TurboCAD Pro V15 - Construction Drawings - Textual Creations

TurboCAD Pro V15 – Construction Drawings
Donald B. Cheke
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Copyright © 2008 Donald B. Cheke
TurboCAD is a registered trademark of
IMSI Design.
Published by:
Donald B. Cheke
Saskatoon, SK Canada
Visit: www.textualcreations.ca
All rights reserved
No part of this document may be reproduced, copied, stored on a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form without written permission from the author. The purchaser may, however, print one copy of the
document to paper and may make one backup copy of the downloaded material for personal use only.
Limitation of Liability
While every effort has been taken in the preparation and the writing of this document the author assumes
no responsibility for errors and/or omissions nor for the uses of the material and the decisions based on
such use. No warranties are made, express or implied with regard to either the contents of the document,
its merchant ability or fitness for a particular purpose. The author should not be liable for direct, indirect,
special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the contents of this
document.
Special Note
All of the work presented within this tutorial is based on TurboCAD Pro V15. Although users of
previous versions are welcome to try the tutorial it cannot be stated what results will be achieved. Many
changes, some subtle and others not so subtle, are made with each program revision. Although many
steps and directions would be generic some may not be. The same can be said for tools between
versions. Older versions may not have the same tools as Pro V15 and if the same tools are available the
tools themselves may have been revised and hence, work in a different manner than they previously did.
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Table of Contents
__________
Table of Contents...................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 4
Setup........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Initial Lighting ........................................................................................................................................ 13
2D Door Frame Profiles.......................................................................................................................... 18
2D Door Profiles...................................................................................................................................... 44
3D Construction - Door .......................................................................................................................... 69
3D Construction - Frame...................................................................................................................... 109
Threshold Screws.................................................................................................................................. 126
Door Modifications & Hinges .............................................................................................................. 146
Hinge Installation.................................................................................................................................. 150
Leaded Glass Window.......................................................................................................................... 154
3D Fillets ................................................................................................................................................ 157
Materials Application ........................................................................................................................... 162
Named View........................................................................................................................................... 185
Render Scene Environment ................................................................................................................. 189
Saving the Rendered Image ................................................................................................................. 194
Additional Named Views...................................................................................................................... 197
Exploded View....................................................................................................................................... 198
Paper Space – Borders and Title Bar.................................................................................................. 206
Paper Space – Viewports...................................................................................................................... 226
Paper Space – Drafting Palette Inserts ............................................................................................... 235
Paper Space – Annotations & Dimensions ......................................................................................... 264
Printing .................................................................................................................................................. 288
Appendix................................................................................................................................................ 289
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Introduction
Recently I received an email with a request to create a tutorial that would lead a reader through all the
steps necessary to create a set of construction drawings. The request specified a double hung window or
an entry door of sorts. Initially I had my mind set on illustrating the double hung window but it quickly
became apparent that the window was just too complex to fit into a tutorial of reasonable length. The
entry door, although complex enough, requires fewer components and so seemed much more suitable,
but by all means adequate, to illustrate the processes necessary to create a set of construction drawings.
Although I have usually confined my tutorial paper space output to 8.5 x 11" or 8.5 x 14" sheets I have
decided to create the construction drawings on a blueprint sized sheet. In this case it will be 24 x 36"
(Arch D).
There likely exists many standard drafting conventions that determine the size and position of the
various paper space components. As I do not have a formal background in drafting, the paper set up is
based more on artistic appeal than by actual drafting conventions. However, the processes involved in
creating the paper space output would be the same in any event. Should a reader require additional
information on standard drafting conventions, they will need to look elsewhere for accurate
documentation in that field.
I hope that you will enjoy the tutorial as much as I had creating it.
Best regards, Don
During the tutorial, the reader will learn how to create the framed 36" entry door illustrated on the cover
of the tutorial from scratch, using 2D profiles and 3D primitive shapes. The reader will learn how to
create a render scene environment. The reader will learn how to render their drawing and save it in a
high resolution image format. The reader will also learn how to utilize paper where the construction
drawings will be created utilizing viewports, inserted drafting palette views, dimensions and
annotations. The tutorial will illustrate all these processes with each keystroke.
This tutorial is in no way intended to teach door construction, but rather it is intended to teach the use of
some of the tools that TurboCAD has to offer and to introduce the new user to a drawing methodology.
The author feels confident that the techniques outlined within the tutorial can help lay the foundation for
future successful TurboCAD drawing and illustration for even the newest user.
As with any technically advanced software, the user is generally faced with a steep learning curve. It is
the hope of the author that the money and time spent working through a Textual Creation tutorial will
help ease the learning and allow the reader to come away feeling confident that they made a wise
decision.
This tutorial will assume that the reader has the full edition of TurboCAD Pro V15 with the current the
Architectural and Mechanical add-ons, although no architectural or mechanical add-on tools will be
used during the tutorial, that the author is aware of.
There are many ways to approach a project and it is likely that each person using the program would
proceed in very different ways, so be open to alternative methods as experience builds. What is
important is that the user becomes familiar with the objects that they wish to model and begin to look at
them in a different way than they might otherwise do. What primitive shapes make up the whole? What
will be required of these primitive shapes early in the drawing and how will this affect needs further
along? What component or components should be started with? Many questions can only be answered
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through experience, but hopefully some of them will be answered by the time the beginner has worked
through this tutorial. There is a great deal covered in this tutorial and the author urges the beginner to be
patient, to read very carefully and to take the time necessary to do a good job. Try to enjoy the process
as much as you will enjoy the final results.
This tutorial assumes that the beginner has studied the desktop to some degree and can locate most of
the tools. Since there are endless desktop configurations that can be set up in TurboCAD the author has
opted to illustrate the required tools with the V15 user interface, and the default toolbars in their
undocked format (Office 2000 theme).
This tutorial also utilizes a tool that does not come pre-packed with TurboCAD. It is the Copy in Place
tool created by David Bell, based on an original macro by Winston Mitchell. It is available as a free
download on the General Macros page at http://www.bcitool.com/. Please download it and install it as
per the instruction that come with the download. It is truly an indispensable tool. Placement of the dll
should be done with TurboCAD shutdown, so the dll will load when TurboCAD is started.
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This toolbar does not seem to show up, as it once did, when it was installed and TurboCAD was started.
If this toolbar does not show up for the user, they will need to drag a copy onto an existing toolbar or
create a new toolbar when TurboCAD is started. The tool is located under the second Copy Entities
entry of the Customise dialogue. The category below the second Copy Entities, "Select By", also
contains the two other tools that are part of the BCiTools_GM toolbar, should a user wish to add them to
a toolbar.
When it comes to printing the drawing during the tutorial, it will be printed to PDF with the use of the
freeware known as PDF995. If you do not already have it please download it and install it prior to
starting TurboCAD.
"All three products are available as FREE downloads. The free versions display a sponsor page in your
web browser each time you run the software. If you would prefer not to see sponsor pages, you may
upgrade by obtaining individual keys for each product at any time for $9.95 each."
The tutorial utilizes a font called Vogel. It was one of 1200 fonts the author purchased from Cosmi for
$12. Due to copyright laws it cannot be supplied with the tutorial, so please use a font from your
computer that is comparable in style and size.
Some images have been supplied with the tutorial. Place them in a permanent location on the computer
hard drive.
A couple TurboCAD files have been supplied with the tutorial. Place them in a memorable folder on the
computer hard drive.
Please remember that any supplied images and files are for use within the tutorial only and may not be
shared or sold to others.
The beginner should not overlook the importance of the internet as a resource for material to help
understand the dynamics of what they are trying to model. If only to help gain a better understanding of
what a user is modeling a Google image search and regular web search is time well spent.
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Save the drawing now with the file name Door Construction Drawings Tutorial. Before the save button
is selected copy the file name so that it can be pasted into the Summary dialogue when it opens.
Paste the file name into the title field of the Summary dialogue and click OK.
Be sure to click the Save button at the top of the TurboCAD desktop on a regular basis.
Switch to World Plan view.
Scroll in so that the grid is visible on screen.
2D Door Frame Profiles
The hinge side jamb profile will be created first – working toward the shape indicated below.
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Select the Rectangle tool from the Line toolbar.
Select Green from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
G SEKE snap the first point of the rectangle to one of the grid intersections. Move the cursor in a left
upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 1 1/4 in the Size A
field and 6 3/4 in the Size B field. Press Enter. (Note: if a user knows the decimal equivalents they can
be typed instead of fractions and the program will automatically create them, as the space units is set to
fractions)
V SEKE snap the first point of the next rectangle to the lower right corner of the last rectangle. Move
the cursor in a left upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter
9/16 in the Size A field and 2 1/8 in the Size B field. Press Enter.
V SEKE snap the first point of the next rectangle to the top left corner of the last rectangle. Move the
cursor in a right upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter
1/16 in the Size A field and 3/8 in the Size B field. Press Enter. In progress below.
Select the Polyline tool from the Line toolbar.
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Select Blue from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
Using a series of V SEKE snaps place the first eight points of the polyline as indicated in the picture
below.
After the eighth snap right mouse click and select Close from the local menu.
Press Ctrl + K to open the Select by Colors dialogue. Select Green and click OK.
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Left mouse click on the reference point of the selection to pick it up. Move the cursor to the middle of
the top line of the dado in the left door jamb profile and M SEKE snap the selection in place. In progress
below.
Press Esc to deselect the selection.
Compressible objects will be illustrated in their uncompressed form and, as such, will intersect the
surrounding profiles. This is acceptable and likely necessary so that the true form can be realized in the
construction drawings. If necessary a user could always create a compressed set to show for comparison.
The threshold profile will now be created – working toward the shapes indicated below.
Select the Rectangle tool from the Line toolbar.
Select Green from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
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G SEKE snap the first point of the rectangle to a grid intersection in a clear area of the drawing. Move
the cursor in a right upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter
1.75 in the Size A field and 1.5 in the Size B field. Press Enter.
V SEKE snap the first point of the next rectangle to the lower right corner of the first rectangle. Move
the cursor in a right upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter
6 1/16 in the Size A field and 7/16 in the Size B field. Press Enter.
Select the Edit Tool from the Select toolbar.
Select the longer horizontal rectangle as the object to edit. Place the cursor over the upper left node and
when the four directional arrow cursor appears left mouse click to pick up the node. In progress below.
Move the cursor upward to the middle of the right line of the left rectangle and M SEKE snap the node
in place. In progress below.
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2D Door Profiles
The door profiles will now be created in much the same manner.
The first profile will be the Stile profile – working toward the shape indicated below.
Switch to World Plan view.
Select the Rectangle tool from the Line toolbar.
Select Green from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
G SEKE snap the first point of the rectangle to a grid intersection in a clear area of the drawing. Move
the cursor in a right upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter
6 1/2 in the Size A field and 1 3/4 in the Size B field. Press Enter.
Select the Parallel tool from the Line toolbar.
Select the right line of the new rectangle as the line to go parallel from. Tab into the Inspector Bar and
enter 1/2 in the Offset field. Press Enter.
Select the Rectangle tool from the Line toolbar.
V SEKE snap the first point of the rectangle to the top vertex of the offset line. Move the cursor in a left
downwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 1/8 in the Size
A field and Size B fields. Press Enter.
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Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the 1/8" square. Select the Copy in Place tool from the BCiTool_GM toolbar 1X.
With the square still selected, Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 5/8 in the Delta X field and -1/2 in
the Delta Y field. Press Enter to move it into place.
Select the Double Point Circle tool from the Circle/Ellipse toolbar.
V SEKE snap the lower right corner of the upper 1/8" square to place the first point of the circle. Tab
into the Inspector Bar and enter 1/2 in the Diameter field and 270 in the Angle field. Press Enter.
Select the Circle Tan to entities tool from the Circle/Ellipse toolbar
Left mouse click the right side of the circle to select the first entity to go tangent from.
Select the Through Point option.
Using two V SEKE snaps place the next two points of the circle at the top left corner of the lower 1/8"
square and the top right corner of the large rectangle. In progress below.
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Right mouse click and select Close from the local menu.
Press Ctrl + K to open the Select by Colors dialogue. Select Green and click OK.
Press Delete to remove the trace aids. It will be a little while before getting back to this last profile.
Switch to Isometric SE view.
Select the door stile profile, expansion gasket profile and the raised panel profile. Press D SEKE and
relocate (V SEKE) the reference point to the lower left corner, as indicated in the picture below.
Left mouse click on the reference point of the selection to pick it up. Move the cursor to the lower left
corner of the threshold profile and V SEKE snap the selection in place. In progress below.
With the profiles still selected Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 1/8 in the Delta X field and 1 15/16
in the Delta Z field. Press Enter.
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Select the Simple Extrude tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
Select the horizontal raised panel profile as the object to extrude. Move the cursor to upward and left
mouse click when the top of the extrusion passes beyond the vertical raised panel profile. In progress
below.
Select the vertical raised panel profile as the object to extrude. Move the cursor to the left and left mouse
click when the side of the extrusion passes beyond the horizontal raised panel profile. In progress below.
Select the 3D Intersect tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
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Left mouse click the two extrusions to perform the intersection. In progress below.
This intersection has created the upper left corner of one raised panel.
Select the Simple Extrude tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
Select the stile profile as the object to extrude. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 80 in the Height
field. Press Enter.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the raised panel corner and then left mouse click the blank box next to the Raised Panels name on
the Design Director. This assigns the selection to the layer and the object disappears from the drawing as
the layer is turned off.
Alternately a user can select the layer name from the layer dropdown menu on the Property toolbar to
assign the selection to the desired layer. Note too that layers can be turned off and on and locked and
unlocked through this dropdown menu. Select the two blue raised panel profiles and assign them to the
2D Profiles layer. In progress below.
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Select the 3D Add tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Select the top left and top right raised panel corners to add them together. In progress below.
Select the bottom left and bottom right raised panel corners to add them together. In progress below.
The next step will be to move the facet from the sliced side of the raised panel to the opposite facet and
then add the two components to complete the raised panel. In this example only the bottom needs to be
moved to meet the top, but quite often a user will need to do this with the corner themselves as they may
not already intersect as they did for this panel.
Switch to Isometric SE view.
Select the Facet editing tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Place the cursor over the top face of the lower raised panel component and when the facet is highlight
left mouse click to select it. In progress below.
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Place the cursor over the line that leads to the Z rotation handle and when the four directional arrow
cursor appears left mouse click to pick up the facet. In progress below. Move the cursor so the selected
facet moves just into the upper raised panel component. Once in, left mouse click to define the extent of
the move. In progress below.
Select the 3D Add tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Select the two components of the raised panel to add them together.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the raised panel and the expansion gasket. They will be copied to the opposite side.
Switch to World Plan view.
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Press Ctrl + T to open the Select by Entity Type dialogue. Select Point and click OK.
Press Delete to permanently remove the points.
Turn off the 3D layers.
Create a new layer called Dowel Pins and turn it off.
Select the sixteen dowel pins and assign them to the Dowel Pins layer. In progress below.
Turn on the two Stile layers and the Top and Bottom Rail layers.
Switch to Isometric SE view.
3D Construction - Frame
It is now time to create the 3D door frame.
Select the Simple Extrude tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
Turn off the Two sided extrude option.
Select the left jamb profile as the object to extrude.
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Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 82 3/4 in the Height field. Press Enter.
Select the right jamb profile as the object to extrude. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter -82 3/4 in the
Height field. Press Enter. (Remember, this profile was mirror copied – that is why it now extrudes in the
negative – it's all about workplanes.)
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
The left jamb can also be used for the header.
Select the left jamb and then select the Copy in Place tool from the BCiTool_GM toolbar 1X.
Press D SEKE and relocate (V SEKE) the reference point to the top back outer corner of the selection.
With the jamb still selected, Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 90 in the Y Rotation field. Press Enter.
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Switch to Isometric SE view.
Select the 3D Add tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Select the T-nut and then one of the prongs to add them together. In progress below.
Select the newly added component and then select the next prong to add it to the T-nut.
Repeat to add the other two prongs.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the short blue line, the rectangles region and the double circle region and delete them.
Select the Thread3D tool from the Special Tools toolbar.
This tool does not recognize fractions so decimals will be used.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 1 in the Length1 field, .25 in the ThtDiam field, .875 in the ThrLen
field, .05 in the Pitch field, .625 in the BodyDiam field and 1.0938 in the FullLen field. Press Enter.
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Press Esc after the render occurs.
Zoomed in on one below.
Select the Wireframe tool to end the render.
Turn off the Dowel Pins layer and turn on the Window layer and the Window Lead layer.
Press Ctrl + L to open the Select by Layers dialogue. Select Window and click OK.
On the Materials palette locate the Glass Category and then double click on the Mostly Clear Glass
thumbnail to apply the material.
Press Ctrl + L to open the Select by Layers dialogue. Select Window Lead and click OK.
On the Materials palette locate the Metals Category and then double click on the Antique Brass
thumbnail to apply the material.
Back in the drawing area, press Ctrl + A to select all the visible objects.
Select the Quality Rendering tool from the Render toolbar.
Press Esc after the render occurs.
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Select the Wireframe tool to end the render.
Turn off the two window layers and turn on the Threshold layer.
Select the two metal parts of the threshold.
Open the Properties dialogue. Under the 3D tab select Edit Material.
Select the Create New Category icon to the right of the current category name field. Enter Metal Wraps
in the New Category dialogue and click OK.
183

Click OK to exit the Render Scene Environment Editor and click OK to exit the Drawing Setup
dialogue.
Allow the scene to rerender.
From the View menu at the top of the desktop select Lights.
Open the color menu for the Directional light and change the Value setting to 115 and click OK.
Click OK to exit the Light Properties dialogue and allow the scene to recalculate and rerender.
Right mouse click on one of the Standard View icons to open the Named View dialogue.
Select Outside ISO and then click Modify. This will add the Quality and Raytrace Full setting to the
saved view.
191

Select the bottom six dowel pins. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter -7 in the Delta Z field. Press
Enter.
Select the two raised panels, the two expansion gaskets and the mullion. Tab into the Inspector Bar and
enter -3 in the Delta Z field. Press Enter.
Select the hinge side raised panel and expansion gasket. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter -4 in the
Delta X field. Press Enter.
Select the knob side raised panel and expansion gasket. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 6 in the
Delta X field. Press Enter.
Right mouse click and select Open Window Mode from the local menu to turn it off. With this option
disengage only those items fully within the selection box will be selected.
202

Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select Zoom Full View.
Although many more dimensions could be applied and even more pages with additional detail, this is all
that will be done within this tutorial.
Please experiment with the many dimension tools and available options. There are some pretty amazing
things that can be achieved with the available functions.
Printing
Printing is pretty straight forward since it is already set up.
Select the Print icon at the top of the TurboCAD desktop.
Click OK to print. Remember that this will take time as each viewport renders in the background.
288