Hello. In this lesson, we're gonna start off with using templates. Now, before we get started, I'd like for you to note that I have opened up on my screen, AutoCAD LT 2022. So if you have the LT edition of AutoCAD, you are able to use that version with this lesson. Also, I have opened up the finished printing and plotting drawing from our lesson files. So once you have your version of AutoCAD opened either the LT or the full version of AutoCAD 2022 and the finished printing and plotting drawing, let's go ahead and follow along. Now, when you start a drawing from scratch in AutoCAD, you are starting that drawing with some sort of template unless you chose the option to create a drawing without a template. To show you that, let's go ahead and create a brand new drawing from scratch. So to do this, I'm gonna actually click on the start tab, and over here, where it says new, if I click the dropdown button here, I can select from one of the drawing templates. And a drawing template, basically just stores all of your default settings for a drawing. Things such as your layout settings, your page setups, your blocks that are inserted, your text styles, your dimension styles, your layers, all of that can be pre-created and saved within an AutoCAD template. So right now, if I was to create a drawing and choose one of these templates such as the AutoCAD LT drawing, AutoCAD opens up a brand new drawing, drawing one, and it started from the AutoCAD LT template that I had there. If I was to go over to the layers, I only have layer zero in here. If I was to look at the text styles, this is the two text styles that I have. And if I was to check the dimensions, these are the dimension settings that I have currently in this drawing. There are other behind the scenes settings that you cannot see unless you were to specifically go and look for certain variables and settings. So that's starting a drawing from one of the templates. If I was to file new here, and it takes me to the select the template. If I was to choose this dropdown button over here next to open, I can actually create a drawing with no template but the settings be for imperial or with no template and the settings be for metric. Very rarely will you actually create a drawing without specifying a template first, which is kind of why they have this heading off in this little button over on the side. This time instead of the AutoCAD LT DWT, I'm gonna choose the AutoCAD LT ISO drawing template. Now, for those of you who are running the full version of AutoCAD, it would just be the AutoCAD ISO .dwt file. If you don't see this, make sure that you're using files type it's set for DWT and that will display your drawing templates folder. If I change this to DWG, it goes back to the last folder that I was in, that I opened a DWG file for. But because we're specifying a drawing template that we would like to start our new drawing out with, we need to change the files of type to DWT. Remember, .DWT is the file extension for an AutoCAD drawing template. Let's go up and choose the AutoCAD LT ISO drawing and let's click on open. So now I have another drawing that is opened up, drawing number two. Check its layers, set to zero. Only one in there. And now if I come over here and I look at the text styles, I have these two text styles. And now when I come over and check with dimensions, notice I have this ISO 25 dimension set. And if I go modify its settings and look at some of its options, this dimension style has been set up for asymmetric settings. Cancel here and close out of here. Let's go ahead and create another drawing but this time choose a different template. So let's go to file. Let's say new. And this time I want you to choose the tutorial, iArch.dwt file and choose open. So notice that this joint template opens you up in the layout tab. That's how it was set up and saved. And if I was to come over to layers, I have layers actually loaded into this drawing template. If I was to change or check the dimension styles, this is what the dimension And if we were to check text styles, we have the Roman and Standard. So that is a look at using different drawing templates in AutoCAD but what if you wanted to create your own drawing template out of drawings that you currently have? So for this example, we're gonna go back to the finished printing and plotting drawing that we have opened. So this is a drawing that pretty much has the settings that I would like to create all of my future drawings from for this particular project. It's got these few layers in there. If I was to go over to the annotation settings, look at the dimension style, it has a dimension style called MEP. It's already set the way I like it. It has text style. It's got the notes text style in here and it's annotative the way that I like it. The only problem is, every time I start a drawing I'm not gonna need it to have this drawing information in here. That's in my model space. So this is now a drawing file. We're gonna save this as a drawing template. We're gonna click on file over here. Hit save as, and let's choose drawing template. Now it opens up in our drawing templates folder. We're gonna give it a name. Let's keep it the finished printing and plotting DWT file. Let's go ahead and hit save. We're gonna give this a description. Let's say my template settings. And it ask if you wanna save the layers as unreconciled or save them all as reconciled? I'll leave this set as default. And the measurement settings, I can change it to either English or metric. I'm gonna leave it at English 'cause this drawing was done in English. And I'm gonna say, okay. Now, for starting new drawings out, I don't need the stuff that's in model space. So let's go into the model space tab and let's basically select it, delete it, come back over to this tab the NCD. Delete the content that we don't need for our template. Go to NCB, select and delete the content that we don't need in here. Now all we have to do is hit save. Make sure we're saving this as a DWT file. Override the existing one that we have. And there we have just... After we finish saying, okay here, created our very first drawing template file. Thank you for watching this lesson. Join me in the next lesson where we will discuss controlling unit displays with drawing templates.
