Draft it Help System

The complete Help system for Draft it is available on these pages.

How To

Activate Draft it Free Activate Draft it Plus Activate Draft it Pro Activate Draft it Architectural

Modify Items

Use Snaps And Input Options

Keyboard Snaps

Relative End Mid Perp Tan Quad X Snap Y Snap

The Origin Point Snap Direct Input X Y Input Polar Input Distance Input Scale Factor Input Arrow Key Input Force Angle IntelliSnap Wall Snap Points

Add Hyperlinks to Entities Cancel a Command Create a Symbol Create a Template Enter Calculations Insert a Door Insert a Window Insert an Opening Insert an Elevation Repeat a Command Select Items The Basics Use Shortcut Keys Use The 15 Day Trial Work with Layers/Colours/Styles Work with Documents

The Program Interface

File Menu The Ribbon

Architectural Ribbon Page

Building Group

Roofs

Accessories

Add Downpipe Add Gutter Angled Ridge Tile Box Valley Cement Gable Fillet Dry Verge System Edit Barge Boards And Gable Soffits Edit Facias And Eaves Soffits Horizontal Flashing Mono Ridge Tile Remove Roof Accessories Semi Circular Ridge Tile Stepped Flashing

Create Dormer

Create Dormer By Polyline

Create Roof

Bay Window Roof Roof From Polyline Roof From Rectangle Roof From Walls

Edit Roof

Add Multi Pitch Change Appearance Change Eaves Height Change Pitch Change Thickness Edit Overhang Make Barn Hipped Make Dutch Gable Make Gable Make Hipped

Legacy Roofs

Convert Legacy Roofs Delete Legacy Roofs

Manual Edits

Extend Face By Polyline Extend Face By Rectangle Trim Face By Polyline Trim Face By Rectangle Remove Roof Modification

Roof Openings

Roof Opening From Polyline Roof Opening From Rectangle

Bay Doors Elevation Hatch Openings Staircases Walls Wall Settings Windows

View Group

3D Viewer Elevation Level Simple Walls

Architectural Symbols Group Sections Group

Draw Ribbon Page

Annotation Group

Angular Dimension Arrow Attribute Break Dimension Line Chain Dimension Datum Chain Dimension Datum Dimension Diameter Dimension Double Arrow Find And Replace Linear Dimension Multi Point Dimension Radial Dimension Radial Length Dimension Set Datum Table Text

Draw Group

Constructions

Angular Construction Line Delete Constructions Horizontal Construction Line Incremental Offset Perpendicular Line To Line Perpendicular Line Repeated Offset Single Offset Tangent To Arc Tangent To Two Arc Vertical Construction Line

Arc Area Fill Centreline Circle Control Point Curve Fit Ellipse Filled Polyline Hatch Pattern Hatch Insertion Point Line Multiline Styles Multiline Offset Point Polygon Polyline Rectangle Rectangular Revision Cloud Revision Cloud Set Insertion Origin

Objects Group

Paste Special

Paste and Explode Paste and Keep Selected Paste as Block Paste to Current Layer and Explode Paste to Current Layer Paste to Original Co-ordinates

Insert Image Insert DWG Insert Symbol

Modify Ribbon Page

Modify Group

Blend Break Build Polyline Build Symbol Chamfer Clear Selection Copy Copy To Other Delete Divide Explode Fillet Hide Layers Isolate Layers Linear Array Make Layer Current Match Colour Match Layer Match Properties Match Style Mirror Move Polar Array Quick Trim Rectangular Array Rotate Scale Select All Select Colour Select Hyperlink Select Layer Select Style Selection Filter Stretch Tangent to 2 Arcs Trim Trim / Extend Un-Hide Layers Un-Isolate Layers

Settings Ribbon Page

Drawing Settings Group

Configure Textures Copy Settings Dimension Styles Grid And Snaps Layers Multiline Styles Page Pens Points Units

Info Group

Entity Info Measure

Show / Hide Group

3D Viewer Area Fill Command Hatching Layouts Properties Referenced Drawings Reset Layout Symbol Library

System Settings Group

Customise Toolbar Display Hot Keys Internet Settings Skins System Paths System Settings

Views & Zoom Ribbon Page

Named Views Group

Manage Views Save View Select View

Zoom Group

Pan Zoom Extents Zoom Full Page Zoom In Zoom Next Zoom Out Zoom Previous Zoom Window

Command Specific Ribbons Minimise/Expand the Ribbon

System Toolbar Quick Access Toolbar

Customise Quick Access Toolbar New Open Save Print Cut Paste Copy (Clip) Undo Redo

Command Window Drawing Tabs Layout Explorer Properties Explorer Referenced Drawings Status Bar Symbol Library Explorer

Tutorials

Architectural Tutorial

Part 1 - Drawing Setup Part 2 - The Ground Floor Plan

Drawing the External Walls Drawing the Internal Walls Inserting Doors Inserting Windows Add the Staircase Add the Furniture

Part 3 - Create the First Floor Plan

Copy the Ground Floor Details Modify the Staircase Detail Modify the First Floor Walls Adding the First Floor Doors Adding the First Floor Furnitire

Part 4 - Drawing Roofs Part 5 - Creating the Elevation

Tutorial No 1

T1 - Part 1 T1 - Part 2 T1 - Part 3 T1 - Part 4 T1 - Part 5 T1 - Part 6 T1 - Part 7 T1 - Part 8 T1 - Part 9 T1 - Part 10 T1 - Part 11

Tutorial No 2

T2 - Part 1 T2 - Part 2 T2 - Part 3 T2 - Part 4 T2 - Part 5 T2 - Part 6 T2 - Part 7 T2 - Part 8 T2 - Part 9 T2 - Part 10 T2 - Part 11

Tutorial No 3

T3 - Part 1 T3 - Part 2 T3 - Part 3 T3 - Part 4 T3 - Part 5 T3 - Part 6 T3 - Part 7

Insert Image

Available in: Pro and Architectural

Use this command to insert a image onto your drawing. The supported formats are BMP, JPG, WMF and PDF.

Select the Insert Image button From the file dialog box that opens select the raster image file and click 'Open'. Use the 'File Type' drop down to change the file extension if required.

For BMP, JPG & WMF the command operates as follows.

A second dialog is now displayed previewing the selected image.

If required you can click 'Change Image' to select an alternative image from the file dialog box. Click 'Cancel to cancel the command.

The image size (in pixels), resolution and colour depth are displayed for information only.

Path Type can be set as either Absolute, Relative and Embedded. 'Absolute' stores a link to the location of the image file as a full path i.e. relative to the root folder on the current drive. Use this option is the location of the drawing and image will not change.

'Relative' stores a link to the location of the image as a relative path to the drawing location. Use this option if it is likely that the drawing will be moved. The image should be located in the same folder as the drawing or in a sub-folder of the drawing folder. This is so that if the drawing and image/image folder are moved to a new location the relative path to the image will still be correct.

'Embedded' stores the image inside the drawing file, this ensures the image always appears but increases the drawing file size. Use this option if the drawing will be moved or sent to another user.

The 'Specify Scale Factor' tick box allows a scale factor to be entered into the input box to the right. If ticked a scale factor of '1' will insert the picture at it's defined size i.e. 100%, if you enter '0.5' it will be half size and so on.

Click 'OK' to accept the image and scale factor, the dialog box disappears and the bottom left corner of a rectangle is attached to the cursor displaying the size of the scaled image. Click into place using any of the snaps and input options.

If the 'Specify Scale Factor' box is not ticked when 'OK' is clicked the dialog box disappears and the prompt reads:

Give First Corner Point:

Here you must indicate on the drawing using any of the snaps and input options the first of two points defining a box that will contain the picture.

Give Second Corner Point:

Now indicate the second point again using any of the snaps and input options. As you move the cursor a dynamic box is displayed indicating the size of the image. You will notice that the proportional X and Y sizes of the box are maintained so that the image is not distorted, this can be modified later, see Modifying/Moving an Image.

If the image selected is a PDF file type then the insertion options are slightly different. Because a PDF can contain multiple pages you can use the forward and back arrows to select the page required. The preview window does not allow the 'path type' option to be set as a PDF file has to be embedded in the Draft it drawing file. In addition to this it is not possible to preset the insertion scale, this is because Draft it cannot ascertain the size of the PDF document so there is no reference size to scale, however you can use the 2 corner points to control the size.

Gray scale

If an inserted image has the 'Path Type' set to 'Embedded' then an additional post-insertion option is available. This option is 'Gray scale' and can be found in the Properties Explorer when an image is selected. Below is an embedded imaged and the properties explorer to the right with the 'greyscale' set to 'No'.

grey scale off grey scale off dialog box

When the 'greyscale' is set to 'Yes' the colour is removed.

greyscale on greyscale on dialog box