Datasheet

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.
FIGURE 1.13: The crosshair cursor placed near the UCS icon
Notice the little box at the intersection of the two crosshair lines. This is one
of several forms of the AutoCAD cursor. When you move the cursor off the draw-
ing area, it changes to the standard Windows pointing arrow. As you begin using
commands, it will take on other forms, depending on which step of a command
you’re performing.
The icon with a double arrow in the lower-left corner of the drawing area is the
UCS icon (UCS stands for user coordinate system). It indicates the positive
direction for the x- and y-axes. You won’t need it for most of the chapters in this
book, so you’ll learn how to turn it off in Chapter 3, “Setting Up a Drawing.”
Below the drawing area is the Command window, shown in Figure 1.14.
FIGURE 1.14: The Command window
When you enter commands in addition to using the Ribbon or pop-up menus,
the Command window is where you tell the program what to do and where the
program tells you what’s happening. It’s an important feature, and you’ll need to
learn how it works in detail. Four lines of text should be visible. You’ll learn how
to increase the number of visible lines later in this chapter in the section “Work-
ing in the Command Window.” When the Dynamic Input feature is active, much
of the Command window information is displayed at the cursor as well.
Chapter 1 • Getting to Know AutoCAD12
4386886c01.qxd 4/23/09 8:44 PM Page 12