Foreword

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Московский государственный университет приборостроения и информатики

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[НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]

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Книги_AutoCad_2 / AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006 Bible_2004г__.pdf

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09.04.2015

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<<< < Предыдущая 1 2 34 / 1564 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 > Следующая >>>

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Part I: AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics

Quick Start: Drawing a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 1: Starting to Draw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

AutoCAD’s Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Comparing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Starting AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Creating a New Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Using the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The drawing area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The menus and toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Creating a New Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Using the Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Saving a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Closing a Drawing and Exiting from AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Chapter 2: Opening a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	27
Creating a New Drawing from a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	27
Working with Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	29
Customizing the default template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	29
Creating your own templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	29
Opening a Drawing with Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30
Opening an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	30
Using other ways to open drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	31
Using shortcuts in dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	31
Using an Existing Drawing as a Prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	32
Saving a Drawing Under a New Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	32
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	34

xxii Contents

Chapter 3: Using Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

The AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	35
Using menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	35
Using shortcut menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	36
Using dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	37
Using toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	38
Using tool palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	39
The Command Line and Dynamic Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	39
Understanding command names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	40
Responding to commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	41
Command Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	43
Repeating commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	44
Using recent input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	44
Canceling commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	44
Undoing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	45
Redoing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	46
Using one command within another command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	48
Of Mice and Pucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	49
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	50
Getting help on a command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	51
Finding help with Quickstart links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	51
Using the main Help system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	52
Working with Help screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	53
Using the Info palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	53
Getting more help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	54
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	55

Chapter 4: Specifying Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Understanding the X,Y Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Drawing units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Types of measurement notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Typing Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Using the Dynamic Input tooltip to enter coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Absolute Cartesian coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Relative Cartesian coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Polar coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Direct distance entry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Orthogonal mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Polar tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Displaying Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Picking Coordinates on the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Snap settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Object snaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Running object snaps and OSNAP mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Overriding Coordinate Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Locating Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Object snap tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Tracking in AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Point filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 From feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Contents xxiii

Chapter 5: Setting Up a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Choosing Unit Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 95
Setting the drawing units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 96
Setting the angle type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 96
Setting the angle measure and direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 97
Drawing Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 98
Understanding Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 99
Working with scale formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 101
Customizing the scale list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 102
Deciding on a scale and sheet size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 103
Creating a Title Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 104
Specifying Common Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 104
Customizing with the MVSETUP Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 107
Using the Setup Wizards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 107
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 108
Part II: Drawing in Two Dimensions	109
Chapter 6: Drawing Simple Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 111
Using the LINE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 111
Drawing Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 112
Drawing Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 113
Creating Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 116
Creating Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 117
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 118
Chapter 7: Drawing Curves and Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 119
Drawing Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 119
Understanding the circle options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 119
Drawing circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 120
Drawing Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 122
Understanding arc options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 122
Drawing arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 123
Creating Ellipses and Elliptical Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 126
Understanding ellipse options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 126
Drawing ellipses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 127
Making Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 129
Understanding DONUT options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 130
Drawing donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 130
Placing Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 131
Changing the point style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 131
Creating points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 132
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 133

Chapter 8: Viewing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Regenerating and Redrawing the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Using the PAN command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Using the scroll bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

xxiv Contents

Using the ZOOM Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	138
Understanding ZOOM options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	139
Using ZOOM Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	140
Using Aerial View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	143
Saving Named Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	145
Saving a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	145
Displaying a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	147
Using other View control functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	147
Using named views to manage a drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	148
Working with Tiled Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	150
Configuring tiled viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	151
Using tiled viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	153
Saving and restoring viewport configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	153
Using Snap Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	156
Understanding User Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	158
Understanding UCS options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	158
Saving and restoring a custom UCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	159
Controlling the UCS icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	160
Using a custom UCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	161
Creating Isometric Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	163
Understanding isometric planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	163
Drawing in Isometric mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	164
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	167

Chapter 9: Editing Your Drawing: Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Editing a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Understanding object-selection basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Erasing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Moving objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Copying objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Copying and moving objects from one drawing to another . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Rotating objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Scaling objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Using the CHANGE command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Selecting objects after choosing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Cycling through objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Selecting objects before choosing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Implied windowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Customizing the selection process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Chapter 10: Editing Your Drawing: Advanced Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Copying and Moving Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Using the MIRROR command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Using the ARRAY command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Offsetting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Aligning objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Resizing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Trimming objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Extending objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Lengthening objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Stretching objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Contents xxv

Using Construction Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	219
Breaking objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	219
Joining objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	220
Creating chamfered corners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	223
Creating rounded corners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	225
Creating a Revision Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	228
Hiding Objects with a Wipeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	229
Double-Clicking to Edit Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	230
Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	231
Stretching with grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	232
Moving with grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	233
Rotating with grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	234
Scaling with grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	234
Mirroring with grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	235
Customizing grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	237
Editing with the Properties Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	238
Managing the Properties palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	238
Using the Properties palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	239
Selection Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	240
Using Quick Select to select objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	241
Using the FILTER command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	242
Naming and editing filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	245
Using filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	245
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	247
Creating and modifying groups in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	247
Changing a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	248
Creating and modifying groups in AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	249
Using groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	250
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	251

Chapter 11: Organizing Drawings with Layers, Colors,

Linetypes, and Lineweights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Working with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Understanding layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Creating new layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Using layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Modifying layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Changing Object Color, Linetype, and Lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Changing an object’s color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Changing the current color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Changing an object’s linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Changing the current linetype. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Changing an object’s lineweight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Changing the current lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Working with Linetype Scales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Changing linetype spacing by using a different linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Changing linetype spacing by changing the global linetype scale . . . . . . . 283 Changing linetype spacing by changing the object linetype scale . . . . . . . 284 Importing Layers and Linetypes from Other Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Matching Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

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Chapter 12: Obtaining Information from Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Drawing-Level Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	291
Listing the status of your drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	291
Listing system variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	292
Tracking drawing time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	293
Object-Level Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	295
Listing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	295
Calculating distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	296
Finding coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	296
Calculating area and perimeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	298
Getting information from the Properties palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	301
Measurement Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	301
Dividing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	301
Measuring objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	303
AutoCAD’s Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	304
Calculating numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	306
Using coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	307
Using object snaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	308
Using the scientific calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	308
Converting units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	309
Working with QuickCalc variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	310
Using QuickCalc in the Properties palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	311
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	313

Chatper 13: Creating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Creating Single-Line Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	315
Justifying single-line text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	316
Setting the height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	318
Setting the rotation angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	319
Adding special characters and formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	319
Using the TEXT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	322
Editing single-line text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	322
Understanding Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	325
Creating a new text style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	325
Renaming and deleting text styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	327
Modifying a text style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	328
Making a style current or changing a text object’s style . . . . . . . . . . . . .	329
Importing a text style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	329
Creating Multiline Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	330
Using the In-Place Text Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	330
Editing paragraph text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	337
Importing text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	338
Creating Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	340
Inserting a table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	340
Specifying a table style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	341
Entering data into a table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	344
Modifying a table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	345
Inserting Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	349
Creating fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	350
Editing and updating fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	351

Contents xxvii

Managing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	353
Using Quicktext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	353
Using AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	354
Freezing text layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	354
Using MIRRTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	354
Finding Text in Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	357
Checking Your Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	358
Customizing the spelling dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	359
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	361

Chapter 14: Drawing Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Working with Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	363
The elements of a dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	363
Preparing to dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	365
Drawing Linear Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	365
Specifying the dimensioned object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	366
Using dimension options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	368
Drawing Aligned Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	370
Specifying the dimensioned object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	371
Using the options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	371
Creating Baseline and Continued Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	373
Drawing baseline dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	373
Drawing continued dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	374
Dimensioning Arcs and Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	377
Marking arc and circle centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	377
Dimensioning arc lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	377
Creating radial dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	378
Creating diameter dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	379
Dimensioning Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	379
Creating Ordinate Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	383
Drawing Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	385
Using the Leader Settings dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	386
Creating a leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	389
Using Quick Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	391
Editing Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	394
Editing associativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	394
Using the DIMEDIT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	396
Using the DIMTEDIT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	397
Flipping dimension arrows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	398
Editing dimension text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	399
Using the Properties palette to edit dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	399
Using Quick Dimension to edit dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	399
Using grips to edit dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	400
Editing objects and dimensions together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	401
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	403

Chapter 15: Creating Dimension Styles and Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Understanding Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Defining a New Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Managing dimension lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Defining symbols and arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

xxviii Contents

Managing dimension text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	414
Fitting dimensions into tight spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	417
Defining primary units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	422
Defining alternate units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	424
Formatting tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	427
Changing Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	429
Choosing a new current dimension style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	430
Creating a variant of a dimension style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	430
Modifying a dimension to use a new dimension style . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	430
Modifying dimension styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	431
Overriding a dimension style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	431
Updating dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	432
Comparing dimension styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	432
Copying dimension styles from other drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	433
Creating Geometric Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	436
Starting the tolerance frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	437
Inserting the tolerance frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	439
Editing a tolerance frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	439
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	440

Chapter 16: Drawing Complex Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Creating and Editing Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	443
Using the PLINE command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	444
Editing polylines with the PEDIT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	447
Editing polylines using the Properties palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	449
Drawing and Editing Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	450
Creating splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	451
Editing splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	452
Creating Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	455
Creating Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	457
Creating Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	459
Understanding hatch patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	459
Defining a hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	460
Determining the hatch boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	464
Dragging and dropping hatch patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	468
Creating gradient fills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	468
Editing hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	470
Using the SOLID command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	472
Creating and Editing Multilines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	472
Creating a multiline style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	473
Drawing multilines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	477
Editing multilines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	479
Creating Dlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	480
Using the SKETCH Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	481
Digitizing Drawings with the TABLET Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	483
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	485

Chapter 17: Plotting and Printing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Preparing a Drawing for Plotting or Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Doing a draft plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Plotting a drawing from model space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Contents xxix

Creating a Layout in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 488
Entering paper space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 488
Using the Layout Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 489
Laying out a drawing in paper space on your own . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 494
Working with Plot Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 505
Setting the plot-style mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 506
Creating a plot-style table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 507
Attaching a plot-style table to a layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 511
Setting the plot-style property for a layer or object . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 512
Plotting a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 513
Choosing a plotter/printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 514
Previewing your plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 516
Creating the plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 517
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 518
Part III: Working with Data	519
Chapter 18: Working with Blocks and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	521
Combining Objects into Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 522
Understanding base points and insertion points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 522
Creating a block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 523
Redefining a block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 525
Saving blocks as files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 526
Replacing an existing file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 527
Inserting Blocks and Files into Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 528
Using the Insert dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 529
Using the DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 531
Managing Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 535
Working with layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 535
Exploding blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 538
Using the XPLODE command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 539
Editing blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 540
Creating and Using Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 543
Understanding the work flow of dynamic blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 544
Defining a dynamic block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 545
Inserting and modifying dynamic blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 554
Using Windows Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 560
Manipulating objects with the Windows Clipboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 560
Using drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 561
Working with Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 564
Creating attribute definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 564
Inserting blocks with attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 569
Editing attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 570
Extracting a database from attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 577
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 584

Chapter 19: Referencing Other Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Understanding External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Attaching an external reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Opening an xref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Viewing xref relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

xxx Contents

Editing an Xref within Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 Choosing the xref or block to edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 Editing the xref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Controlling Xref Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 Xrefs and dependent symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 Circular references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 Clipping xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 Speeding up the display of large xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Managing Xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 The Xref Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 Xref notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 The xref log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Chapter 20: Working with External Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Understanding External Database Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 607
Preparing for Database Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 609
Installing AutoCAD’s database feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 609
Organizing the database structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 610
Configuring a data source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 611
Connecting to Your Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 615
Connecting a database to a drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 616
Opening a data table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 617
Editing data in the Data View window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 621
Linking Data to Drawing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 622
Creating a link template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 622
Creating a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 624
Creating Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 629
Creating label templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 629
Creating attached labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 631
Creating freestanding labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 631
Querying with the Query Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 632
Using the Quick Query tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 633
Using the Range Query tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 635
Using the Query Builder tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 635
Using the SQL Query tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 637
Creating selection sets with Link Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 639
Working with Query Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 640
Storing queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 640
Importing and exporting queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 641
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 641
Part IV: Drawing in Three Dimensions	643

Chapter 21: Specifying 3D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Working with 3D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 Absolute and relative Cartesian coordinates in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647 Cylindrical and spherical coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Contents xxxi

Using editing commands with 3D wireframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 Using point filters, object snaps, and grips in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 Creating 3D polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 Using Elevation and Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655 Creating surfaces with thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655 Using the HIDE command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 Adding elevation to objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659 Working with the User Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 Using the UCS icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 UCS options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Chapter 22: Viewing 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Working with the Standard Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	673
Using the VPOINT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	673
Looking at a drawing from the standard viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	673
Using DDVPOINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	679
Working with the Tripod and Compass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	682
Displaying a Quick Plan View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	684
Shading Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	685
Using the shading options in AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	686
Using the shading options in AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	686
Using materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	686
Using 3D Orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	688
Starting 3D orbit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	689
Refining your 3D orbit view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	695
Using Tiled Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	700
Defining a Perspective View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	700
Using DVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	701
Understanding the DVIEW options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	702
Laying Out 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	708
Using SOLVIEW to lay out paper space viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	708
Using SOLDRAW to create hidden lines and hatching . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	709
Using SOLPROF to create profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	710
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	712

Chapter 23: Creating 3D Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713

Drawing Surfaces with 3DFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 Using the 3DFACE command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 Making 3D face edges invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715 Drawing Surfaces with PFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 Creating Polygon Meshes with 3DMESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 Drawing Standard 3D Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Wedge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727 Pyramid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 Dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Dish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

xxxii Contents

Torus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732 Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 Drawing a Revolved Surface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 Determining the angle of rotation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 Setting the number of segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 Using the REVSURF command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 Drawing an Extruded Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740 Drawing Ruled Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 Drawing Edge Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

Chapter 24: Creating Solids and Editing in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	749
Drawing Standard Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	749
Drawing a box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	750
Drawing a sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	751
Drawing a cylinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	752
Drawing a cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	753
Drawing a wedge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	754
Drawing a torus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	754
Creating Extruded Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	757
Drawing Revolved Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	760
Creating Complex Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	761
Adding solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	761
Subtracting solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	762
Creating a solid from the intersection of two solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	762
Creating a new solid using INTERFERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	763
Sectioning and Slicing Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	767
Using the SECTION command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	767
Using the SLICE command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	768
Using Editing Commands in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	771
Mirroring in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	771
Arraying in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	773
Rotating in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	777
Aligning in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	779
Trimming and extending in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	781
Filleting in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	784
Chamfering in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	786
Exploding 3D objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	789
Editing Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	789
Editing faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	789
Editing edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	796
Editing bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	797
Listing Solid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	800
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	801

Chapter 25: Rendering in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803

Understanding Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 Learning the steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 Doing a default rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

Contents xxxiii

Creating Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 Assigning color to a light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Setting the north location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Setting the ambient light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Creating a point light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808 Creating a spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 Creating a distant light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Creating shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

Creating Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817 Working with Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818 Adding materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 Attaching materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825 Using Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 Doing the Final Render. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828 Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 Saving rendered images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 Unloading Render . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832

Part V: Organizing and Managing Drawings	833
Chapter 26: Keeping Control of Your Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 835
Accessing Drawing Components with the DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 835
Navigating with the DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 836
Accessing named drawing components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 838
Controlling the DesignCenter display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 840
Accessing Drawing Content with Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 842
Creating a new tool palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 843
Adding content tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 843
Adding command tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 844
Copying a tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 845
Setting tool properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 845
Organizing tool palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 848
Using a tool palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 848
Setting Standards for Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 851
Using the CAD Standards tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 851
Translating layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 858
The Communication Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 861
Renaming named objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 861
Organizing Your Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 862
Archiving drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 862
Finding drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 863
Specifying drawing properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 864
Working with Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 865
Understanding sheet sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 866
Creating a sheet set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 867
Setting up sheet-set references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 871
Using a sheet set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 879

xxxiv Contents

Maintaining Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 Password protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 Digital signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 Keeping Track of Referenced Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886 Handling Errors and Crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 Taking care of temporary files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 Repairing corrupted drawing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 Using backup drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889 Recovering from a crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889 Managing Drawings from Prior Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891

Chapter 27: Working with Other Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893

Importing and Exporting Other File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 Exporting drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894 Importing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Inserting a DXF file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Working with Raster Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 Inserting images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 Managing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Clipping images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 Controlling image display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 Pasting, Linking, and Embedding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 Embedding objects into a drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 Using Paste Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 Linking data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

Chapter 28: Getting on the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

Sending Drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	915
Using eTransmit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	915
Specifying transmittal settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	916
Opening Drawings from the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	918
Using the Browse the Web – Open dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	918
Using i-drop to drag objects into a drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	918
Creating Object Hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	919
Creating a hyperlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	919
Using a hyperlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	921
Editing a hyperlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	921
Publishing Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	922
Understanding DWF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	923
Creating 2D DWF files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	923
Creating 3D DWF files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	928
Using the Publish to Web Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	929
Posting DWF files directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	932
Editing Web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	932
Viewing DWF drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	933
Using DWF Composer and the Markup Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	937
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	939

Contents xxxv

Part VI: Customizing AutoCAD

941

Chapter 29: Customizing Commands, Toolbars, and Tool Palettes . . . . . 943

Working with Customizable Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943 Editing customizable files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945 Backing up customizable files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946 Using the command-line form of commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947 Documenting your files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949

Creating Keyboard Shortcuts for Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949 Creating shortcuts to Windows programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949 Creating keyboard shortcuts to commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 Customizing Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952 Using the Customize User Interface dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952 Removing buttons from an existing toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953 Creating a new toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953 Customizing Tool Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963

Chapter 30: Creating Macros and Slide Shows with Script Files . . . . . . . 965

Creating Macros with Script Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	965
Creating the script file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	965
Running a script file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	967
Creating Slide Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	970
Creating slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	971
Viewing slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	971
Using scripts to create slide shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	972
Creating Slide Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	973
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	974

Chapter 31: Creating Your Own Linetypes and Hatch Patterns. . . . . . . . 975

Creating Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 Creating simple linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 Creating complex linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 Creating Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986

Chapter 32: Creating Shapes and Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	987
Creating Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	987
Using shape files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	988
Creating shape files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	988
Editing shape files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	996
Creating Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	997
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	998

Chapter 33: Customizing Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

Working with the Customization File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 999
Understanding the menu file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	999
Loading and unloading customization files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1000

xxxvi Contents

Customizing a Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003 Looking at a drop-down menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004 Writing menu macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006 Swapping menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007 Customizing mouse buttons and tablet buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008 Customizing drop-down menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011 Customizing image-tile menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 Customizing tablet menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 Working with the Screen menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 Creating keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030

Part VII: Programming AutoCAD

1033

Chapter 34: Understanding AutoLISP and Visual LISP Basics . . . . . . . . 1035

Introducing Visual LISP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036 Opening Visual LISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036 Opening and loading an AutoLISP file with Visual LISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036 Loading an AutoLISP file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 Using an AutoLISP routine in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039 Looking at an AutoLISP routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040 Using the Visual LISP interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041 Closing a file and Visual LISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042

Getting Help in Visual LISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043 Working with AutoLISP Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044 Understanding AutoLISP syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044 Working with numbers and text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 Using AutoLISP on the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047 Creating AutoLISP Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050

Chapter 35: Exploring AutoLISP Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1051
Creating Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1051
Working with AutoCAD Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1052
Accessing AutoCAD commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1052
Creating functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1053
Creating functions with arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1056
Working with system variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1057
Working with Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1059
Using lists for coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1059
Creating dotted pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1060
Setting Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1060
Conditional structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1060
Loop structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1062
Managing Drawing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1065
Getting information about an object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1065
Modifying objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1067
Creating selection sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1067

Contents xxxvii

Getting Input from the User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 Putting on the Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075

Chapter 36: Exploring Advanced AutoLISP Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077

Understanding Local and Global Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. . 1077
Working with Visual LISP ActiveX Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1079
Reviewing AutoLISP retrieval and modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1079
Using ActiveX with Visual LISP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1083
Debugging Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1086
Using the Error Trace window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1088
Working with break points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1088
Using the Watch window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1091
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1093
Chapter 37: Programming with Visual Basic for Applications. . . . . . . .	1095
Starting to Work with VBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1095
Opening the VBA environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1096
Getting acquainted with VBA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1097
Investigating the hierarchy model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1098
Accessing help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1100
Writing VBA Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1101
Looking at VBA syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1103
Saving a VBA routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1104
Loading a VBA routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1105
Running a VBA routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1105
Using the Visual Basic Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1105
Understanding variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1107
Creating VBA statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1109
Getting User Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1110
Creating Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1112
Understanding the Toolbox toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1113
Changing dialog-box properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1114
Adding dialog-box controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1115
Modifying Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1120
Using constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1120
Using functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1120
Debugging and Trapping Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1122
Moving to Advanced Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1123
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1123
A Final Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1123
Part VIII: Appendixes	1125

Appendix A: Installing and Configuring AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . 1127

Installing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127 Preparing to install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127 Starting installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128

xxxviii Contents

Changing an installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131 Authorizing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131 Configuring and Using Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132 Creating and modifying a workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132 Switching between workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133 Configuring AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133 Customizing the status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133 Configuring options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133 Starting AutoCAD Your Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146 Using command-line switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146 Understanding configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147 Creating multiple configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149 Configuring a Plotter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149 Using the Plotter Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150 Editing a plotter configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150

Appendix B: AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153

Discovering AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. 1153
Using AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Help resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1153
Learning from your dealer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1153
Taking a course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1154
Learning from other users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1154
Reading the magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1154
Accessing Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1154
Autodesk User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1155
Internet Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1156
Appendix C: What’s on the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1159
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1159
Using the CD-ROM with Microsoft Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1160
What’s on the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1160
Using the Drawings folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1160
Using the Results folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1161
Using the Links folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1161
Using the Software folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1161
Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1163
Using the eBook version of AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006 Bible . . .	1166
Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	1166

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167

AutoCAD and

AutoCAD LT Basics

The six chapters in Part I provide all of the basics that you need to know to start drawing in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. These chapters

are essential for the beginner, but even current users can find some new tips and pointers especially related to features that are new to AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006.

The Quick Start chapter is a beginner’s tutorial to get you up and running immediately. You’ll draw a window and have the opportunity to use many of the 2D features of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. This tutorial will provide a firm basis for the knowledge in the rest of this book.

Chapter 1 introduces you to AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT and surveys the main screen, including the menus, toolbars, command line, and status bar. You’ll learn how to launch the program, save a drawing, close a drawing, and exit the program. Chapter 2 explains how to create and open drawings. Chapter 3 covers the many ways to use commands, while Chapter 4 discusses how to specify coordinates. Chapter 5 ends up Part I with an explanation of how to set up a drawing.

If you feel that you know enough to skip to Part II, skim this part for New Feature icons to find out about the latest developments in AutoCAD.

P A R T

In This Part

Quick Start

Drawing a Window

Chapter 1

Starting to Draw

Chapter 2

Opening a Drawing

Chapter 3

Using Commands

Chapter 4

Specifying Coordinates

Chapter 5

Setting Up a Drawing

Quick Start:

Drawing a Window

	earning AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT is a bit like trying to decide
	Lwhich came first — the chicken or the egg. On one hand, you
	need to know the basics before you can start drawing. On the other
	hand, understanding the basics can be very difficult if you haven’t
	had the experience of drawing something. In this Quick Start chapter,
	you resolve this problem by drawing, dimensioning, and printing a
	simple window in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.
	This Quick Start chapter is meant for beginners. You’ll get the feel of
	AutoCAD’s precision drawing tools and experience how to build a
	drawing. The AutoCAD interface, including the toolbars and menus, is
	very customizable. Note that the instructions for the exercise in this
	chapter assume that no one has made major changes to the default
	settings in AutoCAD.
	Chapters 1 through 5 fill you in on basic information that you need to
	move on to drawings that are more complex. By experiencing the
	drawing process first, you will find the initial learning curve to be
	easier and smoother.
Tip	Don’t worry if you don’t immediately understand everything you’re
	doing. It all becomes clear as you progress through this book. If you
	haven’t read the Preface, now is a good time to go back and read
	the part that explains how to follow the exercises. When you type
	the X and Y coordinates (shown in bold), type the first number, a
	comma, and then the second number, with no spaces between
	them. The symbol means to press Enter on your keyboard.

1.Start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

You see the new drawing. (If you are prompted for a template, skip to Step 2, third sentence.)

2.Choose File New. The Select Template dialog box opens. Navigate to the Drawings folder of the CD-ROM of this book, choose abqs-a.dwt, and click Open. You see a blank drawing. (I explain more about templates and opening drawings in Chapter 2.)

3.To save the drawing and give it a name, click Save on

the Standard toolbar or choose File Save. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, use the Save In drop-down list to navigate to any convenient folder, such as the My Documents folder. Type abqs-01 in the File Name text box and click Save. (I go into more detail about saving a drawing in Chapter 1.)

QSC H A P T E R

4	Part I AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics

Note In Chapter 1, I provide instructions for creating a special AutoCAD Bible folder for all the exercises in this book. If you want to create this folder now, do so and save the drawing in that folder.

4.From the Layer Control drop-down list on the Layers toolbar, as shown in Figure QS-1, click the down arrow and choose WINDOW. (Layers allow you to organize your drawing; I cover them in detail in Chapter 11.) Anything you draw will now be on the WINDOW layer.

Figure QS-1: Choose the WINDOW layer from the list of layers.

5.With your left mouse button (also called the pick button), choose Rectangle from the Draw toolbar on the left side of your screen. Figure QS-2 shows this toolbar.

(Using toolbars is only one way to give AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT commands. I explain other ways in Chapter 3. You can find more about drawing lines and rectangles in Chapter 6.) Move your mouse so that the cursor is in the main drawing area. Your screen should look like Figure QS-2. (If you don’t see the tooltip bar — also called the Dynamic Input tooltip — near the cursor, then click the DYN button on the Status bar at the bottom of your screen.)

6.Follow these prompts to draw a rectangle that is 3'8" wide and 6'8" high:

Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: 0,0

Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: 3’8”,6’8”

Note	You see the full prompt shown here in the Command window at the bottom of your screen.
	You see an abbreviated version of the same prompt in the Dynamic Input tooltip that
	appears near the mouse cursor.

Notice that the text that you type in appears next to the cursor in the Dynamic Input tooltip. When you press Enter, the text that you typed is echoed on the command line at the bottom of the screen.

7.To create a second rectangle inside the first one, choose Offset from the Modify toolbar (which is at the right of your screen, by default), following these prompts:

Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <Through>: 4 Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: Click the rectangle’s border to select it.

Specify point on side to offset or [Exit/Multiple/Undo] <Exit>: Click anywhere inside the rectangle.

Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>:

Quick Start: Drawing a Window

Figure QS-2: Drawing a rectangle.

8.You can draw from geometric points on objects such as endpoints and midpoints.

(I explain how to specify coordinate points in Chapter 4.) To draw a line between the midpoints of the inner rectangle, choose Line from the Draw toolbar and follow these prompts:

Specify first point: Press and hold the Shift key and right-click. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Midpoint. Then click the left side of the inner rectangle, near the midpoint.

Specify next point or [Undo]: Press and hold the Shift key and rightclick. From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Midpoint. Then click

the right side of the inner rectangle, near the midpoint.

Specify next point or [Undo]:

Your drawing should now look like Figure QS-3. (Your window should be green.)

9.You will now draw a temporary construction line to help you find a starting point

for the pane in the top of the window. From the Draw toolbar, choose Line. Follow these prompts:

Specify first point: Press Shift and right-click. Choose Endpoint from the shortcut menu. Pick the left endpoint of the last line you drew.

Specify next point or [Undo]: 4,4 . (This notation specifies that the endpoint of the line is 4 units above and to the right of the first point. Chapter 4 explains more about specifying coordinates in this manner.)

Specify next point or [Undo]: .

6	Part I AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics

Figure QS-3: The beginning of a window.

10. Again, choose Rectangle from the Draw toolbar. Follow these prompts:

Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: Press Shift and rightclick. Choose Endpoint and pick the final endpoint of the diagonal line you just drew.

Specify other corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: 2’4”,2’4” .

11.Choose Erase from the Modify toolbar. At the Select objects: prompt, click the

short, diagonal construction line that you drew in Step 9. The Select objects: prompt appears again. Press Enter to end the command. (Chapter 9 explains the ERASE command as well as other simple editing commands.)

12.Click the ORTHO button on the status bar at the bottom of the drawing area if it is not already selected (indented). The ORTHO feature constrains drawing to right angles — either horizontal or vertical. (You can find more about ORTHO in Chapter 4.)

13.To finish the bottom of the window, choose Line from the Draw toolbar. Follow these prompts:

	Specify first point: 8”,3’4”
	Specify next point or [Undo]: Move the mouse cursor down from the
	start point of the line. You see a temporary drag line. Then type the
	following length of the line. 2’8-7/16
Note	You can see what you type in the Dynamic Input tooltip as you are typing. Therefore, you can
	check that you’ve typed the right numbers before you press Enter.
	Specify next point or [Undo]: Move the cursor horizontally to the
	right and type 28 .
	Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: Now try entering the distance
	using decimal notation, instead of feet and inches. Move the cursor
	up and type 32.4375
	Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: .

Quick Start: Drawing a Window

14.To draw shutters, first change the layer. Click the Layer Control drop-down list on the Layers toolbar, and choose EXWALL.

15. Choose Line from the Draw toolbar. Follow the prompts:

Specify first point: Press Shift and right-click. Choose Endpoint from the shortcut menu. Click the upper-left corner of the window.

Specify next point or [Undo]: Move the cursor to the left. Type 1’6”

Specify next point or [Undo]: Move the cursor down. Type 6’8” Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: Type #0,0 (The pound sign

ensures that your line goes to 0,0 no matter where you are.) Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

16.To draw the opposite shutter, you’ll mirror the first shutter that you just drew. (I cover the MIRROR command and many other editing commands in Chapter 10.)

Choose Mirror from the Modify toolbar and follow these prompts:

Select objects: Click the three lines that make up the shutter.

Select objects:

Specify first point of mirror line: Press Shift and right-click. Choose Midpoint from the shortcut menu.

Pick the top horizontal line of the window.

Specify second point of mirror line: (The ORTHO button should still be indented. If it isn’t, click it.) Move the cursor downward and pick any point.

Erase source objects? [Yes/No] <N>:

Your window is now complete and should look like Figure QS-4.

Figure QS-4: The completed window.

17.To add a dimension to the bottom of the window, you should first change the layer. From the Layer Control drop-down list on the Layers toolbar, choose DIMENSION. (Chapters 14 and 15 explain how to create and format all types of dimensions.)

8	Part I AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics

18.To place the dimension, choose Dimension Linear. Follow the prompts.

Specify first extension line origin or <select object>: (Pressing Enter lets you select an object to dimension.)

Select object to dimension: Pick the bottom horizontal line of the window (the bottom of the rectangle).

Specify dimension line location or [Mtext/Text/Angle/Horizontal/Vertical/Rotated]:

Move the cursor down until the dimension is nicely spaced below the window. Click to place the dimension line.

Note If you don’t have enough room to place the dimension below the window, click the down arrow of the vertical scrollbar as necessary. I explain additional techniques for changing the view of your drawing in Chapter 8.

19.Click Save on the Standard toolbar to save your work.

20.To prepare for printing, click the Layout tab, A Title Block-Landscape. You see the window inside a title block and border, as shown in Figure QS-5. This title block and border comes with the template to help you easily prepare the drawing for printing. (Chapter 17 explains how to lay out and print/plot a drawing.)

Title border

Page border

Viewport border

Layout tab

Title block

Figure QS-5: The window with a title block as it appears on the Layout tab.

Quick Start: Drawing a Window

21.To set the scale for printing, click the magenta viewport border (labeled in Figure QS-5). Choose Tools Properties. In the Properties palette, click the Standard Scale item.

(To see this item, you may have to scroll down in the Properties palette or enlarge it by dragging on its bottom edge.) Click the down arrow that appears to the right of this item and choose 1"=1'-0". Click the Close button at the top of the Properties palette.

(I explain more about scales in Chapter 5.)

22.If the window and its dimension are not centered in the viewport window, double-click inside the viewport border. Then choose View Pan Realtime. Click and drag as necessary to center the window in the viewport. Press Esc to exit Pan mode. Double-click outside the viewport border to return to the layout.

23.To add some text to the title block, you need to zoom in. (I explain zooming in more detail in Chapter 8.) Choose View Zoom Window. Follow the prompts:

Specify first corner: Click slightly above and to the left of the words Project Name.

Specify opposite corner: Click slightly below and to the right of the words City ST ZIP.

These words should now appear very large in the drawing area. They are already placed and formatted, so all you need to do is replace them. (I explain all about how to create and edit text in Chapter 13.)

24.Double-click the Project name text. The Text Formatting toolbar opens, along with a ruler, as shown in Figure QS-6.

Figure QS-6: Editing text for a drawing.

25.Select the text by dragging from the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner. Type the following:

Double-hung window 2010 Coral Lane Fairfield, IA 12345

Click OK on the Text Formatting toolbar to close the toolbar.

10	Part I AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics

26. To return to your previous view, choose Zoom Previous on the Standard toolbar.

27. Click Save on the Standard toolbar to save your drawing.

28.You’re ready to print your drawing! Depending on your setup, either you can print directly to your printer or, if you have a plotter available, you can use that. (The

layout is set up to fit on an 81⁄2-x-11-inch or A-size paper.) Choose Plot on the Standard toolbar. The Plot dialog box opens. (I cover printing and plotting in Chapter 17. Appendix A explains how to configure a printer or plotter.)

29.In the Printer/plotter section of the Plot dialog box, choose the printer or plotter that you want to use from the Name drop-down list.

30.Click the Preview button to open the preview window. You should see the window and its title block laid out as shown in Figure QS-7.

Figure QS-7: Viewing the window in Preview mode.

Note If things don’t seem right, click the Close Preview Window button and review the previous steps to see if you can find the problem. Also, see the sidebar, “Help! My Drawing Doesn’t Look Like the Figure.”

31.Make sure your printer or plotter has an 81⁄2-x-11-inch or A-size sheet of paper, and click the Plot button on the Preview window’s toolbar. Congratulations!

You’ve just created and printed your first drawing!

32.Click the Close button at the upper-right corner of the AutoCAD application window to close both AutoCAD and the drawing.

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