Move, Rotate, and Scale with Align in AutoCAD

The align command simply aligns objects with other objects in 2D and 3D. Many times as drafters and designers we need to align objects with other objects also importing data or from PDF files or images. How do we get those imported objects into AutoCAD and line them up. The Align command will do just that. With “Align” you can move, rotate and scale an object while aligning it with existing geometry or selected points (even images and pdf underlays). The align command can be found on the ribbon Home tab under the Modify panel as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Align on the Ribbon

Let’s take a look at the following example. All we have on our drawing is a box and a polygon. We want to align one edge of the polygon to the box then scale to match the length. Type ALIGN at the command prompt or select from the Ribbon and follow the sequence as shown below in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Using Align to Move, Rotate and Scale one object to another.

Hit enter when complete and you will be asked to scale the object, select YES.   

Take a look at your results!  Like magic the object was moved, rotated, and scaled as shown in Figure 3.  Three commands all rolled up in one, how cool is that?.  Try this out when using images or pdf files to underlay as a guide while in the design process.

Figure 3: Objects have been aligned.

See the attached video on how to complete this process in AutoCAD.

Happy February – It’s Cold in Michigan! Until next month….Sam