AUTOCAD

ARCH. JENIE L. ABAD

Many people are afraid of AutoCAD- fearing its ‘complexity’. However, although it
can be used to do amazingly complex things we will be learning the SIMPLE,
BASIC, tools that will be enough to produce simple 2D drawings and to print
them at scale.

There are many places to get help whilst you are learning –
ü Ask a fellow student.
ü From the internet
ü By asking a member of staff who is familiar with AutoCAD
ü By clicking on the ‘help’ button at the top of the screen.

In these subject we will be working our way through the tools necessary to
produce the plans for the construction and the planting aspects of your current
modules ; to annotate them; and to plot at a chosen scale. We will also show you
how AutoCAD is increasingly used in practice.
 INTRODUCTION

AutoCAD is a software application developed by

Autodesk that enables computer-aided design (CAD)
and drafting. The software is used to produce 2D and
3D drawings. AutoCAD software allows users to
conceptualize ideas, produce designs and drawings to
the required levels of technical accuracy, and even
perform rapid design calculations and simulations;
across a wide range of industries.
 Starting Up AutoCAD

1. Select the
AutoCAD 2012 option
on the Program
menu or select the
AutoCAD 2012 icon
on the Desktop.
 Once the program is
loaded into memory, the
AutoCAD 2015 drawing screen
will appear on the screen.

 Note that AutoCAD

automatically assigns generic
names, Drawing X, as new
drawings are created. In our
example, AutoCAD opened the
graphics window using
the default system units and
assigned the drawing name
Drawing1.
The ‘Welcome’ screen will be at the front but can be closed in the usual manner – click
on the ‘x’. If you have and drop down menus floating over the wide black
drawing space then close them in the same way until your screen looks like this. If
AutoCAD is open but you don’t have the same ribbon of tools across the top or
the big black space to draw in then go to the next page.

Type: START UP at the command window and enter 1.

close and open the Cad software again.
This next procedure is to
create a NEW drawing to
work on.
Click on the red letter A on
the top left of your screen
Click on the ‘New’ button
Your screen should then
look like this. This drop-
down menu contains a list
of different templates built
into ACAD that we could
use.
All we need is to click on
the down arrow next to
‘Open’ then choose ‘Open
with no template – Metric’
So here is the starting position
again.
There is a ‘ribbon’ across the top
with a whole strip of palettes of
icons - the tools. If you’re not sure
what an icon or tool does, you can
hover the cursor over it
for a few seconds and it will give
you information on its function and
quick keys for using it. As with most
software ‘drawing’ packages if you
click on the small
down arrow you get a broader set
of options. The first ones we’ll use
will be in the ‘draw’ set and the
‘modify’ set.
In the middle is a dark space into
which we will be drawing – this is
essentially our infinitely big piece
of drawing paper – or, in
AutoCAD terms – our ‘Model
space’
Along the bottom of the screen
(ignoring the computer’s usual
‘tray’ of programmes etc ) there
should be 3 separate other
‘active’ toolbars.
The Command line is essential -
we can type into the space here
to start commands and if there
are options then or steps in a
procedure then this is where
they will appear. This is where
we “talk” to AutoCAD.
The Status bar controls the
‘environment’ in which we are working. Hover your cursor
over the icons and it will tell you what each of them are.
SET THE CORRECT UNITS
IN YOUR DRAWING:
This is very important to
do as it will affect the
dimensions and scale
of all your drawings.
Click on the red A -
AutoCAD button -and a
new list drops down.
Click on “Drawing
Utilities” then “Units”
and the dropdown menu
below will appear.
The default settings should be correct but you
need to make sure that the units are set to
millimeters by clicking on the “Insertion Scale”
pull down menu and choosing millimeters. Also
choose “Decimal” and “Decimal Degrees” for the
“Length” and “Angle Types” respectively and
set the precision to 0.000.
This means that now everything you draw will be
in millimeters. The reason this unit is chosen
over other, perhaps easier units such as metres is
( for now) scaling drawings to print is easier
Millimeters are often used when measuring
dimensions on drawings so it’s useful to get into
the habit of working to them . However, this does
take some getting used to - for example if
you wanted to draw a 1m line you would have to
type 1000 into the command line. A 5m line
would be 5000, 20m would be 20000, a 0.1m line
would be 100 and so on.
 Application Menu

This is the first thing you see on launching

AutoCAD, located in the far left corner at
the top of the screen. It is represented by
a big red “A” button with a downward
facing black arrow. Single-clicking this
button opens a drop-down menu which
contains some number of the same
options in the quick access toolbar, and
more. More importantly, it contains links
to most recently opened drawings and
sheet sets. With the click of a button you
can change this to a list of currently open
drawings. Double-clicking the application
menu is not advised unless you mean to
close AutoCAD application.
Another feature of the Application
Menu is the Search Commands part.
Here you may type the full name or
partial name of AutoCAD commands
you are not sure of, and AutoCAD will
carry out a search for related
commands in the menu. The figure
below shows the results you get when
you type ‘poly’ in the Search
Commands part.
 Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

This is next to the application menu at the top of

the screen in the title bar. The The quick access
toolbar (QAT), by default, contains icons for a
number of commands, such as New, Open, Save,
SaveAs, Undo, Plot and Redo. Like most user
interface elements it can be customized to meet
the user’s desires. The figure below shows a
highlighted QAT.
 Ribbon
The ribbon is a user interface
element that contains various
AutoCAD commands arranged in
panels and tabs . The tabs are
quite powerful. They have panels
of commands as well as options
that relate to any task at hand.
For instance, if you select a
HATCH object, a contextual tab
appears. The tab contains a Hatch
editing command that appears
automatically.
 In-Editor elements VIEW CUBE-controls the display properties of
the view cube tool. View cube tool is a
navigation tool that is displayed when you are
working in 2D model space or 3D visual style.
With view cube tool, you can switch between
These are elements standard and isometric views.
found inside the drawing NAVIGATION TOOLBAR
panel. The user can 1. View cube-indicates the current viewing
control their visibility. In direction
the upper left corner are 2. Full navigation wheel- provides access to
the view port controls the general an specialized navigation tools.
that allow the user to 3. Pan- moves the view planar to the screen.
alter the view and visual 4. Zoom extends- zooms to display the
styles. The ViewCube, maximum extents of all objects.
Navigation bar and the 5. Orbits- rotates the view in 3D space, but
UCS icon are positioned constrained to horizontal and vertical orbit
as shown in the figure only.
below. 6. Show motion- provides an on-screen display
for creating and playing back cinematic camera
animations for design review, presentation,
and bookmark-style navigation.
 Status Bar
At the bottom of the sreen, is
When you hover the cursor
the Status Bar. It contains
over any icon, you will find
only icons. Several icons, by
out its purpose. The gray ones
default, are not enabled, but
mean the toggle is off, and
the user can decide to turn on
blue means the toggle it on.
some of them.
The figure below shows a
status bar, with an expanded
control icon on the far right,
to show you the other
available icons.
File Tabs
File tabs give access to all open documents. Each Layout Tabs
document that is open has a tab. Left-clicking on a Layout tabs give access to different Model Spaces of each
tab makes it the current open document. Right- Layout in any given document. Left-clicking on a tab to
clicking on a tab gives access to more options, makes it the current open layout. Right-clicking on a tab
including Save As and Close. The tab that has a plus gives you access to more options that include Print, Move,
sign allows the user to open a new document. File or Rename. The tab that has a plus sign allows the user to
Tabs are located just below the Ribbon. The figure create a new layout. Layout Tabs, by default, are located at
below shows three File Tabs. the bottom of the drawing panel below the command line,
in the area around status bar.
Drop-Down Menus
A drop-down menu is a top level name that is
clickable. On left-clicking the menu reveals a
list of commands or sub menus below it.
When a command is selected, the menu
vanishes. An example of a drop-down menu is
shown in the figure below.

Toolbars
Toolbars are flat panels containing
buttons or drop-down lists. Each
button has an icon and macro that
performs a either a command or a
macro. The figure below shows two
toolbars.
 Command Line
This is a palette in which you can input command
names. When docked, it has some fixed number of
visible lines. When floating, the command line can
expand to show more data. The figure below shows an
example of a floating command line:
There are many other palletes apart from the command line such
as Drawing Recovery Manager, Quick calculator, Materials
Browser and so forth.
I cannot exhaust all the elements in AutoCAD interface but the
ones I have described can help you start understanding the
various elements that you see on the user interface of AutoCAD.
To get a deeper understanding of AutoCAD tools and commands
 DRAWING LINES

To start drawing we need to

check on one of the settings on
the status bar – the Dynamic
Imput function
Those tools that are light blue are
‘on’. To turn them on and off we
simply (left ) click
on the icon. Make sure your
dynamic imput tool is on.
To begin any task you need to tell AutoCAD by clicking on the tool you want to
use in this case ‘LINE’ OR type the letter L into the command bar.
Now look at the Command bar – It is asking for the first point ie where to start
the line.
Click anywhere on screen and now the command line is asking where is the
next point. Move the cursor and click again. It will keep drawing lines. When
you want
to stop ( this is the same for many CAD commands ) you can
 press Escape
 press enter
 press space bar which works as ‘enter’.
 Right click which produces a new menu and click on ‘enter’.
Have a go at this.
However, the best thing about AutoCAD is that we can draw
PRECISELY and ACCURATELY and with drawing lines there are 2
methods. After choosing the start point, two small dialogue boxes
appear – one bright, one not:-
A) – Line length and angle (as seen on the right)
In the lighter box (usually on the left ) type in the length of the line
you want
Press the tab key (--->)
Now type in the angle you want to draw at ( Auto CAD tells you what
angle the line is currently at )
B) – give the ‘co-ordinates’ of the next point(as seen on the
right)
In the lighter box (usually on the left ) type in the horizontal
distance of the point you want the line to go to ( the ‘eastings’)
Press the comma key (,)
Now type in the vertical distance you want to draw the line to
(the
‘northings’ )
Both these give you complete control of where the line goes to.
Note that the command stays active until you’ve finished when
you
press enter / escape.
If, whilst the command is still going you think you’ve made a
mistake then simply type the letter U into the command line
and
the previous ‘action’ is undone!
If you’ve finished the command and want to go back then press
CTRL Z. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION
SO
FAR!!
VIEWING YOUR DRAWING -
ZOOMING
You may have already discovered that what you’ve
drawn is either too small to be seen or you can
only see a very small part of it. The easiest way to move
around your drawing is to use the mouse.
The picture on the right shows how the mouse buttons
function. For zooming and panning the ‘wheel ‘
is the key key. Have a go now to get used to how they
work.
The other option is to type Z. press enter. Look at the
command line options. Wherever there is a Capital letter
that
means we can type just that letter and press Enter to
access that command. I usally use E for extents or A for
All of my drawing. W
for window can be useful when you want to move in to a
specific area.
POLYLINES
Probably the tool you will use most.
CIRCLES
Try drawing a couple of rectangles and using OSnap attach a few circles to them.
MODIFYING TOOLS
OFFSET
allows you to create a copy of a line or object at a (chosen) fixed distance - on
either side of the original
To offset click on the offset tool
The command line wants to know how far to offset "through"
type a distance press enter
click on the line or object you want to offset then
click on the side you want to offset
you can carry on offsetting either the original or different objects as many
times as you like
press enter when you want to end the command
using the 'Multiple' option after specifying the distance allows you to keep
clicking outside the original object until you have as many as you like
COPY
click on the COPY icon or type CO and press enter
select the object / line / text to copy by clicking or using the selection
rectangle/marquee - you can select as many as you like. if you select
something by mistake then simply type U and enter and it is deselected
press enter when you have them all
select a 'base point' - this is the point around which the abject will be 'pasted'
eg the centre of a circle or corner of a rectangle.
select the point at which you want to paste the copy – this is where OSnap really is
useful!
this can be repeated until you press enter.
NOTE - you can also use CTRL C and CTRL V to copy and paste as in most other
programmes.
MOVE
Similar process to copy
click on the MOVE icon or type M and press enter
select the object / line / text to move by clicking or using the selection
rectangle/marquee - you can select as many as you like - press enter to confirm
your selection.
select the basepoint
select the next point
the command is then over

NOTE Once selected you can click and hold down the cursor and ‘drag’ the object
to where you want it – less accurate but useful for quick moving of an object.
Don’t click on any of the square, highlighted ‘handles’ as this will only move the handle.
TRIM
click on the TRIM icon or type TR and press enter
select the object / line to select the line to which you want the other objects cut back to (
you can select as many as you like ) press enter to confirm your selection.
select the objects or lines to be cut - again as many as you want
press enter to end the command
Takes a copy of an object and repeats in in an
array of your choosing.
There are 3 options - In this session we are
looking at "POLAR ARRAY"
click on the small down arrow next to the ARRAY
icon
a choice of 3 options appears –
click on POLAR ARRAY
select the object / line to be
arrayed ( you can select as many
as you like )
press enter to confirm your
selection.
Select the base point around
which the selected object will
be arrayed
The ribbon of tools at the top of
your screen then changes - (see
right)
there are a number of different
options. The easiest is to change
the number
of items you want arrayed - eg change the '6' to 12 and
press enter
once you have finished making changes to the options
click on "Close Array"
You need to play around with this tool in order to learn.
NOTE - An array behaves like a single object. If you want
to alter any aspect of
it - eg Trimming you will need to "Explode" it into its
component
parts.
Follow the on screen instructions for explode.
SAVING YOUR WORK:
Having created your drawing and worked in it, it is very important to save it
and then continually save it as you work. It is also recommended that you
save the file to a variety of sources to ensure you have back ups.
Saving is simple- Ctrl S. Then choose a location to save the work . It is suggested
for the purpose of these workshops that you create a “Autocad” Folder in your
university account hard drive and save all work in that, so you know where it is.
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