Learn the intricacies of drafting symbols in CAD drawings and how they are used to annotate and describe different aspects of the drawing. Understand the detailed usage of the detail symbol, the detail hat, and the section hat, and how they work together to provide a complete view of the design.
Key Insights
- The detail symbol, detail hat, and section hat are combined into a single visual element in CAD drawing by ensuring their project base points or 0,0,0 are in the same spot. This ensures a professional workflow and alignment of elements.
- The use of these drafting symbols is not restricted to a particular direction. They can be rotated or moved according to the needs of the drawing while maintaining the alignment and structure of the elements.
- These annotation symbols are usually drawn at a paper scale size, which includes measurements like eighth inch, quarter inch, and half inch measurements. They are then scaled up in the floor plan so that the viewport can scale them back down accordingly.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
While we are on this drawing, I'd like to spend a few minutes discussing how these drafting symbols work on our CAD drawing to describe other drawings or provide annotation details for some of our drawing elements. First, let's talk about how the detail symbol, detail hat, and section hat work together.
If I go into Model Space and zoom in here, I can see that this is an elevation or, in this case, a detail section or wall section symbol. The detail symbol is this circle and two lines, and we know from our handout that there would be text above and below the horizontal line. Our detail hat, however, is drawn pointing upwards in our handout.
This detail hat is pointing to the left. We can combine these two blocks into one visual element by ensuring their project base points (0,0,0) are in the same spot, and that is why we use 0,0,0. We use them interchangeably because it is the best process.
It is the most professional workflow to align these elements. These are not connected, other than being lined up in the same spot. If this detail were facing the other direction, I could choose my detail hat and rotate it in the opposite direction, while keeping our vertical lines and our detail symbol with its horizontal line in the same direction.
If I pan over, the section hat follows the same principle. This is a separate block from our detail symbol, but we can see that it uses the same geometry to create the negative space of this arc.
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Our other annotation symbols are more standalone, including our door and window symbols, and our north arrow. The datum and electrical symbols will be used in the intermediate AutoCAD course. Please remember, as we mentioned in the last video, that all of these symbols will be drawn at paper scale sizes.
This includes measurements like eighth-inch, quarter-inch, and half-inch measurements. When we bring them into our floor plan at the end of the course, we will scale them up so that our viewport can scale them back down. Let's begin drawing in the next video.
