First Things to Know

This section is designed to introduce you to the elements that form the foundation of AutoCAD Land Desktop: projects, prototypes, templates, setup profiles, settings, and loading menus.

Projects
The project is a basic unit of AutoCAD Land Desktop. It is a directory structure that contains all the data and settings relevant in designing a job. Data includes points, surfaces, drawings, and any other data created or referenced in your work. Drawings within a single project might illustrate separate aspects of the design yet share a common database and use common styles. When you install AutoCAD Land Desktop, a project folder (c:\Land Projects <Version Number>, by default) is created. Each time you create a project, a subfolder named <project name> is created within the project folder. For example, if you create a project named 97201, then AutoCAD Land Desktop creates the following folder: c:\Land Projects <Version Number>\97201 AutoCAD Land Desktop requires that drawings be associated with projects so that it has a location in which to store its external files. When you start a new drawing, you are prompted to select a project for the drawing. You can either create a new project or assign the drawing to an existing project. The drawing remains associated with that project as long as the project exists in the current Project Path. If you delete the project or if you change the project path, then you are prompted to select a project the next time you open the drawing. You can also associate an existing drawing (already assigned to a project) with a different project by using the Reassociate Drawing command.

Note If you open a drawing, or create a new drawing, without using the
AutoCAD Land Desktop versions of the New and Open commands, you are prompted to select a project with which to associate the drawing. If you decline to select a project, then AutoCAD Land Desktop automatically creates a project called _scratch and links the drawing to it. When you create a new project, you must specify a name and a prototype (default settings for new drawings that are associated with the project) for the project. You can also add a description of the project and any keywords that help you identify the project. When you are searching for a project, you can filter the list of projects based on the keywords to find a particular project.

First Things to Know

For more information, see Working with Projects on page 24.

Tip Although it is not required, we suggest that you save the drawings in the \dwg subfolder that is created in the project folder. This keeps the drawing and the project files together for easier archiving.

Prototypes
Prototypes provide a convenient way for you to maintain standard settings for the drawings. After you set up the drawing settings by using the Drawing Settings command on the Projects menu, you can save them back to a prototype. When you create a new project, you can select a prototype to use for the default settings for new drawing creation. At first, prototypes may seem similar to templates. However, each serves a distinct purpose:

Templates are comprised of drawing setup values that control the elements of a drawing. These might include standard layers, text styles, line types, dimension styles, and AutoCAD variables like Aperture. They can also store blocks, such as a border or a company logo. For more information, see the following section, Templates. Prototypes store settings that determine how AutoCAD Land Desktop behaves. For instance, a prototype might control point settings, output settings, and standard point groups.

When you install AutoCAD Land Desktop, a root prototype folder (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Land Desktop <Version Number>\<Release Number>\Data\Prototypes) is created. Each prototype is represented by a subfolder of this root prototype folder. For example, if you create a prototype named MYPROTO, then AutoCAD Land Desktop creates the following folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Land Desktop <Version Number>\<Release Number>\Data\Prototypes\myproto AutoCAD Land Desktop always maintains default prototypes, one for feet and the other for meters. If you delete these prototypes, then they are recreated, using the default system settings, the next time you start AutoCAD Land Desktop. For more information about prototype settings, see Prototype Settings on page 22.

Chapter 1

Introduction