Unit 12: Advanced Drawing Techniques Working With DLines DLines are useful for creating drawings consisting of many parallel lines. An architectural floor plan, for example, contains many parallel lines representing walls. Instead of constructing the parallel lines individually, only one multiline needs to be drawn to depict the wall. The DLine feature allows you to draw composite lines that consist of multiple parallel lines. A single DLine contains 2 parallel lines. You can create a DLINE by: · ·

Select Double Line from the Draw pull-down menu. Type dline or dl at the Command: prompt.

After invoking the Dline command, AutoCAD prompts: Break/Caps/Dragline/Offset/Snap/Undo/Width/: The Dline options are explained below: ·

Break. The break option determines whether a gap is created at the intersection of two double lines, or a double line with a line or arc as shown in figure 12.1. The Break prompt is: Break Dline’s at start and end points? OFF/:

Fig. 12.1 The Break and Snap options can be used to control how DLINEs intersect with conventional lines, circles, and arcs. ·

Caps. When caps are activated, an endcap is placed on the dline. Figure 12.2 shows the different endcap options available. The command prompt is: Draw which endcaps? Both/End/None/Start/:

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Fig. 12.2 Examples of the different endcap options available with DLINE. ·

Dragline. The dragline option allows you to specify which side of the selected points the double line will be drawn on as shown in figure 12.3. The command prompt is: Set dragline position to the Left/Center/Right/:

Fig. 12.3 With dragline you can specify which side of the selected points the double line will be drawn on. ·

Offset. By using offset you can specify a distance and angle where you want the dline to begin. The command line sequence for figure 12.4 is: Offset from: Locate the start point. Offset toward: Locate any point above the start point. Enter the offset distance : 2.00 enter the offset distance, which is 2.00 for this example.

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Fig. 12.4 To specify a distance and angle where you want the DLINE to begin, use the offset option. ·

Snap. Snap starts or stops a double line by snapping to an existing object. Snap works in conjunction with break. When snap is on, Break determines whether to break the object at the intersection of the double line as shown in figure 12.1. The command sequence is: Set snap size or snap On/Off. Size/OFF/: Selecting the size option allows you to specify the search area in pixels (1 to 10) that is used to locate an existing object to snap to.

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Undo. This will remove, in reverse order, the points used to locate the current double line. You cannot undo a closed double line, or undo each segment individually.

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Width. The width option lets you specify the distance between the two lines that comprise the double line as shown in Figure 12.5. After selecting the Width option AutoCAD prompts: New DLINE width : Enter a new width, or press Enter to accept the default width.

Fig. 12.5 Examples of different DLINEs created using the width option. 3

Tutorial 12.4: Drawing DLines In this tutorial you will use the Dline command to create a kitchen counter. Follow these steps: 1. Select the New button from the Standard toolbar. Use the Start from Scratch option and use COUNTER for the drawing name. 2. From the Format pull-down menu, select Units. The Units Control dialog box appears. Change the units to architectural with a precision of 0’-0”. 3. From the Format pull-down menu, select Drawing Limits. Leave the lower left corner at 0’0”,0’-0” and change the upper right corner to 20’-0”, 16’-0”. ON/OFF : Upper right corner : 22’-0”,16’-0” 4. Choose the Zoom All button from the Standard toolbar. 5. Select Double Line from the Draw pull-down menu. 6. Change the width to 2'-6" Break/Caps/Dragline/Offset/Snap/Undo/Width/: w New DLINE width