INTRODUCTION TO FLOOR PLANNING TECHNIQUES USING CAD

CAD000D1

ALIGN COMMAND:
1. This activity will deal with drawing a room that has angles. Below is the room
you will be drawing, notice that some of the walls are at an angle, and you
don't know those angles.

2. The best way to start is to draw what you can - in this case, you can draw the
horizontal and vertical lines easily. Next draw the lines for the angles lines,
but draw them horizontal and vertical as well (as shown below):

3. Now you should have all the lines drawn, and the door blocks inserted or
drawn in. Make sure that everything is on the right layer.
4. Finally you will adjust the 'soon to be angled lines' using the Align command.
5. Start the command and use the input shown below. You are selecting source
points (where it starts) and destination points (where it will end up). Choose
the endpoints nearest the text.

Command: ALIGN
Select objects: <SELECT BOTTOM AND RIGHT SIDE LINES>
Specify opposite corner: 28 found
Select objects: <ENTER>
Specify first source point: <1S>
Specify first destination point: <1D>
Specify second source point: <2S>
Specify second destination point: <2D>
Specify third source point or <continue>: <ENTER>
Scale objects based on alignment points? [Yes/No] <N>: N
6. If everything went correctly, your lines should have aligned properly. If it
didn't, make sure you had your OSnaps on and selected the points in the
right order.

ROTATE COMMAND:
1. Follow the command line prompts carefully. Tell ZWCAD what the existing
angle is (Reference angle) and what the new angle is.

Command: ROTATE
Current positive angle in UCS: ANGDIR=counterclockwise
ANGBASE=0.0000
Select objects: <SELECT OBJECTS> Specify opposite corner: 28 found
Select objects: <ENTER>
Specify base point: <1R>
Specify rotation angle or [Copy/Reference] <329.8507>: R
Specify the reference angle <0.0000>: <1R> Specify second point:
<2R>
Specify the new angle or [Points] <0.0000>: <N>
2. Both commands work well and quickly. Which one you use depend on the
situation. If your lines are connected like they were in this example, the
Rotate command works fine. If they aren't then the align command works
easier.

ADDING AND EDITING BLOCK ATTRIBUTES:

One of the easiest ways of adding non-graphical information is to use attributes. An attribute is
text that can be attached to a block that conveys more information than just the geometry on its
own could convey.

Look at the two drawings below for an example:

The first example shows some lines and arcs that could be anything.

The second example shows the same geometry with the attributes visible so that you see what the
shapes represent.

The pictures above show a couch. The attributes describe what the model number, color and cost
are as well as the manufacturer. This information can then be extracted out of ZWCAD and then
used in a spreadsheet or other program which could generate a Bill of Materials.

Command
Define an
attribute

Keystroke Icon
ATTDEF /
ATT

Location
Home > Block >
Define Attribute

Result
Creates an attribute
definition

DDATTE /
Edit attributes ATE

Display Atts.

Extract
Attributes

ATTDISP

EATTEXT

Home > Block > Edit

Attributes

Edits the contents

of an existing
attribute

Home > Block > Retain Hides or shows

Display
attributes
Insert > Linking &
Extraction > Extract
Data

Extracts attributes
using the wizard

1. Open up the Computer blocks you did previously.

2. Insert a computer block and then explode it (type X <ENTER> and then select the block press <ENTER>.)
3. Begin the Attribute definition command: ATT(or) ATTDEF (or) DDATTDEF
4. Fill in the edit boxes just like the example. Make sure to adjust the text height if
necessary.

What you did is give the attribute its definition - a name (tag), a prompt to help the user
while they're inserting it, and a (default) value for the prompt.
.

5. Once everything is entered, select the OK button.

6. When you are back on the drawing screen, pick a point near the middle of the computer
block. When you are done, the dialog box comes back so press OK.
7. Add the following attributes the same way.

TAG

PROMPT

VALUE

MONITOR

What is the MONITOR SIZE? XX"

HDD

What capacity is the Hard

Drive?

X.XXGB

RAM

How much RAM is installed?

XXXGB

STATION

What station is this

XXX

8. Once all the attributes are created you should have something like this:

8. Next you will create a block that includes your four attributes.
9. Start up the BLOCK command. When you select the Attributes, select them individually
from top to bottom. When you are asked for the block name, give it the name COMPAT.

10.
Insert the block and you will get a dialog box where you can enter the values for
the tags. You will be prompted to provide answers to the prompts that you defined in the
attributes.
11.
After inserting the block and answering all the prompts, your block should look
like this:

12.
Now by looking at the drawing, you can see exactly what type of computer it is
and what station (location) it is. This is just one application, but you can see how it can be
used in any discipline of drafting. You can either insert more blocks, or copy the one that
is in the drawing.
EDITING ATTRIBUTES: Of course, in any project, the data is subject to change. In this
example, the company may decide that it cannot afford 24" monitors. You can easily change the
value of attributes within a single block insertion by double-clicking on the block.
Remember that this will only edit the one block that you double-clicked on. If you want to
change more than one block at a time to SAME values, you can select the blocks, then select
your blocks, right-click and choose Properties. Look for the Tag value you want to change and
remember you are changing all values to the same one you input now.

DISPLAYING ATTRIBUTES: Sometimes you don't want to see the attribute values displayed
(say for plotting). You can turn them off. This can be done by typing in the command ATTDISP
and then OFF. To turn them back on again, type ATTDISP and ON.
EXTRACTING ATTRIBUTES: A CAD drawing can be used to track inventory and export that
data to another file (such as Microsoft Excel - a spreadsheet application) for others to use.

1. Insert 6 of the blocks of the computer you made with Attributes and fill out the values .
2. Start up the EATTEXT command and you will see the Data Extraction wizard dialog box

appear. Accept the default setting of "Create a new data extraction" and press Next. You
should be prompted to save your "Data extraction files as...". Select a folder and name the
file "attributes_001". This will take you to step 2 of 8.

3. You will have the option here to add more drawings (not in this example), but make sure

that "Select objects in current drawing" is selected.

4. Now you need to tell AutoCAD what objects in the drawing you want to include in the

extraction.

5. Check the box for "Attributes" and you should see that the only item in the list is your

Computer block. Press Next.

6. So far in each step you have narrowed the criteria for extraction from which drawings, to
which blocks, and now you can select which attributes you want to extract. Press Next.
7. This step allows you to further filter and organize the data you want.
8. On the next step, select both boxes, and choose a location to save the file to. Press Next.

9. Press Finish.

TITLE BLOCKS:
One of the things that every drawing needs is a title block. This provides vital
information about the drawing when it is printed. Some of the data that makes up a
title block is who draw it, what day it was published, revision number, etc. Every
drawing at the professional level will have one. For those that aren't familiar with
the term, here is sample one below.

1. The title block for this exercise will be designed for an 11"x17" sheet. If you
want to make it smaller to fit an 8-1/2"x11" sheet, adjust it as needed.
2. Start by drawing a rectangle 16.25" x 10.25. This will give you .375 space on
all four sides.
3. Copy the section below into the top right corner of the title bar. This area is
used for tracking revisions.

4. The green lines are used to create reference points for your text. They had a
midpoint that is used for positioning Middle-Centre text. For this section, text
is RomanS, 0.125" tall and Middle-Centre justified.
5. Now draw the bottom right section of the title block.

6. The text is 0.065" tall.

Now comes the fun part, adding the attributes. Use this image as a reference for
the positioning of the attributes, and the table below for the contents. You will want
to create text styles for the different text below.

TAG

DEFAULT
VALUE

PROMPT

FONT

HEIG
HT

JUSTIFY

PROJECT What PROJECT is this?

PROJECT
NAME

Roman
S

0.25

Middle
Center

TITLE

What is the TITLE?

TITLE

Roman
S

0.25

Middle
Center

LOGO

What are your INITIALS?

ABC

Roman
D

0.75

Middle
Center

PAPER

What size paper are you

using?

A3

( info)

Roman
0.125 Middle Left
S

FILENAM What is the drawing's

E
FILENAME?

C:/XXXXX.D
WG

Roman
0.125 Middle Left
S

REVISIO
What REVISION is this?
N

Roman
0.125 MIddle Left
S

SCALE

What SCALE is this printed

at?

1"=XX"

Roman
0.125 Middle Left
S

DRAFTE
R

WHO drew this?

J. Smith

Roman
0.125 Middle Left
S

SHEET

What SHEET is this?

X/X

Roman
0.125 Middle Left
S

NOTE1

First NOTE

Note

Roman 0.187
S
5

Middle
Center

NOTE2

Second Note

Note 2

Roman 0.187
S
5

Middle
Center

Once all you attributes are created, they should look something like this. You can
always move them to get them in the correct spots.

Once all the attributes are in place, you can create your block. Remember when
selecting attributes for a block, you have to select them order. Create it as an
External block so that you can insert it in other drawing.
Now that you have a title block, you can go into a layout tab and insert it. Answer all
the prompts when they come up (look at the command line). Your completed title
block should look something like this:

You can now use this as a template for other size sheets, or for horizontal or portrait
layouts. Just explode the block, draw the new border lines and re-create the block.
For example, you may only have a printer that does 8-1/2 x 11 prints - so create a
title block for that size. For more practice, you can create a second block for filling
in the revision information at the top.