topic Re: X, Y Origin? in AutoCAD Forum

X, Y Origin?

russel — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 21:53:57 GMT

when I had MicroStation and wanted to move a corner of my part that I drew to X'0', Y'0' I would key in XY=0,0 and it would move the corner that I designated to 0,0 in my drawing. is their a similar function in AutoCAD 2018?

the reason I ask is because we have a cnc drill that takes .dxf files. so I draw the hole/drill pattern in cad and then import it to the drill. the problem is that I need to locate one corner of the part as the home position or X'0', Y'0'.

Re: X, Y Origin?

Kent1Cooper — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:18:57 GMT

MOVE

Select the part, or the pieces that make it up if more than one, and Enter to complete the selection, give it the corner as the base point, and

#0,0

to give it absolute-XY location 0,0 as the "second point."

If you just type in 0,0 for the second point, in earlier versions that would have taken it there, but somewhere that came to mean relative 0,0 [that is, no displacement]. I think there's a setting that lets it work the old way, if you prefer, but the # prefix should work for you. Unfortunately, Help isn't all that helpful about that, but I eventually found this.

Re: X, Y Origin?

paullimapa — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 22:22:10 GMT

I would type in the following commands:

UCS

World

BASE

The coordinate that is shown is the drawing's base point of reference.

You can set this to whatever you want like 0,0,0

Then move all the objects from a corner point to this point by entering 0,0

Re: X, Y Origin?

Kent1Cooper — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 23:07:45 GMT

@paullimapa wrote:

I would type in the following commands:

UCS

World

BASE

The coordinate that is shown is the drawing's base point of reference.

You can set this to whatever you want ....

... including just setting the desired corner of the part as the drawing's base point, without Moving anything. That at least would work if what you want to do is to Insert the part into another AutoCAD drawing, using that corner as the insertion base point. But whether it will have the desired effect when involved with CNC operations by way of a .dxf file, I couldn't say -- that might require the corner to be actually at 0,0, whatever may be the drawing's defined BASE point.

Re: X, Y Origin?

gotphish001 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 13:38:26 GMT

To control if it uses absolute or relative coordinates, you change it in dynamic input. Get into the dynamic input settings by right clicking on the dynamic input button on the bottom tool bar. See my picture to see which button to push and where the setting it that needs changed.

If set to absolute when you use the move command and input in 0,0 it moves it to the origin. With relative set it will move it that amount from your displacement point, so if you put in 0,0 it wouldn't actually move.

I leave it on relative as that is how I like it. If I wanted to move something to origin which only comes up occasionally (move a consultant civil drawing back near origin as they seem to be always way off in the middle of nowhere) my workflow was to draw a line from my displacement point to the origin and then move the object(s) to the origin using endpoint snap with the guide line I drew. Using the #0,0 is a handy tip that will save me those extra step. I was unaware that that was a thing. Thanks @Kent1Cooper