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 Symbol

Available in: Plus, Pro Architectural

Help on how to Create a Symbol is in the How To section of this help file.

Any Draft it drawing can be used as a symbol. Draft it creates a copy of the drawing you want to use as a symbol inside the drawing where it is to be used, this ensures that when drawing is transferred to another place/user it is complete with all of the symbols used in its design.

To insert a symbol click on the Insert Symbol button button. The 'Insert Symbol' dialog box will be displayed.

The left hand side displays the symbols already loaded into this drawing, the right hand side is a preview window to view the loaded symbols. Therefore if you haven't loaded any symbols into the current drawing the dialog will look like the one below.

Insert Symbol dialog

Click on the 'Load' button and a standard file dialog opens for you to select the Draft it drawing (DFT file extension) to load. Select the required drawing(s) and click the 'Open' button. The file dialog closes and the 'Insert Symbol' dialog updates, showing the loaded symbol name in a list in the left window and a preview in the right window. If the list contains more than one symbol they are sorted alphabetically with the last symbol loaded highlighted in the list, e.g as shown below.

Insert Symbol dialog example

To place a symbol on the drawing highlight (click on it) in the list and click 'OK'. (Clicking 'Cancel' cancels the symbol insertion command.) The command prompt reads:

Give Insertion Point (Type 'O' To Cycle Through Origin Points):

At this point the Ribbon will display the relevant options 'X Scale' and 'Y Scale'. Any of these options can be altered before placing the symbol. To the right of the above options some 'manipulation' commands are displayed, ignore these when inserting as these as used when Modifying/Moving a Symbol. You will find more detail here on the 'X Scale' and 'Y Scale'.

The symbol is now attached to the cursor by its Insertion Origin and can be clicked into place using any of the snaps and input options. If the symbol contains more than one origin point you can press the o key key to cycle through them. See the additional Insertion Points topic for information on adding additional insertion points. You can continue to cycle through the insertion points like this after the insertion point has been selected.

Once the insertion point is selected the command prompt reads:

Give Point To Rotate To:

The 'Rotation' angle can be defined using any of the snaps and input options. A quick method is to use direct input. Simply type the angle value and press enter key . Even though a point or co-ordinate can be used to define the rotation angle Draft it accepts the first value entered as an angle as this would be the most common method of defining rotation.

For more help on symbols see Create a Symbol, Insertion Origin and Modifying/Moving a Symbol.

Click on the 'Save' button to save a symbol as an external Draft it drawing file via a standard file dialog box. If the drawing existing you will have the option to overwrite it or not.

Click on the 'Open' button to open the loaded drawing (providing the drawing exists at the original file location path). If this opened drawing is modified and saved it must be reloaded for the changes to appear in the original drawing.