I have chosen to explain the grid, snap and limits commands in sufficient detail. I chose these particular commands because they are all basic commands that beginners need to know about from the very start of drafting using AutoCAD®. The grid and snap commands go together very well because they both deal with helping the drafter pick points accurately with their mouse or puck. The limits command is useful to change your drawing area after a drawing has been started.
The grid command in AutoCAD® displays marks to display on the drafting area, these markings can help the drafter easily line up objects or draw new objects in the correct place. The grid spacing can be changed by the user to any increment that is necessary. This command can be activated by typing “grid” at the command line, pressing F7, or by pressing [Ctrl] + [G]. The grid command has several options that the drafter can use; on, off, snap, and aspect. Selecting “on” turns the grid on so that it is visible. The “off” option performs the opposite operation by turning the grid off so that it is not visible to the user. Selecting the “snap” option of grid sets the grid spacing to the same spacing that the cursor snap spacing is currently set to. This way your cursor will snap to the grid automatically. “Aspect” allows the user to change the X and Y spacing independently of each other. If you type a number in directly after typing grid into the command line, AutoCAD® will set both the X and Y spacing to that distance.
The snap command causes the cursor to “snap” to imaginary points of the drafting surface. This command can be activated by typing “snap” at the command line, pressing F9, or by pressing [Ctrl] + [B]. The snap command has six options, on, off, aspect, rotate, style and type. “On” turns the snap feature on. “Off” turns snap off. Aspect allows the user to choose an independent X and Y spacing. The “rotate” option of the snap command allows the drafter to rotate the gird to any angle that is necessary. “Style” allows the snap to be set either to the standard setting or set to the isometric snap setting. “Type” lets the drafter choose how AutoCAD® determines when to snap to the next point, the options are polar or standard.
The limits command lets the drafter choose the size of their working space. If your drawing area is too small you simply type “limits” into the command line, enter what you want to be the lower left corner of your working space in X,Y coordinates, press enter. And then type in what you want the upper right corner of your working space to be, also in X,Y coordinates. This command is very helpful if you want to change your working space after you have already started a drawing.
When used together the grid, snap and limits commands can help speed up your drafting speed and capabilities dramatically. All three of these commands that AutoCAD® offers stand out as basic commands that should be taught to students during one of their very first lessons.
