There are lots of things you need to think about while attempting to set up your drawing file. Of course we can't cover them all in this chapter, but we will mention the most important things.

As a first step, define the drawing distances and angle units, along with their precision.

Try to figure out what size (area) of workspace will be sufficient to accommodate your drawing.

Layers are the most effective way to organize your drawing, so we have to learn, what are they? How do we create them? How can we control them?

In Appendix B we will discuss how to create the templates in AutoCAD, which are more applicable for establishments and not individuals.

This is your first step.

This command will allow you to select the proper length and angle units.

From menus, select Format/Units or type units. The following dialog box will appear:

Under Length, set up the desired Type. You will have 5 choices:

• Architectural (example: 1'-5 3/16)

• Decimal (example: 20.4708)

• Engineering (example: 1'-4.9877)

• Fractional (example: 17 1/16)

• Scientific (example: 1.6531E+01)

Under Angle, set up the desired Type. You will have 5 choices:

• Decimal Degrees (example: 45.5)

• Deg/Min/Sec (example: 45d30'30")

• Grads (example: 50.6g)

• Radians (example: 0.8r)

• Surveyor's Units (example: N 45d30'30" E)

For the desired Length and Angle select the Precision, for example:

• Architectural precision can be 0'-0 1/16", or 0'-0 1/32", etc.

• Decimal precision can...