Construction Line Command

By: Jos Van Doorn | Posted: 10th May 2006

This is one of the newer commands. This command has

been introduced with AutoCAD 14. AutoCAD 2000 still has

it. It's there to stay.



The command is used for drawing construction lines. But

watch out. The drawn construction lines are plotted or

printed. And that's not what we want.



Construction lines are drawn to help with making a

technical drawing in AutoCAD. We don't need them in the

drawing.



This is a suggestion to AutoCAD. Keep the command for

drawing construction lines. But prevent construction

lines from being printed or plotted.



Now let's have a look at the command for drawing

construction lines. These are the prompts:



_xline

Specify a point or [Hor/Ver/Ang/Bisect/Offset]:

Specify through point:



At the first prompt a point is entered. The second

prompt is repeated all the time until the ENTER key or

the right mouse button is pressed.



At the second prompt another point is entered. After

entering a point a construction line is drawn through

the first entered point and the second point.



Construction lines have an indefinite length.



The command has five options. At the second prompt can

be chosen for an option. The five options are:



- Hor

- Ver

- Ang

- Bisect

- Offset



Hor

---



No line is drawn through the point entered at the

second prompt and the point entered at the third

prompt. A horizontal line is drawn through the point

entered at the third prompt.



Ver

---



As above. But now a vertical line is drawn through the

point entered at the third prompt.



Ang

---



Now a construction line under an angle is drawn. These

prompts show up:



Reference/:

Through point:



At the first prompt an angle can be entered. The second

prompt is repeated all the time. Through the point

entered at the second prompt a construction line under

the entered angle is drawn.



Bisect

------



This option can be used when drawing in 3D. It's a

little bit complicated to explain. But the prompts are:



Angle vertex point:

Angle start point:

Angle end point:



The vertex point and the start point are entered at the

first and the second prompt. A construction line is

drawn through the start point and the end point.



The third prompt is repeated all the time



Offset

------



This option acts as the OFFSET command. A construction

line in offset is drawn. The prompts are the same as

those of the OFFSET command:



Offset distance or Through <10.0000>:

Select a line object:

Side to offset?



At the first prompt an offset distance can be entered.

At the second prompt a line or a construction line be

selected. A point is entered at the second prompt.



A construction line is drawn with an offset from the

selected line or selected at the side given at the

third prompt.



The second and the third prompt is repeated all the

time



The line object that can be selected at the second

prompt can be a construction line, a line, a polyline,

a rectangle or a polygon.



A construction line is drawn in offset of the selected

line. But remember. The construction line has an

indefinite length.



If a polyline, a rectangle of a polygon is selected the

drawn construction line is parallel to the segment that

was picked.



Here's a good tip. Draw construction lines on a

specific layer. You could call that layer Construction

lines.



If you want to print or plot the drawing then switch

that layer off or freeze it. That way the construction

lines will not be printed or plotted.
About the Author
Jos Van Doorn
http://www.trainingautocad.com
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Tags: little bit, suggestion, vertical line, mouse button, horizontal line