Icons Used in This Book
This icon tells you that herein lies a pointed insight that can save you time and trouble as you use AutoCAD. In many cases, tip paragraphs act as a funnel on AutoCAD’s impressive but sometimes overwhelming flexibility: After telling you all the ways that you
The Technical Stuff icon points out places where delving a little more deeply into AutoCAD’s inner workings or pointing out something that most people don’t need to know about most of the time. These paragraphs definitely are not required reading the first time through, so if you come to one of them at a time when you’ve reached your techie detail threshold, feel free to skip over them.
This icon tells you how to stay out of trouble when living a little close to the edge. Failure to heed its message may have unpleasant consequences for you and your drawing — or maybe for both of you.
There’s a lot to remember when you’re using AutoCAD, so I’ve remembered to remind you about some those things that you should be remembering. These paragraphs usually refer to a crucial point earlier in the chapter or in a previous chapter. So if you’re reading sequentially, a remember paragraph serves as a friendly reminder. If you’re not reading sequentially, this kind of paragraph may help you realize that you need to review a central concept or technique before proceeding.
This icon points to new stuff in AutoCAD 2005. It’s mostly designed for those of you who are somewhat familiar with a previous version of AutoCAD and want to be alerted to what’s new in this version. New AutoCAD users starting out their CAD working lives with AutoCAD 2005 will find this stuff interesting, too — especially when they can show off their new book-learnin’ to the grizzled AutoCAD veterans in the office who don’t yet know about all the cool, new features.
This icon highlights differences between AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD. If you’re using AutoCAD LT, you’ll find out what you’re missing compared to “full” AutoCAD. If your friend is using LT, you’ll know where to look to find stuff in AutoCAD to brag about.
A Few Conventions — Just in Case
You probably can figure out for yourself all the information in this section, but here are the details just in case.
Text you type into the program at the command line, in a dialog box, in a text box, and so on appears in boldface type. Examples of AutoCAD prompts appear in a special typeface, as does any other text in the book that echoes a message, a word, or one or more lines of text that actually appear on-screen. Sequences of prompts that appear in the AutoCAD command line area have a shaded background, like so:
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] 0.0000,0.0000:
(Many of the figures — especially in Chapters 5 and 6 — also show AutoCAD command line sequences that demonstrate AutoCAD’s prompts and example responses.)
Often in this book you see phrases such as “choose File>Save As from the menu bar.” The funny little arrow (>) separates the main menu name from the specific command on that menu. In this example, you open the File menu and choose the Save As command. If you know another way to start the same command (for example, in this example, type SAVEAS and press Enter), you’re welcome to do it that way instead.
Many AutoCAD commands have shortcut (fewer letter) versions for the benefit of those who like to type commands at the AutoCAD command prompt. In this book, I format command names with the shortcut letters in uppercase and the other letters in lowercase, so that you become familiar with the shortcuts and can use them if you want to. So when you see an instruction like “run the DimLInear command to draw a linear dimension,” it means “for a linear dimension, type DIMLINEAR, or DLI for short, at the command line, and then press the Enter key.”
Part I
AutoCAD 101
AutoCAD is more than just another application program, it’s a complete environment for drafting and design. So if you’re new to AutoCAD, you need to know several things to get off to a good start — especially how to use the command line area and set up your drawing properly. These key techniques are described in this part of the book.
If you’ve used earlier versions of AutoCAD, you’ll be most interested in the high points of the new release, including some newer interface components. The lowdown on what’s new is here, too.
Chapter 1
Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2005
• Getting the AutoCAD advantage
• Using AutoCAD and DWG files
• Meeting the AutoCAD product family
• Using AutoCAD LT instead of AutoCAD
• Upgrading from a previous version
Welcome to the fraternity whose members are the users of one of the weirdest, wackiest, and most wonderful computer programs in the world: AutoCAD. Maybe you’re one of the few remaining holdouts who continues to practice the ancient art of manual drafting with pencil and vellum. Or maybe you’re completely new to drafting and yearn for the wealth and fame of the drafter’s life. Maybe you’re an engineer or architect who needs to catch up with the young CAD hotshots in your office. Or maybe you’re a fulltime drafter whose fingers haven’t yet been pried away from your beloved drafting board. Maybe you tried to use AutoCAD a long time ago but gave up in frustration or just got rusty. Or maybe you currently use an older version, such as AutoCAD 2000 or even Release 14.
Whatever your current situation and motivation, I hope that you enjoy the process of becoming proficient with AutoCAD. Drawing with AutoCAD is challenging at first, but it’s a challenge worth meeting. CAD rewards those who think creatively about their work and look for ways to do it better. You can always find out more, discover a new trick, or improve the efficiency and quality of your drawing production.
AutoCAD started as an MS-DOS-only program, when real men and women typed commands and didn’t need toolbars or dialog boxes. Autodesk flirted briefly with the Macintosh and UNIX operating systems while moving AutoCAD into the GUI (graphical user interface) age, but the company eventually settled on Microsoft Windows as
