Quick Start: Drawing a Window

Learning AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT is a bit like trying to decide which came first — the chicken or the egg. On one hand, you need to know the basics before you can start drawing. On the other hand, understanding the basics can be very difficult if you haven’t had the experience of drawing something. In this Quick Start chapter, you resolve this problem by drawing, dimensioning, and printing a simple window in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

This Quick Start chapter is meant for beginners. You get the feel of AutoCAD’s precision drawing tools and experience how to build a drawing. The AutoCAD/AutoCAD LT interface is very customizable. Note that the instructions for the exercise in this chapter assume that no one has made major changes to the default settings.

Note

When you start AutoCAD 2015 for the very first time, the Migrate Custom Settings dialog box may appear, asking you to migrate your custom settings from a previous release of AutoCAD.

Note

In Chapter 1, we provide instructions for creating a special AutoCAD Bible folder for all the exercises in this book. If you want to create this folder now, do so and save the drawing in the folder.

On the Web

The file used in this exercise on drawing a window, abqs-a.dwt, is a template available from the Drawings download on the companion website. This download is in zipped format, so you need to unzip the file before doing this exercise (as well as others in this book). You can find the location of the companion website in the Introduction to this book.

1. Click or double-click (depending on your version of Windows) the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT icon on your desktop, or Windows Start menu or screen to start the program.

   You see the AutoCAD Start Screen. (If you are prompted for a template, skip to Step 2, third sentence.)

2. Click the Start Drawing button under the Get Started heading.
3. Choose Application Button ⇒ New. (The Application Button is the red A at the upper-left corner of your screen.) The Select Template dialog box opens. Navigate to the folder where you unzipped the Drawings download from this book’s companion website, choose abqs-a.dwt, and click Open. You see a blank drawing. (We explain more about templates and opening drawings in Chapter 2.)

   Caution

   Don’t use the default drawing. You need to open this template, available from the companion website, for the rest of the exercise to work properly.

4. To save the drawing and give it a name, choose Application Button ⇒ Save. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, use the Save In drop-down list to navigate to any convenient folder, such as the My Documents (or Documents) folder or the AutoCAD Bible folder you created. Type abqs-01 in the File Name text box and click Save. (We go into more detail about saving a drawing in Chapter 1.)
5. To free up the drawing area, close any windows or palettes that are open by clicking their Close (X) button, so that your screen looks like Figure QS.1. I’ve changed the background color to white, but yours will probably be dark gray or black.

   Note

   This chapter assumes that you’re using the default Drafting & Annotation workspace. If the Drafting & Annotation workspace isn’t shown in the Workspace Switching pop-up list located on the status bar at the lower-right corner of your screen, choose Drafting & Annotation from the list.

6. At the top of the screen, you see a tabbed area filled with buttons, called the Ribbon, which contains the Layers panel (section) on the Home tab, as shown in Figure QS.1. From the Layer drop-down list in the Layers panel, click the down arrow and choose WINDOW, as shown in Figure QS.2. (Layers help you organize the objects in your drawing; We cover them in detail in Chapter 11.) Anything you draw will now be on the WINDOW layer. (If you don’t see the WINDOW layer, you may not have started with the abqs-a.dwt template. This template contains the layers that you need to use.)
7. With your left mouse button (also called the pick button), choose Home tab ⇒ Draw panel ⇒ Rectangle/Polygon drop-down menu ⇒ Rectangle. (Using the Ribbon is only one way to give AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT commands. We explain other ways in Chapter 3. You can find more about drawing lines and rectangles in Chapter 6.)

   Move your mouse so that the cursor is in the main drawing area. Your screen should look like Figure QS.1. If you don’t see the tooltip bar — also called the Dynamic Input tooltip — near the cursor, then click the Customization button on the status bar (the rightmost button) and choose Dynamic Input. Then click the Dynamic Input button on the status bar.

8. Follow these prompts to draw a rectangle that is 44" wide and 80" high.

   Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: 0,0 ↵
   Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: 44,80 ↵

   Note

   In an architectural drawing using Imperial units, distances are assumed to be in inches, so you don’t need to specify a unit (although you can if you want).

   FIGURE QS.1

   The AutoCAD screen, as shown while drawing a rectangle (see Step 6)

   FIGURE QS.2

   Choose the WINDOW layer from the list of layers.

   Notice that the text that you type appears next to the cursor in the Dynamic Input tooltip. When you press Enter, the text that you typed is echoed in the Command Line window at the bottom of the screen.

9. To create a second rectangle inside the first one, choose Home tab ⇒ Modify panel ⇒ Offset. (We cover this and other editing commands in Chapters 9 and 10.) Follow these prompts:

   Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <Through>: 4 ↵
   Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: Click the rectangle's edge to select it.
   Specify point on side to offset or [Exit/Multiple/Undo] <Exit>: Click anywhere inside the rectangle.
   Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: ↵

10. You can draw from geometric points on objects such as endpoints and midpoints. (We explain how to specify coordinate points in Chapter 4.) To draw a line between the midpoints of the inner rectangle, choose Home tab ⇒ Draw panel ⇒ Line, and follow these prompts:

    Specify first point: Press and hold the Shift key and right-click. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Midpoint. Place the cursor near the midpoint of the left side of the inner rectangle. When you see a triangle and the Midpoint tooltip, click.
    Specify next point or [Undo]: Press and hold the Shift key and right-click. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Midpoint. This time, place the cursor near the midpoint of the right side of the inner rectangle. When you see the Midpoint tooltip and triangle, click.
    Specify next point or [Undo]: ↵

    Your drawing should now look like Figure QS.3. (Your window should be green.)

    FIGURE QS.3

    The beginning of a window

11. You will now draw a temporary construction line to help you find a starting point for the pane in the top of the window. Again, choose Home tab ⇒ Draw panel ⇒ Line. Follow these prompts:

    Specify first point: Press Shift and right-click. Choose Endpoint from the shortcut menu. Pick the left endpoint of the last line you drew at in Figure QS.3.
    Specify next point or [Undo]: 4,4 ↵. (This notation specifies that the endpoint of the line is 4 units above and to the right of the first point. Chapter 4 explains more about specifying coordinates in this manner.)
    Specify next point or [Undo]: ↵

    Note

    You should see a short diagonal line going up and to the right of . If you don’t, it may be because you have a non-default setting that uses absolute coordinates instead of relative coordinates. We explain this setting in Chapter 4. Meanwhile, the easiest way to solve the problem is to type u ↵ to undo the line you drew. You’ll still see the prompt to specify the next point. Then type @4,4 ↵. (Adding the @ symbol ensures that you use relative coordinates.)

12. Again, choose Home tab ⇒ Draw panel ⇒ Rectangle/Polygon drop-down menu ⇒ Rectangle. Follow these prompts:

    Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: Press Shift and right-click. Choose Endpoint and pick the final endpoint of the diagonal line you just drew.
    Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: 2'4",2'4" ↵

    Note

    This notation specifies 2 feet, 4 inches in the...