2004

Draw Linear Objects | 273
Erase Freehand Lines
You erase freehand lines by using the Erase option of the
SKETCH command.
In Erase mode, wherever the cursor intersects the freehand line, everything
from the intersection to the end of the line is erased.
Once you record freehand lines, you can’t edit them or erase them with the
Erase option of
SKETCH. Use the ERASE command after you finish sketching.
Sketch in Tablet Mode
You use Tablet mode with a digitizer. Sketching in Tablet mode is useful for
such things as tracing map outlines from paper directly into an AutoCAD
drawing. You can’t turn off Tablet mode while sketching.
When Tablet mode is on, you can configure AutoCAD to map the paper
drawing’s coordinate system directly into the AutoCAD world coordinate
system. Thus, there is a direct correlation between the coordinates where
screen crosshairs appear, the coordinates on the tablet, and the coordinates
in the original paper drawing. After configuring AutoCAD to match the
coordinates of the paper drawing, you may find that the area shown on the
screen is not the area you need. To avoid this problem, use
ZOOM to display
the entire work area before you start to sketch.
With some digitizers you can’t select the menus while Tablet mode is on. See
your digitizer documentation for details.
Maintain Sketching Accuracy
To ensure accuracy on a slow computer, set the record increment value to a
negative value.
SKETCH uses this value as if it were positive but tests every
point received from the pointer against twice the record increment. If the
point is more than two record increments away, your computer beeps as a
warning that you should slow down to avoid losing accuracy. For example,
if the record increment is –1, you should move the cursor in increments of
no more than 2. Using this method does not slow down the tracing speed.
To sketch and record freehand lines
1 At the Command prompt, enter sketch.
2 At the Record Increment prompt, enter the minimum line segment
length.
3 Click the start point to put the “pen” down.
When you move the pointing device, AutoCAD draws temporary free-
hand line segments of the length you specified.
SKETCH doesn’t accept
coordinate input. During the command, freehand lines are displayed in a
different color.