Skip to Content
AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible
book

AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible

by Ellen Finkelstein
June 2010
Intermediate to advanced
1332 pages
33h 58m
English
Wiley
Content preview from AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible

Chapter 4. Specifying Coordinates

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Working with absolute, relative, and polar coordinates

  • Using direct distance entry, orthogonal mode, and polar tracking

  • Using snap settings

  • Working with object snaps

  • Locating points

Specifying points in a drawing is one of the most fundamental tasks you do in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. Unless you know how to specify a point, you can't draw anything real, whether a house or a gasket. Most objects you draw have a specific size, and you need to specify that information. You draw lines, arcs, and circles by specifying the coordinates of points on the screen. As with most tasks, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT offer many ways to accomplish this.

Understanding the X,Y Coordinate System

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT work the same way as the graphs with X and Y axes that you plotted in high school. Look at the User Coordinate System (UCS) icon shown in Figure 4.1.

Note

The UCS icon can take on different appearances. See Chapter 8 for details. For information on the UCS icon in 3D drawing and 3D coordinates, see Chapter 21.

The X arrow points along the X axis in the positive direction. This means that as you go in the direction of the arrow, the X coordinates increase. The Y arrow points along the Y axis in the positive direction. Using this system, every 2D point on the screen can be specified by using X and Y coordinates. This is called a Cartesian coordinate system. The universal convention is to place the X coordinate first, and then a comma (but no space), and then ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

AutoCAD® 2010 and AutoCAD LT® 2010 Bible

AutoCAD® 2010 and AutoCAD LT® 2010 Bible

Ellen Finkelstein

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470608234Purchase book