AutoCAD Tips: Faster Design and Better Drawings

This tweet was intended to provide simple actions that can immediately improve the quality of your drawings in AutoCAD as well as other CAD platforms. I use Civil 3D most of the time and find the same principles to be applicable.

Use this template to get you started:

It is a good idea to begin each new drawing with a template. It is best to have one that contains all your personal/company text styles, layers and dims. You can also standardize your drawings by using one of the templates.

In Model Space, draw actual scale (1 to 1)

This one is pretty obvious. This is a good practice and habit to have when you draw in model space. You can create objects and designs at full scale (1:1) and any scaling or sizing of drawings/sheets can all be done in layout space by using viewports at particular scales.

Layers (properly referred to):

There are few things more frustrating than an CAD drafting services that has the majority of objects/text on layer 0 or other generic layers. Your drawings’ future users and, more importantly, your co-workers who may be working on the project in the future will not be disturbed. Use a standard layer name system.

Make blocks for common objects:

This is a time-saving and productivity issue. If you find yourself copying and recreating the same object multiple times in one project or over several projects, this is a sign of productivity and time savings. To ensure consistency in your drawings and save time, it’s a good idea to create a block.

Use annotative text/Dims

Drawing at 1:1 scale in model space is the same as drawing at real scale. It’s a good idea to include Annotative Text and Dimensioning in your drawings. You can quickly create multiple viewports using Annotative objects that all show the same information, regardless of what scale you are showing.

Not excessively large dimensions

This tip is more general in drafting. Drawings should be easy to read and provide all the information needed to design, build, or construct the object. It is easy to be too detailed and annotate drawings in a way that makes it difficult to understand