ASSOSA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION TO
AUTOCAD
ADANE T. & ABENEZER D.

OCTOBER. 2023
CONTENT
Introduction
Starting Auto CAD 2007
The Auto CAD 2007 graphics window
The AutoCAD coordinate system
INTRODUCTION
What is CAD?
(CAD) is simply Computer Aided Design.
Design and drafting with the aid of a computer.
Design is creating a real product from an idea.
Drafting is the production of the drawings that are used to
document a design.
CAD can be used to create 2D or 3D computer models.
INTRODUCTION
Why should you use CAD?
Traditional drafting is repetitious and can be inaccurate. It may
be faster to create a simple “rough” sketch by hand but larger
more complex drawings with repetitive operations are drawn
more efficiently using CAD.
Why use AutoCAD?
AutoCAD is a computer aided design software developed by
Autodesk company. AutoCAD was first introduced in 1982. By
the year 2000, it is estimated that there were over 4 million
AutoCAD users worldwide.
INTRODUCTION……..CONT.
What is Autodesk?
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation
that makes software for the architecture, engineering, construction,
manufacturing, media, and entertainment industries.
The company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, a coauthor of
the first versions of AutoCAD
Autodesk became best known for AutoCAD but now develops a
broad range of software for design, engineering, and entertainment
as well as a line of software for consumers, including Sketchbook,
Homestyler, and Pixlr.
Architecture, engineering and construction
headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, in a LEED Platinum
building
AutoCAD-based design and documentation software such as
AutoCAD Architecture , AutoCAD MEP, and AutoCAD Civil 3D. Their
flagship product for relational Building information modeling is Revit.
Revit is available as Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, Revit MEP or
an all-in-one product
INTRODUCTION……..CONT.
Autodesk Media and Entertainment
designed for digital media creation, management, and delivery, from
film and television visual effects, color grading, and editing to
animation, game development, and design visualization.
The principal product offerings from the Media and Entertainment
Division are the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites, which
include Maya, Softimage, 3ds Max, Mudbox, Smoke, Flame, and
Lustre.
Much of Avatar's visual effects were created with Autodesk media
and entertainment software.
AutoCAD 2007
Starting AutoCAD
Open AutoCAD 2007 - either with a double-click on
its start-up icon in the Windows desktop, or right-
click on the Icon, flowed by a Left-click on open in
the menu which then appears.

AutoCAD Work space

AutoCAD 2007 Workspace
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS
Standard Toolbar

You can display or hide, dock, and resize toolbars. Use right click
over any toolbar.
A toolbar can be floating or docked.
A floating toolbar is located anywhere in the drawing area, and
you can drag a floating toolbar to a new location, resize it, or dock
it.
A docked toolbar is attached to any edge of the drawing area. You
can move a docked toolbar by dragging it to a new docking location
Standard Toolbar includes: New, Open, Save, Print, Undo, Redo,
Cut, Copy, Paste, Pan, Zoom, Design center, tool pallets, etc.
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS
Draw Toolbar

To Draw a Line
To Draw construction Line

To Draw polygone

To Draw Rectangle

To Draw Arc

To Draw Circle
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS
MODIFY Toolbar

To Erase or delete object

To Copy
To Mirror
To Offset
To Array
To Move
To Rotate
To Scale enlarge or minimize
To trim or Extend
To Break or Join
To make Chanfer or Fillet
STATUS TOOLBAR
SNAP: Snap mode restricts the movement of the crosshairs to intervals that you define.
• When Snap mode is on, the cursor seems to adhere, or "snap," to an invisible
rectangular grid.
• Snap is useful for specifying precise points with the arrow keys or the pointing
device.
GRID: The grid is a rectangular pattern of dots or lines that extends over the area you
specify as the grid limits.
• Using the grid is similar to placing a sheet of grid paper under a drawing.
• The grid helps you align objects and visualize the distances between them.
The grid is not plotted.
ORTHO: restrict cursor movement to horizontal and vertical for convenience and
precision when creating and modifying objects.
POLAR:Polar tracking restricts cursor movement to specified angles
As you move your cursor, alignment paths and tooltips are displayed when you move
the cursor near polar angles.
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS
STATUS Toolbar

ORTHO: restrict cursor movement to horizontal and vertical for

convenience and precision when creating and modifying objects.

OSNAP: Use object snaps to specify precise locations on objects. For example,
you can use an object snap to draw a line to the center of a circle or to the
midpoint of a polyline segment.

LWT: Line weights are displayed differently in model space than in a paper space
layout.
In model space, a 0-value lineweight is displayed as one pixel, and other lineweights
use a pixel width proportional to their real-unit value.
In a paper space layout, lineweights are displayed in the exact plotting width.
Turn off the display of lineweights to optimize performance of the program. On the
Model tab, you can turn the display of lineweights on or off by clicking LWT on the
status bar.
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS

COMMAND LINE Location: The three lines at the bottom of the screen. This is
where you enter commands and Autocad will prompt you to input information.

DRAWING AREA Location: The large area in the center of the screen.
This is where you will draw. This area represents a piece of paper. The color of this
area can be changed using Tools / Option / Display / Color. The default color for 2007
is Black.
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS

CROSSHAIRS / CURSOR Location: Can be anywhere in the

Drawing Area. The movement of the cursor is controlled by the
movement of the pointing device such as a mouse. You will use the
cursor to locate points, make selections and draw objects. The size
can be changed using Tools / Options / Display / Crosshair Size.
 AUTOCAD 2007 TOOLBARS
PALETTES There are two types of Palettes
within AutoCAD
The first type has been pre-designed by
AutoCAD. An example of a pre-designed
palette would be the Properties Palette shown
below. This palette will appear automatically
when you select the Properties command.
The second type is a customizable Palette
that you may create to hold frequently used
commands, hatch patterns, symbols, etc.
(Customizing is in the Advanced Workbook)
METHODS OF ENTERING
COMMANDS
AutoCAD has 3 different methods of entering commands.
All 3 methods will accomplish the same end result.
AutoCAD allows you to use the method you prefer.
The following are descriptions of all 3 methods and an example of
how each one would be used to start a command such as the Line
command.
1.Pull down Menu (Select Draw / Line) a. Move the cursor to the
Menu Bar b. Click on a Menu header such as “Draw” c. Slide the
cursor down the list of commands and click to select.
2.Tool Bars (Select the Line icon from the Draw toolbar) Move the
cursor to an icon on a toolbar and press the left mouse button.
3.Keyboard (Type L and ) Type the command on the command line.
METHODS OF ENTERING COMMANDS
AutoCAD has 3 different methods of entering commands.
All 3 methods will accomplish the same end result.
AutoCAD allows you to use the method you prefer.
The following are descriptions of all 3 methods and an example of
how each one would be used to start a command such as the Line
command.
1.Pull down Menu (Select Draw / Line) a. Move the cursor to the
Menu Bar b. Click on a Menu header such as “Draw” c. Slide the
cursor down the list of commands and click to select.
2.Tool Bars (Select the Line icon from the Draw toolbar) Move the
cursor to an icon on a toolbar and press the left mouse button.
3.Keyboard (Type L and ) Type the command on the command line.
AUTOCAD SHORTCUTS
AUTOCAD SHORTCUTS
AUTOCAD SHORTCUTS
AUTOCAD SHORTCUTS
TIME FOR A BREAK TIME……
THE AUTOCAD COORDINATE SYSTEM
X,Y,Z Co-Ordinate Entry system
The co-ordinate system in AutoCAD is called the Cartesian co-
ordinate system.
The position of a point can be described by its distance from two axis
, X axes and Y axes
The UCS icon in the lower left corner in the drawing Area shows you
which way the X and Y axis go.
AutoCAD always reads the X axes first and the Y axes second
The lower left corner of your screen is the 0 reference point in the
drawing Area. The 0 reference point is at the exact point
intersection of the X and Y on the UCS icon.
The AutoCAD coordinate system

0 degrees is the same as 360 degrees

 THE AUTOCAD COORDINATE
SYSTEM

There are three types of coordinate entry method to locate points

when creating objects

Absolute coordinate
Relative coordinates
Polar coordinates
 ABSOLUTE COORDINATE
Absolute coordinates are based on the UCS origin (0,0),
which is the intersection of the X and Y axes. Use absolute
coordinates when you know the precise X and Y values of the
point.

use Cartesian coordinates to specify a point, enter an X value and a

Y value separated by a comma (X,Y). The X value is the positive or
negative distance, in units, along the horizontal axis. The Y value is
the positive or negative distance, in units, along the vertical axis.
ABSOLUTE COORDINATE

Command: L
LINE Specify first point: -2,1
B
Specify next point or [Undo]: 3,4

A
 RELATIVE COORDINATES
 Relative coordinates are based on the last point entered.
 Use relative coordinates when you know the location of a point in
relation to the previous point.
 To specify relative coordinates, precede the coordinate values
with an @ sign.
 For example, entering @3,4 specifies a point 3 units along the X
axis and 4 units along the Y axis from the last point specified.
RELATIVE COORDINATES

Command: L
LINE Specify first point: -2,1
Specify next point: @5,0
Specify next point: @0,3
C Specify next point: @-5,-3
A
B
 POLAR COORDINATES
 Polar coordinates are based on the distance and angle.
 To use polar coordinates to specify a point, enter a distance and
an angle separated by an angle bracket (<). @distance<angle
 By default, angles increase in the counterclockwise direction and
decrease in the clockwise direction.
 To specify a clockwise direction, enter a negative value for the
angle. For example, entering 1<315 locates the same point as
entering 1<-45.

 To specify relative coordinates, precede the coordinate values

with an @ sign. For example, entering @1<45 specifies a point at
a distance of 1 unit from the last point specified at an angle of 45
degrees from the X axis.