Chapter-1: Understanding the AutoCAD 2007

Interface
After starting AutoCAD 2007 you face a page, which is your design work space. It
contains the elements that you will use to create your designs & receive information
about them. The following illustration shows the main parts of the AutoCAD 2007
window.

screen.

Fig- 1.1 : Typical layout of the AutoCAD 2007

1. Title Bar
Placed at the top of the window this shows the name of the program AutoCAD
2004. The name of the current drawing (or Drawing 1.dwg, if the current
drawing has not been saved) appears in the Title Bar of the drawing area or
document window. If the drawing window has been maximized, the name of
the drawing appears in the main Title Bar.

2. Menu Bar

Located below the Title Bar, it contains the default AutoCAD menus. Menus
are defined by menu files that you can modify or design on your own.

3. Toolbars
A number of toolbars appear on the screen below the Inline Bar. Commands
can be activated by clicking the buttons on the various Toolbars. Appearance of
various Toolbars is optional and their position can be shifted. The most common
Toolbars that appear by default include the following:

a. Standard Toolbars
Contains frequently used buttons, such as Redo, Undo, Zoom as
well as Microsoft Office standard Buttons such as Open, Save, Cut, Copy,
and Paste etc.

b. Object Properties Toolbars

It contains two toolbars. One is Layers toolbar and another is
Properties toolbar. It creates new layers and manages layers. Sets object
properties such as color, linetype and lineweight.

c. Draw and Modify Toolbars

Provide access to common draw and modify commands. The
draw and Modify toolbars are displayed when you start AutoCAD. These
toolbars are docked on the left and right side of the window. You can
easily move toolbars and turn them on and off.

4.

Drawing Area

Displays drawings. The drawing area size varies, depending on the size of
the AutoCAD window and on the number other elements (such as toolbars and
dialog boxes) that are displayed. This contains the following main features:

a.

Crosshairs or Cursor

Identifies pick and drawing points within the drawing area. Use
the crosshairs/coursor, which are controlled by your pointing device, to
locate points and select and draw objects.

b. User Co-ordinate System (UCS) icon

Shows the orientation of the drawing. AutoCAD drawings are
superimposed on an invisible grid, or co-ordinate system. Co-ordinate
systems are based on X, Y and Z (or 3D) co-ordinates. AutoCAD has a
Fixed world co-ordinate system (WCS) and a movable user co-ordinate
system (UCS). To help you visualize UCS location and orientation, a UCS
icon is displayed in the lower-left corner of the drawing area.

c.

Model Tab and Layout Tabs

Switch your drawing between model (drawing) space and paper

(layout) space. You generally create your drawings in model space and
then create layouts to plot and print your drawing in paper spaces.

5.

Command Window

Displays prompts and messages. In AutoCAD, you start commands in one of three
ways:

Choose an item format menu or a shortcut menu,

Click a button on a toolbar,
Enter the command on the command line.

However, even if you choose commands from menus and toolbars, AutoCAD may
display command prompts and the command history (press F2 button on key board)
in a command window.

6.

Status Bar

Displays the cursor co-ordinates in the lower-left corner. The status bar also
contains buttons that you can use to turn on common drawing aids. These include:
SNAP (snap mode-F9)

GRID (drawing grid-F7)

ORTHO (ortho mode-F8)

POLAR (polar tracking-F10)

OSNAP (object snaps-F3)

OTRACK (object snaps tracking-F11)

LWT (line weight display)

MODEL (model/paper space toggle)

COMMONLY USED TOOLBARS:

THE DRAWING TOOLBAR

MODIFYING TOOLBAR

THE

COMMONLY USED TOOLBARS:

THE 3-D TOOLBAR

THE DIMENSION TOOLBAR