the ability to move and copy objects with ease is why a CAD replaced board drafting many years ago these tasks are not easy to do on the drawing board but they’re very easy to do an AutoCAD move and copy which is what we’re going to look at in this section work essentially the same way but with a few differences the copy command leaves the original object alone and it keeps repeating to move an object you just start the move command by typing move or the letter M on the command line it’s also found here in the ribbon
up a file
so that we can have some objects to move and copy with in the chapter 6 folder look up the blocks and tables
open up that file this is an
architectural drawing and it has some lighting arrangements some doors some walls and window treatments here very simple drawing but it gets its point across so to move something start the move command you can type in the letter M or the word move or pick it from the ribbon here
now you select your objects you can pick one object at a time like the text here or you can pick multiple objects like the lighting here
once you’ve selected everything press ENTER and now you need a base point pick that base point and that’s where you will grab those objects from
and then reposition it wherever you need to that moved it it takes the objects you selected deletes them and puts them where you tell it to that’s the move command remember when moving an object or even copying an object because they work the same way you need a base reference point and then a displacement point the base point is the place where you grab the object from it could be anywhere in your file or it could be a specific point on that object or it could be a specific point on any object if we use the Move command again pick our base point and then as you move around you’ll see that the object is being moved relative to where you first pick your base point out
so for example
if I want to move
this sink
I can start the move command
select it press enter use my object snaps my oh snaps i can type in mid for midpoint pick the midpoint of the back of the sink here that’s where i’m grabbing it from now wherever I put that sink that’s where it’s going to go relative to the middle of that sink let’s say I put it in the laundry room now
nea for nearest press enter and it will put the middle of that sink in the back of it right where I select on that wall that was the move command that’s great you can be exact dead on with where you pick your object from an exact dead on room from where you put it or you can just casually pick a spot and put it somewhere it’s up to you AutoCAD will see it as being exact even if it isn’t to you so keep that in mind now the copy command works exactly the same way you just select your objects you pick a base point and then you pick your insertion point so you type in the word copy or the letters CP for copy don’t don’t hit see that’s circle you want CP for copy or you can find it here
in the ribbon it’s right by the move command
you select our sink again press enter we’re going to use the midpoint there and we’re going to make a copy of it put it back where it was
say well I don’t have a real good selection point here so i cant line it up exactly so that’s one thing you want to make sure of that when you copy or move something you grab it from an appropriate point well that’s okay we’re pretty close here we’re going to use the Move command again select the sink press ENTER and now pick into point
if I grab the end point here
and now i use the perpendicular oh snap it’ll put this line perpendicular to that line we selected and it’s in the right spot and since it’s perpendicular it moved it orthogonally or straight in horizontal to the left and put it in the right place most of the time you will move or copy objects from a point on the object and that’s not always true though you will have instances where you need to move something relative to another location for example i can move or copy this sink press enter relative to the end of this wall
if I want it to be that exact same distance when I move it over here it is I can put in another counter
same distance
that it was before
and there you go I got it right on the first try so
that in mind
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