Beginning AutoCAD 2016 EXERCISE WORKBOOK
by
Cheryl R. Shrock Professor, retired, Drafting Technology Orange Coast College, California. Autodesk Authorized Author
Updated for AutoCAD 2016 by
Steve Heather Former Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering & Computer Aided Design. AutoCAD Beta Tester
INDUSTRIAL PRESS, INC.
Industrial Press, Inc. 32 Haviland Street, Unit 2C South Norwalk, CT. 06854 Phone: 212-889-6330 Toll-Free in USA: 888-528-7852 Fax: 212-545-8327 Email:
[email protected]
© 2015 by Chery l R. Shrock and Industrial Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Published 2015. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 978-0-8311-9327-0 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy ing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval sy stem, without written permission from the publisher. Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty The author and publisher make no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the documentation contained in this book. Autodesk, Autodesk 360, AutoCAD, Design Web Format, and DWF are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or certain other countries. Certain content, including trial software, provided courtesy of Autodesk, Inc., © 2015. All rights reserved.
industrialpress.com ebooks.industrialpress.com
Many thanks are due to Cheryl Shrock for allowing me to continue on with her Exercise Workbook series. And special thanks to John Carleo, former Editorial Director of Industrial Press, for having faith in me. Steve Heather
AutoCAD Books by Cheryl R. Shrock: Beginning AutoCAD 2011
ISBN 978-0-8311-3416-7
Advanced AutoCAD 2011
ISBN 978-0-8311-3417-4
Beginning AutoCAD 2012
ISBN 978-0-8311-3430-3
Advanced AutoCAD 2012
ISBN 978-0-8311-3431-0
Beginning AutoCAD 2013
ISBN 978-0-8311-3456-3
Advanced AutoCAD 2013
ISBN 978-0-8311-3457-0
Beginning AutoCAD 2014
ISBN 978-0-8311-3473-0
Advanced AutoCAD 2014
ISBN 978-0-8311-3474-7
Beginning AutoCAD 2015
ISBN 978-0-8311-3497-6
Advanced AutoCAD 2015
ISBN 978-0-8311-3499-0
Beginning AutoCAD 2016
ISBN 978-0-8311-3518-8
Advanced AutoCAD 2016
ISBN 978-0-8311-3519-5
AutoCAD Pocket Reference 5th Edition, Releases 2011/2012 ISBN 978-0-8311-3428-0
AutoCAD Pocket Reference 6th Edition, Releases 2013/2014 ISBN 978-0-8311-3484-6
For information about these books visit: industrialpress.com and ebooks.industrialpress.com
Table of Contents Introduction About this Workbook About the Authors Configuring y our Sy stem Sy stem Requirements Customizing y our Wheel Mouse Lesson 1 Starting AutoCAD AutoCAD Application Window Application Window Descriptions Tooltip Help Lesson 2 Create a Template Using a Template How to Select a Command Drawing Lines Methods of Selecting Objects Erase Undo and Redo Starting a New Drawing Opening an Existing Drawing File Open Multiple Files Saving a Drawing File Automatic Save Back up Files and Recover Exiting AutoCAD Exercises Lesson 3 Circle Rectangle Grid and Increment Snap Lay ers Lineweights Transparency Creating New Lay ers Exercises Lesson 4 Object Snap Running Object Snap Zoom Drawing Setup Exercises Lesson 5 Poly gon Ellipse Donut Point More Object Snaps Exercises Lesson 6 Break Trim Extend Move Drag Nudge Explode Exercises Lesson 7 Copy Mirror Fillet Chamfer Exercises Lesson 8 Single Line Text Multiline Text Tabs Indents Spelling Checker Columns Paragraph Line Spacing Editing Text Exercises Lesson 9
Coordinate Input Absolute Coordinates Relative Coordinates Examples of Coordinate Input Direct Distance Entry (DDE) Measure Tools and ID Point Exercise: Creating a Border Basic Plotting from Model Space Exercises Lesson 10 Moving the Origin Display ing the UCS Icon Exercises Lesson 11 Polar Coordinate Input Dy namic Input Using Dy namic Input and Polar Coordinates Polar Tracking Using Polar Tracking and DDE Polar Snap Using Polar Tracking and Polar Snap Exercises Lesson 12 Offset Properties Palette Quick Properties Panel Customizing the Quick Properties Panel Offsetgapty pe Exercises Lesson 13 Array Exercises Lesson 14 Scale Stretch Rotate Exercises Lesson 15 Hatch Hatch Properties Hatch Ty pes Editing Hatch Exercises Lesson 16 Dimensioning Linear Dimensioning Continue Dimensioning Baseline Dimensioning Dimension Sty les Creating a New Dimension Sty le Ignoring Hatch Objects Exercises Lesson 17 Editing Dimension Text Values Editing the Dimension Position Modify an Entire Dimension Sty le Override a Dimension Sty le Edit an Individual Existing Dimension Dimension Breaks Jog a Dimension Line Adjust Distance Between Dimensions Exercises Lesson 18 Dimensioning Diameters Dimensioning Radii Angular Dimensioning Centermark Flip Arrow Creating a Dimension Sub-Sty le Exercises Lesson 19 Multileader Create a Multileader Sty le Aligned Dimensioning Special Text Characters Exercises Lesson 20 DIM Command Quick Dimension Editing Multiple Dimensions
Exercises Lesson 21 Match Properties Match Lay er Creating a Revision Cloud Creating a Rectangular Revision Cloud Creating a Poly gonal Revision Cloud Convert a Closed Object to a Revision Cloud Revision Cloud Sty le Wipeout Exercises Lesson 22 Arc Dimensioning Arc Lengths Dimensioning a Large Curve Exercises Lesson 23 Poly lines Exercises Lesson 24 Editing Poly lines Join Command Exercises Lesson 25 Creating New Text Sty les How to Select a Text Sty le Delete a Text Sty le Change Effects of a Text Sty le Divide Command Measure Command Exercises Lesson 26 Serious Business Model and Lay out Options Model and Lay out tabs Viewports Why Lay outs are Useful How to Reach Into a Viewport Pan How to Lock a Viewport How to Create a Page Setup Using the Lay out How to Plot from the Lay out Annotative Property Exercises Lesson 27 Creating Scaled Drawings Adjusting the Viewport Scale Annotative Objects Paper Space Dimensioning Exercises Lesson 28 Assigning Multiple Annotative Scales How to Remove an Annotative Scale Annotative Hatch Exercises Lesson 29 Blocks Inserting Blocks Re-Defining a Block Purging Unwanted and Unused Blocks Multileader and Blocks Collect Multileader Exercises Lesson 30 Text – Arc Aligned Text – Modify Text Text – Convert to MText and Auto Number Text – Enclose an Object Draw – Break-Line Sy mbol Tools – Command Aliases Creating a Group A360 Drive How to Save a File to A360 Drive How to Open a File from A360 Drive How to Upload a Document to A360 Drive How to Delete an Uploaded Document How to Download from A360 Drive A360 Design Feed Palette How to Tag a Colleague in the Design Feed Exercises
Appendixes A B C D E Index
Add a Printer / Plotter Metric Conversion Factors Dy namic Input Command Line Enhancements Frequently Asked Questions
INTRODUCTION About this Workbook Beginning AutoCAD® 2016, Exercise Workbook is designed for classroom instruction or self-study. There are 30 lessons. Each lesson starts with step-by -step instructions followed by exercises designed for practicing the commands y ou learned within that lesson. You may find the order of instruction in this workbook somewhat different from most textbooks. The approach I take is to familiarize y ou with the drawing commands first. After y ou are comfortable with the drawing commands, y ou will be taught to create y our own setup drawings. This method is accomplished by supply ing y ou with a drawing, “workbook-helper.dwg”. This drawing is preset and ready for y ou to open and use. For the first 8 lessons y ou should not worry about settings, you just draw.
Printing The exercises in the workbook have been designed to be printed on any 8-1/2 X 11 (Letter size) printer. You will be able to print y our exercises and view y our results as y ou progress through the lessons. If y ou would like to configure a large format printer refer to Appendix-A to “Add a Printer / Plotter”.
About the Authors Cheryl R. Shrock is a recently retired Professor and Chairperson of Computer Aided Design at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. She is also an Autodesk® registered author. Chery l began teaching CAD in 1990. Previous to teaching, she owned and operated a commercial product and machine design business where designs were created and documented using CAD. This workbook is a combination of her teaching skills and her industry experience. Steve Heather is a former Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Aided Design in England, UK. For the past 7 y ears he has been a Beta Tester for Autodesk®, testing the latest AutoCAD® software. Previous to teaching and for more than 30 y ears, he worked as a Precision Engineer in the Aerospace and Defense industries. Steve can be contacted for questions or comments at:
[email protected] CONFIGURING YOUR SYSTEM AutoCAD ® allows y ou to customize it’s configuration. While y ou are using this workbook it is necessary for y ou to make some simple changes to y our configuration so our configurations are the same. This will ensure that the commands and exercises work as expected. The following instructions will guide y ou through those changes. 1. Start AutoCAD® a. To start AutoCAD, follow the instructions on pages 1-2 through to 1-4. Then return to this page and go to step 2. 2. a. Ty pe: options any where within the main drawing area then press the key. (not case sensitive) b. Ty pe: options on the Command Line then press the key. (not case sensitive) The text that you type will appear in the Dynamic Input box or on the Command Line, as shown below:
NOTE: AUTOCAD LT USERS: You may find that some of the settings appear slightly different. But they are mostly the same.
Configuration Settings 3. Select the Display tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
4. Select the Open and Save tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
5. Select the Plot and Publish tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
6. Select the System tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
7. Select the User Preferences tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
8. After making the setting changes shown below select Apply & Close button.
9. Select the Drafting tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below.
10. Select the Selection tab and change the settings on y our screen to match the dialog box below. (Note: 3D Modeling tab was skipped)
11. Select the Apply button. 12. Select the OK button.
13. Now y ou should be back to the AutoCAD screen. AutoCAD 2016 System Requirements for 32-bit
Description
Requirement
Operating System
• Microsoft Windows 7 ® Enterprise • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Ultimate • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Professional • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Home Premium • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1® • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 ® Pro• Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 ® Enterprise
Browser
Internet Explorer ® 9.0 or later
Processor
Minimum Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor
Memory
2 GB RAM (3 GB Recommended)
Display Resolution
1024 × 768 (1600 × 1050 or higher recommended) with True Color
Disk Space
Installation 6.0 GB
Pointing Device
MS-Mouse Compliant
Media
Download and installation from DVD
.NET Framework
.NET Framework 4.5 8 GB RAM or more
6 GB free hard disk available not including installation requirements Additional requirements for large datasets, point clouds, and 3D modeling
1600 × 1050 or greater True color video display adapter, 128 MB VRAM or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, Direct3D ® capable workstation class graphics card
Note: 64-bit operating sy stems are recommended if y ou are working with large datasets, point clouds and 3D Modeling - please refer to the AutoCAD 2016 64-bit Sy stem Requirements on the next page
AutoCAD 2016 System Requirements for 64-bit
Description
Requirement
Operating System
• Microsoft Windows 7 ® Enterprise • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Ultimate • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Professional • Microsoft Windows 7 ® Home Premium • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 ® • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 ® Pro • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 ® Enterprise
Browser
Internet Explorer ® 9.0 or later
Processor
Minimum Intel Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor
Memory
4 GB RAM (8 GB Recommended)
Display Resolution
1024 × 768 (1600 × 1050 or higher recommended) with True Color
Disk Space
Installation 6.0 GB
Pointing Device
MS-Mouse Compliant
Media
Download and installation from DVD
.NET Framework
.NET Framework 4.5 8 GB RAM or more 6 GB free hard disk available not including installation requirements
Additional requirements for large datasets, point clouds, and 3D modeling 1600 × 1050 or greater True color video display adapter, 128 MB VRAM or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, Direct3D ® capable workstation class graphics card
Customizing your Wheel Mouse
A Wheel mouse has two or more buttons and a small wheel between the two topside buttons. The default functions for the two top buttons and the Wheel are as follows: Left Hand button is for input and can’t be reprogrammed. Right Hand button is for Enter or the shortcut menu. The Wheel may be used to Zoom and Pan or Zoom and display the Object Snap menu. You will learn more about this later. The following describes how to select the Wheel functions. After y ou understand the functions, y ou may choose to change the setting. To change the setting y ou must use the MBUTTONPAN variable.
MBUTTONPAN setting 1: (Factory setting)
ZOOM
Rotate the wheel forward to zoom in Rotate the wheel backward to zoom out
ZOOM EXTENTS Double click the wheel to view entire drawing PAN
Press the wheel and drag the mouse to move the drawing on the screen.
MBUTTONPAN setting 0:
ZOOM
Rotate the wheel forward to zoom in Rotate the wheel backward to zoom out
OBJECT SNAP
Object Snap menu will appear when y ou press the wheel
To change the setting: 1. Ty pe: mbuttonpan 2. Enter 0 or 1
LESSONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completing this lesson, you will be able to: 1. Start AutoCAD program 2. Understand AutoCAD Workspaces 3. Recognize all of the features in the AutoCAD Window 4. Understand what the key board Function key s are used for.
LESSON 1 STARTING AUTOCAD To Start AutoCAD use one of the 2 methods below. (Be patient it may take a few minutes to load. It is a large program) 1. Select Start / All Programs / Autodesk / AutoCAD 2016 or Double click on the AutoCAD 2016 desktop shortcut icon. 2. The “START” page should appear.
Note: Your computer should be connected to the Internet.
The START page contains two sliding content pages called LEARN and CREATE. CREATE: The Create page (shown below) is display ed by default and allows y ou to start a New drawing, Open an existing drawing or template, Explore sample drawings, view Recent documents or access Online Services.
You can start a new drawing using the default template by clicking on the Start Drawing tool, or y ou can access a list of available templates by clicking on the Templates down
arrow.
Note: The last template y ou use will become the new default template and is highlighted in the template dropdown list.
Note: The drawing template acad.dwt is for imperial measurements. The drawing template acadiso.dwt is for metric measurements. Click on the Start Drawing tool to open the default template and to open the main AutoCAD drawing workspace.
Note: If y our screen does not appear as shown below go to the Intro section of this workbook and follow the steps for configuring AutoCAD to match the workbook configuration. The following pages will describe each area and element. I know you are anxious to start drawing but be patient and read the remainder of this lesson. It is very important that you understand and are familiar with AutoCAD’s interface. Note: You can close the Design Feed palette by clicking on the “X”. This will not be used until later in the workbook.
AUTOCAD APPLICATION WINDOW The AutoCAD Application Window default workspace Drafting & Annotation, is shown below. Important: I have changed my 2D background color to white for this workbook. Yours may be another color. AutoCAD 2016 comes with new Dark and Light color themes, on some of the images within this book y ou may see the ribbon color showing the Light theme, this is just for clarity. You may choose the Light theme if y ou wish. You may change the color of many areas using: Options / Display tab / Colors button If the remainder of y our screen does not appear as shown below go to the Intro section of this workbook and follow the steps for configuring AutoCAD to match the workbook configuration.
A description of each area is shown on the following pages.
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS WORKSPACE Workspaces control the display of ribbons, tabs, menus, toolbars, and palettes. AutoCAD gives y ou the option of deciding how y ou would like them display ed. When y ou use a workspace, only the menus, toolbars, and palettes that are relevant to a task are display ed. For example if y ou selected the 3D Modeling workspace only 3D menus, toolbars and palettes would be display ed. There are 3 preset Workspaces. Drafting & Annotation (shown on the previous page) This workspace is the default display. It display s the necessary ribbons, tabs, menus, tools and palettes for 2D drafting. We will be using this workspace for all lessons within this workbook. 3D Basics This 3D Basics workspace provides a simple workspace with the most basic tools for creating and visualizing 3D Models. 3D Modeling The 3D Modeling workspace provides access to the vast array of 3D tools in AutoCAD.
HOW TO SELECT A WORKSPACE
Note: We will be using the “Drafting & Annotation” Workspace. 1. Selecting a workspace is easy. Select the
on the Workspace Switching icon located on the Status Bar at the bottom right corner of the screen.
2. Select one of the workspace names display ed. APPLICATION MENU The Application Menu provides easy access to common tools Each of the tools will be discussed later in the workbook. 1. Click on the Application Menu button in the upper left corner of the AutoCAD display screen. (The big “A”)
Open Documents First let me emphasis this is not a method to “open” a drawing file. Open Documents is a list of all documents that are already open within AutoCAD. Display choice: The list of documents may be display ed as icons or images. If y ou hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.
View Recent Documents When y ou select Recent Documents a list of the recently viewed documents will appear.
Display choices: This list may be display ed as icons or images and may be sorted in an ordered list or grouped by date or file ty pe. If y ou hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.
Pinned Files You can keep a file listed regardless of files that y ou save later using the push pin button to the right. The file is display ed at the bottom of the list until y ou turn off the push pin button.
Quick Access Toolbar The Q uick Access Toolbar is located in the top left corner of the AutoCAD window. It includes the most commonly used tools, such as New, Open, Save, Save as, Print, Undo and Redo.
How to Customize the Q uick Access Toolbar You can add tools with the Customize User Interface dialog box. For Example: After y ou have completed Lesson 4 y ou will find that y ou will be using “Zoom All” often. So I add the “Zoom All” tool to the Quick Access Toolbar. If y ou would like to add the “Zoom All” tool, or any other tool, to y our Quick Access Toolbar follow the steps below. 1. Place the Cursor on the Quick Access Toolbar and press the right mouse button. 2. Select “Customize Q uick Access Toolbar…” from the menu.
3. Scroll through the list of Commands to “Zoom, All”
4. Press the Left mouse button on “Zoom, All” and drag it to a location on the Quick Access Toolbar and drop it by releasing the left mouse button. 5. Select the OK button at the bottom of the Customize User Interface dialog box. The Customize User Interface dialog box will disappear and the new Quick Access Toolbar is saved to the current Workspace.
To Remove a tool: Place the cursor on the tool to remove and press the right mouse button. Select Remove from Q uick Access Toolbar. RIBBON The RIBBON provides access to the AutoCAD tools. The TABS contain multiple PANELS. Each PANEL contains multiple tools. When y ou select a TAB a new set of PANELS will appear.
Additional Tools: If y ou select the
sy mbol, at the bottom of the panel, the panel will expand to access additional tools.
Control the display of Tabs and Panels Right click on the Ribbon and select which Tabs or Panels y ou choose to display. The check mark confirms the tab or panel is already display ed.
Control the TAB order If y ou would like to change the order of the tabs, click and drag the tab horizontally to the new location.
Floating PANELS If y ou prefer to separate a Panel from the Ribbon y ou may drag the panel off the Ribbon to a new location on the screen. STATUS BAR The Status Bar is located on the bottom of the screen. It display s the current settings. These settings can be turned ON or OFF by clicking on one of the buttons or by pressing a corresponding function key, F2, F3 etc. When an icon is turned on it will display a neon blue in color.
Status Bar Icons The status bar provides y ou with a set of commonly used drawing tools like grid display, snap, object snap and isometric drafting. You can choose to remove some or all of them, or y ou can choose to add more tools. To add or remove tools from the Status Bar.
1. Select and click on the Customization button. 2. Check or uncheck the tools y ou want to remove or add from the list. 3. Left click in the main drawing area to close the list. Note: The tools on the status bar may change depending on whether y ou are in Model Space or Paper Space. A brief description of each tool will be shown on the next five pages. Each tool will be discussed in more detail in future lessons. STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS I have enabled all the tool buttons and broken them down into two sections starting from the left-hand side.
COORDINATES The coordinates display the location of the cursor in reference to the Origin. The Origin is currently in the lower left corner of the drawing area. These numbers will change as y ou move the cursor. First set of numbers represents the horizontal movement of the cursor (X-axis). Second set of numbers represents the vertical movement of the cursor (Y-axis). Third set of numbers represents the Z-axis which is used for 3D and not discussed.
MODEL The MODEL / PAPER button allows y ou to work in either model space or paper space without leaving the lay out tab. When y ou switch to a lay out tab this button automatically switches to PAPER.
GRID
(You may also use F7 to toggle ON or OFF)
The criss-cross lines in the Drawing Area are called the Grid. It is only a drawing aid and will not print. The default spacing is 1 unit of measurement. You may change the Grid spacing at any time by ty ping DS then press , then select the Snap and Grid tab from the Drafting Settings dialog box.
(You may also use F9 to toggle ON or OFF)
SNAP MODE
Increment Snap controls the incremental movement of the cursor. If it is ON the cursor will “snap” in an incremental movement. If it is OFF the cursor will move smoothly. You may set the increments by clicking on the down selecting Snap Settings.
arrow and
(Note: Not used in this workbook)
INFER CONSTRAINTS
Inferred Geometric Constraints automatically applies coincident constraints for Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, Node, and Insertion object snaps.
(You may also use F12 to toggle ON or OFF)
DYNAMIC INPUT
When Dynamic Input is ON, y ou can enter coordinate values in tooltips near the cursor. More on this in Lesson 11.
ORTHO MODE
(You may also use F8 to toggle ON or OFF)
Ortho restricts the movement of the cursor to Horizontal or Vertical. When Ortho is ON the cursor moves only in the horizontally or vertically. When Ortho is OFF the cursor moves freely in any direction.
POLAR TRACKING
(You may also use F10 to toggle ON or OFF)
Polar Tracking restricts cursor movement to specified increments along a polar angle. More on this in Lesson 11.
ISOMETRIC DRAFTING Isometric drawing allows y ou to simulate a 3D object by aligning along 3 axes, these are Top, Right and Left, called Isoplanes. When the button is enabled y ou can toggle the Isoplanes by pressing the F5 key. Isometric Drafting is discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.
OBJECT SNAP TRACKING
(You may also use F11 to toggle ON or OFF)
Object Snap Tracking controls the display of object snap reference lines, AutoSnap marker, tooltip and magnet.
(You may also use F3 to toggle ON or OFF)
2D OBJECT SNAP
When 2D Object Snap is ON the cursor will “snap” to preset locations on 2D objects. More on this in Lesson 4.
LINEWEIGHT Lineweight display s the width assigned to each object. When it is ON the lineweights are visible. You can change the lineweight settings by clicking on the down
arrow and selecting Lineweight Settings. More on this in Lesson 3.
TRANSPARENCY When Transparency Show/Hide is ON all transparent lay ers will be display ed. If it is OFF no lay ers will display as transparent. More on this in Lesson 3.
SELECTION CYCLING Selection Cy cling allows y ou to select objects that are overlapping. This is most useful when creating 3 dimensional models discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.
(You may also use F4 to toggle ON or OFF)
3D OBJECT SNAP
When 3DOsnap is ON the cursor will “snap” to preset locations on 3D objects. This option will be discussed in the “Advanced AutoCAD Workbook”.
DYNAMIC UCS
(You may also use F6 to toggle ON or OFF)
Dy namic User Coordinate Sy stem changes the grid plane to follow the XY plane of the dy namic UCS. Used for 3D, refer to the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.
SELECTION FILTERING Selection filtering allows y ou to filter whether certain faces, edges, vertices or solid history subobjects are highlighted when y ou roll over them, very useful in complex 3D.
GIZMO Gizmo tools help y ou move, rotate, or scale an object or set of objects along a 3D Plane, and discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.
ANNOTATION VISIBILITY When switched ON the Annotation Visibility tool display s or hides the visibility of annotation objects at the current scale.
AUTOSCALE When switched ON the AutoScale tool Automatically updates annotative objects to support the annotation scale when the annotation scale is changed.
ANNOTATION SCALE The Annotation Scale tool display s the current annotation scale. You can change the scale by clicking on the down percentages by selecting Percentages from the list.
arrow and selecting from the list of predefined scales or y ou may create a custom scale. You can also display the scale in
WORKSPACE SWITCHING Workspace Switching allows y ou to change the workspace environment, y ou can choose between “Drafting & Annotation”, 3D Basics and 3D Modeling. You can change the Workspace by clicking on the down the list.
arrow and selecting from
ANNOTATION MONITOR Provides feedback regarding the state of associative annotations when using parametric dimensioning. This option is discussed in the “Advanced AutoCAD Workbook”.
UNITS The Units tool allows y ou to change the display sty le of the Drawing Units. You can choose between Decimal, Architectural, Engineering, Fractional and Scientific. You can change the drawing unit display by clicking on the down and selecting from the list.
arrow
Q UICK PROPERTIES If ON, Quick Properties display s the properties of the object selected. If OFF the Quick Properties box will not appear. More on this in Lesson 12.
LOCK USER INTERFACE
The Lock User Interface tool allows y ou to lock or unlock toolbars, panels, windows and floating toolbars, panels and windows. Click on the down-arrow to select from 4 options.
ISOLATE OBJECTS You can choose to isolate objects by keeping them visible on the screen, all other objects will be hidden. Or y ou can choose to hide objects. To isolate or hide objects, left click on the Isolate Objects tool button and select either Isolate Objects or Hide Objects from the list. To restore all hidden objects left click on the Isolate Objects tool button and select End Object isolation from the list.
GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE The Graphics Performance tool examines y our graphics card and 3D display driver and determines whether to use software acceleration or hardware acceleration. You can change the performance settings by right-clicking on the tool button and selecting Graphics Performance, then change any settings required in the dialog box.
CLEAN SCREEN (You may also use Ctrl+0 to toggle ON or OFF) When Clean Screen is selected it will hide all tool palettes, windows and ribbons from the screen leaving y ou with a larger drawing area to work with. You can restore all the palettes, windows and ribbons by selecting the Clean screen tool button again. KEYBOARD FUNCTION KEYS AND WHAT THEY ARE USED FOR. F1 - Opens the Help window. F2 - Display s an Extended Command History list. F3 - Turns the 2D Object Snaps on or off. F4 - Turns the 3D Object Snaps on or off. F5 - Toggles Isoplanes between Top, Right or Left. F6 - Turns the Dy namic UCS on or off. F7 - Turns the Grid on or off. F8 - Turns Orthographic Mode on or off. F9 - Turns Snap Mode on or off. F10 - Turns Polar Tracking on or off. F11 - Turns Object Snap Tracking on or off. F12 - Turns Dy namic Input on or off. FLOATING COMMAND LINE When y ou first start AutoCAD, and if the software has not been modified, the Command Line will be display ed at the bottom of the screen, as shown below.
This is where AutoCAD will prompt y ou for information and y ou will enter commands, values and select options. Basically this is how y ou communicate with AutoCAD. You may “dock” the command line at the top or bottom of the AutoCAD window or let it float in the drawing area. To move the command line, place the cursor on the left end grip, press the left mouse button and drag the command line to a desired location.
To “dock” the command line drag it to the top or bottom of the drawing area. It will snap to the edge. You can’t dock the command line to the sides. You may also drag it below the drawing area as shown below.
Note: You may toggle the Command Line ON and OFF using Ctrl + 9. COMMAND LINE
How to enter a command on the Command Line. 1. Ty pe the first letter of a command, such as c for circle.
2. A list of commands that begin with the letter c will appear. Select the desired command from the list. 3. When y ou enter a command such as Circle, the prompt and options will be display ed on the command line. 4. The prompt for Circle command asks y ou to: “Specify center point for circle” or [ 3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius) ]:
Clickable options are display ed in blue. Options display ed in Black must be ty ped or selected from the option menu. This will be discussed more in Lesson 2. Or for more advanced Command Line options, see Appendix-D. FLOATING COMMAND LINE Command and Prompt history
As y ou enter commands AutoCAD records them as “history ”. You may display this history by pressing F2 or the up arrow at the right hand end of the command line.
Command Line tools Recent commands tool display s recently selected commands.
Customize tool allows y ou to select options for the AutoComplete by selecting ‘Input Settings’. You can also control how many lines of history are display ed and the degree of transparency for the Command Line.
DYNAMIC INPUT Dy namic Input is another method of inputting commands, values and selecting options. To use Dy namic Input y ou must turn ON the Dynamic Input button in the Status Bar, shown on page 1-14.
If y ou choose to use Dy namic Input the command will be entered in the tooltip box beside the cursor. How to enter a command using Dynamic Input. 1. Place the cursor in the Drawing Area. 2. Ty pe the first letter of a command, such as c for circle. 3. A list of commands that begin with the letter c will appear. Select the command from the list.
4. If y ou press the down
arrow the options will appear below the prompt.
Notice the command entry is being display ed on the command line also. Using the Command Line or Dy namic Input is your choice. This will be discussed more in Lesson 2. Or for more advanced Command Line options, see Appendix-D. DRAWING AREA The Drawing Area is the large open area of the screen. This is where y ou will draw. Consider this y our paper. The color of this area can be changed using Options / Display tab / Color
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