ENGR 111Class 5.2a

AutoCAD Basics

Thursday, September 30th, 2004

Why CAD? Computer Aided Drafting. Tool engineers use to create

designs. Easier and more efficient than

drafting by hand. Consistency between users.

Today’s AutoCAD commands

Drawing setup– SNAP– GRID

Display control– ZOOM– PAN

Drawing– LINE– MTEXT– CIRCLE– ARC

Editing and inquiry– ERASE– DDEDIT– UNDO– Modify properties– Grips

General Concepts– Layers– Ortho Mode

Entering AutoCAD Log on to the

network Double click on

AutoCAD 2004 icon

Select Use a Template– Find drawing

template A-blank.dwt

– Select OK

Immediately……. File

– SaveAs Your

Drawing to your login File or USB Drive with a unique file name.

Save as a .dwg file

Grid and Snap Grid is just a visual aid for your

drawing Snap allows you to specify precise

coordinates when using the mouse They are modified with the GRID

and SNAP commands Neither affect anything already

drawn They can be changed on-the-fly

Function Keys Function keys turn GRID and SNAP

“modes” on and off– F7 - Sets GRID mode on/off– F9 - Sets SNAP mode on/off

DO NOT DRAW ANYTHING WITH SNAP TURNED OFF!!!!

Status line at the bottom The status line at the bottom of the display

tells you whether any of the modes are on or off.

The “pressed” modes are on. (SNAP, GRID, ORTHO and MODEL in the picture below)

Drawing Objects Drawing commands are found

on the toolbar located at the left of the screen

The four of interest today are Line, Arc, Circle, and Mtext

These may be abbreviated from the keyboard using the first letter(s) (e.g.)– Line - L– Arc - A– Circle - C– Mtext - MT

Line

CircleArc

Mtext

The Line Command The line command requires two or more points and will

connect them with straight lines Points are selected by pressing the left mouse button Pressing Enter or Escape will terminate the command

The Circle Command The Circle command has several options

which change the required input– Center, Radius - This is the default and

requires a point and either a second point (which will be on the circumference) or a radius type via the keyboard.

– Center, Diameter - as above, but the second point will not lie on the circumference, it will define the diameter. To use this option, you must type “D” prior to selecting the second point or entering the diameter.

– Other options will be discussed as needed

The Arc Command While the Arc command

can be accessed via the toolbar, the pulldown menu offers easy access to the various options within the Arc command

For most applications the Start, Center, End option is most useful

The Mtext Command The Mtext command has the most options

of any of the commands we have yet seen. Most will be obvious in their use.

Mtext is a full multiline text editor. It supports word wrap, bold and italic, and

multiple fonts. As inputs it needs a starting point and the

width of the text. Given these, a dialog box is displayed as

shown on the next slide.

The Mtext Dialog Box

Working with Layers Layers are used to

control the type of line that will be drawn

They are pre-defined on the templates used for this class

They are accessed from a dropdown list as shown to the right

Layer Control Consider two possible states for a

layer– ON/OFF

ON/OFF controls whether the layer can be seen on screen

Nothing on an OFF layer can be selected using the mouse

Display Control ZOOM -- scales the screen view to an

area of the drawing surface– “Window” will zoom down to a window– “All” will zoom out to show the larger of the

drawn entities or limits– Realtime allows you to shrink or enlarge the

display in real time. PAN -- moves around on the drawing

surface

Paired Exercise Start a new drawing. Use template B05c.dwt You have 15 minutes to practice

drawing lines and arcs using different linetypes and layers. Draw the various objects. Be creative, have fun.

Save your solutions to your login file, or USB drive.

Completing the Title Strip Rather than using the MTEXT command to

compete the title block, it is simpler to edit the existing text.

The command to do this is DDEDIT, or find “Text…” under the Modify pulldown menu.

Or you can double click on the text to be edited.

Title Strip For FILE enter your two digit file number. For TEAM enter your Team number Complete Drawn by with Last, First Name Date in Day/Month/Year format using the DUE

DATE (30 Sep 04) Make sure you include your section number

30 Sep 04

HUGHES, S. W. 14

Before Printing in AutoCAD Z Z .. .. (ENTER)(ENTER) A A .... (ENTER)(ENTER)

Why ?Why ?

And Always And Always perform a Print perform a Print Preview !Preview !

Plot Device Settings Make sure the

correct printer is selected,

\\FRED\315-4050-L

\\FRED\315-4050-R and the Plot Style

Table is set to “monochrome.ctb”.

Printing in AutoCAD Printing is done via the

PLOT command Always plot limits Always plot at a scale

appropriate to the drawing (normally 1:1)

Set origin to “Center the Plot” ALWAYS GET A FULL

PREVIEW BEFORE PRINTING

Homework Individually complete drawings:

– 5C: A Skateboard & Wheelbarrow.– 6C: Clincher Jumbo Stapler.

»Note the “C” means Computer drawing

Due: End of class ?