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AutoCAD 1

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20 views8 pages

AutoCAD 1

Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Introduction to AutoCAD

The term CAD (Computer Aided Design) applies to a wide range of programs that allow the user to
created drawings, plans, and designs electronically. AutoCAD is one such program and it main claim to
fame is that it is relatively easy to use, it is very comprehensive in its ability to create 2D and some 3D
drawings, and it is very popular. Seventy percent of the CAD users in the world use AutoCAD.

I Starting AutoCAD

You can start AutoCAD by either double clicking on the program Icon on the desktop or by
clicking on the program name in the Start menu.
The program will start and after a minute or so should display a screen similar to the one shown
below. The dialog box in the middle will aid you in getting started at either creating a new drawing or
continuing your work on a drawing that is not finished.

“A” Icon

Ortho Icon

If you are continuing work on a drawing, click on the “A” icon in the extreme upper left corner of
the window and Open->Drawing. A “Select File” dialog box will open allowing you to select the drawing
file you want to open.

II The Initial Screen

AutoCAD has a very versatile user interface that allows you to control the program in several
different ways. At the top of the window is a row of menus. Clicking on the Home, Insert, or Annotate
causes another selection of menus to appear. This new selection of commands is frequently called a
Ribbon or a Dashboard. You can operate the program by clicking on the icons in these menus.
Another method of using the program is typing in the command names. This is frequently faster
than using drop down menus for frequently used commands because you do not have to search for the
correct menu or icon. You just type in the command name. For the most part, we will use this approach
in this series of tutorials. The commands that you type will appear at the bottom of the of the AutoCAD
window.
AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 1
III The LINE Command

Now that you have started AutoCAD and


configured tool bars you want, you are ready to start
learning to use the program. We will start with
relatively simple commands and eventually, in later
lessons, look at some of the more complex things that
AutoCAD can do. The first command we will look at
draws straight lines. At the keyboard, type in:

line

and press the ENTER key. You can use either upper or
lower case when you type in AutoCAD commands.
The program will respond with:

Specify First Point:

Each line has a beginning and ending point and the program wants you to specify the beginning
point of the line. You enter the beginning point by either typing in the point coordinates at the keyboard or
by clicking with the mouse on a location of the screen where you want the line to begin. It is certainly
much simpler to click with the mouse than it is to type in coordinates but engineering drawings are drawn
precisely to scale and for the most part we will have to
enter coordinates from the keyboard.
When you type in a coordinate, enter the X or
horizontal coordinate first followed by a comma and the
Y or vertical coordinate. You cannot enter a space
between the two coordinates. AutoCAD interprets a
space as the ENTER key and assumes that you have
finished entering the coordinates.

For Example, you could type:

Specify First Point: 3.5,6

The 3.5 coordinate is the X or horizontal coordinate and the 6 is the vertical coordinate. We will talk more
about coordinates in subsequent tutorials. In the remainder of this tutorial, you can enter points by clicking
on the desired location with the mouse.
Click with the mouse at the starting point of the line. Notice when you click on the starting point,
the mouse pointer changes from a large cross to an elastic line with one end fixed at the location where you
clicked. The prompt at the bottom of the screen says:

To Point:

The program is waiting for you to enter the end point of the line. You can either type in the
coordinates of the line or click with the mouse. Try drawing a horizontal line by clicking with the mouse.
After you click on the end point of the line, the program repeats the prompt and is waiting for you to enter
the end point of the next line. The program chains lines together end to end until you press the ENTER key
without entering a coordinate or clicking with the mouse. Pressing the ESC key or pressing the ENTER
key without entering any other information terminates most AutoCAD commands. The figure at the right
shows an example of a series of lines drawn with the mouse.
While you are drawing lines with the mouse, try drawing a square with horizontal top and bottom

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 2
and vertical sides. You can see the difficulty in drawing precisely with the mouse.
You can start the LINE command by typing in the word LINE or by just typing L.

IV ORTHO

Drawing perfectly horizontal and vertical lines with the mouse is very difficult, but AutoCAD can
assist you. At the very bottom of the AutoCAD window is a small icon shown in the picture of the screen.
ORTHO is an AutoCAD setting. When ORTHO is on, you can only draw vertical and horizontal lines
with the mouse and when ORTHO is off, you can draw lines in any direction. You turn ORTHO on and
off by clicking on the ORTHO icon at the bottom of the window. The background of the icon changes
colors when the ORTHO setting is on. You can turn the setting on and off while you are in the LINE or
other commands by just clicking on the icon.
The ORTHO setting does not affect lines drawn by entering coordinates at the prompt.

V Erasing Objects

AutoCAD calls lines, circles, arcs and other things that you draw objects. You can erase any of
these objects by typing the command:

ERASE

The program will respond with:

Select Objects:

You select the objects (lines, arcs, circles, etc.) in several different ways. The easiest way is to
click on the object you want to erase. When you do, the object is redrawn as a dashed line. This shows
the object has been selected for deletion. Click on all of the objects that you want to erase then press the
ENTER key to terminate the command and erase the objects.
AutoCAD commands frequently have command modifiers that change the way the command
works. For the ERASE command, you can type:

ERASE ALL

and AutoCAD selects all of the objects in the drawing


for erasure. The word ALL modifies the way
command works.
Another option is:

ERASE W

The W stands for window which allows you to select the


objects by drawing a box around them. First click
above and to the right of the objects that you want to
erase. When you do, the mouse pointer changes to an elastic box with one corner fixed at the place where
you clicked. Move the mouse until the box completely covers the information you want selected and click
the mouse button again. All of the objects inside the box will be selected for erasure. Press the ENTER
key to erase the objects.
You can type E to start the ERASE command.

VI Oops

If you make a mistake and erase something that you did not want to erase, type:

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 3
OOPS

to undo the last erasure. OOPS always undoes the last erasure even though you have continued with other
commands since the objects were erased.

VII Canceling a Command

If you start a command and do not want to complete it, you can press the Esc key to cancel the
command. For some commands, you may have to press the key more than once. Keep pressing the Esc
key until you see the Command: prompt at the bottom of the screen.

VIII Drawing Circles

Circles are created with the CIRCLE command. Type:

CIRCLE

at the command prompt and AutoCAD will respond with:

3P/2P/TTR/<Center point>:

There are several different ways you can define a circle. In the computer response above, the words
Center point are surrounded by angle brackets and this shows you the program is expecting you to enter
the coordinates of the center of the circle. You can either type the coordinates or click with the mouse.
The quantity in angle brackets is always the default selection for a command. The letters
3P/2P/TTR/are options you can use to modify the input required to create a circle. These options are:

3P Define the circle with 3 non-collinear points.


2P Define the circle with points on either end of the circle diameter.
TTR Define the circle by specifying two other objects that are tangent to the circle and
the radius of the circle.

Draw several circles experimenting with these different settings.


If you use the default method of drawing a circle and enter the coordinates or click with the mouse
at the center of with the circle, the program will respond with:

Diameter/<Radius>:

which says it wants you to enter the radius of the circle. If you type a D instead of a number, it will ask you
for the circle diameter instead of the radius. Notice that you did not have to type Diameter. You only
type the part of the option that is capitalized.
Instead of entering the radius, you can draw the circle by moving the mouse until the circle is the
correct size then clicking the left mouse button.

IX Drawing Arcs

The ARC command is used to draw arcs. Experiment with this command and see some of the
various options you have in creating the arcs.

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 4
X Program Help

If you need more information on the various options for drawing an


arc, park the mouse over the icon and after a few seconds, a help message will
pop up. The help message will stay on the screen for as long as the mouse is
parked over the icon. If you want more help, you can press the F1 key and
AutoCAD will open a web page where you can look up the command and read
a more in depth description of how it works.

XI Undoing Mistakes

If you make a mistake with a command you can undo anything it has Figure 1 Help message
done by typing U at the command prompt. The entire effects of the last thing produced when the mouse is
you typed will be undone and AutoCAD will return to the state it was in prior to parked over the arc command.
the typing.
If you are inside a LINE or other command, you can enter U to undo the last coordinates entered or
the last option selected.
You can undo the last command by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing Z. Each time you
press Z, AutoCAD will remove the last command. If your press Z five times, it will backup through the
last five commands.

XII Zooming in on Detail

You enlarge or reduce the size of an object on the screen with the ZOOM command. At the
command prompt type:

ZOOM

and AutoCAD responds with:

[All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object] <real time>:

There are many options to the ZOOM command. Some of the more useful are:

All Change the scale so that all of the drawing is shown in the window.

Previous ZOOM to the previous view of the drawing.

Scale Enter a scale factor in the form nX where n is a scaling factor and X is just the letter
X. A number larger than 1 makes the drawing appear larger and a number
smaller than 1 makes the drawing smaller. For example 2 makes the drawing
twice as large as it currently is and .5 makes the drawing half its current size.

Window Allows you to draw a window around the area of the drawing you want to see
enlarged. The window is drawn by selecting opposite diagonal corners with the
mouse.

You can start the ZOOM command by just typing ZOOM or Z at the command prompt.
A very easy to zoom in or out can be done with the mouse. Move the mouse till it is near a location
you want to remain on the screen. Roll the wheel between the two mouse buttons forward to make the
object larger and roll it backwards (towards you) to make the object on the screen smaller.
If you zoom in to make the object larger, the object you want to see can zoom off of the screen if
you did not place your mouse close to it before you started zooming. If it does scroll off of the screen,

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 5
move your mouse over until it is as close as you can get to the object, hold down on the wheel, and drag the
screen over until you can see the object you want to see. This operation is called PANNING.

XIII Size of Drawing Area

The drawing area is as large as you need it to be. The usable drawing area does not just consist of
the area that you can see. You can pan around the drawing area to reveal areas of your drawing that are out
of view. You can also ZOOM in and out to reveal more or less of the drawing area. Because the drawing
area is so large, it is a good idea to indicate the region that you wish to use. This is your drawing size or
limits. This is usually the area that will be printed. You can change your drawing size using the LIMITS
command.
Setting your drawing size type:

limits
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>: Enter the lower left corner of
your limits. Usually this
should always remain 0,0.
Specify upper right corner <420.0000,297.0000>: Enter the coordinates for the
upper right corner of the
drawing area you want to
use. You can use the mouse
to select the upper right
corner of the limits.

XIV Specifying the Units for the Drawing

The units (i.e. inches, millimeters, feet) used to draw objects in the drawing area can be selected
using the UNITS command. Type UNITS then press enter. The following dialog box will appear
allowing you to select the units and the number of decimals displayed in the commands.

XV Shortcuts

AutoCAD has many short cuts that make the work easier. One
very useful one is pressing the ENTER key to repeat the last command.

XVI Saving Your Work

Periodically, you should save your work. You can do this by


clicking on the “A” icon then selecting “Save” with your mouse. You
can also save your work by typing Ctrl S (holding down the Ctrl key and
pressing the S key.)
The first time you do this, AutoCAD produces a dialog box that allows you to select the file folder
where you want the files saved and the name you want to use for the drawing. The next time you use the
command, AutoCAD saves the file at the same location using the same name.

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 6
XVII Plotting

You can plot the drawings you have made by clicking on


the “A” icon then selecting print. This creates the dialog box
shown on the right.
Select the printer or plotter you are going to use then define
the plotting area. If you set limits for the area you want to plot
select Limits in the “What to plot:” pull down menu. If you did
not define the limits, you can use Extents. The Extents will plot
selection will plot everything you have drawn.
We are not plotting scaled drawings at this time so mark
the “Fit to paper” box. This will stretch or shrink the drawing so
that it fits on the paper.
Before you click on OK to plot the drawing, it is always a
good idea to “Preview” to drawing. Click on this button to see
what the drawing will look like on your sheet of paper. If it looks
ok, you can click on the printer button in the preview screen. If it does not look ok, click on the circle with
an X in it. This will return to the plot Model dialog box so you can make changes that will hopefully
produce the plot you want. After you have made changes, be sure to preview it again to make sure it is
working correctly.

XVIII Ending the Program

You terminate the program by clicking on “A” then “Exit AutoCAD” in the lower right corner of
the pull down menu. The program asks you if you want to save the changes you have made to the drawing.
You should click on the “Yes” button to save the changes.

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 7
Problems

AutoCAD Lesson 1 – P a g e | 8

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