AutoCAD And AutoCAD LT AIO Desk Reference - For Dummies

by Lee Ambrosius and David Byrnes

AutoCAD®

&

AutoCAD LT®

ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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AutoCAD®

&

AutoCAD LT®

ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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by Lee Ambrosius and David Byrnes

AutoCAD®

&

AutoCAD LT®

ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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AutoCAD® & AutoCAD LT® All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

111 River Street

Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or

by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit￾ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written

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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United

States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2006920621

ISBN-13: 978-0-471--75260-8

ISBN-10: 0-471-75260-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

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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 indus￾try 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.

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Dedication

From Lee: To Kristina, Isaac, Amber, and Chloe; my wife and lovely kids for

hanging in there during the long hours I was working on this book. I also can’t

forget everyone else who has had some influence on my career, through both

the good and the bad.

From Dave: To Anna and Delia, the two women in my life, who remind me

there are other things besides keyboards and mice (and sometimes they have

to try REALLY hard).

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Lee Ambrosius: I have to give a special thanks to the great folks at Wiley for

being supportive through this entire project and giving me this opportunity.

Next, I want to thank David for letting me be a coauthor on this project.

Moving up from technical editor to coauthor was a big step — thanks for

giving me the chance. The next two people were very inspirational on this

project and helped keep things moving along: Colleen Totz Diamond and

Tiffany Franklin. I think we made it.

Thanks to Shaan Hurley, Bud Schroeder, Kelly Miller, and the other great pro￾fessionals at Autodesk for taking the time to answer questions as they came

up during this project. Last, but not least, thanks to our technical editor,

Mark Douglas. Mark is most definitely not a stranger to AutoCAD; he is blazing

his own trail in the CAD community as a respected individual who is always

willing to help out a fellow user in need.

David Byrnes: Thanks to Mark Middlebrook for bringing me aboard the

Dummies train and for collaborating on the initial proposal and table of con￾tents for this book. Thanks, also, to Lee Ambrosius for joining up in the book’s

darkest days and for picking up more and more of the project as time went on.

Thanks, too, to colleagues and friends at Autodesk — Shaan Hurley,

Nate Bartley, and Bud Schroeder — who never seem to mind being asked

even the dumbest questions.

At Wiley, thanks to Terri Varveris, who got the project off the ground, and

Tiffany Ma, who shepherded it through with enthusiasm and an unbelievably

awesome degree of patience. It was also a great pleasure to work with project

editor, Colleen Totz Diamond, who deserves medals for patience and diplomacy!

And by no means last (someone has to bring up the rear), thanks to

Mark Douglas for taking on the tech editing job. Mark’s expertise and enthusi￾asm are well known and respected in the AutoCAD community, and we’re

delighted to have him with us.

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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 Editors: Colleen Totz Diamond and

Linda D. Morris

Acquisitions Editors: Tiffany Ma and

Kyle Looper

Technical Editor: Mark Douglas

Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen

Media Development Manager:

Laura VanWinkle

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant

(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Tera Knapp

Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl,

Denny Hager, Joyce Haughey,

Stephanie D. Jumper, Alicia South

Proofreaders: Vickie Broyles,

Melissa D. Buddendeck, Leeann Harney,

Christine Pingleton, Dwight Ramsey

Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

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

Book I: AutoCAD Basics................................................7

Chapter 1: Drawing on (and in) AutoCAD .......................................................................9

Chapter 2: Navigating the AutoCAD Interface ..............................................................15

Chapter 3: All about Files ................................................................................................35

Chapter 4: Basic Tools .....................................................................................................55

Chapter 5: Setting Up Drawings......................................................................................67

Chapter 6: Precision Tools ..............................................................................................93

Book II: 2D Drafting.................................................115

Chapter 1: Drawing Objects ..........................................................................................117

Chapter 2: Modifying Objects .......................................................................................143

Chapter 3: Managing Views...........................................................................................171

Book III: Annotating Drawings ..................................185

Chapter 1: Text: When Pictures Just Won’t Do ...........................................................187

Chapter 2: Dimensioning ...............................................................................................213

Chapter 3: Hatching Your Drawings.............................................................................241

Book IV: LT Differences.............................................251

Chapter 1: The LT Difference ........................................................................................253

Chapter 2: Extending AutoCAD LT................................................................................261

Chapter 3: Mixed Environments...................................................................................269

Book V: 3D Modeling ................................................275

Chapter 1: Introducing the Third Dimension..............................................................277

Chapter 2: Using the 3D Environment .........................................................................285

Chapter 3: Viewing in 3D ...............................................................................................297

Chapter 4: Moving from 2D to 3D .................................................................................307

Chapter 5: Working with Solids ....................................................................................321

Chapter 6: Working with Surfaces ................................................................................329

Chapter 7: Rendering: Lights, Cameras, AutoCAD! ....................................................337

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Book VI: Advanced Drafting ......................................347

Chapter 1: Playing with Blocks.....................................................................................349

Chapter 2: Dynamic Blocks ...........................................................................................365

Chapter 3: External References ....................................................................................381

Chapter 4: Organizing Your Drawings..........................................................................405

Chapter 5: AutoCAD Utilities.........................................................................................415

Book VII: Publishing Drawings ..................................427

Chapter 1: Page Setup....................................................................................................429

Chapter 2: Sheet Sets without Regret ..........................................................................449

Chapter 3: Print, Plot, Publish ......................................................................................477

Book VIII: Collaboration............................................497

Chapter 1: CAD Management: The Necessary Evil.....................................................499

Chapter 2: CAD Standards.............................................................................................509

Chapter 3: Working with Drawing Files........................................................................527

Chapter 4: Sharing Electronic Files ..............................................................................547

Book IX: Customizing AutoCAD..................................567

Chapter 1: The Basics of Customizing AutoCAD........................................................569

Chapter 2: Customizing the Interface ..........................................................................587

Chapter 3: Customizing the Tools ................................................................................607

Chapter 4: Delving Deeper into Customization ..........................................................629

Book X: Programming AutoCAD .................................651

Chapter 1: The AutoCAD Programming Interfaces ....................................................653

Chapter 2: Using Custom Programs.............................................................................663

Chapter 3: Introducing AutoLISP..................................................................................681

Chapter 4: Visual Basic for AutoCAD...........................................................................719

Index .......................................................................741

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Table of Contents

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

About This Book...............................................................................................1

Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................2

Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2

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

Book I: AutoCAD Basics.........................................................................2

Book II: 2D Drafting ................................................................................3

Book III: Annotating Drawings ..............................................................3

Book IV: LT Differences ..........................................................................3

Book V: 3D Modeling..............................................................................3

Book VI: Advanced Drafting ..................................................................3

Book VII: Publishing Drawings..............................................................4

Book VIII: Collaboration.........................................................................4

Book IX: Customizing AutoCAD ............................................................4

Book X: Programming AutoCAD ...........................................................4

Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................4

Book I: AutoCAD Basics.................................................7

Chapter 1: Drawing on (and in) AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Using CAD in the Drawing Office....................................................................9

Understanding AutoCAD Files and Formats ...............................................10

Seeing the LT...................................................................................................12

Using AutoCAD’s Latest-and-Greatest Feature Set.....................................12

Chapter 2: Navigating the AutoCAD Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Starting the Application ................................................................................15

Creating Start menu shortcuts ...........................................................16

Using desktop shortcuts .....................................................................17

Accessing files from Windows Explorer ............................................18

Touring the AutoCAD Interface ....................................................................19

Title bars ...............................................................................................19

AutoCAD menus....................................................................................20

AutoCAD toolbars ................................................................................21

Palettes ..................................................................................................23

Drawing area .........................................................................................25

The floating command window ..........................................................26

The status bar.......................................................................................27

Communicating with Your Software ............................................................28

The command line................................................................................28

Dynamic input.......................................................................................29

Dialog boxes..........................................................................................29

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xii AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

Running AutoCAD Commands......................................................................30

Grasping the AutoCAD Difference................................................................30

Repeating a command .........................................................................30

Canceling a running command ...........................................................31

Invoking transparent commands .......................................................31

Reaching for AutoCAD Help..........................................................................32

Using built-in Help................................................................................32

Using the Info Palette...........................................................................33

Finding online resources .....................................................................33

Chapter 3: All about Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

File Types in AutoCAD...................................................................................35

Starting a New Drawing .................................................................................38

Starting from scratch ...........................................................................40

Using a Wizard ......................................................................................40

Using a template...................................................................................42

Saving a Drawing ............................................................................................43

Save ........................................................................................................44

Save As...................................................................................................44

QSAVE ....................................................................................................44

Opening an Existing Drawing........................................................................46

Open command ....................................................................................46

Using Windows Explorer ....................................................................48

The Multiple-Drawing Environment.............................................................50

Closing Windows............................................................................................50

File Management for AutoCAD .....................................................................51

Naming drawing files............................................................................52

Storing your files ..................................................................................52

Backing Up Is Hard to Do . . . ........................................................................53

Chapter 4: Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Drawing Lines .................................................................................................55

Creating Circles .............................................................................................58

Taking a Closer Look......................................................................................60

Checking out Zoom Realtime..............................................................60

Using Pan Realtime...............................................................................61

Editing Objects ...............................................................................................63

Erasing and Unerasing Stuff..........................................................................63

Using the digital eraser........................................................................63

Unerasing objects.................................................................................64

Undo. Redo. Undo. Redo . . . .........................................................................65

Chapter 5: Setting Up Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Choosing Units of Measurement ..................................................................67

AutoCAD units ......................................................................................69

Imperial or metric ................................................................................70

System variables...................................................................................70

Setting units in your drawing..............................................................71

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