LESSON 1 Introduction to the AUTOCAD User Interface

Learning Objectives:

When you have completed this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Identify the screen areas in the AutoCAD user Interface and tell their names, uses and/or
drawing functions.
2. Identify the tools available in the Application menu of the AutoCAD User Interface. Identify the
Quick Access Toolbar and the command icons located there.
3. Locate the Ribbon, the Ribbon tabs and tool panels in the AutoCAD User Interface.
4. Identify the location and use of the Model tab and the Layout tab in the AutoCAD User
Interface.
5. Identify the Command Line window and its interactive function for entering command input and
options.
6. Use the Quick Access Tools on the Status Bar to switch views or drawings that are displayed in
the drawing window.
7. Identify the Drawing Tools or Drawing Aides found on the Status Bar. Describe the function of
each tool and how it assists in drawing accurately.
8. Identify the use of the pre-configured Workspaces and be able to change and restore a
Workspace in AutoCAD.
9. Access the Options Control Panel and use it to make some basic changes to the AutoCAD user
Interface.

Overview of the User Interface

Note: The exact configuration of the AutoCAD window may vary depending on the screen
resolution and how it was left by the last person to use the software.

The Application

The big red “A” in the upper left corner of the AutoCAD window. This large button is called the
Application Menu button.

Tools available in the Application Menu in AutoCAD

 File tools
 Drawing Utilities
 Display Recent Documents
 Display Open Documents
 Command Line Search
 A pull-down menu appears, as shown in Fig. 2-3. A pull-down menu is a vertical list of
commands that appears when a button or menu item is selected. This pull-down menu is called the
Application Menu. The Application Menu is context-sensitive, which means it changes depending on
what command the user has selected. In this case, since we have not opened a file, AutoCAD
displays options for opening, saving, and other file management commands.

Other Features

The Title Bar

In addition to housing the Application Menu button, the title bar contains the Quick Access
Toolbar and the Infocenter. It contains buttons for the most common functions: New file, Open File,
Save, Save as, Print, Undo and Redo. It also contains the Workspaces pull-down menu. The Infocenter
allows you to search for help by typing into the search field.

Command Line Window

Notice the Command Line window near the bottom of the screen. You can enter AutoCAD
commands at the Command line. However, in many cases, it is faster and easier to use buttons on the
Ribbon and on toolbars, or to use dynamic input.

Status Bar

The Status Bar at the bottom of the screen shows the coordinates of the screen crosshairs, the
status of various AutoCAD modes and setting, the Quick View buttons, drawing annotation tools, and
several important commands. The more you work with AutoCAD, the more you will appreciate the
availability of the buttons on the status bar.

LESSON 2 – CONTROLLING THE DRAWING DISPLAY AND VIEWS

Lesson Summary:

This lesson will give you practice in using display tools such as ZOOM and PAN to navigate large
drawings and to control your view of objects. Understanding of display and navigation tools is an
essential skill when drawings in AutoCAD and access to these tools are found in many places in the user
interface as well as being available from your standard three buttons Wheel Mouse.

Learning Objectives:

When you have completed this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Identify the display tool icons that are located in the Drawing Window and turn them on and off.
2. Use the Zoom and Pan commands to change the display of 2D objects in the AutoCAD Drawing
window.
3. Use the wheel mouse to control the Zoom and Pan commands while drawing in AutoCAD.
 4. Use the REGEN and REGENALL commands to recalculate the objects in the drawing display in
AutoCAD.
5. Use the Command Line to create line segments and closed object in AutoCAD.
6. Open and view and architectural drawing and view using ZOOM and PAN on your mouse.

Display and View Tools

The display tool icons that are located in the Drawing Window and turn them on and off.

 In-Canvas Viewport Control

 View Cube
 Navigation Bar

Using the ZOOM and PAN Commands

The Zoom and Pan commands to change the display of 2D objects in the AutoCAD Drawing
Window.

 Pan
o You can shift the location of your view by using PAN or by using the window scroll bars.
With the Realtime option, you pan dynamically by moving your pointing device. Using
the PAN command does not change the location of your drawing; it only changes the
view.
 Zoom
o You can change the view of a drawing by zooming in and out. Zooming does not change
the absolute size of objects in the drawing; it changes only the magnification of the
view. When you work with large drawing plans, you will need to zoom out frequently to
see an overview of your work.
 Zoom Extents
o The ZOOM Extents command is used to display the largest possible magnification of the
drawing that includes all of the objects in the drawing. For example, objects on layers
that are turned off but it will not include objects on frozen layers.
 Zoom Window
o You can zoom in on a rectangular area of your drawing by specifying two diagonal
corner of the area you want to view larger.
 Zoom Previous
o You can use ZOOM Previous to return quickly to the prior view.
 Zoom Realtime
o Using the REALTIME option, you can zoom dynamically by moving your mouse up or
down. By right-clicking, you can display a shortcut menu with additional viewing
commands.
  Zoom All
o When you use ZOOM All, it displays either your defined drawing limits or the drawing
extents, whichever view is larger.
 Zoom Dynamic

LESSON 3 – WORKING WITH FILES AND DRAWING SETUP

Lesson Summary:

This lesson will give you practice in starting a new drawing in AutoCAD. You can start a drawing
“from scratch”, using the default acad.dwt template file or you can create a custom template file that
contains some saved setting and layouts to make the drawing setup process faster and more consistent.
When you finish the lesson, you will have created a custom template file of your own that you can use
for creating drawing in future lessons.

Learning Objectives:

When you have completed this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Start a new drawing using the AutoCAD Default acad.dwt template file.
2. Save a drawing that was started from a template using the SAVE AS dialog box in AutoCAD.
3. Set the drawing units using Drawing Units Dialog Box and draw line in decimal, fractional
and architectural units.
4. Set the drawing limits in Model Space using the LIMITS Command.

Starting New Drawing

Start AutoCAD and a new drawing by pressing the Application Button (top left corner) and
pressing the new button to reveal the fly out. Once you see the fly out, click on Drawing.

There are 3 ways to start a new drawing. The fastest is to press CTRL+N, but you can use the two
icons shown in the image above. Anyway you do this, you will see a dialog box open that asks you to
select a template drawing to use (as shown below):
Saving Drawing

Save a drawing that was started from a template using the Save As dialog box in AutoCAD.

 Save As
 Quick Save
 AutoCAD Places Box

Setting the Drawing Units

After you decide on drawing scale and sheet size, you’re ready to set up your drawing in
AutoCAD. Follow these steps to set the linear and angular units that you want to use in your new
drawing:

1. Click the Application button and then choose Units from the Drawing Utilities group.
The Drawing Units dialog box appears.

2. Choose a linear unit type from the Length Type drop-down list.
Choose the type of unit representation that’s appropriate for your work. Engineering
and Architectural units are displayed in feet and inches; the other types of units aren’t tied to
any particular unit of measurement. You decide whether each unit represents a millimeter,
centimeter, meter, inch, foot or something else. Your choice is much simpler of you’re working
in metric: Choose Decimal Units.
AutoCAD can think in inches! If you’re using Engineering or Architectural units (feet and
inches), AutoCAD interprets any distance or coordinate you enter as that many inches. You must
use the’ (apostrophe) character on your keyboard to indicate a number in feet instead of inches.
Using the “ symbol to indicate inches isn’t required but is acceptable.

3. From the Length Precision drop-down list, choose the level of precision you want when
AutoCAD displays coordinates and linear measurements.

The Length Precision setting controls how precisely AutoCAD displays coordinates,
distances and prompts in some dialog boxes. For example, the Coordinates section of the status
bar displays the current coordinates of the crosshairs, using the current precision.
The linear and angular precision setting affect only AutoCAD’s display of coordinates,
distances and angles on the status bar, in dialog boxes and in the command line and Dynamic
Input tooltip areas.
For drawings stored as DWG files, AutoCAD always uses maximum precision to store the
locations and sizes of all objects that you draw, regardless of how many decimal places you
choose to display in the Drawing Units dialog box. In addition, AutoCAD provides separate
setting for controlling the precision of dimension text.
 4. Choose an angular unit type from the Angle Type drop- down list.
Decimal Degrees and Deg/Min/Sec are the most common choices.

The clockwise check box and the Direction button provide additional angle
measurement options, but you’ll rarely need to change the default settings: Unless you’re a land
surveyor, measures angles counter-clockwise and use east as the 0-degree direction.

5. From the Angle Precision drop-down list, choose the degree of precision you want when
AutoCAD displays angular measurements.

6. In the Insertion Scale area, choose the units of measurement for this drawing.
Choose your base unit for this drawing – that is, real-world distance represented by one
AutoCAD Unit.
The AutoCAD (but not the AutoCAD LT) Drawing Units dialog box includes a Lighting area
where you specify the unit type to be used to measure the intensity of photometric lights.

7. Click OK to exit the dialog box and save your settings.

Setting the Drawing Limits

The drawing limits are two-dimensional points in the World Coordinate System that represent a
lower-left limit and an upper-right limit. The drawing limits are also govern the portion of the drawing
covered by the visible grid and determine the minimum area a ZOOM All displays.

1. Choose Format, Drawing Limits or

2. Type LIMITS at the command prompt Command: LIMITS
3. Type One of the following options On/Off/Lower Left corner: 0,0
4. Type One of the following options for the upper right limit: Upper right corner: 36,24

Drawing with lower left limit of 0,0 and upper right limit of 36,24.