You will draw a form study of Robert Venturi's "Fire Station - Number 4" in Columbus Indiana (1966), from Clark and Pause's "Precedents in Architecture", page 122. The drawing is quite simple, to allow time at the end to cover the issues relating to plotting.

Set the drawing limits from 0,0 to 50000,35000; then set the units (set the number of decimal points to 0) and finally do a zoom-all.

Draw a Circle, using the MIDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom edge of the square, and then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-right of the square.

Next you will draw a rectangle to complete the golden rectangle. To do this we can use the bottom-right corner of the square for one corner, but the other corner is more difficult: you will use AutoCAD's point filters to take the x value from the circle and the y value from the original square!

Start the rectangle command, then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-right of the square, then type: .X , using the PERpendicular snap mode, pick the circle to the right of the bottom of the square, then type: .Y , using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-right corner of the square, and finally pick a pick anywhere (to enter the Z value). This method of drawing objects is very useful!

Start the line command, then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-left corner of the square, using the MIDpoint snap mode, pick the right edge of the rectangle, using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-left of the square, press to end the command.

Now you will use grip-editing to move the end of the lower line up 1800: pick the last line drawn (near the bottom-left corner), then pick the grip-box on the bottom-left corner (to move that endpoint), and type: @0,1800 .

The entry is shown as a circle about mid-way along the bottom of the square. Start the circle command, then select the FROM snap mode , then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-left corner of the square, then type: @9800,1400 1400 . Here you are saying that the circle (centre) is to be 9800,1400 from the bottom-left corner! The FROM snap mode is really useful for specifying objects that are positioned relative to other objects.

Now, explode the original square and then offset the bottom of the square, up 600, and then offset that line 1500 up. Then offset the left of the square 10000 to the right.

These are the major construction lines that will be used to set- out the plan. Your drawing should look like figure 1. If you haven’t saved your drawing yet, then save it now!

The walls will be drawn using the polyline command so that you can set the thickness of the lines after drawing them. But before drawing the walls, you will set a running- snap! The reason for drawing construction lines in the first place is to make it easier to draw the walls. To make it even easier, you will tell AutoCAD to automatically snap to line intersections, this saves you from having to specify the snap mode for every point (though you still need to set the snap mode when you want to use another snap mode or none).

Select running-snap from the Object Snap toolbar, then select "Intersection" from the dialog box and select "OK" to dismiss the dialog box. Alternatively type: OSNAP INT .

Start the polyline command and pick the first five points shown in figure 2. Then type: ARC (the next segment of the polyline will be an arc), type: SECOND this specifies you will enter a "second" (& third) point, using the NEAest snap mode, pick the 6th point, then pick the 7th point to end the arc. Now type : LINE (to go back to drawing straight-lines), pick the 8th point, and finally press to end the command.

Having demonstrated the running snap, let’s now turn it OFF! Select running-snap again, select the "Clear All" button (below the various snap options) , and then select "OK". Alternatively type: OSNAP OFF .

Turn the CONST layer OFF.

Now you will change the width of the external wall to make it a thick line - the wall was drawn using polyline to demonstrate polyline editing! Did you turn the CONST layer OFF? Select polyline edit from the modify toolbar (or type: PEDIT ), pick the external wall polyline. Spend a moment having a look at the various editing options - you can even fit a curved (spline) line to the polyline. Type: WIDTH (or simply: W ), then type: 250 , this is the new line-width. Press to end the command.

Turn the CONST layer ON.

Venturi's building is quite interesting, but we don't have time to draw the whole plan (and cover plotting)....

During the following step your drawing will disappear, don’t panic...

Double-click on "TILE" (on the status area at the bottom of the screen ), the "TILE" should become greyed-out. Alternatively type: TILEMODE 0 . When this setting is ON, AutoCAD displays multiple viewports beside each other, this allows you to have two views (of different parts) of the same drawing on the screen. When the setting is OFF, AutoCAD displays multiple viewports, but the viewports are allowed to overlap each other; also viewports can be moved, erased or resized like "normal" graphics! Turning tilemode OFF, also changes the "MODEL" space setting (next to "TILE) to "PAPER", indicating that you are now in "PAPER SPACE"!

The advantage of paper space is that you can have numerous drawings (or views of the one drawing), each at a different scale; and you can draw text using "paper heights" rather than world heights.

A landscape oriented A3 sheet is 420x297mm, this leaves a plotable area of 386x287mm. Set the limits to 0,0 to 386,287, and then do a zoom-all.

Create a layer called FRAME, set it's colour and make it current.

Draw a rectangle 20mm in from the edges of the A3 sheet; because of the plotter’s 17 & 5mm margins, draw the rectangle from 3,15 to 383,272, see figure 3. The rectangle is used to position "viewports" and then its layer can be turned OFF before plotting (if desired).

If you want to change to size of the viewport to make it cover more of the "paper", use grip-editing to resize the viewport. You could use snap modes to "snap" the viewport to the drawing border.

Select zoom-window (or type: Z W ), enclose the entry circle in a selection rectangle, type: REGEN - this should force AutoCAD to recalculate the circle and display it better. If your drawing is like mine you will see that AutoCAD has made a mess of the line widths of the polyline around the arc...

Select zoom-previous (see figure 4) from the zoom flyout (or type: Z P ), this is a particularly useful zoom option. It is very common to zoom in on a detail and then want to zoom back out. Of course, you could use zoom-in and zoom-out , or zoom-dynamic if you’re panning as well as zooming.

Make sure you’re in Paper Space, then select text (or type: MTEXT ), you will now enter two points that will define the "boundary" of the text area - when you to type a paragraph of text, AutoCAD will wrap the text to fit inside the boundary! Pick a position below the bottom-left corner of the building, and a second point near the right edge of the 20mm border and enough below the previous for a line of text.

AutoCAD will probably display a message saying "windows doesn’t recognise the font", click on the down-arrow and select a font (for example: "Times New Roman").

Type: Robert Venturi’s Mother’s Fire Station #4!, you can change the properties of the text by selecting the text and then selecting "Browse" (to change font) or "Color...". Highlight "Mother’s" then select "Color..." - the colour selection dialog is displayed, select a colour and click on "OK", then click on "OK" to dismiss the text dialog.

This text is obviously wrong :-)

Select change properties , pick the text and press , select "Edit Contents", AutoCAD displays the same dialog you used before, highlight "Mother’s " (include the space after the word), press the "Delete" key, select "OK" twice, to dismiss the Edit & then the Modify dialogs.

If the text has wrapped onto 2 lines, select change properties and then the text again, then select "Edit Properties" and increase the Width (try adding 10 for each letter on the second line), then dismiss the dialogs (by selecting "OK").

If necessary, move the text so that it is better centred, use the move command or grip-editing!

The Text command can also be used to add text in MODEL SPACE, but the height of the text must be the text height x the plot scale, for example: if you want the height 5mm high and the drawing at scale 1:100, the height must be 500.

Select or select File - Print (or type: PLOT ), the Plot Configuration dialogue box will be displayed. This dialogue box has six areas:

• Device and Default Information
• Pen Parameters
• Additional Parameters
• Paper Size and Orientation
• Scale, Rotation, and Origin
• Plot Preview

In the "Paper Size and Orientation" section make sure "MM" is selected, if the plot area is not equal to your limits (386 x 287) then select "Size..." and choose the correct paper size.

It’s usually a good idea to do a preview! In the "Plot Preview" section, select "Full" and then click on "Preview". The preview should show the drawing(!), the outer rectangle is the limits and (unless you turned the FRAME layer OFF) the 20mm border should be shown like in figure 3; click on "End Preview".

Click on the "OK" button near the bottom of the Plot Configuration dialogue box. AutoCAD will then create the plot file (which should only take a moment because your drawing is very simple. The plot file will be "tut4.plt" or whatever your drawing is called, with the ".plt" extension.

That’s all folks! Save the drawing and exit AutoCAD! Remember to log off before leaving.

Each plot costs $1.00, using your UNICARD photocopy card.

The dj200 plotter is located outside the CAD Lab System Administrator’s office, the ON/OFF switch is on the bottom- left of the front. If the lights on the right are dark then turn the plotter ON. If the ON/OFF switch (on the left) is still(!) broken you may need to ask someone to hold it in for you!!!

Go to the computer beside the plotter and follow the instructions there!

Take the paper from the plan-drawers and carefully load the paper into the plotter: hold the sheet with it’s short edge facing the front of the plotter, the right edge of the paper must be between the dotted lines and exactly straight. Carefully push the paper up into the plotter until the plotter "grabs" the sheet. If the paper is not in straight the "Error" and "Load Media" lights will blink, remove the sheet and try again. If the paper is loaded correctly the "Ready" light will come on.

When the plot is complete, carefully remove the paper from the plotter and leave for one minute to dry. Switch the plotter OFF.

The first tutorial introduced AutoCAD and got you to focus on the interaction on the command line between you and the program. In addition, you used toolbars to select drawing commands and learnt a bit about snap modes.

The second tutorial introducing "real" coordinates; and then focused on editing, using the array command to copy and rotate graphics objects, using explode and erase to modify, and then changing linetypes.

Tutorial three is the longest and most difficult. It (like the second tutorial) focused on editing, using offset, array and mirror, in addition to fillet, trim, break and extend. It also introduced the concept of layers which is vital to a proper understanding of CAD.

Finally, this tutorial introduces the concepts of model & paper space, viewports, and plotting, while drawing a very simple drawing. In addition text drawing and editing was covered.

I believe that these tutorials cover most of the basics of architectural drawing in AutoCAD, but there is much that is not covered: dimensioning and 3D, for starters(!), and while I have tried to show you how you might approach drawing a building, I haven’t directly discussed this at all!

If you’re asking where do I go from here (that’s great), read up on the concepts of CAD and AutoCAD, there are numerous books available on the topic and more appearing all the time. In my opinion, keep away from books that seem to be thousands of pages long, you (hopefully) have the AutoCAD manuals, use them as reference materials, if necessary. Look instead for books that give you things not covered in the manuals. If you are trying to buy a book about AutoCAD (or another system) be careful the book you buy covers the latest version of the software! If you spot any books that cover how CAD can or should be implemented or managed in an office, I think you’ll learn more about CAD related issues than you’ll from a thousand pages of reference manual.