1. Introduction to ZWCAD Drawing plane figures

2. This presentation gives some hints for starting the use of ZWCAD for plane drawings. Only very essential elements are pointed out. Practice is necessary. We first explain setting up, some switches and pull down menus.

3. First set up the window: TOOLS>OPTIONS>DISPLAY COLORS Choose color, apply and close

4. Drafting aids: TOOLS>DRAFT SETTING GRID and SNAP

5. Most times we want to draw an object starting from the end of a given object, mid- point of a line, from or to the intersection of two objects, tangent to a curve, or normal to a line. This is achieved by what is called Snapping to Object or Object Snap for short.

6. Drafting aids: TOOLS>DRAFT SETTING OBJECT SNAP

7. Snaps to mid point Snaps to end point Examples of Object Snap

8. Turns object snap on or off Turns ORTHO on or off Turns grid on or off Turns SNAP (to grid points) on or off Some useful switches near the bottom These can be turned off and on even in the middle of a command depending upon the requirements

9. Set up necessary toolbars View > Toolbars Pull-down menus Typical required tool-bars

10. Layers: AutoCAD permits drawing in overlapping layers. These layers can be of different colours, each colour of different line thickness, and a layer could be viewed or not viewed. This is invoked also from the pull-down menu FORMAT>LAYER More convenient there PRESS

11. Press this button to set up a new layer. Use this button to set up a different colour for this layer This controls the visibility of the layer. Press this button to change the Sun into a snowflake. The layer is invisible if it is a snow flake.

12. DRAW Can be used to draw various objects

13. Drawing a line:We can start by selecting line fron the pull-down menu DRAW>LINE or pressing the line button on the DRAW toolbar Line Ray Polyline Polygon Rectangle Arc Circle Spline Ellipse Click at the point you want to start, then at the next point for next segment, and so on. Stop by right-clicking

14. TOOLBAR: MODIFY ERASE COPY MIRROR OFFSET ARRAY MOVE ROTATE SCALE EDIT LENGTH STRETCH TRIM EXTEND BREAK AT POINT BREAK JOIN CHAMFER FILLET EXPLODE PURGE

15. 1. OFFSET Command: Offset is parallel to the object Offset distance: Select Object: Direction of Offset 2. MOVE Command: Select Object(s): Base Point: Second point 3. COPY Command: Select Object(s): Base Point: Second point 4. MIRROR Command: Select Object(s): First Point of mirror line: second Point; Delete old object Y/N? 5. ARRAY Command: Select Object: Rectangular or Polar Array? Base/Centre Pt. of Array: Number of items: Angle to fill: Rotate objects as they are copied 6. ROTATE Command: Select Object(s): Base point of rotation: angle (reference)

16. EXAMPLE: Draw a regular pentagon of side 40 mm. Offset out all lines by 10 mm and inscribe a circle. Also Dimension it. 1. Turn ON GRID, SNAP, OSNAP 2. Select ENDPOINT, MIDPOINT, INTERSECTION, TANGENT & CENTRE 3. Select LINE in DRAW toolbar, go to a point of grid, click, go horizontally 4 grid points (40 mm), click. 4. At command line To Point: type @40<72 [@ for relative distance, < for angle measure, 72 being the angle through which a line turns in a pentagon.

17. Next:To point: @ 40 <144 To point: @ 40 <216 To point: @ 40 <288 To point: c [for close] Next:Offset it outwards 10 units

18. Close the outer pentagon using EXTEND and TRIM commands Inscribe circle using DRAW> CIRCLE> 3 POINT command, using the aid of midpoint OSNAP

19. Zoom in using command. Before dimensioning set up a new layer for dimensioning Press this button to set up a new layer. Call it Dimensions Use this button to set up a different colour for this layer

20. FORMAT> DIMENSION STYLE> MODIFY Next, Set up Dimension Style

21. FORMAT> LINETYPE LOAD CURRENT

22. Switch to Dimension layer: by choosing in the pull-down layer list Dimension using, and commands. Explore the properties of command.

23. Drawing CENTRELINE Draw centreline by adding ESNAP at Tangent and Centre. Draw line between apex and tangent point at base. Draw horizontal line through centre (Ortho setting is useful. Extend the lines appropriately. Change line to Centreline linetype. For this first format linetypes

24. Modify linetype by: selecting a line, right clicking it click Changes to click To get

25. Notice that on freezing Dimensions layer, all dimensions disappear Snowflake represents frozen layer

26. FILE>PLOT

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