AutoCAD 2005 For Dummies (May 2004)

by Mark Middlebrook

AutoCAD®

2005

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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AutoCAD®

2005

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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by Mark Middlebrook

AutoCAD®

2005

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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AutoCAD® 2005 For Dummies®

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

111 River Street

Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Author

Mark Middlebrook used to be an engineer but gave it up when he discovered

that he couldn’t handle a real job. He is now principal of Daedalus Consulting,

an independent CAD and computer consulting company in Oakland, California.

(In case you wondered, Daedalus was the guy in ancient Greek legend who

built the labyrinth on Crete. Mark named his company after Daedalus before

he realized that few of his clients would be able to pronounce it and even

fewer spell it.) Mark is also a contributing editor for CADALYST magazine

and Webmaster of markcad.com. When he’s not busy being a cad, Mark sells

and writes about wine for Paul Marcus Wines in Oakland. He also teaches

literature and philosophy classes at St. Mary’s College of California — hence

“Daedalus.” AutoCAD 2005 For Dummies is his sixth book on AutoCAD.

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Dedication

To Puck and Pretzel, two absolute AutoCAD dummies who never cease to

inspire and amuse. It was during walks in the woods with them that I origi￾nally worked out some of the details of these chapters. I’m pretty sure that

Puck could learn AutoCAD, if only he could figure out how to manipulate a

mouse. Pretzel, on the other hand, is too interested in squirrels to bother

with mice.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Thanks first of all to Bud Smith, who initiated this book five editions ago,

brought me in on it along the way, and eventually handed it over to me in

toto. I hope that I prove as good a steward as he was a midwife (or is the

gender-neutral term “midspouse”?). Terri Varveris again shepherded the pro￾ject through the development process; her enthusiasm and infectious energy

have helped make each new edition more than just an obligatory update. It

was a genuine pleasure to work once again with Christine Berman, whose

combination of patience, persistence, and care make her a model project

editor. As always, Dave Byrnes carried out his duties as tech editor with skill

and verve; his diligence saved me from a few bloopers, and his thoughtful

suggestions helped make the book perceptibly better,

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form

located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and

Media Development

Project Editor: Christine Berman

Acquisitions Editor: Terri Varveris

Copy Editor: Christine Berman

Technical Editor: David Byrnes

Editorial Manager: Carol Sheehan

Media Development Supervisor:

Richard Graves

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Cartoons: Rich Tennant

(www.the5thwave.com)

Production

Project Coordinator: Courtney MacIntyre

Layout and Graphics: Amanda Carter,

Andrea Dahl, Lauren Goddard,

Denny Hager, Michael Kruzil,

Jacque Schneider, Melanee Wolven

Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Andy Hollandbeck,

Carl Pierce, Brian H. Walls,

TECHBOOKS Production Services

Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction .................................................................1

Part I: AutoCAD 101 ....................................................7

Chapter 1: Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2005 ...............................................9

Chapter 2: Le Tour de AutoCAD 2005 ............................................................................17

Chapter 3: Setup for Success ..........................................................................................41

Part II: Let There Be Lines...........................................71

Chapter 4: Get Ready to Draw ........................................................................................73

Chapter 5: Where to Draw the Line..............................................................................101

Chapter 6: Edit for Credit ..............................................................................................129

Chapter 7: A Zoom with a View ....................................................................................167

Chapter 8: On a 3D Spree...............................................................................................179

Part III: If Drawings Could Talk.................................203

Chapter 9: Text with Character ....................................................................................205

Chapter 10: Entering New Dimensions ........................................................................229

Chapter 11: Down the Hatch.........................................................................................255

Chapter 12: The Plot Thickens .....................................................................................267

Part IV: Share and Share Alike ..................................293

Chapter 13: Playing Blocks and Rasteroids ................................................................295

Chapter 14: Sheet Sets without Regrets ......................................................................321

Chapter 15: CAD Standards Rule ..................................................................................337

Chapter 16: Drawing on the Internet............................................................................347

Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................367

Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Do No Harm .........................................................................369

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Swap Drawing Data with

Other People and Programs .......................................................................................373

Index .......................................................................383

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Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................1

What’s Not in This Book...................................................................................1

Who Are — and Aren’t — You?........................................................................2

How This Book Is Organized............................................................................2

Part I: AutoCAD 101.................................................................................3

Part II: Let There Be Lines ......................................................................3

Part III: If Drawings Could Talk...............................................................4

Part IV: Share and Share Alike................................................................4

Part V: The Part of Tens..........................................................................4

Icons Used in This Book ...................................................................................5

A Few Conventions — Just in Case .................................................................5

Part I: AutoCAD 101 ......................................................7

Chapter 1: Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Why AutoCAD?.................................................................................................10

The Importance of Being DWG ......................................................................11

Seeing the LT ....................................................................................................13

Staying Alive with 2005...................................................................................14

Chapter 2 : Le Tour de AutoCAD 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

AutoCAD Does Windows ................................................................................18

AutoCAD’s Opening Screen Cuisine ..............................................................19

Standard Windows fare.........................................................................19

Looking for Mr. Status Bar ....................................................................23

Take an order: The command line area ..............................................26

Main course: The drawing area ...........................................................30

A Palette-Cleanser ...........................................................................................33

What Really Makes AutoCAD Cook? .............................................................35

Sizzling system variables......................................................................35

Delicious dialog boxes ..........................................................................37

Fun with F1.......................................................................................................38

Chapter 3 : Setup for Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

An Appetizing Setup Strategy ........................................................................42

Choosing your units ..............................................................................44

Weighing your scales.............................................................................45

Thinking about paper............................................................................47

Defending your border..........................................................................50

All system variables go .........................................................................50

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xii AutoCAD 2005 For Dummies

Getting Creative with Templates ...................................................................51

The Main Course: Model Space .....................................................................54

Setting your units ..................................................................................54

Telling your drawing its limits .............................................................55

Making the drawing area snap-py (and grid-dy)................................57

Setting linetype and dimension scales................................................59

Entering drawing properties ................................................................61

Plot Layouts for Any Palate............................................................................62

Creating a layout....................................................................................63

Copying and changing layouts.............................................................66

Lost in paper space ...............................................................................67

Cooking Up Terrific Templates ......................................................................68

Part II: Let There Be Lines ............................................71

Chapter 4: Get Ready to Draw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Drawing and Editing with AutoCAD ..............................................................73

Managing Your Properties..............................................................................74

Putting it on a layer ...............................................................................75

Accumulating properties......................................................................77

Creating new layers...............................................................................80

Using AutoCAD DesignCenter........................................................................85

Named objects .......................................................................................85

Getting (Design) Centered....................................................................85

Copying layers between drawings.......................................................87

Precise-liness Is Next to CAD-liness..............................................................88

Keyboard capers: Coordinate entry....................................................90

Grab an object and make it snappy.....................................................92

Other precision practices.....................................................................97

Chapter 5: Where to Draw the Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Introducing the AutoCAD Drawing Commands.........................................102

The Straight and Narrow: Lines, Polylines, and Polygons .......................104

Toe the line...........................................................................................104

Connect the lines with polyline .........................................................107

Square off with rectangle....................................................................112

Choose your sides with polygon .......................................................113

(Throwing) Curves........................................................................................115

Going full circle ....................................................................................115

Arc-y-ology............................................................................................116

Ellipses (S. Grant?) ..............................................................................119

Splines: The sketchy, sinuous curves ...............................................121

Donuts: The circles with a difference ...............................................123

Revision clouds on the horizon .........................................................124

Scoring Points................................................................................................126

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