Drawing Door Geometry with Multiple Objects in AutoCAD

In this video, we will begin working on the door geometry. Doors are interesting in AutoCAD in that we have to draw them using multiple objects.

First, there is a rectangle that represents the door itself, and then an arc that represents the door swing. In AutoCAD and in many drafting plans, we like to draw doors wide open so that you can understand which direction the door swings. Because of this, the door will be attached to the wall at the corner where the hinge would be, and then the door looks like it's open at a 90 degree angle.

So, let us get started. The first thing we want to do, is change our current layer. I'll go up to my layer dropdown, click and choose the text, A Door.

Now that my current layer is set, we can zoom in and begin to draw our doors. I'll come over to the front door here, in this case, and I want to draw the door that exists here. We can see that this door is three feet wide, and there is no door width given because we don't have a door schedule.

So, for all of our doors, I will use a nominal width of 1.5 inches. Again, most of the geometry we are drawing in this course is symbolic and might need to be updated if this drawing was to get more advanced in a real-world project. We are going to draw a rectangle here, but it's not going to be in the closed position. Instead, it's going to be in the open position.

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We will start our door at this endpoint where the hinge would be and draw three feet, zero inches in the X direction and 1.5 inches in the Y direction. Let us go to the rectangle tool. We can start our door here.

Now, when I am dragging out in this direction, I could use relative coordinates or I could use the dimensions option. For this example, we can use relative coordinates, but then we can use the dimensions option for the rest of the doors. In this case, I want to go negative three feet in the X direction and negative 1.5 inches in the Y direction.

So I will type at negative three feet, negative 1.5. Enter. That negative three feet and negative 1.5 meant that we went in the negative quadrant, which is down and to the left. Remember to use your at symbol when you are drawing relative coordinates.

Let us move to the next door and let us use the dimensions option in this case. Let us go rectangle. We'll start at this endpoint here and I'll go D enter for dimensions.

Now, this is a little easier because we don't have to think about positive or negative, but we still have to think about the X and Y distances because this door is going to be drawn as a vertical rectangle. Our X dimension is 1.5. Enter. And our Y dimension or the second distance is going to be two feet, eight inches.

Enter. Now remember when we use the dimensions option, we have to click to establish our quadrant. In this case, I want to go into the positive quadrant, so I will click here.

Now this door is going to use the same exact numbers using the distance option, but we will need to click in the positive Y quadrant, but the negative X quadrant, which makes this negative positive. We're talking a lot about quadrants, but really it's what looks right. Move your mouse around, check it out and click in the correct location.

I'll go rectangle, click to set my first point and then D for dimensions. We can use the suggested dimensions in this case, one and one half inches. So I'll type nothing and I'll hit ENTER and I'll use the suggested dimension again.

So I'll type nothing and hit ENTER. Now, remember we need to click in the correct quadrant and that will be up here and click. Let us move down into this door and this door is also two feet, eight inches wide, but remember that it is in a different orientation.

We cannot use two feet, eight inches as our second distance. It needs to be our first distance. Let us go rectangle.

I'll pick this corner here, D enter. And the first distance is two feet, eight, enter. And the second distance is 1.5, enter.

I'll click in this quadrant and our last door is here and that's two feet, four inches. So let us go rectangle, choosing where the hinge would be. And that's this point right here, D enter, 1.5, enter, two feet, four, enter.

And I'll click to place this point. Let us zoom extents and press Control + S to save. Remember I mentioned the second part of this is the door swings and those show where the door would swing if it were to open and close.

This is a static drawing. We cannot represent motion except by drawing this symbolic line. Let us go back to the front door and let us talk about drawing this arc.

We’re going to use center, start, end to draw this arc. And the center point will be at the hinge. The starting point will either be at the top of the door or at the front of the wall.

We'll talk about what might happen if we choose the wrong direction in a second. So, let us go to the arc dropdown and choose center, start, end. The center will be at the hinge.

The starting point will be at the top of the door. And the end will swing down and we'll choose this end point. Let’s do that again over here.

Center, start, end arc. The center will be at the hinge. The start is at the top of the door.

And the end should be at this wall. Now what we're seeing here is what I mentioned earlier. The arc is swinging in the wrong direction.

Notice that if you look at the command prompt, it says hold Control to switch direction. So, I will hold the Control key on my keyboard and wiggle my mouse around. As long as I am holding Control, it will draw the arc in the clockwise direction, which is negative in AutoCAD.

I’ll choose the end point while holding Control. Let’s do it again. Center, start, end.

Once again, arc, center, start. And here we need control again. End.

One final time. Center, start, end. Center, start, end.

Let us zoom extents and press Control + S to save. In the next video, we'll talk about pochet and hatches. See you there.