Command Entry
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Typically there are three ways of giving a command! |
| Not all commands are on the Menus and/or toolbars! |
- Type the command using the keyboard - the command is displayed in the command area.
- Select the command from a menu.
- Select the command's icon from a toolbar.
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| This means : type the text (qsave) and then press the Enter key (or the space-bar). |
When I want you to type a command in the command area the AutoCAD command will be written like: |
type: QSAVE |
| This means : click on the 'File' menu and then 'Save' (which should be one of the items on the 'File' menu). |
When I want you to select a command from a menu, it will look like: |
| select File - Save |
| AutoCAD also supports common shortcuts like Ctrl-S for Save!! |
When I want you to pick a command from a toolbar, I'll write: |
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select Save |
| Here I'm trying to cover all the bases by giving you the command to type, the menu options and showing you what the toolbar icon looks like! |
Despite all of the above, I'll probably use a combination of the above like: |
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select File - Save (or type QSAVE) |
Draw a Rectangle
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Select Rectangle (or type rectang), then type: |
| The text typed is displayed in the command area at the bottom of AutoCAD's window. |
15,15
415,315 these are absolute cartesian coordinates |
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Hopefully AutoCAD drew a rectangle, which fits comfortably in the AutoCAD graphics area!? If you can't see the rectanlge, type z [space] a [space] (zoom all) - this instructs AutoCAD to redraw the view, "zooming out" to show all the graphics on the drawing. |
Saving a Drawing
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Note that if you type SAVE , you actually get "Save As"!!
The quickest way to save is to press Ctrl-S - this is the same as "qsave". |
Select the Save icon from the standard toolbar. The drawing has not been saved before, so AutoCAD will display the SAVE AS dialog box, select the appropriate Drive and Directory (for example: S:archሴ567), type the drawing name (for example TUT1), and then select "OK". |
Draw some Lines
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Instead of LINE, you can also type: L this is an "alias" - which is a short-cut.
The exact positions of these lines is not important. |
We will now draw some more graphics and then save and exit AutoCAD. |
Type LINE |
| Move the crosshair to near the bottom-left of the rectangle and click the left mouse button, then move the crosshair to the top-right of the rectangle and again click the left mouse button. |
| Remember this! If you press after you finish a command, the command is re-issued. |
Press to terminate the command, and then press again to re-start the command! |
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Draw a line from the top-left to the bottom-right of the rectangle, and then press to end the command. |
| This will save the drawing and exit AutoCAD - don't PANIC! |
Now type:
QUIT |
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You will be prompted to save the changes you've made - click OK. |
Starting AutoCAD with an Existing Drawing
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 Please note that this icon is specific to the FBE's Labs at UNSW. |
To load a drawing, either click on the "Your Account" icon or start Windows Explorer and select the appropriate Drive and Directory. Once Explorer is showing the correct directory then double-click on your drawing. |
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If you can't find your drawing (in Windows Explorer) then press F5 (function key 5), this tells Explorer to update the directory display; if you still can't find your drawing then perhaps you saved the drawing in some other directory - load AutoCAD and then select the File menu, at the bottom of the File menu is a list of recently opened drawings, select your drawing from the list. |
Coordinate Systems
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| AutoCAD is a three dimensional CAD system, so you can enter XYZ values instead of the XY values shown here. |
When specifying positions you can use Cartesian or Polar Coordinates. Cartesian coordinates are simply a X value, a comma, and a Y value, for example: 100,100. Polar coordinates are a Distance followed by a < symbol and an angle, for example: 10<25. Angles are measured in degrees, with 0 = East and 90 = North. Any of these numbers can have decimal values. |
| Consider relative coordinates simply as distances! |
The positions specified above are "absolute coordinates", because they specify a particular position. AutoCAD can also use "relative coordinates" to specify a position relative to the current position, for example: @5.6,-3.4 and @16.32<62. |
Draw a "Diamond"
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This should draw a "diamond" (a rotated rectangle) shape.
If you make a mistake, you can undo the last line segment by typing: u.
"c" means "close" the shape. |
The "polyline" used below is used to create a sequence of joined line segments, which become one object. Using the "line" command each line segment is a separate object. |
Select Polyline (or type: pline ) and then type:
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215,15 |
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absolute cartesian coordinate |
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@212<45 |
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relative polar coordinate |
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@212<135 |
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@212<225 |
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c |
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Snap Modes
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| A simple way to turn Object Snap ON or OFF, is to click on "OSNAP" in the status Area. To see the various snap options "right-click" on "OSNAP" (in the status area) and select "Settings...". |
It is often useful to be able to draw something from (for example) the end of another shape. AutoCAD has a large selection of "snap modes" for this purpose. The most commonly used snap modes are "Endpoint" (which snaps to the end of the selected graphics entity) and "Intersection" (which snaps to the intersection of two graphics entities). |
| To get AutoCAD to display the Object Snap Modes toolbar, select "Toolbars" from the "View" menu and then select "Object Snap". |
The object snap modes can either be typed or they can be selected from the standard toolbar  or from the snap toolbar: |
| To display the "Drafting Settings" dialog, click on the "horse-shoe" shaped icon on the end of the Object Snap Toolbar. |
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Draw an Arc
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Select Arc (or type ARC ), then select the midpoint snap mode (or type: MID ) and select the left side of the bottom of the "diamond" polyline you drew before. Then use the midpoint snap to enter points on the right side at the bottom and then the top of the polyline (see figure 2). |
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Figure 2 Arc construction. |
Finally...
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Draw the rectangle by selecting from the draw toolbar (or type rectang ) |
Lastly, I want you to draw a rectangle in the diamond shape, another diamond inside that rectangle, a circle inside that diamond and a horizontal and vertical line also inside the last diamond (see figure 3)! Each shape should touch the Midpoints of the previous shape... |
Alternatively select the circle icon  and then type 2p then pick the points. |
HINT: To draw the circle, select Draw - Circle - 2 Points and then (using midpoint snap) pick opposite sides of the inner diamond. |
If you use the MIDpoint Snap Mode for each point(!), you should be able to draw the shapes without much trouble.
If you make a mistake, press "Esc" (the "escape" key, located at the top-left of the keyboard). Then type U (the undo comand |
