CHAPTER -1

Introduction of AutoCAD
1. 0 STRTING AutoCAD
1. 1 AutoCAD SCREEN COMPONENT
The various components of the initial AutoCAD screen are the drawing area, the command
window, menu bar, several tools bar, model layout tabs, and the status bar. A title bar that has
the AutoCAD symbol and the current drawing name is displayed on top of the screen. See in
figure 1-1.
Title Bar Menu Bar

Standard Toolbar

Toolbar

Drawing Area

Cursor

Status Bar
Coordinate Display

Figure 1-1
1. 1. 1. Drawing Area
The drawing area covers the major portion of the screen. Here you can the various objects and
use the various commands. To draw the objects you need to define the coordinate point, which
can be selected by using your pointing device. The position of the point device is representing
on the screen by the cursor. There is a coordinate system icon at the lower left corner of the
drawing area.

1. 1. 2. Command Window
The commanding window is present at the bottom of the drawing area and has the Command
prompt where you can enter the commands. You can change the size of the window by placing
the cursor on the top edge and then dragging it. You can also press the F2 key to display the
AutoCAD Text window, which displays the previous commands and prompts.

1. 1. 3. Status Bar
The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the screen. This bar contains some important useful
information and buttons that will make it easy to change the status of some AutoCAD function.
There are some component in status bar are given below.

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 A) Coordinate Display
The co ordinate’s information is display in the left corner of the status bar. You can select this
coordinate button to toggle between on and off. The display of coordinate system is control by
variable like 0, 1 and 2. If we set the value of COORDS to 0, the coordinate display is static i.e.
the coordinate value displayed in status bar change only when you specify the point. If we set
the value of COORDS to 1, AutoCAD constantly displays the absolute coordinates of the
graphic cursor with respect to UCS origin. If we set the value of COORDS to 2, the polar
coordinates (length < angle) are displayed. You can use the key F6 to turn the coordinate
display on or off.

B) SNAP
The snap mode allows you to move the cursor in fixed increments. When Snap mode is on, the
cursor seems to adhere, or "snap," to an invisible rectangular grid.You can use the function key
F9 as a toggle key to turn Snap On or Off.

C) GRID
In grid mode the grid line are used as reference line to draw object in AutoCAD. If the grid
display is on, the GRID button is displayed as pressed and the grid lines are displayed on the
screen. The function key F7 can be used to turn the grid display on or off.

D) ORTHO
The Ortho mode allows you to draw lines at right angles only. The Ortho button is pressed in
the status bar. You can use the key F8 to turn Ortho on or off.

E) POLAR
If you turn the polar tracking on, the movement of the cursor is restricted along a path base on
the angle set as the polar angle setting. You can use the function key F10.

F) OSNAP
When object snap is on, you can use the running object snaps to snap. Auto Snap displays a
marker and a tool tip when you move your cursor over a snap point. You can use function F3 or
CTRL+F to turn Osanp on or off.

G) OTRACK
Choose the Otrack button turns object snap tracking on or off.

H) LWT
Choosing this button is displayed in the status bar allow you to turn on or of the display of
linewights in the drawing.

I) MODEL
The model button is displayed in the status bar when you are working in the model space to
create drawing.

1. 1. 4. Toolbar
In windows, the toolbar is an easy and convenient way to invoked way to invoked a command.
Each toolbar contains a group of buttons representing various AutoCAD commands. When you
move the cursor over the buttons of a toolbar, the button gets lifted and three-dimensional box
encloses the button on which the cursor is resting. The name of button is also displayed below
the button. You have to invoke the command, left click is done.

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Displaying Toolbars
The various toolbars can display by various method which are given below.
a) The Customize dialog box can invoked by choosing View > Toolbar from main menu
bar (Figure1-2).
b) You can also display a toolbar from the shortcut menu which is display by right-clicking
anywhere on any toolbar on screen and choosing the name of the toolbar to display from
the shortcut menu.
c) The Toolbar dialog box can invoke by choosing Toolbar> Customize >Toolbar from
main menu bar. (Figure1-2).

Figure 1-2

1. 2 COORDINATE SYSTEMS
To specify a point in a plane, take two mutually perpendicular lines as references. The
horizontal line is called the x-axis, and the vertical line is called the y-axis. The point of
intersection of these two axes is called the origin. The X and Y axes divide the XY plane into
four parts, generally known as guardians. The X coordinate measures the horizontal distance
from origin on X axis. The Y coordinate +Y
measures the Vertical distance from origin on
Y axis. The origin has the coordinate
measures the vertical distance from the origin
(2,2)
(how far the up and down) on the y axis. The
origin has the coordinate values of X=0, Y=0.
(-1,1) (1,1)
The origin is taken as the reference for
locating any point in the XY plane. The x (0,0)
coordinate is positive if measured to the right -X +X
of origin and negative if measured to the left
of the origin. The y coordinate is positive if (-1,-1)
measured above the origin and negative if (1,-1) (2,-1)
-Y

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measured below the origin. This method of specifying points is called the Cartesian
coordinate system, see figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3
In AutoCAD, the default origin is located at the lower left corner of the graphics area of the
screen. AutoCAD uses the following coordinate system to locate a point in an XY plane.
1. Absolute coordinates
2. Relative coordinates
a. Relative rectangular coordinates
b. Relative polar coordinates
+Y
3. Direct distance entry
1. Absolute Coordinate system
In the absolute coordinate system, the points are (4, 3)
located with respect to the origin (0,0): for
example, a point with x = 4 and y = 3 is
measured 4 units horizontally (displacement
along the x axis) and 3 units vertically
( displacement along the y axis ) from the
origin, as shown in figure 1-4. -X +X
(0, 0)
In AutoCAD, the absolute coordinates are
specified by entering x and y coordinates, -Y
separately by a comma. The following example
illustrate the use of absolute coordinates (figure
1-5) Figure 1-4

Command: LINE (1, 3) (4, 3)

Specified first point 1, 1 Enter
(x = 1, y = 1 )
Specify next point or [undo]: 4, 3 Enter
Specify next point or [undo]: 1, 3 Enter
Specify next point or [undo/close]: 1, 1 Enter
Specify next point or [undo/close]: C Enter (1, 1) (4, 1)

Figure 1-5
2. Relative Coordinate System
There are two types of relatives coordinate;
the relative rectangular and relative polar. +Y
DX = 4 DX = 4
a) The relative rectangular coordinates DY = 0 DY = 0

In the relative rectangular coordinates

system, the displacement along the x and y
axes (dx and dy) are measured with reference
DY = 3

to the previous point rather than to the origin.

In AutoCAD the relative coordinate system is (1, 1)
designed by the system @ and it should DX = 4
precede any relative entry. The following DX = 4 DY = 0

prompt sequence illustrates the use of the -X +X

relative rectangular system to draw a
rectangular with the lower left corner at point
(1, 1). The length of rectangular is 4 units and -Y

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the width is 3 units. (Figure 1-6).
Figure 1-6
Command: Line
Specify first point: 1, 1 (Start point) Enter
Specify next point or [Undo]: @4, 0 Enter +Y
Specify next point or [Undo]: @0, 3 Enter
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @-4, 0 Enter
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @0, -3 Enter
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:C Enter

b) Relative Polar Coordinates

In the relative polar coordinate system, a point 30º
is located by defining both the (1, 1)
distance of the point from the current point and -X +X
the angle that the line between the two points
makes with the positive X axis. The prompt
sequence to draw a line from a point at 1, 1 to a -Y
point at a distance of 5 units from the point (1, 1),
and at an angle of 30-degree to the X axis (Figure
1-7) is given next. Figure 1-7

Command: Line
Specify first point; 1, 1
Specify next point or [Undo]: @5<30

Note: Sign Convention by default, the angle is positive if measured in a counterclockwise

direction and negative if measured in a clockwise direction. You can modify the default settings
of angle measurement direction using the UNITS command discussed later.

3. Direct Distance Entry

You can draw a line by specifying the length of the line and
its direction using
Direct Distance Entry. The direction is determined by the
position of the cursor, and the length of the line is entered
from the keyboard. If the Ortho mode is on, you can draw
line along the X and Y axis by specifying the length of the
line and positioning the cursor along the ortho direction. You
can also use it with other draw commands for e.g. rectangle.
See figure 1-8

Figure 1-8
1. 3 SETTING UNIT
Setting Units is most important part of drawing because without unit setting we can’t do
any drawing work. When you start AutoCAD drawing there was already set default unit which
is shown in figure 1-9.
You can set the unit by given below method:
Menu: Format > Units
Command: Units
The Units command display the Drawing Units dialog box as shown in figure 1-9.
Defines the unit and angle formats.
1. 3. 1. Length
Specifies the current unit of measurement and the precision for the current

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units.

 Type
Sets the current format for units of measure. The values include Architectural, Decimal,
Engineering, Fractional, and Scientific.
The Engineering and Architectural
formats produce feet-and-inches displays
and assume that each drawing unit
represents one inch. The other formats
can represent any real-world unit.
 Precision
Sets the number of decimal places or
fractional size displayed for linear
measurements.

1. 3. 2. Angle
Specifies the current angle format and
the precision for the current angle
display.
 Type: Sets the current angle
format.
 Precision: Sets the precision
for the current angle display.
AutoCAD uses the following
conventions for the various angle measures: decimal degrees appear as decimal numbers,
grads appear with a lowercase g suffix, and radians appear
Figure 1-9

with a lowercase r suffix. The degrees/minutes/seconds format uses d for degrees, ' for minutes,
and " for seconds; for example:
123d45'56.7"
Surveyor's units show angles as bearings, using N or S for north or south,
degrees/minutes/seconds for how far east or west the angle is from direct north or south, and E
or W for east or west; for example:
N 45d0'0" E
The angle is always less than 90 degrees and is displayed in the degrees/minutes/seconds
format. If the angle is precisely north, south, east, or west, only the single letter representing the
compass point is displayed.
 Clockwise
Calculates positive angles in the clockwise directions. The default direction for positive
angles is counter clockwise.
When AutoCAD prompts for an angle, you can point in the desired direction or enter an angle
regardless of the setting specified for Clockwise.

1. 3. 3. Drag and Drop Scale

Controls the unit of measurement for blocks that are dragged into the current drawing
using a tool palette, DesignCenter™, or i-drop™. A block or a drawing that is created with units
that are different from the units specified with this option is scaled when inserted. The insertion
scale is the ratio of the units used in the source block or drawing and the units used in the target
drawing. Select Unitless to insert the block without scaling it to match the specified units.
1. 3. 4. Direction Control

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 When you choose the Direction button in the Drawing Units dialog box, The direction
Control box appears, which gives you an option of selecting the setting for direction of the
angle, see Figure 1-4.
 Base Angle
Sets the direction of the zero angle. The following options affect the entry of angles, the
display format, and the entry of polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates.
 East: Specifies the compass direction east (the
default).
 North: Specifies the compass direction north.
 West: Specifies the compass direction west.
 South: Specifies the compass direction south.
 Other: Specifies a direction different from the
points of the compass.
Angle
Specifies a value for the zero angle when Other is
selected. You can specify the angle by entering a value.

Pick an Angle Button

Defines the zero angle in the graphics area based on the
angle of an imaginary line that connects any two points
you specify with the pointing device. Available only when Other is selected.

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