AutoCAD is a good drafting software, but it is not good for designing projects, it is especially bad for grading work. AutoCAD is most effective when you draw by hand and then use AutoCAD to trace your work. You want to avoid making design decisions while drafting.
Note: Commands are capitalized in this document. Remember to read the command line prompts so that you know what information to give AutoCad.
Opening up an underlay and tracing layers in Autocad
- Start by downloading the template autocad file. It is generally better to start with a template, rather than starting a new drawing.
- Scan in grading plan on scanner and save as grayscale jpg. Some people like to invert the scan in photoshop (Ctrl+I) to make it easier on your eyes.
- Select a layer for the underlay. In model space, use the ATTACH command to add your hand drawn underlay to the drawing . You can set the scale as you attach the drawing, or scale the drawing after it is entered. If you enter the scale now, you need to convert to a proportion in the same units (so 1″=20′-0″ become 1″=240″ or 1:240)
- Click the underlay and adjust the fade slider at the top of the screen to make the drawing easier to see.
- Change the current layer to the layer you wish to draw on or edit. You can open the layers menu with (LA, or LAYERS) to adjust line weights and other settings etcetera.
- If need be, SCALE the drawing, and type R for reference when Autocad asks for the scale. Select a know reference length to make the drawing the same scale as the base. You can use DI (DISTANCE) to check the length of a building or other reference points in the underlay. You can also use SCALE to expand or shrink a drawing at the wrong scale.
- MOVE the underlay and use ROTATE to adjust the drawing so it lays in the proper place under your contour lines. If the underlay shows up in front of your drawing, you can select the underlay, right-click, go to draw order and select send to back.
- Use polylines (PL) to trace contours. Type A to switch to an arc polyline once you have begun drawing and need to switch to a curved line, type L to switch back to a straight line.
- Draw a tic mark and MOVE and ROTATE into place. Or you can create a block using the BLOCK command. This makes an item that you can add over and over. Use INSERT to insert one of your blocks. You can also use COPY to copy a part of drawing. Use the midpoint OSNAP to make this easier (F3 turns OSNAP on and OFF, OSNAP allows you to change which snaps to use)
- Use ORTH (F8) if you need to draw at right angles. Polar tracking if you need to set other reoccurring angles.(F10, set the angles in OSNAP dialogue box)
- Switch layers to add items like walls, walks, roads etc. use JOIN to connect separate pieces into a single line if necessary. MA (MATCHPROP) allows you to match the properties of a particular item.
- You can use DIVIDE to divide line segments into equal pieces if you want to make even grades through an area. You will need to switch the point style if no points shows up (PTYPE)