Main AutoCAD Edit Command 3B - Copy Displacement

by Martin Phelps

Beyond the Basics – “Copy” # 3B “Displacement”.

Following on from my previous blog, on the “Array” subcommand of “Copy”. Another option is “Displacement”.

Once all the “Objects” to be copied have been selected, instead of selecting a “Base Point”, as would be the normal method used when copying “Objects”, the command line has besides the normal option of “Base Point” the sub command “Displacement”, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Accessing “Displacement” via the command Line.

The “Displacement” option can also be accessed by typing “D” and enter, select “Displacement” from the command line or from the right click menu, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. “Displacement” option in the right click menu.

Selecting “Displacement” will set the “Base Point” of the “Copy” to “0,0,0” in relation to the current coordinate system, which could be either in a “User” defined coordinate system or in the default “World” coordinate system, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Selecting “Displacement” as the base point.

Note: - The orange dashed line is displayed at the specified “Base Point”.

The second point can now be specified by selecting a point on screen, or using one of the key-in co-ordinate input methods.

If “Dynamic Input is “On” there is no need to enter the @ symbol since relative coordination is assumed.

However, in most cases the “Copy Base Point” is specified by using a suitable object snap on selected objects, and another object snap to define the second point.

The next blog in this series again stays with the “Copy” command, but looks at the sub command “Mode”.