Sinopsis
AutoCAD 2014 is a very complex program. If you are taking a class or reading this textbook, this is something you probably already know. The commands available to you, along with their submenus and various options, number in the thousands. So, how do you get a handle on them and begin using the software? Well, you have to realize two important facts.
First, you must understand that, on a typical workday, 95% of your AutoCAD drafting time is spent using only 5% of the available commands, over and over again. So getting started is easy; you need to learn only a handful of key commands; and as you progress and build confidence, you can add depth to your knowledge by learning new ones.
Second, you must understand that even the most complex drawing is essentially made up of only a few basic fundamental objects that appear over and over again in various combinations on the screen. Once you learn how to create and edit them, you can draw surprisingly quickly. Understanding these facts is the key to learning the software. We are going to strip away the perceived complexities of AutoCAD and reduce it to its essential core. Let us go ahead now and develop the list of the basic commands.
For a moment, view AutoCAD as a fancy electronic hand-drafting board. In the old days of pencil, eraser, and T-square, what was the simplest thing that you could draft on a blank sheet of paper? That of course is a line. Let us make a list with the following header, “Create Objects,” and below it add “Line.”
So, what other geometric objects can we draw? Think of basic building blocks, those that cannot be broken down any further. A circle qualifies and so does an arc. Because it is so common and useful, throw in a rectangle as well (even though you should note that it is a compound object, made up of four lines). Here is the final list of fundamental objects that we have just come up with:
Create Objects
- Line
- Circle
- Arc
- Rectangle
As surprising as it may sound, these four objects, in large quantities, make up the vast majority of a typical design, so already you have the basic tools. We will create these on the AutoCAD screen in a bit. For now, let us keep going and get the rest of the list down.
Content
- AutoCAD Fundamentals Part I
- AutoCAD Fundamentals Part II
- Layers, Colors, Linetypes, and Properties
- Text, Mtext, Editing, and Style
- Hatch Patterns
- Dimensions
- Blocks, Wblocks, Dynamic Blocks, Groups, and Purge
- Polar, Rectangular, and Path Arrays
- Basic Printing and Output
- Advanced Output—Paper Space
- Advanced Linework
- Advanced Layers
- Advanced Dimensions
- Options, Shortcuts, CUI, Design Center, and Express Tools
- Advanced Design and File Management Tools
- Importing and Exporting Data
- External References (Xrefs)
- Attributes
- Advanced Output and Pen Settings
- Isometric Drawing
- 3D Basics
- Object Manipulation
- Boolean Operations and Primitives
- Solid Modeling
- Advanced Solids, Faces, and Edges
- Surfaces and Meshes
- Slicing, Sectioning, Layouts, and Vports
- Advanced UCS, Views, Text, and Dimensions in 3D
- Dview, Camera, Walk and Fly, and Path Animation
- Lighting and Rendering
