CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO AUTOCAD (24/02/2015)

BY: NUR SYAHIDA MOHD ARIF

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
a. TO FAMILIARIZE WITH OVERALL AUTOCAD INTERFACE
b. TO RECOGNIZE THE SHORTCUT COMMAND FOR AUTOCAD
c. TO EXPERIMENT WITH AUTOCAD COMMAND

AUTOCAD IS A USEFUL SOFTWARE THAT HAD BEEN USED WIDELY IN THE INDUSTRY. IT GIVES
DESIGNER, ENGINEER, ARCHITECT AND SUCH A NEW MEDIUM TO PRESENT THEIR 2D AND 3D
WORKING DRAWING.

TO START WITH AUTOCAD, FIRST GO TO YOUR DESKTOP AUTOCAD 2013

UNDER THE
DRAFTING AND
ANNOTATION
SETTING, PULL
DOWN THE MENU
AND SELECT
AUTOCAD CLASSIC.

You can also change the setting using

the menu below

Figure 1: AutoCAD user interface

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 AutoCAD classic: The ribbon interface

Figure 2: AutoCAD classic user interface

Application menu

Quick access Tab Layer toolbar Info centre

toolbar

Object property
toolbar

Drawing area
Draw toolbar Modify toolbar

Origin/UCS
icon Command pallet Status bar

Figure 3: AutoCAD classic introduction menu

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USING THE MOUSE

MOST PEOPLE USE A MOUSE AS THEIR POINTING DEVICE. ON A TWO-BUTTON MOUSE, THE LEFT BUTTON IS
USUALLY THE PICK BUTTON, USED TO SPECIFY POINTS OR SELECT OBJECTS IN THE DRAWING AREA. WITH THE
RIGHT BUTTON, YOU CAN DISPLAY A SHORTCUT MENU THAT CONTAINS RELEVANT COMMANDS AND OPTIONS.
DIFFERENT SHORTCUT MENUS ARE DISPLAYED DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU MOVE THE CURSOR.

Display a shortcut menu

Specify points or select object

Rotate to zoom or press to pan

Figure 3: Using the mouse in AutoCAD

You can choose commands from several different kinds of menus:

Menu Browser access is from the bright red button at the top-left corner of the application window.

The Object Snap menu is displayed when you hold down SHIFT and click the right mouse button.
Object snaps facilitate precision drawing by snapping the cursor onto a feature on an object such as
the endpoint of a line or the center of a circle.

Shortcut menus are displayed when you click the right mouse button. Different menus are displayed
when you right-click an object, right-click in the drawing area, right-click a toolbar, or right-click
within a dialog box, palette, or window

You can initiate commands by typing them on the command line within the command window
instead of using toolbars or menus. Additionally, some commands must be completed on the
command line, regardless of how they are started

Command window

Command line

Figure 4: Auto CAD command box

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 Construction line
Elipse arch Gradient
Polyline Block
Rev cloud
Polygon Region
Spline Insert
Rectangle

Arch Circle Eclipse Hatch Mtext

Copy Offset Move Scale Trim

Rotate Extend Fillet

Eraser Mirror Array Stretch

Figure 5: Drawing and modified toolbar

plot
save /open Undo tools Zoom/pan tools

A RIGHT CLICK WILL CONVERT THE

ICON BUTTON INTO THE
TRADITIONAL TEXT

Figure 6: Snap toggle button

How to create new drawing in AutoCAD

1) DESKTOP AUTOCAD 2013 (DOUBLE CLICK TO OPEN)

IF THE FEATURE DIALOGUE APPEAR, THEN

CHOOSE LATER OR OKAY.

2) SCROLL DOWN THE NEW MENU AND CLICK

NEW

Figure 6: AutoCAD feature Figure 7: Opening a new drawing

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 4. IN THE SELECT
TEMPLATE DIALOG
BOX, SELECT
ACAD.DWT.

5. CLICK OPEN TO OPEN

THE ACAD.DWT
TEMPLATE.

Figure 8: Selecting drawing templates

HOW TO SET THE DFRAWING UNIT AND SCALE

1) CLICK DRAWING ULTILITIES UNITS

CHANGE THE UNIT

TO MILIMETERS

Figure 10: Drawing units pull down menu

2) AFTER YOU HAD CHANGE THE DECIMAL POINTS TO
0.0 AND UNIT TO MILIMMETER CLICK OK.

Figure 9: Drawing utilities

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YOU CAN ALSO CHANGE THE DRAWING UNIT BY ACCESSING THE MENU TOOLBAR
FORMAT UNIT

Figure 11: Drawing units pull down menu

Figure 12: Drawing shortcut

LEARNING AUTOCAD SHORTCUT KEY COMMAND WILL GIVE YOU THE ADVANTAGES IN DEALING WITH TIME
CONSTRAINING PROJECT