Make Lines Horizontal and Verticle.

[foxint]

Hi Guys,

AutoCAD 2020:

Thank you all for being so kind and answering my question.

Please excuse this stupid question. I googled it and I searched for it in the forum and I tried to find it on AutoCAD, but I could not find it.

 

At the moment I am trying to draw squares, rectangles and circles. Not too much as I have never used AutoCAD 2020. I find many of the videos and the instructions on the makers website miss out on steps or assume some knowledge.

 

I am trying to make my lines: 1) horizontal and 2) vertical. I cannot find an easy way to do this.

 

…. Perhaps there is a video??

 

That is, it for the moment. I do not want to stretch the friendship

 

Thank you

D

[steven-g]

Providing you haven't any major changes try pressing the F8 key this locks your cursor movement to 90 degree angles, snaps will always overide this setting but genarally it keeps things straight. F8 is a toggle switch so press it again to stop.

[CyberAngel]

Another cool option is polar snap. I used to use the ortho mode, but polar snap lets you set the angles you want.

 

Click on the Tracking Settings box on the status bar. Go to the Polar Tracking tab. Set the angles you like.

Edited August 23, 2019 by CyberAngel

[foxint]

Sir - Thank you.

 

F8 - not sure what this does

 

But.....I finally found the Polar Tracking (I think this is what you suggested) on the bottom. I used the drop down and it was set to 90, 180, 270, 360. But after that you lost me??

 

I tried to draw a square 240 x 240mm and it went all wonky

 

D

[Cad64]

39 minutes ago, foxint said:

F8 - not sure what this does

 

But.....I finally found the Polar Tracking (I think this is what you suggested) on the bottom. I used the drop down and it was set to 90, 180, 270, 360. But after that you lost me??

 

I tried to draw a square 240 x 240mm and it went all wonky

 

 

The F8 key, as Steven mentioned, toggles Ortho mode on and off. This restricts your cursor to 90 degree angles, so you can draw straight lines, horizontal and vertical. If you're trying to draw a square, you definitely want Ortho mode toggled on.

 

Polar Tracking is more flexible as it allows you to set multiple angles for cursor snapping. So you can draw lines at 45 degrees or 30 degrees or whatever you want.

 

As for drawing a square, the easiest and fastest way is with the RECTANGLE command. Simply type REC at the command line and then follow the command prompts.

[foxint]

Sir - thank you.

 

Call me thick, but I am still a little confused. I drew the LHS square with the rectangle command from the tool bar and then changed the measurements of the sides to 240mm each. It just went strange. The RHS one, I drew with the line tool and it is degrees of horizontal and vertical, but some of the ends do not meet up.

 

I remain a idiot.

D

[Cad64]

For the LHS square, I have no idea how you did that.  If you used the REC command it should have drawn a perfect square. How did it become skewed?

 

For the RHS square, you should draw it with a Polyline rather than individual Lines. If you draw it with a Polyline, you can draw the first length, second length, third length and then hit the C key to close the Polyline.

[foxint]

CAD64 - Thank you.

 

I used the poly line and then C, but I ended up with some extra.

I tried the rectangle tool around the circle. Drew the rectangle, then I had to size it to 240mm each side and it went mental.

 

My next question (after I master squares) is how would I centre the circle in the middle of the 240mm square. That is if I can ever draw the square?

 

D

[Cad64]

For the Polyline square, there shouldn't be any extra. You need to draw the 1st length, then the 2nd length, then the 3rd length. At this point, the square should look like the letter U. This is where you hit the C key. Don't draw the 4th length.

 

I'm still not sure what's happening with the Rectangle command. It should draw a perfect square, not skewed like that.

 

After you get a Square drawn, you will need to draw a temporary line from one corner to the other, diagonally. You will need to turn your object snaps on and use the Endpoint Osnap in order to draw this line. If you don't know about object snaps, take a look here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/getting-started/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/AutoCAD-Core/files/GUID-8F5E5431-9EFB-414E-BC6D-2C65EFB2DAC3-htm.html

 

Once you have the line drawn, use the Midpoint Osnap to draw the circle. Start the Circle command and snap to the Midpoint of the line to set the center point for the circle.

 

[BIGAL]

As every one has said F8 is ortho make sure when you press it a message appears bottom left Ortho on. Look at attached gif.

 

 type pline or pl

Ok pick a point for lower left corner

drag mouse to the right a line will appear type 240 this will draw a line 240 long

push mouse up again type 240

push mouse left type 240

type C you should have a rectang 240x240

 

circle in middle many ways easiest is

 

Circle m2p radius

the m2p will ask you to pick two points so pick diagonals and it works out the mid point for you

 

manual way draw a line snap "end" draw between diagonals, Circle "mid" of line radius erase line

 

[foxint]

Cad64

Thank you.

All good with the C shape. 3 lines all 240mm long. I hit C then it puts the c in the “Specify next point or” see jpg

I will read about snaps....not really sure about the snaps.

And try to get the square to be square. But it continues to drive me (and you) up the wall?????

Hi BigAl…thank you

I watched and tried a few times…. but same as pic.

What I always need to do is specify the angle. If not all my lines are never perfectly horizonal or vertical.

Still have 3-sided drawing.

“Circle m2p radius

the m2p will ask you to pick two points so pick diagonals and it works out the mid-point for you.

manual way draw a line snap "end" draw between diagonals, Circle "mid" of line radius erase line”

Do not understand any of the above.

I drew another square using rectangle tool around the circle. I did not change the lengths of the sides and I know they are not right. But I tried to draw a diagonal from Top LHS to Bottom RHS…???

I then tried a line but found it almost impossible to get the corners. When I zoom in the line is not on the corners….

[Cad64]

8 minutes ago, foxint said:

All good with the C shape. 3 lines all 240mm long. I hit C then it puts the c in the “Specify next point or” 

 

Yes, after you hit C, it will appear in the "Specify next point" box. I guess I assumed you would know that you have to hit Enter to complete the command and close the Polyline. So just type C and then hit Enter and you should have a perfect square.

 

As for drawing a line diagonally from corner to corner, this is where Object Snaps are necessary. Check out the link I provided.

[foxint]

Cad64 – thank you.

Yes, the enter after C worked – great.

But each time I put in 240-enter 0degrees-enter, move mouse-240-enter 90degrees, move mouse 240-enter 180 degrees….???

I suppose when I get better the lines will be horizontal and vertical but is there a way of making them vertical and horizontal with out each time specifying the degrees. Seems like a lot of keystrokes.

I am still not good with the rectangle tool.

Also, as I move all over the workspace, each time I must type “pan” to move back, is there an easier way? Say is there a pan (Hand) button??

I have read the snap 3 times and it makes little sense.

D

[BIGAL]

If you look again at the movie I have ortho on and just drag mouse for angle do not enter angles use the mouse for that only lengths.

 

A beginner problem do SNAP OFF it can pick points based on a grid setting and that may be your problem.

 

For now type Osmode 47 then Osnap you will see what snap values have been set. The number 47 is a snap setting don't worry about this for now.

 

Using bearing and distance method

 

PL Pick start point

240<0

240<90

240<180

C

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by BIGAL

[Cad64]

15 minutes ago, foxint said:

Also, as I move all over the workspace, each time I must type “pan” to move back, is there an easier way? Say is there a pan (Hand) button??

 

I have read the snap 3 times and it makes little sense.

 

 

As Bigal said, there's no need to type in the angle. Just drag your cursor in the direction you want the line to go and then type in the distance.

 

For panning, does your mouse have a scroll wheel? If so, you should be able to press down on the scroll wheel to pan.

 

Object snaps are extremely important when drawing. Here's a video. Maybe this will be more helpful: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=autocad+object+snaps&&view=detail&mid=4F7CD1A4EA7712C3DFA64F7CD1A4EA7712C3DFA6&&FORM=VRDGAR

[foxint]

Guys….Thank you.

Big Al.

Thank you. But when I type Osmode 47 a box appears sometimes. When it does not appear, the lines are not horizontal or vertical??

 

I did not change anything in the box.

I used the rectangle tool. Then changed all the dimensions on the 4 sides. I had to do this many, many times as I was getting strange measurements like (239.234, 240.0001).

Is there a way to make the dimension set?

I used the “cross-hairs” and got the little blue squares to appear on the square and the circle, then I clicked on the square and then on the middle of the circle and it moved????

Is this right? How can I be sure that it is in the centre of the square? Do I have to infinitely zoom in to see if the lines have aligned?

[Cad64]

10 minutes ago, foxint said:

How can I be sure that it is in the centre of the square? Do I have to infinitely zoom in to see if the lines have aligned?

 

This is why Object Snaps are so important. If you want the circle placed precisely in the center of the square you will need to draw it using the Midpoint of your diagonal line as the center point, or draw it off to the side and then move it to the Midpoint by grabbing it using the Center Osnap and snapping it to the Midpoint on the line. Watch the video in the link I provided. I think it will help you understand.

[foxint]

Cad64

Thank you for the video.

 

Brilliant. Thank you….wow

 

D

[BIGAL]

Learning to use snaps is a real step 1. When you use the "osnap" command you can change what is automatically detected, when you change the Osnap settings a variable called Osmode is reset so I suggested you set it to 47 so its set to end, mid, center, intersection and node. As you move around you will see the little blue objects indicating what snap you can use. So drawing the diagonal line would use 2 end snaps.

 

You can at any time ask for more snaps even in the middle of a command draw a line perpendicular to another line use "perp" or hold shift key and press right button on mouse. You will see temporary snaps.

 

Given your really new it would be worth getting some basic training maybe you have a school nearby that runs courses. Got a friend or work colleague an hour or two would reveal so much.

 

There is tutorials installed I will try to find they pop up will find command to turn them on.

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by BIGAL

[foxint]

Big Al,

 

Thank you and thank you to everyone who made comments and endured my ignorance. I have a mate who uses Cadia and now into Solidworks, when I asked he said last time he used autocad was 10 plus years ago. I will see if the local TAFE has any, but unlikely as I am in the Australian country. We may be the lucky country, but our education system sucks.

 

I have a few projects and I will battle through a few videos.

 

Thanks

D