Drawings and output

Drafting Tools: Draw, Modify, Annotate, Measure, Blocks, Layers and the Command Line

The CAD tools on the plan: lines, arcs and hatches, move, copy, offset and trim, dimensions and text, distance and area, blocks, layers, snaps and the command line, with every command and its alias.

The command line

The command line sits at the bottom of the plan. Type a command or its alias and press Enter or Space: `WALL` or `WA`, `LINE` or `L`. As you type it suggests commands.

While a tool runs, the command line says what it wants next, and numbers typed there are lengths, angles or counts.

Every tool in the menus runs through the same commands, so a menu and a typed command do the same thing.

Draw

**Line** (`LINE`, `L`): click each point; Enter to finish.

**Polyline** (`PLINE`, `PL`): connected points on one entity.

**Rectangle** (`RECTANG`, `REC`): two corners, or `D` for its dimensions.

**Circle** (`CIRCLE`, `C`), **Arc** (`ARC`, `A`), **Ellipse** (`ELLIPSE`, `EL`), **Polygon** (`POLYGON`, `POL`), **Donut** (`DONUT`, `DO`), **Spline** (`SPLINE`, `SPL`) and **Point** (`POINT`, `PO`).

**Hatch** (`HATCH`, `H`): click each boundary point; Enter closes it.

Modify

**Move** (`MOVE`, `M`), **Copy** (`COPY`, `CO`), **Rotate** (`ROTATE`, `RO`), **Scale** (`SCALE`, `SC`) and **Mirror** (`MIRROR`, `MI`).

**Offset** (`OFFSET`, `O`), **Trim** (`TRIM`, `TR`), **Extend** (`EXTEND`, `EX`), **Fillet** (`FILLET`, `F`) and **Chamfer** (`CHAMFER`, `CHA`).

**Arrays**: rectangular (`ARRAYRECT`, `AR`) and polar (`ARRAYPOLAR`, `ARP`).

**Explode** (`EXPLODE`, `X`), **Erase** (`ERASE`, `E`) and **Match properties** (`MATCHPROP`, `MA`).

They work on walls, doors and windows as on lines: a moved wall carries its openings, and a copied window finds a wall where it lands.

Annotate and measure

**Dimensions**: linear (`DIMLINEAR`, `DLI`), aligned (`DIMALIGNED`, `DAL`), radius (`DIMRADIUS`, `DRA`), diameter (`DIMDIAMETER`, `DDI`) and angular (`DIMANGULAR`, `DAN`).

**Text** (`TEXT`, `DT`) and **Multi line text** (`MTEXT`, `MT`), and **Leaders** (`MLEADER`, `MLD`).

**Distance** (`DIST`, `DI`) and **Area** (`AREA`) measure without drawing anything.

Blocks, layers and the status toggles

**Blocks**: make a block from the selection (`BLOCK`, `B`), insert one (`INSERT`, `I`), edit it (`BEDIT`, `BE`), save it to your library (`WBLOCK`, `W`), or browse them in the Blocks tab (`BLOCKS`).

**Layers** (`LAYER`, `LA`): the Layers tab lists the layers with their colour, linetype and lineweight, and switches to show or hide them. Each layer belongs to a discipline: Architectural, Structural, Interior, Civil and site, or Services.

**Status toggles** at the top: grid (F7), object snap (F3), orthogonal (F8), polar tracking in 15 degree steps (F10), lineweights, wall thickness and wall justification.

**Plot styles** (`PLOTSTYLE`, `PS`): how each colour prints, in the Plot tab.

**Scripts**: `RECORD` the commands you run, `PLAYBACK` them, and save or load a script (`SCRIPTSAVE`, `SCRIPTLOAD`).

Frequently asked questions

Do the AutoCAD command aliases work?

Most do: L for line, M for move, CO for copy, TR for trim, O for offset, DLI for a linear dimension, and so on. Type a few letters and the command line suggests the rest.