Part 1 RI AL The Basics PY RI GH TE D MA Chapter 1: Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Chapter 2: Creating Your First Drawing Chapter 3: Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools Chapter 4: Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups Chapter 5: Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks CO ✦✦ ✦✦ ✦✦ ✦✦ ✦✦ TE In this part:
Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Before you can start to use AutoCAD 2009’s new capabilities, you’ll need to become familiar with the basics. If you’re completely new to AutoCAD, you’ll want to read this first chapter carefully. It introduces you to many of AutoCAD’s basic operations, such as opening and closing files, getting a close-up look at part of a drawing, and changing a drawing.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Taking a Guided Tour In this section, you’ll get a chance to familiarize yourself with the AutoCAD screen and how you communicate with AutoCAD. As you do the exercises in this chapter, you’ll also get a feel for how to work with this book. Don’t worry about understanding or remembering everything you see in this chapter. You’ll get plenty of opportunities to probe the finer details of the program as you work through the later chapters.
Taking a Guided Tour Figure 1.1 A typical arrange ment of the elements in the AutoCAD window. The Sheet Set Manager palette (or Info palette for LT) is closed for clarity. Quick Access toolbar InfoCenter Menu Browser Ribbon Drawing area UCS Command window Status bar If this is the first time you’ve started AutoCAD since you installed it, you’re asked to register and authorize AutoCAD in step 2.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface the status bar (you’ll learn more about this tool in the next chapter). The default workspace in Figure 1.1 is called the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace, which is one of two workspaces that come built into AutoCAD. Figure 1.2 shows AutoCAD’s 3D Modeling workspace, which has a different set of screen elements. Figure 1.2 also shows a standard AutoCAD drawing file with a few setting changes to give it a 3D appearance.
Taking a Guided Tour Figure 1.3 The Quick Access toolbar, featuring basic Windows file handling func tions, appears above the Ribbon, to the right of the Menu Browser. Quick Access toolbar InfoCenter Ribbon tabs Ribbon panels Ribbon panel title bars The Command window, located just below the drawing area, gives you feedback about AutoCAD’s commands as you use them. You can move and resize this window just as you move and resize other display components.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Note If you don’t see the Dynamic Input display, click the Dynamic Input tool in the status bar to turn it on. 3. Move the cursor a bit in any direction; then, click the left mouse button again. Notice that the window selection disappears, as does the Dynamic Input display. 4. Try picking several more points in the drawing area. Notice that as you click the mouse, you alternately start and end a window selection.
Taking a Guided Tour point in the drawing area, you see the message Specify opposite corner:. At the same time, the cursor starts to draw a window selection that disappears when you click another point. The same message appears in the Dynamic Input display at the cursor. As a new user, pay special attention to messages displayed in the Command window and the Dynamic Input display because this is how AutoCAD communicates with you.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Note If you look carefully at the command descriptions in the tool tip, about halfway down you’ll see an odd word with an icon to the left. This is the keyboard command equivalent to the highlighted option in the menu. You can type these keyboard commands to start the tool or menu item that you’re pointing to. You don’t have to memorize these command names, but knowing them will be helpful to you later if you want to customize AutoCAD.
Taking a Guided Tour | Figure 1.6 Options at the bottom of the Menu Browser give you ready access to recent files and actions. Use the View tool to change the panel to show previews of the items in the list Hover over an item in the list to get information about the item and a preview image. These options give you access to recent documents and actions.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface The messages in the Command window, or in the Dynamic input display, often tell you what to do next, or they may display a list of options. A single command often presents a series of messages, which you answer to complete the command. These messages serve as an aid to new users who need a little help. If you ever get lost while using a command or forget what you’re supposed to do, look at the Command window for clues.
Taking a Guided Tour | Note If you see only the Ribbon tabs, right-click on one of the tabs and choose Minimize Show Full Ribbon. If you don’t even see the tabs, press the Esc key twice and type Ribbon ↵. Move the arrow cursor onto one of the Ribbon panel tools and leave it there for a moment; you’ll see a tool tip appear just below the cursor. Hold the cursor there a bit longer and the tool tip changes to give you even more information about the tool.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.8 The arrowhead in the panel title bar tells you that additional tools are available. Click the title bar to expand the panel. Pushpin icon Understanding Flyouts One more feature you’ll want to know about are the flyouts. Flyouts are similar to the expanded panels because you can click on an arrowhead to gain access to additional tools.
Taking a Guided Tour | Figure 1.10 The tool with a fly out will change to the last tool used. The Circle tool starts out as Center, Radius… Select 2-Point from the flyout and the default Circle tool becomes 2-Point. Note Since the tool tip names of tools with flyouts can change, describing them by name can be a bit prob lematic—the name may have changed based on the last tool you used from a flyout.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface As you work though this book, occasionally you’ll be asked to open other toolbars. To get familiar with the process, try opening and closing one now. 1. Right-click in a blank area of the Quick Access toolbar and select Toolbars AutoCAD Dimension. The Dimension toolbar appears in the drawing area (see Figure 1.11). Right-click the Quick Access toolbar to open the context-sensitive menu and then select Toolbars � AutoCAD � Dimension.
Working with AutoCAD | Working with AutoCAD Now that you’ve been introduced to the AutoCAD window, you’re ready to try using a few AutoCAD commands. First you’ll open a sample file and make a few modifications to it. In the process, you’ll become familiar with some common methods of operation in AutoCAD. Opening an Existing File In this exercise, you’ll get a chance to see and use a typical Select File dialog box.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.12 The Select File dialog box 3. In the Select File dialog box, open the Look In drop-down list and locate the Chapter 01 folder of the Mastering AutoCAD 2009 sample files. (You may need to explore the list to find it.) 4. Move the arrow cursor to the clip.dwg file and click it. Notice that the clip.dwg filename now appears in the File Name input box above the file list. The Preview box also now shows a thumbnail image of the file.
Working with AutoCAD | Also note that the AutoCAD window’s title bar displays the name of the drawing. This offers easy identification of the file. This particular file contains both 2D drawings and a 3D model of a typical locking clip. The Layoutview shows a top, front, and right-side view as well as an isometric view. Getting a Closer Look One of the most frequently used commands is Zoom, which gives you a closer look at part of your drawing. This command offers a variety of ways to control your view.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.15 Placing the zoom window around the clip First click here… And then click here. 3. Click the Zoom tool in the status bar. You can also click the Window tool from the Zoom flyout in the Home tab’s Utilities panel or type the command Z↵. Click the flyout arrowhead. Select Window.
Working with AutoCAD | 3. The Command window and the dynamic input display show the Specify corner of window…: prompt with some options. Look at the top image in Figure 1.15. Move the crosshair cursor to a location similar to the one shown in the figure; then, left-click the mouse. Move the cursor and the rectangle appears with one corner fixed on the point you just picked; the other corner follows the cursor. 4.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface 5. Right-click now and choose Exit from the shortcut menu to exit the Zoom Realtime command. Figure 1.16 The final view you want to achieve in step 3 of the exercise Note If you prefer, you can use the wheel on your mouse to zoom and pan over your view. Roll the wheel to zoom in and out or click and drag the wheel to pan.
Working with AutoCAD Note By default, in Windows XP, the Automatic Save file is stored in C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temp\. You can find the exact location for your system by typing Savefilepath↵ at the Command prompt. This file location is often set as a hidden folder, so you may need to set up Windows Explorer to display hidden folders before you can get to the Automatic Save file. See Appendix A for information on how to do this.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.17 Erasing a portion of the clip Click here. Working with Multiple Files You can have multiple documents open at the same time in AutoCAD. This can be especially helpful if you want to exchange parts of drawings between files or if you want another file open for reference. Try the following exercise to see how multiple documents work in AutoCAD: 1.
Working with AutoCAD | Next, let’s try drawing a rectangle to see how AutoCAD behaves while drawing objects: 1. Click the Rectangle tool in the Home tab’s Draw panel. Notice that the Command window and the message at the cursor now shows the following prompt: Specify first corner point or AutoCAD is asking you to select the first corner for the rectangle and, in brackets, it’s offering a few options that you can take advantage of at this point in the command. Don’t worry about those options right now.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.19 After you’ve selected the first point of the rect angle, you see a rectangle follow the motion of your mouse. 4. Let’s try copying objects between these two files. Click in the window with the clip drawing to make it active. 5. Click All from the Zoom flyout in the Home tab’s Utilities panel to get an overall view of the drawing. You can also click the Zoom tool in the status bar and type A↵ (see Figure 1.20). Figure 1.
Working with AutoCAD | Figure 1.21 Grips shown in the 2D drawing. Select this part of the drawing. Now you’ve had two files open at once. You can have as many files open as you want as long as your computer has adequate memory to accommodate them. You can control the individual document windows as you would any window, using the Window drop-down menu or the window control buttons in the upper-right corner of the document window.
| Chapter 1 Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface Figure 1.22 The Tool palettes offer predrawn symbols that you can easily place in your drawings. Select a tab containing predrawn symbols you want to use. The symbol appears at the cursor ready to be placed in the drawing. Click on a symbol. In addition to predrawn objects, the Tool palettes offer a way to add fill patterns and other components quickly to your drawing.
