AutoCAD Instruction Manual

AUTOCAD
CAD-Computer Aided Design, also known as Computer

Aided Drafting, is the use of computer software and
systems to design and create 2D and 3D virtual models
of goods and products for the purposes of testing. It is
also sometimes refered to as Computer assisted drafting.
22. AUTOCAD R2008

MARCH 2007
23. AUTOCAD R2009
JUNE 2008
24. AUTOCAD 2010
MARCH 2009
AutoCAD- is a CAD software application for 2D and

3D design and drawing developed and sold by Autodesk,
initially released in late 1982.
AUTOCAD HISTORY AND TIMELINE
1.
AUTOCAD V 1.0
DECEMBER 1982
2. AUTOCAD V1.2
APRIL 1983
3. AUTOCAD V1.3
AUGUST 1983
4. AUTOCAD V1.4
OCTOBER 1983
5. AUTOCAD V2.0
OCTOBER 1984
6. AUTOCAD V2.1
MAY 1985
7. AUTOCAD V2.5
JUNE 1986
8. AUTOCAD V2.6
APRIL 1987
9. AUTOCAD VR9
SEPTEMBER 1987
10. AUTOCAD R10
OCTOBER 1988
11. AUTOCAD R11
OCTOBER 1990
12. AUTOCAD R12
JUNE 1992
13. AUTOCAD R13
OCTOBER 1994
14. AUTOCAD R14
FEBRUARY 1997
15. AUTOCAD R2000
MARCH 1998
16. AUTOCAD R2000i
JULY 2000
17. AUTOCAD R2002
JULY 2001
18. AUTOCAD R2004
MARCH 2003
19. AUTOCAD R2005
MARCH 2004
20. AUTOCAD R2006
MARCH 2005
21. AUTOCAD R2007
MARCH 2006
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FIELDS OF USE
THE ARCHITECHURAL, ENGINEERING,
AND CONSTRUCTION (AEC) INDUSTRY
Architechural
Architechural engineering
Interior design
Interior Architechture
Building engineering
Civil engineering and insfrastructure
Construction
Roads and highways
Railroads and Tunnels
Water supply and hydraulic Engineering
Storm Drain, Wastewater and sewer system
Mapping and Surveying
Chemical Plant Design
Factory Layout
Heating, Ventilation and air-conditioning
(HVAC)
MECHANICAL (MCAD) ENGINEERING
Automotive- vehicles
Aerospace
Consumer Goods
Machinery
Shipbuilding
Bio chemical system
Electronic design automation (EDA)
Electronic and Electrical (ECAD)
Digital circuit design
Electrical engineering
Manufacturing process planning
Industrial Design
Software application
Apparel and Textile CAD
AUTOCAD WINDOW
1.
2.
Title Bar - This will show you what program

you are running and what the current filename
is.
Pull-down menus - These are the standard
pull-down menus through which you can access
almost all commands.
AUTOCAD
3.
Main toolbar - This has most of the standard

Windows icons, as well as the most common
AutoCAD commands.
4. Property toolbar - This toolbar gives a way to
quickly modify an object's properties, such as
layer and linetype.
5. Floating toolbar - This is a toolbar that can be
moved around the screen, or 'docked' as the
main toolbar is.
6. Drawing space - This is where you draw. You
have an almost infinite area to draw and this is
just a 'section' of the entire space.
7. Scrollbars - These work like in other windows
programs. You can also use the PAN command
to move around your drawing.
8. WCS Icon - This is here to show you which
direction positive X and positive Y go. The W
means you're in the World Co-ordinate System.
(It can be changed to a User Co-ordinate
System.)
9. Status Bar Tray Icons - These icons give you
updates on items like reference files program
updates and print status.
10. Command line - When you type a command,
you will see it here. AutoCAD uses this space
to 'prompt' you for information. It will give you
a lot of information and tell you where you are
in the command. Watch this line while
learning.
11. Status bar - This allows to see and change
different modes of drawing such as Ortho,
Osnaps, Grid, Otrack, etc.
In order to work effectively with AutoCAD, you have to

work with this system. Until you are comfortable and
familiar with it.
Here is how it works:
AutoCAD uses points to determine where an object is
located. There is an origin where it begins counting
from. This point is (0,0). Every object is located in
relation to the origin. If you were to draw a line straight
out to the right from the origin, this would be considered
the positive X-axis. If you were to draw a line straight
up, this would be the positive Y-axis. The picture at the
left shows a point located at (2,3). This means that the
point is 2 units over in the X-axis and 3 units up in the
Y-axis. When you are working with points, X always
comes first. The other point shown is (-3,1). This means
that the point is 3 units in the negative X-axis (left) and 1
unit in the positive Y-axis (up).
Most of the time you will not have an indication of
where the origin is. You may need to draw a line from
the endpoint of an existing line. To do this you use
relative or polar coordinates.
Entering Points in AutoCAD
You can enter points directly on the command line using
three different systems. The one you use will depend on
which is more applicable for the situation. The first
assignment will get you used to this. The three systems
are as follows:
THE X,Y COORDINATE SYSTEM
Everything that you draw in AutoCAD is exact. It will

be more accurate than you will ever need it to be. All
objects drawn on the screen are placed there based on a
simple X,Y co-ordinate system. In AutoCAD this is
known as the World Co-ordinate System (WCS). You
must understand this to know how to put things where
you want them.
ABSOLUTE CO-ORDINATES - Using this

method, you enter the points as they relate to
the origin of the WCS. To enter a point just
enter in the exact point as X,Y.
RELATIVE CO-ORDINATES - This allows
you to enter points in relation to the first point
you have entered. After you've entered one
point, the next would be entered as @X,Y. This
means that AutoCAD will draw a line from the
first point to another point X units over and Y
units up relative to the previous point.
POLAR CO-ORDINATES - You would use
this system if you know that you want to draw a
line a certain distance at a particular angle. You
would enter this as @D<A. In this case, D is the
distance and A is the angle. Example: @10<90
will draw a line 10 units straight up from the
first point.
The three ways of entering co-ordinates shown

above are the ONLY way AutoCAD accepts input.
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AUTOCAD
First decide which style you need to use, and then
enter as shown. Remember that X is always before
Y (alphabetical). Don't forget the '@' symbol when
you are entering relative points. Any typing error or
omission will give you results you don't want. If you
make a mistake and need to see what you typed,
press F2 to bring up the text screen and check your
typing. (press F2 to get back to your drawing.)
STARTING A DRAWING
There are three main methods that you can use to create
a new drawing. (The first option, Open a Drawing, is not
available from the NEW command. To open an existing
drawing, use OPEN.) Choose one of the buttons at the
top of the dialog box
.dwt. See Use a Template File to Start a Drawing in

the User's Guide.
Select a Template
Lists all DWT files that currently exist in the drawing
template file location, which is specified in the
Options dialog box. Choose a file to use as a starting
point for your new drawing. A preview image of the
selected file is displayed to the right.
Browse
Displays the Select Template dialog box (a standard file
selection dialog box) where you can access template
files that are not available in the Select a Template
list.
1. Start from Scratch

Starts an empty drawing using default imperial or metric
settings. AutoCAD stores this setting in the
MEASUREINIT system variable. You can change the
measurement system for a given drawing by using the
MEASUREMENT system variable. To start a new
drawing based on a customized template, see Use a
Template.
Imperial
Starts a new drawing based on the Imperial measurement
system. The default drawing boundary (the drawing
limits) is 12 9 inches.
3. Use a Wizard
Sets up a drawing using a step-by-step guide. You can
choose from two wizards: Quick Setup and
Advanced Setup.
Quick Setup
Displays the Quick Setup wizard, in which you can
specify the units and area for your new drawing.
The Quick Setup wizard also changes settings, such
as text height and snap spacing, to an appropriate
scale.
Advanced Setup
Metric
Starts a new drawing based on the metric measurement
system. The default drawing boundary (the drawing
limits) is 429 297 millimeters.
Displays the Advanced Setup wizard, in which you can

specify the units, angle, angle measure, angle
direction, and area for your new drawing. The Quick
Setup wizard also changes settings, such as text
height and snap spacing, to an appropriate scale
2. Use a Template
Starts a drawing based on a drawing template file.
Template drawings store all the settings for a
drawing and may also include predefined layers,
dimension styles, and views. Template drawings are
distinguished from other drawing files by the .dwt
file extension. They are normally kept in the
template directory.
SAVING A FILE
Saves the drawing under the current file name or a
specified name
Keyboard
SAVE or CTRL+S
Menubar > File > Save as

Several template drawings are included with AutoCAD.
You can make additional template drawings by
changing the extensions of drawing file names to
QSAVE- The QSAVE command is equivalent to

clicking Save on the File menu.
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AUTOCAD
If the drawing is named, AutoCAD saves the drawing
using the file format specified on the Open and Save
tab of the Options dialog box and does not request a
file name. If the drawing is unnamed, AutoCAD
displays the Save Drawing As dialog box (see
SAVEAS) and saves the drawing with the file name
and format you specify.
If the drawing is read-only, use the SAVEAS command
to save the changed file under a different name
SAVING FILE AS
JPG FORMAT
JPGOUT
BMP FORMAT
BMPOUT
TIFF FORMATT
TIFOUT
PNG FORMAT
PNGOUT
GIF FORMAT
GIFOUT
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu
Draw > Line
Keyboard
LINE or L
ERASE- The command erases(deletes) any selected

object(s) from the drawing.
Modify toolbar
Pull down menu
Keyboard
Modify > Erase

ERASE or E
UNDO- Use to cancel actions youve made.
Standard toolbar
GRID- Pattern of dots displayed on screen to guide you.
(F7)
LIMITS- Drawing limits is used to define the extent of
the grid display and to toggle limits mode which can be
used to define the extent of your drawing.
Keyboard
UNDO, U or Ctrl + Z
ZOOM- Increases or decreases the apparent size of

object in the current viewport.
Zoom All
Z(enter) A(enter)
Reset Model space limits: Example you want to change

the limits to 20,20.
Zoom Extents
Z(enter)E(enter)
command: limits (enter)
Zoom Window Z(enter)W(enter)
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.000,0.000>

(enter)
Zoom Center
Z(enter) C(enter)
Zoom Dynamic Z(enter) D(enter)

Specify upper right corner <12.0000,9.0000> 20,20
(enter)
LINE- Line are probably the most simple command of
AutoCAD.a line can be drawn between any two points
picked within area.
Zoom Previous Z(enter) P(enter)

Zoom Scale
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Z(enter) S(enter)
AUTOCAD
DIRECT DISTANCE ENTRY
Direct distance entry is one of those AutoCAD features
that is often overlooked. This is rather unfortunate
because it can be extremely useful and an amazing timesaver. Basically, direct distance entry enables you to
draw an object, such as a line, by pointing in a particular
direction with the cursor and entering a distance at the
command line.
SNAP- This is a drawing mode that allows you to snap

your cursor to precise point laid out in grid pattern.
Statusbar
SNAP
Keyboard F9
GRID- Pattern of dots displayed on screen to guide you.

Statusbar
GRID
Keyboard F7
How does it work?
ORTHO- Ortho is short for Orthogonal, which

means either Horizontal or vertical.
Say, for example, you wanted to draw a horizontal line

with a length of 30 drawing units. Start the Line
Statusbar
ORTHO
Keyboard F8
command, Draw Line from the pull-down menu or

from the Draw toolbar. When prompted, to specify the
first point for the line, pick a point somewhere on the left
side of the drawing area.
POLAR- Allows you to snap into angles you choose to

configure.
You now need to constrain the line to the horizontal.

You can do this using Polar Tracking . Use the POLAR
button on the status bar to turn on Polar Tracking.
Usually, Polar Tracking is on by default, so you may not
need to do this.
OTRACK
Statusbar
Statusbar
POLAR
OTRACK
Keyboard F10
Keyboard F11
Object Snaps (OSNAP)

Suppose you want to draw a line from the center of the
circle to the middle of the vertical line you extended
earlier. AutoCAD has a feature that makes this very
easy. These are the Object Snaps (or Osnaps "OhSnaps"). Type OS <ENTER> . You will see this
dialog box appear.
Now, move your cursor to the right of the first pick

point. If you are within a few degrees of the
horizontal, you should see something similar to the
illustration above. Hold your cursor in this position
and simply enter 30 at the keyboard. When you hit
the Return key, a line segment is drawn, 30 units
long and in the direction you were pointing.
Obviously, you could vary this sequence to get different
effects. If you only want to draw horizontal or
vertical lines, you could use Ortho rather than Polar
Tracking. Or, you could configure polar tracking to
snap to other angles like 45 or 30. You might even
want to turn both Ortho and Polar Tracking off and
use free angles.
You may select whichever points you want to 'snap' on

an object. Here is a list of your options. Followed by
the command entry to invoke the needed Osnap.
Endpoint - snaps to either the beginning or the end of an
object such as a line - END
Midpoint - snaps to the exact middle of a line or an arc MID
Center - snaps to the center-point of a circle or arc CEN
Node - snaps to 'nodes' (not covered in this course) NOD
Quadrant - snaps to any of the four quadrants of a circle
- QUA
Intersection - snaps to the point where two object cross
- INT
Extension - Snaps to the phantom extension of an arc or
line - EXT
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AUTOCAD
Insertion - snaps to the insertion point of an object (such
as a block or text) - INS
Perpendicular - will snap so that the result is
perpendicular to line selected - PER
Tangent - snaps to create a line tangent to a circle or arc
- TAN
Nearest - will find the closest point an object and snap
to that point - NEA
Parallel -Snaps parallel to a specified line - PAR
None - temporarily turns off all Osnaps. (Pressing your
F3 Key is quicker) - NON
Osnap settings - opens the Osnap dialog box.
Temporary Tracking - Creates a temporary tracking
point
RECTANGLE
The rectangle command is used to draw a rectangle
whose sides are vertical or horizontal. Th position and
size of the rectangle are defined by picking two diagonal
corners.
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu > Draw > Rectangle
Keyboard
RECTANGLE or REC
COPY- To make a duplicate of selectd object
Modify toolbar
Pulldown menu > Modify > Copy
Keyboard
COPY or CO
CIRCLE
MOVE- To transfer an object from one place to another.
The circle command is used to draw circles. There are
number of ways you can define the circle.
Modify toolbar
The default method is to pick the center point and then to
either pick a second point on the circumference of
the circle or enter the radius at the keyboard.
Pull down menu > Modify > Move

Keyboard
MOVE or M
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu>Draw> Circle>Center>Radius
Keyboard
CIRCLE or C
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AUTOCAD
DTEXT
Keyboard
DTEXT or DT
MULTITEXT
A
Draw toolbar
Keyboard
MULTITEXT or MT
ALIGN- Allows you to enter boundary, text will

Automatically adjust height and length to
SPELL- Corrects the spelling in text objects created

with TEXT, MTEXT, LEADER, and ATTDEF. The
Check Spelling dialog box is displayed only if
AutoCAD finds a misspelled or unknown word in
the specified text
SOLID- Creates solid-filled triangles and
quadrilaterals
fit.
FIT- Allows you to enter boundary, text will
Automatically adjust length to fit.
Keyboard
SOLID or SO
SCALE- The Scale command can be used to

change the size of an object or group of objects
CENTER- Allows you to specify the center of

text.
MIDDLE- Allows you to specify the middle of
text.
TL- Allows you to specify the topleft of text.
TC- Allows you to specify the top center of text.
Modify Toolbar
SCALE
Pull down menu
Modify .> Scale
Keyboard
SCALE or SC
ROTATE- The Rotate command allows an object or

objects to be rotated about a point selected by
the user. AutoCAD prompts for a second
rotation point or an angle which can be typed at
the keyboard.
TR- Allows you to specify the top right of text

ML- Allows you to specify the middle left of text.
Modify toolbar
ROTATE
MR- Allows you to specify the middle right of
Pull down menu > Modify > Rotate

DONUT- This command allows you to draw a solid
donut shape.
text.
BL- Allows you to specify the bottom left of text.
Pull down menu > Donut

BC-Allows you to specify the bottom center of
Keyboard
DONUT or DO
text.
BR- Allows you to specify the bottom right of
text.
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AUTOCAD
cross the fence will be selected. The Fence
option is invoked by typing F at the "Select
objects" prompt
4.WINDOW POLYGON SELECTION
OBJECT SELECTION
SELECTING OBJECT BY PICKINGPerhaps the most obvious way to select an object
in AutoCAD is simply to pick it.
1.WINDOW SELECTIONThe Window option is invoked by typing W in
response to the "Select objects" prompt.
Window allows you to define a rectangle using
two points in exactly the same way as the
RECTANGLE command. Once the window is
defined, all objects which lie entirely within the
window will be selected.
2.CROSSING WINDOW SELECTION
The Crossing Window option is invoked by typing C
at the "Select objects" prompt and is a variation
of the Window command. The command
sequence is exactly the same but objects are
selected which lie entirely within the window
and those which cross the window border
The Window Polygon option, invoked by typing WP

is similar to the Window option except that you
can define an irregular polygon shape within
which objects will be selected. As with the
Window option, only objects which fall entirely
within the polygon will be selected.
5.CROSSING POLYGON SELECTION
The Crossing Polygon option can be used in
exactly the same way as the Window Polygon
option but it has the same selection criteria as
the Crossing Window option, i.e. objects will be
selected if they fall entirely within or touch the
polygon boundary. This option is invoked by
typing CP at the "Select objects" prompt.
6.USING PREVIOUS SELECTION
AutoCAD always remembers the last selection set
you defined. This is very useful because you may
need to make a number of changes using different
commands to the same group of objects. In order to
re-select the last selection set you can use the
Previous option. The previous option is invoked by
typing P at the "Select objects" prompt.
7.SELECTING THE LAST OBJECT
3.FENCE SELECTIONThe Fence option allows you to draw a multisegment line, like a Polyline. All objects which
You can select the last object created by entering L

at the "Select objects" prom
TIP
AutoCAD Dynamic Viewing
.* Realtime Pan -- drag mouse while holding down middle button (wheel).
* Joystick Pan -- drag while holding down Ctrl key and middle button. The scene moves around
you.
* Realtime 3dOrbit -- drag while holding down Shift key and middle button. You move around
the scene.for AutoCAD 2007 up
* Realtime Zoom -- roll the wheel.
* Zoom to Extents -- double-click the wheel.
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AUTOCAD
TOOLPALETTES
button
and
enter
New
Palette
1. For example, you would like to publish some
mouse
standard parts that are commonly used by your
command. Then, create a new library (page, tab).
company. The most practical way to do this is

classifying your blocks into groups that you will
determine by yourself and store them together.
Besides, all of the blocks ( Part01, Part02 and
Part03 ) that are shown below are all stored in
the same drawing file and Library01.dwg name
was used as the filename. These blocks inside the
drawing represent different cover parts and are
organized
in
logical
way.
One of the biggest advantages of storing blocks

all together inside the same drawing is that
AutoCAD files dont occupy much space. By this
way, it will be easier to use the same file for
searching files and changing any property of the
Figure 2
3. I gave the name of MyBlock to the new tab,
of course you can name it in different ways.
block.
Figure 3
4. Let TOOLPALETTE stay on the screen. Now, we
will open DESIGNCENTER by using CTRL+2
Figure 1
button combination and enter the location of
2. If the TOOLPALETTE is not seen on the screen,

then
you
can
use
either
TOOLPALETTES
command, Tool/Tool Palettes menu command

or CTRL+3 button combination. Press the right
Library01.dwg file that I explained above into

the Folders section. When you click on the
Blocks from tree-menu, you can see the blocks
that exist inside this drawing. You can Drag and
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AUTOCAD
Drop the blocks that you can see here from
6. You can change the names and several
window number (1) to window number (2). You
properties of blocks by using Properties option.
can select the blocks one by one by using SHIFT

+ Left mouse button.
DASHBOARD
Figure 4
5. As a result of this operation, AutoCAD will
prepare Thumbnail views for all of the blocks
here.
DASHBOARD feature that came together with

AutoCAD 2007 is providing such a functionality.
Even though DASHBOARD is more or less some
kind of a TOOLPALETTE, it has some particular
differences. Controls on it are slightly different.
Besides, you cannot add tabs to DASHBOARD.
You cannot customize DASHBOARD in AutoCAD
2007, but since AutoCAD 2008 it is customizable
now. However, usage of DASHBOARD is mainly
based on control panels rather than tabs. Now,
lets start learning by taking a look at how
DASHBOARD
looks
first
(Fig.
1).
Figure 5
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AUTOCAD
Expanding and contracting operations are done by
using the double arrow icon in down direction (
expanding ) or double arrow icon in up direction
(contracting ) that can be found just beside the
large icon that represent each panel. Its usage is
pretty
simple.
DASHBOARD,
similar
to
TOOLPALETTE, can be either docked or can be

opened/closed automatically. We can make these
settings from the mini menu that is just under the
gray ( or blue ) band.
Fig.1
In Fig. 1, you can see the DASHBOARD that
belongs to AutoCAD 2008. Please note that each
control panel is divided by a line. Each panel
consists of controls like mini buttons, combo lists,
sliding bars etc. That is the main difference
Fig.3
compared to TOOLPALETTEs. Moreover, each

panel can expand in between each other (Fig. 2).
If you also would like to have wide drawing area

like me, then you can choose the auto-hide
option. It is also possible to open or close
different control panels again from the same
menu. Before finishing the article, let me remind
you
once
more
how
to
open
or
close
DASHBOARD. If the dashboard is closed then you

can open DASHBOARD by entering DASHBOARD
from command line or select Dashboard from the
Window menu.
Fig.2
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AUTOCAD
EXTEND- This command extends a line, polyline or
arc to meet another drawing object (known as
the boundary edge). In the illustration on the
right, two lines (red) are extended to meet
another line (cyan) which forms the boundary
edge. This command works in a similar way to
the Trim command
CHAMFER- The Chamfer command enables you to

create a chamfer between any two non-parallel
lines as in the illustration below or any two
adjacent polyline segments. Usually, the
Chamfer command is used to set the chamfer
distances before drawing the chamfer.
Modify toolbar
Pull down menu > Modify > Chamfer
Modify toolbar
Keyboard
CHAMFER or Cha
Pull down menu > Modify > Extend

Keyboard
EXTEND or E
TRIM- The Trim command can be used to trim a

part of an object. In order to trim an object you
must draw a second object which forms the
"cutting edge". Cutting edges can be lines,
xlines, rays, polylines, circles, arcs or ellipses.
Blocks and text cannot be trimmed or used as
cutting edges
MIRROR- defining the position The Mirror

command allows you to mirror selected objects
in your drawing by picking them and then of an
imaginary mirror line using two points
Modify toolbar
Pull down menu > Modify > Mirror
Keyboard
Modify toolbar
Pull down menu > Modify > Trim
Keyboard
TRIM or TR
FILLET- The Fillet command is a very useful tool

which allows you to draw an arc between two
intersecting lines or adjacent polyline
segments. You first need to use the command
to set the required radius and then a second
time to select the two lines.
MIRROR 0r MI
OFFSET- Offset is probably one of the most useful

commands for constructing drawings. The
Offset command creates a new object parallel
to or concentric with a selected object. The new
object is drawn at a user defined distance (the
offset) from the original and in a direction
chosen by the user with a pick point. You can
offset lines, arcs, circles, ellipses, 2D polylines,
xlines, rays and planar splines.
Modify Toolbar
The Fillet command can also be used to fillet arcs

and circles. The "Polyline" option also allows
you to fillet all vertices of a polyline with a
single command. It's worth experimenting with
this command, it can save you lots of time and
enables you to construct shapes which
otherwise would be quite difficult
Pull down menu > Mody > Offset
Modify toolbar
AutoCAD offers two methods of setting the colour

and linetype of a drawing object. First of all, colour
and linetype can be set ByLayer. In other words, an
object will be displayed in the colour and linetype of
its layer. For example, if you draw a circle on a
layer which you have called "Detail" and you have
Pull down menu > Modify > Fillet

Keyboard FILLET or F
Keyboard
OFFSET or O
Setting Colour and Linetype "ByLayer"
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AUTOCAD
also set the colour of Detail to blue and the linetype
to dashed, then the circle will be displayed in a
dashed blue line. When an object takes on the
properties of its layer, the colour and linetype are
said to be set "ByLayer".
The second method AutoCAD offers is to set the
colour and linetype by object. Setting properties
by object overrides those set ByLayer. In
general it is good drawing practice to set colour
and linetype properties ByLayer, this is more
efficient and less confusing in the long-run. For
example, imagine that you have drawn
hundreds of objects on the same layer and
have set their colour to green. Later in the
drawing process you decide that these objects
should, in fact, be yellow. In order to make the
change you would have to use the Properties
command and select every one of the objects
by picking them. By contrast, if you had set the
objects colour to ByLayer, you would only have
to change the layer colour from green to yellow
and all of the objects would change.
There are times , however, when in is useful to be
able to set colour and linetype properties by
object. Setting properties by object is covered
later in this tutorial. The following sections
cover the setting of colour and linetype
ByLayer.
Setting the Colour of a Layer
It is often convenient to set the layer colour when
the layer is created, although this can be done
at any time. The layer colour can be changed
as many times as you like. Each time it is
changed, any objects on that layer will change
to the new colour, providing their colour is set
to "ByLayer".
entering the colour name or number in the text edit

box. When you have selected the colour you want,
click on the "OK" button to set the colour. AutoCAD
uses only 255 colours plus the drawing background
colour, irrespective of the capabilities of your video
display.
Assigning different colours to your layers will make
working with complex drawings much easier.
You will be able to see at a glance what a
particular line represents. For example, your
construction lines may be on a layer called
"Construction" and have the colour yellow. This
will visually differentiate these lines from lines
on other layers with different colours.
Setting the Linetype of a Layer

In the same way that you can assign a colour to a
layer you can also assign a linetype to a layer.
For example, you could have all the lines on a
layer called "Construction" display in a yellow
dashed line. To set a linetype to a layer, click
on and then click on the current linetype name
associated with your layer in the layer list. By
default, layers have the "Continuous" linetype.
Clicking on the linetype name brings up the
Select Linetype dialogue box, shown on the
right. You will notice that the "Continuous"
linetype is the only one listed. That's because
all linetypes, except "Continuous", are stored in
an external file and have to be loaded before
they can be used.
the two logical colour buttons, ByLayer and

ByBlock are no longer greyed-out.
To set a layer colour, open the Layer & Linetype
Properties dialogue box, click on and then click on
the colour icon in the layer list associated with the
layer you want. Notice that all layers have their own
colour icon and that this changes to display the
layer colour. Clicking on the icon brings up the
Select Color dialogue box, shown on the right. You
can select any of the 255 standard AutoCAD
colours by picking on the colour palette or by
Loading Linetypes
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To load a linetype, click on the "Load..." button in
the Select Linetype dialogue box. The Load or
Reload Linetypes dialogue box appears and
displays a list of the available linetypes. Select
as many of the listed linetypes as you wish and
then click the OK button to return to the Select
Linetype dialogue box.
When you return to the Select Linetype dialogue

box the loaded linetypes are displayed in the list.
To assign a particular linetype to a layer, simply
click on the name to highlight it and then click on
the OK button. When you return to the Layer &
Linetype Properties dialogue box, the new linetype
name will be listed against your layer in the
"Linetype" column. From now on, all objects drawn
on this layer will be drawn with the chosen linetype.
However, just like colours, you may change the
linetype at any time and the objects drawn on that
layer will automatically be updated to display the
new linetype.
Colours
Selecting from list boxes works the same way in

AutoCAD as it does in any other Windows
application. For example, if you wish to select a
block of linetypes from the list at one time, select
the first linetype in the block, hold the Shift key
down on the keyboard and select the last linetype
in the block. All linetypes in the block will be
highlighted and you can click the "OK" button to
load them all in one go. You can also hold the
Control (Ctrl) key down on the keyboard to make
multiple selections which aren't adjacent in the list
(see illustration above).
In the same way that you can set a current layer,

you can set a current colour so that every
object you draw will be displayed in a particular
colour irrespective of which layer it is on. As
mentioned earlier, this method of assigning
colour, by object, is recommended only in
special circumstances. In general, colour
should be assigned ByLayer. See Setting
Colour and Linetype "ByLayer" for more
information.
To set a current colour, simply click on the "Color

Control" box on the Object Properties toolbar. The
drop-down list contains the two logical colours
ByLayer and ByBlock, the seven standard
AutoCAD colours, Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue,
Magenta and White (colour numbers 1 to 7
respectively) and the "Other..." option. Notice that
the default colour for any new drawing is "ByLayer",
this is because in most circumstances you will want
to assign colours by this method. Select a colour
directly from the drop-down list or click on the
"Other..." option to bring up the Select Color
dialogue box (illustrated below) where you can
select any of the AutoCAD colours from the Full
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Color Palette. This dialogue box is the same as the
one you see when setting colour by layer, except
that the two logical colour buttons, ByLayer and
ByBlock are no longer greyed-out
Linetypes
As with
layers and colours, a current linetype can be
set so that all objects drawn will be displayed
with that linetype. However, the same warnings
given above about assigning colour by object
also apply to assigning linetypes by object,
namely that linetypes should be set ByLayer
wherever possible. That said, to set a current
linetype, click on the "Linetype Control" box on
the Object Properties toolbar, and select a
linetype from the drop-down list. The list
contains the two logical linetypes, ByLayer and
ByBlock, these have the same function as the
two logical colours of the same name and a list
of the currently loaded linetypes.
If you have just started a new drawing the only true
linetype available will be the "Continuous" linetype.
Before you are able to assign any other linetype,
you must first load the linetypes you may need. To
load linetypes you must use the "Linetype"
command. Click on the button on the Object
Properties toolbar. You will now see the familiar
Layer & Linetype Properties dialogue box but this
time the "Linetype" tab is automatically selected to
display the linetype information, see illustration
below
In the Layer & Linetype Properties dialogue box,

click on the "Load..." button, this brings up the
Load or Reload Linetypes dialogue box which
you have seen previously in this tutorial. Select
the required linetypes from this dialogue box
and then click the "OK" button to return to the
Layer & Linetype Properties dialogue box,
where you will see the newly loaded linetypes
in the Linetype list. This selection process is the
same as that described in the "Loading
Linetypes" section of this tutorial, above. Now
that the required linetypes have been loaded
you can set the current linetype either by
highlighting it in the Linetype list and then
clicking the "Current" button in the Layer &
Linetype Properties dialogue box or you can
simply select the linetype from the drop-down
list in the Object Properties toolbar.
Setting the Linetype ScaleIn many cases your
linetypes will display just as you want them.
However, it is inevitable that at some time you will
need to change the scale at which your linetypes
are displayed. By default the linetype scale is set to
1.0, this means that each linetype pattern will
repeat every 1.0 drawing units. To make the pattern
appear larger, change the scale to a larger number.
Setting the linetype scale to 5.0 for example causes
the linetype pattern to repeat every 5.0 drawing
units so that the pattern will appear 5 times larger.
Conversely, setting the scale to 0.2 causes a
repetition every 0.2 drawing units which will make
the pattern appear 5 times smaller. See the
illustrations below.
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BHATCH- Fills an enclosed area or selected
objects with a hatch pattern or gradient fill
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu > Draw > Hatch
Keyboard
BHATCH or H
To change the linetype scale, click on the button to

bring up the Layer & Linetype Properties dialogue
box. If the "Details" section of the dialogue box is
not visible, click on the "Details>>" button to reveal
it. The dialogue box should now look similar to the
one shown above. You set the linetype scale by
changing the value in the "Global scale factor" edit
box. Once you have changed the scale factor, click
on the OK button to return to your drawing.
AutoCAD automatically regenerates the drawing to
display all linetypes with the new scale factor.
You may have noticed from the Layer & Linetype
Properties dialogue box that you can also set the
linetype scale by object, using the "Current object
scale" edit box. Whilst this is perfectly easy to do,
the results can sometimes be unexpected, since
the linetype scale of any object is a function of both
the Global and Current scales. For example, setting
the Global scale to 2.0 and the Current scale of an
object to 0.5 results in the same appearance as if
both scales were set to 1.0, the default values. In
short, unless you have a really compelling reason
to change it, keep the Current object scale set to
1.0, this will avoid any confusion in the future.
Start the Boundary Hatch by typing H <ENTER> .

When you start the command, you will see this
dialog box appear:
MATCH PROPERTIES
Another way to change the properties of an object
or objects is to match the properties of any
other object using the Match Properties
command on the Standard toolbar
Pull down menu > Modify > Match Properties

Keyboard MATCH PROP or MA
As usual, start at the top of the dialog box and work

your way down. We're going to say that this is a
cross section of piece of steel, so choose the
predefined Hatch pattern called STEEL.
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Now you want to pick the area to be hatched. Pick
somewhere inside the rectangle, but outside of the
circle and press <ENTER>.
Finally, hit the Preview button to see if this is what

you are after, it should match the image below.
Set the scale of the hatch to 6. This is just a

number that works for this object. A larger number
will make the hatch bigger (maybe so big you won't
see it) and a smaller number can make the hatch
so dense that it looks solid (try different numbers
later to see if I'm wrong).
Make this "Associative" - this means that if you
adjust the rectangle or circle, the hatch will
automatically correct itself to the new boundary.
DIMENSION PARTS
Also, you can modify the dimension text

dramatically, here are some examples:
drawings and how to use them. The correct use

of AutoCADs dimension tools is the key to
producing clear and concise measured
drawings. If you just need to quickly find a
description of the various dimension
commands, click on the appropriate button on
the QuickFind toolbar below.
AutoCAD provides a whole range of

dimensioning tools which can be used to
quickly dimension any drawing without the
need for measurement. Dimensioning in
AutoCAD is automatic; lines, arrows and text
are all taken care of by the dimension
commands. AutoCAD dimensions are special
blocks which can easily be edited or erased as
necessary.
AutoCAD provides lots of control over the way
dimensions look. Using a system similar to text
styles, dimension styles allow you to design
dimensions so that they look just the way you
want them to.
Introduction
This tutorial describes the options and
commands available for dimensioning
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When working with dimensions it is very
important that line origins are picked
accurately so that the resulting measurement
and text are correct. Always use an Osnap to
pick dimension
For example, the illustration above shows two

different dimension styles. The one on the left
is the default style known as STANDARD. If
you do not create a style of your own or modify
the standard style, all dimensions will look like
this. The dimension line has arrow heads and
the dimension text is positioned above the line
and is drawn using the current text style. The
dimension on the right has been drawn using a
new style. The arrows have been changed to
obliques, the vertical alignment of the text has
been centred and the current text style has been
changed.
line
There are lots of dimension commands which

include facilities for indicating tolerances and
alternate units dimensioning. However, this
tutorial aims to cover the most common
commands for general use and constitutes an
introduction to dimensioning with AutoCAD.
If you would like to learn more about
dimensions, refer to the AutoCAD user
manual.
origins. If you have a lot of dimensioning work

to do, it will be worth using a running Osnap.
Running object snaps are set using the Osnap
Settings dialogue box. To display this dialogue
box type DDOSNAP at the keyboard or select
Tools/Object Snap Settings from the Pulldown menu. There is also a keyboard short-cut;
you can display the Osnap Settings dialogue
box simply by hitting the F3 key.
AutoCAD divides dimensions into four main

categories: Linear, Radial, Ordinate and
Angular. For the purposes of this tutorial we
will only consider some of the commands
within the Linear, Radial and Angular
categories.
This tutorial is not designed as a reference for

dimensioning conventions. If you wish to learn
more about dimensioning conventions, consult
BS 308: Part 2.
When you create dimensions, AutoCAD

automatically creates a new layer called
"Defpoints". This is a special layer which
cannot be deleted or renamed. AutoCAD uses
this layer to store dimension information and
you can effectively ignore it. (see Object
Properties for more information on layers)
Selecting Dimension
Commands
Selecting and working with the dimension
commands in AutoCAD R14 is much easier
than in previous versions. All commands can
be accessed from the keyboard and now most
commands are also available from the
Dimension pull-down menu and the Dimension
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toolbar. The Dimension toolbar is particularly
useful because it places all the dimension
commands a single mouse click away. Since
the Dimension toolbar is not displayed by
default you will need to enable it from the
Toolbars dialogue
(right) whilst working through the following

examples.
box. To display the Toolbar dialogue box,

select View/Toolbars from the pull-down or
type TOOLBAR at the keyboard. To display
the Dimension toolbar, click in the checkbox
against "Dimension" in the toolbar list.
Command: DIMLINEAR
First extension line origin or press
ENTER to select: (pick P1)
Second extension line origin: (pick P2)
Dimension line location
(Mtext/Text/Angle/Horizontal/Vertical/
Rotated): (pick a point to position the
The Linear Dimension

Commands
As the name suggests the Linear dimension
commands are used to dimension along straight
lines. There are five linear dimension
commands, namely: DIMLINEAR,
DIMCONTINUE, DIMBASELINE,
DIMALIGNED and DIMROTATED. The
DIMLINEAR command is probably the most
common dimension command you will use.
The Linear Dimension Command

Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Linear
Keyboard DIMLINEAR
You can use this command to generate
horizontal and vertical dimensions.
Creating a linear dimension is easy. All you
have to do is start the command, specify the
two points between which you
want the dimension to be drawn
and pick a point to fix the position
of the dimension line. Consider
the diagram
Command Sequence
dimension line, you will see the dimension

rubber banding)
You may have noticed that the first prompt
asks you to pick the first extension line origin
or to press the ENTER key. Pressing the
Enter/Return key results in the following
prompt:
Select object to dimension:
AutoCAD allows you to dimension an object

simply by picking it. Try this out. Draw a line
or a circle and use this option rather than the
two point option to see what happens.
Dimensions will automatically adjust
themselves to accommodate most situations.
For example, the illustration on the right shows
what happens to a dimension if the gap
between the two extension lines is too small for
the dimension text.
The Continue Dimension Command

Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Continue
Keyboard DIMCONTINUE
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You can use the Continue command to add a
string of dimensions. In the illustration above
the "36mm" dimension has been continued
from the "64mm" dimension.
Toolbar
Command Sequence
Command: DIMCONTINUE
Specify a second extension line origin
or (Undo/<Select>): (pick P3)
to
or (Undo/<Select>): (pick another or
end)
There is no prompt for the first line origin,
AutoCAD automatically selects the second line
origin of the previous dimension to be the first
of the new dimension.
There is also no prompt for the dimension line
position, AutoCAD automatically matches up
with the previous dimension.
Pull-down Dimension/Baseline
Keyboard DIMBASELINE
You can use this command to generate a series
of dimensions from a single base point. You
must already have created the first dimension
in the sequence using a command such as
DIMLINEAR. The DIMBASELINE command
then creates further dimensions in a similar
way to the DIMCONTINUE command. All the
user has to do is pick points.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMBASELINE
or (Undo/<Select>): (pick next point)
to
or (Undo/<Select>): (pick another or
end)
Select base dimension:
Using the Continue command you can very

quickly generate a string of dimensions which
align perfectly. In the example above, the
"34.41" dimension was drawn with the
DIMLINEAR command; all the other
dimensions were drawn using the
DIMCONTINUE command and simply
picking the four points, one after the other. You
can only continue a dimension in a single
direction. To generate the "26mm" dimension
in the previous illustration, you will need to use
the DIMLINEAR command and pick P3 and
P4 or enter
at the first prompt and pick the
line.
The
Baseline
Dimension
Command
again to end)
In the example above, the "35.07" dimension

was created using the DIMLINEAR command.
The others were created using DIMBASELINE
and picking points 1 and 2.
The Aligned Dimension Command

Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Aligned
Keyboard DIMALIGNED
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You can use this command to generate aligned
dimensions. These are dimensions along
inclined lines which cannot be dimensioned
with the DIMLINEAR dimension command
because that command will only give a
measured dimension in either a horizontal or
vertical direction. However, as you can see
from the command sequence below, this
command works in exactly the same way.
In the example above, the Mtext option has

been used to create a multi-line annotation.
When you use this option you will notice that
the Multiline Text Editor dialogue already has
some text in the text window. This is the
measured dimension and is displayed as "<>".
If you delete this marker the dimension
measurement will not appear in the annotation.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMALIGNED
First extension line origin or press
ENTER to select:(pick P1)
Second extension line origin: (pick P2)
(Mtext/Text/Angle): (pick a point)
The DIMCONTINUE and DIMBASELINE

commands can both be used in conjunction
with DIMALIGNED dimensions.
Changing the Text

You may have noticed that when you are
prompted to pick the dimension line location
you are also offered a number of options. The
options vary depending upon the particular
command that you are using. However, the
Mtext and Text options, which are common to
all dimension commands are particularly
useful. Essentially they do the same thing, they
allow you to change the text which will appear
on the dimension line. The Text option allows
you to enter a single line of text and the Mtext
option starts the MTEXT command and
enables you to add formatted, multiline text to
the dimension. These options can be used to
add descriptions to your dimensions or to
modify the measured distance.
If you need to edit dimension text after the

dimension is drawn, you can use the DDEDIT
command, Modify/Object/Text from the
pull-down. If you select a dimension, the
Multiline Text Editor will appear and you can
make any necessary changes to the annotation.
The
illustratio
n on the
right
shows an
extract
from the
Multiline
Text
Editor as it would appear if the dimension
above were selected.
The Radial Dimension

Commands
There are two main radial dimension
commands, DIMDIAMETER and
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DIMRADIUS. Both commands result in a
similar looking dimension so AutoCAD
automatically inserts a "R" to indicate a radius
and the dimension symbol to indicate a
dimension. You can get AutoCAD to display
the dimension symbol by including "%%c" in
any text string. For example, in order to draw
the 40mm diameter text as it is shown in the
dimension. To achieve this simply start the

command, pick a point on the circumference of
the circle, pick a second point to determine the
length of the leader and then add the dimension
text or Return to accept the default.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMDIAMETER
Select arc or circle: (pick the
circumference P1)
(Mtext/Text/Angle): (move the cursor until
illustration on the right, you would need
you are happy with the text position and then

pick to complete the sequence)
The Radius Dimension Command

to type "%%c40mm". You can use this special
character with any of the text commands.
The Diameter and Radius commands are
supplemented by the DIMCENTER command
which can be used to add a center mark to any
circle or arc. The DIMDIAMETER and
DIMRADIUS commands do not automatically
draw a center mark.
By convention it is usual to dimension full
circles using a diameter and arcs (partial
circles) using radius. You will find more
information on dimensioning conventions in
BS 308: Part 2.
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Radius
Keyboard DIMRADIUS
The Radius command is identical to the
Diameter command except that the dimension
measurement is a radius rather than a
dimension and the resulting dimension text is
prefixed with a "R" to indicate radius.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMRADIUS
Select arc or circle:
The Diameter Dimension Command
(pick the
circumference P2)
(Mtext/Text/Angle): (move the cursor until
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Diameter
Keyboard DIMDIAMETER
you are happy with the text position and then

pick to complete the sequence)
Notice that in the illustration above the radius
dimension has been positioned inside the
circle. Both diameter and radius dimensions
can be positioned either inside or outside an arc
or circle.
You can use the Diameter command to

annotate a circle or an arc with a diameter
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Practice with the Radial and Diameter
commands until you understand how they
work.
The Center Mark Command
Toolbar
Keyboard DIMANGULAR
The Angular command is amazingly flexible
and can be used to indicate an angle in almost
any situation. Just like the other
dimension commands, all parts of
the process are rubber banded so
you can see the results of your
actions before you make the final
pick.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMANGULAR
Pull-down
Dimension/Center Mark
Keyboard
DIMCENTER
You can use the Center Mark command to

annotate a circle or an arc with a cross at the
center. The illustration above shows a center
mark added to a circle after a diameter has
been drawn.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMCENTER
(Pick the
circumference of a circle or arc)
A cross is drawn at the center point.
Angular Dimensions
There is only one command in this section and
it is used to annotate angular measurements.
Select arc, circle, line, or press

ENTER: (pick a line)
Second line: (pick another line)
Dimension arc line location
(Mtext/Text/Angle): (pick point)
Move the cursor position until you are happy

with the result. Notice that you can move the
cursor to either side of the lines and the angular
dimension will change accordingly.
You may have noticed that at the first prompt
you are given the option to press ENTER. If
you use this option you will be prompted to
pick the angle vertex and then the two angle
endpoints. This is quite useful if the angle you
need to dimension is not defined by physical
lines on the drawing. The illustration on the
right shows the result of this option. The centre
point of circle 1 was picked as the angle vertex
and the centre points of circles 2 and 3 were
picked for the two angle endpoints.
The degree character is automatically inserted
for you, however, if you ever need to type it,
you can do so by typing "%%d". This is
another of AutoCADs special characters.
The Angular Dimension Command
Ordinate Dimensions
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Angular
Ordinate dimensions are not really dimensions

at all in that they do not indicate a
measurement. Rather they annotate known co-
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ordinate points. The DIMORDINATE
command is used to indicate the X and Y
ordinate values at any point.
The Ordinate Dimension Command
Leaders
Ordinate dimensions are not really dimensions
at all in that they do not indicate a
measurement. Rather they annotate known coordinate points. The DIMORDINATE
command is used to indicate the X and Y
ordinate values at any point.
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Ordinate
The Leader Command
Keyboard DIMORDINATE
The Ordinate command is used to annotate coordinate points with X or Y values. This may
be useful for setting-out on site plans.
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Leader
Keyboard LEADER
Command Sequence
Command: DIMORDINATE
Select feature: (pick the point to annotate)
Leader endpoint
(Xdatum/Ydatum/Mtext/Text):
(pick
endpoint or use one of the options)
The Leader command can be used to annotate

any point on a drawing. The command
sequence below was used to draw the leader
shown in the illustration above.
By default a vertical leader will display the X

ordinate and a horizontal one will display the Y
ordinate. However, you can use the Xdatum
and Ydatum options to override this default.
Command Sequence
Command: LEADER
In the illustration above, the building corner on

the left has been annotated with X and Y
ordinates using the default method. The one on
the right has a Y ordinate which has been
forced to display in a vertical position using the
Ydatum option. You could also use the Text or
Mtext options to clearly describe the point you
are annotating.
(pick end point)
Annotation with
Fro
m
poi
nt: (pick the point to annotate)
To point: (pick vertex point)
To point
(Format/Annotation/Undo)<Annotation>:
To point
(Format/Annotation/Undo)<Annotation>:
Annotation (or press ENTER for
options): Corner of
building
MText:
(to end)
MText:
Unlike other dimension commands the leader

and annotation text are drawn as separate
objects. So, if you need to move or edit the
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text, you can do so without affecting the leader
line.
The results of the four available options are

shown in the illustration below.
As you can see by the command line, there are

a number of options with this command
including "Format" options which include
"Spline". Experiment with these options until
you understand them.
The Left option moves the text to a left

justified position within the dimension.
Editing Dimensions
The Right option moves the text to a right

justified position within the dimension.
The dimension edit commands, DIMEDIT and

DIMTEDIT are used primarily to adjust the
position of the text part of a dimension. This is
usually only necessary if the drawing is quite
complex and the dimension would read more
clearly if it were in a different position.
The Home option returns the text to the home

position after it has been modified.
The Angle option enables the text to be rotated
about its center.
The Dimension Text Edit Command
The Dimension Edit Command
Toolbar
Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Align Text/options

Keyboard DIMTEDIT
The Dimension Text Edit command is used to
modify the text position of any single
dimension. The command can be used to
position the text dynamically (this is the
default)or one of the options can be used for a
specific type of movement. For example, the
dimension shown on the right has been
modified by dynamically moving the position
of the text and then the text has been rotated
using the Angle option.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMTEDIT
Select dimension: (pick the dimension you
want to edit)
Enter text location
(Left/Right/Home/Angle):
position or use an option)
Pulldown
Dimension/Oblique (other options

are duplicated in DIMTEDIT so
don't appear)
Keyboard DIMEDIT
The Dimension Edit command can be used to
modify and change the text of any number of
dimensions. The command could, for example,
be used to add a standard prefix or suffix to a
number of dimensions.
Command Sequence
Command: DIMEDIT
Dimension Edit
(Home/New/Rotate/Oblique) <Home>:
(choose an option)
Select objects:
(pick one or more
dimensions)
Select objects:
(pick more or
end)
(pick a new
The command sequence will vary depending
upon which option has been chosen but the
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results of the various options are illustrated
below.
The Home option returns dimensions to their

home position.
The New option displays the Multiline Text
Editor. The changes you make to the text will
be applied to all selected dimensions so it is
important not to delete the "<>" marker from
the text string. Deleting this marker will
remove the values from all selected
dimensions.
The Rotate option can be used to rotate
dimension text about its center point. It works
in exactly the same way as the Angle option of
the DIMTEDIT command except that you can
rotate any number of dimensions at once.
The Oblique option is used to set the
dimension lines at an angle. This option can be
very useful when you are dimensioning a
drawing in isometric projection (see the
illustration on the right). In this case the
drawing has been dimensioned using the
Aligned command and then the oblique angle
modified to suit the dimension position. This
usually means setting an angle of 30, 330 or 90
degrees depending upon the dimension
orientation. If you are creating details in
isometric projection make sure you are using
the isometric snap/grid option for greater
efficiency. For more information on drawing in
isometric projection and the use of the
isometric snap grid, see the "Drawing Aids"
tutorial.
Dimension Styles
Dimension styles are the main method used to
control the way dimensions look. Using styles
you can change the text font, the arrow head
style, the relative position of the text, the scale

of dimensions and many other parameters.
Styles are created using the DIMSTYLE
command.
Dimension styling is a relatively complex area
of AutoCAD and the finer points are beyond
the scope of this tutorial. However, the main
points which will enable you to create clear,
good looking styles are set out below.
Dimension Style Command

Toolbar
Pull-down
Dimension/Style
Keyboard DDIM
short-cut D
The Dimension Style command can be used to

change the appearance of dimensions. The best
method is to create a new style before you start
creating dimensions so
that you can leave the
STANDARD style as a
default option. Having
created a new style from
STANDARD you can
then apply any
modifications you
generally require to the
parent style and then
more specific modifications to the child styles
in order to create a style family.
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AUTOCAD
Dimension styles are created using the
Dimension Styles dialogue box. The dialogue
box is shown on the right. As you can see from
the dialogue box, a style is applied to a family
of dimensions. By default, any style changes
are made to the parent. Each style parent has
six child styles. The child styles, Linear,
Radial, Angular, Diameter, Ordinate and
Leader can be used to modify the parent style
when that particular type of dimension is used.
For example, you may like to use a tick rather
than an arrow head for your dimensions but
this isn't really appropriate for a leader, so the
Leader child style can be changed so that
leaders will always be drawn with an arrow
head whilst all other dimensions of the same
style family are drawn using ticks.
Creating a new style

To create a new dimension style, make sure the
STANDARD style is the current style, click in
the Name edit box and type the name of the
new style you wish to create. Click the Save
button. You will see a message in the lower left
corner of the dialogue box which says "Created
name from STANDARD" where name is the
new style name which you typed. The new
style is automatically set as the current style.
You may rename the new style if you wish,
simply by typing a new name in the Name edit
box and clicking on the Rename button.
The new style which you have created is
identical to the STANDARD style, so you must
now modify your new style so that it can be
used to create dimensions which conform to
your own requirements. Style changes are
made in three categories, Geometry, Format
and Annotation. As you can see from the
Dimension Styles dialogue box, each category
is represented by a button which leads to a
dialogue box which is used to modify the
settings in that particular category.
Setting the Arrow Head Type

The style of arrow heads is set using the
Geometry dialogue box, illustrated above. As
you can see, the STANDARD style has Closed
Filled arrow heads as a default.To change the
arrow head style for a
new dimension style,
make sure the style is
current and that the
"Parent" radio button is
selected (this assumes
you are not modifying a
child style), click on the
"Geometry" button and
select a new arrow head
type from the "1st" dropdown list. Once selected
the new arrow type is
illustrated in the dialogue box. If you require
different arrow heads at each end of your
dimensions you can set the other type using the
"2nd" drop-down list. Click on "OK" to return
to the Dimension Styles dialogue box.
Dimension Scale
When you are working with drawings which
will be plotted at different scales, you will need
some way of changing the scale of the
dimension lines relative to your drawing so that
they always appear the same size, irrespective
of plotting scale. You can achieve this by using
the Scale variable. This option is also available
from the Geometry dialogue box. The default
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
value is set to 1.0. The larger the value the
larger the dimension will appear. For example,
a value of 2.0 would double the text height and
the arrow size. To change the scale of
dimensions, simply type the required scale in
the "Overall Scale" edit box. Try changing the
scale factor and check the results. The scaling
applies to individual styles, so you could create
different styles with different dimension scales
to be used for different plotting scales.
Note that changing the scale of dimensions
does not affect the dimension value, this is
always calculated in drawing units.
Setting the Text Location

To change the text location click on the
"Format" button in the Dimension Styles
dialogue box. The Format dialogue box is
shown below. By default the horizontal
justification is set to "Centred" and the vertical
justification to "Above". This means that the
dimension text will appear centred above a
horizontal dimension line and centred left of a
vertical dimension line. To have the text
centred within the dimension line, click on the
down arrow of the "Vertical Justification" pulldown list to reveal the options and click on
"Centered". The illustration changes to reflect
your choice. Click on "OK" to return to the
Dimension Styles dialogue box. You can see
the result of this action by looking at the
illustration below. Experiment with the
Horizontal
Justification and
Vertical
Justification
options to see what results they give.
You can also use Text the option in this
dialogue box to change the text orientation in
aligned dimensions. By default all dimension
text is aligned with the dimension. This option
allows you to force text to appear horizontal,
irrespective of the orientation of the dimension.
You have independent control over dimension

text which appears inside and outside of the
dimension lines.
The illustration on the left shows a dimension
with vertical justification set to "Above" (far
left) and to "Centred" (near left).
Setting Text Style and Units

Text style and units are both set using the
Annotation dialogue box, illustrated below. To
set a text style to a dimension you must first
have created the style using the Text Style
command (Format/Text Style from the
pull-down menu). To assign the text style to a
dimension style, click on the "Annotation"
button in the Dimension Styles dialogue box,
click on the drop-down list in the "Text" area
of the Annotation dialogue and select the
required text style from the list. Click on "OK"
to return to the Dimension Styles dialogue.
AutoCAD gives you the option to

automatically include a unit prefix or suffix
with the dimension text. For example, you
could set the dimension style in such a way that
it created dimensions with "m" to indicate
metres after each dimension text. Most usually,
dimensions are drawn without units displayed
but with a note on the drawing indicating the
units used, such as "All dimensions in metres".
However, you may have a drawing where
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AUTOCAD
different units are being used for different
elements of the drawing. In such a case it is a
good idea to include units to avoid confusion.
Remember that the main idea behind
dimensioning is to give the maximum amount
of information in the clearest and most concise
way. To add units to a dimension style, click
on the "Annotation" button in the Dimension
Styles dialogue box and enter the required unit
character(s) in the "Prefix" and/or "Suffix" edit
boxes of the "Primary Units" area of the
dialogue box. For example, if you wanted to
display metres, you would type "m" in the
"Suffix" edit box.
Select
arc
Select
an
or
arc
circle:
or
circle.
Specify
dimension
line
location or [Mtext /Text
/Angle]: Click on the point where
you want the dimension to be.
The Dimension Update Command

Toolbar
Pull-down Dimension/Update
Fig.2 Radius dimensioning.
Keyboard DIM
Exact measurement of the circle in the figure
UPDATE
The Dimension Update command is used to

apply the current dimension style to existing
dimensions. You can use this command to
change the style of a dimension. Unlike text
styles, dimension styles do not automatically
update when the style is changed. The
UPDATE command must be used to force
dimensions to appear in the current text style.
is 25 units.
CommanSequence
Command: _dimjogged
DIM
Dim:
UPDATE
Select objects: (pick dimension to update)
Select objects: (pick more dimensions
or to
end)
Dim: (press the escape key, Esc to return
JOGGED command does not exist in the

previous versions. This command enables
you to show dimensions for an arc or circle.
As a difference, it shows the dimensions with
a specific symbol as zigzag line.
Command:
Command: _dimradius

on
an
dimension
Specify

or
circle.
Specify center location

override:
Choose
center.
Specify
dimension
line
location or [Mtext /Text
/Angle]: Click on where you want
the
3/8/2015
arc
Click
jog
to
be.
location:
29
AUTOCAD
Specify the location of the dimension
measurement. Of there is no second line,
text.
you can draw a temporary line and make

dimensioning by that.
Command: _dimangular
Select arc, circle, line,

or : Click on the an arc, circle, line
or
Fig.4 JOGGED dimension.
Select
the
In the figure above, you can see the example
second
corner.
Select
line:
second
line.
Specify
dimension
arc
line location or [ Mtext/
Text/ Angle]: Click on the
of showing dimension for circle with JOGGED

command.
location
DIAMETER It is used to present the radius
where
you
want
the
dimension to be.
dimension with () symbol.

Command: _dimdiameter
Select
Specify
dimension
line
location
or
[
Mtext/
Text/ Angle]: pick the location.
Fig.8 Angular dimensioning.
to the command prompt)

Command:
_qdim
Select
geometry
dimension:
1
(If the entity you want to dimension is
Fig.6 Radius dimensioning.

ANGULAR
enables
you
to
a POLYLINE then QDIM will easily

show
the
dimension of angular parts. You can click on

both
corners
and
find
to
found
the
angle
3/8/2015
handle this. Or you can make mulitple

selections for the entities you want to
dimension one
multiple
by one
dimensioning
and
for
make
them)
30
AUTOCAD
Finally, click on the location where you
want the dimension to be.
Fig. 2 If you draw a POLYLINE, you can
Fig.4 BASELINE dimensioning.
place all of the dimensions by only one
Command will also automatically determine
click.
the space between the dimensions. If your
If you want, you can select all of the entities

you want to dimension by selecting them
with a selection window and dimension all of
them at once, as well as you can make this
dimensions are mixed up, you can make the

relevant necassary adjustments by the help
of
Dimension
style
settings
II
article written by Orhan Toker.
operation one bu one for each entity.

Continue Dimension
Command: _dimbaseline
This dimensioning type enables you to make

It enables you
taking
the
dimensioned
to make dimensioning by
location,
last,
as
which
dimensions which are the continuations of
has
been
each other. At the first stage, dimension the
reference.
First,
first
step
as
LINEAR.
Then,
choose
dimension a step by LINEAR as shown in
CONTINUE dimensioning and choose the
Fig.
end points.
4.
Then press Baseline dimensioning. Command

will automatically find the first point and
prompt you to enter the second point. Click
on each of the corners respectively.
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AUTOCAD
You can either put a marking at the center of
the circle as seen in figure or by applying the
settings explained by Orhans Dimension
Style Settings 3: Dimension arrows and
symbols article. You can place markings as
seen below.
Fig. 6 Continuing dimensioning

Command: _qleader
As shown in Fig.2, click on points 1, 2 and 3

respectively. Enter your text and text width.
If you press ENTER once, cursor goes to the
Fig. 7 Centermark may also be used as a

set of axis.
line below, if you press ENTER twice, you

end the operation.
Lets enter dimension style settings and then

Symbols and Arrows tab. (Fig.2).
With CENTER MARK command, you can

mark centers of CIRCLE or ARC.
Command: _dimcenter
Click
on arc or circle.
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AUTOCAD
Fig.3 Center mark can be the axis lines

at the same time.
You can put center marks into circles or arcs
Fig.2 Go to symbols and arrows tab.
Arrowheads
You can define arrowheads for first arrow,
second arrow and dimensioning labels (DIM /
LEADER) , separately for each. When you
choose the first arrowhead, second one will
inside the AutoCAD dimensioning system.

This symbol can be either a short plus sign
(mark), or (lines). You can change the
properties of read area I have marked in
Fig.3. Axis lines will also extend as equal to
this setting.
Arc Length Symbol
automatically become the same. But, when

you change the second one, first one will not
change.
Arrow Size
Whatever you enter for this variable, affects
all the three symbols I mentioned before.
Arrowsize can change according to the arrow
type you choose. For example, extensions of
arrow size can be double when you want
architectural cuts, on the contrary half will
look better if you choose point.
Center Mark
Fig.4 AutoCAD puts an arc symbol so

that arc length is does not intervene
with the radius.
For your arc length dimensioning, a small arc
symbol is placed near the dimension. With
this setting, you can determine where this
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
symbol will be placed. Our options are in
Those of you, who know technical drawings,
front of, under and not to put.
know that when we are making dimensioning
Radius, Dimension Jog
for small spaces, we should make it from

outside to inside. But things get complicated
when the dimension text does not fit. If you
place it on the sides, it will be mixed up with
the other one. There we go, FIT tab inside
the dimension style settings is for this
matter.
Fig.5 Jog
Sometimes we show the radius or diameter
dimension for very large arcs or circles with
a zigzag line. In AutoCAD it is called jog
dimension. The last setting in this tab is jog
Fig. 2 It is possible to lift the text up
angle
First thing that comes into our minds is

arrows should remain same, but the
text should go up a little ( Fig.2 ) Here is
the setting you have to do,
Fig. 3
Fig.1 Dimensions which has come inside
If you set the Text Placement in FIT tab
each other.
as seen in Fig.3 then the texts are placed up

by a reference extension. This setting is OK.
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
overall scale of: among these options, you
can enlarge or narrow all of the physical
properties of the dimension (like dimension
arrow size, text height etc.) by the amount
of value you enter here. Thus, if you enter 2,
all of the dimension style properties will
double (Of cource except the measured value
).
Fig .4 Another solution is to keep the
text always inside.
In
this
part,
there
is
also
Scale
dimensions to layout option. This option
On the other hand, all of the dimension text
is for those who use LAYOUT. AutoCAD
can remain inside as seen in Fig.4. In order
automatically scales all of the dimensions.
to do this, you must use Always keep text
For this reason, we are always suggesting
between
you to use LAYOUT.
ext.
Lines
option
from
Fit
Options. Another point is that, if you use

Supress arrows if they dont fit inside
extension lines there will be no arrows for
the narrow dimension spaces (Fig.5).
Fig. 6 Overall scale
We also have fine tuning settings. . Place
text manually option asks you to place all
of
the
dimension
text
during
the
dimensioning. We strongly suggest you to

leave this field empty. Our last setting is
Draw dim line between ext lines, which
is not to place dimension line in between if
the spacing is very small. This option should
also be left blank.
Fig. 5 Fit options

One of the most important and unknown
setting
for
dimension
dimensions
features.
is
By
Scale
using
for
Fig.7 Fine tunings
Use
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
You can change each of these settings in
these tabs, so that you can learn what they
are for.
Fig. 1 The units affect the appearance.

Lets have look at the unit in Fig.1. The
writing style of this dimensioning has not
Fig. 2. The unit changes are performed

under the Primary Unitstab.
been edited and it has directly written on the
When we examine the Linear Dimension
measured value. At the first look there are
section in detail in Primary Units tab we
two
the
can solve our problem above and can make
dimensioning. The first thing is the writing
some necessary changes. First of all , we
style
are
solve the precision value by adding 00 in
unnecessary. The second is the needless
Precision section. The other one can be
three decimals in 16,405 measured value
solved by check the Trailing in Zero
(sometimes 1/100 scale can be acceptable)
Suppression
Lets eliminate these two situations.
suppression means hide the zeros after
unnecessary
of
5,000
situations
where
the
in
zeros
commas
should
section.
be
Trailing
checked.
We
zero
have
completed the first phase.
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
If Scale Factor is made as 50 it will give the
measured value in cm. If you make it only in
the Layout portion please click on the mini
table below in order to prevent other values
to be not disturbed.
Fig.3. The extra zeros and numbers

were eliminated by the adjustments we
performed.
Now lets have look at the other items
and see how it works:
Round Off value can be used whenever
Fig.4. The unit can be also written.
requested. For example in architecture 5mm

precision is being used and cm is accepted as
standard unit. Therefore from this time only
0.5
precision
after
the
point
is
very
important for us. If Round off value is

entered as 0.5 then 24.6 will be showed as
25.0 as well as 24.3 will be showed as 24.5.
In other words if the value is greater than
0.5 then it rounds the latter value if not it
Fig.1 You can also have AutoCAD to
rounds the former one.
write
the
alternative
measurement
under the main dimension.

Prefix and Suffix values are used when you
want extra writing in front or behind of the
As
you
know,
AutoCAD
automatically
values. For example if the suffix value is
measures the distance between the two
entered as mm then mm expression will be
points you have chosen and writes it while
displayed in the screen (25 mm).
you are making the drawing, unless you

specify anything else. Now you will see one
Scale Factor is used when you want to

multiply the measure value. For example in
of the benefits, as I had mentioned in my

article Understanding scale concept and
spite of our all warnings you have drawn one

to one means 1/50 (1 m = 2 units) drawing.
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
units in Autocad, of preparing the drawing
settings. Now, lets have a look at these
one to one, not according to a scale.
settings.
Lets say you are managing one project with
Unit Format: In this drop down menu, there
a Japanese originated company and they are
are the default unit settings. It is used to
using engineering units but you are using
change
metric units. So, both sides may have
scientific, engineering settings. Lets choose
difficulty in reading
engineering for Japanese.
the units. You can
resolve this by making a small adjustment in

the dimension style settings. Lets go to
Alternate Units tab in the dimension style
settings.
the
variable
as
architectural,
Precision: Here, you can determine how

much precision you want for the format you
have chosen.
Multiplier for all units: We can roughly say
that it is the ratio of your unit to the
alternative unit, i.e. if 25.4mm = 1, then
your multiplier will be 0.03937. As I have
told you, the default formats in the drop
down menu I have mentioned above works.
However, for a special unit (for example
fathom :) ) you will have to specify the
multiplier.
Round
distances
to:
Similarly
as
mentioned in my previous articles, you can

of course specify a rounding value. However,
according to the unit system you have
chosen, the rounding values may be a little
Fig. 2 When you choose the option that
is marked with red, other settings will
open.
different.
Prefix/Suffix: It is same as they are in the
units. Whatever you write here, will come in
First of all, we should start by marking

Display
alternate
units
option.
By
marking this option, we have both opened

the alternative settings and activated the
3/8/2015
front or after the alternative dimension.

Zero Suppression: It is possible not to
write the 0 feet or 0 inch values that are
38
AUTOCAD
remaining at the end of the decimal part of
the alternative unit system.
Fig. 3 Where shall we put the alternative

dimension?
Fig. 2 We can make tolerance assigning,

which
we
are
used
to,
from
basic
tolerance settings.
We can set the location where the alternative

dimension will be placed by Placement
option. I always prefer to put it below. You
can have this by marking the Below the
primary value option.
By
using
the
first
option,
which
is
Symmetrical, you can get the tolerance

format as shown in Fig. 1. By using the
other settings, you can change values like
decimal digits after dot (precision), upper
and lower values and text height scale
(scaling for height).
Below, you can find examples for tolerance
formats.
Fig. 1 Assigning symmetrical tolerance

values.
To achieve this, you must select the format
you like from the Tolerance Format pulldown
menu
from
TOLARENCES
tab
in
dimension style settings (Fig. 2).
Fig.
Tolerance
by
using
deviation
method.
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
Fig.
Showing
tolerances
by
using
upper and lower limits.
Fig. 5 Basic tolerance (You should put

tolerance beside it by yourself).
:ARRAY COMMAND
The Array command makes multiple copies of
selected objects in a rectangular matrix
(columns and rows) or a polar (circular) pattern
RECTANGULAR ARRAY- Arrays the

selected object in Rows/ column
arrangement.
Now start the Array command.First of all, make

sure that the Rectangular Array radio button is
selected and that you are looking at the
Rectangular Array dialogue box and now follow
the steps below:
1. Click the Select objects button. The dialogue
box will temporarily disappear enabling you to
select the rectangle you just drew. Press the
Return button on your keyboard to complete
the selection. You are now returned to the
dialogue box and the message immediately
below the Select Objects button should read "1
objects selected".
2. Enter the number of rows required in the Rows
edit box. For this example, enter the value "3".
Notice that the schematic preview on the right
hand side of the dialogue box updates to reflect
the values you are entering.
3. Enter the number of columns required in the
Columns edit box. Enter the value "2".
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AUTOCAD
4. Enter the row offset in the Row Offset edit box.
This is the distance DR in the illustration above.
Note that tis is not the distance between rows.
In this example, our rectangle is 10 units high
and we will enter a row offset of 15. The result
will be a 5 unit gap between rectangles.
5. Enter the column offset in the Column Offset
edit box. The same parameters apply as for the
row offset. Enter a value of 25 to give a 5 unit
gap between our rectangles.
6.
and follow the steps below:
1. Click the Select objects button. The dialogue

box will temporarily disappear enabling you to
select the rectangle you just drew. Press the
Return button on your keyboard to complete
the selection. You are now returned to the
dialogue box and the message immediately
below the Select Objects button should read "1
objects selected".
Click on the Preview button. Once again, the

dialogue box disappears and the specified
array is temporarily drawn so that we can
preview it. We are now offered 3 choices. If the
array isn't quite right, click the Modify button to
return to the Array dialogue box. If you are
happy with the array, click the Accept button,
the array will be permanently drawn and the
command is ended.
2. Specify the center point for the array. This is

the point C in the illustration below. You can do
this by entering x and y co-ordinates into the
appropriate edit boxes if you know what these
values should be. However, this is rarely the
case and most often you will want to click the
Pick Center Point button to pick a point from
the drawing area. Pick a point somewhere
below the rectangle you have just drawn.
You should now have an array that looks similar to

the one in the illustration above consisting of 6
rectangles arranged in 3 rows and 2 columns.
As you can se, this command is very powerful
and can save lots of time if used carefully.
3. Enter a value for the total number of items. For

this example, enter the value "6". Notice that
once again, the schematic preview updates to
reflect the values you have entered.
POLAR ARRAY-
4. Make sure that the Rotate items as copied

checkbox is checked.
Arrays the selected object in circular

arrangement.
5. Click on the Preview button. Once again, the

dialogue box disappears and the specified
array is temporarily drawn so that we can
preview it. We are now offered 3 choices. If the
array isn't quite right, click the Modify button to
return to the Array dialogue box. If you are
happy with the array, click the Accept button,
the array will be permanently drawn and the
command is ended.
You can try this for yourself by drawing another
rectangle as described above. This time,
though, locate the rectangle in the centre top
half of the drawing area. Now, start the Array
command, click the Polar Array radio button
The array you have just drawn should look

something like the one illustrated below, left.
Take some time to play around with the other
options in the Array dialogue box to see what
they can do
3/8/2015
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AUTOCAD
ARC- The Arc command allows you to draw an arc
of a circle. There are numerous ways to define
an arc, the default method uses three pick
points, a start point, a second point and an end
point. Using this method, the drawn arc will
start at the first pick point, pass through the
second point and end at the third point. Once
you have mastered the default method try
some of the others. You may, for example need
to draw an arc with a specific radius. All of the
Arc command options are available from the
pull-down menu.
ARRAY-
Modify toolbar >

Pull down menu > Modify > Array
Keyboard
ARRAY or AR
ELLIPSE COMMAND- The Ellipse command gives

you a number of different creation options. The
default option is to pick the two end points of an
axis and then a third point to define the
eccentricity of the ellipse. After you have
mastered the default option, try out the others.
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu > Draw > Arc
Keyboard
ARC or A
EXPLODE- The Explode command is used to

"explode" single objects back to their
constituent parts. In other words, the command
is used to return blocks, polylines etc. (which
may be composed of a number of component
objects) back to their individual component
parts. The change has no visible effect
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu >draw > Ellipse
Keyboard
ELLIPSE or EL
Modify toolbar
Pull down menu > Modify > Explode
Keyboard
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EXPLODE or X
42
AUTOCAD
The Dimension Style Manager
Keyboard DDIM or D
So now that you have seen what can do - how do
you do it? All options are available in the DDIM
(Dimension Style Manager) dialog box.
Back at the "Dimension Style Manager" dialog box,

you will see that the new style you created is listed
at the top (left side). To modify it, select the name,
then press the modify button. The dialog box opens
at you are at the first tab (Lines and Arrows).
On the left is current style for working with

(highlighted in green) and below that is an indicator
that the style has overrides.
In this lesson, you will create a new Dimension
Style and use it in a drawing. From there, you
should try different styles and get familiar with the
options. Most companies these days will have a
standard style (or set of styles) to use on drawings,
but this is a very important tool to know if you want
to turn out professional looking drawings.
Start but invoking the DDIM command and press
the NEW button to open the small dialog for
entering the name of the style you are creating. In
this example I used the name "DIMSTYLE 1".
As a general rule, I recommend not change much

on this tab - especially when you're learning. Set as
defaults, the dimensions are sized proportionately,
if you change the setting on one parameter, your
dimension can look 'off-balance'. For example, you
could end up with huge arrows and small text. For
the purposes of this lesson, the only thing that will
change on this tab is the arrowheads. Select
something other than the standard. You'll also see
that you can set the colours, but just like regular
objects, it's best to leave them set to "Bylayer" and make sure you have a separate layer for all
dimensions.
Go to the second tab (Text).
Start up the Text Styles dialog box by pressing the
button with the ... next to the text name. Create a
new textstyle using RomanS and a width of 0.8 and
call it "DIMTEXT". (For more info, see Lesson 1-8.)
Close the Text Styles dialog box. Select DIMTEXT
as your text for dimensions as shown.
Make sure that "Start with" has "Standard" as its

setting. Press the Continue Button when everything
is set. This will open the dialog box for settings, so
just press OK to close it for now.
The great thing about this dialog box is that it

shows you a preview of what your changes will do
the final dimension in the top right window. In the
bottom right, select ISO as the Text Alignment
option. Try some other changes to see their effects
in the preview, then end with the settings as shown
below:
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Make the changes you see above and check the
preview after each change. In this tab, you can also
set the overall scale of your dimensions. This can
also be done using the DIMSCALE command.
The next tab (alternate units) is used if you want to
display two different units in your dimension. For
example, you can draw your drawing in imperial
inches, then dimension with inches as your primary
units and add the alternate units behind. Skip this
tab for now and go on to the last tab (Tolerances).
So far you haven't changed much, but you've seen

the options available in just 2 tabs. Click on the
next tab to continue.
In this example, you will set the tolerances to be +/.05 units and display them at 80% of the primary
units. Sound easy? It is. Look at the image below to
see how this is done.
As a rule, I leave this tab alone. AutoCAD does a

good job of placing and fitting dimension where I
want them. If I don't agree, I usually just use grips
to edit the placement. Click on the next tab
(Primary Units) to continue.
In the Primary Units, you find some of the more
common parameters that need to be changed.
Precision is very important. First off, you usually
don't need to show 4 decimal places. If you do
show 4 decimals places and send your drawing off
to the machinist, you are asking him to manufacture
the part to within 1/10000 of a unit - which can be a
very expensive mistake. 3 Decimal places is
usually enough - or less for rougher jobs.
Also, I have added a couple of other changes;
adding leading and trailing zeros and a suffix
denoting the units.
WBLOCK command - a create tool for creating a

new file from content in your current open
drawing.
Keyboard
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WBLOCK or W
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Standard toolbar
Pull down menu > Format > Layer
Keyboard LAYER
LAYER- Although AutoCAD provides many
shortcuts for working with layers, many of which will
be covered later, the Layer command provides the
most comprehensive control over layers and layer
operations. This command uses a dialogue box.
The dialogue box is a tabbed dialogue box and can
be modified to show more or less details. This is
quite nice because in its simplified form it looks
much less intimidating to beginners. The following
setions demonstrate how the Layer command can
be used to perform many of the most common layer
operations.
Creating a New LayerTo create a new layer, click
on in the Object Properties toolbar, the Layer &
Linetype Properties dialogue box, illustrated below,
appears. This is a tabbed dialogue box and can be
used to control either layer properties or linetype
properties depending upon which tab is selected.
The Layer tab is always selected by default. Now
click on the "New" button. A new layer called
"Layer1" is automatically created in the layer list
below layer 0. As you can see from the illustration,
the layer name is automatically highlighted for you
so that you can give the layer a more meaningful
name. When you have entered an appropriate
name, press the key to complete the operation.
You have now created a new layer and given it a
name. Notice that by default it has been assigned
the colour white and the linetype "Continuous".
There are a few restrictions to consider when you

are naming layers. The most annoying is that
you cannot use spaces within layer names. So,
for example, the layer name "Tree trunk" is
illegal. However, it is common practice to
replace the space with either a hyphen or an
underscore, both of which are valid layer name
characters. So, the layer names "Tree-trunk"
and "Tree_trunk" are both acceptable. Some
other special characters are also not allowed. If
you do use an illegal character, AutoCAD will
alert you with the error message box illustrated
above. Notice that it very helpfully tells you
which characters are legal. Basically, if you
stick with letters and numbers you won't
experience any problems. In addition to the
hyphen and underscore mentioned above, the
dollar sign is the only other symbol allowed.
The only other restriction relating to layer names is

the number of characters used. Layer names
can be between one and thirty-one characters
long. This should give you plenty of scope to
devise understandable and descriptive names
for your layers. It is good drawing practice to
name your layers sensibly, bear in mind that
other people may have to work with drawings
which you create. If you enter a layer name
longer that 31 characters, AutoCAD will display
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the error message
Layers are always listed alphabetically in layer lists,

the user has no other way to control the list
order. It is worth bearing this in mind when
naming your layers. Keep similar object layers
together by devising a hierarchical naming
structure. For example, if you are drawing a
tree symbol which comprises a number of
elements, your layer names might be,
"Tree_canopy", "Tree_text", "Tree_trunk" etc.
This will cause all the Tree layers to be
displayed together, see the illustration on the
right. This is quite important because in
complicated drawings there may be many
layers and searching for the right group of
layers can waste a lot of time.
Setting Colour and Linetype "ByLayer"
AutoCAD offers two methods of setting the colour
and linetype of a drawing object. First of all,
colour and linetype can be set ByLayer. In other
words, an object will be displayed in the colour
and linetype of its layer. For example, if you
draw a circle on a layer which you have called
"Detail" and you have also set the colour of
Detail to blue and the linetype to dashed, then
the circle will be displayed in a dashed blue
line. When an object takes on the properties of
its layer, the colour and linetype are said to be
set "ByLayer".
The second method AutoCAD offers is to set the
colour and linetype by object. Setting properties
by object overrides those set ByLayer. In
general it is good drawing practice to set colour
and linetype properties ByLayer, this is more
efficient and less confusing in the long-run. For
example, imagine that you have drawn
hundreds of objects on the same layer and
have set their colour to green. Later in the
drawing process you decide that these objects

should, in fact, be yellow. In order to make the
change you would have to use the Properties
command and select every one of the objects
by picking them. By contrast, if you had set the
objects colour to ByLayer, you would only have
to change the layer colour from green to yellow
and all of the objects would change.
There are times , however, when in is useful to be
able to set colour and linetype properties by
object. Setting properties by object is covered
later in this tutorial. The following sections
cover the setting of colour and linetype
ByLayer.
Making a Layer the Current Layer
Once you have created some layers you will want
to start using them. As indicated above, you
can only draw on one layer at a time. In order to
draw on a particular layer you must first make it
the current layer. As usual with AutoCAD there
are a number of alternatives. You could, for
example, use the Layer command, Layer...
from the Format pull-down or from the Object
Properties toolbar. As you have seen
previously, this command brings up the Layer &
Linetype Properties dialogue box. To
set the current layer, select a layer name from the
list and then click on the "Current" button and
then click the "OK" button to finish. The
selected layer is now the current layer and it's
properties are displayed on the Object
Properties toolbar.
Most experienced AutoCAD users change the

current layer so frequently that the above
method starts to seem very long winded. It is
much quicker and therefore more efficient to set
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Properties toolbar. When the Layer & Linetype
Properties dialogue box appears, click on the
"Details>>" button to reveal the layer details.
Pick the layer name you wish to change from
the layer list. The name appears in the Name
text edit box under "Details". Simply edit or
retype the name in the edit box and you will see
the name change simultaneously in the layer
list. You cannot rename layer "0", the deafault
layer, nor can you rename a layer called
"Defpoints" which AutoCAD creates
automatically when you use Dimensions (see
Dimensioning). In theory you can also edit a
layer name directly from the layer list but I have
always found this to be a bit tricky. Notice that
you can also change the layer colour and
linetype using the "Details" section of the
dialogue box.
the current layer directly from the Object

Properties toolbar using the "Layer Control"
drop-down list. To set the current layer, click on
the down arrow next to the Layer Control
window to reveal the layer list. Simply click on
the name of the layer you wish to make current.
If the layer name is not visible because the list
is quite long, scroll down the list until you see it.
The drop-down list only displays 10 layers at a
time. As a beginner, you may feel that this is
quite a lot but a complex and well structured
drawing may have 50 or 100 layers.
Turning Layers On and Off
You can turn layers off or on either by using the
from the Object
Layer command,
Properties toolbar or you can more easily do it
using the "Layer Control" list, directly from the
Object Properties toolbar. In either case, all you
have to do is click on the icon you wish to
change. The icons all act as toggles, so if a
layer is on, all you need to do is click on the
, turning the
icon and the icon will change to
layer off. And conversely, clicking on
changes the icon to and turns the layer back
on.
Objects on a layer which is turned off aren't
displayed in the drawing window and they won't
be plotted. The objects still exist in the drawing;
they are just invisible.
If a layer is turned off and you make it the current
layer, AutoCAD turns it on. It's possible to turn
off the current layer, but this is rarely desirable.
To do so causes no harm, but it can be
confusing if you don't realise what has
happened; new objects you draw are added to
the drawing but are not displayed until the layer
is again turned on. Each designated layer is
turned on (made visible) using the colour
number and linetype previously associated with
it. If the layer is presently frozen, turning it on is
not sufficient to make it display again; you must
also thaw the layer (see Freezing and Thawing
Layers below).
Deleting a Layer
To delete a layer, start the Layer command,
from the Object Properties toolbar to open the
Layer & Linetype Properties dialog box. Click
the name of the layer to highlight it, click the
"Delete" button and then click "OK".
You cannot delete any layer which has objects on
it, you cannot, therefore, use this process to
delete all of the objects on a particular layer.
You cannot delete the current layer, layer "0",
layer "Defpoints" or any layers from external
references.
To delete a layer, start the Layer command,
from the Object Properties toolbar to open the
Layer & Linetype Properties dialog box. Click the
name of the layer to highlight it, click the "Delete"
button and then click "OK".
You cannot delete any layer which has objects on
it, you cannot, therefore, use this process to delete
all of the objects on a particular layer. You cannot
delete the current layer, layer "0", layer "Defpoints"
or any layers from external references.
Renaming a Layer
To rename a layer, start the Layer command by
clicking on the
button on the Object
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Keyboard
POLYLINE or PL
POLYEDIT
Keyboard
POLYEDIT ,PEDIT or PE
Command use to transform multiple objects(consist

of lines and arcs) into single object.
MULTILINEPOLY LINE - Polylines differ from lines in that they

are more complex objects. A single polyline can
be composed of a number of straight-line or arc
segments. Polylines can also be given line
widths to make them appear solid.
You may be wondering, if Polylines are so useful,
why bother using ordinary lines at all? There
are a number of answers to this question. The
most frequently given answer is that because of
their complexity, polylines use up more disk
space than the equivalent line. As it is desirable
to keep file sizes as small as possible, it is a
good idea to use lines rather than polylines
unless you have a particular requirement. You
will also find, as you work with AutoCAD that
lines and polylines are operationally different.
Sometimes it is easier to work with polylines for
certain tasks and at other times lines are best.
You will quickly learn the pros and cons of
these two sorts of line when you begin drawing
with AutoCAD.
The Polyline or Pline command is similar to the line
command except that the resulting object may
be composed of a number of segments which
form a single object. In addition to the two ends
a polyline is said to have vertices (singular
vertex) where intermediate line segments join.
In practice the Polyline command works in the
same way as the Line command allowing you
to pick as many points as you like. Again, just
hit to end. As with the Line command, you also
have the option to automatically close a polyline
end to end. To do this, type C to use the close
option instead of hitting . Follow the command
sequence below to see how this works.
Pull down menu > Draw > Multiline

Keyboard MULTILINE or ML
The Multiline command is used to draw multilines.
This process of drawing is pretty much the same as
drawing polylines, additional line segments are
added to the multiline as points are picked. As with
polylines, points can be unpicked with the Undo
option and multilines can be closed.
When you start the Multiline command you also
have the option to specify the Justification,
Scale and Style of the multiline. The
Justification option allows you to set the
justification to "Top", the default, "Zero" or
"Bottom". When justification is set to top, the
top of the multiline is drawn through the pick
points, as in the illustration below. Zero
justification draws the centreline of the multiline
through the pick points and Bottom draws the
bottom line through the pick points. Justification
allows you to control how the multiline is drawn
relative to your setting out information. For
example, if you are drawing a new road with
reference to its centre line, then Zero
justification would be appropriate.
Draw toolbar
Pull down menu > Draw > Polyline
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The Scale option allows you to set a scale factor,
which effectively changes the width of the
multiline. The default scale factor is set to 1.0
so to half the width of the multiline, a value of
0.5 would be entered. A value of 2.0 would
double the width.
The Style option enables you to set the current
multiline style. The default style is called
"Standard". This is the only style available
unless you have previously created a new style
with the Multiline Style command.
ALIGN- Use ALIGN to move, rotate, or scale objects
into alignment with other objects. Add source points
to the objects you want to align, and add destination
points to the objects to which you want the source
objects to align. You can add up to three pairs of
source and destination points to align an object
Keyboard ALIGN or AL
STRETCH- The Stretch command can be used to
move one or more vertices of an object whilst
leaving the rest of the object unchanged. In the
example below, a rectangle has been stretched
by moving one vertex to create an irregular
shape.
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ISOMETRIC DRAWING
isometric circles drawn by ELLIPSE. You can cycle
through the isometric planes by pressing CTRL+E or F5.
LEFT
Rctangular snap
Isometric snap
The Isometric Snap/Grid mode helps you create 2D

isometric images that represent 3D objects.
By setting the Isometric Snap/Grid, you can easily align
objects along one of three isometric planes; however,
although the isometric drawing appears to be 3D, it is
actually a 2D representation. Therefore, you cannot
expect to extract 3D distances and areas, display objects
from different viewpoints, or remove hidden lines
automatically.
Selects the left-hand plane, defined by the 90-degree and

150-degree axis pair.
TOP
TO DRAW ISOMETRIC CIRCLE

1.
From the Tools menu, choose Drafting Settings.
2.
On the Snap and Grid tab, under Snap Type and

Style, turn on the isometric snap and choose
OK.
3.
From the Draw menu, choose Ellipse

Axis, End.
4.
Enter i (Isocircle).
5.
Specify the center of the circle.
6.
Specify the radius or diameter of the circle.
Selects the top face of the cube, called the top plane,
defined by the 30-degree and 150-degree axis pair.
RIGHT
Selects the right-hand plane, defined by the 90-degree

and 30-degree axis pair.
ISOPLANE
The isometric plane affects the cursor movement keys
only when Snap mode is on and the snap style is
Isometric. If the snap style is Isometric, Ortho mode uses
the appropriate axis pair even if Snap mode is off. The
current isometric plane also determines the orientation of
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THE 3-D CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM
By now you should be very comfortable working
your way around the X-Y co-ordinate system.
Anyway, here is a quick review. Looking from the
plan (top) view, this is what you see to figure out
where is positive X and positive Y.
commands that control the 3D Orbit display,

projection, and visualization tools. You can
access Pan and Zoom options from the 3D
Orbit shortcut menu or on the 3D Orbit toolbar.
You can also choose to use a perspective or a
parallel projection of the view while 3DORBIT
is active.
Shade Objects in the 3D Orbit View
Objects in the 3D Orbit view can be shaded to give them
a more realistic 3D appearance. You can change the way
objects are shaded using the different shading modes,
which are also accessible from the 3D Orbit shortcut
menu.
Use Visual Aids in the 3D Orbit View
If you were to look at the same picture, but at a

slight angle, you would see the third axis. This new
axis is called the Z-axis. Imagine that the positive
Z-axis is coming towards you out of the monitor
The Z-axis has always been there, lurking in the

background, waiting for you.
When you entered points previously, you

would enter them in the format: X,Y. By doing
this, you let AutoCAD know that in these
cases, Z was equal to zero. Entering 4,3 would
be the same as entering 4,3,0. Now if you
drew a line from the origin (0,0,0) to a point
at 4,3,2, you would get a line that goes 4
inches to the right, 3 inches up and 2 inches
towards you. You can choose from several
You can choose to display one or more of the visual aids

(compass, grid, and UCS icon) in the 3D Orbit view. A
check mark is displayed next to the active visual aid
option(s). A visual aid that is active when you exit
3DORBIT remains active in the view outside the 3D
Orbit view unless SHADEMODE is set to 2D
Wireframe.
Draws a sphere within the

arcball composed of three lines
representing the X, Y, and Z axes.
Grid. Draws an array of lines on a plane parallel

to the current X and Y axes, perpendicular to
the Z axis. You specify the height of the grid
display in the ELEVATION system variable.
Compass.
Before starting 3DORBIT, you can use the GRID

command to set system variables that control the grid
display. The number of major grid lines corresponds to
the value you set using the Grid Spacing option of
GRID, which is stored in the GRIDUNIT system
variable. Ten horizontal lines and ten vertical lines are
drawn between major lines.
When you zoom in and out of the 3D Orbit view, the
number of grid lines changes to give you a clear view of
the lines. Fewer lines are drawn as you zoom out. As you
zoom in closer, more grid lines are drawn until the
number of lines corresponds again to the number set in
GRIDUNIT.
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UCS Icon. Turns the display of the UCS icon

on and off. If the UCS icon is displayed when
you start 3DORBIT, a shaded 3D UCS icon is
displayed in the 3D Orbit view. On the 3D UCS
icon, the X axis is red, the Y axis is green, and
the Z axis is blue or cyan. The UCSICON
command also controls the display of the 3D
UCS icon.
Use Continuous Orbit
You also can create viewports on a layout tab. You use

the viewports you create there for arranging the views of
your drawing on a sheet. You can move and resize these
viewports, and you also have more control over the
display. For example, you can freeze certain layers in
one viewport without affecting the others.
SPLIT AND JOIN MODEL VIEWPORTS
The illustrations below show several default viewport
configurations
You can click and drag in the 3D Orbit view to start a

continuous motion. When you release the pick button on
your pointing device, the orbit continues in the direction
that you were dragging.
While Continuous Orbit is active, you can change the
view by right-clicking in the drawing area and choosing
Projection, Shading Modes, Visual Aids, Reset View, or
Preset Views from the shortcut menu. You can also turn
the front and back clipping planes on and off while
Continuous Orbit is active; however, you cannot adjust
the clipping planes. If you choose Pan, Zoom, Orbit, or
Adjust Clipping Planes from the shortcut menu,
Continuous Orbit ends.
VIEWPORT
Viewports are areas that display different views of your
model. As you work on the Model tab, you can split the
drawing area into one or more adjacent rectangular
views known as model viewports. In large or complex
drawings, displaying different views reduces the time
needed to zoom or pan in a single view. Also, errors you
might miss in one view may be apparent in the others.
Viewports created on the Model tab completely fill the
drawing area and do not overlap. As you make changes
in one viewport, the others are updated simultaneously.
Three model viewports are shown in the illustration.
SELECT THE CURRENT VIEWPORT

In AutoCAD, you always work in one viewport at a
time. When you use multiple viewports, one of them is
the current viewport. When a viewport is current, the
cursor is displayed as crosshairs rather than an arrow and
the viewport boundary is highlighted. You can change
the current viewport at any time except when a viewing
command is in progress.
To make a viewport the current viewport, you click
inside it or press CTRL+R to cycle through the existing
viewports.
To draw a line using two viewports, you start the line in
the current viewport, make another viewport current by
clicking within it, and then specify the endpoint of the
line in the second viewport. In a large drawing, you can
use this method to draw a line from a detail in one corner
to a detail in a distant corner.
To join two viewports on the Model tab
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1.
From the View menu, choose Viewports. Then

choose Join.
2.
Click within the viewport containing the view

you want to keep.
52
AUTOCAD
3.
Click within an adjacent viewport to join it to

the first viewport
EXTRUDE COMMAND
With EXTRUDE, you can create solids by extruding
(adding thickness to) selected objects. You can extrude
an object along a path, or you can specify a height value
and a tapered angle.
below. The hidden-line image makes it easier to

visualize the model because the back faces are not
displayed. Shading and rendering can greatly enhance
the realism of the image.
It is strongly recommended that you have

a 3D graphics card if you plan to use Render
options, particularly textures and higher quality
transparency.
Note
Use EXTRUDE to create a solid from a common profile

of an object, such as a gear or sprocket. EXTRUDE is
particularly useful for objects that contain fillets,
chamfers, and other details that might otherwise be
difficult to reproduce except in a profile. If you create a
profile using lines or arcs, use the Join option of PEDIT
to convert them to a single polyline object or make them
into a region before you use EXTRUDE.
REGION- A region is a surface created from
objects that form a closed shape, known as a loop.
The Region command is used to transform objects
into regions rather than actually drawing them (i.e.
you will need to draw the closed shape or loop
first). Once a region is created, there may be little
visual difference to the drawing. However, if you set
the shade mode to "Flat Shaded", View Shade
Flat Shaded, you will see that the region is, in fact,
a surface and not simply an outline. Regions are
particularly useful in 3D modeling because they can
be extruded
Of the image types, hidden-line images are the simplest.

Shading removes hidden lines and assigns flat colors to
visible surfaces. Rendering adds and adjusts lights and
attaches materials to surfaces to produce realistic effects.
Creating realistic three-dimensional (3D) images helps

you visualize your final design much more clearly than
you can with wireframe representations. In the
wireframe, because all edges and tessellation lines (lines
that help visualize curved surfaces) are visible, it's hard
to tell whether you're viewing the model from above or
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The purpose of this lesson is to look further at the

EXTRUDE command. As you saw in Lesson 3-7, it
can be used to create a 3D solid from a closed 2D
shape. Two other ways you can extrude (which you
may have seen as options on the command line)
are to taper the extrusion and the extrude a shape
along a path. If you need to, you can also combine
the two options and extrude along a path while
tapering the shape (shown below
One example where you can use extruded paths is

to represent pipes in a drawing. You may not use
the tapered path option often, but at least it's there.
Command: F <ENTER>
FILLET
Current settings: Mode = TRIM, Radius
= 0.0000
Select first object or
[Polyline/Radius/Trim/mUltiple]: R
Specify fillet radius <0.0000>: 24
Select first object or
[Polyline/Radius/Trim/mUltiple]: P
Select 2D polyline: <SELECT THE
POLYLINE>
3 lines were filleted
What you're going to do next is extrude a circle a

long the polyline - or to be more accurate, the path
of the polyline. This would be one way of drawing
pipes in 3D. For this example, you'll draw a pipeline
with a diameter of 12 units.
EXTRUDING ALONG A PATH

Draw a POLYLINE from 0,0 to 120,0 to 120,120
to 240,120 to 240,0 and then press <Enter> to
finish the command.
Do a Zoom > Extents to see the polyline and then
zoom out a little more. Your line should look like
this:
Next you will put a 24 unit radius on all the corners.

The easiest way to do this is using the Polyline
option of the FILLET command.
Next draw CIRCLE at the bottom right end of

polyline. Use a diameter of 12 (radius of 6). Once
you have that, you need to rotate it in 3D. This is
covered in the next lesson as well. To do this, you
will select the circle, select the axis you want it
rotated around and then choose the angle.
Command: ROTATE3D
Current positive angle:
ANGDIR=counterclockwise ANGBASE=0
Select objects: <SELECT THE CIRCLE> 1
found
Select objects: <ENTER>
Specify first point on axis or define
axis by
[Object/Last/View/Xaxis/Yaxis/Zaxis/2p
oints]: X Specify a point on the X
axis
<0,0,0>: <SELECT THE BOTTOM RIGHT END
OF THE POLYLINE - Make sure your
Osnaps are on for endpoints>
Specify rotation angle or [Reference]:
90 <ENTER>
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Your circle should have rotated 90 degrees and
now you are looking at the side of it so the circle
appears to be a line as shown in the image below.
be extruded along a path. A path can be any open

object such as lines, arc, polylines, splines, etc.
For more practice, try to created a cord for your
lamp (Lesson 3-8) using a Spline as the path. You
can also extrude 2 circles along a path (make one
one circle smaller) and then subtract the smaller
diameter extrusion from the larger to create a
hollow pipe.
Use the 3DORBIT command to view it at different
angles (Click on the screen, hold the button down
and move the cursor around the screen). Try
extruding different shapes with various taper angles
for more practices.
Now comes the easy part. Next you will EXTRUDE

the circle along the path of the polyline.
These options give you a lot of versatility within

one command. You may not use these options
very often in your everyday drafting, but they're
good to know
Command: EXT
EXTRUDE
Current wire frame density: ISOLINES=4
Select objects: <SELECT THE CIRCLE> 1
found
Select objects: <ENTER>
Specify height of extrusion or [Path]:
P
Select extrusion path or [Taper
angle]: <SELECT THE PLINE>
UCS USER CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM

The user coordinate system (UCS) is a movable
coordinate system for coordinate entry, planes of
operation, and viewing. Most AutoCAD geometric
editing commands are dependent on the location and
orientation of the UCS; objects are drawn on the XY
plane of the current UCS
Note: After the Extrude command, the polyline will

still be there. If you need to keep your drawing
clean, remember to erase the path if you don't need
it any more. To see how it looks, view the object in
the SW Isometric view, and use the HIDE
command. It should look like this:
SETTING AND USING THE UCS

When working in 3D, it sometimes necessary to
change the plane that you are drawing on. For
example, if you need to add some detail to the
side of a wall, you would want to draw on that
plane. It's like taking a sheet of paper up off the
floor (WCS) and taping it onto the wall (UCS).
The WCS is the World Co-ordinate System.
This is the way that the standard X,Y and Z
axis are directed when you begin a new
drawing (X to the right, Y pointing up and Z
pointing towards you). The UCS is the User Coordinate System. This is a redirection' of the
WCS based on parameters set
by the AutoCAD user.
This is just one option available with the Extrude

command. Try it on other paths and see how it
works. You will find that if your circle is too large, it
may not be able to be extruded on polylines with
tight corners. Any object that can be extruded can
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There are several ways of doing this, and we'll

look at an example here
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This is a simple shape drawn on the WCS with one

corner located at 0,0,0.
Here is the same object shown a new UCS based
on the side of the object, so that you are enabled to
draw a rectangle on that side:
Notice that the positive X Axis is now pointing along
the side of the house.
Here's how it was changed: You first choose
the 3 point option by typing 3 at the prompt.
Next you have to pick three points to define the
plane. The first point is the new origin. The
second point is
where you want the positive X-axis to be
positioned. The last point is for the positive Y-Axis.
Command: UCS
Current ucs name: *NO NAME*
Enter an option
[New/Move/orthoGraphic/Prev/Restore/Sa
ve/Del/Apply/?/World]
<World>: 3
Specify new origin point <0,0,0>: (P1)
Specify point on positive portion of
X-axis <1.0000,7.0000,0.0000>: (P2)
Specify point on positive-Y portion of
the UCS XY plane
<1.0000,7.0000,0.0000>: (P3)
This is the 3-Point' option of the UCS Command. It
is one of the most useful, because you control
exactly where the new drawing plane will be. You
must also be extremely careful when picking the 3
points, or your plane can be shifted and cause
some major problems. I would recommend using
this method for most of your UCS work - or at least
get very comfortable with it before moving on to
other methods
.NOTE: Pressing enter immediately after

entering the UCS command accepts the default
of returning to the WCS.
Here are the other options of the UCS command.
ORIGIN:
Command: UCS
Origin/ZAxis/3point/OBject/View/X/Y/Z/
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: O
Origin point <0,0,0>: <PICK A POINT>
This option moves the UCS based on a newly
picked origin point. It does not shift the drawing
plane
at all as you only pick one point.
Z-AXIS:
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: ZA
Origin point <0,0,0>:
Point on positive portion of Z-axis <8.0000,0.0000,1.0000>:
This choice allows you to pick two points. First you
pick the new origin, then you pick a point for the
positive Z-Axis. Make sure you type ZA to choose
this option.
OBJECT:
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: OB
Select object to align UCS:
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Using this method, you have to pick on a 2D object
that is lying on a particular drawing plane. This gets
tricky, as you have to be aware how your positive X
and Y axes end up.
VIEW:
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: V
By choosing the view option, AutoCAD will
automatically reset the UCS to be aligned with your
current view, keeping the origin where it was
previously located.
X / Y / Z:
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: R
?/Name of UCS to restore: VIEW1
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: ?
UCS name(s) to list <*>:
Current UCS: VIEW1
Saved coordinate systems:
VIEW1
Origin = <0.0000,0.0000,0.0000>, X
Axis = <1.0000,0.0000,0.0000>
Y Axis = <0.0000,1.0000,0.0000>, Z
Axis = <0.0000,0.0000,1.0000>
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: D
UCS name(s) to delete <none>: VIEW1
Deleted 1 UCS name.
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: X
Rotation angle about X axis <0>: -90
This was a series where a view was saved,

restored, listed, and then deleted.
By selecting either the X, Y or Z options, you need

to first pick a point along the axis you have chosen,
then provide a rotation angle based on the right
hand rule mentioned earlier.
Be careful when choosing a UCS. Look to the UCS

icon and see that it is aligned the way you want it to
be. Look for a clean vertical lines if it should be
aligned along a vertical plane.
PREVIOUS:
Command: UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: P
This option returns you to the last setting you had
for the UCS.
Other notes about the UCS:
Always be aware of where your UCS is located.

Make sure that positive X is where you expect it to
be.
Extra Practice: Create this drawing by switching
the UCS to the correct plane to draw the roof and
skylights. For the geometry, use a combination of
extruding and boolean operations to build it
Restore/Save/Del/?/
The next options are used in conjunction with each
other. You have the option of saving a particular
UCS with a name. You can then restore that named
UCS or delete if you no longer will be using it. Here
are examples of these options:
Command:UCS
Prev/Restore/Save/Del/?/<World>: S
?/Desired UCS name: VIEW1
Command:UCS
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BOOLEAN OPERATION
BOOLEAN OPERATION
First, to explain the funny name : "It was named
after George Boole, who first defined an algebraic
system of logic in the mid 19th century."
Working in 3D usually involves the use of solid
objects. At times you may need to combine multiple
parts into one, or remove sections from a solid.
AutoCAD has some commands that make this easy
for you. These are the boolean operations as well
as some other helpful commands for solids editing.:
Solidedit
Keyboard SUBTRACT or SU
INTERSECT- Creates a single solid from one more
solids based on the intersected geometry
UNION- Joins two or more solids into creating one

based on the total geometry of all
Solidedit toolbar
Keyboard
UNION or UNI
Solidedit Toolbar
Keyboard
INTERSECT or INT
SLICE- This command does exactly what the name

implies. You can slice a 3D solid just like you were
using a knife.
SUBTRACT- Subtracts one or more solids from

another creating a solid based on the remaining
geometry.
toolbar
Keyboard
SLICE or SL
POLYGONThe Polygon command can be

used to draw any regular polygon from 3 sides up
to 1024 sides. This command requires four inputs
from the user, the number of sides, a pick point for
the centre of the polygon, whether you want the
polygon inscribed or circumscribed and then a pick
point which determines both the radius of this
imaginary circle and the orientation of the polygon.
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The polygon command creates a closed polyline in
the shape of the required polygon.
This command also allows you to define the
polygon by entering the length of a side using the
Edge option. You can also control the size of the
polygon by entering an exact radius for the circle
Pull down menu > Draw > Polygon

Draw toolbar
Keyboard
POLYGON or POL
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REVOLVE & REVSURF
REVOLVE- Create a Revolved Solid
With REVOLVE, you can create a solid by revolving a
closed object about the X or Y axis of the current UCS,
using a specified angle. You can also revolve the object
about a line, polyline, or two specified points. Similar to
EXTRUDE, REVOLVE is useful for objects that contain
fillets or other details that would otherwise be difficult to
reproduce in a common profile. If you create a profile
using lines or arcs that meet a polyline, use the PEDIT
Join option to convert them to a single polyline object
before you use REVOLVE.
You can use REVOLVE on closed objects such as
polylines, polygons, rectangles, circles, ellipses, and
regions. You cannot use REVOLVE on 3D objects,
objects contained within a block, polylines that have
crossing or intersecting segments, or polylines that are
not closed.
ISOLINES
Specifies the number of contour lines per surface on
objects. Valid integer values are from 0 to 2047.
The path curve is swept about the selected axis to define
the surface. The path curve defines the N direction of the
surface mesh. Selecting a circle or a closed polyline as
the path curve closes the mesh in the N direction
REVSURF- Use the REVSURF command to create a

surface of revolution by rotating a profile of the object
about an axis. REVSURF is useful for surfaces with
rotational symmetry.
The vector from a

polyline's first vertex to its last vertex
determines the rotation axis. Any intermediate
vertices are ignored. The axis of revolution
determines the M direction of the mesh.
Specify start angle <0>: Enter a value or press ENTER
Specify included angle (+=ccw, -=cw) <360>: Enter a
value or press ENTER
Start Angle
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If set to a nonzero value, begins the surface of revolution
at an offset from the generating path curve.
drawn at the ends of straight segments, and each arc

segment is divided into the number of intervals specified
by SURFTAB2.
Included Angle
Specifies how far about the axis of revolution the surface
extends.
Specifying a start angle begins the surface of revolution
at an offset from the generating path curve. The included
angle is the distance through which the path curve is
swept.
Entering an included angle that is less than a full circle
prevents the circle from closing.
SPLINE
Pull down menu > Draw > Spline
Draw toolbar
Keyboard
The point you use to select the axis of revolution affects

the direction of revolution. Each of the surfaces in the
examples below was created by specifying a start angle
of 0 degrees and an included angle of 90 degrees.
The density of the generated mesh is controlled by the

SURFTAB1 and SURFTAB2 system variables.
SURFTAB1 specifies the number of tabulation lines that
are drawn in the direction of revolution. If the path curve
is a line, arc, circle, or spline-fit polyline, SURFTAB2
specifies the number of tabulation lines that are drawn to
divide it into equal-sized intervals. If the path curve is a
polyline that has not been spline fit, tabulation lines are
SPLINE or SP
The Spline command creates a type of spline

known as a nonuniform rational B-spline, NURBS
for short. A spline is a smooth curve that is fitted
along a number of control points. The Fit Tolerance
option can be used to control how closely the spline
conforms to the control points. A low tolerance
value causes the spline to form close to the control
points. A tolerance of 0 (zero) forces the spline to
pass through the control points. The illustration on
the right shows the effect of different tolerance
values on a spline that is defined using the same
four control points, P1, P2, P3 and P4.
Splines can be edited after they have been created
using the SPLINEDIT command, Modify Object
Spline from the pull-down menu. Using this
command, you can change the tolerance, add more
control points move control points and close
splines, amongst other things. However, if you just
want to move spline control points, it is best to use
grips
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PRIMITIVE SOLIDS
What is a Primitive Solid?
A primitive solid is a building block' that you can
use to work with in 3D. Rather than extruding or
revolving an object, AutoCAD has some basic 3D
shape commands at your disposal. From these
basic primitives, you can start building your 3D
models. In many cases, you get the same result
from drawing circles and rectangles and then
extruding them, but doing it one command is
generally faster. Using these with Boolean
operations can be a very effective way of drawing
in 3D. There are 6 six different shapes that you can
choose from:
You can use primitives to either begin building a
model, or it can even be a finished object on its
own. Many of these commands are similar to 2D
commands, except with an extra co-ordinate in the
Z axis. Here is a summary of working with these
commands.
Create a Solid Cylinder

You can use CYLINDER to create a solid cylinder with
a circular or an elliptical base. The base of the cylinder
lies on the XY plane of the current UCS.
If you want to construct a cylinder with special detail,
such as grooves along its sides, create a 2D profile of its
base with a closed PLINE and use EXTRUDE to define
its height along the Z axis. CIRCLE creates a circle from
which you can create a cylinder using EXTRUDE
You can use BOX to create a solid box. The base of the
box is always parallel to the XY plane of the current
UCS.
The RECTANG or PLINE command creates a rectangle

or closed polyline from which you can create a box using
EXTRUDE. The 3D command creates a box shape
defined by surfaces only.
To create a truncated cone or a cone that requires a
specific angle to define its sides, draw a 2D circle and
then use EXTRUDE to taper the circle at an angle along
the Z axis. To complete the truncation, you can subtract
a box from the tip of the cone with the SUBTRACT
command. CIRCLE creates a circle from which you can
create a cone using EXTRUDE with its Taper option.
The 3D command creates a conical shape defined by
surfaces only.
To create a dome or dish, combine a sphere with a box

and use SUBTRACT. If you want to create a spherical
object that has additional detail, create a 2D profile and
use REVOLVE to define a rotation angle about the Z
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axis. The 3D command creates a spherical shape defined
by surfaces only.
Create a Solid Torus
You can use TORUS to create a ring-shaped solid
similar to the inner tube of a tire. The torus is parallel to
and bisected by the XY plane of the current UCS.
To create a lemon-shaped solid, use a negative torus
radius and a positive number of greater magnitude for
the tube radius. For example, if the torus radius is 2.0,
the tube radius must be greater than 2.0.
A torus may be self-intersecting. A self-intersecting
torus has no center hole because the radius of the tube is
greater than the radius of the torus.
The 3D command creates a toroidal shape defined by
surfaces only
Create a Solid Wedge

You can use WEDGE to create a solid wedge. The base
of the wedge is parallel to the XY plane of the current
UCS with the sloped face opposite the first corner. Its
height, which can be positive or negative, is parallel to
the Z axis.
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SOLID EDITING
With SOLIDEDIT, you can edit solid objects by

extruding, moving, rotating, offsetting, tapering,
copying, coloring, separating, shelling, cleaning,
checking, or deleting faces and edges
Cancels the selection of the faces you removed

most recently from the selection set. AutoCAD then
displays the previous prompt. If no faces are
currently selected, AutoCAD prompts as follows:
Face selection has been completely undone
Face
Edits 3D solid faces by extruding, moving, rotating,
offsetting, tapering, deleting, copying, or changing
the color of the selected faces.
Enter a face editing option
[Extrude/Move/Rotate/Offset/Taper/Delete/Copy/co
Lor/Undo/eXit] <eXit>: Enter an option or press
ENTER
Extrude
ADD
Extrudes selected planar faces of a 3D solid object

to a specified height or along a path. You can
select multiple faces at one time.
Adds faces to the selection set.
Select faces or [Undo/Remove]: Select one or

more faces or enter an option
Select faces or [Undo/Remove/ALL]: Select one or

more faces (1) or select an option

more faces or enter an option
Undo
Cancels the selection of the faces you added most
recently to the selection set. AutoCAD then
displays the previous prompt. If all faces have been
removed, AutoCAD prompts as follows:
Face selection has been completely undone
Undo: Cancels selection of the faces you added

most recently to the selection set. AutoCAD
then displays the previous prompt.
Remove: Removes previously selected faces.

AutoCAD then displays the previous prompt.
All: Selects all faces and adds them to the

selection set. AutoCAD then displays the
previous prompt.
Remove
Removes previously selected faces from the
selection set. AutoCAD then displays the following
prompt.
Remove faces or [Undo/Add/ALL]: Select one or
more faces (1), enter an option, or press ENTER
Undo
All
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Selects all faces and adds them to the selection set.
All
Selects all faces and adds them to the selection set.
After you select faces or choose an option, AutoCAD
prompts as follows:
Tapering the selected face with a positive angle tapers
the face in, and a negative angle tapers the face out. The
default angle, 0, extrudes the face perpendicular to its
plane. All selected faces in the selection set are tapered
to the same value. If you specify a large taper angle or
height, you can cause the face to taper to a point before it
reaches the extrusion height.
Path
Specify height of extrusion or [Path]: Specify a distance

or enter p
Sets a path for the extrusion path based on a specified

line or curve. All the profiles of the selected face are
extruded along the chosen path to create the extrusion.
Select extrusion path: Use an object selection method
Height of Extrusion
Sets the direction and height of the extrusion. Entering a
positive value extrudes the face in the direction of its
normal. Entering a negative value extrudes the face in
the direction opposite to its normal.
Specify angle of taper for extrusion <0>: Specify an
angle between 90 and +90 degrees or press ENTER
Lines, circles, arcs, ellipses, elliptical arcs, polylines, or

splines can be paths. The path should not lie on the same
plane as the face, nor should it have areas of high
curvature.
The extruded face starts from the plane of the profile and
ends on a plane perpendicular to the path at the path's
endpoint. One of the endpoints of the path should be on
the plane of the profile; if not, AutoCAD moves the path
to the center of the profile.
If the path is a spline, the path should be perpendicular to
the plane of the profile and at one of the endpoints of the
path. If not, AutoCAD rotates the profile to be
perpendicular to the spline path. If one of the endpoints
of the spline is on the plane of the face, AutoCAD
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rotates the face about the point; otherwise, AutoCAD
moves the spline path to the center of the profile and
rotates the profiles about its center.
If the path contains segments that are not tangent,
AutoCAD extrudes the object along each segment and
then miters the joint along the plane, bisecting the angle
formed by the segments. If the path is closed, the profile
lies on the miter plane. This allows the start and end
sections of the solid to match up. If the profile is not on
the miter plane, AutoCAD rotates the path until it is on
the miter plane.
Move
Rotate
Rotates one or more faces or a collection of features on a
solid about a specified axis.
Select faces or [Undo/Remove]: Select one or more
faces or enter an option
The descriptions of the Undo, Remove, Add, and All
options match the descriptions of the corresponding
options under Extrude. After you select faces or enter an
option, AutoCAD prompts as follows:
more faces, enter an option, or press ENTER
Moves the selected face on a 3D solid object to a

specified height or distance. You can select multiple
faces at one time.
Select faces or [Undo/Remove]: Select one or more
faces or enter an option
The descriptions of the Undo, Remove, Add, and All
options match the descriptions of the corresponding
options under Extrude. After you select faces or enter an
option, AutoCAD prompts as follows:
Specify a base point or displacement: Specify a base
point (2)
Specify a second point of displacement: Specify a point
(3) or press ENTER
The two points you specify define a displacement vector

that indicates how far AutoCAD moves the selected face
and in what direction. AutoCAD uses the first point as a
base point and places a single copy relative to the base
point. If you specify a single point, usually entered as a
coordinate, and then press ENTER, AutoCAD uses the
coordinate as the new location.
Specify an axis point or [Axis by

object/View/Xaxis/Yaxis/Zaxis] <2points>: Enter an
option, specify a point, or press ENTER
Axis Point, 2 Points
Use two points to define the axis of rotation. Pressing
ENTER at the main Rotate prompt displays the
following prompts. Specifying a point at the main
prompt skips the prompt for the first point.
Specify the first point on the rotation axis: Specify a
point (1)
Specify the second point on the rotation axis: Specify a
point (2)
Specify a rotation angle or [Reference]: Specify an
angle or enter r
Rotation Angle
Rotates the object about the selected axis the specified
amount from the current orientation.
Reference
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Specifies the reference angle and the new angle.
Specify the reference (starting) angle <0>: Specify the
starting angle
Specify the ending angle: Specify the ending angle
The difference between the starting angle and the ending
angle is the computed rotation angle.
Specify the reference (starting) angle <0>: Specify the

starting angle
Specify the ending angle: Specify the ending angle
The difference between the starting angle and the ending
angle is the computed rotation angle.
LOFT COMMAND
Axis by Object
Aligns the axis of rotation with an existing object. You
can select the following objects:
Line: Aligns the axis with the selected line.
Circle: Aligns with the 3D axis of the circle

(perpendicular to the plane of the circle and
passing through the center of the circle).
Arc: Aligns with the 3D axis of the arc
(perpendicular to the plane of the arc and
passing through the center of the arc).
Ellipse: Aligns with the 3D axis of the ellipse
(perpendicular to the plane of the ellipse and
passing through the center of the ellipse).
2D polyline: Aligns with the 3D axis formed by
the polyline's start points and endpoints.
3D polyline: Aligns with the 3D axis formed by
the polyline's start points and endpoints.
LW polyline: Aligns with the 3D axis formed
by the polyline's start points and endpoints.
Spline: Aligns with the 3D axis formed by the

spline's start points and endpoints.
Fig. 1
In first example, we will create the 3-dimensional
entity shown on the right side by dragging 3
circles and 1 square along the path with red color.
Actually, dictionary meaning of LOFT is attic and
LOFTING means to throw something into air. If
you imagine an attic carefully, you will notice that
it is created by dragging a triangle along a
rectangular plan. LOFT command in AutoCAD
Select a curve to be used for the axis: Use an object

selection method
works the same way. It creates a 3-dimensional

entity by dragging a number of sections over a
Specify a rotation angle or [Reference]: Specify an

angle or enter r
certain path. However, there are certain rules

while drawing:
Rotation Angle
Rotates the object about the selected axis the specified
amount from the current orientation.
1. Entities that make up the sections must

form closed surfaces. These entities can
be arcs, elliptical arcs, ellipses, circles, 2D
Reference
polylines and 2D splines.
Specifies the reference angle and the new angle.
2. Entities that make up section must be

chosen at a definite number.
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3. Drawing that makes up the path can be
either a closed or open route. Line, arc,
elliptical arc, spline, ellipse, helix, circle, 2
total
Select
cross
sections
in
lofting
order:
Enter an option [Guides/Path/Cross sections only]

<Cross sections only>: C
or 3-dimensional polyline can be used to

draw the path. If more than one main
Pass the last option by pressing ENTER.
entity will be used (arc, line, elliptical

arc), then they must be aligned from end
to end and they must be combined into
one polyline by using PEDIT command.
4. If sections will be dragged along guide
lines as shown in Fig. 2, then guide lines
must be again made up of polylines
and/or splines. Guide lines cannot be
closed routes.
Fig.3
You will obtain Loft settings window that is
Fig.2
shown in Fig. 3. The options that can be seen in

this window have preview option and your entity
The most basic form of LOFT command is to

create a solid by selecting two number of closed
curves.
will be updated as you change the settings here.

In Fig. 4, I tried to give examples for some
options.
Start the command and select the two circles one

of which is on top of other. First select the one on
top and then the other one.
Command:
_loft
Select cross sections in lofting order: 1 found

Select cross sections in lofting order: 1 found, 2
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Fig.4
In this first example, we combined two closed
curves (here what we call them the cro<ss
Fig.6
In Fig. 6, I made LOFT by using PATH option.
section curves) by using various options. When

we come to the Guides and Path options of
LOFT command:
Fig.7
In Fig. 7, you can see that 4 number of curves
Fig.5
were
This example that is shown in AutoCAD help files
combined
by
using
Smooth
Fit
and
closed options.
shows how the example starting and end crosssection
are
LOFTed
by
using
aiding
curves
(Guides). Make sure that, while drawing these

aiding curves, they must definitely intersect the
curved that you are going to LOFT and the
starting and end points should be exactly on the
curve.
Fig.8 Normal to all cross sections
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As you can see, there are various options for
LOFT command, however their usage is quite
hard.
HELIX AND SWEEP COMMAND

In this article, I will explain how to draw a basic
screw. As I will focus on HELIX and SWEEP
commands, I will not draw the screw head and
thread end according to rules. First of all, lets
take a look at the final drawing that we would like
Fig. 2
to accomplish:
Section that is in orange color has a triangle in

the base that has dimensions of 1.5 mm and 60
degree internal angles. We will FILLET the top of
this triangle with 0.217 mm radius, and we are
rounding roots of screw with the same radius as
another triangle will come beside it. Then we
obtain
the
section
as
shown
in
figure.
By
combining entities that make up this section by

using
PEDIT
command,
we
obtain
closed
POLYLINE. After this step, we will create the helix

along which we will sweep this section.
Fig. 1
In this drawing, you can see as 1020 screw.
When starting drawing, I created one single
thread spacing according to ISO standards (Fig.
2).
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Command:
HELIX
Specify center point of base: (
center
of
square
Specify
base
[Diameter]: ( at
position
marked
radius
or
this point, select
the
with
cross
Specify top radius or [Diameter]

<3.7000>:
(
enter
)
Specify helix height or [Axis
endpoint/Turns/turn Height/tWist]
<20.0000>:
h
Specify distance between turns:
1.5001
(
thread
size
spacing
)
Specify helix height or [Axis
endpoint/ Turns/ turn Height/
tWist]: 21
When you enter command, AutoCAD will prompt
the center of helix. Select the center of square. In
next step, it asks the base radius of helix. This
Fig. 3
question is critical, because, if you specify the
In order to draw the helix that is shown in Fig. 3,

it will be better to draw the base square that is
shown in Fig. 4.
radius with cursor, then point that you select will

also be the starting point. For this reason, it is
better to select the mid points of edges of square.
Because, it will be easier to align the screw thread
that we prepare to the starting point by this way.
Next question is the top radius of our helix. We
will enter 3.7 in the same manner. After entering
these values, here comes the most important
parameters
of
the
command.
Among
these
options, there are the axis end point, number of

turns, thread size spacing and turning direction.
As the thread size spacing is important for us,
lets select < H > and Specify distance between
turns prompt will come. Lets enter 1.5001 which
Fig. 4
is the thread size spacing. Here, we are specifying

1/10,000 times the required. Reason is that, in
After
drawing
the
square
with
7.4
dimensions, lets move on to HELIX command:
7.4
SWEEP command it is not permitted to touch for

the surface along which sweeping will be done.
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Finally, lets enter height of our helix as 21. We
will cut 1mm of it while we are adjusting the end.
Command:
Select objects to sweep:
section
surface)
SWEEP
( orange
found
Select sweep path or [Alignment/

Base point/ Scale/ Twist]: ( helix )
SWEEP command works quite simply. First, we
select the section to be sweeped than the path
over which the section will be sweeped along
(helix). As our threads are formed now, we can
draw a cylinder with R=3.75mm and H=20mm in
the center of this entity and then combine these
two shaped by using UNION command. After that,
we can draw a hexagonal with 4mm height at the
base and combine it with the previous entity by
Fig. 5
using UNION command (Fig. 7).
In next step, we will prepare the outer section

surface perpendicular to starting point of helix. In
order to do this, you can use ROTATE command
once and 3DROTATE once more (Fig. 6).
Fig. 7
Finally, slice the end by using SLICE command
Fig. 6
After doing this, lets carry the middle point of
base to the section surface so that this starting
point will come correspond to starting point of
helix. Next step is to make the spiral by using
SWEEP command.
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RENDERING
MATERIALS AND RENDERING
menu
under
templates,
it.
light
There
are
material
properties,
texture
properties and opacity and bump map

properties on the lower part.
In this article, we will first see how to
create a simple material. To create a new
material,
we
are
using
Create
New
Material in the small menu. In this first

article,
we
will
create
blue
plastic
material, lets name the material as Blue

Plastic New material will immediately
appear in the list. The most important
property of render material is light they
reflect. It is same in real life, different
materials
also
reflect
light
differently.
During RENDER, we call this property

diffuse. Our material is created as gray
by default. But as we want it to be blue,
then we should click on the color box and
select a soft blue (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2
Fig. 1
Even now, we already have a half matte
You can see the control panel in Fig. 1.

There is the list of defined materials on the
upper part of panel, and there is a small
blue. Lets draw a cube on screen and

assign this material to it. After assigning is
complete, then we get what is shown in
Fig3
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new material to 70%, and Refraction
value to 1.75. By using this combination,
our material will be shiny enough to reflect
light (Fig. 4).
Fig. 3
Here, we can see a slight reflection. The
reason for that is Shininess property in
light settings is adjusted to 50%. As
shininess
property
decreases,
light
becomes smoother and is diffused over a

larger area. Controversially, as shininess
increases, then light will be reflected from
a very small area and more sharply just
like it does from a billiards ball. You can
change shininess and observe the effects
on screen. ( You should set view property
to REALISTIC from DASHBOARD ). Up to
now, we have learned about the color and
shininess
properties
of
material.
After
adjusting
shininess properties then we
should make RENDER to see the exact

results of our settings. First of all, lets
Fig. 4
As you can see, only by setting there
properties ( diffuse, shininess, refraction ),
we obtained a shiny material just like a
billiards ball. The fourth property Self
illumination is used to create materials
which disperse light by themselves, i.e. a
light spreading sphere. However, in real
life, such a material must be transparent
and a light source is inserted into a sphere
that
is
covered
with
this
material.
However, in textures that are created by

computers, it will create better effects to
combine
light
source
with
self
illuminatiosn effect (Fig. 5).
draw a surface under the cube and assign

the preset checkered material to it. By this
way, we can see the result more easily. If
you know how to do it, then you can also
add a light to the scene. I will talk about
lights in another article. As the scene is
ready, lets set shininess property of the
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Fig. 5
Fig. 1
Even though the subject of this article was
Texture files can be created in JPG, TIFF,
plastic
about
TGA, BMP or PNG formats. However, most
transparency affect a little bit also. If we
economical one regarding files size is JPG.
change Opacity ( transparency ) property
There are some certain points that you
in material control panel in between 20%
should take into account while creating
and
texture pictures:
material,
0%,
then
let
we
me
start
talk
to
visualize
transparency effect (Fig. 6, 20%). You can

1. Texture should be able to repeat
also see that by changing opacity, color of
itself.
the shadow also changes.
2. Size
of
texture
picture
as
of
number of pixels.
3. Color calibration of our own screen.
1)
Texture
repetition
The
most
important property of textures is that they

can repeat themselves over the surface
that they cover. Otherwise, if we cover a
relatively large area with a small texture,
then we obtain a blurry and undesirable
Fig. 6
picture. This can be explained best by
In second part of our article series, we will

explain
how
to
create
TEXTURED
material. A typical textured material is

shown
in
Fig.
1.
windows wallpaper example. Even though

some of the wallpapers are two percent of
the whole screen, by using TILE option we
can see that our desktop is covered with
very
nice
textures.
Preparing
such
texture needs a lot of efforts. Especially
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when four edges coincide, texture lines
In Fig. 3, ideal size for the texture picture
must
is
follow
each
other
(Fig.
2).
200120
materials
pixels.
are
However,
generally
texture
prepared
for
general purposes and as I described in 1.

item, they should be repetitive. For a
repeatable
texture,
approximately
200200 pixel size is ideal.

3) Monitor color calibration : Most of
Fig. 2
you are not using professional monitors.
Texture picture shown in Fig. 2 is made up
For this reason, colors that you see in you
of combination of two of pictures that is
monitor may not be real colors. If you add
shown in Fig. 1 side by side. Even though
the color mistakes due to your scanner,
it
texture
textures that you have prepared may not
continuity, this is not enough for all only by
look the same as you desire in other
itself. It is also required for color saturation
computers. For this aspect, you should pay
and brightness level at the edges to be
attention to keep color settings of your
equal, so that there will not be any waving
monitor and scanner as good as possible
effect.
and as close as possible to real colors.
2) Size of Texture picture as number
As our texture picture is ready, than we
of pixels: If the texture picture is specially
can immediately use it inside a material
prepared for one project, then in order to
definition. Lets create a new material from
obtain the best results, it should have the
Material
same size with the size seen in render (Fig.
CHERRY. After this, select JPG file (in
3).
my example FFE2.jpg ) that we prepare as
is
perfect
example
for
control
panel
with
name
of
material shown in Fig. 4, as Texture

Map.
Fig. 4
Fig. 3
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After
making
the
selection
by
using
Select button, you will see that name

of the button is changed as the texture file
name. There is a texture setting just on
the right side of the button. By using this
icon, we can access settings window by
Fig. 6
using this icon (Fig. 5).
Our other option is to scale our texture.

We must use Tiled ( repeated ) option
while scaling. You should pay attention for
scaling unit and
drawing unit to be the
same. After these settings, values that we

write
in
width
determine
and
reparation
height
areas
spacings.
will
For
example, a repetition is foreseen with 45

cm intervals.
Offset and Rotation : On the lowest part
of screen (Fig. 7), you can set how much
the texture will be offset in U and V
directions and how many degrees it will be
Fig. 5
rotated according to the surface.
There are the settings for repetition and

scaling in Bitmap Scale group. If your
texture is prepared for a single drawing (
painting, wallpaper etc. ), then you can use
Fit to object option. Size of texture
picture as of pixel dimensions is important
at
this
stage.
You
should
take
into
Fig. 7
consideration the area of surface that will

be covered. Beside this selection, you can
also set the number of repetitions in U and
V ( X, Y ) directions. By this way, you can
have the texture picture to be placed by
NxN times over the relevant surface.
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Creating Render Material in
AutoCAD : Mapping
are
different
kinds
1. Plannar mapping
surface or a solid entity, then according to
2. Box mapping
the
3. Spherical mapping
of
the
entity,
AutoCAD
automatically covers it with that texture
mapping
in
AutoCAD:
When a texture material is assigned to a
shape
of
4. Cylindirical mapping
material. However, thing may not work out

as we expect all the times and AutoCAD
It is obvious what they do, when you look
may make some mistakes; or we may
at their names. Now, lets examine them
have some special demands.
closely one by one:
When
we
discussed
definitions,
we
about
described
material
about
1. Plannar Mapping :
tile
property. This property is distributed to all

of
the
surfaces
equally
in
standard
applications. When mapping is applied to

any material, mapping area will be the
area that is taken as basis for material.
Accordingly, if the mapping area is larger
than the surface to be covered, only part of
the mapping area that covers the entity
will be used; otherwise, whole mapping
area will be used so that it will be
Fig. 1
repeated. When expressions are explained

in words it may be a little confusing. So, it
As it can be understood from its name, it is
is better explained by an example like
assigned to planar surfaces. It can also be
covering a cylinder, cube or sphere by
assigned to other forms in order to get
using a typical woodwork ( with thick, clear
massive effect. Mapping menu is included
veins).
inside the render menu ( Fig. 2).
The
way
woodworks
look
is
independent from shape, when they are

massive.
However,
if
we
cover
these
entities, then the texture will take the

shape of them. Thats what mapping is.
Now, lets continue with an example. There
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By pressing enter, you can accept settings.
MOVE and ROTATE does the work that we
already know. We can use MOVE option if
we dont want to start from the corner of
the texture; it is especially useful for
paving floor tiles. RESET returns all of the
Fig. 2
values to their default values. And, sWitch

Due to the fact that mapping is applied to
to mapping mode is used for accessing
entities, you will have to select an entity
one upper menu:
and it will start working on an appropriate

mapping as soon as you select one ( Fig.
3).
Select an option [Box/ Planar/ Spherical/

Cylindrical/
copY
mapping
to/
Reset
mapping]:
This
is
actually
the
first
menu
MATERIALMAP ) that comes up when you

first enter the command. You can copy
mapping settings of one entity to another
by using copY mapping to or you can
delete a mapping by using Reset.
2. Box Mapping :
Fig. 3
Blue triangles that are on the corners are
used for changing dimensions and shapes.
It is similar to STRETCH command. Green,
red and blue stripes ( blue stripe is seen in
drawing as line ) are used for rotating axis.
Fig. 4
When we take a look at command line in
In Fig. 4, you can see that box mapping is
this
assigned to a cube shaped entity. Similarly
editing
mode,
then
we
can
see
mapping sub-menu:
Accept the mapping or [Move/ Rotate/
reseT/ sWitch mapping mode]:
as before, the blue triangle and colored

stripes are waiting for to be used. If
spherical mapping is assigned to the same
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entity, then it will look like that is shown in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 7
In Fig. 7, entity that is on the left side is
shown by using cylindrical mapping and
the one on the right is shown by using
planar mapping. As it can be seen on the
entity that is on right side in figure, texture
Fig. 5
is being rendered along the cylinder
In order for you to see the difference, I am

giving this example.
3. Spherical Mapping:
Creating Render Materials in

AutoCAD : Lights
Lights are the most important elements of
scenes as they are so in real life either.
You might have crashed into a well cleaned
glass as you did not notice it. Same glass
can
be
noticeable
in
different
light
conditions. For this reason, it is very

important to use lights. Uses of lights in
scenes require professional knowledge and
artistic experience. Please note that, during
Fig. 6
this article, I will use the word scene for

Modifications that can be made by using
the view that we will render. I also would
spherical
to
like to mention that I dont have expertise
ROTATE. This command defines the polar
for use of lights professionally, and I will
of cube. In figure, you can see the state of
explain the use of lights only in the
texture material during and after editing.
technical manner how to place lights into
mapping
are only
4. Cylindirical mapping:
limited
the scenes in AutoCAD.
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Fig. 1-Scene without lights

As there are no lights used in Fig. 1, you
see the painted scene only. During this
article, I will use different lights on the
same scene , so that we will be able to the
differences all together.
1) Sun light: In order to access this light
you have to use Sun Properties from
render
menu
SUNPROPERTIES
command
Fig.
command
2),
or
from
Fig. 3
line.
If we make Status = On under General
title, then sun properties will change our
scene.
In
AutoCAD
2007,
there
is
calculator for direction of sun ( azimuth ).

This calculator allows you to select the
area by using the lens icon which is just
near
Location
Geographic
title.
By
making this selection; direction, intensity

and
softness
adjusted
Fig. 2
of
sun
according
to
is
automatically
your
current
location, date and time. Here is the result:
As we use this command, a tool panel that

is used to define properties of sun will open
up (Fig. 3).
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Fig. 4 Sun light

2) Distant light: This light, which creates
an effect very similar to sun light, can also
be used as sun light. It is in form of light
rays that are parallel to each other and are
coming from same direction. Even though
result is same, shadows are sharper ( Fig.
5).
Fig. 6 - Point Light

4) Spot light: They are projection type of
lights that we generally see in theatres and
cinemas. As there is no direction for the
spot light, an insertion point and a target
point must be selected for spot. Besides,
conical angle of strong light ( hotspot ) and
soft light ( fallof ) must be adjusted. When
we select spot lights symbol, two conics
and 4 triangles that show directions will
come up. You can make changes by using
these triangles (Fig. 7).
Fig. 5 - Distant Light

3) Point light: You can think of it as a
ceiling light that has no visor. It is very
suitable for closed areas. It can create
sharp or smooth shadows. Intensity of
these lights can be adjusted. I will explain
about the light settings in detail, for now,
lets see the result (Fig. 6):
Fig. 7 Fall of and Hotspot Settings
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Result
of
render
is
given
in
Fig.
8.
Fig. 8 - Spot Light

As you can also see from the shadow that
falls on the wall, spot light has a visor an
this is generally used for effects.
Light Settings:
Fig. 10 Lights List

When you select a light from lights list and
Fig. 9
open Properties panel, then all of the
By using Light List (Fig. 9) command in
properties related to the selected light is
Render menu, you can access the lights list
listed and you can change light settings
as shown in Fig. 10.
from here. In this article, I will only explain

general settings for lights.
Name: This is the only place for you to
change name of your light. In order to
remember the locations of lights, you have
to write appropriate names.
On/Off Status: You can turn on/off your
light from here.
Shadows:
Here,
you
can
determine
whether your light will drop shadow or not.

If you are using more than one light, than
you might want some of the lights not to
drop shadow.
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Intensity factor: You can set the strength
of lights from here. Values between 0-1
means weakening, values larger than 1
means
more
lightning.
For
more
professional people, there is Attenuation

(turning down light) options. It gives effect
of paper, deflector etc. that has been
placed in front of camera.
One of the more interesting aspects of

working in 3-D is that you can visualize what
your design will look like. You have so far
used the hide and shade commands to give
you some idea towards how the final piece
will look. The next step is to learn about the
RENDER command. This command is the
most powerful one for viewing your objects.
Using render, you are able to add realistic
lighting and materials to get the most
realistic view of what you're designing.
You can render objects that don't have
materials applied to them, but it won't look
as realistic as if you have material added.
The first two blocks shown here are
examples of the usual wire-frame view
before and after the HIDE command.
Applying the materials is a relatively easy

process, getting them to look exactly the
way you want them to can be a skill in itself.
Once the materials are added, getting the
lights and shadows to look realistic is
another task that many people prefer to
complete in a program other than AutoCAD.
Follow these steps to get an basic, accurate
rendering:
Draw the object using solids or

surfaces
Apply the materials
Render the scene
Once your objects are drawn, you have to

decide which materials you want to use.
AutoCAD comes with a basic materials
library that you can use to apply to your
objects.
Later lessons will teach you how to create
new materials and map them to objects.
This lesson is designed to allow you to
quickly and easily apply materials to your
objects.
Start by drawing a basic cube 20x20x20 this will be your object for testing materials.
Go to the Tools Menu and select Tools >
Workspaces > 3D Modelling. You will see
that two new palettes are added. Close the
one on the right for drawing and leave the
one that contains a list of materials.
These two blocks show how the render

command can show the object two ways.
The block on the left was rendered without a
material applied, while the one on the right
has a white ash material applied
Now that you have your object (the cube)

and a list of materials, you're ready to go.
To add a material to the cube, click on the
icon of the material you want to use. Move
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your cursor into the drawing area and your
cursor should change to this one:
Just move the new cursor over the cube
until it is highlighted and click on it. Press
<Enter> to end the command. It will look like
absolutely nothing happened. You may have
even done it a couple time to try and make it
work. The only way to confirm that the
material is attached to the cube is to 'render
the scene'. This is easy - just type in Render
and press enter. You'll see that a new
window opened and rendered your cube.
Consider the example above. In the image on the

left, the ground has been rendered in the object
colour and this looks perfectly fine. But say we
wanted to give the impression of a close mown
lawn as illustrated in the image on the right.
Object colour alone can't do this and none of the
materials in the Material Library look like this.
The only option is to create our own material.
This tutorial uses the example of mown grass but
the basic principles hold true for any custom
bitmap material.
Adding sunlight to your drawing

Introduction
Use these commands to apply materials to
the solid objects you have drawn. Materials
cannot be applied to wireframe objects or
those drawn with line thickness
In many cases, rendering using object colours or
the use of materials from the AutoCAD Material
Library is all that's required to produce a semirealistic render of a scene. However, sometimes
you might want something specific. This tutorial
shows you how to create and use a material that
looks just the way you want it.
Once you start working with solid models

and rendering them, you will want to add
lighting effects to your model. One of the
most common requirements is to add
sunlight to your drawing. AutoCAD has
some very powerful and useful features for
accurately creating sunlight effects.
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are bright, whereas the ground plane is quite
dark. Although this effect enables you to
clearly see your model, it is far from realistic.
In order to add some sunlight to our scene,
we will need to add a light that simulates the
sun; AutoCAD calls this type of light a
"Distant Light". This is much easier than it
sounds and AutoCAD has some very userfriendly tools to help.
As you can see from figures 2, 3 and 4, not
only can you simulate sunlight but you can
control the time of day, the day of the year
and the geographic location. Also, because
the renderer can create accurate shadows
based upon your parameters, you could
even use these techniques to create a
shadow analysis.
The three sunlight images on the left show
the light and shadow effects on a garden at
different times of the day on the 25th June in
London. This is all possible without needing
to know the first thing about solar geometry!
This tutorial will take you, step-by-step
through the process of creating sunlight,
modifying it and making the necessary
shadow and render settings.
Overview & Fast Track
As you may have realized by now, you don't

need lights in a scene in order to render a
model. Figure number 1 on the left shows
the effect of rendering without lights. As you
can see, the results are rather uninspiring
and there are no shadows. AutoCAD
calculates the lighting in a scene where
there are no lights by determining the the
angle of incidence between the object faces
and the line of sight. Faces that are
perpendicular or near perpendicular to the
line of sight are displayed brighter and faces
further from the perpendicular are shown
darker. The effect is similar to what you
would see if the light source was placed at
the camera position; perpendicular faces
would reflect more light and faces further
from the perpendicular would reflect less
light. In figure 1, you can see that the
vertical faces of the hedge, facing the viewer
Adding sunlight and rendering a drawing is

essentially a 5 step process. If you are
familiar with AutoCAD, you may be able to
create sunlight by following the Fast Track
steps below.
1. Create a Distant Light using the
Light command, View Render
Light from the pull-down menu.
Set the light type to "Distant Light"
and click the New button.
2. Name the light and set Shadow
Type to "Raytraced" in the New
Distant Light dialogue box. Give the
new light a name. Click the
checkbox to turn shadows on and
then click the Shadow Options
button. Click the checkbox to turn
"Ray Traced Shadows" on.
3. Set the Time using the Sun Angle
Calculator. Click the Sun Angle
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Calculator button in the New
Distant Light dialogue box.
4. Set the Location from the Sun Angle
Calculator dialogue box. Click the
Geographic Location button in the
Sun Angle Calculator dialogue box.
5. Render the Scene using the Render
command, View Render
Render from the pull-down menu.
Set the "Rendering Type" to Photo
Raytrace and click the checkbox to
turn "Shadows" on.
You can use any 3D drawing to follow this
tutorial providing that you have drawn a
ground plane on which the shadows can be
projected.
Getting Started
already saved for you. However, if you are

not familiar with rendering, it would be useful
to have a quick go now so that you know
what to expect later in the tutorial.
After opening the Garden.dwg, select
View Render Render from the pullon the render
down menu or click
toolbar to display the Render dialogue box.
Since all of the settings are already made,
simply click the OK button. After a few
moments, the rendered image will appear in
your viewport and your screen should look
something like the image above. Notice that
the render background has been set to
white. This just makes the rendered objects
easier to see. Notice also that some of the
objects have materials assigned.
Open the Garden.dwg file. You may notice

that it is a little slow to open. This is because
the garden is constructed from solid objects
and AutoCAD has to load some extra bits of
the program to deal with them. The opening
view is an aerial perspective. This was
created using the DVIEW command but you
could also use 3D Orbit. The view has been
saved so that you can return to it at any time
Note that rendered views are not interactive,

they are just still images, like photographs.
You cannot pan, zoom or pick objects in a
rendered view as you can in shaded views.
Therefore, you must return to your previous
viewing mode before continuing with any
drawing work. To do this, you must
regenerate the view, select View Regen
from the pull-down menu.
from
using the Named Views command,
the Standard toolbar or View Named
Views. Highlight the view name, "Sun
View", click the "Set Current" button and
then click OK.
The rendered image that you see is shown

with the default lighting as described above
and illustrated in figure 1. We have not yet
added any lights, so this is the next thing to
do.
Adding a Light
Toolbar
Pull-down
View
Keyboard
LIGHT
Render
Light
The first step toward simulating sunlight is to

create a new "Distant Light".
In addition to the saved view, the garden

drawing also has the various render settings
AutoCAD can create 3 different types of

light, namely, Point Light, Spotlight and
Distant Light. It is important to understand
how each of these light types affects the
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final rendered image. A point light radiates
light in all directions from a single point. A
real-world example of this type of light is the
bulb of a ceiling pendant light. A spotlight
creates a conical light that is also directional.
This is similar to a real-world spotlight.
Distant lights differ from both point lights and
spotlights in that their light rays are not
radial, they are parallel.
Why are distant lights used to simulate

sunlight? Well, although light rays from the
Sun are radial, we are so far away from the
Sun that the angle between light rays is very
small by the time they reach the Earth. To all
intents and purposes, they are parallel and
since light rays from distant lights are
parallel, they most closely resemble
sunlight.
So, to create a new distant light, select
View Render Light from the pull-down
menu. When the Lights dialogue box
appears, select "Distant Light" from the
drop-down list and then click the New
button. This will take you to the New Distant
Light dialogue box.
Configuring a Distant Light
The second step to simulating sunlight is to
name the light and to set the shadow
options.
Click in the "Light Name" edit box and type
the name of your new distant light. For the
sake of simplicity, it might be sensible to call
the light "SUN". However, you can call it
anything you like providing that it is eight
characters or less and doesn't include any of
the normal illegal characters such as

spaces, asterisks, slashes and dots. If the
light name you choose is not liked by
AutoCAD, you will see a small error
message in the lower left-hand corner of the
dialogue box saying "Invalid name".
Setting shadow options for a light involves

turning shadows on and then specifying the
shadow type. When you create any light,
you can decide whether it will cast shadows
or not. In some cases it is desirable that
lights do not cast shadows. This ability to
control shadow casting means that you
could build a scene with a number of lights,
some of which cast shadows and some of
which don't. To turn shadows on, click in the
"Shadow On" checkbox (shadows are
turned off by default).
Now you can set the shadow type. Click the
Shadow Options button to display the
Shadow Options dialogue box.
Setting Shadow Options
The AutoCAD renderer can create three
different types of shadows. The default
shadow type is "Shadow Map" and the
alternatives are "Volumetric" and "Ray
Traced". You can see from the illustrations
below that the shadow map and ray traced
shadow types give quite different results.
For most objects, the difference between
Volumetric and Ray Traced shadows is very
small. See All about Shadows for a full
description of these shadow types. The type
of shadow you use is entirely up to you but
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in general, ray traced shadows tend to give
a better result.
In order to set the date and time, you must

specify the date, the time, the time zone and
decide whether you want daylight savings or
not.
Starting at the top of the left-hand column in
the dialogue box, click in the "Date" edit box
and type the date. Note that dates are in the
American format (mm/dd). Next, click in the
"Clock Time" edit box and enter the time.
Note that this is in 24 hour format or military
time. If you wish, you can use the adjacent
slider bars to set the date and time but it is
very difficult to control accurately and is
therefore not recommended.
The Shadow Options dialogue box is used

to specify which shadow type is used when
you render the scene. The default shadow
type is the shadow map.
Click the "Shadow Volumes/Ray Traced
Shadows" check box to change the shadow
type. Your dialogue box should now look like
the one on the right. Click the OK button to
return to the New Distant Light dialogue box.
Using the Sun Angle Calculator
The third step in simulating sunlight is to set
the date and time using the Sun Angle
Calculator. From the New Distant Light
dialogue box, click the Sun Angle
Calculator button to display the Sun
Angle Calculator dialogue box.
Using the drop-down list, select the required

time zone. For example, if your site is in the
UK, select the "GMT/WET" option. Finally,
you need to decide whether you would like
daylight savings to be calculated. This
option will automatically convert GMT
(Greenwich Mean Time) to BST (British
Summer Time). Most likely you will want to
have this option turned on, so click the
"Daylight Savings" checkbox.
You will notice that AutoCAD allows you to
specify the latitude and longitude of your
site. These values must be known in order
for AutoCAD to accurately calculate the
angle of the Sun. In most cases you won't
know these values but fortunately, AutoCAD
can help us to locate our site
Geographically. Click the Geographic
Location button.
Setting the Geographic Location
The fourth step in simulating sunlight is to
specify the geographic location of your site.
The Geographic Location dialogue box
enables you to do this in a number of ways.
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The first thing to do is to specify which

continent your site is in. Use the drop-down
list, centre top of the dialogue box, to select
a continent. Once you have done this, you
have a number of options. You can simply
select the name of a city from the list on the
left. You can also select a city by checking
the "Nearest Big City" option and picking a
point on the map. If your site is not near a
big city, you can deselect this option and
simply pick any point on the map. Obviously
it is very difficult to accurately pick a location
from such a small map but you should be
able to get close enough to generate
realistic shadows.
You have now made all the settings that are
needed to simulate sunlight. Click the OK
button to return to the Sun Angle Calculator
dialogue box. Click the OK button again to
return to the New Distant Light dialogue box,
click OK a third time to return to the Lights
dialogue box and finally, click OK one more
time to complete the specification for your
distant light.
Start the Render command by selecting

View Render Render from the pulldown menu. The Render dialogue box will
appear. First, make sure that the Rendering
Type option is set to "Photo Raytrace". Next,
make sure that "Shadows" is checked in the
Rendering Options section of the dialogue
box. Shadows will not be generated if this
option is not checked, even if shadows are
turned on for your lights.
If you are not using the Garden sample
drawing, you should also check that the
Destination is set to "Viewport". You may
also like to set the render background colour
to white.
This might be a good time to save your

drawing if you haven't already done so.
When you are sure that all settings have

been made correctly (your dialogue box
should look similar to the one illustrated
above), click the Render button. AutoCAD
will take a few seconds to render the scene
(times will vary depending upon the
complexity of the scene and the speed of
your computer).
Rendering the Scene
Modifying Sun Light
Toolbar
Pull-down
View
Keyboard
RENDER
Render
Render
The fifth and final step to simulating sunlight

is to render a view of your drawing in order
to show the effects of light and shadow.
Once you have created your first sunlight

render, you may want to change the time of
day or date of the year in order to
demonstrate the changing effect of sunlight
on your site. You can modify your distant
light settings at any time. To do so, select
View Render Light from the pull-down
menu to go to the Lights dialogue box.
Select your light from the list on the left of
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the dialogue box and click the Modify
button. This will take you to the Modify
Distant Light dialogue box.
Figure 1
Notes:
The "delay 2000" causes a 2 second
delay between subsequent slides.
From here you can modify any of the
settings you made when you first configured
the light. When your changes have been
made, render the scene again and you will
see the results of your modification. You
could use this technique to create images of
your site at hourly intervals during a single
day or at the same time of day at different
times of the year. This will give a good idea
how sunlight will affect your site at different
times,
The "rscript" repeats the script from

beginning.
6. Save the file as "slide_show.scr".
7. In AutoCAD, start a new drawing.
8. In command line enter SCR and then
press Enter. The Select Script File
dialog box appears [Figure 2].
ANIMATION & SLIDESHOW USING

SLIDES AND SCRIPT
1. Open the files will be used in animation
2. Apply Zoom-extents for every drawing.
3. Use MSLIDE to create slides based on
the open drawings. Name the slides S1,
S2, and S3 respectively. Save the slides
in a folder that belongs to AutoCAD file
search path.
4. In command line enter Notepad and then
press Enter twice. The Notepad window
appears.
5. Enter the proper text to create the slide
show [Figure 1].
Figure 2 - Click on image to

enlarge
10. Locate and open "slide_show.scr". The
slide show begins.
11. To exit the slide show press Esc.
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12. Invoke REGEN to remove the current
slide from screen.
HOW TO CREATE
ANIMATIONWALKTHRU
polyline to draw the camera path through the

spaces. Select move, pick the camera-path
line, press , pick anywhere, then type
@0,0,1700. This moves the line up to eye
height (vary this height if you wish).
1. DRAW THE PATH
2.Draw the target path
Create a PATH layer and make it current.
Select move , pick the camera-path line,

press , pick anywhere, then type
@0,0,1500. This moves the line up to just
below eye height (vary this height if you
wish).
1.Draw the Camera Path

In the plan view, use Zoom out, to put
plenty of space around the rooms, then use
At Command line type ANIPATH
8. Click on the Start button on the task bar,

then move the cursor to All programs then
move the cursor to Windows Media Player",
select File - Open set the drive and directory,
select the animation file and select Open.
1.Select the camera path( Path name: Path1)

2. Select the target path (Path name Path 1)
3.Set number of Frames
4.Choose visual style (Wireframe, hidden or
Realistic)
5. Choose file Format (MPG, AVI, or WMV)
6. Click Preview (sit
back and relax while

AutoCAD does its stuff...)
7. Save the File
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RENDERING (For AutoCAD 2004)
SETUP CAMERA (Target Camera)
1.
Set the Shade mode to 2d wireframe.

Command: SHA (enter)
2D )enter)
2.
Set the view to plan view or Topview

at the Menubar click VIEW/ 3dviews/ Topview
3.
command: DVIEW (enter)

select Blocks: select blocks or objects (enter)
specify Target location: .xy (enter)
of
click TP
need Z 1.3 (enter)
specify camera location: .xy (enter)
of
click CP
need z 1.4 (enter)
Enter option [CAmera/TArget/Distance/POints/PAn/Zoom/TWist/CLip/Hide/Off/Undo]:D (enter)
Adjust the distance( using the mouse) left click at drawing area (enter)
SAVE VIEW
Command: DDVIEW (enter)
Click NEW
Enter Name Ex: View 1
Click OK OK
LOAD VIEW
Select view name
Click Set current
Click OK
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MATERIALS
1.Command: RMAT (Enter)
2.Click MATERIALS LIBRARY
3. Choose a Material from the list

4. Click PREVIEW
5. Click IMPORT
6. CLICK OK
7. Click ATTACH
8. Select an object were you want to apply the material (enter)

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AUTOCAD
Then click OK
9. command: rr (enter)
10. Click RENDER
95
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TO MODIFY SCALE AND ROTATION OF BITMAP
1. Right click DRAW or MODIFY Toolbar
2.check RENDER
3.On Render toolbar Click MAPPING Icon
4. Select an object for mapping (Enter)
5. Click Adjust Coordinate
6. Rotation: type the angle of bitmap

7.Click ADJUST BITMAP
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AUTOCAD
8.You may change the scale of Material

The default is U=1 V=1
Higher value will make the material
appearance smaller.
9.Click ok
10. ok
11.. ok
12. command: RR (enter)

13. Click RENDER
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to make a Material transparent or translucent

1.command: RMAT (enter)
2.select a material then Click MODIFY
3. Select TRANSPARENCY
4. Change value range 60-95
5. Click OK OK
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Adding Background
1command: RR (enter)
2.Click BACKGROUND
3. click IMAGE
4. Click FIND FILE
5. Select the drive and folder where the file was saved
6.Select a file
7.Click OPEN
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AUTOCAD
8. Click RENDER
POINTLIGHT
1. command: LIGHT (enter)
2. Select POINT LIGHT
3. Click NEW
4.Enter Light name ex: light1

5.Change Intensity= 2
6.Check Shadow ON
7. Click MODIFY
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8.Click light location
9. Click OK
10. command: rr(enter)

11. At Rendering type: Select PHOTO REAL
12.Check all Rendering Options
Smooth shades,Apply Materials,
Shadows and Render cache
13.Click MORE OPTIONS
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14. Under Anti Aliasing choose HIGH

15.Under FACE CONTROLS
Check Discard back faces
And Back face normal is Negative
16. Under TEXTURE MAP SAMPLING
Choose Mipmap sample
17. Click OK
18. Click Render
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DISTANT LIGHT
1. command: Light (enter)

2. select Distant light
3. click NEW
4. Enter name ex: SUN

5. check Shadow on
6. click shadow option
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7. Check Shadow Volume/Ray Traced Shadow

8. click OK
9. click OK
10. click OK
11. command: RR (enter)
12. Under Rendering Option make sure that shadows are checked.
13. click RENDER
14. At Render Toolbar click Landscape

15. Select 1 from the list ex: sweet gum summer
16. click Preview
17. click Position
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18. click were you want to position the tree

19. click OK
20.Adjust the scale of the tree then Render the scene
105
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RENDERING (For AutoCAD 2006 to 2008)
SETUP CAMERA (Target Camera)
4.
Set the Visual style to 2d wireframe.

Command: SHA (enter)
2D )enter)
5.
Set the view to plan view or Topview

at the Menubar click VIEW/ 3dviews/ Topview
6.
command: CAMERA (enter)

specify camera location: .xy (enter)
of
click CP
need z 1.4 (enter)
specify Target location: .xy (enter)
of
click TP
need Z 1.3 (enter)
(?/name/location/height/target/lens/clipping/view/exit)<exit> V (enter)
Switch to camera view? {yes or no} Y (enter)
SAVE VIEW
Click NEW
Enter Name Ex: View 1
Click OK OK
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LOAD VIEW
Select view name
Set current
Click OK
Assign Materials
1.Command: RMAT (enter)
2.Click CREATE NEW MATERIALS ICON
3.Enter materials Name
Example: Sofa then click ok
4.Under Diffuse map click SELECT to browse for an image to use as a texture map
5.Choose a file then click OPEN
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6. Choose a Template
For Metals- use Realistic Metal
Advance Metal
Metal-Brushed
Metal-Polished
Metal-Flat
Metal
For Tiles- use Ceramic Tile,Glazed
For Fabric- use Fabric
For Glass- use Glass Clear or Translucent
For Mirror- use Mirror
For Walls- use Paint Flat
Paint Gloss
Paint Semi Gloss
Etc..
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7.
To modify the scale and rotation of the bitmap click the icon shown below
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Bitmap Scale U=2 V=2
Rotation= 0
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ASSIGN LIGHT
Point light
1. command: Light (enter)
Enter Light type [Point/ Spot/ Distant] <Point> P (enter)
Specify light Location <0,0,0,> click light location
Command: light (enter)(enter)

Enter light type [Point/Spot/Distant] <Point>: P (enter)
Specify source location <0,0,0>: click light location
Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity/Status/shadoW/Attenuation/Color/eXit]
<eXit>: N (enter)
Enter light name <Pointlight7>: light1 (enter)
<eXit>: I (enter)
Enter intensity (0.00 - max float) <1>: 1 (enter)
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<eXit>: S (enter)
Enter status [oN/oFf] <On>: on (enter)
<eXit>: w (enter)
Enter shadow settings [Off/Sharp/soFt] <Sharp>: S (enter)
<eXit>: X (enter)
2. Render the scene(before rendering, create new material,change color to white and set
the self illumination to 100 then apply the material to the light)
Shadow on
Shadow off
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DISTANT LIGHT
1. Command: light (enter)
Enter light type [Point/Spot/Web/Targetpoint/Freespot/freeweB/Distant]
<Distant>: d (enter)
Specify light direction FROM <0,0,0> or [Vector]: click DF

Specify light direction TO <1,1,1>:click DT
Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity/Status/shadoW/Color/eXit] <eXit>: I
(enter)
Enter intensity (0.00 - max float) <1.0000>: 1 (enter)
Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity/Status/shadoW/Color/eXit] <eXit>: s
(enter)
Enter status [oN/oFf] <On>: on (enter)
Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity/Status/shadoW/Color/eXit] <eXit>: x
(enter)
2. Render the Scene
Command: RR (enter)
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Add Background using Photoshop
114

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AUTOCAD

CAD-Computer Aided Design, also known as Computer

22. AUTOCAD R2008

AutoCAD- is a CAD software application for 2D and

Title Bar - This will show you what program

Main toolbar - This has most of the standard

In order to work effectively with AutoCAD, you have to

THE X,Y COORDINATE SYSTEM

Everything that you draw in AutoCAD is exact. It will

ABSOLUTE CO-ORDINATES - Using this

The three ways of entering co-ordinates shown

.dwt. See Use a Template File to Start a Drawing in

1. Start from Scratch

Displays the Advanced Setup wizard, in which you can

Menubar > File > Save as

QSAVE- The QSAVE command is equivalent to

Draw > Line

ERASE- The command erases(deletes) any selected

Modify > Erase

UNDO- Use to cancel actions youve made.

ZOOM- Increases or decreases the apparent size of

Reset Model space limits: Example you want to change

command: limits (enter)

Zoom Window Z(enter)W(enter)

Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.000,0.000>

Zoom Dynamic Z(enter) D(enter)

Zoom Previous Z(enter) P(enter)

SNAP- This is a drawing mode that allows you to snap

GRID- Pattern of dots displayed on screen to guide you.

How does it work?

ORTHO- Ortho is short for Orthogonal, which

Say, for example, you wanted to draw a horizontal line

command, Draw Line from the pull-down menu or

POLAR- Allows you to snap into angles you choose to

You now need to constrain the line to the horizontal.

Object Snaps (OSNAP)

Now, move your cursor to the right of the first pick

You may select whichever points you want to 'snap' on

COPY- To make a duplicate of selectd object

Pull down menu > Modify > Move

ALIGN- Allows you to enter boundary, text will

SPELL- Corrects the spelling in text objects created

SCALE- The Scale command can be used to

CENTER- Allows you to specify the center of

Pull down menu

Modify .> Scale

ROTATE- The Rotate command allows an object or

TR- Allows you to specify the top right of text

MR- Allows you to specify the middle right of

Pull down menu > Modify > Rotate

Pull down menu > Donut

The Window Polygon option, invoked by typing WP

You can select the last object created by entering L

1. For example, you would like to publish some

standard parts that are commonly used by your

command. Then, create a new library (page, tab).

company. The most practical way to do this is

One of the biggest advantages of storing blocks

button combination and enter the location of

2. If the TOOLPALETTE is not seen on the screen,

command, Tool/Tool Palettes menu command

Library01.dwg file that I explained above into

6. You can change the names and several

window number (1) to window number (2). You