Novice Question

[darco41]

Hey everyone, first time using the forum and I have a feeling that it won't be my last! Quick background, I took a year of Arch Tech and Design in 2012/2013 and now finally have a job at one of the local lumber yards. Needless to say, I need to shake off some rust since I haven't really used the program for almost year. Now to my problem, and forgive me for my lack of CAD terminology. Whenever I attempt to draw a line on a specific point on a pre-existing line, I like to start in a corner/endpoint, drag the mouse along the line (the x with the dashed line) I then enter the distance from the corner I want the line to start, press enter, and it automatically snaps the midpoint or the closest endpoint instead of the distance I specified. If I remember right, that's how I used to do it back in school. Thanks for any and all help. I really appreciate it. (PS: I'm running Autocad LT 2013.)

Dustyn

[pendean]

Fuirst thing to try is to turn off your running osnaps: F3 key on your keyboard is there to toggle it on and off as needed.

[darco41]

Thanks for the reply, I knew about turning OSNAP off, but I shouldn't have to do that everytime, and I'm almost positive that I didn't have to before on AutoCAD 2012. Thanks again!

[pendean]

"shouldn't" is a novice's answer 🙂

Glad it worked so easily: remember, take control of what you do and don't assume AutoCAD knows what you mean when drafting. It's what power drafters in AutoCAD do, they tell AutoCAD what they want.

[KateMorricalTowne]

Except in this case, "shouldn't" is entirely appropriate...you shouldn't have to turn off running osnaps in order to use direct distance entry. Maybe check the aperture setting?

[darco41]

I will look into that and see what I can find out. Thanks, Kate!