Move, copy, rotate, scale and mirror

What you will make

A table with one chair, copied round the table, turned, mirrored and resized. Along the way you use MOVE, COPY, ROTATE, MIRROR, SCALE and UNDO.

Draw the pieces

1. Type REC and press ReturnEnter, type 0,0 and press ReturnEnter, then type @1800,900 and press ReturnEnter. This is the table.
2. Type REC and press ReturnEnter, type 300,-700 and press ReturnEnter, then type @450,450 and press ReturnEnter. This is a chair, below the table.
3. Click Extents.

Move: base point, then second point

Every move, copy, rotate and scale starts from a base point: the point that is carried along, or turned about.

1. Click the chair to select it.
2. Type M and press ReturnEnter. The history says 1 found.
3. At Specify base point, snap to the chair's upper-left corner (Endpoint) and click.
4. At Specify second point, type @0,200 and press ReturnEnter.

The chair moves up 200, closer to the table.

Copy, as many times as you like

1. Click the chair.
2. Type CO and press ReturnEnter.
3. Snap to the chair's lower-left corner and click as the base point.
4. Type @600,0 and press ReturnEnter. A copy appears 600 to the right.
5. Type @600,0 again and press ReturnEnter. A second copy appears 1200 to the right of the original.
6. Press ReturnEnter to end the command.

COPY keeps going until you press ReturnEnter. Each copy is placed by the distance from the base point to the point you give. An @ point counts from the last point you entered, which after the first copy is that copy's point, so @600,0 twice gives copies at 600 and 1200. Type U and press ReturnEnter to take back the last copy without leaving the command.

You should see three chairs in a row below the table.

Mirror the row to the other side

1. Drag a crossing (right to left) over the three chairs, without touching the table.
2. Type MI and press ReturnEnter.
3. At Specify first point of mirror line, snap to the Midpoint of the table's left side and click.
4. At Specify second point of mirror line, snap to the Midpoint of the table's right side and click.
5. At Erase source objects? [Yes/No] <N>, press ReturnEnter to keep them.

You should see three chairs below the table and three mirrored chairs above it. Text in a mirrored selection stays readable: it is placed mirrored but not written backwards.

Rotate a chair

1. Click the rightmost chair below the table.
2. Type RO and press ReturnEnter.
3. Snap to the chair's lower-right corner and click as the base point.
4. Type 90 and press ReturnEnter.

The chair turns 90 degrees counterclockwise about the base point. A negative angle turns clockwise. Instead of typing, you can click a second point: the angle is measured from the base point to that point.

Scale the table

1. Select the table.
2. Type SC and press ReturnEnter.
3. Snap to the table's lower-left corner and click as the base point.
4. Type 1.2 and press ReturnEnter.

The table is 20% bigger, growing away from the base point. A factor below 1 makes it smaller.

Undo and redo

• ⌘ZCtrl+Z, the Undo button, or U then ReturnEnter undoes the last command. A whole command is one step: undoing a COPY that made five copies removes all five.
• ⌘YCtrl+Y, ⇧⌘ZCtrl+Shift+Z, the Redo button, or REDO brings it back.
• The history says what was undone ("Undid COPY").

CadCraft keeps the last 500 steps. Layer settings (on, freeze, lock, color) are settings, not edits, and are not undone.

Erase and explode

• ERASE (E, or fn DeleteDelete) removes the selected objects.
• EXPLODE (X) breaks a polyline into lines and arcs, a block reference into its objects, and a dimension into lines, arrowheads and text. Exploded dimensions no longer measure themselves.

Common mistakes

• Typing a distance without @ at the second point. 600,0 is the absolute point 600,0, not "600 to the right". Use @600,0, or a bare 600 with the crosshair pointing the right way.
• The rotation went the wrong way. Positive angles turn counterclockwise.
• Undo removed more than expected. One undo takes back the whole last command, including every copy it made.
• The command did not ask to select objects. Objects were already selected, so it used them. Press EscEsc first to start with nothing selected.