AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT The book you need to succeed! DVD Included! Ellen Finkelstein. Start drawing today with Quick Start tutorial

Transcription

1 DVD Included! Trial versions of AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011 Drawings for the exercises, add-on programs, and more Ellen Finkelstein AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD LT 2011 Start drawing today with Quick Start tutorial Learn extensive 2D and 3D technical drawing skills Customize and program AutoCAD The book you need to succeed!

2

3 AutoCAD AutoCAD LT 2011 & 2011 Bible

4

5 AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD LT 2011 Bible Ellen Finkelstein

6 AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD LT 2011 Bible Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: Manufactured in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) , fax (978) Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, , fax , or online at LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) , outside the U.S. at (317) or fax (317) Library of Congress Control Number: Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

7 To MMY, for teaching me that there s more to life than meets the eye and that the deeper levels of life are the most intelligent, powerful, and blissful.

8 About the Author Ellen Finkelstein learned AutoCAD in Israel, where she always got to pore over the manual because it was in English. After returning to the United States, she started consulting and teaching AutoCAD as well as other computer programs, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. She has also taught courses on Web writing and usability. Her Web site, contains tips and techniques for AutoCAD, PowerPoint, and presenting, and she publishes the AutoCAD Tips Blog and the AutoCAD Tips Newsletter. Ellen has written extensively on AutoCAD, including articles for Autodesk s Web site and features for AutoCAD s Help system. Ellen s first book was AutoCAD For Dummies Quick Reference. Since then, she has written books on PowerPoint, OpenOffice.org (OpenOffice.org For Dummies), Flash (such as Flash CS4 For Dummies), and Web technologies (Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds For Dummies). You re holding the eleventh edition (wow!) of this book, which previously appeared for AutoCAD releases 14, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and vi

9 Contents Credits Senior Acquisitions Editor Stephanie McComb Project Editor Jade L. Williams Technical Editors Lee Ambrosius Richard Donald Gladfelter III Copy Editor Marylouise Wiack Editorial Director Robyn Siesky Business Manager Amy Knies Senior Marketing Manager Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Project Coordinator Kristie Rees Graphics and Production Specialists Andrea Hornberger Ronald G. Terry Quality Control Technician Melissa Cossell Proofreading Shannon Ramsey Indexing BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Media Development Project Manager Laura Moss Media Development Assistant Project Manager Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producer Marilyn Hummel Vice President and Executive Publisher Barry Pruett vii

10

11 Table of Contents About the Author...vi Part I: AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics 1 Quick Start: Drawing a Window Summary...13 Chapter 1: Starting to Draw AutoCAD s Advantages...15 Comparing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT...16 Starting AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT...17 Creating a New Drawing...17 Using the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface...18 The drawing area...18 The UCS icon...20 The crosshairs...20 The Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar...20 Using the Application menu...21 The command line and dynamic input tooltip...22 The status bar...23 Creating a New Folder...23 Using the Interface...24 Saving a Drawing...26 Closing a Drawing and Exiting from AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT...28 Summary...28 Chapter 2: Opening a Drawing Creating a New Drawing from a Template...31 Working with Templates...33 Customizing the default template...34 Creating your own templates...34 Creating a Drawing with Default Settings...35 Opening an Existing Drawing...35 Using other ways to open drawings...36 Switching among open drawings...36 ix

12 Contents x Saving a Drawing under a New Name...38 Summary...38 Chapter 3: Using Commands The AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface...39 Using the Ribbon...40 Using menus...41 Using shortcut menus...41 Using dialog boxes...42 Using the Quick Access Toolbar...42 Using palettes...42 Tool palettes...42 The Command Line and Dynamic Input...43 Using Dynamic Input...44 Understanding command names...44 Responding to commands...46 Command Techniques...48 Repeating commands...48 Using recent input...48 Canceling commands...49 Undoing a command...49 Redoing a command...51 Using one command within another command...52 Of Mice and Pucks...52 Getting Help...53 Getting help on a command...53 Finding help with Quick start links...54 Using the main Help system...54 The Help content...55 The Index...55 The Search feature...55 Working with Help pages...56 Using the InfoCenter...56 Search Help...56 The Subscription Center...57 The Communication Center...57 Favorites...57 Summary...58 Chapter 4: Specifying Coordinates Understanding the X,Y Coordinate System...59 Drawing units...60 Typing Coordinates...60 Using the Dynamic Input tooltip to enter coordinates...61 Typing coordinates in the Dynamic Input tooltip...61 Specifying Dynamic Input settings...61 Overriding Dynamic Input settings...64

13 Contents Absolute Cartesian coordinates...65 Relative Cartesian coordinates...66 Polar coordinates...67 Direct distance entry...69 Orthogonal mode...70 Polar tracking...70 Setting polar tracking angles...71 Using polar tracking...72 Displaying Coordinates...73 Picking Coordinates on the Screen...75 Using Snap settings...75 Snapping to a grid...75 Snapping at polar angles...76 Viewing with the grid...77 Using Object snaps...80 Running object snaps and Object Snap mode...84 Overriding Coordinate Settings...85 Locating Points...88 Object snap tracking...88 Using the temporary tracking feature...92 Point filters...92 From feature...93 Summary...95 Chapter 5: Setting Up a Drawing Choosing Unit Types...97 Setting the drawing units...98 Setting the angle type...98 Setting the angle measure and direction Drawing Limits Understanding Scales Working with scale formats Using annotative scales Customizing the scale list Deciding on a scale and sheet size Creating a Titleblock Specifying Common Setup Options Customizing with the MVSETUP Command and Setup Wizards Summary Part II: Drawing in Two Dimensions 113 Chapter 6: Drawing Simple Lines Using the LINE Command Drawing Rectangles xi

14 Contents xii Drawing Polygons Creating Construction Lines Creating Rays Summary Chapter 7: Drawing Curves and Points Drawing Circles Understanding the circle options Drawing circles Drawing Arcs Understanding arc options Drawing arcs Creating Ellipses and Elliptical Arcs Understanding ellipse options Creating ellipses Creating elliptical arcs Drawing ellipses Making Donuts Understanding DONUT options Drawing donuts Placing Points Changing the point style Creating points Summary Chapter 8: Viewing Your Drawing Regenerating and Redrawing the Display Panning Using the PAN command Using the scroll bars Using the ZOOM Command Understanding ZOOM options Using ZOOM Dynamic Using the SteeringWheel Creating Named Views Saving a view Displaying a view Managing named views Creating animated presentations from named views Using named views to manage a drawing A drawing with a view Partially opening a drawing Using named views with sheet sets Working with Tiled Viewports Configuring tiled viewports Creating tiled viewports Removing tiled viewports...157

15 Contents Using tiled viewports Saving and restoring viewport configurations Using Snap Rotation Understanding User Coordinate Systems Understanding UCS options Saving and restoring a custom UCS Controlling the UCS icon Using a custom UCS Creating Isometric Drawings Understanding isometric planes Drawing in Isometric mode Summary Chapter 9: Editing Your Drawing with Basic Tools Editing a Drawing Understanding object-selection basics Erasing objects Moving objects Copying objects Copying and moving objects from one drawing to another Rotating objects Scaling objects Using the CHANGE command Changing lines Changing circles Selecting Objects Selecting objects after choosing a command Cycling through objects Selecting objects before choosing a command Implied windowing Customizing the selection process Pickbox Size Selection Preview Noun/verb selection Use Shift to Add to Selection Press and Drag Implied windowing Object grouping Associative Hatch Summary Chapter 10: Editing Your Drawing with Advanced Tools Copying and Moving Objects Mirroring objects Using the ARRAY command Rectangular arrays Polar (circular) arrays xiii