Draw Line Easily: Quick Cad Ques. For E4', S2', E120', N2', E4', N1.5

[tribdog]

I have to draw a line that goes E for 4' S for 2' E for 120' N for 2' E for 4' then N for 1.5'
I can do it, but it seems like I am taking a long time and going through an awful lot of steps. Is there and easy to draw this line?

 

[cronxeh]

Hmm.. I use SolidEdge not AutoCAD, but if AutoCAD can draw vectors you can try that, or define a function (which in your case would be dot product of those vectors)

 

[Q_Goest]

All CAD packages have some way of:

1) Scaling the page. Scale the page so the line fits inside the boundry.
2) Drawing a line from point to point. They all have a way of specifying a start point, a length and a direction. It should be as simple as:
- clicking a "start line"h button,
- moving the cursor to some point on the page and clicking to specify the start point
- specify distance (4') and direction (east = 0 degrees)
- clicking or enter to make the line appear
- repeat for the other lines.

Hope that helps.

 

[tribdog]

basically that is what I'm asking. right now I draw a line then modify it by extending it. On extend I can specify a length I want to know if there is a way to do it in one step.

 

[FredGarvin]

If you are using AutoCad, use the "@" symbol when typing in your coordinates. The "@" symbol denotes relative position in stead of from the UCS. Start your line at where ever you want, when it asks for the second point (E for 4'), type in "@4,0" or "@48,0" (depending on how you want to do the general units). That way all you have to do is type in the endpoints. Should take about 3 seconds to do.

 

[tribdog]

thank you, you have my undying gratitude.

 

[Gokul43201]

I have to draw a line that goes E for 4' S for 2' E for 120' N for 2' E for 4' then N for 1.5'
I can do it, but it seems like I am taking a long time and going through an awful lot of steps. Is there and easy to draw this line?

Yes. Most useful in reducing time is the 'pline' (or 'pl', short for polyline) command, which let's you do the whole thing with one command instead of having to repeatedly use 'line' commands. You can hop to each successive point using either absolute co-ordinates or better still, using relative coords like Fred described above.

You can also use relative polar coordinates [itex]@r<\theta[/itex]. This is useful if you want to go off at non-right angles from your previous spot.