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4386886c01.qxd 2 4/23/09 8:43 PM Page 2 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD our introduction to AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT begins with a tour of the user interfaces of the two programs. In this chapter, you’ll also learn how to use some tools that help you control their appearance and how to find and start commands. For the material covered in this chapter, the two applications are almost identical in appearance.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 3 Starting AutoCAD F I G U R E 1 . 1 : The first Initial Setup dialog box F I G U R E 1 .
386886c01.qxd 4 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 4 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD A C C E S S I N G T H E I N I T I A L S E T U P D I A L O G B OX E S To access the Initial Setup dialog boxes after the program has started, enter op↵ to open the Options dialog box, click the User Preferences tab, and then click the Initial Setup button.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 5 Starting AutoCAD F I G U R E 1 . 3 : The AutoCAD welcome screen provides access to the New Features Workshop. Selecting the Yes radio button on the left side of the dialog box opens the New Features Workshop dialog box (see Figure 1.4). Here you navigate to and select the feature you want to investigate in the left pane and observe the selection in the right pane.
4386886c01.qxd 6 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 6 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD The Customer Involvement Program Nearly all the recent releases of Autodesk products include the opportunity to participate in a customer involvement program (CIP). The CIP is designed to collect nonpersonal information about your Autodesk products and computer system to help the product programmers and developers design software that best meets your needs.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 7 Starting AutoCAD 7 Exploring the AutoCAD User Interface After bypassing the initial dialog boxes that AutoCAD provides, the program opens to display the AutoCAD user interface, also called the graphics window. AutoCAD provides many methods for creating and editing objects, changing the view of a drawing, or executing AutoCAD file maintenance or other utilities. In LT, your screen looks similar to Figure 1.6.
4386886c01.qxd 8 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 8 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD Tool palettes ViewCube SteeringWheels F I G U R E 1 . 7 : The AutoCAD graphics window using the 3D Modeling workspace You’ll be using the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace for the first 15 chapters in this book. In the final two chapters, you’ll switch to the 3D Modeling workspace. For now, however, you need to get your AutoCAD user interface to look like Figure 1.6.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 9 Starting AutoCAD 9 F I G U R E 1 . 8 : Selecting the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace 2. The 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace may display the tool palettes on the screen. If the palettes are displayed, you need to turn them off for now by clicking the X in the upper-right corner. Your workspace might have different palettes displayed than those shown in Figure 1.9.
4386886c01.qxd 1 0 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 10 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD F I G U R E 1 . 1 0 : Selecting the 2D Wireframe visual style 4. Enter plan↵ and then world↵, or click the World option in the pop-up menu if it appears, as shown in Figure 1.11. This procedure ensures that your view is perpendicular to the drawing area. It should be as though you were looking straight down at a piece of paper on a drawing table. F I G U R E 1 .
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 11 I n t ro d u c i n g t h e Au t o CA D G ra p h i c s Wi n d ow 1 1 5. Move the cursor to the left side of the status bar at the bottom of the screen, and click the Grid Display button so it’s in the Off (unpushed) position and the dots disappear. Be sure all the other readout buttons except Dynamic Input are in their Off (unpushed) positions. You can pause your cursor over each button to reveal its name in a tooltip.
4386886c01.qxd 1 2 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 12 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD The blank middle section of the screen is called the drawing area. Notice the movable crosshair cursor (see Figure 1.13). The crosshairs on your cursor might extend completely across the screen. Later in this chapter, I will show you how to modify the length of the crosshairs as well as make a few other changes. F I G U R E 1 .
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 13 I n t ro d u c i n g t h e Au t o CA D G ra p h i c s Wi n d ow Below the Command window is the status bar (see Figure 1.15). F I G U R E 1 . 1 5 : The left side of the status bar (top) and the right side of the status bar (bottom) On the left end of the status bar, you’ll see a coordinate readout window. In the middle are 10 buttons (LT has only 9) that activate various drawing modes.
4386886c01.qxd 1 4 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 14 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD F I G U R E 1 . 1 6 : Click the Options button in the Application menu. The Options dialog box (shown in Figure 1.17) opens. It has 10 tabs (LT has only 8) across the top that act like tabs on file folders. F I G U R E 1 .
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 15 I n t ro d u c i n g t h e Au t o CA D G ra p h i c s Wi n d ow 1 5 2. Click the Display tab, which is shown in Figure 1.18. Focus on the Window Elements section. If scroll bars are visible on the lower and right edges of the drawing area, the Display Scroll Bars In Drawing Window check box will be selected. F I G U R E 1 . 1 8 : The Options dialog box open at the Display tab 3. Click the check box to turn off the scroll bars.
4386886c01.qxd 1 6 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 16 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD F I G U R E 1 . 1 9 : The Drawing Window Colors dialog box N O T E The screen-captured images in this book are taken from AutoCAD sessions using the Dark Color scheme. You can set the color scheme at the top of the Window Elements area and choose either the Light or Dark scheme. 2. Move to the Color drop-down list, which is in the upper-right corner.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 17 Wo r k i n g i n t h e C o m m a n d Wi n d o w T I P If you choose a color other than black as the drawing area background color, the color of the crosshair cursor remains the same as it was. To change the crosshair color, go to the Interface Element list box in the Drawing Window Colors dialog box and select Crosshairs. Then select a color from the Color drop-down list. Working in the Command Window Just below the drawing area is the Command window.
4386886c01.qxd 1 8 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 18 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD Often, you can start AutoCAD commands in a number of ways: from the Ribbon, the Application menu, the Command window, and the menus that appear when you right-click. When you get used to drawing with AutoCAD, you’ll learn some shortcuts that start commands quickly, and you’ll find the way that best suits you.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 19 Using the Ribbon Collapsing, Moving, and Hiding the Ribbon Available drawing area is always at a premium, and you can regain some of it by collapsing the Ribbon. When you click the Minimize button to the right of the Ribbon tabs once, the panels are collapsed vertically and only show their titles. Clicking it a second time collapses the Ribbon further until only the tabs show.
4386886c01.qxd 2 0 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 20 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD If you don’t want the Ribbon at all, you can turn it off by right-clicking to the right of the Ribbon tabs and choosing Close. To turn it on, enter ribbon↵. You’ll use the Ribbon throughout this book. Using the Ribbon Tools Each panel contains tools from a related family of functions. For example, all the common tools for editing objects in the drawing area are consolidated in the Modify panel.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 21 Using the Ribbon 4. After a few seconds of hovering over the Bring To Front button, the tooltip expands to display the extended tooltip (see the bottom of Figure 1.24) with a more complete description. 5. Pause the cursor over the Copy button in the Modify panel. This time, after a few seconds, the tooltip is replaced with a cue card, as shown in Figure 1.25, instead of an extended tooltip. Cue cards show the step-by-step implementation of the tool.
4386886c01.qxd 2 2 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 22 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD Customizing the Ribbon You can customize each panel of the Ribbon, and you can build your own custom tabs and panels to display only the buttons you use frequently. You can even design your own buttons for commands that aren’t already represented by buttons on the toolbars. These activities are for more advanced users, however, and aren’t covered in this book.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 23 Using the Application Menu A bar with an up or down arrow at the top or bottom of the right pane indicates that additional tools are available. You can display these tools by placing your cursor over either bar. Opening a Drawing with the Application Menu The Application Menu offers a quick method for opening drawings. You can even see a thumbnail preview of the drawings and arrange drawings that you frequently edit so that they are easily accessible.
4386886c01.qxd 2 4 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 24 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD This opens the Select File dialog box, where you can navigate to the desired drawing file and select it. OPENING NEW FILES You can open new or existing files using the QNew or Open button in the Quick Access toolbar. Existing drawings can also be opened by dragging them from a Windows Explorer window to the AutoCAD title bar. 3.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 25 Using the Application Menu The Recent Documents list is updated whenever a new drawing is opened. Clicking the pushpin icon next to a drawing name in the right pane pins that drawing to its current location in the list. Pinned documents don’t scroll off the list when newer files are opened. 4.
4386886c01.qxd 2 6 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 26 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD N O T E AutoCAD 2010 drawing files do not use the same drawing format as prior AutoCAD versions. This means that the files created in AutoCAD 2010 are not compatible with any previous versions without requiring conversion.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 27 Using the Application Menu F I G U R E 1 . 3 2 : Displaying the open drawings in the Application menu 5. Another option for switching between open drawings is to click the Quick View Drawings button in the status bar. This displays thumbnails for the open drawings, and you can click any thumbnail to make that drawing active. Hovering over a thumbnail displays that drawing’s layouts (see Figure 1.33).
4386886c01.qxd 2 8 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 28 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD Using the Drop-Down Menus If you prefer to use drop-down menus, they’re still available in AutoCAD 2010, although they are turned off by default in the 2D Drafting & Annotation and 3D Modeling workspaces. You can display them by switching to the AutoCAD Classic workspace, by clicking the down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access toolbar and choosing Show Menu Bar (see Figure 1.34), or by entering menubar↵ 1↵.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 29 U s i n g t h e To o l b a r s between AutoCAD files and other files. The Help menu works like most Windows Help menus and contains a couple of AutoCAD-specific entries as well, including some online resources and a link to the New Features Workshop. The other eight (or ten) menus contain the most frequently used AutoCAD commands. You’ll find that if you master the logic of how the commands are organized by menu, you can quickly find the command you want.
4386886c01.qxd 3 0 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 30 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD first display the menu bar; then choose Tools ➣ Toolbars, click a toolbar category, and click the toolbar that you want to open (see Figure 1.36). F I G U R E 1 . 3 6 : Selecting a toolbar to display Take a few minutes to explore the available toolbars, and then close them and hide the display of the menu bar.
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 31 Using the Mouse When you make changes to the new workspace by adding a toolbar or changing the background color of the drawing area, you can easily update the current workspace to accommodate those changes. Follow steps 1 and 2, naming the workspace again with the same name. You’ll get a warning window telling you that a workspace by that name already exists and asking you whether you want the new arrangement to replace the old one. Click Yes.
4386886c01.qxd 3 2 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 32 Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD To use in combination with the Shift or Ctrl key to display a menu containing special drawing aids called object snaps To display a menu of toolbars when the pointer is on any icon of a toolbar that is currently open If you have a three-button mouse, the middle button is usually programmed to display the Object Snap menu, instead of using the right button with the Shift key.
