Datasheet

CHAPTER 1 GETTING FAMILIAR WITH AUTOCAD

WARNING If you have a mouse that uses special drivers, you might not be able to use the wheel

to control pans and zooms.

There are several other Zoom- and Pan-related commands, but those you’ve just tried are the

ones you’ll use 90 percent of the time. You can try the other Zoom and Pan options, which are dis-

played when you choose View  Zoom. They are also options in the Zoom Command window

options list:

[All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object] <real time>:

Here is a list of the options and how they are used.

Realtime is the default Zoom option. It displays a magnifying glass cursor. With this option, you

can click and drag up or down to change your magnification in real time. You can right-click to

access the other Zoom options, plus Exit and Cancel.

Previous displays the previous view like an Undo for the Zoom command.

Dynamic changes the display to an overall view. A rectangle also appears, which lets you select

an area to zoom in to. To change the size of the rectangle, left-click the mouse. This allows you

to adjust the size of the rectangle and thus change the size of the zoom area. Click again to fix the

rectangle size. Right-click and choose Enter to zoom in to the selected area.

Scale lets you zoom in or out by a specific value. It allows you to enter a specific view scale.

Center allows you to center a location on the screen.

Object lets you select a view area based on the area occupied by an object. For example, if you

want to zoom in so that a particular object fills the display area, use this option.

In is the same as using the Scale option and entering 2x to magnify your view two times.

Out is the same as using the Scale option and entering 0.5x to view twice the current view area.

All displays the area of your drawing defined by the drawing limits plus any part of your draw-

ing that falls outside the limits.

Extents displays a view that encompasses all the objects in you drawing. This option ignores the

limits of your drawing.

You’ve just about completed your first look at AutoCAD. There are just a couple of other fea-

tures you’ll want to know about. In the next section, you’ll be introduced to a display feature in

AutoCAD that helps you set up your drawing for printing.

Understanding the Layout Tabs

Aside from the Command prompt, you’ve probably noticed that AutoCAD behaves like most other

Windows programs. One element in AutoCAD’s window is a little different from other Windows

graphics programs.

At the bottom of the AutoCAD window, you’ll see a set of tabs labeled Model, Layout1, and

Layout2. If you have followed the exercises in this chapter or if you’ve just opened a brand-new

drawing, the Model tab is currently selected. This tells you that you that the drawing area you are

currently viewing is the model space of AutoCAD. Model space is the display you’ll use to do most

of your drawing. It’s like your main workspace.

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