Wiley AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009: No Experience Required
Contents
1. 1 Click the Workspace Switching button in the status bar and choose 2D Drafting amp Annotation Alternately you can choose Tools gt Workspaces gt 2D Drafting amp Annotation 3D Modeling AutoCAD Classic Save Current As fo Workspace Settings Customize The 2D Drafting amp 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 5 If other palettes are still visible click the X in the upper right or upper left corner of each palette to close them a G Cylindrical Hels 2D Spiral 7 2 3 FIGURE 1 5 The tool palettes The large area in the middle of the screen is called the drawing area It might need adjusting Enter visualstyles to open the Visual Styles Manager and then click the 2D Wireframe option see Figure 1 6 Close the Visual Styles Manager Starting AutoCAD Contour ines Draw true silhouettes Color Linetype Visible Color Halo gap Arcjcicle smoothing 11000 Spline segments 8 Solid smoothness 0 5000 FIGURE 1 6 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 If dots appear in the drawing area the grid is turned on2. hil CHAPTER 1 iia Getting to Know AutoCAD Opening a new drawing Getting familiar with the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT graphics windows Modifying the display Displaying and arranging AutoCAD tools 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 Therefore as you tour AutoCAD TIl point out any differences between AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT In general LT is a2D program so it doesn t have most of the 3D features that come with Auto CAD such as solids modeling and rendering The AutoLISP programming lan guage found in AutoCAD is also absent from LT as is the Action Recorder The other differences are minor As mentioned in this book s introduction when I say AutoCAD I mean both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT I ll also specifically refer to AutoCAD LT as LT throughout this chapter and the rest of the book Starting AutoCAD is the first task at hand Starting AutoCAD If you installed AutoCAD using the default settings for the location of the program files start the program by choosing Start gt Programs gt Autodesk gt AutoCAD 2009 gt AutoCAD 2009 or by choosing Start gt Programs gt Autodesk
3. 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 Your screen should look similar enough to Figure 1 3 to continue The title bar and menu bar at the top of the LT screen are identical to those in AutoCAD except that AutoCAD LT appears in the title bar rather than AutoCAD Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD Introducing the AutoCAD Graphics Window At the top of the graphics window sit the Ribbon the Quick Access toolbar to the left and the InfoCenter and related tools on the right Quick Access Toolbar Program and Drawing title InfoCenter Communications Favorites Center Ribbon Help button The itle bar is analogous to the title bar in any Windows program It contains the program name AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT and the title of the current draw ing with its path as long as any drawing other than the default Drawingn dwg is open Below the title bar is the Ribbon where you ll find most of the AutoCAD commands and tools needed to complete any drawing task Related tasks are found under the different tabs which are further segmented into panels contain ing similar tools To the far right of t
4. Ardler Take a few minutes to explore the available toolbars and then open the Stan dard toolbar from the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT category The icons on the AutoCAD toolbars look like flat images and don t appear as raised buttons until you point to them The Standard toolbar has 25 icons and they are arranged into seven logical groups The icons on the left half of the Standard toolbar are mostly for commands used in all Windows compatible applications so you might be familiar with them The icons on the right half of the Standard toolbar are AutoCAD commands that you use during your regular drawing activities You can use these commands to take care of a number of tasks including the following gt Changing the view of the drawing on the screen gt Changing the properties of an object such as color or linetype gt Borrowing parts of an unopened drawing to use in your current drawing gt Displaying a set of palettes that contain objects you can use in your drawing Accessing the Toolbar Fly Out Menus Notice that one icon on the Standard toolbar has a little triangular arrow in the lower right corner This arrow indicates that clicking this icon displays more than one command Follow these steps to see how this special icon works 1 Move the cursor to the Standard toolbar and point to the icon that a has a magnifying glass with a rectangle in it 2 Rest the arrow on the button for a moment without clicking to dis play t
5. Profile gt gt 1R Curent drawing Drawing2 dwg M Window Elements I Display Drawing status bar I Display screen menu Show ToolTips Show rollover TootTips Colors Color scheme Dak z IT Display scroll bars in drawing window I Use large buttons for Toolbars IV Show shortcut keys in ToolTips I Show extended TootTips 2 Number of seconds to delay Eos M Display resolution q 11000 Asc and circle smocthness Bl fe Segments in a polyline curve tm os Rendered object smoothness j Contour ines per surface M Display performance J Pan and zoom with raster amp OLE SS JX Highlight raster image frame only fA I Apply solid fill S 7 Show text boundary frame only M Layout elements F Display printable area Display paper background I Display paper shadow I Display Layout and Model tabs IT Show Page Setup Manager for new layouts Create viewport in new layouts I Dray tue silhouettes for solids and surfaces M Crosshair size m Reference Edit fading intensity x Open and Save Plot and Publish System User Preferences Drafting 3D Modeing Selection Profiles Cancel Appi Help FIGURE 1 8 The Options dialog box open at the Display tab 3 Click the check box to turn off the scroll bars Also be sure the check boxes for Display Screen Menu and in the Layout Elements section Display Layout And Model Tabs are not sele
6. and will be intro duced in Chapter 5 Dynamic UCS stands for Dynamic User Coordinate System it s 10 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD used in 3D drawings The Dynamic Input button is an on off toggle that activates or suppresses the dynamic display of information next to the crosshair cursor when it s in the drawing area For now keep it in the on pushed mode The Show Hide Lineweight button toggles the display of lineweights discussed in Chapter 14 in the drawing area When active the Quick Properties tool displays the most com mon properties for the selected object s in a dialog box where they can be edited If you prefer text based buttons rather than icons you can right click on any of the tools mentioned here and uncheck the Use Icons option At the right side of the status bar are tools for controlling the appear Lt ance of annotation objects in AutoCAD tools for navigating in the draw ing area and controlling the display and tools to control access to other drawings or features within the current drawing The padlock icon controls which types of toolbars and windows are locked in their current positions on the screen Leave it in the unlocked mode for now To conclude this quick introduction to the various parts of the graphics window I need to mention a couple of items that might be visible on your screen You might have scroll bars below and to the right of the drawing area although these can be useful the
7. annotating a drawing Modify Contains commands for changing existing objects in the drawing Window Contains commands for displaying currently open drawing windows and lists currently open drawing files Express Contains a library of productivity tools that cover a wide range of AutoCAD functions Express Tools are widely used but unsupported directly by Autodesk They might or might not be installed on your computer You can turn off the menu bar by right clicking on the Quick Access toolbar and choosing Show Menu Bar or by entering menubar 0 Using the Toolbars The AutoCAD toolbars have essentially been replaced by the Ribbon so PI only touch on them briefly here Toolbars like the Ribbon panels are collections of tools grouped by similar tasks Like the Ribbon itself any toolbar can be dis played or hidden without affecting the others and they can all be docked toa side or the top of the drawing area or float freely To display a toolbar right LT has only 23 Standard toolbar buttons It doesn t have the Sheet Set Manager and Block Editor buttons because LT doesn t offer these features Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD click on the Quick Access toolbar click Toolbars click a toolbar category and then click the toolbar that you want to open Customize Quick Access Toolbar 3D Navigation CONTENTSEARCH gt CAD Standards EXPRESS gt Camera Adjustment IMPRESSION Draw Prz
8. s Help page te BOD MAA T 7 La Ae Move Explode Breaks a compound object into its component objects em EXPLODE Hl Press F1 for more help te BOA WEA Br A Unsaved Layer gt Ge Move y 7 A gt 5 2 0 OO Dm tayer2 Breaks a compound object into its component objects Explodes a compound object when you want to modify its components separately Objects that can be exploded include blocks polylines and regions among others m EXPLODE F Press F1 for more help FIGURE 1 12 The tooltip for the Explode command top and the extended tooltip bottom 4 After a few seconds of hovering over the Explode button the tooltip expands to display the extended tooltip see the bottom of Figure 1 12 with a more complete description Oa 5 Pause the cursor over the Copy button in the Modify panel This time iy after a few seconds the tooltip is replaced with a cue card as shown in Figure 1 13 instead of an extended tooltip Cue cards show the step by step implementation of the tool Using the Ribbon he goals meae a ems love 4 Copy Copies objects a specified distance in a specified direction With the COPYMODE system variable you can control whether multiple copies are created automatically a COPY F Press F1 for more help FIGURE 1 13 The cue card for the Copy tool 6 Click the Modify panel s title bar to expand the pa
9. E AIE 2 The left pane of the Menu Browser displays the different menus Hov ering over a menu displays the commands and submenus in the right pane as shown in Figure 1 14 File Edit view Insert Format Tools Draw ET ShowMotion Dimension 4 Orbit Modify dp acerca he Orbit Window QD Ere Orbit Help Continuous Orbit Express p Camera Walk and Fly Aerial View Clean Screen Viewports Named Views 30 Views Recent Documents Gi Create Camera Open Documents a Recent Actions Show Annotative Objects FIGURE 1 14 The Menu Browser Using the Menu Browser 3 Submenus are identified by the pale right facing arrows to the left of their names Click this arrow or the name of a submenu to expand it and display the tools Click in the same location again to collapse the submenu Opening a Drawing with the Menu Browser The Menu Browser offers a quick method for opening drawings You can even see a thumbnail preview of the drawings and arrange drawings that you fre quently edit so that they are easily accessible Here s how 1 To open anew AutoCAD file from the Menu Browser click File gt New This opens the Select Template dialog box where you select a tem plate to base the new drawing on Opening a file with a template is covered in Chapter 2 2 To open an existing file from the Menu Browser click File gt Open File gt E New Ctrl N Edit New Sheet S
10. Q 2009 02 FIRST REVISION 02 ACAD 6 FR cABINISCOWG NeR 2009 CHAP14 CHAP14 CD FILES TRAINING DATA CABIN148 0WG Z i CABIN144 DWG Date Modified 1 30 2008 2 41 39 PM Version Info AutoCAD 2007 jmcfariand Last Save By a ER SITEIZA 0WG sani S er Using the Menu Browser es NOTE AutoCAD 2009 drawing files use the same drawing format as AutoCAD versions 2008 and 2007 This means that the files are compatible between versions without requiring any type of conversion Switching Between Open Drawings As in many programs you can have multiple drawing files open in the same session of AutoCAD Each drawing is stacked behind the drawings in front of it There are several ways to switch between the open file including using the Menu Browser as shown here 1 Start or open two or more AutoCAD files 2 Open the Menu Browser and then hover over the Open Documents option in the lower left corner The open drawings are displayed in the right panel and the current drawing is marked with a blue dot to the left of its name as shown in Figure 1 16 File Edit View Insert Cabin14b dwg Format Drawing1 dwg Site13a dwg Tools Draw Dimension Modify Window Help Express E Recent Documents EB Open Documents p gt Sy Recent Actions FIGURE 1 16 Displaying the open drawings in the Menu Browser 3 Click on any drawing to bring it to the front of the AutoCAD window Chapter 1 Gett
11. cted Don t click the OK button yet Another display setting that you might want to change at this point controls the color of the cursor and the drawing area background The illustrations in this book show a white background and black crosshair cursor but you re proba bly seeing the AutoCAD default which features a black background and a white crosshair cursor If you want to change the colors follow these steps 1 In the Window Elements area of the Display tab click the Colors but ton to open the Drawing Window Colors dialog box see Figure 1 9 In the upper left corner of the dialog box in the Context list box 2D Model Space should be selected If it s not select it LT doesn t have the Screen menu so the option to turn it off isn t on LT s Display tab 12 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD x Context Interface elemert Color O white X Sheet f layout Crosshairs SS 3D parallel projection Autotrack vector F it for Yz 3D perspective projection Block editor Command line Restore current element Plot preview Restore current context Light end limk Restore all contexts Camera glyphs color Camera frustum frustum plane Camera dipping planes Light Web xl Restore classic colors Preview men d ea aS FIGURE 1 9 The Drawing Window Colors dialog box NOTE The screen captured images in this book are taken from AutoCAD sessions using the Dark Color Scheme You ca
12. ea 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 Below the drawing area is the Command window 2 gt gt Enter new value for ORTHOMODE lt 0 gt pA Resuming LINE command Specify next point or Undo Cancel Command 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 area 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 Below the Command window is the status bar 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 It s important to learn about the coordinate system and most of these drawing aids Snap Mode Grid Display Ortho Mode Object Snap etc early on as you learn to draw in AutoCAD They will help you create neat and accurate drawings Polar Tracking and Object Snap Tracking are advanced drawing tools
13. et View Open Ctri O Insert Open ok Set Format E Load Markup Set This opens the Select File dialog box where you can navigate to and select the desired drawing file TIP You can open new or existing files using the QNew or Open buttons in the Quick Access toolbar Existing drawings can also be opened by drag ging them from a Windows Explorer window to the AutoCAD title bar 20 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD 3 To open a file that you ve worked on recently hover over the Recent Documents option in the lower left corner of the Menu Browser This displays the most recent files opened in AutoCAD in the right pane as shown in Figure 1 15 2 NEW SHEET SET 1 DST ER CASINISD EXTRA DWG CABINI4D DWG CABIN14C DWG CABINI4B 0WG CABIN13C DWG CABINISA DWG CABIN13B DWG te ta e w fl f S fl u SITELSA DWG 1 Bact AutoCAD FIGURE 1 15 Displaying the recent documents in the Menu Browser 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 Hover over a file name in the right pane to display a thumbnail pre view of the drawing and additional information including the draw ing location and AutoCAD drawing format 5 cameos p l e L S F MAC SYBEX ACAD NO EXP RE
14. eyboard AutoCAD provides what are called alias keys single keys or key combinations that start any of several frequently used Using the Mouse 27 commands You can add more or change the existing aliases as you get more familiar with the program In addition to the alias keys you can use several of the F keys function keys on the top row of the keyboard as two way or three way toggles to turn AutoCAD functions on and off Although buttons on the screen duplicate these functions Snap Grid and so on it s sometimes faster to use the F keys While working in AutoCAD you ll need to enter a lot of data such as dimen sions and construction notes answer questions with yes or no and use the arrow keys You ll use the keyboard constantly It might help to get into the habit of keeping your left hand on the keyboard and your right hand on the mouse if you re right handed or the other way around if you re left handed Using the Mouse Your mouse most likely has two buttons and a scroll wheel So far in this chap ter you have used the left mouse button to choose menus commands and options and you ve held it down to drag menus toolbars and windows The left mouse button is the one you ll be using most often but you ll also use the right mouse button While drawing you ll use the right mouse button for the following three operations gt To display a menu containing options relevant to the particular
15. face showing the menu bar Commands in the File menu are for opening and saving new and existing draw ing files printing exporting files to another application choosing basic utility options and exiting the application The Edit menu contains the Undo and Redo commands the Cut and Paste tools and options for creating links between Auto CAD 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 Using the Toolbars 23 The other eight or nine 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 Here is a short description of each of the other AutoCAD drop down menus View Contains tools for controlling the display of your drawing file Insert Contains commands for placing drawings and images or parts of them inside other drawings Format Contains commands for setting up the general parameters for a new drawing or changing the entities in a current drawing Tools Contains special tools for use while you re working on the current draw ing such as those for finding the length of a line or for running a special macro Draw Contains commands for creating new objects such as lines or circles on the screen Dimension Contains commands for dimensioning and
16. gt AutoCAD LT 2009 gt AutoCAD LT 2009 depending on your program This command path might vary depending on the Windows scheme you are using You can also find and click the AutoCAD 2009 icon or the AutoCAD LT 2009 icon on your desktop Exploring the New Features Workshop The New Features Workshop welcome screen opens when you first start Auto CAD and leads to several animated demonstrations and explanations of the new features included in the latest release of AutoCAD see Figure 1 1 This is a quick and easy way to see how AutoCAD 2009 has improved over AutoCAD 2008 and which tools you can use to augment any skills you already have Choosing Maybe Later on the left side of the dialog box causes it to reappear every time you start AutoCAD Choosing the No Don t Show This To Me Again option dis misses the dialog box indefinitely If you chose that option you must then access the New Features Workshop through the Help option in the Menu Browser the menu system that you access by clicking on the large red A in the top left corner of the AutoCAD user interface Selecting the Yes radio button on the left side of the dialog box opens the New Features Workshop dialog box see Figure 1 2 Here you navigate and select the feature you want to investigate in the left pane and observe the selection in the right pane The drop down list in the upper left corner provides access to the New Features Workshops for other Autodesk products installed on y
17. he drop down menus open and control the positioning of toolbars Y save a workspace of your screen setup in AutoCAD
18. he title bar are the InfoCenter Communications Center Favorites and Help buttons You can enter a question in the field to the left of the InfoCenter button to quickly access information from the Help system through the InfoCenter s drop down panel With the Communications Center you can determine what type of information such as software updates product support or RSS feeds Autodesk sends directly to your system With the Favorites tool you can define a list of help or informational topics that can be quickly accessed whenever you need them The Help button is a direct link to the AutoCAD help system The blank middle section of the screen is called the drawing area Notice the movable crosshair cursor The crosshairs on your cursor might extend com pletely 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 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 Introducing the AutoCAD Graphics Window commands it will take on other forms depending on which step of a command you re performing Command re REGEN Regenerating model Command Specify opposite corner Cancel Command The icon with a double arrow in the lower left corner of the drawing ar
19. he tooltip Notice the small arrow in the lower right corner of the icon This is the multiple command arrow mentioned earlier Using the Toolbars 25 3 Place the arrow cursor on the button and hold down the left mouse button A column of nine buttons opens vertically below the original button see Figure 1 18 The top button in the column is a duplicate of the button you clicked This column of buttons is called a toolbar fly out menu In this example you re working with the Zoom toolbar fly out menu Saal pEvETEEEE FIGURE 1 18 A toolbar fly out menu 4 To dock a floating toolbar click the grab bar and drag the toolbar to q either side of the drawing area or to just below the AutoCAD title bar Grab bars are the two and release lines at the left end of a horizontal toolbar 5 To detach a docked toolbar click the grab bar and drag the toolbar Beatie ton onaivers into the drawing area tical one They repre f re f h l 6 Close any open toolbars by undocking them then clicking the X in ea cares the upper right corner of each to move it You can Iso ch docked The toolbar fly out menus are regular toolbars that have been attached to Som EN another toolbar AutoCAD has 38 toolbars in all but only a few have fly out toolbar by double menus the Zoom fly out menu I just discussed and the Insert fly out menu on dicking its grab bars the Draw toolbar for example Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD P g
20. hods 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 3 For AutoCAD your monitor displays one of three workspaces gt The 2D Drafting amp Annotation workspace shown in Figure 1 3 gt The AutoCAD Classic workspace gt For AutoCAD users only the 3D Modeling workspace see Figure 1 4 You ll be using the 2D Drafting and Annotation workspace for the first 15 chapters in this book In the final two chapters you ll switch to the 3D Model ing workspace but for now you need to get your AutoCAD user interface to look like Figure 1 3 eD N OTE The figures and graphics is this book show the drawing area of the AutoCAD user interface with a white background but the default and pre ferred method is to use a black background to reduce eyestrain The color choice in the book is simply for readability Starting AutoCAD Te eae parm ase F akd fc Jemma 604g y E3 Aancheiat d sik a Iaparbsa Usia ot InfoCenter H Quick Access toolbar Menu Browser UCS icon Coordinate readouts Status bar Command window Command prompt FIGURE 1 4 The AutoCAD graphics window using the 3D Modeling workspace LT users can skip step 3 and move on to step 4 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD If your screen looks like Figure 1 4 or isn t at all like Figure 1 3 you need to make a few changes
21. ing to Know AutoCAD Another option for switching between open drawings is to click the Quick View Drawings button in the status bar This displays thumb nails for the open drawings and you can click any thumbnail to make that drawing active Using the Drop Down Menus If you prefer to use drop down menus they re still available in AutoCAD 2009 although they are turned off by default in the 2D Drafting amp Annotation and 3D Modeling workspaces You can display them by switching to the AutoCAD Classic workspace by right clicking on the Quick Access toolbar and choosing Show Menu Bar or by entering menubar 1 The menu bar isn t used in the exer cises in this book but I ll cover the menus here in case you want to use them in the future The left end of the menu bar just below the title bar see Figure 1 17 consists of an icon and 12 11 if you don t have the Express Tools installed or are using LT menus Click any of these to display a drop down menu The icon and the File and Edit menus are included with all Windows compliant applications although they are somewhat customized to work with AutoCAD The drop down menu associ ated with the icon contains commands to control the appearance and position of the drawing area E aO AutoCAD 2009 Cabin Fie Edt View Insert Format Tools Draw Dimension Modfy Window Help Express Home Blocks amp References Annotate Tools View Output o FIGURE 1 17 The AutoCAD user inter
22. k REE Je 28 Active Mode gt es GESBas 4 a iE QEN oo co FIGURE 1 11 The Ribbon after undocking it from the top of the drawing area 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 When more tools are available than will fit on the panel an arrow is displayed on the panel s title bar Clicking the title bar expands the panel and 16 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD exposes the additional tools Follow these steps to learn how the Ribbon tools work and how they display information 1 Click the Home tab on the Ribbon to expose the Home tab s panels 2 Move the cursor over the Modify panel The panel and panel title bar change from light gray to white to indicate that that panel has the program s focus ai 7 3 Pause the cursor over the Explode button to expose the button s tooltip as shown at the top of Figure 1 12 This tooltip displays the name of the tool a brief description of its function the command line equivalent of clicking the tool and instructions to click the F1 key to open the AutoCAD Help file to the current tool
23. n 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 If your drawing area background is currently white a square followed by the word White is displayed Open the Color drop down list and select Black or the background color you want The drawing area will now be that color and the cursor color will change to white as shown in the Preview window below 3 Click the Apply amp Close button to close the Drawing Window Colors dialog box The background and cursor colors change 4 Ifyou want to change the length of the lines of your crosshair cursor go to the lower right corner of the Display tab the middle of the right side for LT and move the slider to change the Crosshair Size setting The crosshair length changes as a percentage of the drawing area 5 Click OK to apply any remaining changes and close the Options dia log box Working in the Command Window T I P_ If you choose a color other than black as the drawing area back ground color the color of the crosshair cursor remains the same as it was To change the crosshair color in the Drawing Window Colors dialog box go to the Interface Element list 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 This window is separate from the d
24. n you start drawing Before you begin to draw in the next chapter take a close look at the Ribbon Menu Browser toolbars and keyboard controls S NOTE in many cases you can start AutoCAD commands in a number of ways from the Ribbon the Menu Browser from the Command window and from 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 is most comfortable for you 14 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD Using the Ribbon New to AutoCAD 2009 is the Ribbon a consolidated location for nearly all the Auto CAD tools in the form of easily recognizable buttons A set of tabs delineates the dif ferent collections of tools by their purposes creating and editing objects adding notes and dimensions sending the drawing to a printer or plotter and so on Displaying the Ribbon Tools The Ribbon self adjusts according to the width of the AutoCAD window The pan els have the most commonly used command as a button larger than the others centered on the left side see the top of Figure 1 10 When the width is too nar row to fully display each panel the panels will begin to collapse first by replacing the large buttons with smaller buttons and then by replacing the panels with a single button bearing the name of the panel The collapsed panel s tools are dis played by clicking this single button as shown at the bottom
25. nels and expose all of the Modify tools 7 Often you may find yourself returning to the same tool on an expanded Ribbon panel When that happens you can pin the panel open by click ing the pushpin shaped button in the bottom right corner When the panel is pinned open it remains open even when the cursor is not hov ering over it ef BOA AE Br ove Gf 7 A 04 Se Ee DSS Modify it 8 Click the button again to unpin the panel and then move the cursor off the panel to collapse it 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 To find out more about how to customize toolbars see Mastering AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 by George Omura Wiley 2008 18 Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD Using the Menu Browser The Menu Browser has replaced the traditional row of drop down menus that reside at the top of many programs The menus now project from the upper left corner of the AutoCAD Window and cover the drawing area and any open dialog boxes only when the Menu Browser is open 1 Click the large red A button in the top left corner of the AutoCAD window to open the Menu Browser b er
26. of Figure 1 10 SOA MEA Br amp Modify x x FIGURE 1 10 The Ribbon fully displaying all panels top and with partially and com pletely collapsed panels bottom 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 When the Ribbon is in either of these states you can expand any panel or tab by clicking its visible panel or tab name Clicking the Minimize button a third time returns the Ribbon to its default state Using the Ribbon 15 The Ribbon s default location is at the top of the screen but it can be undocked or floating over the drawing area or it can be moved to a second monitor or docked on either side of the drawing area To undock the Ribbon right click to the right of the tab names and choose Undock from the pop up menu The Ribbon detaches from the top of the drawing area and floats on the screen as shown in Figure 1 11 To dock it click the title bar on the side of the floating Ribbon and drag it to the side or the top of the drawing area Experiment with detaching the Ribbon but when you are finished dock it back at the top so that you can more easily follow the graphics in this book b
27. our system Starting AutoCAD New Features Workshop AutoCAD The New Features Workshop is a series of interactive animations tutorials and short descriptions designed to help you learn the new features Would you like to view the New Features Workshop now Yes Maybe later No don t show me this again You can also access the New Features Workshop from the Help menu Autodesk FIGURE 1 1 The AutoCAD welcome screen provides access to the New Features Workshop E New Features Workshop 0 xi gt Main Menu AutoCAD 2009 X D Get Information Tools View User intertace P Application Window gt Workspaces P Menu Browser Y Ribbon Organize Tools Using the Ribbon S customize Ribbon Orientation Customize the Ribbon P Quick Properties D Quik View D Tooltips P Action Recorder P Viewing Tools P Geographic Location gt DWFx P Enhanced Layer Properties Manager FIGURE 1 2 The New Features Workshop dialog box The Customer Involvement Program Nearly all the latest releases of Autodesk products include the opportunity to participate in the 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 AutoCAD and LT offer numerous dia log boxes with vari ous combinations of buttons and text boxes You ll learn many of thei
28. r func tions as you progress through the book Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD best meets their customers needs If you haven t yet agreed or declined to par ticipate when you first start AutoCAD the Customer Involvement Program dia log box might prompt you to join a Customer Progam As abegrrer pet o someone p betreen yau canny akey role in Merg us den Aare to meet you reod ard aang Sankar Mom Brdy hars on oren for al o yow hatade prodata and carte mariing mho rtemgton You can return artima ta dange your setting by ding An a Customer echremert Progam Ink und Se Met nanu Baie ceees bemorni sete ee Yes Lage andi wart to particpate Gacommendnd No 1 dart wats parte at he te Mama none Parsceuerg catomers hut odast weer report 5y Mitte nay ot be mormons Lear er F sennie deve w wj Participation is strictly voluntary and if you choose to participate AutoCAD will periodically send a small file to Autodesk containing information such as your software name and version the commands you use and your system con figuration information An Internet connection is required and you must ensure that your firewall settings don t prevent the information from being transmitted 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 met
29. rawing area and behaves like a Windows window that is you can drag it to a different place on the screen and resize it although I don t recommend you do this at first If you currently have fewer than four lines of text in the window you should increase the window s vertical size To do so move the cursor to the horizontal boundary between the drawing area and the Command window until it changes to an up and down arrow broken by two parallel horizontal lines a options Hold down the left mouse button drag the cursor up by approximately the amount that one or two lines of text would take up and then release the mouse button You should see more lines of text but you might have to try this a few times to display exactly four lines A horizontal line will separate the top two lines of text from the bottom line of text When you close the program AutoCAD will save the new settings The next time you start AutoCAD the Command win dow will display four lines of text The Command window is where you give information to AutoCAD and where AutoCAD prompts you for the next step in executing a command It s good prac tice to keep an eye on the Command window as you work on your drawing Many errors can occur when you don t check it frequently If the Dynamic Input but ton on the status bar is in the on position some of the information in the Com mand window will appear in the drawing area next to the cursor I ll cover this feature whe
30. step you re in at the moment gt To use in combination with the Shift or Ctrl key to display a menu containing special drawing aids called object snaps gt 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 If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel you can use the wheel in sev eral ways to control the view of your drawing lll cover those methods in subse quent chapters AutoCAD makes extensive use of toolbars and the right click menu feature This makes your mouse an important input tool The keyboard is necessary for inputting numeric data and text and it has hot keys and aliases that can speed up your work however the mouse is the primary tool for selecting options and controlling toolbars Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD The next chapter will familiarize you with a few basic commands that will enable you to draw a small diagram If want to take a break and close AutoCAD choose File gt Exit and choose not to save the drawing Are You Experienced Now you can x recognize the elements of the AutoCAD graphics window v understand how the Command window works and why it s important MW start commands from the Ribbon WM start commands from the command line WM use the Menu Browser WM display t
31. t NOTE LT has 27 toolbars compared with AutoCAD s 38 The additional toolbars in AutoCAD are almost all for 3D and rendering tools Workspaces You haven t been directed to make any significant changes to the workspace but when you do you can save this setup as a new workspace Using this feature you can always return to your preferred layout by activating the saved layout Follow these steps 1 Click the Workspace Switching button on the right side of the status bar and choose Save Current As This opens the Save Workspace dia log box DJ Save Workspace x N Cancel Enter a name for the workspace and click Save The dialog box closes and you are returned you to your workspace Until you change it or select a different workspace the new workspace setup will remain as it is now When you make changes to the new workspace by adding a toolbar or chang ing the background color of the drawing area you can easily update the current workspace to accommodate those changes Follow steps 1 and 2 previously nam ing 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 Using the Keyboard The keyboard is an important tool for entering data and commands If you re a good typist you can gain speed in working with AutoCAD by learning how to enter commands from the k
32. y can take up precious space in the drawing area They won t be of any use while working your way through this book so I suggest you remove them for now To remove these features temporarily follow these steps 1 Enter options to open the Options dialog box shown in Figure 1 7 It has 10 tabs LT has only 8 across the top that act like tabs on file folders Y Options E xj Current profi lt lt Unnamed Profile gt SS Current drawing Drawing2 dwa Search paths file names and file locations E B Support File Search Path amp Working Support File Search Path E B Device Driver File Search Path Project Files Search Path H E Customization Files 8 Help and Miscellaneous File Names Text Editor Dictionary and Font File Names Print Fie Spooles and Prolog Section Names Printer Support File Path D D D B Atomatic Save Fie Location B Color Book Locations B Data Sources Location 8 Template Settings Tool Palettes Fle Locations J FS Authoring Palette File Locations H Log File Location oH ER A A zij l FIGURE 1 7 The Options dialog box Introducing the AutoCAD Graphics Window 2 Click the Display tab which is shown in Figure 1 8 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 im Wet d Current profile lt lt Unnamed
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search