Starting point for a line

I would like to start by thanking this website and everyone here for being a great help in the past. I have just started using AutoCAD and have found a lot of answers to my questions and much much more in the forums and tutorials.

Now, on to my question. When I have been drawing things I often want to start drawing from an existing line but not on an existing node/end point/mid point etc. For example I need to draw a support collumn on a wall 20' from a corner, but everytime I start it will snap to the nearest endpoint or midpoint.

A similar problem is if I am trying to draw a rectangle that is centered on the midpoint of another object. The rectangle tool will snap to the midpoint and the placement will be off by 1/2 the width of the rectangle.

This is not an osnap issue, but more of a best drawing practices question. In the past I have used DIMLIN to create a node to snap my starting point to, or drawn a new line out to the point where I want to start. I don't like doing this because then I have to erase it later(just to keep the drawing tidy). Is there any better way to draw things like this or is it just something I have to get used to?

Turn your ortho off and make sure you have snap tracking and polar tracking turned on.

Then when you want to start a line go to the nearest mid or end point make sure it highlights, but don't click, then move your mouse in the direct you want to plot start point, you'll see a dotted line follow the curosr from the snap point, now just type in the distance you require away from that point and 'hey presto' your start point is where you want it to be.

Tracking, as suggested above, or "From"

Command: LINE

Specify first point: FROM

Base point: : @20',0

Here's an overview of OSNAPS, ("from" is about half way down the page)

http://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/autocad/object-snap.php

When you start the line command, type 'FROM' on the keyboard, then you can click on any snap point and than move away from that point in the direction you want and enter the distance that you want the line to start at, it's basically the same as normal tracking but it means on a busy drawing you can actively pick the starting point, because sometimes with tracking autocad jumps about between points.

Thanks a lot! I figured it was something simple that I had missed in the tutorials

use tracking command lol

i just learned it recently