What is AutoCAD?

A software drafting tool

Particularly useful for

• Mechanical drawings

• Architectural drawings

AutoCAD

Where to find help?

• AutoCAD Help Topics - Contents/Index/Find

• Quick Tour - Introduction/drawing

• Learning Assistance - multimedia training

User Interface

• Toolbars - press buttons

- Standard toolbar

- Object Properties toolbar

- Draw toolbar

- Modify toolbar

• Menus - click on menu

• Command - type in commands

Line Types

Center lines- for circles

Solid lines- for lines that are visible

Hidden lines (dashed lines)

- for lines that are not visible

Grid & Snap

• A simple grid of points is displayed in the drawing window.

• The grid is for visual reference only.

• To lock the points you select in the drawing window to a specific location, you use snap.

Drawing Aids

• Change the grid & snap spacing in the drawing aids menu

• Typically, select the snap spacing which is half the grid spacing

Draw Menu

• Polyline

• Polygon

• Arc• Spline

Draw Submenus

• Arc MenuSelect the input order of parameters

• Circle Menu

• Text Menu

Coordinate Entry - Cartesian

• Absolute Cartesian Coordinate Input– Input the X and Y values of the point you want

to place in the drawing window– All points are measured form the origin 0,0

At the command prompt, enter X,Y

• Relative Cartesian Coordinate Input– A relative coordinate is entered as the X and Y

distance from the last point you specified

At the command prompt, enter @X,Y

Coordinate Entry - Polar• Absolute Polar Coordinate Input

– Enter the distance and the angle of the point from the origin 0,0

At the command prompt, enter Distance<Angle

e.g. 6.5<45

• Relative Polar Coordinate Input– A relative distance and angle from the last point

specified

At the command prompt, enter @Dist.<Angle

e.g. @8<135

Using Object Snaps

• Object snaps are used to locate an exact position on an object without the need to know its absolute coordinates.

• You can access object snaps from– Object Snap toolbar / Object Snap button

– Cursor menu (SHIFT + right-click)

Endpoint & Midpoint Osnaps

• Endpoint snaps to the closest endpoint of a line, arc, polyline segment, closest corner of a solid, etc.

• Midpoint snaps to the midpoint of a line, arc, polyline segment, spline, solid, etc.

Center and Quadrant Osnaps• Center snaps to the

center of an arc, circle, ellipse, etc.

• Quadrant snaps to quadrant point of an arc, circle, ellipse, etc.

• The quadrant points are the absolute 0,90 180, 270 degree locations.

Object Snap Settings

Single and multiple running osnaps are set by checking the checkboxes next to the appropriate object snaps

Using Layers

• Layers provides a rather convenient way to manage objects in the drawing

e.g. use a layer for internal walls, another layer for furniture.

Layer Properties

• Attributes that can be set to each layers:

On/Off Freeze/Thaw Lock/Unlock• A color & a linetype can be assigned to each layer

as default.

Line Type Properties

• Get more line types by pressing the Load button