Chapter List

Overview

How do you begin a new drafting project?

The number of answers I've heard to this question over the years might surprise you. Some say you begin with the layout. Others say you begin by positioning the drawing on the page. The most experienced drafters generally come up with a quip about coffee and radio settings.

This doesn t mean that I was questioning bad drafters, but simply that experience has engrained the basics so deeply that good drafters don't think about these simple questions anymore.

So, you might say, how do you begin a drafting project?

Well, first you decide on the scale and units (engineering, architectural, etc.) that you'll use. Then you decide the size of the page on which you'll draw (even if your final drawing will be electronic, you ll need to set up for a page size).

This first lesson will introduce you to the AutoCAD User Interface the AUI, or the screen on which you'll draw and show you how to set up things like units and sheet size.

1.1 The Groundwork: How AutoCAD Handles Scale, Units, and Paper Size

It may surprise you to learn that we won't use a scale when drawing in AutoCAD. In fact, all drawing in AutoCAD is done