Marcela Oliva, B. Arch   M. Arch        LATTC Arch Tech - Digital Design - Mapping LA - CADD, Professor              olivam@lattc.edu

LATTC Architecture and Environmental Design Computer for Designers Course                   March 2008

Arc 160  iSEE Partnership for Prof. Oliva    Developed by Student Fellow:  Hugo Alvaro

MODEL MAKING IN AUTOCAD

The Architectural Desktop workspace/Interface basic tools: pallets, pull down menu, command line toolbars, status bar.

Try to memorize these names. They are very useful during communication exchange and knowledge transfer.

Open Autocad program; by double click in the desk top icon shortcut

 Go to file and select new

On the select template window select acad template

Do you know why is important to use a template?

Go to help command and make sure you read what a template is.

To format/set up your drawing limit go to Format and select Drawing Limits or write limits on the command line.

A drawing limit is like selecting the size of your paper. AUTOCAD is infinite so having a limit is a good idea. The Drawing limits also establishes

 Follow the steps on the command line:

Lower left corner should be set up to 0,0,0

Upper right corner should be set up to 12,9

Type grid to set up the grid spacing to .25

Type snap and type .25

Grid and Snap should be set up at the same distance

This is another way to set up your drawing limits. You can go to Format and click drawing limits

Now, let's start drawing!  :)

To start working you need the Modify, and Draw tool bars, if you want to create solids then you will need the Solids tool bar.

To get this tool bars you have to right click on the docking area of the tool bars top of the screen below the pull down menus.

Select acad and then select draw

You have to repeat this step for each tool bar you want to select

After selecting the tool bars you can dock the tool bars by double clicking on the blue strip or by dragging the tool bar to the top or to the sides of the screen. If a tool bar is not wanted to show on the screen you can grab it from the double bar on the left side and move it to the screen and then closing the tool bar clicking on the box with a X

Now you can start creating your kid of  parts for your project. We are going to use a model that was created using squares, rectangles, cylinders, circles, cubes

First we are going to create a square by selecting the rectangle icon on the modify tool bar you can also type rec on the command line and fallowing the steps on the tool bar give the dimensions of 0.75 length x 0.75 wide

 repeat this step and create a rectangle 1.125 x 1.125

 repeat this previous steps and create a rectangle 1.5 length x 0.75 wide

 now create a circle with a diameter of 1.25

Create a smaller circle with a diameter of 0.125 and also create a few lines 2.5, 0.75 and 0.125 that may be use later to create our shapes with volume

Now we are ready to extrude our shapes

First you can select the extrude command from the solids tool bar or you can type extrude on the command line and fallow the steps on it.

you are going to work with two view ports, go to the pull down menu bar and select view pull menu, select viewports, then select 2 viewports, follow the steps on the command line and select vertical.

Now we need to change the right side view from top to southeast isometric view.  Click on the right screen and go to the view tool bar and click on the SE isometric icon

It is a good practice to create a copy of your work.  Select the copy icon or type cp on the command line, then fallow the step on the command line to copy all objects.

  Select the extrude icon on the solids tool bar or type it on the command line.  This will create a 3d solid object.

Select the small circle and the larger line fallowing the steps on the command line, select the smallest circle give it a height of 2.5 and 0 degrees

If you want to use the Path option you have to rotate the small circle and use the line as the Path.

In order to rotate the circle you have to type rotate 3d and select 2point option, then you select the two quadrants of the circle in order to rotate the circle.

Now type or select the extrude icon and use the line as the Path.

Now extrude the small square using the method of your choice to 0.75 and the bigger square, the circle and the rectangle to 0.125

 Erase the 2D object that are not needed for this project.  You can erase by typing e on the command line or pressing Delete from the key board or you can also click the erase icon from the modify toolbar.

On the status bar right click on the object snap button and select settings, on the widow select all and then click OK.  This will help you to find the insertion point.

 Click on the copy icon or type cp on the command line and select the large square, select one of the lower corners and make two copies on the center of the screen.

 Copy the cube and select the lower right corner as the displacement point and place it in the middle of the two squares.  Use the right side of your screen for a more accurate reference point of displacement.

 Then select the rotate icon or type rotate on the command line, select the lower right corner and rotate it 45 degrees fallowing the command line.

 Then select the rotate icon or type rotate on the command line, select the lower right corner and rotate it 45 degrees fallowing the command line.

 Now you have to place the other cube on top of the two squares. You can copy and place the cube on top of the squares or you can move the cube and place it on top of the squares.

Select the front view to check if the shapes are in the desire place in this case we have to make adjustments the bottom cube is not in the center and the upper cube needs to go up.

As you move the cubes on the SE view observe carefully on the top view that your shape are place properly

Rotate the rectangle and the circle using rotate3d for the next step.

Copy the rectangle and select the middle point on one side of the top, you will need to select the other point to copy the rectangle for the other side.

Copy the cylinder and select the proper quadrant for each side. This will be a two step process as the previous step.

Copy the circle this also will be a two step process.  By placing the cylinder you are spacing the objects.

You can check your work using the different views to make sure the objects are in the desire point.

If you did not erase the cylinder that was extruded you can copy it and place on the inside of the rectangle.

Cp the cylinder two times on one side using the proper quadrant.

Now we are going to use the mirror command from the modify tool bar, select the two cylinders and use the center of the cube as reference point.

Using array command we are going to create an array of 4 cylinders. Select the array icon from the modify tool bar or type it on the command line and fallow the step in the array window like if you were to read a paper.

Select the center array type, in this case will be a polar array, then select the object, then press enter,  make sure the total number of items and angle to fill option is selected, then enter 4 on the Total numbers of items, then enter 75 for angle to fill, select Preview and press accept if that what you wanted to create.

Now you have to rotate on 3d and move this object between the circle and the rectangle. As you can see the cylinder need to be align. Create a line and then type align and fallow the command line.  Select the end center point to align the cylinders.

Now we have to move this cylinder and erase our reference cylinder.  Type Cp or click the icon and select the center point as reference to move this cylinder, also use the center point of the cylinder to place the array cylinders. When the array is placed erase the  cylinders on the center. You may want to leave it.

Now we have to copy the square one time. the next step is to rotate the square 45 degrees and copy the square and place it on top using the mid point. Use mirror to make a perfect reflection and place it on top of the rectangle

This is the final product of your work. On the left you can shade it or use Hidden to show a more realistic sketch.

If you check the dimensions of one object, you will find that the scale of the text is not the correct scale, it may be to large like in this case, or may be to small, where you can see it.

  Using the dimension toolbar manager icon you can check if a predefine dimension style works better to dimension your model. If you have only the standard style you can modify/adjust the scale to fit it to your drawing if the dimension is to large or too small.

The next step will be to adjust the dimension size. On the command line type d, dst, dimsty, or ddim to open the dimension style window. Also you can select the style manger icon on the dimension toolbar. Select modify

Select the fit tab next to the text tab. Make sure the FIT OPTIONS is set to “Always keep text and text between lines.”

On the “scale to dimension features” select “Use overall scale of:” and change the value to 1.000, then click OK.

To plot (print) your work you have to go to the File pull down menu and select print or click on the Print icon on the standard toolbar. 

 The Plot window is going to open.  You have to select the printer by name, select preview to see what you are going to plot.

This drawing is not centered so you have to center it. Now close this window and you have to make changes as need.

Select center and fit to paper, click Preview

Is you work is centered and all object can be seen you can plot by clicking on the print icon, this will close the preview window and send you back to your model  window.

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Send mail to olivam@lattc.edu with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2006 LATTC Architecture and Environmental Design
Last modified: 09/16/09