Wiley AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012 Bible
Contents
1. Use the Tools drop down list of the Save Drawing As dialog box to do the following Add or Modify FTP Locations FTP sites are locations on the Internet for transferring files To add or modify FTP locations choose Tools Add Modify FTP Locations You need to list the name of the FTP site choose a logon type Anonymous or User and specify your user name and password if you re logging on as a User You can then save drawings called uploading to FTP locations by clicking the Save In drop down list and choosing FTP Locations This feature makes an intranet or any server with FTP capability as accessible as your own computer system Add Current Folder to Places If you save to a specific folder often you can navigate to that folder and then choose Tools Add Current Folder to Places The Places Bar then displays a new button for that folder so that you can easily click the button to go straight to the folder Add to Favorites When you have navigated to a folder you can add it to the Favorites folder by choosing Tools Add to Favorites You can also select a file in a folder and add it to the Favorites folder Options The Options dialog box opens where you can specify certain settings relating to saving drawings I discuss these options in Chapter 8 and Appendix A Security Options Choose this setting to set a password or attach a digital signature I dis cuss these features in Chapter 26 AutoCAD Only The SAVEALL command of2. tomize workspaces m On the Home tab in the Draw panel of the Ribbon hover the cursor over the leftmost button You see a tooltip that says Line as shown in Figure 1 2 Below the tooltip a description tells you that this but ton creates straight line segments If you continue to hover the cursor over the Line button the tooltip expands to provide more information about the command You use buttons on the Ribbon to execute commands For example to draw a line you click the Line button on the Draw panel of the Ribbon s Home tab You get some practice drawing lines in the exer cise that follows In the AutoCAD Classic or AutoCAD LT Classic workspace you would click the Line button on the Draw toolbar to draw a line FIGURE e ccc Hovering the cursor over the Line button displays a tooltip that shows the command and a description of its function Be DDS 4 Inset Annot H er Line Polyline Circle Are Line Creates straight line segments mw LINE Press F1 for more help Note If you inadvertently start a command that you don t want to use press Esc m The Quick Access Toolbar contains a few often used commands that are useful to have available all the time Examples are commands to start a new drawing open an existing drawing and save a drawing Because you can customize the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar to suit your needs your screen may appear somewhat different See Chapter 29
3. a coordinate the universally accepted convention is to put the X coordinate first followed by a comma and then the Y coordinate Examples are 3 5 3 2 6 2 and 1 1 These coordinates specify points in the drawing area You can see the current coordinates of the cursor displayed at the lower left corner of the AutoCAD window Cross Reference Chapter 4 explains how to specify coordinates To create three dimensional models you need to add a Z coordi nate when specifying a point Chapter 21 discusses three dimensional coordinates m Tip If you want the maximum amount of free space for drawing click the Clean Screen button at the right side of the status bar to remove the Ribbon Click the same button to get it back You can also press Ctrl 0 to toggle between the two displays You can double click the active tab to cycle through three display states of the Ribbon that col lapse and expand the Ribbon m The UCS icon Notice the symbol with two perpendicular lines and X and Y labels in the drawing area in Figure 1 1 This symbol is called the User Coordinate System UCS icon The lines point to the positive directions of the X and Y axes to help you Keep your bearings In a 3D environment you see a Z axis as well You can change the look of this icon and turn it on and off as I explain in Chapter 8 The crosshairs In the drawing area of Figure 1 1 notice the intersecting lines with a small box at their intersection The small box
4. disappear You can always go back and choose the item again to redisplay the button Creating a New Folder For your work with this book you should create a new folder so that you can save your exercise drawings where they won t get mixed up with other drawings The following directions leave it up to you where to create this new folder Each computer system is organized differently If you aren t sure what to do choose the drive not the folder where AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT is installed and create a new folder there 21 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics Caution I do not recommend creating a subfolder in the AutoCAD 2012 or AutoCAD LT 2012 folder These folders con tain the files that make up the program If you keep your drawings here it is too easy to make a mistake and delete necessary program files Some people create a subfolder in the My Documents or Documents folder m STEPS Creating a New Folder 1 Move the cursor to the Windows task bar at the bottom of your screen and right click the Start button Choose Explore On the left pane of Windows Explorer click the drive where you want to create the new folder If you don t know where to create the folder choose the drive where AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT is installed If you re on a network choose the drive that represents your com puter If you keep your work in subfolders of the My Documents or Documents folder click that folder If you want
5. for information on customizing the Quick Access Toolbar and see Chapter 33 for information on customizing the Ribbon Remember that if the cur rent workspace is AutoCAD Classic or AutoCAD LT Classic you won t see the Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar instead you ll see a menu bar at the top and several toolbars 19 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics Tip You can lock the position of Ribbon panels if they re not docked toolbars and windows palettes On the right side of the status bar at the bottom of the screen is a Lock icon Click this icon to open a menu allowing you to individually lock specific window panel or toolbar components You can also choose the All option and lock or unlock everything Locking these interface components prevents you from moving them inadvertently m Using the Application menu When you click the Application Button the Application menu opens giving you access to file related commands as shown in Figure 1 3 Tip You can display the menu bar along with the Ribbon Type menubar on the command line and then enter 1 To hide the menu bar enter 0 J Alternatively you can click the down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar and choose Show Menu Bar Choose Hide Menu Bar to hide it m EE O The Application Button offers file related commands recently opened drawings access to other open drawings and a Search box 1 3 g Recent Documents By O
6. if you use a menu item or the Ribbon to execute a command you may see a response on the command line AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT often provide options that you must type on the keyboard Text that you type appears on the command line For example when you type coordinates specifying a point they appear on the command line The Dynamic Input tooltip allows you to see the text that you type at the cursor This tooltip doesn t appear until you start typing a command You can also choose options near the tooltip For more information see Chapter 3 To see more of the command line press F2 to open the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Text Window You can scroll back through previous commands Press F2 again to close the window You can also simply hide the Text window by clicking in the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT window for easy access to the Text window later from the Windows task bar Exploring the status bar At the very bottom of the screen is the status bar refer to Figure 1 1 At the left are the X Y coordi nates As you move your mouse these coordinates change If they don t change click them and move your mouse again The status bar also contains a number of buttons that I explain later in this book At the right side of the status bar is a small down arrow Click it to open the status bar menu This menu determines which buttons appear on the status bar If you don t use a certain button choose it on the menu to remove its checkmark and make it
7. is called the pickbox because it helps you to select or pick objects The lines are called crosshairs They show you the location of the mouse cursor in relation to other objects in your drawing The ViewCube and Navigation Bar On the right side of the drawing area semi faded you see two navigational tools the ViewCube and the Navigation Bar or NavBar The ViewCube is not available in AutoCAD LT These are mostly used for 3D navigation which I cover in Chapter 22 You can use the NavBar to zoom and pan in 2D see Chapter 8 for more information 18 Chapter 1 Starting to Draw Exploring the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar At the top of the application window is the title bar and directly beneath the title bar is the Ribbon On the left side of the title bar is the Quick Access Toolbar The Ribbon has tabs and each tab is divided into control panels usually called just panels which are sections of related commands I explain how to work with the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar in Chapter 3 Note The AutoCAD Classic and AutoCAD LT Classic workspaces do not show the Ribbon instead you see toolbars which are usually docked along the left top and right sides of the screen From the Workspace drop down list just to the left of the Quick Access Toolbar try switching between the Drafting amp Annotation workspace and the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Classic workspace to see which one you prefer In Appendix A I explain how to cus
8. this chapter you learned the following e A brief history of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Some of the different disciplines that use AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT e How to start AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT e How to start a new drawing e The user interface and its various sections including the drawing area the UCS icon the crosshairs the Ribbon the Quick Access Toolbar the command line and the status bar e Howto start a command from the Ribbon menu command line and toolbar How to save a drawing for the first time How to close a drawing and exit AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT You may have several questions at this point but well begun is half done The next chapter explains all the ways to start a new drawing as well as how to open an existing drawing 27
9. to make a subfolder a folder within a folder choose the folder where you want to create the subfolder From the Explorer menu choose Files New Folder In Windows Vista click Organize New Folder in Windows 7 click New Folder A new highlighted folder named New Folder appears in the right pane You may have to scroll down to see it Type AutoCAD Bible for the folder name and press Enter If you did the exercises from a previous edition of this book such as AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011 Bible and you already have a folder named AutoCAD Bible first rename the original folder to something such as ACAD2011Bibl1e Save all drawings that you create for this book in your AutoCAD Bible folder Caution Creating a folder for your drawings as described in the previous steps is essential before you go on to exercises in the rest of this book m Using the Interface If you did the Quick Start exercise you had the experience of drawing a window but I chose the sim plest method of completing each task because I had not yet described the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT application window In the following exercise you draw some simple objects but experiment with all the features of the user interface to get a feel for how they work Chapter 3 explains in more detail how to use commands As explained in the Preface you type what appears in bold Tip Don t worry if you don t understand everything you re doing It all become
10. Feature Sheet sets after being in AutoCAD for a long time have now made their way into AutoCAD LT 2012 m AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT have a few other minor differences as well Some of these differences are only in the user interface so you can accomplish the same task but the procedure is slightly different Starting AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT This section starts a quick tour of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT The first step is to start the program On the DVD The DVD contains a 30 day trial version of AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012 m This book covers AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012 running on Windows XP Home Professional Windows Vista or Windows 7 The figures were taken in Windows 7 Every computer is set up somewhat differently so you may need to adjust the following steps slightly If you didn t install the software yourself and are unfamiliar with the folders also called directories on your computer get help from someone who is familiar with your computer system Note AutoCAD is now available for the Mac OS this book doesn t cover it but you can find out more and get a free trial from the Autodesk website Go to www autodesk com autocadformac to learn more m Cross Reference If you need information on installing AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT see Appendix A Appendix A also covers configur ing the software and printers or plotters m By default installing AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT places a shortcut on your desktop You can double
11. Input bar prompts you for the next point 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 Press Enter to end the command and finish your line 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 23 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics Tip 8 Move your mouse so you can see the length and angle tooltips Notice the value for the length Now type a different value and press Enter For example if the Length tooltip says 13 7638 type 5 A 9 Press Enter to end the command The line s length is based on what you typed not where the cursor was but the line s angle is the same as it was before you typed in the length 10 To hide the menu bar click the down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar and choose Hide Menu Bar near the bottom of the list of menu items 11 For your third line type line J Notice that the text appears in the Dynamic Input tooltip as you type but not in the command line area 12 Press Enter You now see the command that you typed in the command line area as well as the Dynamic Input prompt to specify the first point 13 Click in two places to pick a start point and an endpo
12. Starting to Draw After a little background I discuss the basics of the screen that you see when you open AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT and how to use it If you ve never used AutoCAD before do the Quick Start Drawing a Window chapter first n this chapter I explain the essentials that you need to start drawing AutoCAD and its younger sister AutoCAD LT are both created by Autodesk Together they are the most widely used technical drawing programs any where AutoCAD alone has more than 6 000 000 registered users According to Autodesk CAD stands for computer aided design but it can also stand for computer aided drafting or drawing The first version of AutoCAD running under DOS came out in 1982 AutoCAD was the first significant CAD program to run on a desktop com puter At the time most other technical drawing programs ran on high end workstations or even mainframes AutoCAD LT was introduced in 1993 as a less expensive alternative to AutoCAD for people who don t need all of AutoCAD s advanced features Exploring AutoCAD s Advantages CHAPTER IN THIS CHAPTER Getting acquainted with AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Starting a new drawing Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT interface Storing your drawing Closing a drawing and exiting AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT AutoCAD s success has been attributed to its famous open architecture the flexibility that the end user has to customize the program by u
13. click one of the shortcuts to launch the program that is installed on your machine or use the Windows Start menu to choose one of the following e For AutoCAD Start All Programs Autodesk AutoCAD 2012 English AutoCAD 2012 English or as appropriate for your language e For AutoCAD LT Start All Programs Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2012 English gt AutoCAD LT 2012 English or as appropriate for your language New Feature When you first open AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT the Autodesk Exchange window appears providing access to the Help feature related applications for purchase training tips and more To close the window click its Close but ton If you don t want to see this window when you open AutoCAD uncheck the Show This Window at Start Up check box at the lower left corner of the window To display the Autodesk Exchange window at any time click the Exchange button on the right side of the title bar see Figure 1 1 m 15 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics Note Creating a New Drawing After you launch AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT it automatically opens a new drawing named Drawing1 dwg You can see the drawing name on the title bar You can start drawing immediately In Chapter 2 I explain how to start a drawing based on a template and how to open an existing drawing STEPS Starting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT 1 Click Start on the Windows task bar at the bottom of your screen 2 Choose on
14. e is different from saving it subsequently because you have to name the drawing To save a drawing click Save on the Quick Access Toolbar or choose Application Button Save If you re saving a drawing for the first time the Save Drawing As dialog box appears as shown in Figure 1 6 Down the left side of the dialog box are several buttons called the Places list to help you find a loca tion to save drawings more quickly Conveniently you can reorder the buttons in the Places list Just drag any button to a new location m 24 Of course you can also choose a location from the Save In drop down list to which you want to save the file To save a file type a filename in the File Name text box and click Save to save the file Chapter 1 Starting to Draw EISE ccc The Save Drawing As dialog box Save Drawing As es Savein Drawings 7 MET Views v Tods v Preview Cc Name Date Fad ab04 08 01 dwa 2 1 F Dexter 1838 dwg 12 6 a F desk1 dwg aa El fa desk2 dwa 11 14 F house dwg 3 257 Min FR lot dwg 3 257 J Fai titleblock 10 dwg 3 25 a a 18 in plan double hung window dwg 3 257 FA PATH dwg 3 24 F ab17 01 3 19 runthrough dwag 3 19 ze FR ab10 02 dwg 3 19 F ab10 03 0wg 3 19 p F ab18 07 dwg 3 15 1a A ab10 12 dwg 3 9 2 4 m Pe F Update sheet and view thumbnails now Me File name Drawing dwa ii Save J i Files of type AutoCAD 2010 Drawing dvg X Cancel
15. e of the following For AutoCAD Start All Programs Autodesk AutoCAD 2012 English AutoCAD 2012 English For AutoCAD LT Start All Programs Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2012 English AutoCAD LT 2012 English You see a blank drawing named Drawing1 dwg If you are continuing with this chapter keep this drawing open I cover exiting from AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT later in this chapter Using the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface AutoCAD offers four quite different preset workspaces depending on how you want to work For example these workspaces determine the Ribbon components toolbars and other interface items that you see AutoCAD offers both 2D and 3D environments AutoCAD LT has only 2D environments and the 2D environments for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are similar In this section I discuss the 2D environment Both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT offer two 2D workspaces Drafting amp Annotation and AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Classic The Drafting amp Annotation workspace is the default workspace and displays the Ribbon for executing commands The AutoCAD Classic and AutoCAD LT Classic workspaces display toolbars and a menu instead AutoCAD s 3D Modeling and 3D Basics workspaces create a 3D environment along with the 3D drawing tem plates acad3D dwt and acadiso3D dwt I cover templates in Chapter 2 cover this 3D environment in Part IV Drawing in Three Dimensions m Note Figure 1 1 shows the default screen t
16. hat appears when you first open AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Your screen may look somewhat different remember that AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT can be customized in many ways but the general features will be the same If you see other items open on your screen you can close all these items by clicking their Close X button By default you see a grid when you open AutoCAD I explain how to turn off the grid in Chapter 4 The default screen color is dark gray You can leave it that way or change the drawing area color as I explain in Appendix A I use a white background for the figures in this book for clarity m 16 Chapter 1 Starting to Draw ECTE O The AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT screens are very similar The AutoCAD LT screen doesn t include the Express Tools tab on the Ribbon Ribbon ViewCube Application button Drawing Minimize Maximize and Close buttons Quick Access toolbar Application Minimize Maximize and Close buttons Workspace drop down list Title bar ETTE UL sbra tonto HLT ap A Wisata EEE HEE Layout tab Status bar Crosshairs and Pickbox a2 Coordinate display Drawing area Navigation bar Command line Status bar menu UCS icon Clean Screen button If you find yourself in a 3D environment in AutoCAD you ll see a gray background and a perspective view To work in 2D in AutoCAD switch to a 2D environment following these steps in AutoCAD 1 From the Workspace drop down lis
17. ility with AutoCAD The programming code that is used to create AutoCAD LT is a subset of the code used in AutoCAD Here are the major differences between AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT e AutoCAD includes features that enable CAD managers to hold drawings to certain standards such as for layer names and text styles AutoCAD LT doesn t contain these features e AutoCAD LT is not as customizable as AutoCAD which is both programmable and fully customizable It also doesn t include the Action Recorder AutoCAD LT includes minimal options for 3D AutoCAD includes a full featured 3D capability e AutoCAD LT has fewer presentation features than AutoCAD which includes visual styles and 3D rendering e AutoCAD LT is deployable on a network but does not have AutoCAD s network license man agement feature that includes reporting and flexible licensing e AutoCAD LT does not offer the database connectivity feature but you can use tables to con nect to data in a Microsoft Office Excel file AutoCAD offers the flexibility to connect to other types of databases create labels from the data and so on e AutoCAD LT does not come with Express Tools a set of additional routines that ship with AutoCAD e AutoCAD LT does not include parametric constraints which allow you to constrain the rela tionships among objects but you can use the parametric constraints that are in a drawing that was created with AutoCAD Chapter 1 Starting to Draw New
18. int 14 This time to end the line right click anywhere in the drawing area By default this opens a shortcut menu but it may end the command If so you re done If you see the shortcut menu choose Enter from the shortcut menu to end the command 15 For your fourth line click the Workspace drop down list at the upper left corner of your screen and choose AutoCAD Classic or AutoCAD LT Classic The entire interface changes The Ribbon is gone and in its place you see a menu bar at the top and several toolbars If you don t see the Draw toolbar it s usually docked vertically on the left side of the applica tion window right click any toolbar that is already displayed and choose Draw from the list of toolbars Click the Line button on the Draw toolbar Move the mouse so that the cursor is in the drawing area Pick two different points and press Enter 16 Use the Workspace drop down list to return to the Drafting amp Annotation workspace Leave the drawing on your screen and complete the next exercise to save the drawing You should now have four lines on the screen You can see how the interface offers several ways to work You can use the method that suits you best Saving a Drawing Saving a drawing is similar to saving any other file in Windows You should get in the habit of saving your work every few minutes to avoid losing your work in case the software or your computer sys tem crashes Saving a drawing for the first tim
19. iting from AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT You can close your drawing and keep AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT open The simplest way to do this is to use the Drawing Close button at the upper right corner of the drawing To exit AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT click the Close X box at the top right corner of your screen You can also exit out of AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT by typing quit on the command line If you ve made any changes to your drawing since last saving it AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT asks you if you want to save your changes Choose Yes or No as your situation requires If you have opened more than one drawing to which you have made changes you have a chance to save each drawing in turn You can double click the Application button to close AutoCAD This is equivalent to typing quit m 26 STEPS Closing Your Drawing and Exiting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT 1 Your drawing should still be on your screen Choose Application Button Close You now see a gray screen with no drawing Repeat this process if you have other drawings open Save or cancel the changes to these extra open drawings as you like 2 Click the Close button in the upper right corner to exit AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Chapter 1 Starting to Draw Summary In Chapter 1 I explained how to start AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT and create a new drawing I gave you a tour of the screen and explained how to save a drawing This chapter provided the basis for all your work in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT In
20. rdered List 5 New gt ES a04 08 dw9 SS new loge for 201L dwg E AB22 CDWG E Save r Drawing gt amp Utilities D gt Options Exit AutoCAD When you open the Application menu you can type a search term in the Search text box to finda command On the right you see a list of drawings that you opened recently At the top of the list of drawings you can click a drop down arrow to choose to display them alphabetically ordered list by date or by type To the right you can click a drop down arrow to display the drawings as icons or as 20 Chapter 1 Starting to Draw Tip Click the small medium or large images However even if you display just icons if you hover the cursor over any drawing name an image of the drawing appears Open Documents button to show open drawings rather than recently used drawings m The Options button at the bottom of the Application menu opens the Options dialog box where you can specify many settings that affect how AutoCAD works I explain the Options dialog box in detail in Appendix A Using the command line and dynamic input tooltip At the bottom of the drawing area you see a separate window showing approximately three lines of text You can change it to show as many lines as you like by dragging the top edge of the window up or down Notice the word Command This is the command line You can execute any command by typing it on the command line Even
21. s clear as you progress through this book If you haven t read the Preface now is a good time to go back and read the part that explains how to follow the exercises m 22 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 amp Annotation workspace in a 2D environment You see a new drawing If you are prompted for a template choose acad dwt for AutoCAD or acad1t dwt for AutoCAD LT From the Ribbon choose Home tab Draw panel Line 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 aa ccc When you move the mouse the Dynamic Input bar follows the cursor displaying the current coordinates 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 Mam After specifying the first point of a line the Dynamic
22. sing source code files in plain text ASCII format and programming languages such as AutoLISP VB NET C and C As a result AutoCAD is an extremely flexible drafting program applicable to all fields AutoCAD s support for languages other than English including those using other alphabets is unparalleled making AutoCAD highly popu lar abroad As a result AutoCAD is used in all disciplines and in more than 150 countries 13 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics 14 Through a high level of technical innovation and expertise Autodesk has created a program with advanced features and capabilities including 3D surface and solid modeling and visualization access to external databases intelligent dimensioning importing and exporting of other file formats Internet support and much more The major disciplines that use AutoCAD are Architectural Engineering and Construction AEC Mechanical Geographic Information Systems GIS Surveying and Civil Engineering Facilities Management Electrical electronic Multimedia However AutoCAD has many other lesser known uses such as pattern making in the garment industry sign making and so on In this book I provide examples from several fields The world of AutoCAD is very broad and you can learn from seeing the many approaches that AutoCAD makes possible Comparing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT AutoCAD LT s advantages are its lower cost and its compatib
23. t choose Drafting amp Annotation This displays the Ribbon with 2D commands 2 Choose Application Button New From the Select Template dialog box choose acad dwt and click Open This places you in a 2D view The AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT screens consist of four important areas These are discussed in the following sections 17 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics Exploring the drawing area The blank area in the middle of the screen called the graphics window or drawing area is where you draw You can think of this as a sheet of drafting paper except that this piece of paper can be any size even the size of a huge factory or an entire county By default you draw in model space so called because that s where you draw your models When you create a new drawing by default you are in model space so you can just start drawing You can lay out your drawings for plotting in paper space also called a layout To switch from model space to a layout you use the Layout tab at the bottom of the drawing area You click the Model tab to switch back to model space See Chapter 17 for details Note Rather than the model and layout tabs you may see Model and Layout 1 buttons on the status bar You can switch between the buttons and tabs by right clicking either feature and choosing from the shortcut menu m When you start to draw you need to specify where to start drawing One way is to use coordinates To specify
24. the Express Tools saves all open drawings without closing them Type saveall on the command line If a drawing hasn t been saved you are prompted for a filename For information on installing Express Tools see Appendix A m 25 Part I Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics On the DVD The DVD includes a small program save2d 1sp that automatically backs up your drawing to the CD DVD drive after you ve saved it on your hard drive Look in Software Chapter 01 Save2d The file contains instructions for changing the drive to any letter you use AutoCAD only m Tip STEPS Saving a Drawing for the First Time 1 The four lines you created earlier in this chapter should still be on your screen Click Save on the Quick Access Toolbar The Save Drawing As dialog box opens 2 Click the Save In drop down list If necessary choose the drive where you created your AutoCAD Bible folder for this book 3 Double click the AutoCAD Bible folder 4 Inthe File Name text box select the default filename that appears Type ab01 01 and press Enter or click Save 5 Keep your drawing on the screen and go to the next exercise AutoCAD saves your drawing under the name ab01 01 dwg This numbering system will help you organize your drawings from this book and find equivalent drawings on the DVD more easily It just means that this is the first drawing from Chapter 1 of AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012 Bible Closing a Drawing and Ex
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