Guidelines for Initial (crucial) Settings of AutoCAD for
proper printing/drafting
Shyam
Sunder Nishad
IIT
Kanpur
We will use command line for every configuration. That
way, it will be easier to learn without exploring UI. Later on, you can explore
UI yourself. Don't just read this guide. When you are using AutoCAD for
the first time, follow each step for proper setup.
There are in total 12 steps. Every step is essential for
achieving good drafts.
1. Set
Units
2. Set
Limits
3. Set
AutoCAD to use relative coordinates
4. Draw
Boundary
5. Printer
Settings
6. Switch
line-weight to on for showing actual thickness of lines
7. Set Linetype
8. Settings
for SNAP, to allow you to select points such as intersection of lines etc.
9. Set
Text Style
10. Draw TitleBox
11. Set
Dimension Style (needed before dimensioning, can be skipped, if not
dimensioning)
12. (Optional
but useful: for advanced users)
Use different Layers for different things, for easier management
Once you are done with the drawing, ensure that the line weights
(thickness) are as follows:
a. Line
weight for center, hidden, dimension, hinge lines - 0.13
b. Line
weight for visible lines - 0.30.
c. Line
weight for construction - 0.05
Details -
1. Set
Units
a. Command
- units
b. Set
Precision to 0 (to avoid decimal places after mm)
c. Set
unit to mm
d. Set
angle unit to decimal degrees
2. Set
limits:
This setting will enforce you to draw inside an A4 sheet sized box only.
a. Command
– limits
b. Run the command first, to switch it on.
c. Run
the command again, and set first corner to 0,0
d. Set
Second corner to (297,210) for Landscape ; (210,297) for Portrait.
3. Set
AutoCAD to use relative coordinates
This makes it much easier to draw object lines, without calculating absolute
coordinates.
a. Command
- dsettings
b. Go to
Dynamic Input ---> Settings (below Pointer unit) --->
select relative coordinates
4. Draw
Boundary
a. Command
- rectang
b. First
Corner - 10,10
c. Second
Corner - 277,190 for LANDSCAPE and 190,277 for PORTRAIT --- This will set a
margin of 10 mm on all sides as paper size for A4 is 297x210.
d. Now
to view whole rectangle on screen, use command - zoom, press e for Extents.
5. Printer
Settings
a. Command
- pagesetup
b. Click new and save profile with your desired
name.
c. Modify
settings
i. Set Plotter to DWG-PDF.pc3
ii. Set Paper size to ISO full bleed A4 (297x210 ) for LANDSCAPE, and (210x297) for PORTRAIT
iii. Set Plot Area to LIMITS
iv. Plot
Offset --- Uncheck Center the plot, X: 0 , Y: 0
v. Plot
Scale --- Uncheck Fit to Paper
, Scale - 1:1
vi. Drawing
Orientation --- LANDSCAPE/ PORTRAIT as required
d. Select
your profile and click on set to Current
NOW, preview your page using PRE command. See if box
is displayed properly. Proceed further only after doing this.
6. Switch
LineWeight to on --- To display thickness of lines on
screen
a. Command
- lineweight
b. Tick Display Weight checkbox
c. Units
- mm
7. Set Linetypes for use
a. Command
- linetype
b. Load
Needed linetypes --- mainly Continuous, HIDDEN,
CENTER, PHANTOM, HIDDEN2, PHANTOM2, HIDDENX2, PHANTOMX2.
c. Draw
lines on sheet and check if dashes are visible in HIDDEN line type. You need to
set HIDDEN as current from linetype
command. If dashes are too large, use HIDDEN2. If they are too small, use
HIDDENX2. Similarly, you may do for CENTER and PHANTOM linetypes.
8. Settings
for SNAP, to allow you to select points such as intersection of lines, center
of an arc, tangency point to an arc.
a. Command:
dsettings
b. Go to
object-snap, and select midpoint
on edge and intersection snap point types.
9. Set
Text Style
a. Command
- style
b. Click new and save profile with your desired
name.
c. Select
your profile and click on set to Current
d. Change
Font name to Arial, Font Style to Regular.
e. Change
Height to 3
10. Draw TitleBox
a. First
change origin to right bottom corner
of the inner box using ucs
command.
b. Command
- rectang or
line. Keep the width of each row as 5 mm.
c. Use text command for writing. For writing
faster, copy the first row you wrote, into other rows, and edit the text just
by clicking on the text. Use copy
command. You can paste using Control+V.
d. Things
to mention:
The symbol
here under projection section is for third angle scheme. Draw the correct one
as required.
NOTE: Setting
#11 is required for dimensioning. You can do that after completing your
drawing, or skip if dimensioning is not required.
Important: Before proceeding for drawing, save this file with
name "rollnumber_template dot dwg", e.g., 22141_template.dwg.
Make a copy of this file with name 22141_AUTOCAD_1.dwg, open that
and draw for Q1 in that file. Answer one question in one DWG file, and export to PDF using plot
command once done. The template file will help you save a lot of time, as you
need not repeat all the steps again for other questions.
FINAL NOTE ---
i. Draw
on 1:1 scale, and use the space outside the boundary box that we have created.
ii. After
finishing up, you need to scale it to standard ratios to fit it into the box.
iii. Write
scale properly in the TitleBox
iv. You
will find UCS, COPY, MOVE, ROTATE, SCALE, RAY, TRIM, EXTEND commands to be
highly useful in making it a lot easier to draw.
v. Explore
the options that command line gives you when you type commands there. That will
give you many ideas about how to speed up your drawing. Hint: use normal
English words for the task you intend to perform.
vi. Once
you are done with the drawing, ensure that the line weights (thickness)
are as follows:
1. Line
weight for center, hidden, dimension lines - 0.13
2. Line
weight for visible lines - 0.30.
3. Line
weight for construction - 0.05
11. Set
Dimension Style
a. Command
- dimstyle
b. Make new profile and save it as your desired
name
c. Select
your profile to set it as current
d. Modify
profile
i. (skip)
Lines TAB --- set
1. Extension
beyond dimension lines to 3
2. Offset
from origin to 1
ii. (skip)
Symbols and Arrows TAB --- set
1. Arrow
Size to 3
iii. Text TAB --- set
1. Text Height to 3
2. Text Alignment to Horizontal
3. Text Placement --- Vertical to Centered,
Horizontal to Centered
iv. (skip)
Primary Units TAB --- set
1. Unit Format - Decimal
2. Precision - 0
3. Scale Factor - 4 for upscaling
dimensions ( In case you have drawn on 1:4 scale, you need to multiply dimensions
by 4 to get actual drawings ).
4. Angular
Dimension - Decimal Degrees, Precision to 0
12. (Beginners
should skip this.)
Use different Layers for different line types for easier management
a. Command
- layer
b. Make 4 new layers using right click menu -
name them center, hidden, dimension,
final.
c. Use default layer 0 for construction.
d. Set
different line weights for each
layer:
i. Line
weight for center, hidden, dimension layers - 0.13
ii. Line
weight for final layer - 0.30. This layer will have thick solid lines corresponding
to the object visible lines.
iii. Line
weight for construction - 0.05
e. Set
corresponding line types for each
layer. Double clicking will help you do that.
f. You
may also set different color for construction lines for your aid. But, before
printing, set them to white. Otherwise, they would not be visible in the print,
being very thin.