In this chapter, I walk you through creating, editing, viewing, and plotting a new drawing — refer to Figure 3-1 if you want to get an idea of what the finished product looks like. You can follow these steps using either imperial or metric units; I show metric values in brackets after the imperial ones, like this: Type 1.5 [38] and press Enter.
You can find the files I use in this sequence of steps at this book's companion web site. Go to www.dummies.com/go/autocad2012 and download afd03.zip. The zip file contains imperial and metric versions of the base plate exercise at various stages — the Read Me file on the downloads tab has a detailed description of the files.
Pay attention to AutoCAD's feedback. Glance at the messages AutoCAD sends after each step via the command window at the bottom of the screen or the Dynamic Input tooltip near the crosshairs so that you begin to get familiar with the names of commands and their options. (If you don't see any messages next to the crosshairs as you use the program, click the Dynamic Input button on the status bar — if your status bar displays button icons rather than text labels, click the button with the tooltip that reads “Dynamic Input.”) As I describe in Chapter 4, drawing setup isn't a simple task in AutoCAD. Nonetheless, drawing setup is an important part of the job, and if you don't get in the habit of doing it right, you run into endless problems later on — especially when you try to plot. (See Chapter 16 for the lowdown on plotting your drawings.) In this first set of steps, you create a new drawing from a template, change some settings to establish a 1:10 scale (that is, 1 inch or 1 millimeter on the drawing is equivalent to 10 inches or 10 millimeters on the real object), and save the drawing:
If you don't have an AutoCAD shortcut on your desktop, choose Start[All] ProgramsAutodeskAutoCAD 2012AutoCAD 2012. (The last two will be AutoCAD LT 2012, if that's your version.)
The workspaces in AutoCAD 2012 look very similar to one another. To make sure you're in the same workspace that I am, look at the Workspace label at the left side of the AutoCAD window's title bar (if you're running at a very low screen resolution, you may have to click the little arrow at the right of the Quick Access Toolbar). If it doesn't say Drafting & Annotation, click the little black arrow on the button and then select Drafting & Annotation from the menu.
Don't click the New button on the Quick Access Toolbar — use the menu. I explain why in Chapter 4, but just humor me for now. The Select Template dialog box appears with a list of drawing templates (DWT files), which you can use as the starting point for new drawings. Chapter 4 describes how to create and use drawing templates.
AutoCAD creates a new, blank drawing that uses the settings in acad.dwt or acadiso.dwt. The acad.dwt template (acadlt.dwt in AutoCAD LT) is AutoCAD's default, plain-Jane template for drawings in imperial units (units expressed in inches and/or feet). The acadiso.dwt (acadltiso.dwt in AutoCAD LT) template is the corresponding version for drawings created in metric units. Chapter 4 contains additional information about these and other templates.
Some of these settings can make selecting points difficult. It's best to start with them all turned off and then toggle them on and off as needed. I tell you which ones to use in the steps that follow.
If your status-bar buttons show icons instead of text, right-click any button, click Use Icons to deselect the option and display text labels. You can leave them that way or right-click and select Use Icons again to toggle the icon display back on.
Drawing limits define your working area. AutoCAD prompts you to reset the model space limits. For now, ignore the Dynamic Input tooltip next to the crosshairs and look at the command window. The command line reads
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>:
AutoCAD prompts for the upper-right corner. The command line reads
Specify upper right corner <12.0000,9.0000> [<420.0000,297.0000>]:
AutoCAD echoes the values you enter at the command line.
100 x 50 corresponds to 10 inches by 5 inches (a little smaller than an 8.5-x-11-inch piece of paper turned on its long side) times a drawing scale factor of 10 (because you're eventually going to plot at 1:10 scale). If you're a metric maven, 2750 x 1250 corresponds to 275 mm by 125 mm (slightly smaller than an ISO A4 sheet turned lengthways) times a drawing scale factor of 10 (because you, too, will eventually plot at 1:10 scale). See Chapter 4 for more information about drawing scales.
To be honest, setting limits isn't very important in AutoCAD anymore — modern computers can process much more data than they could in the 1980s when AutoCAD first appeared — but it does make it easier to plot a drawing from model space as you do in this chapter.
The Snap and Grid tab of the Drafting Settings dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-3. (Note that AutoCAD LT lacks some options that are present in the full version of AutoCAD.)
Snap constrains your crosshairs to moving in an invisible grid of equally spaced points (0.5 [10] units apart in this case).
Grid displays a visible grid of little dots or grid lines on the screen (5 [100] units apart in this case), which you can use as reference points. The grid doesn't appear on printed drawings.
You see a network of grid lines, 5 [100] units apart, in the drawing area. If you move your mouse pointer around and watch the coordinate display area at the left side of the status bar, you notice that the values change in 0.5-unit [10-unit] increments.
AutoCAD zooms out so that the entire area defined by the limits is visible.
Because you haven't saved the drawing yet, AutoCAD opens the Save Drawing As dialog box.
Remember where you save the file so you can go back to it later.
For example, type Detail or My Plate is Base.
Depending on your Windows Explorer settings, you may or may not see the .dwg extension in the File Name text box. In any case, you don't need to type it. AutoCAD adds it for you.
AutoCAD saves the new DWG file to the folder you specified in Step 13.
Whew — that was more work than digging a post hole — and all just to set up a simple drawing! Chapter 4 goes into more detail about drawing setup and describes why all these gyrations are necessary.
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