AutoCAD Fundamentals-Part I

This chapter introduces the AutoCAD environment and the various tools present on the screen. It then proceeds to describe how to interact with AutoCAD via typing, cascading menus, toolbars, and the Ribbon. The basic commands are then outlined in detail. Covered are commands in the Create Objects category (line, circle, arc, and rectangle), the Edit/Modify Objects category (erase, move, copy, rotate, scale, trim, extend, offset, mirror, and fillet), and the View Objects category (zoom, pan, and regen). Then, the chapter covers selection methods (Window and Crossing) and concludes with drawing accuracy tools such as Ortho (F8) and the OSNAPs (Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, Quadrant, Intersection, and Perpendicular), along with the OSNAP (F3) dialog box. Throughout the chapter, tips are given to ease the learning process and speed up the work.

Keywords

AutoCAD drawing environment; drawing area; command line; cascading menus; toolbars; ribbon; line; circle; arc; rectangle; erase; move; copy; rotate; scale; trim; extend; offset; mirror; fillet; zoom; pan; regen; selection methods; Crossing; Window; Ortho (F8); Osnap (F3); ENDpoint; MIDpoint; CENter; QUADrant; INTersection; PERPendicular

Learning Objectives

In this chapter, we introduce AutoCAD and discuss the following:

 Introduction and the basic commands

 The Create Objects commands

 The Edit/Modify Objects commands

 The View Objects commands

 The AutoCAD environment

 Interacting with AutoCAD

 Practicing the Create Objects commands

 Practicing the Edit/Modify Objects commands

 Selection methods-Window, Crossing and Lasso

 Accuracy in drafting-Ortho (F8)

 Accuracy in drafting-OSNAPs (F3)

By the end of the chapter, you will learn the essential basics of creating, modifying, and viewing objects; the AutoCAD environment; and accuracy in the form of straight lines and precise alignment of geometric objects via OSNAP points.

Estimated time for completion of the chapter, 3 hours.

1.1 Introduction and Basic Commands

AutoCAD 2016 is a very complex program. If you are taking a class or reading this textbook, this is something you probably already know. The commands available to you, along with their submenus and various options, number in the thousands. So, how do you get a handle on them and begin using the software? Well, you have to realize two important facts.

First, you must understand that, on a typical workday, 95% of your AutoCAD drafting time is spent using only 5% of the available commands, over and over again. So getting started is easy; you need to learn only a handful of key commands; and as you progress and build confidence, you can add depth to your knowledge by learning new ones.

Second, you must understand that even the most complex drawing is essentially made up of only a few basic fundamental objects that appear over and over again in various combinations on the screen. Once you learn how to create and edit them, you can draw surprisingly quickly. Understanding these facts is the key to learning the software. We are going to strip away the perceived complexities of AutoCAD and reduce it to its essential core. Let us go ahead now and develop the list of the basic commands.

For a moment, view AutoCAD as a fancy electronic hand-drafting board. In the old days of pencil, eraser, and T-square, what was the simplest thing that you could draft on a blank sheet of paper? That of course is a line. Let us make a list with the following header, "Create Objects," and below it add "Line."

So, what other geometric objects can we draw? Think of basic building blocks, those that cannot be broken down any further. A circle qualifies and so does an arc. Because it is so common and useful, throw in a rectangle as well (even though you should note that it is a compound object, made up of four lines). Here is the final list of fundamental objects that we have just come up with:

Create Objects

 Line

 Circle

 Arc

 Rectangle

As surprising as it may sound, these four objects, in large quantities, make up the vast majority of a typical design, so already you have the basic tools. We will create these on the AutoCAD screen in a bit. For now, let us keep going and get the rest of the list down.

Now that you have the objects, what can you do with them? You can erase them, which is probably the most obvious. You can also move them around your screen and, in a similar manner, copy them. The objects can rotate, and you can also scale them up or down in size. With lines, if they are too long, you can trim them, and if they are too short, you can extend them. Offset is a sort of precise copy and one of the most useful commands in AutoCAD. Mirror is used, as the name implies, to make a mirror-image copy of an object. Finally, fillet is used to put a curve on two intersecting lines, among other things. We will learn a few more useful commands a bit later, but for now, under the header "Edit/Modify Objects," list the commands just mentioned:

Edit/Modify Objects

 Erase

 Move

 Copy

 Rotate

 Scale

 Trim

 Extend

 Offset

 Mirror

 Fillet

Once again, as surprising as it may sound, this short list represents almost the entire set of basic Edit/Modify Objects commands you need once you begin to draft. Start memorizing them.

To finish up, let us add several View Objects commands. With AutoCAD, unlike paper hand drafting, you do not always see your whole design in front of you. You may need to zoom in for a closeup or out to see the big picture. You may also need to pan around to view other parts of the drawing. With a wheeled mouse, virtually universal on computers these days, it is very easy to do both, as we soon see. To this list we add the regen command. It stands for regenerate, and it simply refreshes your screen, something you may find useful later. So here is the list for View Objects:

View Objects

 Zoom

 Pan

 Regen

So, this is it for now, just 17 commands making up the basic set. Here is what you need to do:

1. As mentioned before, memorize them so you always know what you have available.

2. Understand the basic idea, if not the details, behind each command. This should be easy to do, because (except for maybe offset and fillet) the commands are intuitive and not cryptic in any way; erase means erase, whether it is AutoCAD, a marker on a whiteboard, or a pencil line.

We are ready now to start AutoCAD, discuss how to interact with the program, and try out all the commands.

1.2 The Autocad Environment

It is assumed that your computer, whether at home, school, work, or training class, is loaded with AutoCAD 2016. It is also assumed that AutoCAD starts up just fine (via the AutoCAD icon or Start menu) and everything is configured right. If not, ask your instructor, as there are just too many things that can go wrong on a particular PC or laptop, and it is beyond the scope of this book to cover these situations.

If all is well, start up AutoCAD. You should see the Start tab welcome screen depicted in Figure 1.1. This is a change from older versions of AutoCAD, which defaulted to a blank drawing area when first opened. We do not spend too much time here, but note that on the bottom you have the option to switch to another screen called Learn. It contains a What's New section, some Getting Started Videos and a collection of Tips. Meanwhile the Create screen has some options to open drawings via Get Started, some Recent Documents, and Notifications. Take a quick tour of everything if you wish, and when you are ready to open a new blank file, press the "sheet of paper" icon at the very top left of the screen; the universal computer symbol for a new file. A Select template dialog box opens up, already set to open an acad.dwt file (Figure 1.2). Press the Open button at the lower right, and a blank file opens (Figure 1.3).

This is your basic "out of the box" AutoCAD environment for the Drafting & Annotation workspace. From both the learning and teaching points of view, this screen layout (and the layout of the last few releases) is an improvement over older versions of AutoCAD, and Autodesk has done an admirable job in continuing to keep things clean and (relatively) simple.

At the left of the screen is a new palette called Design Feed. You may or may not see it in your case, but if you do, close it down via the X at the upper left of the palette. Autodesk really wanted to point out to you that it is there, so it appears upon initial startup, but we will...