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CHAPTER 1 Exploring thE AutoCAD AnD AutoCAD lt intErfACE
Command window•◆
Status bar•◆
Figure 1.1, shown earlier in this chapter, shows a typical layout of the AutoCAD program
window. You can organize the AutoCAD window into any arrangement you want and save it as
a workspace. You can save and recall a workspace at any time using the Workspace Switching tool
in 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
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. Beneath these external changes, the underlying program is the same.
You’ll learn more about workspaces later in this chapter and in Chapter 28.
In the upper-left corner of the AutoCAD program window, the red AutoCAD icon features
the Application menu, which offers a set of options not directly related to drawing; I’ll elaborate
on this new menu in the next section, “Using the Application Menu.” The Quick Access toolbar
at the top of the drawing area (as shown in Figure 1.3) includes the basic file-handling functions
that you find in nearly all Windows programs. The InfoCenter is AutoCAD’s online help facility;
you’ll learn more about it in Chapter 2. The Ribbon provides nearly all the commands you’ll need
using icon tools; you’ll learn more about the Ribbon in the section “Using the Ribbon” later in
this chapter.
Figure 1.2
The 3D Modeling
workspace offers
an alternative
arrangement of
the elements in the
AutoCAD window.
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