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When using the Relative Coordinate System in DraftSight, you will be working from a temporary location instead of an absolute location.  The Relative location is taken from the last point specified.

Let’s say we are going to construct a 50mm X 40mm rectangle in our drawing from a location on the screen using the Line command instead of the rectangle command.

Once we have activated the Line command, and selected the start point of our first line, DraftSight needs the position of the next point.

To create this rectangle, we will need to use our keyboard to input the data. Since we will be making a rectangle that is 50 x 40, we need to input the value for the length of the rectangle. 

To do this from the Relative position you will need to use the ‘@’ symbol.  The ‘@’ symbol basically states ‘from the last position selected’.  Therefore, you need to type the coordinates necessary.  After the ‘@’ symbol, DraftSight is looking for a value of Delta X ,Delta Y.

Type @50,0, and hit <Enter> which means draw the line segment 50 units in the X direction and 0 in the Y direction.  Now, you will need to draw a line that is vertical by 40 units.  To do this, type the ‘@’ symbol followed by the delta X which is 0 and Delta Y which is 40 then <Enter>, so type @0,40 <Enter>.  Now, draw a line that works towards the left to continue the rectangle.  To do this you need to specify the delta X as a negative.  Therefore, type @-50,0 and hit <Enter>  To finish the rectangle you could type the relative coordinates for the next point as @0,-40 then hit <Enter>, or since this is the last point we can use the Close option.  Type c and hit <Enter>

Remember, the symbol ‘@’ mean ‘from the last point specified’.  When using the Relative Coordinate System this is very important.

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