Tutor or help in L.A. area for MAC LT 2013 user?

[DaisyFaith]

Hi,

Does anybody know of a tutor or a one day class available in the L.A. area? I am currently taking a US CAD e-course but the course wasn't designed for MAC or LT and I have some questions that I'd like answered face to face or on the phone. I learned Autocad 2005 but haven't used it for years and I have some pretty basic questions that are tripping me up. I'm going to be doing fairly simple 2D furniture design drawings. Any suggestions? Thanks, Daisy

[SLW210]

Go ahead and ask your questions here. You never know we might have the answers.

[DaisyFaith]

Ok, one question is: the distance/measuregeom tool I can't get it to work. I press it then click the first and second point I want to measure then "d" for distance and nothing happens? Also, I need help with setting up a drawing template for myself (or finding one) that will work for furniture drawings: the measurements ideally would be in inches with fractions ex: 38 1/2" wide etc... and the dimensions and notes I would like to be in a large enough font that I can read. Any suggestions? I find the setting everything up really confusing. I just want to use something that works that already set up

[ReMark]

First you need to take a deep breath and relax.

 

Now, everything you draw in model space should be drawn at FULL size. It doesn't matter if you are drawing an end table, a recliner or an eight piece sectional sofa. Draw it FULL size.

 

You want to work in inches and fractions of an inch? Then you will need to change your UNITS to reflect this. Do you know how to access the UNITS command? If so set your unit "Type" to Fractional and set your Precision to 1/16" or whatever you feel comfortable with.

 

Don't worry about dimensions and fonts at the moment as you haven't even drawn anything yet. I am going to suggest though that you consider using a paper space layout along with a viewport (or more than one viewport) to handle the printing end. You do plan on incorporating a title block and border don't you?

 

I am not an AutoCAD for Mac user. Tell me, is there a big red letter "A" in the upper left hand corner of your screen?

 

Regarding the Measuregeom tool. I'm not a big fan of the way it works so being a PC user I revert back to using the old Distance command which I can invoke by typing the command alias "DI". I believe AutoCAD for Mac users do not have this option do they? After using the Distance command I look at my command line to see the distance or press the F2 key to bring up the Text window. Here is the output I would see:

 

Command: DI

DIST

Specify first point: pick first point

Specify second point or [Multiple points]: pick second point

Distance = 8 1/4, Angle in XY Plane = 0, Angle from XY Plane = 0

Delta X = 8 1/4, Delta Y = 0, Delta Z = 0

Edited November 1, 2012 by ReMark

[ReMark]

AutoCAD for Mac: Getting Started Tutorials

 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=15839797&linkID=15839488

[DaisyFaith]

Thank you. I actually did already draw a dresser as a practice piece. Yes, I typed in UN and set it to inches and I just kept it as decimal and ended up converting the fractions but then after realized about changing it to fractions so I did but it didn't convert the decimals? Is it too late to change the dimensions to fractions since I didn't set that up initially? I opened up the dresser in paper space and printed it just because I wanted to see if the text/dimensions were going to print really small and they did (which I don't want) I need to set the text and dimensions to be a larger size. And yes, eventually a title block etc...would be nice but I don't remember how to even attempt to do that. If I type it DI it asks me to select the first point, which I do, then second point or multiple, which I do and then nothing it just acts like I've ended the command---this is the same thing that's happening with Measuregeom. Does any of that mean anything to you? Thanks!

[DaisyFaith]

PS. I don't see a bigger letter "A" I forgot to mention that

[Dadgad]

Thank you. I actually did already draw a dresser as a practice piece. Yes, I typed in UN and set it to inches and I just kept it as decimal and ended up converting the fractions but then after realized about changing it to fractions so I did but it didn't convert the decimals? Is it too late to change the dimensions to fractions since I didn't set that up initially? I opened up the dresser in paper space and printed it just because I wanted to see if the text/dimensions were going to print really small and they did (which I don't want) I need to set the text and dimensions to be a larger size. And yes, eventually a title block etc...would be nice but I don't remember how to even attempt to do that. If I type it DI it asks me to select the first point, which I do, then second point or multiple, which I do and then nothing it just acts like I've ended the command---this is the same thing that's happening with Measuregeom. Does any of that mean anything to you? Thanks!

 

Welcome to CADTutor.

How many lines of commandline text and history are being shown in your commandline window?

You should have it set to display your active command input line, and TWO lines

of your commandline history. A total of THREE lines of text should be visible.

Now try the DISTANCE command again.

In the image you can see that I called the DISTANCE command (I use D as the alias for distance, since I use it a lot),

then picked my points, and there are 2 lines of output relating to the actual distance, as well as relative distances measured along both the X and the Y axii.

 

You might do well to ENABLE DYNAMIC INPUT, as it will constantly display numerical feedback on your screen, near the cursor,

as you work, which would probably be beneficial. In the image you can see the onscreen dynamic input feedback displayed in the

circled box. At the bottom of the image I have circled the DYNAMIC INPUT icon (as displayed on a PC, not a MAC). On a PC you can also toggle dynamic input on or off with the F12 button.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Dadgad

[DaisyFaith]

Thanks. Again, I do have a MAC so things are different I think. The command line was just a single line but there's a little arrow next to it that I just found that will expand the command line to look more like yours! So, wow I wasn't getting all that info before!! Now it looks like this:

Command: dist

Specify first point:

Specify second point or [Multiple points]:

Distance = 1'-5 9/16", Angle in XY Plane = 0, Angle from XY Plane = 0

Delta X = 1'-5 9/16", Delta Y = 0'-0", Delta Z = 0'-0"

Do you know about: Is it too late to change the dimensions to fractions since I didn't set that up initially? I opened up the dresser in paper space and printed it just because I wanted to see if the text/dimensions were going to print really small and they did (which I don't want) I need to set the text and dimensions to be a larger size.

Thanks for your help!

[eyde]

You can type in Dim\enter update\ all and that should update all your dim's. I hope it works the same on a mac

[DaisyFaith]

Thanks, I tried it. This is what I got:

Dim: update

Select objects: all

67 found

3 were not in current space.

And then the decimal dimensions weren't changed to fractions so I guess it didn't work??

[DaisyFaith]

I did these which were pretty helpful although...I looked for more tutorials but didn't see any more. Do you have links to more? Thanks!

[eyde]

Thanks, I tried it. This is what I got:

Dim: update

Select objects: all

67 found

3 were not in current space.

And then the decimal dimensions weren't changed to fractions so I guess it didn't work??

 

Did you change your dimstyle to reflect the fractions?

[DaisyFaith]

Yes, I set that to architectural, precision 1/16"

[eyde]

Yes, I set that to architectural, precision 1/16"[/quote

 

And your dim's are still coming out as decimal? Not sure what the problem is. I just tested it and mine changed fine?

Edited November 2, 2012 by eyde
Was the wrong answer

[Dadgad]

Yes, I set that to architectural, precision 1/16"

 

Perhaps you could check that again, and make sure that you

see the dimension style which you prefer displayed in the preview

window of the MODIFY DIMENSION STYLE dialog (as shown in the attached image).

Remember to click OK, which will take you back to the DIMENSION STYLE MANAGER, where you should confirm the dimstyle which you intend to use is selected and SET CURRENT.

 

If you create a new dimension, does it display correctly?

 

As previously mentioned, the suggestions which I make are based on using Autocad on PC, and while I know there are many differences between full Autocad on a PC, and LT on a MAC, I can only share what I know.

 

My guess is that you will find you have not succeeded in modifying the dimstyle, and that is why you are unable to update them, as earlier mentioned by eyde.

[DaisyFaith]

HI Dadgad,

Ok, I've attached 2 photos of what's happening. It seems like it changes but what I see on the screen is still a decimal. I think I'm doing something simple that's off.

Thanks!

[Dadgad]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]38354[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]38355[/ATTACH]

HI Dadgad,

Ok, I've attached 2 photos of what's happening. It seems like it changes but what I see on the screen is still a decimal. I think I'm doing something simple that's off.

Thanks!

 

Click on DIMENSION in your MENU BAR, then drop down the list and select DIMENSION STYLE (paint brush icon probably).

 

Drawing units and dimension styles are generally related, but the display of the dimension text

is not controlled by the drawing units, but rather by the DIMENSION STYLE MANAGER, as shown in my previous post,

which is where you want to access the MODIFY option, enabling you to set your dimension display as you want it.

 

Did you ever follow through with ReMark's suggestion in post #5, and follow the link which he kindly supplied?

[DaisyFaith]

Yes, I followed everything everyone said...even did the tutorials that were recommended. I feel like I went into Dim Style before but either way, it HAS WORKED! So, thank you ALL for your help I'm sure that won't be the end of my questions but for now mission completed.