To start the Box command, click on the Box button in the Create panel under the Home tab in the 3D Basics workspace. Alternatively, you can type the command name BOX and then press Enter, as shown in the following screenshot:

If you are using the 3D Modeling workspace, you can find the Box command button in the Modeling panel under the Home tab, or in the Primitive panel under the Solid tab.

To start creating a Box object, perform the following steps:

1. Choose the location and click to specify the first corner of the Box base. Alternatively, you can type the desired coordinates of the base corner and then press Enter.
2. Specify the location for the second corner of the Box base.
3. Move the mouse in the z direction and click to specify the height of the Box. Alternatively, you can type the Box height value and then press Enter.

The following screenshot is an illustration of the previous steps:

If you select the Box object, you will find a collection of different types of grab points, which can be divided into four categories as follows:

• At the Box base, you will find four endpoints at the four corners; these will be highlighted with a blue square shape.
• On the midpoint of each side of the Box base, there are four small arrows.
• At the center point of the bottom and top faces, there is a small blue arrow indicating (normal to) the face.
• In the middle of the bottom face, you find the Box base point, highlighted as a small square:

Corner points can be used to change the shape of the Box base area as follows:

1. Use the mouse cursor and click to pick one of the corner points.
2. Move the corner point to the new location. Observe that the shape of the cube will change dynamically as you move the corner point.
3. Click again to set the new position of the cube corner.

The following screenshot is an illustration of the previous steps:

The sides' midpoints can also be used to modify the base of the Box as follows:

1. Pick one of the midpoints of the base sides (the small blue arrow).
2. Move the side to the new location. Observe that the shape of the cube will change dynamically as the mouse moves.
3. When you arrive at the desired location, click to finish. Alternatively, you can type the new side length and then press Enter.

The following screenshot is an illustration of the previous steps:

The top and bottom face center points can be used to change the height of the Box as follows:

1. Pick one of the face center points (the blue arrow pointing outside of the Box).
2. Move the face to the new desired location. Observe that the shape of the Box will change dynamically as the mouse moves.
3. Click again to set the new height of the cube. Alternatively, you can type the new desired cube height and then press Enter.

The following screenshot is an illustration of the previous steps:

And finally, the base point can be used to pick and move the Box, and paste it at the desired location.

There is a set of options and settings associated with the Box command. These give you different creation methods during the Box creation.

The first option is called Center. This option appears in the command bar right after you start the Box command:

To select this option. simply click on the word Center in the command bar, or you can type C (the letter in blue), and then press Enter. Basically, this is the same as the default method, but in this case, you will begin by specifying the center point of the Box, and it goes as follows:

1. Specify the center point (instead of the corner in the default method).
2. Move and click to specify the corner location. Notice that all the base sides are moving outward or inward as you change the corner location and all will have the same length.
3. Move in the z direction and click to specify the height. Notice that both the top and bottom faces will move the same distance as you change the height.

The following screenshot is an illustration of the previous steps:

The second set of options will appear after you specify the first corner (or the center point in case you choose the Center): 

1. To select the Cube option, click on the option name in the command bar or just type C (the letter in blue color) and then press Enter. This option will restrict the Box sides to all have the same length, so the only parameter you will need to enter is the side length. Use your mouse to specify the side length, or you can enter the value using the keyboard. You can also move your mouse to change the cube orientation around the z-axis.

2. To select the Length option, click on the option name in the command bar, or type the letter L and then press Enter. After selecting this option, you will be able to enter separately the values of the length, width, and height of the Box, and you can do this by using your mouse or keyboard:

The last option in the Box command is called 2Point. This option appears in the command bar after you draw the base of the Box, as shown in the following screenshot:

You can select the 2Point option by clicking on the option name in the command bar, or you can type 2P and then press Enter. This option will allow you to use the 2Point method used in other AutoCAD commands to specify the height of the Box: 

Now that we have learned about the different methods and options for creating a Box object, let's have a look at the next shape, which is a cylinder.