STEP 2. Set grid.

The Set Grid command in the Settings section of the menu enables you to control the distance between the dots that make up the drawing grid. The grid serves two purposes. Its first purpose is as a reference overlay. The grid helps you to size entities in your drawing, check alignment, etc. If you have a grid set to 0.25 inches then you can measure distances in .25 inch increments using the grid. Try this now in CadStd®. Click on the Set Grid icon and type in .25 for the X and Y setting.

The grid's second purpose is related to a powerful CAD drawing aid called Snap. This aid controls the movement of the drawing crosshair when you are drawing or editing. Look at the screen snapshot below. The Snap shown at the top of the screen is set to Grid. This means that if you are drawing a line, for example, the crosshair will snap to the grid dots.

What if you want to end a line between two grid dots? Then you can turn the snap off by changing the setting to "None". Try this now in CadStd®. Set the Snap to Grid, then click on the Line command. Draw a line by clicking the left mouse button while the crosshair is positioned over the grid dots where you would like to begin and end the line. See how the line begins and ends precisely on the grid dots?

Now draw the same line, but this time change the Snap to "None". You can now begin and end the line between the grid dots.