Learning how to draft your own house plans.

1. Drawing my own house.
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By Technical Drawings
What program do you want to use?
Line communication
communicating with the computer
Drawing a line
Drawing a rectangle

2. What program do you want to use?
There are lots of choices
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AutoCAD
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DraftSight
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MicroStation
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Solid Works
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And others!
We will be using DraftSight. Most of the concepts remain the same in all
the programs. You just have to figure out the right command and the
right combination of clicks to do the same thing. We will start with an
easy one. The line command.

3. Line communication
First lets talk about the different kinds of lines. Just like
the lines on the road tell you what to do and what not to
do, where to go and where not to go so do the lines in a
technical drawing.

4. Line communication
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●
The dashed line is a
hidden line.
The solid lines are lines
you can see.
If this were an actual house
you would only be able to see
the two front corners and the
one back corner. Like this
presentation if you understand
what I mean.
Lets draw this object.

5. Communicating with the computer
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●
The comuper is dumb.
You have to tell it
EVERYTHING!
I have found this to be a
stumbleing block for many
people. We are so used to
today's technology where the
software does it all. Pay
attention to your command
line, it will tell you the next
step.

6. Draw a line.
●
First find your line
command.
Click on your line command
button. If you can't find your
button look under modify or
just type in line in the
command prompt.
Left click to begin your line.

7. Draw a line.
●
Second find your next
point.
Let's make our house 10'
(feet) by 12'.

8. Draw a line.
●
Never eyeball where
your line should be
always type it in the
command prompt.
Type 0,0
This tells the computer you
would like to start the line at 0'
on the x axis and 0' on the y
axis.
Type @10',0
This tells the computer to
make the line 10 feet along the
x axis. (Remember your
geometry?)

9. Draw a line.
●
The @ symbol tells the
computer to start
where you last
clicked.
Type @12'<45
This tells the computer you
would like a line drawn at a 45
degree angle from the last
point and 12 feet long.
Type @0,­10'
This tells the computer to
make the line 10 feet along the
x axis moving to the left or the
negative direction.

10. Draw a line.
●
Don't freak out. Follow
the directions.
Type @0,0
This tells the computer you
would like a line drawn to the
beginning point again.
Right click.
This should end the command
and you should have the
bottom of your house.

11. Draw a line.
●
Copy and snaps.
Put your curser near the 0,0
point (bottom left). You
should see a little yellow box
pop up at the end of the line.
Left click on the little yellow
box to begin a line there.
Now draw a line from there
10' straight up.
Try a few times to figure it
out and go to the next slide to
see if you got it right.

12. Draw a line.
●
Copy and snaps.
Did you type: @0,10'
This tells the computer that
you want a 10 foot line along
the y axis.
The little yellow box was an
endpoint snap. You will see
that box pop up anytime you
are near the end of a line.
Lets use the copy command
to copy the vertical line to
each of the other corners.

13. Draw a line.
●
Copy and snaps.
Click on the modify menu
and then left click on the copy
command.
Left click on the object you
want to copy in this case the
vertical line.
Notice the command prompt
is asking you for a from point
sometimes called a base point.
Left click at the base of the
vertical line. You should see a
yellow box pop up for the end
snap.

14. Draw a line.
●
Copy and snaps.
Now the line should be
following your every move.
Go near one of the other 3
corners until the yellow end
snap box appears and click on
it. Do this in each corner.
Right click.
Left click ”exit”.
Now copy the bottom box to
the top of the verticle lines.
Follow the command
prompts.

15. Draw a line.
●
Copy and snaps.
If you want to turn off the
snaps you just go down to the
bottom of the screen and right
click ESnap or ETrack or both.

16. Draw a rectangle.
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rectangle
Try this cube again using the
rectangle and/or the polygon
command.
Just remember you will be
using both the x and the y axis.
Hint: @10',12'
The next part of the house is
anouther slide show.
Thanks for watching!
If you haven't already be sure
to like us.

17. Draw a rectangle.
Technical Drawings
PO Box 1594
Converse, TX 78109
www.drawingyourdreams.webs.com
Thanks again!