AutoCAD

Prepared by:
Engr. M. B. Querubin
 The graphics screen
Figure 1 displays the basic AutoCAD 2006 graphics screen. Your
screen may differ
slightly, but the general layout will be the same. The numbered items
are:
• 1 The AutoCAD title bar 13 The on-screen cursor
• 2 The graphic screen menu bar 14 The Drawing area
• 3 The Standard toolbar 15 Scroll bars at right and bottom
of
• 4 The Layer information toolbar drawing area
• 5 The Properties toolbar 16 The Object Snap toolbar
(floating)
• 6 The Text Styles toolbar 17 The Sheet Set Manager
palette
• 7 The standard ‘windows buttons’ 18 The Tool palette
• 8 The Windows taskbar 19 The Workspaces toolbar
(floating)
• 9 The Status bar 20 The Draw toolbar (docked)
 Title bar

• The title bar is positioned at the top

of the screen and displays the
AutoCAD 2006 icon, the AutoCAD
Release version and the current
drawing name.
 Menu bar
1 The screen menu bar displays the
default
AutoCAD menu headings. By moving the
mouse
into the menu bar area, the cursor cross
hairs
change to a pick arrow and with a left-
click on any
heading, the relevant ‘pull-down’ menu
will be
 Menu bar notes:

a) Pull-down menu items with after their name

result in a
dialogue box being displayed when the item is
selected, i.e.
left-clicked.
b) Pull-down menu items with after their name
result in a
further menu being displayed when the item is
selected. This
is termed a cascade menu effect.
c) Menu items in BOLD type are available for
selection.
d) Menu items in GREY type are not available for
 The Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar is normally positioned below
the screen
menu bar and allows the user access to several
button icon
selections including New, Open, Save, Print, etc.
By moving the cursor pick arrow onto an icon and
‘leaving it
for about a second’, the icon name will be
displayed in yellow
(default).
The Standard toolbar can be positioned anywhere
on the
screen or ‘turned off’ if required by the user. It is
 Layer, Properties and Styles
toolbars
These are normally positioned below and
to the
side of the Standard toolbar. Icon
selections are:
c) Layers: Layer Properties Manager,
Layer Control,
Make Object’s Layer Current, Layer
Previous.
b) Properties: Color Control, Linetype
Control,
 The Windows buttons
The Windows buttons are positioned at
the right
of the title bar, and are:
a) left button: minimise screen
b) centre button: maximise screen
c) right button: close current
application.
 The Windows taskbar
This is situated at the bottom of the screen
and displays:
a) the Windows ‘Start button’ and icon
b) the name of any application which has
been opened,
e.g. AutoCAD
c) the time and the sound control icons
d) other icons/information dependant on user
requirements.
2 By left-clicking on ‘Start’, the user has
access to the
other Programs which can be run
 The Status bar
Positioned above the Windows taskbar,
the
status bar gives the user:
c) on-screen cursor X, Y and Z co-
ordinates
information at the left
b) access to the drawing aid buttons,
e.g. SNAP,
GRID, ORTHO, POLAR, OSNAP,
OTRACK, DYN, LWT
 Layout tabs
Allows the user to ‘toggle’ between
model and
paper space for drawing layouts.
Command prompt window area
1 The command prompt area is where
the user
‘communicates’ with AutoCAD 2006 to
enter:
a) a command, e.g. LINE, COPY, ARRAY
b) co-ordinate data, e.g. 120,150;
 Command prompt window
area(cont)
2 The command prompt area is also used by
AutoCAD to supply the user with information,
which could be:
a) a prompt, e.g. Specify first point
b) a message, e.g. object does not
intersect an edge.
3 The command area can be increased in size
by
‘dragging’ the bottom edge of the drawing
area upwards.
A 2 or 3 line command area display is
The co-ordinate system icon
This is the X–Y icon at the lower left
corner of
the drawing area. This icon gives
information
about the co-ordinate system in use.
The default
setting is the traditional Cartesian
system with
the origin (0,0) at the lower left corner
of the
 The cursor cross-hairs
Used to indicate the on-screen
position, and
movement of the pointing device will
result in
the co-ordinates in the status bar
changing. The
‘size’ of the on-screen cursor can be
increased or
decreased to suit user preference and
 The drawing area
This is the user’s drawing sheet and
can be any
size required. In general we will use
A3-sized paper, but will also
investigate very
large and very small drawing paper
sizes.
 Toolbars
By default, AutoCAD 2006 displays the
Draw and
Modify toolbars although users may
have them
positioned differently from that shown
in
Figure1.
Other toolbars may also be displayed,
and
 Tool palettes
AutoCAD 2006 displays the Sheet Set
Manager
and all palettes by default. The user’s
screen may not display any tool
palettes.
Palettes can be cancelled, minimised
or
repositioned by the user at any time.
 The Grips/Pickfirst box
The user may have a small square box
‘attached’
to the cursor cross-hairs. This box may
be the
Grips and/or the Pickfirst box, both
aids to the
user.