9

4. On your own, move the graphics cursor near the upper-right corner inside the drawing
area and note that the drawing area is unchanged. (The Drawing Limits command is
used to set the drawing area, but the display will not be adjusted until a display
command is used.)

5. Inside the Menu Bar area select:

[View]  [Zoom]  [All]

 The Zoom All command will

adjust the display so that all objects
in the drawing are displayed to be
as large as possible. If no objects
are constructed, the Drawing
Limits are used to adjust the
current viewport.

6. Move the graphics cursor near the upper-right corner inside the drawing area and note
that the display area is updated.

7. Hit the function key [F7] once to turn off the display of the Grid lines.

• Note that function key [F7] is a quick key, which can be used to quickly toggle on/off
the grid display. Also, note the command prompt area can be positioned to dock
below the drawing area or float inside the drawing area as shown.

10
Drawing Lines with the Line Command

1. Move the graphics cursor to the first icon in the

Draw panel. This icon is the Line icon. Note that a
brief description of the Line command appears next
to the cursor.

2. Select the icon by clicking once with the left-

mouse-button, which will activate the Line
command.

3. In the command prompt area, near the bottom of the AutoCAD drawing screen, the
message “_line Specify first point:” is displayed. AutoCAD expects us to identify the
starting location of a straight line. Move the graphics cursor inside the graphics
window and watch the display of the coordinates of the graphics cursor at the bottom
of the AutoCAD drawing screen. The three numbers represent the location of the
cursor in the X, Y, and Z directions. We can treat the graphics window as if it was a
piece of paper, and we are using the graphics cursor as if it was a pencil with which
to draw.

Coordinates of the graphics

cursor

5  We will create a freehand sketch of a five-

point star using the Line command. Do not
3 2 be overly concerned with the actual size or
accuracy of your freehand sketch. This
exercise is to give you a feel for the
AutoCAD 2021 user interface.

1 4

11
 4. We will start at a location about one-third
from the bottom of the graphics window.
Left-click once to position the starting
point of our first line. This will be point 1
of our sketch. Next, move the cursor
upward and toward the right side of point
1. Notice the rubber-band line that follows
the graphics cursor in the graphics
window. Left-click again (point 2) and we
have created the first line of our sketch.

5. Move the cursor to the left of point 2 and

create a horizontal line about the same
length as the first line on the screen.

3 2

6. Repeat the above steps and complete the

freehand sketch by adding three more lines
(from point 3 to point 4, point 4 to point 5,
and then connect to point 5 back to point 1). 1 4

7. Notice that the Line command remains activated even

after we connected the last segment of the line to the
starting point (point 1) of our sketch. Inside the graphics
window, click once with the right-mouse-button and a
pop-up menu appears on the screen.

8. Select Enter with the left-mouse-button to end the Line

command. (This is equivalent to hitting the [ENTER] key
on the keyboard.)

9. Move the cursor near point 2 and point 3, and estimate the
length of the horizontal line by watching the displayed
coordinates for each point.

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Visual Reference

The method we just used to create the freehand sketch is known as the interactive
method, where we use the cursor to specify locations on the screen. This method is
perhaps the fastest way to specify locations on the screen. However, it is rather difficult
to try to create a line of a specific length by watching the displayed coordinates. It would
be helpful to know what one inch or one meter looks like on the screen while we are
creating entities. AutoCAD 2021 provides us with many tools to aid the construction of
our designs. For example, the GRID and SNAP MODE options can be used to get a
visual reference as to the size of objects and learn to restrict the movement of the cursor
to a set increment on the screen.
The GRID and SNAP MODE options can be turned ON or OFF through the Status Bar.
The Status Bar area is located at the bottom left of the AutoCAD drawing screen, next to
the cursor coordinates.

Option Buttons

The second button in the Status Bar is the SNAP MODE option and the third button is the
GRID DISPLAY option. Note that the buttons in the Status Bar area serve two functions:
(1) the status of the specific option, and (2) as toggle switches that can be used to turn
these special options ON and OFF. When the corresponding button is highlighted, the
specific option is turned ON. Using the buttons is a quick and easy way to make changes
to these drawing aid options. The buttons in the Status Bar can also be switched on and
off in the middle of another command.

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SNAP MODE ON
1. Left-click the SNAP MODE button in the Status Bar to turn ON the SNAP option.

2. Move the cursor inside the graphics window, and move the cursor diagonally on the
screen. Observe the movement of the cursor and watch the coordinates display at the
bottom of the screen.

 The SNAP option controls an invisible rectangular grid that restricts cursor movement
to specified intervals. When SNAP mode is on, the screen cursor and all input
coordinates are snapped to the nearest point on the grid. The default snap interval is
0.5 inches and aligned to the grid points on the screen.

3. Click on the Line icon in the Draw toolbar. In

the command prompt area, the message “_line
Specify first point:” is displayed.

4. On your own, create another sketch of the five-point star with the GRID and SNAP
options switched ON.

5. Use the right-mouse-button and select Enter in the pop-up

menu to end the Line command if you have not done so.

14
Using the Erase Command
One of the advantages of using a CAD system is the ability to remove entities without
leaving any marks. We will erase two of the lines using the Erase command.

1. Pick Erase in the Modify toolbar. (The

icon is a picture of an eraser at the end of
a pencil.) The message “Select objects” is
displayed in the command prompt area
and AutoCAD awaits us to select the
objects to erase.

2. Left-click the SNAP MODE button on the Status Bar to turn OFF the SNAP MODE
option. We can toggle the Status Bar options ON or OFF in the middle of another
command.

3. Select any two lines on the screen; the selected lines are highlighted as shown in the
figure below.

 To deselect an object from the selection set, hold down the [SHIFT] key and select
the object again.

4. Right-mouse-click once to accept the selections. The selected two lines are erased.

15
Repeat the Last Command
1. Inside the graphics window, click once with the right-
mouse-button to bring up the pop-up option menu.

2. Pick Repeat Erase, with the left-mouse-button, in the

pop-up menu to repeat the last command. Notice the
other options available in the pop-up menu.
 AutoCAD 2021 offers many options to accomplish the
same task. Throughout this text, we will emphasize the
use of the AutoCAD Heads-up DesignTM interface,
which means we focus on the screen, not on the
keyboard.
3. Move the cursor to a location that is above and toward the left side of the entities on
the screen. Left-mouse-click once to start a corner of a rubber-band window.
First corner

Second corner

4. Move the cursor toward the right and below the entities, and then left-mouse-click to
enclose all the entities inside the selection window. Notice all entities that are inside
the window are selected. (Note the enclosed window selection direction is from top
left to bottom right.)

5. Inside the graphics window, right-mouse-click once to proceed with erasing the
selected entities.
 On your own, create a free-hand sketch of your choice using the Line command.
Experiment with using the different commands we have discussed so far. Reset the
status buttons so that only the GRID DISPLAY option is turned ON as shown.

16