TurboCAD Pro V15 - Construction Drawings - Textual Creations

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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