Complete Newbie Ortho Lock Question

[Clegthorpe]

I am an experienced user of Autosketch, but we are moving to AutoCAD LT and, although I am finding my way around the more advanced features that we are gaining, I am struggling with some really basic things that I am hoping somebody can help with.

 

I have two possibly related problems that are probably to do with me misunderstanding Ortho Lock. I will explain these by way of trivial examples:

 

Case 1.

I want to draw a simple rectangle of normal lines. In Autosketch I would do the following:

 

Make sure Endpoint snap is on

Draw the bottom line left to right

Draw the right hand line bottom to top

Press ‘H’ for horizontal lock

Click on my origin point and this will draw the top line, right to left

Click on my origin point again to complete the rectangle

 

In AutoCAD I do the following:

Make sure Ortho Lock and Object Snap are on

Draw the bottom line left to right

Draw the right hand line bottom to top

Position my cursor over my origin point, which causes a grey line to be displayed where I want my top line to be

Click, which causes the grey line to disappear and a diagonal line from top right to bottom left to appear.

 

Why is this?

 

Case 2:

 

I have two objects, rectangles 1 & 2 for this example, which are the correct distance apart horizontally, but should be aligned vertically. In Autosketch I would do the following:

 

Select rectangle 2

Select Transform

Pick a point on the baseline of rectangle 2

Press ‘V’ for vertical lock

Pick a point on the baseline of rectangle 1, causing rectangle 2 to move up so that the two baselines are level, but the horizontal spacing is unchanged.

 

When I try to do the same thing in AutoCAD, using MOVE and Ortho Lock, I end up with rectangle 2 sitting on top of rectangle 1.

 

Again, why is this?

 

As I say these are trivial examples to illustrate what is probably something really simple I am misunderstanding, but it is really bugging me.

[nestly]

In your first example, Object Snaps are taking precedent over Ortho since you're actually clicking on a OSNAP point. Try turning on Polar and Osnap tracking and instead of clicking the origin, just hover over it for a second, and then move your mouse straight up.

 

I'm not a fan of Ortho myself, instead I favor Polar tracking and Osnap tracking to maintain parallel and perpendicular.

 

Here's and example of a rectangle made from line segments, but if you're actually drawing a rectangle, I'd use the rectangle tool and simply pick any two diagonal corners

 

http://screencast.com/t/IgHwEe8IXfG

[Dana W]

As far as the first thing... In AutoCAD, you can make a rectangle with either the rectangle command or the Line command. If you use the rectangle command, it will be built of polylines.

 

Part of your problem with the Line command in building a rectangle the way you are doing it is that the Line command is continuous. The other part has to do with what Nestly said. The next line starts where the last one ended, unless you exit the line command first. You can simply draw a rectangle with lines by proceding around the rectangle instead of breaking it into parts. If you want to make the side lines one at a time and then the top line, after you have made the bottom line, hit escape to exit the command at the end of each line. then start Line again for the next line.

 

The Ortho lock when on, only allows you to draw OR MOVE objects either vertically or horizontally at exactly 0 and 90 degrees. There is no separate vertical or horizontal lock. Ortho will use either vertical or horizontal to lock you depending on which direction your cursor is moving closer to.

 

When moving the rectrangle, make sure your cursor is moved as close to the direction you wish it to move as possible. If you slide off to one side more than vertically when you begin to move, it will think you want to go sideways until your cursor is moved past 45 deg. Then it will snap to vertical instead.

[Clegthorpe]

just hover over it for a second, and then move your mouse straight up.

 

Thank you, nestly, that is the vital bit of information I was missing, and it works for the vertical move problem as well.

 

Thanks also Dana W. I am familiar with the rectangle tool and polylines, but I typically want to do a lot of offsets from individual sides of shapes, and using polylines produces whole offset shapes, unless I am missing something else.

[Dana W]

Thank you, nestly, that is the vital bit of information I was missing, and it works for the vertical move problem as well.

 

Thanks also Dana W. I am familiar with the rectangle tool and polylines, but I typically want to do a lot of offsets from individual sides of shapes, and using polylines produces whole offset shapes, unless I am missing something else.

That is right, offset will zap you a new whole object instead of just one line if the object is made of joined polylines.

 

I also stay away from ortho most of the time. I use polar tracking, object snap tracking, and dynamic input together. That way, to do a move I select an object, grab by whatever is the best grip to use, and while dragging it in the direction I want, I jiggle around for the tracking line to pop in at the correct direction and angle, drag along that path and just type in the distance I want. The object jumps to the spot along the track at the proper distance.

[Clegthorpe]

Thanks again, Dana.

 

I have just been playing with polar tracking and it looks a very useful way of working.

 

The issue with moving objects the way I want is that I don't ususally know the distance, I just want all the objects to line up, which I can now achieve thanks to you guys.

[Jack_O'neill]

I use ortho all the time, but toggle it on and off as needed with the F8 key. All depends on what you like and/or get used to doing.

[Cat]

There are some video tutorials on the home page you might find very useful to get a jump start.

[Ryder76]

I use ortho quite a bit as well and just toggle it off and on. I do electrical and it really comes in handy. You could just make a rectangle, explode it and then offset the sides you want. Just another way to skin the cat!

[Cat]

I use ortho quite a bit as well and just toggle it off and on. I do electrical and it really comes in handy. You could just make a rectangle, explode it and then offset the sides you want. Just another way to skin the cat!

 

Skin a "Cat"?

[Ryder76]

Skin a "Cat"?

 

No offense intended.

[Rebel]

I use ortho all the time' date=' but toggle it on and off as needed with the F8 key. All depends on what you like and/or get used to doing.[/quote']

 

I use ortho quite a bit as well and just toggle it off and on. I do electrical and it really comes in handy. You could just make a rectangle, explode it and then offset the sides you want. Just another way to skin the cat!

 

Same here. You can also toggle it on or off temporarily by holding down shift.

[JD Mather]

...I also stay away from ortho most of the time. I use polar tracking, object snap tracking, and dynamic input together...

 

Same here - seldom use ortho as Polar does the same thing and more.

[rkent]

I use ortho all the time' date=' but toggle it on and off as needed with the F8 key. All depends on what you like and/or get used to doing.[/quote']

 

I use Ortho almost all the time, I find that the things I draw are either ortho or at some odd angle that polar wouldn't help with. I simply rotate UCS and keep working with ortho on. I also find that I use the Change command to adjust the length of lines and polar can't help me with that one. To each their own.