You may know that there is the ALIGN command which is really helpful. But with the ALIGN command the object that you are aligning/rotating end up being moved to its reference object. So how do you rotate an object and basically leave it in its current location and use another object’s angle as a reference?
Here’s how:
- ROTATE <enter> ( or RO <enter>) to start the rotate command
- Select the object(s) to rotate <enter>
- R <enter> to start the Reference option
- Click 2 points on the object that is to be rotated. This basically sets the relative angle to zero.
- P <enter> for the “Points” option
- Click 2 points on the reference object. This will set the new rotation angle for the object that is to be rotate.
AutoCAD Tips 
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thank u. its helping me
should this work for autocad 2013 or did they change something in rotating by reference?
thank you!!
I did try this again using the same drawing as shown in the animated picture and with AutoCAD 2014 and it worked the same for me.
One thing that might not be very obvious is that after you specify the base point and then select the sub-option of “Reference” you need to pick 2 points on the object. so you may have to pick that base point again and then another point along an edge. Then you can pick 2 points along the “reference” object.
I think that I will redo this post to make it more clear.
Thanks
~Greg
Thanks alot