AutoCAD for ummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
	About This Book
	Foolish Assumptions
	Conventions Used in This Book
		Using the command line
		Using aliases
	Icons Used in This Book
	Beyond the Book
	Where to Go from Here
Part 1 Getting Started with AutoCAD
	Chapter 1 Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
		Launching AutoCAD
		Drawing in AutoCAD
		Understanding Pixels and Vectors
		The Cartesian Coordinate System
	Chapter 2 The Grand Tour of AutoCAD
		Looking at AutoCAD’s Drawing Screen
			For your information
			Making choices from the Application menu
			Unraveling the Ribbon
		Getting with the Program
			Looking for Mr. Status Bar
			Using Dynamic Input
			Let your fingers do the talking: The command line
			The key(board) to AutoCAD success
			Keeping tabs on palettes
			Down the main stretch: The drawing area
		Fun with F1
	Chapter 3 A Lap around the CAD Track
		A Simple Setup
		Drawing a (Base) Plate
		Taking a Closer Look with Zoom and Pan
		Modifying to Make It Merrier
			Crossing your hatches
			Now that’s a stretch
		Following the Plot
			Plotting the drawing
			Today’s layer forecast: Freezing
	Chapter 4 Setup for Success
		A Setup Roadmap
			Choosing your units
			Weighing up your scales
			Thinking about paper
			Defending your border
		A Template for Success
		Making the Most of Model Space
			Setting your units
			Making the drawing area snap-py (and grid-dy)
			Setting linetype, text, and dimension scales
			Entering drawing properties
		Making Templates Your Own
	Chapter 5 A Zoom with a View
		Panning and Zooming with Glass and Hand
			The wheel deal
			Navigating a drawing
		Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
		A View by Any Other Name
		Degenerating and Regenerating
Part 2 Let There Be Lines
	Chapter 6 Along the Straight and Narrow
		Drawing for Success
		Introducing the Straight-Line Drawing Commands
		Drawing Lines and Polylines
			Toeing the line
			Connecting the lines with polyline
		Squaring Off with Rectangles
		Choosing Sides with POLygon
	Chapter 7 Dangerous Curves Ahead
		Throwing Curves
		Going Full Circle
		Arc-y-ology
		Solar Ellipses
		Splines: Sketchy, Sinuous Curves
		Donuts: Circles with a Difference
		Revision Clouds on the Horizon
		Scoring Points
	Chapter 8 Preciseliness Is Next to CADliness
		Controlling Precision
		Understanding the AutoCAD Coordinate Systems
			Keyboard capers: Coordinate input
			Introducing user coordinate systems
			Drawing by numbers
		Grabbing an Object and Making It Snappy
			Grabbing points with object snap overrides
			Snap goes the cursor
			Running with object snaps
		Other Practical Precision Procedures
	Chapter 9 Manage Your Properties
		Using Properties with Objects
			Using the ByLayer approach
			Changing properties
		Working with Layers
			Accumulating properties
			Creating new layers
			Manipulating layers
			Scaling an object’s linetype
		Using Named Objects
		Using AutoCAD DesignCenter
	Chapter 10 Grabbing Onto Object Selection
		Commanding and Selecting
			Command-first editing
			Selection-first editing
			Direct-object editing
			Choosing an editing style
		Selecting Objects
			One-by-one selection
			Selection boxes left and right
			Tying up object selection
		Perfecting Selecting
		AutoCAD Groupies
		Object Selection: Now You See It . . .
	Chapter 11 Edit for Credit
		Assembling Your AutoCAD Toolkit
		The Big Three: Move, COpy, and Stretch
			Base points and displacements
			Move
			COpy
			Copy between drawings
			Stretch
		More Manipulations
			Mirror, mirror on the monitor
			ROtate
			SCale
			-ARray
			Offset
		Slicing, Dicing, and Splicing
			TRim and EXtend
			BReak
			Fillet, CHAmfer, and BLEND
			Join
			Other editing commands
		Getting a Grip
		When Editing Goes Bad
		Dare to Compare
	Chapter 12 Planning for Paper
		Setting Up a Layout in Paper Space
			The layout two-step
			Put it on my tabs
		Any Old Viewport in a Layout
			Up and down the detail viewport scales
			Keeping track of where you’re at
		Practice Makes Perfect
		Clever Paper Space Tricks
Part 3 If Drawings Could Talk
	Chapter 13 Text with Character
		Getting Ready to Write
		Creating Simply Stylish Text
			Font follies
			Get in style
		Taking Your Text to New Heights
			Plotted text height
			Calculating non-annotative AutoCAD text height
		Entering Text
		Using the Same Old Line
		Saying More in Multiline Text
			Making it with mText
			mText dons a mask
			Insert Field
			Doing a number on your mText lists
			Line up in columns — now!
			Modifying mText
		Turning On Annotative Objects
		Gather Round the Tables
			Tables have style, too
			Creating and editing tables
		Take Me to Your Leader
			Electing a leader
			Multi options for multileaders
	Chapter 14 Entering New Dimensions
		Adding Dimensions to a Drawing
		Dimensioning the Legacy Way
		A Field Guide to Dimensions
			Self-centered
			Quick, dimension!
			Where, oh where, do my dimensions go?
		The Latest Styles in Dimensioning
			Creating dimension styles
			Adjusting style settings
			Changing styles
		Scaling Dimensions for Output
		Editing Dimensions
			Editing dimension geometry
			Editing dimension text
			Controlling and editing dimension associativity
		And the Correct Layer Is . . .
	Chapter 15 Down the Hatch!
		Creating Hatches
		Hatching Its Own Layer
		Using the Hatches Tab
		Scaling Hatches
			Scaling the easy way
			Annotative versus non-annotative
		Pushing the Boundaries of Hatch
			Adding style
			Hatches from scratch
		Editing Hatch Objects
	Chapter 16 The Plot Thickens
		You Say “Printing,” I Say “Plotting”
		The Plot Quickens
			Plotting success in 16 steps
			Getting with the system
			Configuring your printer
			Preview one, two
			Instead of fit, scale it
		Plotting the Layout of the Land
		Plotting Lineweights and Colors
			Plotting with style
			Plotting through thick and thin
			Plotting in color
		It’s a (Page) Setup!
		Continuing the Plot Dialog
		The Plot Sickens
Part 4 Advancing with AutoCAD
	Chapter 17 The ABCs of Blocks
		Rocking with Blocks
		Creating Block Definitions
		Inserting Blocks
		Attributes: Fill-in-the-Blank Blocks
			Creating attribute definitions
			Defining blocks that contain attribute definitions
			Inserting blocks that contain attribute definitions
			Editing attribute values
			Extracting data
		Exploding Blocks
		Purging Unused Block Definitions
	Chapter 18 Everything from Arrays to Xrefs
		Arraying Associatively
			Comparing the old and new ARray commands
			Hip, hip, array!
			Associatively editing
		Going External
			Becoming attached to your xrefs
			Layer-palooza
			Editing an external reference file
			Forging an xref path
			Managing xrefs
		Blocks, Xrefs, and Drawing Organization
		Mastering the Raster
			Attaching a raster image
			Maintaining your image
		You Say PDF; I Say DWF
		Theme and Variations: Dynamic Blocks
			Now you see it
			Lights! Parameters! Actions!
			Manipulating dynamic blocks
	Chapter 19 Call the Parametrics!
		Maintaining Design Intent
			Defining terms
			Forget about drawing with precision!
			Constrain yourself
		Understanding Geometric Constraints
			Applying a little more constraint
			Using inferred constraints
			You AutoConstrain yourself!
		Understanding Dimensional Constraints
			Practice a little constraint
			Making your drawing even smarter
			Using Parameters Manager
			Dimensions or constraints? Have it both ways!
		Lunchtime!
	Chapter 20 Drawing on the Internet
		The Internet and AutoCAD: An Overview
			You send me
			Prepare it with eTransmit
			Rapid eTransmit
			Increasing cloudiness
			Bad reception?
			Help from Reference Manager
		The Drawing Protection Racket
		Outgoing!
			Autodesk weather forecast: Increasing cloud
			Your head planted firmly in the cloud
		AutoCAD Web and Mobile
Part 5 On a 3D Spree
	Chapter 21 It’s a 3D World After All
		The 3.5 Kinds of 3D Digital Models
		Tools of the 3D Trade
			Warp speed ahead
			Entering the third dimension
			Untying the Ribbon and opening some palettes
		Modeling from Above
			Using 3D coordinate input
			Using point filters
			Object snaps and object snap tracking
		Changing Work Planes
			Displaying the UCS icon
			Adjusting the UCS
			Orbit à go-go
			Taking a spin around the cube
			Grabbing the SteeringWheels
		Visualizing 3D Objects
		On a Render Bender
	Chapter 22 From Drawings to Models
		Is 3D for Me?
		Getting Your 3D Bearings
			Creating a better 3D template
			Seeing the world from new viewpoints
		From Drawing to Modeling in 3D
			Drawing basic 3D objects
			Gaining a solid foundation
			Drawing solid primitives
		Adding the Third Dimension to 2D Objects
			Adding thickness to a 2D object
			Extruding open and closed objects
			Pressing and pulling closed boundaries
			Lofting open and closed objects
			Sweeping open and closed objects along a path
			Revolving open or closed objects around an axis
		Modifying 3D Objects
			Selecting subobjects
			Working with gizmos
			More 3D variants of 2D commands
			Editing solids
	Chapter 23 It’s Showtime!
		Get the 2D Out of Here!
			A different point of view
			Additional 3D tricks
			AutoCAD’s top model
		Visualizing the Digital World
		Adding Lights
			Default lighting
			User-defined lights
			Sunlight
		Creating and Applying Materials
		Defining a Background
		Rendering a 3D Model
	Chapter 24 AutoCAD Plays Well with Others
		Get Out of Here!
			Making a splash with PNG
			PDF to the rescue
			What the DWF?
			3D print
			But wait! There’s more!
		Open Up and Let Me In!
			Editing other drawing file formats
			PDF editing
		Translation, Please!
		The Importance of Being DWG
Part 6 The Part of Tens
	Chapter 25 Ten AutoCAD Resources
		Autodesk Discussion Groups
		Autodesk’s Own Blogs
		Autodesk University
		Autodesk Channel on YouTube
		World Wide (CAD) Web
		Your Local Authorized Training Center
		Your Local User Group
		Autodesk User Groups International
		Books
		Autodesk Feedback Community
	Chapter 26 Ten System Variables to Make Your AutoCAD Life Easier
		APERTURE
		DIMASSOC
		MENUBAR
		MIRRTEXT
		OSNAPZ
		PICKBOX
		REMEMBERFOLDERS
		ROLLOVERTIPS and TOOLTIPS
		TASKBAR
		VISRETAIN
		And the Bonus Round
	Chapter 27 Ten AutoCAD Secrets
		Sheet Sets
		Custom Tool Palettes
		Ribbon Customization
		Toolsets
		Programming Languages
		Vertical Versions
		Language Packs
		Multiple Projects or Clients
		Data Extraction and Linking
		Untying the Ribbon and Drawings
Index
EULA