Beginning AutoCAD® 2017: Exercise Workbook

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 2017

or

Double click on the AutoCAD 2017 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 displayed by default and allows you to start a New drawing, Open an existing drawing or template, Explore sample drawings, view Recent documents or access Online Services.

You can access the LEARN page by clicking on LEARN at the bottom of the page or on the left-hand side of the page.

You can start a new drawing using the default template by clicking on the Start Drawing tool, or you can access a list of available templates by clicking on the Templates down arrow.

Note: The last template you use will become the new default template and is highlighted in the template dropdown list.

Note:

The drawing template acad.dwt is for inch 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 your 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.

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 comes with new Dark and Light color themes. On some of the images within this book, you may see the ribbon color showing the Light theme, this is just for clarity. You may choose the Light theme if you wish.

You may change the color of many areas using: Options / Display tab / Colors button

If the remainder of your 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 you the option of deciding how you would like them displayed.

When you use a workspace, only the menus, toolbars, and palettes that are relevant to a task are displayed. For example if you selected the 3D Modeling workspace only 3D menus, toolbars and palettes would be displayed.

There are 3 preset Workspaces.

Drafting & Annotation (shown on the previous page)

This workspace is the default display. It displays 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

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 displayed.

Note: We will be using the Drafting & Annotation Workspace.

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 displayed as icons or images.

If you hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.

View Recent Documents

When you select Recent Documents a list of the recently viewed documents will appear.

Display choices: This list may be displayed as icons or images and may be sorted in an ordered list or grouped by date or file type.

If you hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.

Pinned Files

You can keep a file listed regardless of files that you save later using the push pin button to the right. The file is displayed at the bottom of the list until you turn off the push pin button.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick 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 Quick Access Toolbar

You can add tools with the Customize User Interface dialog box.

Example:

After you have completed Lesson 4 you will find that you will be using Zoom All often. So I add the Zoom All tool to the Quick Access Toolbar. If you would like to add the Zoom All tool, or any other tool, to your 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 Quick 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 Quick Access Toolbar.

RIBBON

The RIBBON provides access to the AutoCAD tools.

The TABS contain multiple PANELS. Each PANEL contains multiple tools.

When you select a TAB a new set of PANELS will appear.

Additional Tools: If you select the symbol, 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 you choose to display. The check mark confirms the tab or panel is already displayed.

Control the TAB order

If you would like to change the order of the tabs, click and drag the tab horizontally to the new location.

Floating PANELS

If you prefer to separate a Panel from the Ribbon you 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 displays 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 you 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 you 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 you 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 you 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 you 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 you to work in either model space or paper space without leaving the layout tab. When you switch to a layout 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 typing DS then press , then select the Snap and Grid tab from the Drafting Settings dialog box.

SNAP MODE (You may also use F9 to toggle ON or OFF)

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 arrow and selecting Snap Settings.

You can also choose whether to use Grid Snap or Polar Snap on the same menu.

INFER CONSTRAINTS (Note: Not used in this workbook)

Inferred Geometric Constraints automatically applies coincident constraints for Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, Node, and Insertion object snaps.

DYNAMIC INPUT (You may also use F12 to toggle ON or OFF)

When Dynamic Input is ON, you 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.

You may set the increments by clicking on the down arrow and selecting Tracking Settings, or you can select one of the predefined angles from the list.

ISOMETRIC DRAFTING

Isometric drawing allows you to simulate a 3D object by aligning along 3 axes, these are Top, Right and Left, called Isoplanes. When the button is enabled you can toggle the Isoplanes by pressing the F5 key. Isometric Drafting is discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

You may also change Isoplanes by clicking the down arrow and selecting from the menu.

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.

2D OBJECT SNAP (You may also use F3 to toggle ON or OFF)

When 2D Object Snap is ON the cursor will snap to preset locations on 2D objects. More on this in Lesson 4.

You may also add or remove Object Snaps by clicking the down arrow and selecting from the menu.

LINEWEIGHT

Lineweight displays 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 layers will be displayed. If it is OFF no layers will display as transparent. More on this in Lesson 3.

SELECTION CYCLING

Selection Cycling allows you to select objects that are overlapping. This is most useful when creating 3 dimensional models discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

3D OBJECT SNAP (You may also use F4 to toggle ON or OFF)

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)

Dynamic User Coordinate System changes the grid plane to follow the XY plane of the dynamic UCS. Used for 3D, refer to the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

SELECTION FILTERING

Selection filtering allows you to filter whether certain faces, edges, vertices or solid history subobjects are highlighted when you roll over them, very useful in complex 3D.

GIZMO

Gizmo tools help you 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 displays 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 displays the current annotation scale. You can change the scale by clicking on the down arrow and selecting from the list of predefined scales or you may create a custom scale. You can also display the scale in percentages by selecting Percentages from the list.

WORKSPACE SWITCHING

Workspace Switching allows you to change the workspace environment, you can choose between Drafting & Annotation, 3D Basics and 3D Modeling. You can change the Workspace by clicking on the down arrow and selecting from the list.

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 you to change the display style 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 arrow and selecting from the list.

QUICK PROPERTIES

If ON, Quick Properties displays 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 you 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 you 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 your 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 a (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 you 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.

FLOATING COMMAND LINE

When you first start AutoCAD, and if the software has not been modified, the Command Line will be displayed at the bottom of the screen, as shown below.

This is where AutoCAD will prompt you for information and you will enter commands, values and select options. Basically this is how you 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.   Type 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 you enter a command such as Circle, the prompt and options will be displayed on the command line.

4.   The prompt for Circle command asks you to:

"Specify center point for circle" or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]:

The information within the [   ] brackets are options that you may select.

Clickable options are displayed in blue.

Options displayed in Black must be typed 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 you 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 displays recently selected commands.

Customize tool allows you to select options for the AutoComplete by selecting ‘Input Settings’. You can also control how many lines of history are displayed and the degree of transparency for the Command Line.

DYNAMIC INPUT

Dynamic Input is another method of inputting commands, values and selecting options.

To use Dynamic Input you must turn ON the Dynamic Input button in the Status Bar, shown on page 1-14.

If you choose to use Dynamic Input the command will be entered in the tooltip box beside the cursor.

How to enter a command using Dynamic Input.