Learn AutoCAD LT 2000 for Architects

425 Pages·2000·14.66 MB·English

by  James Padgett

Learn AutoCAD LT 2000
®
for Architects
James Padgett
Wordware Publishing, Inc.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Padgett,James.
LearnAutoCADLT2000forarchitects / byJamesPadgett.
p. cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN 1-55622-754-X(pbk.)
1. AutoCAD. 2. Architecturaldrawing--Dataprocessing. 3. Computer-aideddesign.
I. Title.
NA2728.P325 2000
720'.28'402855369--dc21 00-049932
CIP
©2001,WordwarePublishing,Inc.
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ISBN1-55622-754-X
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Product names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective
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Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Chapter 1 AutoCAD LT Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
TheAutoCADLTScreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
InstallationGuideforArchLTTemplatesandToolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
First-TimeSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Uninstalling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
AutoCADLTBasics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
StartingaDrawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
DrawingSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
SettingArchitecturalUnits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SettingtheDrawingArea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
TextStyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
DimensionStyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
BasicSettings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
BasicSettingsforLT98. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
BasicSettingsforLT2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
OtherMethodsforStartingNewDrawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
UsingtheQuickSetupWizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
UsingtheAdvancedSetupWizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
DrawingScaleConversionTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
WhatareLayers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
WhyUseLayers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
SelectingaLayertoDrawOn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ControllingtheVisibilityofObjectsonaLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
SystemVariables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
CommandAliasesandHotKeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
HelpfulHints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 2 Drawing a Floor Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
StartingaDrawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
DrawingtheExteriorWalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
iii
Contents
DrawingtheInteriorWalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
AddingWindows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
AddingDoors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
UsingtheStandardCopyCommandforInsertingDoors . . . . . . . . . 74
AddingClosets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
AddingSymbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
PaperSpaceandModelSpace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
AddingDimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
PrintingthePlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
CreatingYourOwnTemplates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chapter 3 Developing Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
DrawingaSlabFoundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
DrawingtheRoofPlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
CreatingaSection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
RotatingtheFloorPlan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
PrintingtheFoundationPlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
DevelopingtheRoof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
FinishingtheFoundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
PrintingtheRoofPlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
AddingTexttotheSection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
ModifyingTextintheBorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Chapter 4 Drawing Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
TraditionalMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
FrontElevation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
BackElevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
RightElevation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
LeftElevation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Hatching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
PlottingYourElevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
PlottingUsingaCustomTemplateFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Chapter 5 Adding Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
DrawingDetails1and2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
DrawingaDetailfromScratch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
SavingDetails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
InsertingSymbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
ContentExplorer—LT98 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
DesignCenter—LT2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
iv
Contents
Chapter 6 Real Architect LITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
InstallationInstructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
First-TimeSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
StartingfromtheDesktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
SettingsThatWillHelpYourDrafting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
FloorPlanTutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
DrawingPlanWalls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
DrawingPlanWindows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
FlippingWindowsOver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
MovingPlanWindows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
InsertingPlanDoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
ChangingDoorHingeandSwing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
LabelingDoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
ApplyingPlanSymbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
CreatingElevations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
TurningOffUnnecessaryLayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
DrawingtheFrontElevation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
DrawingElevationWindowsandDoors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
RealArchitectUtilityToolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
SettingsToolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
NumberPad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
ColorControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
LayerControlToolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
StairsToolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
v
Preface
LearnAutoCADLT2000forArchitectswaswrittenforbeginnertointermediate
usersofAutoCADLT.ThebookcoversAutoCADLT98throughLT2000i.
AutoCADLTisalargeandpowerfulprogram.Ithasallthetoolsyouneedto
drawjustaboutanythingyoucanthinkof.Someofthesetoolsarerelevantto
architecturaldraftingandsomearenot.
Thegoalofthisbookistominimizethetimeittakesyoutolearnhowtouse
AutoCADLTforarchitecturaldrafting.Weonlyshowyouhowtousethecom-
mandsandtoolsthatarerelevanttoarchitecturalwork.Ifyougetcuriousabout
somecommandthatwehavenotcovered,AutoCADLTcomeswithmany
excellentsourcesofinformationregardingallofitscommands.Weurgeyouto
usetheseresourcessuchastheHelpsystem,theprintedmanual,andthenew
ActiveAssistantinLT2000i.
BecausewearecoveringmultipleversionsofAutoCADLT,someofthetext
promptsandgraphicsinthebookmaybealittledifferentfromwhatactually
appearsonyourcommandlineorscreen.Inmostcasesthisisnotaproblem
becausethewordingbetweenversionsisonlyslightlydifferent.If,however,the
differencesbetweenversionsaresignificant,wehavetriedtoshowyouthese
differencesandexplainhoweachversionworks.
AutoCADLTisagreatprogram.Wehopethisbookwillhelpyoutogetthe
mostoutofit.
vi
Acknowledgments
IwouldliketothankmyfamilyforbeingsopatientwithmewhileIwrotethis
book.Mywife,Melanie,son,Matthew,anddaughter,Leianna,areveryspecial
peopleandhelpedmeoutmorethantheywilleverknowwiththeirhumorand
love.IwouldalsoliketothankmyfriendJohnLentzforhistechnicalhelp.And
finallyIwouldliketosaymahalo(thanks)tothefolksatWordwarePublishing:
JimHill,WesBeckwith,KellieHenderson,andespeciallyBethKohlerforher
excellentwork.
vii
Introduction
LearnAutoCADLT2000forArchitectsisapowerfullearningsystemdesigned
toteacharchitecturalusershowtogetupandrunningasquicklyaspossible
usingAutoCADLT98,2000,or2000i.
ThisuniquesystemisaimedspecificallyatteachingyouhowtouseAutoCAD
LTforarchitecturaldrafting.Thesystemconsistsofseveralelements.These
includethisbook;anumberofdifferentarchitecturaltemplatescontainingbor-
ders,blocks,text,anddimensionstyles;afreecopyofRealArchitectLITE,a
scaled-downversionofanarchitecturalfrontendforAutoCADLT;andsome
hardcopymaterials,suchasroughfloorplans,elevations,andsections.These
roughdrawings,availableonthecompanionCDandintheappendix,aresimilar
tothetypesofmaterialsyouwouldexpecttogetfromarchitectsandcontrac-
torswhenstartingajob.
Chapter1givesanoverviewofsomeofthebasicsofAutoCADLT,including
howtosetupadrawingandothersetupprocedures.Chapters2through5
focusondevelopingasetofarchitecturalplansusingplainAutoCADLT.You
willlearnmanytricksandshortcutsthatreallycutdownondrawingtimewhen
creatingasetofplans.Wewillcovercreatingafloorplan,sections,thefourele-
vations,andbuildingdetails.
Thesixthchaptergoesintousinganarchitecturaladd-onpackageforAutoCAD
LTcalledRealArchitectLITE.Thisprogram,whichisincludedonthecompan-
ionCD,isascaled-downversionofthesameproductbeingusedbythousands
ofarchitects,designers,anddraftsmenaroundthecountryforproducingtheir
workingdrawingsinAutoCADLT.
LearnAutoCADLT2000forArchitectsputsitalltogetherbywalkingyou
throughthedevelopmentofasetofworkingdrawingsusingalltheseelements.
Wehavetriedtoreplicatereal-worldexperienceascloselyaspossible.Itisour
feelingthatthisapproachisthequickestwaytolearnhowtouseAutoCADLT
effectivelyforarchitecturaldrafting.
IfyouareanewuserofAutoCADLT,theexperienceyougainwiththissystem
willprepareyoutotakeonrealdesignprojectswithconfidence.Youwilllearn
manyshortcutsandmethodsthatwillgetyouuptospeedquickly.Ifyouarea
seasoneduserofAutoCAD,youwillfindthemultitudeoftipsandtricksinthis
viii
Introduction
bookasurefirewaytoincreaseyourproductivity.Soreadon.Wehopethatyou
enjoythebookandfindithelpful.
Why Use This Book?
LearnAutoCADLT2000forArchitectsismorethanjustabook.Itisacomplete
learningsystemthatisdesignedtogetthereaderupandrunningasquicklyas
possible.Thesystemincludesthisbook;architecturaltemplates;afreecopyof
theRealArchitectLITEarchitecturaldraftingprogram;andadditionalhard
copymaterialsthatsimulatewhatyouwouldexpecttoreceivefromarchitects
orcontractorswhenworkingonarealjob.
WhetheryouaremakingtheswitchfromhanddraftingtoCADoryouare
changingfromoneCADprogramtoAutoCADLT,weallknowthatthetime
spentlearninganewprogramisdowntime.Asdesignprofessionals,wegetpaid
foroutput,pureandsimple.Thequickeryougetupanddrawing,thefasteryou
begintorecoveryourinvestment.
So,insteadofmakingyougothroughAutoCAD’sentiresetofcommands,this
bookleadsyouthroughtheonesthatrelatespecificallytoarchitecturaldrafting.
Inaddition,therearemanysamples,blocks,fonts,andtemplatedrawingspro-
videdontheCDthatwillsaveyoumuchtime.Also,lateronyouwillseehow
anadd-onproductlikeRealArchitectLITEcancutoutatremendousamountof
timebyeliminatingmanyoftherepetitivetasksinarchitecturaldrafting.
What’s Inside
Becauseourfocusistogetupandrunningquickly,thebookisbrokendown
intochaptersthatleadyouthroughthecreationofasetofplans.Eachchapter
beginswithanoverviewthatexplainswhatwillbecovered.Themainbodyof
eachchapterisastep-by-stepwalk-through.Asummaryofeachchapter
follows.
Chapter 1
ThischapterexplainssomeofthebasicsoftheAutoCADLTprogram.Youwill
learndifferentwaysofstartinganewdrawing,setupproceduressuchassetting
drawingunits,howtocreateanduselayers,andhowtosettextanddimension
styles,snapspacing,osnapsettings,andothervariables.Wewillnotspenda
hugeamountoftimegoingoverthese.Afterall,mostofthesesettingsand
drawingstandardscanbeautomatedveryeasily.Itisourfeelingthatyouare
ix