The shortcut I found for lining up floor plans in AutoCAD

I got tired of spending 15 minutes every morning trying to match up floor plans from different consultants. They always came in at weird angles or scales. I tried the align command but it never stuck right. Then I found out about the reference option inside the scale command. You just pick two points on the drawing and two points on your base drawing and it snaps everything into place. Now I get it done in under 2 minutes. Has anyone else found a hidden command that saved them this much time?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.wyatt14d ago

Fought against using the reference option for years honestly. Thought the align command was all I needed and just blamed the consultants for sending messy files. Finally got frustrated enough to try it and man I was wrong. It's one of those things that looks too simple to actually work but now I swear by it. Feels like every time I think I know enough about this program something like this pops up and makes me feel like a newbie again. The time I used to waste lining things up manually makes me cringe now that I know this trick existed the whole time.

aaron88414d ago

Haha dude I feel that so hard. I spent like 2 weeks manually dragging things pixel by pixel on a big project once, kept telling myself "next time I'll just be more careful" nope. Finally broke down and googled it after I nearly threw my mouse across the room. Felt so dumb when I saw how easy it was. Now I'm that guy on the firehouse computer telling the new guys "just use the reference tool dummy" while I'm still figuring out how to even open the right layer half the time.

willow11414d ago

Laughing my butt off at the "still figuring out how to open the right layer" bit because that is ME every single day. I've been using this software for like five years and I still click through every tab hunting for the layer panel like a lost tourist. But yeah, the reference tool is a lifesaver once you actually commit to it. I was the same way though, thought I was too good for it or something, but nope. Now I'm awkwardly trying to teach the new guys while I'm secretly googling "how to merge layers" for the hundredth time.

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