1. Touring the InterfaceLaunching the application| 00:00 |
After you install AutoCAD 2013 on
your system, you'll find three new icons
| | 00:05 |
out here on the desktop.
| | 00:07 |
Autodesk Design Review is an application
that's a lot like Adobe Acrobat Reader.
| | 00:11 |
You see, in AutoCAD we can print
drawings to a file format called DWF, which
| | 00:16 |
stands for Design Web Format.
| | 00:18 |
The Design Review Program allows us to
open those files such that we can print
| | 00:22 |
them and mark them up.
| | 00:24 |
Using Design Review, you can adopt a
completely paperless workflow while
| | 00:28 |
revising your designs.
| | 00:30 |
Inventor Fusion is a stand-alone
application that offers extended 3D editing
| | 00:35 |
tools that are not found in native AutoCAD.
| | 00:38 |
In the event you're working in 3D,
you can pass your drawings over to Inventor
| | 00:42 |
Fusion and use its larger
tool set to edit the model.
| | 00:45 |
When you're finished, you can pass
the drawings right back into AutoCAD to
| | 00:48 |
finalize and annotate your design.
| | 00:51 |
To launch AutoCAD 2013,
I'm going to double-click the icon.
| | 00:55 |
Let me mention that I'm working with
a fresh install of the application.
| | 00:59 |
For this reason, we are
seeing the Welcome screen pop up.
| | 01:02 |
Before I close this, take a look at some
of the tools we have in this dialogue box.
| | 01:07 |
They're divided up into three
columns: Work, Learn, and Extend.
| | 01:11 |
In the Work column, you'll find
several common file maintenance tools.
| | 01:15 |
For instance, we can
create a new drawing from here,
| | 01:18 |
we can open a drawing, and I can also
use this menu at the bottom to open any of
| | 01:22 |
the recent files that I've been working on.
| | 01:25 |
In the Learn column, you'll find
several videos and tutorials that you can use
| | 01:29 |
to help you learn the application.
| | 01:31 |
For instance, this video
will show us what's new in 2013.
| | 01:36 |
I can use this menu below to go
through several other Getting Started videos,
| | 01:40 |
each of which covers a general topic.
| | 01:43 |
For more information, you can
click the Online Resources link.
| | 01:47 |
This will take you out to the internet
where you'll find several free tutorials.
| | 01:52 |
In the Extend column, you'll find
some tools that will extend the
| | 01:55 |
functionality of AutoCAD 2013.
| | 01:58 |
Let's talk about apps first.
| | 02:00 |
Apps are a lot like the apps
that you use on your smartphone.
| | 02:04 |
If I click Browse For Apps, this will
take me out to the internet where I will
| | 02:08 |
find a collection of free and
purchasable apps that I can add to AutoCAD.
| | 02:13 |
Each of these represents a tool
that AutoCAD doesn't have natively.
| | 02:18 |
Let's talk about Autodesk 360.
This represents the cloud.
| | 02:22 |
Having a cloud account means that you
can save your drawings online such that
| | 02:26 |
you can easily collaborate with others.
| | 02:29 |
If I click the Get Started link, I can
use this website to create a 360 account
| | 02:34 |
or I can sign into an existing account.
| | 02:37 |
Finally, if you're into social media,
you can use these links at the bottom to
| | 02:40 |
access AutoCAD's Facebook and Twitter account.
| | 02:43 |
I'm going to click Close
to close the Welcome screen.
| | 02:46 |
As a side note, if you don't want this
thing popping up each time you launch
| | 02:50 |
AutoCAD, you can simply remove the
check from the Display at Startup setting.
| | 02:55 |
At any point if you'd like to bring
this information back, you can do that by
| | 02:58 |
opening this menu next to the
Help icon and choose Welcome Screen.
| | 03:02 |
Let's address one more thing. Take a
look at the bottom of my screen. This area
| | 03:06 |
is called the command line.
| | 03:08 |
Depending on your installation,
your command line may look a little
| | 03:11 |
different than mine.
| | 03:12 |
That's because the command line is movable.
| | 03:15 |
I'm going to come down and click
and hold on this dotted pattern.
| | 03:19 |
This represents a handle.
| | 03:21 |
I can then pull the command line out,
and I will release it right here at the
| | 03:25 |
bottom-middle of the screen.
| | 03:27 |
Your command line by default may look like this.
| | 03:30 |
If it does, you can leave it
that way. It'll work just fine.
| | 03:33 |
I prefer to have my command line
docked at the bottom of the screen.
| | 03:37 |
To re-dock the command line, I will
click and hold on the handle and I will pull
| | 03:41 |
this down and release.
| | 03:43 |
This is how you'll see my command line
appear throughout this entire series.
| | 03:47 |
Well, now that we've launched the
application and we've taken care of some
| | 03:50 |
initial housekeeping, we're ready to
move on to the next video where we can start
| | 03:54 |
learning about the interface.
| | 03:56 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding model space| 00:00 |
The first part of the interface I would
like to talk about is this large area in
| | 00:04 |
the middle of the screen.
| | 00:05 |
This is called model space and it
represents our virtual drafting board.
| | 00:10 |
As you can see, I have a
drawing opened currently.
| | 00:12 |
I don't expect that you open the same drawing.
| | 00:15 |
The only reason that I have opened
the file is so that we're not
| | 00:17 |
looking at the completely blank interface.
| | 00:20 |
Now the best part about Model
Space is that it's infinite in size.
| | 00:23 |
That means we can draw anything we
want, whether it's a contact lens or a
| | 00:27 |
complete city block,
| | 00:29 |
and we can draw it at true size, or one to one.
| | 00:32 |
This is a complete departure from
the way we did things when we drafted
| | 00:35 |
with paper and pencil.
| | 00:37 |
When we were creating our drawings on
paper, we had to construct our geometry to
| | 00:41 |
a scale such that it would fit
within the confines of the sheet.
| | 00:45 |
Now that we're creating our geometry in
model space, we are no longer restricted
| | 00:49 |
to the boundaries of our page.
| | 00:51 |
We can construct our geometry at true scale.
| | 00:54 |
Model space is more than just a
flat plane; it's also a 3D environment.
| | 00:59 |
Take a look at this tool
in the upper-right corner.
| | 01:02 |
This is called the ViewCube, and as I
pass my cursor around over this block, we
| | 01:07 |
can see several hot spots.
| | 01:09 |
I'm gonna click the hot spot
in the lower-right corner.
| | 01:13 |
When I do, AutoCAD adjusts my view
such that I'm looking at model space from a
| | 01:17 |
southeast isometric view.
| | 01:19 |
I can further change my view by
selecting additional hot spots on this cube.
| | 01:25 |
At this point I'm going to come over
to the navigation bar and click the Zoom
| | 01:29 |
Extents tool to maximize my geometry onscreen.
| | 01:33 |
Another model space tool that's
commonly used in 3D is this series of menus in
| | 01:37 |
the upper-left corner.
| | 01:39 |
If I open the menu in the center,
I can select additional views much like we
| | 01:43 |
can with the ViewCube.
| | 01:45 |
If I select the menu on the right,
I can adjust my visual style, altering the
| | 01:50 |
way my 3D geometry looks onscreen.
| | 01:53 |
As an example, I'm going to select Conceptual,
| | 01:56 |
and you can see the difference.
| | 01:58 |
Let me stress that we are going
to be working in 2D in this title.
| | 02:02 |
The reason why I'm showing you these
additional 3D tools is, in the event you
| | 02:06 |
accidentally change one of them, you can
always set your screen back to the way it was.
| | 02:11 |
That being said, I'm going to change
my visual style back to 2D Wireframe,
| | 02:16 |
and then I'm going to go back to a top
view, the same view where we started.
| | 02:21 |
I'll do that by clicking the
top hot spot on the ViewCube.
| | 02:24 |
And fortunately, the
orientation of my part is correct.
| | 02:28 |
In the event your geometry gets rotated,
you can always use these arrows in the
| | 02:32 |
upper-right corner to rotate
your view in 90-degree increments.
| | 02:37 |
Once again I'll maximize my geometry onscreen.
| | 02:41 |
If we look towards the bottom of the interface,
we can see that model space is actually a tab.
| | 02:45 |
I am going to select the Layout1,
and we'll see what that tab looks like.
| | 02:50 |
This looks very similar to a sheet of
paper; that's because it is a sheet of paper.
| | 02:54 |
AutoCAD allows us to set up these layouts
such that we can print our finished drawings.
| | 03:00 |
Now, if you are not seeing tabs in
your interface, they may be hidden.
| | 03:03 |
I am going to hide mine momentarily
so I can show you how to restore them.
| | 03:08 |
To hide the tabs, I will right-click on one
of them and choose Hide Layout and Model Tabs.
| | 03:14 |
This converts the tabs down to a
couple of icons down here in my status bar.
| | 03:19 |
And these icons work just fine.
| | 03:21 |
I like the functionality of
the tabs a little bit better.
| | 03:24 |
To restore the tabs, I will
right-click on either of these icons and choose
| | 03:28 |
Display Layout and Model Tabs.
| | 03:31 |
When I'm finished, I'll return to
model space by clicking the Model tab.
| | 03:36 |
After seeing model space for the first
time, I'm sure you'll agree that AutoCAD
| | 03:39 |
has taken the concept of a traditional
drafting board to a completely new level.
| | 03:44 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Accessing AutoCAD's tools| 00:00 |
AutoCAD is a very feature-rich
application, meaning it has a lot of tools.
| | 00:05 |
Fortunately, the tools are extremely
well organized and always within easy reach.
| | 00:10 |
Let's take a look.
| | 00:11 |
First of all, we'll talk about
this area at the top of the screen.
| | 00:14 |
This is called the Ribbon, and this is
where we'll access the majority of our commands.
| | 00:19 |
Now, the Ribbon is divided up into these tabs.
| | 00:22 |
To jump from one tab to the other,
you can click on the tab name.
| | 00:26 |
Notice that the tab names are task-based,
which makes it easy to locate commands
| | 00:31 |
when you are searching for them.
| | 00:32 |
For instance, if I needed to insert
something into this drawing, I will select
| | 00:36 |
the Insert tab to access
all of my insertion tools.
| | 00:40 |
If I needed to add some text or
dimensions to this drawing, I would select the
| | 00:45 |
Annotate tab to find those tools.
| | 00:48 |
Think of the Ribbon as being like a
large tool chest and each of these tabs
| | 00:51 |
represents a drawer.
| | 00:54 |
Now the drawer we're going to
use most often is the Home tab.
| | 00:57 |
This is where we have our
general-purpose collection of tools.
| | 01:00 |
Notice the tools on the Home tab
were divided up into smaller panels.
| | 01:05 |
Each panel represents a
smaller collection of related tools.
| | 01:09 |
Using the Draw panel, I can create geometry.
| | 01:12 |
Using the Modify panel,
I could make changes to my geometry.
| | 01:16 |
Using the Annotation panel, I could
create text or dimensions, and so on.
| | 01:21 |
Notice that some of the
panels have a small flyout.
| | 01:23 |
If I click this, it will expand the panel,
giving me access to additional tools.
| | 01:28 |
Once I select my tool, I can move
away and the panel will re-collapse.
| | 01:33 |
In the event you'd like a panel to stay
open, you can always click the push-pin
| | 01:37 |
and it will remain open until such
time as you come back and remove the pin.
| | 01:42 |
I'm going to jump to the Annotate tab
momentarily. Notice that some of these
| | 01:46 |
panels have a small arrow on the right side.
| | 01:49 |
The arrow is an icon, and it means that
there is a dialog box associated with
| | 01:54 |
that collection of tools.
| | 01:56 |
If I click the arrow on the Text panel,
I can access a dialog box, allowing me to
| | 02:00 |
create a new text style.
| | 02:03 |
Once again, I'm going to return to the Home tab.
| | 02:06 |
Now you may notice that my Ribbon
looks a little bit different than yours.
| | 02:09 |
That's because I am recording at a
smaller resolution than what you're probably
| | 02:13 |
using on your desktop monitor.
| | 02:15 |
So some of these panels on the right
side of my screen are in a collapsed state.
| | 02:20 |
This is actually a good thing.
| | 02:22 |
This means that we can run AutoCAD on
a smaller screen, like a netbook and
| | 02:26 |
still have access to all of our tools.
| | 02:29 |
To utilize a collapsed panel, I can
click on it, access the tools, and when I
| | 02:34 |
move away, it will re-collapse.
| | 02:36 |
If we look at the top of the
screen, we can find the toolbar.
| | 02:40 |
This is called the Quick Access Toolbar
and it contains the commands that we use most often.
| | 02:45 |
These are the tools that are so
important we always want these guys onscreen.
| | 02:49 |
Up here we'll find New, Open, Save, Save As.
| | 02:55 |
The Plot command is up here,
as well as Undo and Redo.
| | 02:59 |
One of the nice things about the Quick
Access Toolbar is that we can customize it.
| | 03:03 |
For example, if there is any command in
the Ribbon that you use frequently, you
| | 03:07 |
can add it to the Quick Access
Toolbar by right-clicking on it
| | 03:11 |
and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 03:13 |
And in this case, it looked
like absolutely nothing happened.
| | 03:17 |
Once again, that's
because my screen size is small.
| | 03:20 |
What I'm going to do is click this
arrow to collapse my search area.
| | 03:24 |
That will expand the Quick Access Toolbar,
and we can see the command I added right here.
| | 03:29 |
Now, if you're like me, once you add
a command to the Quick Access Toolbar,
| | 03:33 |
you'll ask yourself, You know what,
how do I take that back out again?
| | 03:37 |
To remove a command, you can right
click on it and select Remove from
| | 03:41 |
Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 03:43 |
I'm going to re-expand my search area
to put things back the way they were.
| | 03:47 |
And let's talk about one more
place where we can find tools.
| | 03:50 |
That is right here.
| | 03:52 |
If I click this letter A, this
will open up the Application menu.
| | 03:55 |
This gives me access to
my file maintenance tools:
| | 03:59 |
New, Open, Save, Save As, Export.
I can print from here. This is where I can
| | 04:05 |
access my drawing utilities.
| | 04:07 |
This is where I can adjust my units or
I can check my drawing for errors, purge
| | 04:11 |
unused items from the drawing,
or I can recover a corrupt file.
| | 04:16 |
Note that several of the icons that we
see in this menu are also duplicated up
| | 04:20 |
here in the Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 04:22 |
Probably the most helpful feature of the
application menu is this search area at the top.
| | 04:28 |
In the event you're migrating from an
older version of AutoCAD, you can use this
| | 04:31 |
search area to find the
command you're looking for.
| | 04:34 |
As an example, I'm going to type Plot and
you can see that AutoCAD is showing me every
| | 04:39 |
place on the interface where that
command, or any related command, can be found.
| | 04:45 |
Plot can be found in the Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 04:48 |
It can also be found in the application menu.
| | 04:51 |
It's also on the Ribbon.
| | 04:53 |
It's on the Output tab.
| | 04:54 |
I could navigate right there if I
want to, or I could click this hyperlink
| | 04:59 |
and AutoCAD will take me there.
| | 05:01 |
We can find the Plot command right over here.
| | 05:04 |
Let's go back to the Home tab.
| | 05:07 |
As you can see, AutoCAD
certainly has no shortage of tools.
| | 05:10 |
And, with its great use of
organization, AutoCAD keeps every tool within
| | 05:14 |
easy reach.
| | 05:16 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Leveraging dockable palettes| 00:00 |
Another major interface
item AutoCAD uses are palettes.
| | 00:04 |
Palettes give us access to commands,
settings, drawing content, or calculation
| | 00:09 |
tools, among other things.
| | 00:11 |
Palettes are also notorious for taking
up large amounts of screen real estate.
| | 00:15 |
In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to optimize our palettes.
| | 00:19 |
Let's start by looking at some of
the palettes that we have available.
| | 00:22 |
To do that, I'll go to the View tab,
and, if I come right down here to the
| | 00:26 |
Palettes panel, I will find an icon for each of
the palettes that I can display in the interface.
| | 00:32 |
One of the palettes that I use
frequently is the Properties palette.
| | 00:36 |
This guy allows us to change the
properties of any selected object.
| | 00:40 |
To turn it on, I'll click the icon.
| | 00:42 |
Note that you can also toggle the
display of this palette using the
| | 00:46 |
keyboard shortcut Ctrl+1.
| | 00:48 |
I'll tap Ctrl+1 to turn it off.
Ctrl+1 again to turn it on.
| | 00:53 |
Just to give you an
example of how this tool works,
| | 00:55 |
I'm going to click to select this circle,
| | 00:59 |
and if we look to the palette, we
can see all of the settings that are
| | 01:01 |
associated with that geometry.
| | 01:04 |
Right here I can see the radius.
| | 01:06 |
Maybe the radius of this
circle was supposed to be 3.
| | 01:09 |
I'm going to click on this value.
| | 01:10 |
I'll type 3 and I'll hit Enter.
| | 01:12 |
And notice the circle instantly changes.
| | 01:15 |
When I'm finished, I'll hit Escape.
| | 01:17 |
So you can see this palette is very handy.
| | 01:19 |
It would be nice to have
this guy available all the time.
| | 01:22 |
Unfortunately, it's quite large.
| | 01:24 |
Let's see some of the ways we can
apply palettes to our interface.
| | 01:28 |
I'm going to start by clicking and holding on
this title bar. This is kind of like the handle.
| | 01:33 |
I can use this to drag the palette around.
| | 01:35 |
If I get this guy close to the edge of
the screen, you can see the shape changes.
| | 01:40 |
If I release my mouse button at this point,
it will dock the palette to the interface.
| | 01:45 |
Now when the palette's in this state,
I can click and hold on this edge and I
| | 01:49 |
can drag left and right to
change the width of the palette.
| | 01:52 |
Now this isn't bad, but it is still
taking up quite a bit of room.
| | 01:56 |
I'm going to try something else.
| | 01:58 |
I'm going to move my cursor up and
click and hold on the title bar again.
| | 02:01 |
I'll drag this guy away, and then I'll release.
| | 02:05 |
This time I'm going to right-click on
the title bar and I'll select Anchor
| | 02:10 |
Left or Anchor Right, depending on which
side of the interface you want to go to.
| | 02:15 |
I'll select Anchor Left, and this
collapses the palette down to the margin on
| | 02:19 |
the left side of my screen.
| | 02:21 |
Now, if I want to access the
settings, I can hover over the margin,
| | 02:25 |
utilize the tools, and then when I move
away, it will collapse. Now this is good.
| | 02:31 |
I can even take it one step further.
| | 02:33 |
If I right-click on the margin and
choose Icons Only, I can collapse the palette
| | 02:38 |
down to a single icon.
| | 02:40 |
Now if I want to access the tools, I hover
over the icon, use the tools, and move away.
| | 02:46 |
Having a palette collapsed down
this small means that I could have
| | 02:49 |
several palettes available on my screen while
taking up the absolute least amount of space.
| | 02:54 |
In the event I needed this guy to stay
open for any length of time, I'll move
| | 02:58 |
up and expand it, and then I'll click the
Auto Hide button to turn that feature off.
| | 03:03 |
That converts the palette
back into a docked state.
| | 03:06 |
To convert it back into an icon, I will
hover over the name bar and I'll click
| | 03:10 |
the Minimize button.
| | 03:12 |
Knowing what we know now, I'm going
to add one more popular palette to my
| | 03:15 |
interface, that is the calculator.
| | 03:18 |
The icon is right here.
| | 03:20 |
As a side note, the keyboard
shortcut for the calculator is Ctrl+8.
| | 03:24 |
I'll add this guy to my interface
by right-clicking on the name bar and
| | 03:27 |
I'll choose Anchor Left.
| | 03:29 |
And this guy is now
available whenever I need him.
| | 03:32 |
When it comes to managing your
palette, nothing beats the Anchor feature.
| | 03:36 |
Anchoring allows you to squeeze all of
the functionality of a palette into a
| | 03:40 |
single icon onscreen.
| | 03:42 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving a workspace| 00:00 |
Everyone understands the concept of a workbench.
| | 00:03 |
A good workbench will have all of your tools
arranged so that they're within easy reach.
| | 00:07 |
AutoCAD allows us to do the
same thing with our interface.
| | 00:11 |
In this lesson we're going to talk
about the concept of a workspace.
| | 00:14 |
A workspace is a saved
configuration of tools onscreen.
| | 00:18 |
This means we can arrange our AutoCAD
tools however we like and then save their
| | 00:22 |
location as a workspace.
| | 00:25 |
Now, workspaces can be found up here
in the Quick Access Toolbar, and mine
| | 00:29 |
cannot be seen just yet.
| | 00:31 |
That's because I'm recording at
a smaller resolution than normal.
| | 00:34 |
What I'm going to do is click this
arrow to collapse the search box, and we can
| | 00:38 |
see the workspace flyout right here.
| | 00:41 |
Now, AutoCAD comes with
several workspaces pre-installed.
| | 00:45 |
I'm going to open the menu.
| | 00:47 |
By default, we're using Drafting & Annotation.
| | 00:49 |
This is what you would use
for your typical 2D work.
| | 00:53 |
I'm going to select 3D Basics.
| | 00:56 |
And notice that my interface is now
populated with basic 3D modeling tools.
| | 01:02 |
Let's open the menu again.
| | 01:03 |
This time I'll choose 3D Modeling, and
now we can see a full collection of 3D
| | 01:08 |
modeling and rendering tools.
| | 01:11 |
If I'm feeling nostalgic, I can
open the menu and select the AutoCAD
| | 01:15 |
Classic workspace and I'll return to a more
traditional AutoCAD where we used toolbars.
| | 01:22 |
Let's return to the
Drafting & Annotation workspace.
| | 01:26 |
Now, to create a workspace, we start by
organizing our tools where we want them onscreen.
| | 01:30 |
For instance, I'm going to
click and hold on the Draw panel
| | 01:35 |
and I'll pull this guy out into model
space and I'll place him right here.
| | 01:39 |
If you're someone who has two
monitors, this is a great idea:
| | 01:42 |
you can drag these panels over to your second
monitor and then we can save them over there.
| | 01:47 |
I'm going to drag out one more.
| | 01:49 |
I like to adjust my properties frequently,
so I'll drag this panel out, and I'll
| | 01:54 |
place it right here.
| | 01:55 |
Let me add one more thing.
| | 01:57 |
I'm going to jump over to the View tab,
and I'm going to turn on the Properties
| | 02:01 |
palette--that guy's also important.
| | 02:03 |
Currently he is anchored to
the left side of my screen.
| | 02:08 |
Let's return to the Home tab.
| | 02:10 |
At this point, I have all the tools on my
screen the way I like to see them when I work.
| | 02:15 |
To save this as a workspace,
I'm going to open the menu, I'll come down and
| | 02:19 |
choose Save Current As,
and then I'll give my workspace a name.
| | 02:23 |
I'm going to call this Jeff's 2D Workspace.
| | 02:28 |
Then I'll click Save.
| | 02:32 |
Now that this has been saved, I can
always go back and select any other
| | 02:36 |
configuration of tools, and then I can
easily return things by going back to
| | 02:41 |
my saved workspace.
| | 02:44 |
Knowing this, you can create a special
tool arrangement for general-purpose work.
| | 02:48 |
Likewise, you could have additional
workspaces for specific tasks, like
| | 02:52 |
annotation or plan production.
| | 02:54 |
Now maybe I'd like to make a
change to a saved workspace.
| | 02:57 |
For instance, since I'm working in a
single-monitor environment, having these
| | 03:01 |
extra panels out onscreen, it's kind
of eating up some of my real estate.
| | 03:05 |
So I'm going to put these
panels back the way they were.
| | 03:08 |
To do that, I will place my cursor over a panel.
| | 03:11 |
This will expose the two little
wings that pop out on the side.
| | 03:14 |
I'm going to click the icon in the upper-right.
| | 03:17 |
This returns the panel to the
Ribbon, and we'll do the same thing with
| | 03:21 |
my Properties panel.
| | 03:23 |
And now that I've updated my workspace,
I would like to save these changes.
| | 03:27 |
To do that I'll open the workspace menu.
| | 03:29 |
I'll choose Save Current As, and
then I will overwrite my original.
| | 03:36 |
Using workspaces, you can always
have the right tools onscreen to
| | 03:39 |
accomplish your tasks.
| | 03:41 |
Having multiple workspaces means you
can easily switch between tool sets with a
| | 03:45 |
couple clicks of the mouse.
| | 03:47 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Customizing AutoCAD's preferences| 00:00 |
In addition to being able to customize
the location of tools onscreen, we can
| | 00:04 |
also customize our
overall AutoCAD user experience.
| | 00:08 |
In this lesson, we're going to look
at how to adjust AutoCAD's preferences,
| | 00:12 |
otherwise known as options.
| | 00:14 |
To open the Options dialog box,
I'm going to open the application menu and I'll
| | 00:18 |
come down and choose Options.
| | 00:19 |
Now since we're just starting out,
we're not going to be making extensive
| | 00:23 |
changes to the preferences at this time.
| | 00:26 |
The goal in this lesson is to show you
where these setting can be found, how
| | 00:29 |
they're organized, and how they work.
| | 00:32 |
This way, as you gain more experience
using AutoCAD, and you'd like to make a
| | 00:35 |
few changes, you'll know
exactly what you need to do.
| | 00:39 |
First of all, notice the Options
dialog box is organized into tabs, and the tab
| | 00:44 |
names are task-based, much
like they are on the Ribbon.
| | 00:48 |
On each tab are a large number of
settings, and these settings are further
| | 00:52 |
organized into smaller groups,
much like the panels on the Ribbon.
| | 00:56 |
If you have a question regarding a
specific setting, simply hover over it and
| | 01:00 |
AutoCAD will give you more information
about what it does. Let's make a change.
| | 01:04 |
I'm going to jump over to the Display tab
and if you look over here in model space,
| | 01:09 |
you can see that I have
scrollbars that are displayed onscreen.
| | 01:13 |
There are better ways to pan our view
these days, so the scrollbars are not needed.
| | 01:18 |
I'm going to come up to the Window
Elements group, and I'm going to remove the
| | 01:22 |
check from the Display scrollbar
setting, and I'll come down and click Apply,
| | 01:26 |
and notice that the scrollbars go away.
| | 01:29 |
As an example, I'd like to make another change.
| | 01:31 |
Maybe I would like to change the
background color of model space.
| | 01:36 |
To do that, I'm going to click the
Colors button, and notice that you can control
| | 01:40 |
the color of just about
every interface item in AutoCAD.
| | 01:44 |
First of all, you select the context.
| | 01:46 |
In this case, 2D model space is
selected for me, and that's perfect.
| | 01:50 |
Then you can come over and select the
interface element that you'd like to change.
| | 01:55 |
Uniform background is selected.
Once againc that's perfect.
| | 01:58 |
I will then come over and choose a new color.
| | 02:01 |
I'm going to choose red, I'll click
Apply and Close, and then I'll click Okay.
| | 02:06 |
Now, maybe red isn't the
optimum background color for drafting,
| | 02:10 |
but it's important to note that you
could use this color if you wanted to.
| | 02:14 |
Let's return to Options, and I'd like
to put things back the way they were.
| | 02:20 |
To do that, I'll click the Colors
button. And you may wonder if you get in and
| | 02:23 |
change a lot of these things, you know,
maybe do you have to write the numbers
| | 02:26 |
down so you can remember in the
event you'd like to restore them?
| | 02:29 |
That's not the case. You don't
have to worry; AutoCAD will do the
| | 02:32 |
remembering for you.
| | 02:34 |
Over here on the right side, I have
several buttons I can use to put things
| | 02:37 |
back the way they were.
| | 02:38 |
In this case, I've only changed one thing,
so I'm going to restore the current element.
| | 02:44 |
In the event I changed several things
within this context, I could restore
| | 02:48 |
everything by clicking the Restore
current context button. I can also
| | 02:52 |
restore all contexts.
| | 02:54 |
Let's finish by clicking Apply and Close.
| | 02:57 |
I'm going to jump over to
the Open and Save tab now.
| | 03:00 |
If we look right here, we can see that
AutoCAD by default is going to save the
| | 03:04 |
drawings in the 2013 format.
| | 03:07 |
If I click the flyout, notice I can
set AutoCAD to automatically save as an
| | 03:12 |
older release if I want to.
| | 03:14 |
Now be aware, if you do save your
drawings as an older release, your drawing
| | 03:18 |
will be permanently converted such that it
will display properly in the older version.
| | 03:23 |
Since 2013 represents a brand-new
file format, the only way to open these
| | 03:27 |
drawings using an older version of AutoCAD
will be to save the drawings as an older release.
| | 03:32 |
So keep this in mind if
you want to save backwards.
| | 03:35 |
Let's make one more change.
| | 03:37 |
I'm going to jump over to the 3D
Modeling tab. And if we look right down here,
| | 03:41 |
you can see that we have a
display setting for the ViewCube.
| | 03:45 |
The ViewCube shows up
right here in model space.
| | 03:48 |
Now if you are only going to be working
in 2D and you don't see yourself needing
| | 03:52 |
the ViewCube, you can remove the check
from this setting, click Apply, and he
| | 03:57 |
will never bother you again.
| | 03:59 |
Once again, I'm going to restore
my settings by rechecking that box.
| | 04:03 |
I'll click Apply, and when I'm
finished fine-tuning AutoCAD to my needs, I'll
| | 04:08 |
come down here and click OK.
| | 04:11 |
In this lesson we learned that AutoCAD
can be greatly customized by adjusting
| | 04:15 |
the settings in the Options dialog box.
| | 04:17 |
As you become more comfortable using
AutoCAD, I would encourage you to revisit
| | 04:21 |
these settings, and with a little
effort, you can personalize your version of
| | 04:25 |
AutoCAD to exactly match
the way you like to work.
| | 04:28 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Monitoring the status bar| 00:00 |
With AutoCAD's large collection of
tools and preferences, we need a way to
| | 00:04 |
identify the state of
many common drawing settings.
| | 00:07 |
This is where the status bar comes in.
| | 00:09 |
The status bar is located at the
bottom of the screen, and it displays
| | 00:13 |
information about the drawing
environment as well as the current state of many
| | 00:17 |
of our drawing settings. Let's take a look.
| | 00:20 |
First of all, this area over here on the
left shows us the location of our cursor.
| | 00:25 |
As I move around onscreen you
can see those coordinates changing.
| | 00:29 |
Next, we have a row of icons that
represents several common drawing settings.
| | 00:34 |
If you hover over an icon, AutoCAD will
tell you the setting that it controls.
| | 00:39 |
Note that you can also see the
keyboard shortcut there as well.
| | 00:42 |
Now, each of these icons is a toggle:
| | 00:44 |
if you click it once, you
can turn the setting off;
| | 00:46 |
click it again, you can turn it on.
| | 00:48 |
The icons that are light blue are
the ones that are currently turned on.
| | 00:52 |
Now, I'd like to make a change.
| | 00:54 |
I'm going to move over here to the
Grid toggle, also controlled using F7.
| | 00:58 |
I'm going to click the icon
once to turn the grid off;
| | 01:02 |
I'll click it again to turn it back on.
| | 01:04 |
We'll talk about the specific
functions of several of these guys later.
| | 01:09 |
For right now, I'd like you to turn
all of them off, with the exception of
| | 01:13 |
grid and transparency.
| | 01:15 |
This way, as we run through the tutorials,
your AutoCAD should function similar to mine.
| | 01:20 |
Later on, once we have talked about
the settings, you can determine which
| | 01:23 |
ones you would like to use, but
for the time being, let's just limit
| | 01:27 |
ourselves to these two settings.
| | 01:29 |
Moving down the status bar a little
bit further, we will find an icon that we
| | 01:32 |
can use to jump back and forth between a
model space viewport and a Layout tab.
| | 01:36 |
I've got some buttons here I can use to
jump back and forth in between layouts or
| | 01:41 |
between open drawings.
| | 01:43 |
Right here I have some settings that
show me the current annotation size as well
| | 01:47 |
as visibility state for my
annotative objects like text or dimensions.
| | 01:53 |
I have a workspace title down here, just one
more place where I can select a new tool set.
| | 01:58 |
Using this padlock I can lock my interface.
| | 02:02 |
If I select this, you can see we
have various levels of locking.
| | 02:06 |
I'm going to come down to All and
choose Locked. At this point, you can
| | 02:10 |
see that I can no longer drag panels into
model space, nor can I drag my palettes onscreen.
| | 02:17 |
Essentially the interface
is completely locked down.
| | 02:20 |
I'm going to click the padlock again.
| | 02:23 |
We'll put things back the way they were.
| | 02:26 |
The icon right next to the
padlock is displaying whether hardware
| | 02:29 |
acceleration is turned on.
| | 02:31 |
If you are using an Autodesk-certified
video card, you will want this setting turned on.
| | 02:36 |
If you are not or if you are having
problems with the display on your screen,
| | 02:41 |
you can click this icon and you
can turn hardware acceleration off.
| | 02:45 |
Sometimes that will improve
the performance of your video.
| | 02:48 |
The next icon is showing me that I
am working with a trusted DWG file.
| | 02:52 |
In other words, this is a file that
was saved from an Autodesk product.
| | 02:56 |
The light bulb is letting me know if I
have any items that are currently hidden
| | 02:59 |
from display onscreen.
| | 03:02 |
And finally I have an icon down on
the end called Clean Screen, also
| | 03:06 |
toggled using Ctrl+0.
| | 03:08 |
If I click this, AutoCAD will hide the
display of many of my interface items and
| | 03:13 |
allow me to view my drawing
as large as possible onscreen.
| | 03:17 |
This is a nice tool if you are having a
meeting with a consultant and you would
| | 03:20 |
like to display your drawings onscreen.
| | 03:22 |
I'm going to move back down. I'll click Clean
Screen again to put things back the way they were.
| | 03:28 |
As you can see, the status bar is
the place you will be checking often.
| | 03:31 |
It's a one-stop shop for accessing
popular drawing and environment settings, not
| | 03:36 |
to mention allowing us to identify
the state of those settings at a glance.
| | 03:40 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding the anatomy of a command| 00:00 |
At first glance, AutoCAD's tool
set may seem a little intimidating.
| | 00:04 |
Fortunately, no matter which tool
you select, they all work the same way.
| | 00:08 |
In this lesson, we're going to
look at the anatomy of a command.
| | 00:12 |
For this example, I'm going
to launch the Line Command.
| | 00:15 |
To do that I'll move up to the draw
panel and I'll click the Line icon.
| | 00:19 |
Now, take a look at the command line.
| | 00:21 |
This is where AutoCAD speaks to us
and tells us what it needs to complete
| | 00:25 |
the selected command.
| | 00:26 |
I'm going to left-click to pick a
point onscreen, and then I'm going to pick
| | 00:31 |
a few more points here, and then we'll
come down and look at the command line again.
| | 00:36 |
Notice that in addition to AutoCAD's
request for another point, we also have
| | 00:40 |
some suboptions here between the brackets.
| | 00:43 |
Suboptions are additional functions
available inside an active command.
| | 00:48 |
There are three ways to access a suboption.
| | 00:51 |
You can pick your favorite. One way is by
typing the capitalized letter of the option.
| | 00:56 |
For example, if I wanted to undo one
segment, I could type U and hit Enter.
| | 01:02 |
Another way to access these options is
by right-clicking, and you'll find the
| | 01:06 |
options right here in the menu.
| | 01:08 |
Let's click Undo to back up one more segment.
| | 01:11 |
Probably the easiest way to access
the options--and this is the brand new
| | 01:15 |
AutoCAD 2013--just come down here to the
command line and click them. These guys
| | 01:20 |
will now act like hyperlinks.
| | 01:22 |
I am going to pick few more
points from my line segment.
| | 01:25 |
When I am finished, I will come
over and click Close to close my shape.
| | 01:30 |
Now let's say I'd like to
like to draw another line.
| | 01:32 |
If I press spacebar or tap the Enter key,
AutoCAD will relaunch the previous command.
| | 01:38 |
This can be a little quicker than
moving back and clicking the icon.
| | 01:41 |
Let me work on another line segment here.
| | 01:45 |
To exit an active command, press your
Escape key and AutoCAD will halt that
| | 01:50 |
command in its tracks.
| | 01:52 |
Every AutoCAD command is going
to work in a similar fashion.
| | 01:56 |
The best advice that I can give you is to
keep an eye down here at the command line.
| | 02:00 |
Remember, AutoCAD will
always tell you what it needs.
| | 02:03 |
Most students who struggle at first do
so because they try to give AutoCAD one
| | 02:07 |
thing when it's asking for something else.
| | 02:10 |
Once you get comfortable with the
software, you'll be able to anticipate
| | 02:14 |
AutoCAD's requests, and soon your
interaction with the program will
| | 02:17 |
become second nature.
| | 02:19 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Accessing help| 00:00 |
Whenever you're learning a new
application, especially one as large as AutoCAD,
| | 00:04 |
you'll probably have a lot of questions.
| | 00:06 |
Fortunately, AutoCAD goes out of its
way to help you find the answers you need.
| | 00:10 |
In this lesson we're going to take
a look at AutoCAD's Help feature.
| | 00:14 |
Now, I know that whenever I am
learning a new application one of the first
| | 00:17 |
questions I have is, What does this icon do?
| | 00:19 |
For example, I'm going to move up
and place my cursor over this icon.
| | 00:24 |
When I do, AutoCAD will tell me the
command that that icon launches and if I
| | 00:28 |
wait a little bit longer, AutoCAD will
give me even more information in the form
| | 00:32 |
of an extended tooltip.
| | 00:34 |
Now if I need to know even more about this
command, take a look at the bottom of the tooltip.
| | 00:39 |
If I press F1 at this point, I can
bring up context-sensitive help for
| | 00:43 |
this specific command.
| | 00:45 |
From here I can find out everything about
where the command can be accessed in the interface.
| | 00:50 |
I can find a summary of the command.
| | 00:53 |
If I drag down further, I can find a
description of each and every one of the suboptions.
| | 00:58 |
In fact, if I take this all the way to
the bottom, I can find information about
| | 01:02 |
commands that are related to the one
that I selected. Let's close this.
| | 01:07 |
Now, this is nice,
| | 01:08 |
but what if we have a question if
we're in the middle of a command?
| | 01:11 |
As an example, I'm going to move up and
launch Circle, and if we look down here
| | 01:16 |
at the command line, we can see
that there's a suboption of 3p.
| | 01:20 |
Well anytime you have a command that is
active, if you press the F1 key, AutoCAD
| | 01:25 |
will bring up context-
sensitive help for the active command.
| | 01:30 |
At this point I can drag down until I
find that suboption, and I can see that 3p
| | 01:36 |
allows me to create a three-point circle.
| | 01:38 |
When I'm finished using the
documentation, I can close the dialog box
| | 01:42 |
and AutoCAD picks up right where it
left off. And I will talk about the
| | 01:46 |
circle command later.
| | 01:47 |
For right now I'm going to
press Escape to cancel out.
| | 01:50 |
All right. Let's talk about where we go
if we have a broader question, about a
| | 01:54 |
topic like plotting, for instance.
| | 01:57 |
For that, we can use the search
box at the top of the interface.
| | 02:00 |
I'm going to click in here and then I
can enter some keywords or a phrase.
| | 02:06 |
I'm going to type "plotting" as an
example and I'll hit Enter, and when I do,
| | 02:10 |
AutoCAD will search the help
documentation, as well as the user guide and
| | 02:14 |
developer information,
| | 02:16 |
to try and get me as much
information about my key words as possible.
| | 02:20 |
As you can see, I have
several options to choose from.
| | 02:23 |
From here I can further navigate through
the documentation using these hyperlinks.
| | 02:28 |
In the event you'd like more general-
purpose help, you can use the Help icon in
| | 02:32 |
the upper-right corner of the interface.
| | 02:35 |
This will bring up the AutoCAD Exchange
window where we can find some tutorials
| | 02:40 |
as well as sample content.
| | 02:42 |
There are also some additional
resources here you may find interesting.
| | 02:46 |
In the event you have a very specific
question, you may want to open that up to
| | 02:49 |
the Autodesk community.
| | 02:51 |
From the Exchange window, we have
direct access to the Autodesk discussion
| | 02:55 |
groups, Autodesk blogs, and the
Autodesk user group international website.
| | 03:01 |
When it comes right down right to it,
the time it takes to learn a new program
| | 03:04 |
depends on how fast you get
answers to your questions.
| | 03:07 |
Fortunately, when using AutoCAD, if
you do have a question, help is not far away.
| | 03:12 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Managing DrawingsOpening an AutoCAD drawing| 00:00 |
Chances are when you first start using
AutoCAD the drawings you'll be working
| | 00:03 |
with most will be ones that
were created by someone else.
| | 00:07 |
In this lesson, we'll look at
several ways we can open and access
| | 00:10 |
existing AutoCAD drawings.
| | 00:12 |
As you can see, I've just launched
my AutoCAD and I'm sitting in the
| | 00:15 |
default Drawing1 file.
| | 00:17 |
To open a new drawing, I'm going to
open the application menu and I'll come
| | 00:21 |
down and click Open.
| | 00:23 |
This brings up the Select File dialog
box where I can navigate my hard drive
| | 00:27 |
and choose the file that I'd like to open.
| | 00:29 |
The drawing that I'm interested in
is in the Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:33 |
Now I placed my exercise files on the desktop,
| | 00:36 |
so I'm going to click this desktop
shortcut icon in the left margin.
| | 00:41 |
I will then open the Exercise Files
folder, and then I will open the Managing
| | 00:45 |
Draw folder, and right here I can see a listing
of all of the files that are in that directory.
| | 00:50 |
Pay note to the icon next to the file names.
| | 00:53 |
This represents that the file is a DWG file.
| | 00:57 |
DWG is the default file
extension for all AutoCAD drawings.
| | 01:01 |
I'd like to open the Hose Bib
drawing. I'll do that by selecting it.
| | 01:05 |
When I do, I can see a nice preview of
that file over here on the right side.
| | 01:09 |
I will then come down and click Open
to open this drawing in the interface.
| | 01:13 |
As you can see, opening an AutoCAD
drawing is very similar to how we would open
| | 01:16 |
a file in a traditional
Windows-based application.
| | 01:20 |
Let's close this. I'll do that by
clicking the X over here in the corner.
| | 01:24 |
I'm not going to save changes.
And I'm going to open another drawing.
| | 01:28 |
This time we'll look at some of the
additional options we have available.
| | 01:32 |
To open my next drawing, I'm going
to use the shortcut icon here on the
| | 01:35 |
Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 01:37 |
Notice that AutoCAD remembers
the last directory we were in.
| | 01:42 |
Just for a second here, I'm going to
click the desktop shortcut again because
| | 01:45 |
I'd like to talk about the
Exercise Files folder for just a second.
| | 01:49 |
This is a directory that we
will be accessing frequently.
| | 01:52 |
Anytime you have a folder that
you're going to be jumping in and out of on a
| | 01:55 |
regular basis, it's not a bad idea
to turn that folder into a shortcut.
| | 02:00 |
To do that, simply click, hold, drag,
and drop the folder over here in the
| | 02:04 |
Favorite Places list.
| | 02:06 |
From now on, no matter where you are
on your hard drive, you can always get
| | 02:10 |
access to that folder by clicking this icon.
| | 02:14 |
Anytime you feel your shortcut is no
longer necessary, you can always right-
| | 02:17 |
click on it and choose remove.
| | 02:20 |
I'm going to jump back into Chapter 2,
and this time I'd like to open the
| | 02:23 |
mech_part drawing.
| | 02:25 |
I'll do that by selecting it and clicking Open.
| | 02:30 |
Once again, I'll move over and
close this file. I won't save changes.
| | 02:35 |
And I'd like to talk about one more
shortcut we have available for accessing
| | 02:39 |
our AutoCAD drawings.
| | 02:40 |
We can find it in the application menu.
| | 02:43 |
Note that if the Recent Documents button
is pushed down we can see a listing of
| | 02:47 |
the last nine drawings that we've accessed.
| | 02:50 |
If you hover over a drawing,
AutoCAD will show you a nice preview.
| | 02:53 |
Wait a little bit longer, you can get
some additional information about that file.
| | 02:57 |
Note the push-pin down
here at the end of the line.
| | 03:00 |
If I click this, it will prevent this
line from cycling down off the list as
| | 03:04 |
additional files are opened.
| | 03:06 |
So, if a drawing that you are in and
out of frequently, it's not a bad idea to
| | 03:10 |
pin it to this list.
| | 03:11 |
For now, I'm going to remove the push-pin
and I would like to reopen the Hose Bib file.
| | 03:16 |
I'll do that by clicking on the file name.
| | 03:20 |
More often than not, you'll begin
your AutoCAD career working on files that
| | 03:23 |
were provided by others.
| | 03:25 |
By taking advantage of the Recent
Documents list and the Favorite Places list,
| | 03:29 |
you can get instant access
to the files you use most.
| | 03:32 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding mouse functions| 00:00 |
Back in the old days construction
drawings were created using a pencil.
| | 00:04 |
Today these drawings are created using a mouse.
| | 00:07 |
In this lesson, we're going to explore
how we can interact with AutoCAD using
| | 00:10 |
the buttons on our mouse.
| | 00:12 |
First, we'll talk about the
left mouse button, or a left-click.
| | 00:16 |
A left-click is used to make a selection.
| | 00:19 |
As an example, I'm going to
left-click on this circle to select it.
| | 00:23 |
If I click on additional items,
I can select those as well.
| | 00:27 |
To deselect objects, I'll press the Escape key.
| | 00:31 |
Now if you're interested in selecting
multiple objects, you can click them one
| | 00:35 |
at a time like I just did,
| | 00:36 |
or you can select them using a window.
| | 00:38 |
For example, if I left-click out in
space here and I move my cursor to the
| | 00:44 |
right, this is called a window selection.
| | 00:47 |
With a window selection AutoCAD will
select all of the objects that fall
| | 00:50 |
completely within the window.
| | 00:53 |
In fact, as I create this window, you can
see those objects are highlighted onscreen.
| | 00:58 |
I'm going to click again to
finish the window and you can see the
| | 01:00 |
resulting selection.
| | 01:02 |
When I'm finished, I'll press
Escape to deselect these objects.
| | 01:06 |
We also have another type of
window selection available.
| | 01:09 |
If I click over here on the other
side of the object and pull to the left,
| | 01:13 |
notice the window looks different.
| | 01:15 |
Once you click onscreen, if you pull
to the right, you get a standard window.
| | 01:18 |
If you pull to the left, you get
what's called a crossing window.
| | 01:22 |
With a crossing window, AutoCAD is
going to select all of the objects that fall
| | 01:25 |
completely within the window
or cross over the boundary.
| | 01:28 |
And same as before, as a courtesy,
AutoCAD is highlighting those objects onscreen.
| | 01:33 |
I'm going to click to finish my window,
and you can see the resulting selection.
| | 01:37 |
I will then press Escape
to deselect the objects.
| | 01:41 |
So, as a general rule thumb, your left
mouse button is used to make selections.
| | 01:45 |
Now, let's talk about the right
mouse button, or a right-click.
| | 01:49 |
A right-click is used to bring up
the menu, and this menu will change
| | 01:53 |
depending on when and where you right-click.
| | 01:55 |
For instance, If I right-click over a
tool in the Ribbon, I will find some
| | 02:00 |
options that are specific to
that tool and to the Ribbon.
| | 02:03 |
To close the menu, you may press Escape key.
| | 02:07 |
If I right-click over the ViewCube, I'll find
some options that are specific to the ViewCube.
| | 02:12 |
Right-click over a layout tab, you'll find
options that are specific to layout tabs.
| | 02:17 |
If I select an object and right-click,
I'll find several tools here that I can
| | 02:22 |
use to make modifications to that object.
| | 02:25 |
Now, I'm not interested in making any
changes at this time, so I'm going to press
| | 02:29 |
the Escape key twice: once to close
the menu and once to deselect the object.
| | 02:33 |
So the general rule of thumb is, your
right mouse button is used to access a menu.
| | 02:39 |
You'll find as you continue to work
with AutoCAD these mouse functions will
| | 02:42 |
become second nature.
| | 02:44 |
You may even wonder how it was
possible to produce drawings in the old days
| | 02:47 |
using only a pencil.
| | 02:49 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Zooming, panning, and regenning| 00:00 |
AutoCAD drawings come in all shapes and sizes.
| | 00:03 |
Depending on the discipline,
a drawing can represent anything from a tiny
| | 00:06 |
mechanical part to an entire city block.
| | 00:09 |
With such large variations in size,
it's important to know how to navigate your
| | 00:13 |
way around in a file.
| | 00:15 |
In this lesson, we're going to
look at the Pan and Zoom tools.
| | 00:19 |
On my screen I have a drawing that
represents a portion of a large building.
| | 00:23 |
Let's say I'd like to zoom in and take a
closer look at the conference room area.
| | 00:27 |
To do that, I'll place my cursor
inside the room and then I'll roll my
| | 00:31 |
mouse wheel forward.
| | 00:32 |
When I do, notice that AutoCAD centers
the zooming on the location of the cursor.
| | 00:37 |
If I roll the wheel backward, I can zoom out.
| | 00:40 |
Now, what if I want to
adjust my view from side to side?
| | 00:43 |
To do that, I'll hold the mouse wheel down.
| | 00:46 |
Remember, the mouse wheel is also a button.
| | 00:48 |
Once the wheel is pushed down, I can drag
left and right to pan the view of my drawing.
| | 00:52 |
In fact, panning an AutoCAD drawing is
much like panning an Adobe Acrobat document.
| | 00:58 |
Using the Pan and Zoom tools together, I can
quickly navigate to any point in the drawing.
| | 01:02 |
For instance, if I was interested in the
lobby area, I'll place my curser inside that room,
| | 01:08 |
I'll roll the wheel forward, I will
then hold the wheel down, and I'll pan this
| | 01:12 |
to the center of the screen.
| | 01:13 |
It's also important to note that the
Pan and Zoom tools can be accessed within
| | 01:18 |
any running command.
| | 01:20 |
I'm going to back up a little bit.
We'll center this a little bit better. And I'd
| | 01:24 |
like to talk about some
other helpful navigation tricks.
| | 01:27 |
If I select this chair and come over
and click the Top hot spot on the View-
| | 01:31 |
Cube, I can maximize the
view of that chair onscreen.
| | 01:35 |
I'm going to press Escape to deselect that object.
| | 01:38 |
Notice that even though I've zoomed in a
large distance, my geometry still looks good.
| | 01:43 |
That's because AutoCAD is
a vector-based application.
| | 01:46 |
The geometry that we see onscreen is based
on mathematical calculations and not pixels.
| | 01:51 |
So we can zoom in as much as we want
and the drawing will always look great.
| | 01:55 |
I'm going to zoom out a little.
| | 01:57 |
I'll pan the drawing over to the right,
and I'd like to focus my view on this desk.
| | 02:02 |
I'll zoom in a little bit closer. And we
can see that this drawing represents a
| | 02:08 |
site plan for a proposed restaurant.
| | 02:10 |
I'm going to focus the view on this
table on the north side of the building.
| | 02:14 |
If I get even closer, we can see that on
the table is the same mechanical drawing
| | 02:22 |
that we've seen in some of our prior lessons.
| | 02:24 |
Notice it doesn't look so good here.
| | 02:26 |
Because AutoCAD is a vector-based
application, there are a lot of computations
| | 02:31 |
going on in the background as
we navigate around in a file.
| | 02:34 |
To allow us to pan and zoom freely,
AutoCAD will start to sacrifice the display
| | 02:39 |
of the curved objects onscreen.
| | 02:42 |
This entity is a circle, although it
doesn't look like a circle right now.
| | 02:45 |
Let me mention that this
geometry will always plot just fine.
| | 02:49 |
What we're seeing here is a display issue only.
| | 02:52 |
To clean up the display of this geometry
I'm going to use a command called Regen.
| | 02:55 |
We have to access this
command through the keyboard.
| | 02:59 |
To launch Regen, I am going to
type "RE" and I'll press Enter.
| | 03:03 |
And you can see AutoCAD regenerates
the database and cleans up all of the
| | 03:06 |
curved geometry onscreen.
| | 03:09 |
At this point I'm going to start zooming out.
| | 03:11 |
I'll start rolling my wheel backward.
| | 03:14 |
Notice in the lower-left corner of the
screen, AutoCAD is telling me that I've
| | 03:17 |
zoomed out as far as possible.
| | 03:19 |
I'm going to try and pan from here.
| | 03:22 |
Notice even if I try and pan,
I'm running into a brick wall.
| | 03:25 |
If you pan and zoom large distances,
AutoCAD may make you launch the Regen
| | 03:30 |
command before you it allows
you to continue to pan and zoom.
| | 03:34 |
At this point, I can always type
"RE" to relaunch the Regen command.
| | 03:38 |
Let's look at another way we can do it.
| | 03:40 |
If I come down to the command line
and right-click, AutoCAD will display a
| | 03:44 |
menu at the very top.
| | 03:46 |
I can go to Recent Commands and select Regen.
| | 03:49 |
I can then zoom out
and center my drawing onscreen.
| | 03:54 |
I'm going to zoom in on
this office. I'll center this.
| | 03:58 |
In the event you would like to quickly
back up and view the extents of your file,
| | 04:03 |
you can also do that by
double-clicking your mouse wheel.
| | 04:07 |
Using AutoCAD's Pan and Zoom tools,
you can quickly navigate any file, regardless
| | 04:11 |
of how big or small that file may be.
| | 04:14 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working in a multiple-document environment| 00:00 |
One of the best parts about computer drafting
is you never have to draw the same thing twice.
| | 00:05 |
Anything you create can
be used over and over again.
| | 00:09 |
In this lesson we're going to learn
to do just that by taking advantage of
| | 00:12 |
AutoCAD's multiple-document environment.
| | 00:15 |
As you can see, I've already
got a drawing open onscreen.
| | 00:18 |
I am working on an office floor plan,
and I'm at the point where I'm starting to
| | 00:22 |
add furniture to this layout.
| | 00:24 |
Let's say that I'd like
to add some floor plants.
| | 00:27 |
Well, I could go to the effort of
drawing a floor plant in this drawing;
| | 00:30 |
instead, I'm going to open another
file that I created a few months ago that
| | 00:34 |
already has a floor plant in it.
| | 00:37 |
I will then grab that
geometry and use it in this file.
| | 00:41 |
I'll start by opening the other drawing.
| | 00:43 |
To do that, I'll move up
and click the Open icon.
| | 00:45 |
I will then navigate into the chapter_02
folder inside our Exercise Files directory.
| | 00:51 |
I will select the planB drawing and click Open.
| | 00:55 |
At this point I have two drawings open
in the interface, and you may be wondering
| | 00:59 |
where my original drawing went.
| | 01:01 |
Well, that window is
actually behind this current file.
| | 01:04 |
You see, AutoCAD supports a
multiple-document environment,
| | 01:07 |
meaning we could have as many drawings
open in the interface at one time as we'd
| | 01:10 |
like. Allowing us to have several
drawings open at a time means that we can
| | 01:14 |
easily move content between files.
| | 01:17 |
Now, there are several ways
to jump between open drawings.
| | 01:20 |
One way is by clicking the View tab.
| | 01:22 |
I will then come down to the User
Interface panel and I'll click Switch Windows.
| | 01:27 |
From here I will see a listing of
every drawing that's open in the interface.
| | 01:32 |
The one with the check is the
one that is current onscreen.
| | 01:35 |
To make the other drawing current,
I can simply select it from this list.
| | 01:39 |
Another way to flip between open
drawings is by using the keyboard
| | 01:41 |
shortcut Ctrl+Tab.
| | 01:44 |
Each time I press Ctrl+Tab, I can
toggle between all of the open drawings.
| | 01:49 |
Finally, I can switch between
drawings using Windows functionality.
| | 01:53 |
If I come down to my taskbar and
click on the AutoCAD icon, I can select my
| | 01:57 |
current drawing from this list.
| | 02:00 |
Now, in this case, I'd like to see my
files displayed side by side onscreen.
| | 02:05 |
To do that, I'll make
sure my View tab is current,
| | 02:07 |
I'll come down to the User Interface
panel, and I'll click Tile Vertically.
| | 02:12 |
This places each drawing in its own window.
| | 02:15 |
I will then click inside the floor plan
drawing to put the focus on that file,
| | 02:19 |
and I will zoom in on the room
where I'd like to add my floor plant.
| | 02:24 |
I will then click inside the other
drawing to put the focus over there.
| | 02:27 |
Zoom in on the geometry I'd like to steal.
| | 02:31 |
I will click to accept that geometry,
and then I will click and hold on the
| | 02:35 |
highlighted portion and I will
drag this into the other file.
| | 02:39 |
Using the same technique, I could
easily recycle legends, title blocks, notes, or
| | 02:44 |
virtually any other drawing content.
| | 02:46 |
In fact, as long as I'm here, I am
going to bring over a desk as well.
| | 02:49 |
I'm going to zoom out, pan my drawing over,
and I will center my view on this office.
| | 02:56 |
I will then click to put the focus back
on this drawing. I'll pan this up.
| | 03:01 |
This desk should work perfectly in that room.
| | 03:04 |
I'll click to select the desk,
the chair, the computer, and the phone.
| | 03:08 |
I will then click and hold on one of
the highlighted lines and I'll drag this
| | 03:13 |
into the other file.
| | 03:15 |
When I'm finished, I'll close the original--
| | 03:17 |
I'm not going to save changes--and then
I will click the Maximize button to
| | 03:21 |
maximize my view of the
current drawing onscreen.
| | 03:24 |
Finally, I'll double click my mouse wheel
to get a zoom extents view of my geometry.
| | 03:29 |
The important thing to remember in
this lesson is that you never have to draw
| | 03:32 |
the same thing twice.
| | 03:34 |
Using AutoCAD's multi-document
environment, you quickly reuse any of your
| | 03:38 |
drawing content in any other
file you may be working on.
| | 03:41 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving your work| 00:00 |
It's a safe bet that you'll probably
never create and complete a finished
| | 00:04 |
drawing in a single session.
| | 00:06 |
In most cases, construction drawings
will be revised and fine-tuned many times
| | 00:10 |
before they are considered finished.
| | 00:12 |
In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to save an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:15 |
On my screen I have a
drawing that I've been working on.
| | 00:18 |
Let me mention that this
drawing has not been saved yet.
| | 00:21 |
We can see that by looking
at the top of the screen.
| | 00:23 |
This file still has the Drawing1 title.
| | 00:26 |
Now, let's assume this drawing is in a
state where I'd like to have it reviewed
| | 00:29 |
by a client, so I'd like to save the file.
| | 00:33 |
One way to do that is by opening the
application menu and I can come down and click Save.
| | 00:38 |
From here I can choose a destination
folder and file name for this drawing.
| | 00:42 |
I'd like to save the file
inside the Exercise Files folder,
| | 00:46 |
so I'm going to use the
shortcut I created earlier.
| | 00:49 |
I'll jump into the chapter_02 directory,
and I'm going to call this drawing 05_gasket.
| | 00:58 |
Notice that by default the file
will be saved using the current release.
| | 01:02 |
If I open this flyout, I could
select an older AutoCAD version.
| | 01:05 |
This is a nice feature in the event the
client I'm working with is not using a
| | 01:09 |
current version of AutoCAD.
| | 01:11 |
In fact, maybe my client
isn't using AutoCAD at all.
| | 01:14 |
Maybe they're using a different CAD package.
| | 01:16 |
If that's the case, I could also save
my drawing as different formats of DXF.
| | 01:21 |
DXF stands for Drawing Exchange Format.
| | 01:24 |
In the event the CAD package cannot
open a DWG, it can usually open a DXF.
| | 01:29 |
I'm going to leave this set to the
current release, and I'll click Save.
| | 01:34 |
Notice we can see the updated file
name here at the top of the screen.
| | 01:37 |
Once your AutoCAD drawing's been saved,
future saves can be done in a single click.
| | 01:42 |
If I wanted to save this drawing again,
I could open the application menu and choose Save.
| | 01:48 |
Likewise, I can also use the Save
option here in the Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 01:52 |
By clicking that icon,
I have just updated the file.
| | 01:55 |
In the event I wanted to save a copy
of this drawing with a new name or as a
| | 01:59 |
different AutoCAD release, I
would use the Save As option.
| | 02:02 |
Save As can also be found in the
Quick Access Toolbar, as well as in
| | 02:07 |
the application menu.
| | 02:09 |
Using the Save As tool, once again I
can choose a new destination folder, file
| | 02:13 |
name, and format for this drawing.
| | 02:17 |
As you can see, using the Save or Save
As options, we can easily store drawings
| | 02:21 |
such that we can return to it later.
| | 02:23 |
Or we can share our file with someone
else, even if they're using a different
| | 02:26 |
CAD software than we are.
| | 02:28 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding templates| 00:00 |
In our last lesson, we learned how easy
it is to share content between drawings.
| | 00:04 |
What if we took that concept a little farther?
| | 00:07 |
What if each new drawing we create
already contained much of our typical content?
| | 00:12 |
In this lesson, we're going to
learn about the importance of templates.
| | 00:15 |
As you can see, I've just launched my AutoCAD.
| | 00:18 |
Take a look at the top of the screen.
| | 00:19 |
It says Drawing1.dwg.
| | 00:22 |
You see, just by launching the program,
AutoCAD, as a courtesy, has started a
| | 00:27 |
brand-new drawing for us to work in.
| | 00:29 |
This drawing is nice, but it's completely empty.
| | 00:32 |
As you start producing your own
drawings, you'll start noticing that many
| | 00:36 |
of your files will have similar items, like
logos, notes, title blocks, and dimension styles.
| | 00:42 |
Rather than recreating each of these
things in each new file you create, you
| | 00:46 |
could place them in a template and
then use the template as the starting point
| | 00:50 |
for all of your new drawings.
| | 00:52 |
Let's take a look at a template.
| | 00:54 |
To do that, I'll create a new file.
I'm going to open the application menu and
| | 00:59 |
I'll choose New. This takes me
right to the Template directory.
| | 01:04 |
First of all, notice the icon next to
the file names. This represents that we
| | 01:08 |
are looking at DWT files. DWT is the
common file format for AutoCAD templates.
| | 01:14 |
Let me mention that there is no
difference between a template file and an
| | 01:18 |
AutoCAD drawing; they are identical.
| | 01:20 |
A template file is nothing more than an
AutoCAD drawing that already has some content.
| | 01:25 |
In case you are wondering, the default
template AutoCAD uses when it launches
| | 01:29 |
the application is the file called Acad.dwt.
| | 01:33 |
For right now, I'm going to choose this
architectural template and I'll click Open.
| | 01:38 |
As you can see, I have created a
brand-new drawing from that template file, and
| | 01:43 |
the default view in this tablet is
obviously out here on a layout tab.
| | 01:47 |
I'm going to zoom in a little bit, and you
can see that this file already contains a
| | 01:52 |
title block and some text.
| | 01:54 |
I will then double-click my
mouse wheel to do a zoom extents.
| | 01:58 |
The geometry that I have in this file
is the type of thing that I don't have to
| | 02:01 |
recreate each time I make new drawing.
| | 02:04 |
By adding this geometry to the
template, it will be available in each new
| | 02:08 |
drawing when I need it.
| | 02:09 |
I'm going to close this file,
and I won't save changes.
| | 02:14 |
So now that we know how templates work,
how hard is it to make a template?
| | 02:18 |
Well, it's actually as easy as saving a drawing.
| | 02:21 |
For example, let's convert this
current drawing into a template.
| | 02:25 |
I'll start by generating some content.
| | 02:27 |
Now, we haven't talked a lot
about content creation just yet.
| | 02:31 |
For right now, I'm going to move up and
launch the Circle command, and then I'll
| | 02:34 |
click two points onscreen to draw a circle.
| | 02:38 |
I will then tap my spacebar to relaunch
the command, and I'll draw another circle.
| | 02:43 |
I'll relaunch the command again,
and I'll create one more circle.
| | 02:47 |
Let's say that this geometry
represents our company logo and it's going to
| | 02:51 |
appear in model space in every drawing.
| | 02:54 |
Now we would obviously have much more
in a typical template than just the logo,
| | 02:57 |
but for right now this will work.
| | 02:59 |
To turn this file into a template, I'll
use the Save As command. And I'm going to
| | 03:04 |
use the shortcut right here in the toolbar.
| | 03:07 |
I will then change the files of type to DWT.
| | 03:11 |
This takes me right to the template
directory. And I'll call my file My Custom
| | 03:18 |
Template. I'll click Save.
| | 03:21 |
I can then give my template a
description. We'll call this
| | 03:25 |
"Starting point for all my new
drawings," and I'll click OK.
| | 03:31 |
Notice the file name at the top of the screen.
| | 03:35 |
Now, at any point in the future, I could
come back and add content or revise the
| | 03:39 |
content in this template.
| | 03:40 |
For right now I'm going to close the drawing.
| | 03:43 |
To create a new drawing using my
template, I'll launch the New command.
| | 03:47 |
I'm going to do that using
the shortcut in the toolbar.
| | 03:51 |
I will then select my
template and I'll click Open.
| | 03:54 |
As you can see, I have just created
another new drawing using my custom template
| | 03:58 |
as my starting point.
| | 04:01 |
So as you grow your portfolio of
finished drawings, consider creating a custom
| | 04:05 |
template for yourself.
| | 04:06 |
By using a template, each new drawing
you create can already contain all of
| | 04:10 |
the items you use most.
| | 04:12 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Plotting from model space| 00:00 |
At some point in the design process,
you'll need to create a hard copy of your
| | 00:04 |
drawing, and at first glance,
printing from AutoCAD may seem a little more
| | 00:08 |
intimidating than printing from
a program like Microsoft Word.
| | 00:12 |
This is because the geometry in a CAD
file will measure true size, and will
| | 00:16 |
probably require some scaling to
get it to fit on a sheet of paper.
| | 00:20 |
In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
print an AutoCAD drawing from model space.
| | 00:24 |
On my screen, I have a drawing
of a proposed parking lot layout.
| | 00:28 |
Let's assume that I just received this
file via email from a client and I'd like
| | 00:33 |
to print the drawing on an eight-and-a-
half-by-eleven inch sheet of paper.
| | 00:37 |
To do that, I'm going to move up to the Quick
Access Toolbar and I'll launch the Plot command.
| | 00:41 |
This brings up the Plot dialog box.
| | 00:44 |
From here, I will select my printer first.
| | 00:47 |
I can do that by opening this menu.
And in the list, I can see all of the
| | 00:51 |
printers that are
physically connected to my machine.
| | 00:54 |
Now, I guarantee your list
looks different than mine;
| | 00:56 |
everybody's system is different.
| | 00:58 |
So, feel free to select any printer
that will accommodate a letter-size sheet.
| | 01:02 |
I am going to grab the
slider and drag it to the bottom.
| | 01:07 |
Down here, we can find the list of virtual
printers that get installed with AutoCAD.
| | 01:11 |
I am going to select DWF6E Plot as my printer.
| | 01:16 |
This allows me to print my file as a DWF.
| | 01:19 |
DWF stands for Design Web Format,
and it's very similar to PDF file.
| | 01:25 |
Now that I've chosen my printer,
I can come down and select a paper size.
| | 01:29 |
Fortunately, the NCA is perfect.
| | 01:32 |
Since I am using a virtual printer, I
could open this menu and I could select
| | 01:35 |
from several other paper sizes.
| | 01:37 |
I'm going to keep this set to the default.
| | 01:40 |
I will then come down to Plot
area. What do I want to print?
| | 01:45 |
I'll open the menu and I'll select Extents.
| | 01:47 |
This way all of the geometry that
displays in my drawing will show up on the sheet.
| | 01:52 |
I will then come down and choose Center
the plot so it's in the middle of the paper.
| | 01:56 |
And for right now, I'm going to
leave the plot scale set to Fit to paper.
| | 02:00 |
This will ensure that the drawing
fits within the boundary of the page.
| | 02:04 |
Sometimes this is good enough just
to create a hard copy of your drawing.
| | 02:08 |
Let's come down and click Preview.
| | 02:10 |
We'll see how things look.
| | 02:12 |
Now this looks pretty good, with the
exception of our geometry is going to plot in color.
| | 02:16 |
In fact, it's going to print using the
same colors that we see in model space.
| | 02:20 |
I'm going to zoom in a little bit.
| | 02:23 |
The Pan and Zoom functionality work the
exact same here as they do in model space.
| | 02:28 |
And it looks like this yellow is not
going to work too well for my dimensions,
| | 02:31 |
so I'd like to correct this. To do that
I will click the X to close the preview.
| | 02:36 |
I will then click the More Than
button to get access to additional plot
| | 02:40 |
settings, and I'm going to
come up to Plot Style table.
| | 02:44 |
I'll open this menu and I'll choose
Monochrome. I will then choose Yes.
| | 02:49 |
Choosing this table means
that no matter what color I see in model
| | 02:52 |
space, it's going to plot black, or monochrome.
| | 02:57 |
Once again, I'll click Preview.
| | 02:59 |
As you can see, one of my layout
preview thumb-ails has popped up, and it's
| | 03:02 |
now getting in my way.
| | 03:04 |
There we go. We'll zoom in.
This looks much better.
| | 03:06 |
To finish my plot, I'm going to move up
and close the preview and then I'll come
| | 03:10 |
down and click OK.
| | 03:13 |
Now, if you're printing your drawing
to a physical printer it's probably
| | 03:15 |
already coming out.
| | 03:17 |
Since I'm printing mine to a file,
I'm going to jump up to the desktop.
| | 03:20 |
Let me move my Plot dialog box over
and I will save this drawing out here
| | 03:25 |
using the default name. And since I
plotted my drawing to DWF, I can view the
| | 03:31 |
file by coming right down here
to the icon that's speaking to me.
| | 03:35 |
I can right-click on it,
and choose View Plotted File.
| | 03:39 |
This opens Design Review, which acts
very similar to the Acrobat Reader.
| | 03:43 |
From here, I can see a
representation of my printed file.
| | 03:47 |
Let's close this. And I'd like to
print this file one more time, except this
| | 03:52 |
time I'd like to print it to a measurable scale.
| | 03:54 |
The first thing I'll do is verify that
this geometry was drawn at true size.
| | 04:00 |
So let's zoom in here a little
bit. I'll find the dimension.
| | 04:04 |
Right here I can see that this
parking stripe measures eighteen feet long.
| | 04:08 |
I'm going to verify that by selecting
the stripe and then I'll come over to the
| | 04:12 |
Properties tool, mine happens to be
anchored to my interface. If yours is not
| | 04:16 |
displayed, you can always press
Ctrl+1 to turn on the palette.
| | 04:21 |
I will then grab the slider, drag
this down, and I can see that this line
| | 04:25 |
measures eighteen units long.
| | 04:28 |
So in this drawing, each unit must equal a foot.
| | 04:31 |
I am going to press Escape to deselect
this object. And I can further confirm
| | 04:36 |
the units by going to application menu, and
I will come down to Drawing Utilities,
| | 04:41 |
and I will come up to select Units.
| | 04:44 |
From here we can also see that this
drawing is configured for decimal feet.
| | 04:49 |
This is a typical unit setting that
you'll find for drawings that you receive
| | 04:53 |
from a civil engineer or from a surveyor.
| | 04:55 |
If you received your drawing from an
architect, this will most likely be set to
| | 04:59 |
Architectural and Inches.
| | 05:03 |
In every architectural drawing you find
each unit in model space represents an
| | 05:07 |
inch. I'm going to set things back the
way they were and I'll click OK.
| | 05:13 |
I will then double-click my mouse
wheel to do a zoom extents, and to plot the
| | 05:17 |
drawing again, I'll move up and launch
the Plot command. And rather than going
| | 05:21 |
through and toggling all of these
settings again, I'm going open the Page Setup
| | 05:25 |
flyout and choose Previous plot and
AutoCAD will restore all of the settings
| | 05:30 |
that we used before.
| | 05:32 |
Now, in this case, I do not want
to print this via Fit to paper.
| | 05:36 |
Before I uncheck this, notice right
down here we can see that when it was Plot
| | 05:40 |
to fit, it was plotting such that
one inch equals 23.95 units, or feet.
| | 05:48 |
We've identified that the
units in this drawing are feet.
| | 05:50 |
So at Plot to fit, this guy
essentially prints at one inch equals 24 feet.
| | 05:56 |
Let's uncheck Fit to paper and then
I'll open this menu, and I'm going to choose
| | 06:00 |
a more reasonable scale, 1 to 30 in
this case, or 1 inch equals 30 feet.
| | 06:06 |
As a side note, if you were working
with an architectural drawing, that's when
| | 06:09 |
you'd start using these
scales down here at the bottom.
| | 06:13 |
Once again, we'll click Preview and
see how things look. It looks perfect.
| | 06:17 |
To finish my plot, I'm going to use a shortcut.
| | 06:19 |
I will just right-click to bring up a
menu and click Plot. And since I am saving
| | 06:24 |
my plot to a file, I'll keep the
default name but I'll add "30 scale" to the
| | 06:29 |
end. And finally, to view my plot, I will
right-click on the icon and choose View
| | 06:36 |
Plotted File and you can see
an example of my finished plot.
| | 06:42 |
If you have the equipment, try plotting this
drawing to a scale using other paper sizes.
| | 06:47 |
When it comes right down to it,
printing your geometry to fit is okay.
| | 06:51 |
If, however, you can print your
drawings to a measurable scale, they are much
| | 06:54 |
more valuable as worksheets or as
exhibits when taken to a meeting.
| | 06:58 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Plotting a layout| 00:00 |
If the time comes that you need to print
a file you have received from a client,
| | 00:04 |
check and see if the drawing
has a pre-configured layout.
| | 00:07 |
Layouts eliminate all of the guesswork
and many of the settings when printing
| | 00:11 |
an existing AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:13 |
In this lesson we are going
to learn how to print a layout.
| | 00:15 |
On my screen I have a drawing of some property.
| | 00:18 |
Let's say I received this file from a
client and I'd like to create a hard
| | 00:22 |
copy of this drawing.
| | 00:24 |
The first thing I'll do is check and see if
the client has set up a layout for this drawing.
| | 00:29 |
In this case, it looks like he did.
| | 00:31 |
I'm going to select the
PLAT tab here and take a look.
| | 00:34 |
Now this is actually perfect. Essentially
the client has done all of the work for me.
| | 00:39 |
I can see that this drawing is in the title
block. It displays nicely in that title block.
| | 00:44 |
If I zoom in, I can see that this
drawing is also configured to plot such that
| | 00:47 |
1 inch equals 50 feet.
| | 00:49 |
I'm going to do a zoom extents and to plot
this drawing, I can simply come up and
| | 00:54 |
click the Plot icon.
| | 00:55 |
I can then review the plot settings.
Essentially a layout is nothing more than
| | 01:01 |
saved plot settings.
| | 01:03 |
So I can see that this layout is designed
to print to DWF using a letter-size sheet.
| | 01:08 |
Now in my case I'm going to
accept the default printer.
| | 01:12 |
If you want, you can open this menu
and select the printer of your choice.
| | 01:17 |
Before I come down and click
OK, take a look at this scale.
| | 01:21 |
You see this layout measures true size,
so this paper actually is 8.5 x 11 inches.
| | 01:28 |
So whenever you plot using a layout,
Scale will always be 1:1, which
| | 01:33 |
makes things really easy.
| | 01:35 |
To finish the plot, I'll click OK.
And since I'm plotting to a file, I'm going
| | 01:39 |
to save this to my desktop.
| | 01:41 |
I'll accept the default
file name and I'll click Save.
| | 01:46 |
To view my drawing, I'll right-click on
this icon and choose View Plotted File.
| | 01:50 |
And you can see a finished
example of the plot onscreen.
| | 01:56 |
So, in the event you need to print an
existing file, take a look and see if any
| | 01:59 |
layouts have already been created.
| | 02:02 |
Taking advantage of an existing
layout is probably the easiest way to print
| | 02:05 |
an AutoCAD drawing.
| | 02:07 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
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