In this lesson, I’ll show you how to draw straight lines, which normally make up the bulk of any project. To begin with, I need to turn off all auxiliary functions, and this can be done most easily through the shortcuts located in the lower right corner of the screen. I currently have Ortho and Grid enabled, so I’ll click on these two icons. You must have noticed that on the right side there is another function that cannot be turned off, but that should not worry you because it is the so-called hardware acceleration that allows you to draw more efficiently. If for any reason you don’t want to use this option, simply click on the icon on the far right and start the Customization function. After that, an auxiliary menu will appear on the screen, so it will not be difficult for you to turn off the parameter called Graphic Performance. I will take the opportunity to add the Dynamic Input function to the palette, but I will immediately turn it off.

Having set all the parameters in this way, I can go to the upper left corner of the screen and look for the icon that serves to launch the Line command. If I click on it, a message will appear on the command line, letting AutoCAD inform me that I now need to enter a start point. Therefore, I will simply press the left mouse button and thereby determine its position. If I now move the cursor to another place, a straight line will appear on the screen. Its length and direction depend on the position of the second point, and since I haven’t defined this information yet, a different element will constantly appear on the screen. In this way, AutoCAD tries to help me i.e. to visualize the future line before I determine its final position. I’m going to move down a bit and press the left key to finish drawing the new element. AutoCAD will automatically build on it and that means I can go ahead and draw another line.

If you pay attention to the command line, you will notice that there are now two new options on it – Undo and Close. The first allows you to go back one step and the second to automatically add another segment and close the contour. I will opt for the second possibility and thus terminate the Lina command. As you can see, there are now three independent elements on the screen and this can be easily verified by placing the cursor in the appropriate place.

If you want to restart the command you just finished, just press Spacebar or Enter. I’m going to go back to drawing lines this way and add two more connected segments. If I press the right mouse button after that, a help menu with several options will appear on the screen. As you can see, here too there is an option to close the contour with one stroke or to cancel some of the existing segments (Close and Undo), and since I just want to end this sequence, I will choose the Enter option.

It seems to me that this is the right moment to reveal to you another function related to the use of the right button. It is the so-called time sensitive right click and you can activate it in the following way. You need to first display the parameters box using O, P and Enter and look for a button called Right-click customization in the Users Preferences section. After that, you can activate the option located at the top and thus functionally separate a short and a slightly longer press on the right mouse button. In practice, this means that for interrupting the command, i.e. automatic selection of the Enter option will be enough, just one short press on the right button, and if it takes a little longer, the auxiliary menu with all the options will appear on the screen. For this change to take effect, I just need to close both frames and return to the drawing.

Now is a good time to show you what I’ve achieved, so first I’ll run the line drawing command and add a few new segments. If I quickly right-click after that, AutoCAD will automatically terminate this command. To repeat it, I have to press the same button again, but if after several drawn segments I do it with a little delay, a menu with additional options will appear on the screen. Interestingly, many AutoCAD users prefer to use the command line instead of menus, and since you have yet to build your style, feel free to combine the two systems. I rarely use additional options, so this setting of the right button allows me to work very efficiently. This means that I can draw new elements with just a few mouse moves.

In the rest of the lesson, I’ll show you how to use the Dynamic Input utility. You can activate it by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen, and before I get to something more specific, I’m going to use the Pan function and move a little to the right. If I then run the Line command and move the cursor back to the desktop, you’ll notice that additional information has now appeared next to it. As you might guess, these numeric values indicate the current position of the cursor. The first value represents the position in the X direction, which I can easily confirm if I move the cursor horizontally. Of course, the second data refers to the position along the Y axis, and its value will be higher if I move towards the upper edge.

If I select a point, the program will automatically offer me different information. In this case, they are the length of the future line, i.e. the distance from the starting point and the angle that the new element overlaps with the positive direction of the X axis. In other words, if I place the line so that it coincides with the X-axis, this second data will be equal to zero. Accordingly, the vertical line subtends an angle of 900 and if I move down a little you will see that the angles can be measured in both directions. Assuming that I need a horizontal line exactly 10 units long, I will first enter the corresponding value – 10 via the keyboard and press the Tab key. At that moment, AutoCAD will “lock” the desired length, which is confirmed by the symbol in the form of a small padlock, which means that now I have to enter the information related to the angle. It should be zero in this case, so I’ll enter this value and press Enter. As you can see, the desired element has appeared on the screen, so I can go ahead and enter a segment with a length of 5 units and a slope of 450. This means that I must first enter a numerical value for the length, press Tab and finally define the angle. As soon as I press Enter, the corresponding element will appear on the screen, so I can right-click to complete this operation.

You can get additional help when drawing if you activate the Ortho function. Its icon is also located at the bottom of the screen, right next to the one you’ve already mastered. As soon as you activate Ortho mode and move on to entering new elements, you will notice that AutoCAD no longer allows you to draw diagonal lines. Regardless of the position of the cursor, only horizontal and vertical directions will always appear on the screen, which can undoubtedly make your work easier. In other words, now it is enough to direct the line to the appropriate side, enter its length and press Enter. AutoCAD will automatically understand my intent so I can immediately move on to the next segment.

If it turns out that you still need an oblique line at a certain moment, apply the following procedure. Instead of the length, press Tab and immediately enter the desired angle and AutoCAD will listen to your command and throw an exception. The same applies to situations where you know both the angle and the length. In that case, it is necessary to press Tab to switch to entering the angle, and repeat the same procedure for the length. As soon as you press Enter, the desired element will appear on the screen.

You can turn off the restriction related to the entry of orthogonal lines at any time. Just click on this icon and continue working. I’m going to do this without interrupting the Line command and then add a few more arbitrary segments. If the need to restrict to the main directions arises again, I can repeat the same procedure or use a shortcut in the form of pressing the F8 key. I like this last method the most because at any moment I can change the working mode and combine orthogonal and oblique lines. I hope you now understand how to draw line elements and use some of the helper functions.