AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT All-in-One Desk Reference

About the Authors

Lee Ambrosius was a resident of a cubicle farm for about eight years. One day he decided that he wanted to do something different, so he went into business for himself. In 2005, Lee decided to venture off into the CAD indus­try as an independent consultant and programmer as the owner of HyperPics, LLC in De Pere, Wisconsin, and on the Web at www.hyperpics.com. He has been using AutoCAD since 1994, when he was first exposed to Release 12 for DOS, and has been customizing and programming AutoCAD since 1996. Lee has been an AutoCAD consultant and trainer for 10 years and is both an Autodesk Authorized Author and an Autodesk Authorized Developer.

During his past 10 years in the CAD industry, Lee has authored a variety of works that include articles for CAD magazines and white papers for Autodesk. He has also been a contributing author for a few AutoCAD books. Lee has done technical editing for the two most recent editions of AutoCAD For Dummies and the three most recent editions of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Bible. AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is his first venture into coauthoring a book.

David Byrnes began his drafting career on the boards in 1979 and discovered computer-assisted doodling shortly thereafter. He first learned AutoCAD with version 1.4, around the time when personal computers switched from steam to diesel power. Dave is based in Vancouver, Canada, and has been an AutoCAD consultant and trainer for fifteen years. Dave is an AutoCAD Authorized Author, a contributing editor for Cadalyst magazine, and has been a contributing author to ten books on AutoCAD. Dave teaches AutoCAD and other computer graphics applications at Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design and British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver. Dave has tech edited six editions of AutoCAD For Dummies and is coauthor of AutoCAD 2007 For Dummies.





How This Book Is Organized

The following sections describe the mini books that this book is broken into.

Book I: AutoCAD Basics

Book I familiarizes you with the AutoCAD interface and the basics of working with drawing files. It provides some background on AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, and lists which versions are compatible with each other. It explains how to start the application and sends you on a guided tour of the interface. You also see how to interact with commands using dialog boxes and the com­mand line, and how to get help when you need it from the application. You

also get a brief rundown on creating and modifying some of the basic 2D objects, and using a few of the viewing commands. The last two chapters of the minibook show how to use some of the general object and drawing format properties and settings, as well as the different drafting aids that help you create accurate 2D and 3D drawings.

Book II: 2D Drafting

Book II covers many of the commands that are used for creating and working with 2D designs. The first part of the minibook focuses on creating 2D objects that range from lines, circles, and arcs to more complex objects, such as ellipses. Then you see how to select and modify objects that have been cre­ated in a drawing. Modifying objects is one of the main tasks that you per­form in AutoCAD, next to viewing and creating new objects in a drawing.
Book III: Annotating Drawings

Book III covers how to create an annotation in a drawing that explains a fea­ture or shows the measurement of an object. Annotation in AutoCAD includes text, dimensions, leaders, and hatch. For example, you see how to create single and multiline text objects and tables. The chapter also includes formatting specific characteristics of text and tables, performing spell check­ing, and doing a find-and-replace on text strings.

Book IV: LT Differences

Book IV focuses on AutoCAD LT and how it is different from AutoCAD, along with using it in the same environment as AutoCAD and expanding AutoCAD LT through customization and other means. This minibook also explains what to watch out for when you use both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT in the same office.

Book V: 3D Modeling

Book V covers how to create, edit, view, and visualize 3D objects. You get the basics of working in 3D, and see how to specify coordinates and adjust the coordinate system to make it easier for you to create and modify objects above the x,y plane. This minibook also tells you how to navigate and view a 3D model in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT.

Book VI: Advanced Drafting

Book VI covers the advanced drafting features that go beyond 2D drafting, which include working with blocks, external references, and raster images.

Book VII: Publishing Drawings

Book VII covers generating a hard copy (paper copy) or an electronic ver­sion of a drawing that can be viewed without AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. You see how to use page setups to define how part of a drawing should be printed, and how to create floating viewports and layouts to help output a drawing. You also discover sheet sets, and how you can use them to manage and organize sets of drawings. Sheet sets provide ways to open drawings, keep data in sync through the use of fields and views, and output a number of drawings. This minibook also shows how to create plot configurations and plot styles, and how to plot and publish a drawing layout or layouts to create hard copies or electronic versions of drawings.

Book VIII: Collaboration

Book VIII covers some advanced topics that include CAD standards and file sharing, as well as how to use electronic files for project collaboration. You gain an understanding of the concepts behind CAD standards, as well as how to use the available CAD standards tools to help maintain and enforce CAD standards.

Book IX: Customizing AutoCAD

Book IX covers techniques that are used to customize AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, which allows you to reduce the number of repetitive tasks and steps that you might have to do to complete a design.
Book X: Programming AutoCAD

Book X covers extending AutoCAD through some of the different program­ming languages that it supports. Programming AutoCAD is different from customizing it, but the goal of reducing repetitive tasks and steps that you have to do to complete a design are the same.
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