and choose Plot.

5.
If the Name option in the Printer/Plotter group shows None, click the drop-down arrow
and select your current Windows system printer.
6.
In the Plot Area group, make sure the Display option is selected in the drop-down list. This
tells AutoCAD to plot the drawing as it looks in the drawing window. You also have the
option to plot the limits of the drawing or select an area to plot with a window. In addition,
you can choose to plot the extents of a drawing or a saved view.

7.
Make sure the Fit To Paper option is selected in the Plot Scale group.
8.
Click the Preview button in the lower-left corner of the dialog box. AutoCAD works for a
moment and then displays a sample view of how your drawing will appear when printed.
Notice that the view also shows the Zoom Realtime cursor. You can use the Zoom/Pan Realtime
tool to get a close-up of your print preview.

1.
Be sure your printer or plotter is connected to your computer and is turned on.
2.
Start AutoCAD, and open the
Plan.dwg
file.

Introducing Printing, Plotting, and Layouts

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Introducing Printing, Plotting, and Layouts
Getting hard-copy output from AutoCAD is something of an art. You’ll need to be intimately familiar
with both your output device and the settings available in AutoCAD. You’ll probably spend a
good deal of time experimenting with AutoCAD’s plotter settings and with your printer or plotter
to get your equipment set up just the way you want.
With the huge array of output options available, this chapter can provide only a general discussion
of plotting and printing. As a rule, the process for using a plotter isn’t much different from that for a
printer; you just have more media size options with plotters. Still, every output device is different. It’s
up to you to work out the details and fine-tune the way you and AutoCAD together work with your
particular plotter or printer. This chapter describes the features available in AutoCAD and discusses
some general rules and guidelines to follow when setting up your plots.
I’ll start with an overview of the plotting features in AutoCAD and then delve into the finer
details of setting up your drawing and controlling your plotter or printer.
Topics in this chapter include the following:
◆
Plotting the Plan
◆
Understanding the Plotter Settings
◆
WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs
◆
Adding an Output Device
◆
Storing a Page Setup
◆
Plotter and Printer Hardware Considerations

Display Attribute Definitions for Editing

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Display Attribute Definitions for Editing
If your drawing contains attributes (see Chapter 13 for more on attributes), this option is offered. If
you turn on this option, you can then edit attribute definitions by using the Refedit command. If you
select a block that contains an attribute definition while you’re using the Refedit command, the
attribute definition is exposed, enabling you to make changes. Changes to attribute definitions affect
only new attribute insertions. Except for the attribute of the edited block, existing attributes aren’t
affected. If you want to update existing attributes to a newly edited definition, use the Sync option of
the Block Attribute Manager (choose Modify Object Attribute Block Attribute Manager).

Lock Objects Not in Working Set
In the Refedit exercises, you saw that objects that aren’t selected in the Reference Edit dialog box are
grayed out and aren’t selectable. The Lock Objects Not In Working Set option controls this feature
and is turned on by default.

The Bottom Line
Assembling the Parts Technical drawings are often made up of repetitive parts that are
drawn over and over. AutoCAD makes quick work of repetitive elements in a drawing, as
shown in the first part of this chapter.
Master It What is the object used as the basic building block for the unit plan drawing in
the beginning of this chapter?
Solution Blocks of a typical unit plan are used to build a floor plan of an apartment building.
Taking Control of the AutoCAD Display Understanding the way the AutoCAD display
works can save you time, especially in a complex drawing.
Master It Name the dialog box used to save views in AutoCAD. Describe how to recall a
saved view.
Solution The View Manager dialog box lets you save a view. To recall a view, select the
view name from the 2D Navigate control panel drop-down list.
Using Hatch Patterns in Your Drawings Patterns can convey a lot of information at a glance.
You can show the material of an object, or you can indicate a type of view, like a cross section,
by applying hatch patterns.
Master It How do you open the Hatch and Gradient dialog box?
Solution Choose Draw Hatch from the menu bar, or select the Hatch tool from the
2D Draw control panel.
Understanding the Boundary Hatch Options The boundary hatch options give you control
over the way hatch patterns fill an enclosed area.
Master It Describe an island as it relates to boundary hatch patterns.
Solution An island is an enclosed object that is found in an area to be hatched.
Using External References External references are drawing files that you’ve attached to the
current drawing to include as part of the drawing. Because external references aren’t part of
the current file, they can be worked on at the same time as the referencing file.
Master It Describe how drawing files are attached as external references.
Solution Open the External Reference palette, click the Attach DWG button at upper left,
and then locate and select the file you want to attach.

Understanding the Reference Edit Dialog Box Options

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Understanding the Reference Edit Dialog Box Options
The Reference Edit dialog box offers you the option to isolate specific blocks in the Xref by selecting
them from the hierarchy list. You may have noticed the two radio button options: Automatically Select
All Nested Objects and Prompt To Select Nested Objects. The default option, Automatically Select All
Nested Objects, lets you select any object contained in the selected object in the hierarchy listing. If you
select the Prompt To Select Nested Objects option, you’re prompted to select objects on the screen before
the Refedit toolbar appears.
In addition to the options you used in the exercises, the Reference Edit dialog box also offers the
Settings tab with some additional options.

Create Unique Layer, Style, and Block Names
When you use the Refedit command with the Automatically Select All Nested Objects option
turned on, you can import nested blocks into the current drawing. For example, if you selected the
Bath block in the hierarchy list in the previous exercise, you would have access to the Tub and Toilet
blocks in the Bath block. You could then copy either of those blocks into the current file.
When you make a copy of a block from an Xref, AutoCAD needs to assign that block a name. The
Create Unique Layer, Style, And Block Names option tells AutoCAD to use the original block name
and append a $#$ prefix to the name (# is a numeric value starting with zero). If you were to import
the Bath block, for example, it would become $0$bath in the current drawing. This ensures that the
block maintains a unique name when it’s imported, even if there is a block with the same name in
the current drawing. If you turn off the Create Unique Layer, Style, And Block Names option, the
original name is maintained. If the current drawing contains a block of the same name, the
imported block uses the current file’s definition of that block.

Adding and Removing Objects from Blocks and Xrefs

2009-02-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Adding and Removing Objects from Blocks and Xrefs
In the previous exercises, you removed objects from the Kitchen block by using the Erase command.
You can also move objects from a block or an Xref into the current drawing without erasing them. To do
this, choose Tools Xref And Block In-Place Editing Remove From Working Set while in the Refedit
command. This removes the objects from the block or Xref without erasing them. Likewise, you can add
new objects to the block or Xref by choosing Tools Xref And Block In-Place Editing Add To Working
Set. Both menu options invoke the Refset command, with different options applied.
To see how Refset works, try the following exercise:
1. Close the Unitxref.dwg file.
2. In the Planxref file, zoom in to the kitchenette to get a view similar to the top panel of
Figure 7.14.
3. Double-click the unit plan drawing. You can also choose Tools Xref And Block In-Place
Editing Edit Reference In-Place and then click the unit plan.
4. Click the unitxref|KITCHEN listing in the Reference Edit dialog box, and then click OK.
5. Use the Move tool to move the two burners on the right just to the right of the kitchenette,
as shown in Figure 7.14.

6. Click the Remove From Working Set tool in the Refedit toolbar, or choose Tools Xref And
Block In-Place Editing Remove From Working Set.
7. Select the two burners you just moved, and then press ↵.
Notice that the burners become grayer to show that they’re removed from the working set. They
remain as part of the Planxref drawing, but they’re no longer part of the Kitchen block.
Now, add a rectangle to the Kitchen block in place of the burners:
1. Draw a 7˝ × 16˝ (18 cm × 40 cm) rectangle in place of the moved burners, as shown in Figure 7.14.
Anything you add to the drawing automatically becomes part of the working set.
2. Click Save Reference Edits on the Refedit toolbar, or choose Modify Xref And Block In-
Place Editing Save Reference Edits. You’ll see a warning message stating that “All reference
edits will be saved”. Click OK.
3. Zoom out enough to see the other units in the drawing (see Figure 7.15).
You can see that the burners have been replaced by the rectangle in all the other Xref units. The
burners you moved are still there in the lower-left corner unit, but they have been removed from
all the Xrefs. It’s as if you extracted them from the block and placed them in the Plan drawing.
During the Refedit command, any new objects you create are added to the working set automatically.
When you drew the rectangle in step 1, for example, it was automatically included in the
working set, which is the set of objects included in the block or Xref you’re currently working on.
You didn’t have to specifically add it to the working set.

If you want to include existing objects in the working set, choose Tools Xref And Block In-
Place Editing Add To Working Set, or choose Add To Working Set from the Refedit toolbar.
You’ve completed the exercises in this chapter, so you can exit AutoCAD without saving
these changes.

Special Save As Options That Affect Demand Loading

2009-02-09T19:45:00.001-08:00

Special Save As Options That Affect Demand Loading
AutoCAD offers a few additional settings that boost the performance of the Demand Load feature. When you
choose File Save As to save a file in the standard .dwg format, you see the Tools button in the upper-right
corner. Choosing Tools Options opens the Save As Options dialog box. Using the options in the Index Type
drop-down list in the DWG Options tab can help improve the speed of demand loading. The index options are
as follows:
None No index is created.
Layer AutoCAD loads only layers that are both turned on and thawed.
Spatial AutoCAD loads only portions of an Xref or raster image within a clipped boundary.
Layer & Spatial This option turns on both the Layer and Spatial options.
In step 5 of the previous exercise, the Refedit command isolates the objects you select for editing.
You can’t edit anything else in the Xref until you exit the Refedit command and start over.
At this point, you can edit a block in an Xref. Now, let’s continue editing the kitchenette:
1. Zoom in on the kitchenette, and move the four burners to the right 8˝ (20 cm for metric users).
2. Erase the sink.
3. Click the Save Reference Edits button on the Refedit toolbar, or choose Tools Xref And
Block In-Place Editing Save Reference Edits.
4. A warning message appears, telling you that the changes you’ve made to the Xref will be
saved. Click OK.
5. Zoom back to your previous view. Notice that the other units reflect the changes you made
to the Unitxref Xref (see Figure 7.13).

6. Open the Unitxref.dwg file. The kitchen reflects the changes you made to the Xref of the unit
in the Planxref file. This shows you that by choosing to save the reference edit in step 3, you
save the changes back to the Xref’s source file.
As you saw from these two exercises, it’s possible to edit a specific block in an Xref, but to do that
you must select the block name in the Reference Edit dialog box.
In these exercises, you edited a block contained in an Xref, but you could have just as easily
edited a block in the current drawing. You can also edit nested blocks by using the Refedit command.
Changes in blocks in the current file don’t affect other files because blocks aren’t linked to
external files. The changes to blocks remain in the current file until you explicitly export the
changed block to a file, as you saw in earlier exercises.

Editing Xrefs in Place

2009-02-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

Editing Xrefs in Place
You’ve seen different methods for editing blocks and Xrefs as external files. There is another
way to edit a block or an Xref directly in a file, without having to edit an external file: You can use
the Xref And Block In-Place Editing option in the Tools drop-down menu. This option issues the
Refedit command.
The following exercise demonstrates how Refedit works:
1. If it isn’t already open, open the Planxref.dwg file. Also make sure you’ve closed the
Unitxref.dwg file.
2. Zoom in to the unit plan in the lower-left corner of the drawing so you see a view similar to
Figure 7.12.
3. Double-click the wall of the corner unit. You can also choose Tools Xref And Block In-
Place Editing Edit Reference In-Place from the menu bar. Then, at the Select reference:
prompt, click a wall of the corner unit to open the Reference Edit dialog box.

4. The Reference Edit dialog box contains two panels. The right panel shows a thumbnail view of
the item that you’re editing. The left panel shows a listing of the specific item you selected in the
Xref. Notice that the listing shows the hierarchical relationship of the kitchenette block in relation
to the Unitxref Xref.
In the left panel, click the unitxref|KITCHEN listing, and then click OK. The Reference Edit
dialog box closes, and the Refedit toolbar appears.
5. Use a selection window to select the entire lower-left corner unit. Notice that only the
grips in the kitchenette appear, indicating that the objects in the kitchenette are selected.
Although the rest of the unit appears to be selected, it appears lighter in color. This shows
you that only the kitchen is available for editing.

6. Press the Esc key to clear your selection.
TIP You can open the Refedit toolbar so that it stays on the screen by right-clicking any toolbar
and choosing Refedit from the shortcut menu.

Controlling Xref Settings in the Options Dialog Box

2009-02-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Controlling Xref Settings in the Options Dialog Box
The External References (Xrefs) group in the Open And Save tab of the Options dialog box offers
some tools to help you manage memory use and other features related to Xrefs. If you’re working on
large projects with others in a workgroup, you should be aware of these settings and what they do.

The Demand Load Xrefs drop-down list offers three settings: Disabled, Enabled, and Enabled
With Copy. Demand Load is set to Enable With Copy by default in the standard AutoCAD drawing
setup. In addition to reducing the amount of memory an Xref consumes, Demand Load also prevents
other users from editing the Xref while it’s being viewed as part of your current drawing. This
helps aid drawing version control and drawing management. The Enabled With Copy option creates
a copy of the source Xref file and then uses the copy, thereby enabling other AutoCAD users
to edit the source Xref file.
Demand loading improves performance by loading only the parts of the referenced drawing
that are needed to regenerate the current drawing. You can set the location for the Xref copy in the
Files tab of the Options dialog box under Temporary External Reference File Location.
Two other options are also available in the Options dialog box:
Retain Changes To Xref Layers Instructs AutoCAD to remember any layer color or visibility
settings of Xrefs from one editing session to the next. In the standard AutoCAD settings, this
option is on by default.
Allow Other Users To Refedit Current Drawing Lets others edit the current drawing by
choosing Tools Xref And Block In-Place Editing Edit Reference In-Place (Refedit). You’ll
learn about this command in the next section.

The External Reference Dialog Box

2009-02-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

The External Reference Dialog Box
The External Reference dialog box, shown in Figure 7.10 earlier in this chapter, offers these options:
Browse Opens the Select Reference File dialog box to enable you to change the file you’re
importing as an Xref.
Attachment Tells AutoCAD to include other Xref attachments that are nested in the selected file.
Overlay Tells AutoCAD to ignore other Xref attachments that are nested in the selected file.
This avoids multiple attachments of other files and eliminates the possibility of circular references
(referencing the current file into itself through another file).
Path Type Offers options for locating Xrefs. Xref files can be located anywhere on your system,
including network servers. For this reason, links to Xrefs can be easily lost either by moving
them or rearranging file locations. To help you manage Xrefs, the Path Type option offers three
options: Full Path, Relative Path, and No Path. Full Path retains the current full path. Relative
Path maintains paths in relation to the current drawing. The current drawing must be saved
before using the Relative Path option. The No Path option is for drawings in which Xrefs are
located in the same folder as the current drawing or in the Support File Search Path specified in
the Files tab of the Options dialog box (choose Tools Options).
Specify On-Screen Appears in three places. It gives you the option to enter insertion point,
scale factors, and rotation angles in the dialog box or in the Command window, in a way similar
to inserting blocks. If you clear this option for any of the corresponding parameters, the parameters
change to allow input. If they’re selected, you’re prompted for those parameters after you
click OK to close the dialog box. With all three Specify On-Screen check boxes cleared, the Xref
is inserted in the drawing using the settings indicated in the dialog box.

Clipping Xref Views and Improving Performance
Xrefs are frequently used to import large drawings for reference or backgrounds. Multiple Xrefs,
such as a floor plan, column grid layout, and site-plan drawing, might be combined into one file.
One drawback to multiple Xrefs in earlier versions of AutoCAD was that the entire Xref was loaded
into memory, even if only a small portion of the Xref was used for the final plotted output. For computers
with limited resources, multiple Xrefs could slow the system to a crawl.
AutoCAD 2008 offers two tools that help make display and memory use more efficient when
using Xrefs: the Xclip command and the Demand Load option in the Options dialog box.

Clipping Views
The Xclip command lets you clip the display of an Xref or a block to any shape you want, as shown
in Figure 7.11. For example, you might want to display only an L-shaped portion of a floor plan to
be part of your current drawing. Xclip lets you define such a view. To access the command, choose
Modify Clip Xref.
You can clip blocks and multiple Xrefs as well. And you can specify a front and back clipping
distance so that the visibility of objects in 3D space can be controlled. You can define a clip area by
using polylines or spline curves, although curve-fitted polylines revert to decurved polylines. (See
Chapter 18 for more on polylines and spline curves.)

Other External Reference Options

2009-02-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Other External Reference Options
Many other features are unique to external reference files. Let’s briefly look at some of the other
options in the External References palette.
Options in the External References Palette
Several options are available when you right-click an external reference name listed in the External
References palette, shown in Figure 7.13 earlier in this chapter. You saw the Reload option in an earlier
exercise. The following other options are available:
Attach Opens the Select Reference dialog box, in which you can select a file to attach and set
the parameters for the attachment.
Detach Detaches an Xref from the current file. The file is then completely disassociated from
the current file.
Reload Restores an unloaded Xref.
Unload Similar to Detach but maintains a link to the Xref file so that it can be quickly reattached.
This has an effect similar to freezing a layer and can reduce redraw, regeneration, and
file-loading times.
Bind Converts an Xref into a block. Bind offers two options: Bind (again) and Insert. Bind’s Bind
option maintains the Xref’s named elements (layers, linetypes, and text and dimension styles) by creating
new layers in the current file with the Xref’s filename prefix (see Chapter 15). The Insert option
doesn’t attempt to maintain the Xref’s named elements but merges them with named elements of the
same name in the current file. For example, if both the Xref and the current file have layers of the
same name, the objects in the Xref are placed in the layers of the same name in the current file.
Open Lets you open an Xref. Select the Xref from the list, and then click Open. The Xref opens
in a new window when you close the External References palette. This option isn’t available in
AutoCAD LT.
Details A panel at the bottom of the External References palette. It’s similar to the Properties
palette in that it displays the properties of a selected external reference and also allows you to
modify some of those properties. For example, the Reference Name option in the Details panel
lets you give the external reference a name that is different from the Xref filename. Table 7.1
gives you a rundown of the options in the Details panel.

Other Differences between External References and Blocks

2009-02-09T19:36:00.000-08:00

Other Differences between External References and Blocks
Here are a few other differences between Xrefs and inserted blocks that you’ll want to keep in mind:
◆ Any new layers, text styles, or linetypes brought in with cross-referenced files don’t become
part of the current file. If you want to import any of these items, you can use the Xbind command
(described in Chapter 15).
◆ If you make changes to the layers of a cross-referenced file, those changes aren’t retained
when the file is saved unless you checked the Retain Changes To Xref Layers option in the
Open And Save tab of the Options dialog box. This option, found in the External References
(Xrefs) group, instructs AutoCAD to remember any layer color or visibility settings from one
editing session to the next. In the standard AutoCAD settings, this option is on by default.
TIP Another way to ensure that layer settings for Xrefs are retained is to enter Visretain↵ at the
Command prompt. At the New value for VISRETAIN <0>: prompt, enter 1.

Importing Blocks, Layers, and Other Named Elements from External Files
You can use the Xbind command to import blocks and other drawing components from another file.
First, use the External References palette to cross-reference a file; type Xbind at the Command prompt.
In the Xbind dialog box, click the plus sign next to the Xref filename, and then select Block. Locate the
name of the block you want to import, click the Add button, and click OK. Finally, open the External References
palette, select the Xref filename from the list, right-click, and select Detach to remove the Xref
file. The imported block remains as part of the current file. (See Chapter 15 for details on importing
drawing components.) You can also use the AutoCAD DesignCenter to import items from external files.
DesignCenter is described in Chapter 27.
The Tool Palettes window give you access to frequently used blocks and hatch patterns that reside in
other drawings. You can open the Tool palettes by clicking the Tool Palettes icon in the Standard toolbar.
In the standard AutoCAD installations, the Tool Palettes window is configured with sample 3D commands,
blocks, and hatch patterns that you can drag and drop into your current drawing. Select a tab for
the Tool palette that contains the block or pattern you want, and then click and drag the item into your
drawing. In the case of hatch patterns, click and drag the pattern into an area that is bounded on all sides
by objects. When you’re ready to customize the Tool Palettes window, you do so by clicking and dragging
objects or tools into a new or existing palette. See Chapter 27 for more on customizing tool palettes.
◆ To segregate layers in Xref files from layers in the current drawing, the Xref file’s layers are
prefixed with their file’s name. A vertical bar separates the filename prefix and the layer
name when you view a list of layers in the Layer drop-down list or the Layer Properties
Manager dialog box (as in Unitxref | wall).
◆ You can’t explode Xrefs. You can, however, convert an Xref into a block and then explode it.
To do this, select the Xref in the External References palette to open another dialog box that
offers two ways of converting an Xref into a block. See the section “Other External Reference
Options” later in this chapter for more information.
◆ If an Xref is renamed or moved to another location on your hard disk, AutoCAD won’t be
able to find that file when it opens other files to which the Xref is attached. If this happens,
you must select the path in the Found At field in the External References palette and then
click the Browse button (the ellipses) to tell AutoCAD where to find the cross-referenced file.
WARNING Take care when retargeting an Xref file with the Browse button. The Browse button
can assign a file of a different name to an existing Xref as a substitution.
◆ Xref files are especially useful in workgroup environments in which several people are
working on the same project. For example, one person might be updating several files that
are inserted into a variety of other files. Using blocks, everyone in the workgroup would
have to be notified of the changes and would have to update all the affected blocks in all the
drawings that contained them. With cross-referenced files, however, the updating is automatic;
you avoid confusion about which files need their blocks updated.

Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference

2009-02-09T19:33:00.002-08:00

Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference
The next exercise shows how to use an Xref in place of an inserted block to construct the studio
apartment building. You’ll first create a new unit file by copying the old one. Then, you’ll bring a
new toolbar, the External References palette, to the screen. Follow these steps to create the new file:
1. Return to the 07a-unit file; choose File Save As to save it under the name Unitxref.dwg,
and then close the Unitxref.dwg file. This will make a copy of the 07a-unit.dwg file for the
following steps. Or, if you prefer, you can use the Unitxref.dwg file for the following steps.
2. Return to the 07b-plan file, choose Save As, and save the file under the name Planxref. The
current file is now Planxref.dwg.
3. Erase all the Unit plans (enter E↵All↵), and, as described in the next step, purge the Unit
plans from the file. (By completing steps 2 and 3, you save yourself from having to set up a
new file.)
4. Choose File Drawing Utilities Purge to open the Purge dialog box, and then click the
Purge All button to open the Confirm Purge dialog box. This purges blocks that aren’t in use
in the drawing.
5. Click Yes To All.
Now you’re ready to use the External References palette:
1. Choose Insert External References, or type XR↵ to open the External References palette
(see Figure 7.9).
2. Click the Attach DWG button in the upper-left corner of the palette to open the Select Reference
File dialog box. This is a typical AutoCAD file dialog box complete with a preview
window.

3. Locate and select the Unitxref.dwg file, and then click Open to open the External Reference
dialog box (see Figure 7.10). Notice that this dialog box looks similar to the Insert dialog box.
It offers the same options for insertion point, scale, and rotation.

4. You’ll see a description of the options presented in this dialog box. For now, click OK.
5. Enter 31´-5˝↵,43´-8˝↵ (metric users enter 957,1330) for the insertion point.
6. After the Unitxref.dwg file is inserted, re-create the same layout of the floor plan you created
in the first section of this chapter by copying and mirroring the Unitxref.dwg external
reference.
7. Save the Planxref file.
You now have a drawing that looks like the 07b-plan.dwg file you worked with earlier in this
chapter, but instead of using blocks that are detached from their source file, you have a drawing
composed of Xrefs. These Xrefs are the actual Unitxref.dwg file, and they’re loaded into AutoCAD
at the same time that you open the Planxref.dwg file. An icon in the lower-right corner of the
AutoCAD window tells you that the current drawing contains Xrefs.
This icon not only alerts you to Xrefs but also enables you to open the External References
palette, as you’ll see in the next exercise.
Next, you’ll modify the Unitxref.dwg file and see the results in the Planxref.dwg file:
1. To open the Unitxref.dwg file, from the current Planxref file, select and then right-click
the unit, and choose Open Xref from the shortcut menu. You can also enter Xopen↵ at the
Command prompt and then select the unit plan Xref.
WARNING Xopen and the Open Xref option in the shortcut menu aren’t available in LT. If you’re
using LT, choose File Open, and use the Select File dialog box to open the Unitxref.dwg file.
2. Erase the hatch pattern and kitchen outline for the floors, and save the Unitxref.dwg file.
3. Choose Window Planxref.dwg to return to the Planxref.dwg file. You see a message
balloon pointing to the Xref icon in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window. The balloon
warns you that an Xref has changed. Right-click the Manage Xrefs icon in the lowerright
corner of the AutoCAD window, and then choose External References from the popup
menu to open the External References palette.
4. Select the Unitxref name in the list box, click Reload, and then click OK. Notice that the units
in the Planxref drawing have been updated to include the changes you made to the
Unitxref file.
You can open multiple Xrefs at once by selecting more than one Xref while using the Xopen
command.
TIP The Open option in the External References palette performs the same function as the Xopen
command or the Open Xref option in the shortcut menu. To use this option, select and right-click
the Xref files from the list box in the External References palette, and then click Open.
Be aware that when an Xref has been modified, the Manage Xrefs icon at lower-right in the
AutoCAD window changes to show an exclamation point. This alerts you to changes in an Xref in
the current drawing.
Click the Manage Xrefs icon to open the External References palette. The Xref that has been
changed is indicated by a message in the Status column of the list box.

You can then select the Xref that needs to be updated, right-click, and choose the Reload option
from the shortcut menu to reload the selected Xref. You can also select multiple Xrefs if more than
one needs updating.
Here you saw how an Xref file is updated in a different way than a block. Because Xrefs are
loaded along with the drawing file that contains them, the containing file, which in this case was the
Planxref file, automatically displays any changes made to the Xref when it’s opened. Also, you
avoid having to update nested blocks, because AutoCAD updates nested Xrefs as well as nonnested
Xrefs. When an Xref is modified while you’re editing a file, you’re alerted to the change
through the Xref icon located in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window. You can click the
balloon message that appears from that icon to update any modified Xrefs.

Using External References

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Using External References
AutoCAD allows you to import drawings in a way that keeps the imported drawing independent
from the current one. A drawing imported in this way is called an external reference (Xref). Unlike
drawings that have been imported as blocks, Xref files don’t become part of the drawing’s database.
Instead, they’re loaded along with the current file at startup time. It’s as if AutoCAD were opening
several drawings at once: the currently active file you specify when you start AutoCAD, and any
file inserted as an Xref.
If you keep Xref files independent from the current file, any changes you make to the Xref automatically
appear in the current file. You don’t have to update the Xref file manually as you do
blocks. For example, if you used Xref to insert the Unit file into the Plan file, and you later made
changes to the Unit file, you would see the new version of the Unit file in place of the old the next
time you opened the Plan file. If the Plan file was still open while edits were made, AutoCAD
would notify you that a change had been made to an Xref.
TIP You can’t Xref a file if the file has the same name as a block in the current drawing. If this situation
occurs, but you still need to use the file as an Xref, you can rename the block of the same
name by using the Rename command. You can also use Rename to change the name of various
objects and named elements. See Chapter 10.
Another advantage of Xref files is that because they don’t become part of a drawing’s database,
drawing size is kept to a minimum. This results in more efficient use of your hard disk space.
TIP Xref files, like blocks, can only be edited using special tools. You can, however, use osnaps to
snap to a location in an Xref file, or you can freeze or turn off the Xref file’s insertion layer to make
it invisible.

Using Associative Hatch

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Using Associative Hatch
Associative Hatch is the most straightforward method. Make sure the Associative option is selected
in the Hatch And Gradient dialog box, and include your equipment or furniture in the boundary
set. You can do this by using the Add: Select Objects option in the dialog box.
After the pattern is in place, the hatch pattern automatically adjusts to its new location when
you move the furnishings in your drawing. One drawback, however, is that AutoCAD attempts to
hatch the interior of your furnishings if they cross the outer boundary of the hatch pattern. Also, if
any boundary objects are erased or exploded, the hatch pattern no longer follows the location of
your furnishings. To avoid these problems, you can use the method described in the next section.

Overlapping Objects with Draw Order
The Draw Order feature lets you determine how objects overlap. In the space-planning example,
you can create furniture by using a solid hatch to indicate horizontal surfaces (see Figure 7.8).

How to Quickly Match a Hatch Pattern and Other Properties
Another tool to help you edit hatch patterns is Match Properties, which is similar to Format Painter in
the Microsoft Office suite. This tool lets you change an existing hatch pattern to match another existing
hatch pattern. Here’s how to use it:
1. Click the Match Properties tool in the Standard toolbar.
2. Click the source hatch pattern you want to copy.
3. Click the target hatch pattern you want to change. The target pattern changes to match the
source pattern.
The Match Properties tool transfers other properties as well, such as layer, color, and linetype settings.
You can select the properties that are transferred by opening the Property Settings dialog box.

To open this dialog box, type S↵ after selecting the object in step 2, or right-click and choose Settings
from the shortcut menu. You can then select the properties you want to transfer from the options
shown. All the properties are selected by default. You can also transfer text and dimension style settings.
You’ll learn more about text and dimension styles in Chapters 10 and 12.

You can then place the furniture on top of a floor-covering pattern, and the pattern will be
covered and hidden by the furniture. Here’s how to do that. (These steps aren’t part of the regular
exercises of this chapter. They’re shown here as general guidelines when you need to use the Draw
Order feature.)
1. Draw the equipment outline, and make sure the outline is a closed polygon.
2. Start the Hatch tool described earlier in this chapter to place a solid hatch pattern inside the
equipment outline.
3. In the Hatch And Gradient dialog box, make sure that Send Behind Boundary is selected in
the Draw Order drop-down list.
4. Complete the rest of the hatch pattern.
5. After you’ve finished placing the hatch, turn the outline and solid hatch into a block, or use
the Group command to group them.
6. Choose Tools Draw Order Bring To Front, and select the equipment. When you’re done,
the equipment covers the floor hatch pattern (see the bottom panel in Figure 7.8).
After you take these steps, you can place the equipment over a hatched floor pattern, and the
equipment will appear to rest on top of the pattern. If you create a floor pattern after you create
the equipment, choose Tools Draw Order Send To Back to move the pattern to the back of the
display order. You can also change the display order of objects relative to other objects.
The Draw Order options are all part of the Draworder command. As an alternative to the menu, you
can type Draworder↵ at the Command prompt, select an object, and then enter an option at the prompt:
Enter object ordering option
[Above objects/Under objects/Front/Back] :
For example, the equivalent of choosing Tools Draw Order Send To Back is entering
Draworder↵B↵. You can also select the object you want to edit, right-click, and then choose Draw
Order from the shortcut menu.
If you need to white out an area of a hatch pattern to make text more readable, you can use a
solid hatch along with the Display Order option to block out areas behind text.
TIP Draworder settings are maintained through blocks and Xrefs.
You’ve had a detailed look at hatch patterns and fills in this section. Remember that you can also
use the Tool palettes to help organize and simplify access to your favorite hatch patterns, or use the
patterns already available in the Tool palettes. The patterns in the Tool palettes can be edited and
manipulated in the same way as described in this chapter. If you want to know how to make full
use of the Tool palettes, check out the discussion on the AutoCAD DesignCenter in Chapter 27.

Using Two Colors

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Using Two Colors
You can choose a gradient that transitions between shades of a single color by clicking the One
Color radio button, or you can transition between two entirely different colors by clicking the
Two Color radio button. When you select Two Color, the slider below the Two Color option
changes to a color swatch. You can double-click the swatch or click the ellipses button to the
right of the swatch to open the Select Color dialog box.

Selecting Gradient Patterns
Just below the One Color and Two Color options are the gradient pattern options. You can choose
from nine patterns, plus you can select an angle for the pattern from the Angle drop-down list box.
The Centered option places the center of the gradient at the center of the area selected for the pattern.
To place a gradient pattern, select a set of objects or a point in a bounded area, just as you would
for a hatch pattern. You can then click the Preview button to preview your hatch pattern, or you can
click OK to apply the gradient to the drawing.

Tips for Using the Boundary Hatch
Here are a few tips on using the Boundary Hatch feature:
◆ Watch out for boundary areas that are part of a large block. AutoCAD examines the entire
block when defining boundaries. This can take time if the block is large. Use the Boundary Set
options to focus in on the set of objects you want AutoCAD to use for your hatch boundary.
◆ The Boundary Hatch feature is view dependent; that is, it locates boundaries based on what
is visible in the current view. To ensure that AutoCAD finds every detail, zoom in to the area
to be hatched.
◆ If the area to be hatched is large yet requires fine detail, first outline the hatch area by using
a polyline. (See Chapter 18 for more on polylines.) Then, use the Add: Select Objects option
in the Hatch And Gradient dialog box to select the polyline boundary manually, instead of
depending on Boundary Hatch to find the boundary for you.
◆ Consider turning off layers that might interfere with AutoCAD’s ability to find a boundary.
◆ Boundary Hatch works on nested blocks as long as the nested block entities are parallel to
the current UCS.

Space Planning and Hatch Patterns
Suppose you’re working on a plan in which you’re constantly repositioning equipment and furniture,
or you’re in the process of designing the floor covering. You might be a little hesitant to place a hatch
pattern on the floor because you don’t want to have to rehatch the area each time you move a piece of
equipment or change the flooring. You have two options in this situation: You can use the Boundary
Hatch’s associative capabilities to include the furnishings in the boundary set, or you can use the
Display Order feature.