INTRODUCTION TO AUTOCAD AutoCAD, created by Autodesk Inc.

, is the most widely used technical drawing program anywhere, with more than 3 million registered users. According to Autodesk, CAD stands for computer-aided design, but can also stand for computer aided drafting or drawing. The first version of AutoCAD, running under DOS, came out in1982. AutoCAD was the first significant CAD program to run on a desktop computer. At the time, most other technical drawing programs ran on high-end workstations or even mainframes. AutoCADs success has been attributed to its famous open architecturemany source code files in plain text(ASCII) files that you can easily customize and programming languages (such as AutoLISP and Visual Basic for Applications) designed especially so that the end user can program AutoCAD. As a result, AutoCAD is the most flexible drafting program available, applicable to all fields. AutoCADs support for languages other than English, including those using other alphabets, is unparalleled, making AutoCAD without serious competition abroad. As a result, AutoCAD is used in all disciplines and in more than 150 countries. 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 Creating a New Drawing After you launch AutoCAD, you are automatically in a new drawing named Drawing1.dwg. You can see the drawing name on the title bar. You can start drawing immediately The drawing area The blank area in the middle of the screen, the graphics window, is where you draw. The UCS icon Notice the symbol with two arrows at the bottom-left corner of the drawing area in Figure. This symbol is called the User Coordinate System (UCS) icon. The arrows point to the positive directions of the X and Y axes to help you keep your bearings. The crosshairs In the drawing area of Figure , notice the two intersecting lines with a small box at their intersection. The small box is called the pickbox because it helps you to 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 menus and toolbars At the top of your screen is the title bar, and directly beneath the title bar is a menu bar. Below that are two rows of toolbars. In addition, your screen has two more toolbars, the Draw and Modify toolbars, which are probably docked at the left and right sides of the screen, as shown in Figure . Use the menus and toolbars together to give AutoCAD commands to draw, edit, get information, and so on. The command line At the bottom of the screen, 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. All commands can be executed by typing them on the command line. Function Keys F1 Help Explanations of Commands. F2 Flipscreen Toggles from Text Screen to Graphics Screen. F3 Osnap Toggles Osnap On and Off. F4 Tablet Toggles the Tablet On and Off. F5 Isoplane Changes the Isoplane from Top to Right to Left. F6 Coordinate Display Changes the display from ON / Off /. F7 Grid Toggles the Grid On or Off. F8 Ortho Toggles Ortho On or Off. F9 Snap Toggles Increment Snap on or off. F10 Polar Toggles Polar Tracking On or Off. F11 Otrack Toggles Object Snap Tracking On and Off

Special Key Functions Escape Key Cancels the current command, menu or Dialog Box. Enter Key Ends a command, or will repeat the previous command if the command line is blank. Space Bar Same as the Enter Key, except when entering text. Methods Of Entering Commands AutoCAD has 3 different methods of entering commands. All 3 methods will accomplish the same end result. AutoCAD allows you to use the method you prefer. The following are descriptions of all 3 methods and an example of how each one would be used to start a command such as the Line command. 1. Pull down Menu 2. Tool Bars 3. Keyboard Saving a Drawing To save a drawing, click Save on the Standard toolbar. If you are saving a drawing for the first time, the Save Drawing As dialog box appears To save a file, type a file name in the File Name text box and click Save to save the file. Closing a Drawing and Exiting from AutoCAD You can close your drawing and keep AutoCAD open. The simplest way is to use the drawing Close button just under the application Close button. You can also choose File -> Close. Opening an Existing Drawing Choose Open from the Standard toolbar. The Select File dialog box appears, shown in Figure 2-3. In the Look in drop-down list box, choose the drive where your drawing resides. In the main box, double-click the folder you need. Then choose your drawing. The Preview box enables you to quickly look at the drawing to see if its the one you want. Click Open. AutoCAD opens the drawing. Object snaps Often you need to draw an object in a position relative to a previously drawn object. For example, you may need to start a line from the endpoint or midpoint of an existing line. AutoCAD offers a feature called object snaps (OSNAPS for short) that enables you to specify a point by snapping to a geometrically defined point on an existing object. This is a very precise and efficient way to draw. You can start an object snap in one of three ways: Open the Object Snap toolbar and choose the object snap that you want. Access the object snap shortcut menu by holding down the Shift key and right-clicking. Choose the object snap you want with the left mouse button. Type the object snaps abbreviation on the command line. Object Snap Abbreviation Uses ENDpoint Snaps to the closest endpoint of a Line, Arc or polygon segment. Place the cursor on the object close to the end. MIDpoint Snaps to the middle of a Line, Arc or Polygon segment. Place the cursor anywhere on the object. INTersection Snaps to the intersections of any two objects. Place the Pick box directly on top of the intersection or select one object andthen the other and Autocad will locate the intersection. CENter Snaps to the center of an Arc, Circle or Donut. Place the cursor on the object, or the approximate center location. QUAdrant Snaps to a 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 or 9:00 oclock location on a circle. Place the cursor on the circle near the desired quadrant location. PERpendicular Snaps to a point perpendicular to the object selected. Place the cursor anywhere on the object. LINE Command To draw a line, choose Line from the Draw toolbar. At the Specify first point: prompt, specify any point. Continue to specify points until you are finished. Press Enter to end the command. You can also right-click and choose Enter from the shortcut menu. Drawing Rectangles The RECTANG command draws rectangles. Rectangles are used in all disciplines. The RECTANG command has a number of options that specify how the rectangle appears. Drawing Polygons AutoCADs POLYGON command enables you to draw multisided closed figures with equal side lengths. AutoCAD can draw polygons with anything from 3 to 1,024 sides Drawing Circles AutoCAD provides five ways to draw a circle. To draw a circle, choose Circle from the Draw toolbar.

Drawing Arcs An arc is a portion of a circle. Therefore, to define an arc, you have to define not only a circlefor example, by specifying a center and a radiusbut also you must define the start and endpoints of the arc. To draw an arc, choose Arc from the Draw toolbar and follow the prompts

Moving objects To move an object, select it and choose Move on the Modify toolbar Copying objects Copying is very similar to moving. In fact, the only difference is that AutoCAD does not remove the object from its original spot so that you end up with two objects instead of one. Rotating objects To rotate an object, choose Rotate from the Modify toolbar and select an object. Alternatively, select an object and then choose Rotate from the Modify toolbar. MIRROR command To mirror, select an object or objects and then choose Mirror from the Modify toolbar. Alternatively, choose Mirror from the Modify toolbar and then select an object or objects. AutoCAD prompts for the first and second points of the mirror line. This is an imaginary line across which AutoCAD creates the mirrored object. The length of the line is irrelevantonly its start point and direction are important. AutoCAD then asks if you want to delete the source objects. The source objects refer to the objects you have selected to mirror. If you want to keep them, type n or press Enter. You would keep the source objects when you are building a symmetrical model and want the mirror image to be added to the original object(s). Type y ARRAY command The ARRAY command creates a rectangular or circular (polar) pattern by copying the object(s) you select as many times as you specify. The ARRAY command is a powerful drawing tool. It can quickly create large numbers of objectssaving a huge amount of time and effort. Offsetting objects The OFFSET command creates lines or curves parallel to one existing object. To offset an object, choose Offset from the Modify toolbar ISOMETRIC DRAWINGS you can use any point entry method to construct an isometric drawing. Polar coordinates and dynamic input or dimensional input are common basic point entry options for isometric construction because they allow you to specify angles. Polar tracking set to 30 increment angles is also an effective method. One of the most useful aids for isometric drawing is the Isometric snap option of Snap and Grid modes. Use the Snap and Grid tab of the Drafting Settings dialog box to set Isometric snap. A quick way to access the Snap and Grid tab is to right-click on the Grid Display or Snap Mode button on the status bar and select Settings. Pick the Isometric snap radio button in the Snap type area to activate Isometric snap. Then specify the snap increment using the Snap Y spacing: text box of the Snap spacing area, and the grid spacing using the Grid Y spacing: text box of the Grid spacing area. You can only set the Y snap and grid spacing. The X spacing is not applicable because the X axis relates to horizontal measurements. For this same reason, you must also check 2D model space in the Grid style area to display the grid as a pattern of dots. Activate Grid and Snap modes and you are ready to begin drawing. Specifying the Isometric Plane

Isometric grid and snap modes orient the grid and snap to isometric angles. You can align the crosshairs with the left, right, or top isoplane, depending on the plane on which you plan to draw.. Changing the isoplane is not required when drawing isometric lines, but doing so can be helpful for visualization and drawing ease. You must change the isoplane orientation to construct isometric circles and arcs using the Isocircle option of the ELLIPSE tool, Press [F5] repeatedly to cycle through the isoplanes, or access the ISOPLANE tool and specify the Left, Top, or Right option, depending on the isoplane orientation appropriate for the isometric plane on which you plan to draw Drawing Standard 3D Shapes choose DrawSurfaces3D Surfaces to open the 3D Objects dialog box Box Choose Box from the Surfaces toolbar Wedge The prompts are the same as for the box, except that there is no Cube option. A wedge is half of a box. Pyramid You can draw pyramids with three- and four-sided bases. A pyramid with a three sided base creates a four-sided object called a tetrahedron. You can top the pyramid with a point, a flat top, or for four-sided bases, a ridge Cone You can create full or partial cones. Sphere Drawing a sphere is quite easyyou just specify the center and radius, and then the number of segments to display in each direction. Dome A dome is the top half of a sphere, Torus A torus is a 3D donut Drawing a Revolved Surface A common way to define a surface is to revolve an outline around an axis. You can create some very complex surfaces in this way. The REVSURF command takes an object that defines an outline or profileAutoCAD also calls it a path curveand revolves it around an axis, creating a 3D polygon mesh Drawing an Extruded Surface A simple way to create a 3D object is to start with a 2D object and give it thickness. Giving a 2D object thickness is sometimes called extruding. Creating Extruded Solids The EXTRUDE command creates solids from closed 2D objects. The result is similar to adding thickness to a 2D object When you extrude an object, by default you extrude it perpendicular to the object. You can extrude the object along a path. A path can be a line, circle, arc, ellipse, elliptical arc, polyline, or a spline. Drawing Revolved Solids The REVOLVE command creates solids from closed profiles. (By contrast, the REVSURF command, which creates surfaces, revolves an open profile around an axis.) You can revolve closed 2D polylines, circles, ellipses, closed splines, and regions.