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!
AutoCAD AutoCAD LT 2011 & 2011 Bible
AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD LT 2011 Bible Ellen Finkelstein
AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD LT 2011 Bible Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-60823-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 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) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748- 6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. 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) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Library of Congress Control Number: 2010928466 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.
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.
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, www.ellenfinkelstein.com, 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 2010. vi
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
Table of Contents About the Author...vi Part I: AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Basics 1 Quick Start: Drawing a Window.................................3 Summary...13 Chapter 1: Starting to Draw................................... 15 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................................. 31 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
Contents x Saving a Drawing under a New Name...38 Summary...38 Chapter 3: Using Commands.................................. 39 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.............................. 59 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
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............................... 97 Choosing Unit Types...97 Setting the drawing units...98 Setting the angle type...98 Setting the angle measure and direction...100 Drawing Limits...101 Understanding Scales...102 Working with scale formats...103 Using annotative scales...104 Customizing the scale list...106 Deciding on a scale and sheet size...107 Creating a Titleblock...107 Specifying Common Setup Options...108 Customizing with the MVSETUP Command and Setup Wizards...110 Summary...111 Part II: Drawing in Two Dimensions 113 Chapter 6: Drawing Simple Lines.............................. 115 Using the LINE Command...115 Drawing Rectangles...117 xi
Contents xii Drawing Polygons...118 Creating Construction Lines...120 Creating Rays...121 Summary...122 Chapter 7: Drawing Curves and Points.......................... 123 Drawing Circles...123 Understanding the circle options...123 Drawing circles...124 Drawing Arcs...126 Understanding arc options...126 Drawing arcs...128 Creating Ellipses and Elliptical Arcs...130 Understanding ellipse options...131 Creating ellipses...131 Creating elliptical arcs...131 Drawing ellipses...131 Making Donuts...134 Understanding DONUT options...134 Drawing donuts...134 Placing Points...134 Changing the point style...135 Creating points...135 Summary...137 Chapter 8: Viewing Your Drawing............................. 139 Regenerating and Redrawing the Display...139 Panning...140 Using the PAN command...140 Using the scroll bars...141 Using the ZOOM Command...141 Understanding ZOOM options...141 Using ZOOM Dynamic...143 Using the SteeringWheel...146 Creating Named Views...147 Saving a view...147 Displaying a view...150 Managing named views...150 Creating animated presentations from named views...151 Using named views to manage a drawing...154 A drawing with a view...154 Partially opening a drawing...154 Using named views with sheet sets...154 Working with Tiled Viewports...155 Configuring tiled viewports...156 Creating tiled viewports...156 Removing tiled viewports...157
Contents Using tiled viewports...158 Saving and restoring viewport configurations...158 Using Snap Rotation...160 Understanding User Coordinate Systems...162 Understanding UCS options...162 Saving and restoring a custom UCS...163 Controlling the UCS icon...164 Using a custom UCS...165 Creating Isometric Drawings...166 Understanding isometric planes...167 Drawing in Isometric mode...167 Summary...168 Chapter 9: Editing Your Drawing with Basic Tools................. 169 Editing a Drawing...169 Understanding object-selection basics...170 Erasing objects...170 Moving objects...172 Copying objects...174 Copying and moving objects from one drawing to another...177 Rotating objects...178 Scaling objects...180 Using the CHANGE command...182 Changing lines...183 Changing circles...184 Selecting Objects...184 Selecting objects after choosing a command...184 Cycling through objects...187 Selecting objects before choosing a command...187 Implied windowing...188 Customizing the selection process...190 Pickbox Size...190 Selection Preview...190 Noun/verb selection...191 Use Shift to Add to Selection...191 Press and Drag...191 Implied windowing...191 Object grouping...192 Associative Hatch...192 Summary...192 Chapter 10: Editing Your Drawing with Advanced Tools............. 193 Copying and Moving Objects...193 Mirroring objects...194 Using the ARRAY command...195 Rectangular arrays...195 Polar (circular) arrays...197 xiii