Hello everybody,I´m pretty new in the world of CAD and want to ask you a very rookie question. I did alot of online courses and read alot of books about Autocad and how to use it. I think I got to a point where I could start to draw some of the exercises which are offered in the Internet, now my question is where to start drawing? I mean there is a drawing of somebody who is offering it as an exercise with all the measurements and so on, I do understand everything but my question is where is the first point? How would you start to copy a drawing? If I would do my own drawing I would use the absolute coordinates 0,0 to start but I have no clue where to start a copy of a drawing. Thanks in advance for every helpful answerKarl

Start the drawing wherever you like as it could always be moved later if necessary.  What kind of drawing is it?Start copying the drawing beginning in the lower left hand corner (which could easily be 0,0) and work your way up and to the right if that makes you feel more comfortable.I've seen drawings where three quarters of the geometry has both negative X and negative Y coordinates (not that I am advocating that approach mind you).


John Connor2015-02-26 20:27:49

Hello Karl, it's not too important to start at 0,0 but it has some consequences after.
When you insert a file into an other the 0,0 of the inserted file will be at the extremity of your mouse.
This is important when your inserted file becomes a block in an other file.
You can have your file "in situation", for example in a 2D drawing you can draw an horizontal line from 0,0 and offset it to have the Y direction towards the real elevation in a drawing, then when you ask for the ID of a point it will indicate with its Y the elevation; if you use the DIMORDINATE command it will lay a dimension indicating the elevation.
Eventually, see my file FEET-METERS.dwg inthe CAD/BIM Blocks library right here in the site.
It explains alternative units on dimensionning but is also usefull from a general configuration of a drawing.
When you set a viewport in the paper space and have its lower left corner at 0,0 you will have an identical print setting on each of your files.philippe JOSEPH2015-02-27 13:04:58

[QUOTE=philippe JOSEPH]....
When you insert a file into an other the 0,0 of the inserted file will be at the extremity of your mouse.
This is important when your inserted file becomes a block in an other file.
....[/QUOTE]




 
Be aware that you can use the BASE command to specify the location in a drawing that will be used as its insertion point when you Insert or Xref it into another drawing.  It does not need to be 0,0 [though that is the default], but can be any location you choose.
 
One other effect of where you draw things in relation to 0,0 is that unless you specify otherwise, that is the location from which Hatch patterns are generated.  Hatch patterns that have elements at non-orthogonal angles or other complex characteristics can, depending on how many decimal places they go to in their definitions, have the relationships between elements get skewed as you get farther and farther from the origin.  That potential problem is avoided or at least lessened by keeping your drawing generally in the region close to 0,0.  But you can still overcome that if you need to be far from 0,0 by setting the SNAPBASE System Variable to a location in the middle of your content [even if only temporarily while you draw a Hatch, as you would anyway for some patterns where the positioning matters, such as brick coursing], and Hatch patterns will be generated from there.  In later versions, you can even designate the origin point for individual Hatch patterns within the drawing of them, or afterwards in the Hatch editor.

Thanks for all your answers guys, so what I understood is that I can start a drawing at 0,0 and even draw it towards the negative sides and move it after all is done.

That's your conclusion after reading the responses?  I don't recall anyone actually recommending that approach as THE way to go.

Hello Karl, John and Kent, the sky is not your limit. In model space ( don't know in paper space ) your limits are in absolute coordinates is -9.99999E+99,-9.99999E+99 in negative coordinates and 9.99999E+99,9.99999E+99 in positive coordinates. John please tell us more about THE way to go.I'm working with AutoCAD since 1995 and I learn new things each month.You can't learn everything in the first decade but you will developpe your utilities conformably to your needs.There are a lot of ways to deal with AutoCAD and each one of us will use and developpe what is good for each one, and let alone what is not needed, at least up to the moment that it will be necessary to learn more about a specific subject ( or continue to work slowly with an old method, this is not a problem ).Karl, there are nowadays so much informations on the internet that you will be abble to learn more each day.I have learnt much with CadForum than with an other way.Have a nice day.

Are you feeling alright?  Your response is somewhat odd.
John Connor2015-02-28 23:21:12

Hi Everybody, first of all thanks Phillipe for the motivating Post, I'll do my best to learn this stuff.John I know now that my last post was not as smart as I thought, sorry for that but english is not my native language so I read properly through the other posts which are quite 'scientific' I have to say. Now I found the way where to start, at least for drawings which are not too complex. I'm sure the remaining skills will come with time so hopefully I don't need to bother you guys with awkward questions. But be warned I'm sure I will come up with a question every now and then. Thanks again and best regardsTuna3462015-03-01 09:58:17

The best way to learn is to practice, practice and practice some more.