Lee Ambrosius is a professional technical writer and consultant with decades of experience teaching others how to use and maximize the capabilities of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT software. He has authored numerous works on a wide range of AutoCAD-related topics and has presented many sessions at Autodesk University.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 1

Conventions Used in This Book 1

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Book 1: Autocad Basics 5

Chapter 1: One-on-One Time with AutoCAD 7

Starting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT 8

Creating a new drawing 9

What is created should be saved 10

Accessing the right tools for the right job 11

Getting Familiar with the User Interface 11

Application menu access 12

Ribbon access 13

Toolbar access 15

Setting Up Drafting Aids and Layers 16

Getting snappy and griddy 16

Establishing the limits 17

Organizing objects with layers 19

Drawing, Viewing, and Editing Objects 21

Walking the straight and curved 21

Getting up close with objects 28

Modifying objects 29

Annotating with Text and Dimensions 32

Expressing yourself through text 32

Entering the drafting dimension 34

Fast Track to Plotting 36

Chapter 2: Drawing on and in AutoCAD 37

Understanding AutoCAD Files and Formats 38

Seeing the Light (or LT) 39

Using AutoCAD's Latest-and-Greatest Feature Set 40

Chapter 3: Navigating the AutoCAD Interface 43

Starting the Application 43

Pinning AutoCAD to the Start menu 44

Pinning AutoCAD to the taskbar 45

Using desktop shortcuts 45

Accessing files from File Explorer 46

Welcome Home: The Start Tab 47

Touring the AutoCAD Interface 47

Title bars 47

Application menu 49

Quick Access toolbar 50

Ribbon 50

Palettes 51

Drawing File tabs 54

Drawing area 55

Crosshairs 56

The floating Command Line window 57

The status bar 57

"Legacy" menus and toolbars 61

Communicating with Your Software 63

The command line 63

Dynamic input 64

Starting AutoCAD Commands 65

Grasping the AutoCAD difference 65

Repeating a command 65

Canceling a running command 65

Undoing and redoing commands 66

Reaching for AutoCAD Help 67

Tooltips 67

My Insights 68

Using online HELP and the UI Finder 69

Autodesk Assistant 70

Finding online resources 70

Analyzing AutoCAD performance 71

Chapter 4: All about Files 73

Learning about the File Types in AutoCAD 74

Starting a New Drawing 77

Starting from scratch 79

Using a wizard 79

Using a drawing template 80

Saving a Drawing 81

Using the SAVE command 82

Using QSAVE (Quick Save) 82

Using the Save As Command 84

Opening an Existing Drawing 85

Using the OPEN command 85

Accessing recent drawings 87

Using File Explorer 87

Exploring the Multiple-Drawing Environment 89

Closing a Drawing 90

File Management for AutoCAD 91

Naming drawing files 91

Storing your files 92

Backing Up Is Hard to Do 92

Chapter 5: Setting Up Drawings 95

Choosing Units of Measurement 95

AutoCAD units 98

Imperial or metric 98

System variables 99

Setting units in your drawing 99

Setting Limits for Your Drawings 101

Understanding Drawing Scale 102

Scaling on paper (or on a drawing board) 102

Scaling in AutoCAD 103

Scale factors 104

Using scale factors to establish drawing settings 105

Lost in Space: Model or Paper? 106

Taking a Layered Approach 107

Creating layers 108

Defining layer properties 109

Setting layer modes 111

Modifying layer settings 113

The Layer Control drop-down list 118

Layer tools 119

General Object Properties 121

Using AutoCAD's color systems 122

Using linetypes 122

Setting Up Standards 124

Book 2: 2d Drafting 125

Chapter 1: Drawing Objects 127

Locating and Using the Drawing Tools 127

Let's Get Primitive 130

Keeping to the straight and narrow 130

Going around in circles 132

Arcs of triumph 134

The point of the exercise 137

Creating Construction Geometry 138

Xlines for X-men 138

A little ray of sunshine 140

A Bit Sketchy 140

Drawing Parallel Lines 141

Creating Complex Curves 143

Lucy, you have some splining to do! 143

Solar ellipses 145

Constructing Complex Objects and Shapes 148

2D solids 148

Rectang(le), polygon, and donut 148

Polylines 150

Cloudy with a chance of revision 152

Ahhhh wipeout 153

Chapter 2: Precision Tools 155

Understanding Precision and Accuracy 156

Understanding Coordinate Systems 157

The world coordinate system 158

Entering coordinates 159

Direct distance entry 167

Dynamic input and coordinate entry 168

Setting Grid and Snap 173

Understanding Ortho and Polar Tracking 175

Using ortho mode 176

Using polar tracking 176

Working with Object Snaps 179

Using Point Filters 184

Working with Object Snap Tracking Mode 185

Temporarily Overriding Drafting Aids 187

Chapter 3: Modifying Objects 189

Setting Selection Options 189

Selecting Objects 191

Selecting multiple objects 192

Object selection modes 194

Selection preview 196

Object groups 196

AutoCAD's Editing Commands 199

Removing stuff 202

Unerasing objects 203

Relocating and replicating 204

Rotating and resizing 212

Breaking, mending, and blowing up real good 214

Double-barrel commands 216

Specialized commands 217

Changing properties 219

Coming to Grips with Grips 221

Chapter 4: Managing Views 223

A Zoom of One's Own 226

Wheeling through your drawing 228

Realtime zooming 229

Panning in a Flash 231

Grabbing the Wheel and Hanging On 233

Naming That View 235

Creating named views 236

Other named view options 238

Having AutoCAD Put on a Show 239

To Redraw or to Regen That Is the Question 241

Book 3: Annotating Drawings 243

Chapter 1: Text: When Pictures Just Won't Do 245

Adding Text in AutoCAD 245

Getting familiar with text terminology 246

Will that be one or two lines? 247

Justification 248

Where should text go? 250

Futzing with Fonts 252

Working with Text Styles 253

Creating Single Line Text 257

Working with Multiline Text 260

Creating Multiline Text 261

Formatting options 263

Numbered and bulleted lists 263

Controlling the flow of text 265

Fields, masks, and other multiline text delights 265

Editing Text 267

Editing single-line text 267

Editing multiline text 268

Leading the Way 269

Making way for multiple leaders 270

Legacy leaders 273

Turning the Tables 274

Setting the table with styles 274

Creating and editing tables 276

Link me up Scotty 278

Finding Text and Spell Checking 279

Chapter 2: Dimensioning 281

Understanding What a Dimension Is Made Of 282

Understanding the Types of Dimensions 283

Associative dimensions 283

Non-associative dimensions 284

Exploded dimensions 284

Creating New Dimensions as Associative 284

Using and Creating Dimension Styles 285

Working with the Dimension Style Manager 286

Creating a dimension style 286

Styling dimensions 288

Defining the scale for dimensions 292

Dimension variables 294

Setting a dimension style as current 295

Modifying a dimension style 295

Renaming a dimension style 297

Deleting a dimension style 298

Comparing dimension styles 298

Importing a dimension style 298

Creating Dimensions 298

Linear and aligned dimensions 301

Baseline and continued dimensions 302

Angular dimensions 303

Arc length dimensions 304

Radius, diameter, and jogged dimensions 305

Ordinate dimensions 306

One dimension command to rule them all 307

Quickly place dimensions 307

Trans-spatial dimensions 307

Editing Dimensions 308

Adding overrides to a dimension 308

Editing the dimension text 308

Using grips to edit dimensions 309

Associating dimensions 309

Breaking and spacing dimensions 310

Inspecting dimensions 310

Marking the Center of Objects 311

Using centerlines 311

Using center marks 312

Using "legacy" center marks 312

Editing and associating centerlines and center marks 313

Working with Geometric Tolerances 313

Chapter 3: Hatching Your Drawings 315

Adding Hatch Patterns and Fills 316

Adding hatches to a drawing 317

Hatching and DesignCenter 320

Advanced settings for additional control 320

Working with Hatch Patterns and Solid Fills 322

Predefined patterns 322

User-defined patterns 322

Custom hatch patterns 322

Using Gradient Fills 323

Editing Hatch Patterns and Fills 324

Chapter 4: Scaling Mt Annotation 325

The What, Why, and How of Annotation Scaling 326

Making Styles and Objects Annotative 327

Annotative styles and block definitions 327

Annotative objects 328

Adding and Removing Annotation Scales 330

Controlling the Annotation Scale for Output 332

Book 4: Advanced Drafting 333

Chapter 1: Playing with Blocks 335

Working with Reusable Content 335

Creating Blocks 336