Datasheet

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Chapter 1: Starting to Draw
STEPS: Drawing a Line in Four Ways
1. Start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. This exercise assumes you are using the default Drafting &
Annotation workspace in a 2D environment.
You see a new drawing. If you are prompted for a template, choose
acad.dwt (for
AutoCAD) or
acadlt.dwt (for AutoCAD LT).
2. From the Ribbon, choose Home tab ➪ Draw panel ➪ Line.
3. Move your mouse to move the crosshairs cursor around the screen. Notice the Dynamic
Input tooltip that follows the cursor around, as shown in Figure 1.4. (For this figure, I turned
off the grid.) If you don’t see the Dynamic Input tooltip, click the Dynamic Input button on
the status bar. At the same time, notice the coordinates changing on the left side of the sta-
tus bar.
FIGURE 1.4
When you move the mouse, the Dynamic Input bar follows the cursor, displaying the current
coordinates.
4. Anywhere on the screen, stop moving the mouse and click the left mouse button to pick a
point. When you move the mouse again, the Dynamic Input bar changes to prompt you to
specify the next point and to show you the angle and length of the cursor from the original
point you picked, as shown in Figure 1.5.
FIGURE 1.5
After specifying the first point of a line, the Dynamic Input bar prompts you for the next point.
5. Pick any point to create a line segment. You see the same Dynamic Input tooltip as before,
which means that you can continue to create more line segments. (Chapter 6 explains all
about drawing lines.)
6. Press Enter to end the command and finish your line.
7. For your second line, type menubar ↵ and then type 1 ↵ on the command line. The menu
bar appears at the top of the screen. From the menu, choose Draw ➪ Line. Again, pick any
point on the screen.
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