Sybex Introducing AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 May 2008

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Introducing

AutoCAD®

2009 and

AutoCAD®

LT 2009

Geor g e O mura

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Introducing

AutoCAD®

2009 and

AutoCAD®

LT 2009

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Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Introducing

AutoCAD®

2009 and

AutoCAD®

LT 2009

Geor g e O mura

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Acquisitions Editor: Willem Knibbe

Development Editor: Thomas Way

Technical Editor: Paul Richardson

Production Editor: Rachel McConlogue

Copy Editor: Kim Wimpsett

Production Manager: Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert

Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde

Book Designer: Caryl Gorska

Compositor: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Proofreader: Ian Golder, Word One

Indexer: Ted Laux

Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

Main Cover Image: © JupiterImages

Small Cover Image: iStockphoto

Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-26060-9

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Omura, George.

Introducing autoCAD 2009 / George Omura.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-470-26060-9 (paper/website)

1. AutoCAD. 2. Computer-aided design. I. Title.

T385.O475 2008

620’.00420285536--dc22

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo 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 is a

registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing,

Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Introducing AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009. This book

is part of a family of premium quality Sybex books, all written by outstanding authors

who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than thirty years later, we’re still committed to pro￾ducing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles we’re working hard to set a

new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with,

our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your com￾ments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think

about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected], or if you

think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com.

Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde

Vice President and Publisher

Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

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To my colleagues at ELS Architecture and Urban Design, who wonder

what I do in the afternoons

Dedication

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I’d like to thank Willem Knibbe for giving me the opportunity to

work with Sybex, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, on this project. I’d also like to

thank Pete Gaughan for keeping the project moving along. Thanks to Thomas Way

for coordinating the project. Paul Richardson offered his AutoCAD expertise while

checking all the details. Thanks to Rachel McConlogue for her dedicated work on

each chapter, and thanks to the copy editor, Kim Wimpsett, for her careful atten￾tion to detail. ■ At Autodesk, Jim Quanci once again gave his full support for

our work and cheerfully answered all our questions. Thanks to Shaan Hurley for

graciously opening the doors to the AutoCAD beta program so early in the process.

And thanks to Denis Cadu who is always more than willing to help us in our times

of need. ■ Thank you all for making this book possible.

Acknowledgments

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CONTENTS at a glance

Introduction ■ xv

Chapter 1 ■ Getting Familiar with AutoCAD 1

Chapter 2 ■ Understanding the Drafting Tools 37

Chapter 3 ■ Drawing 2D Objects 73

Chapter 4 ■ Editing AutoCAD Objects 111

Chapter 5 ■ Editing with the Modify Panel Tools 127

Chapter 6 ■ Creating 3D Drawings 155

Chapter 7 ■ Getting Organized with Layers 213

Chapter 8 ■ Using Blocks, Groups, Xrefs, and DesignCenter 245

Chapter 9 ■ Creating Text 277

Chapter 10 ■ Using Dimensions 309

Chapter 11 ■ Gathering Information 345

Chapter 12 ■ Laying Out and Printing Your Drawing 361

Index ■ 397

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Contents

Introduction xv

Chapter 1 ■ Getting Familiar with AutoCAD 1

Understanding the AutoCAD Window 2

Starting a Drawing 21

Panning and Zooming to Adjust Your View 25

Understanding the Layout View 28

Understanding How Command

Options Work 30

Getting Help 32

Summary 36

Chapter 2 ■ Understanding the Drafting Tools 37

Understanding the AutoCAD

Coordinate System 38

Setting Up a Drawing 48

Using a Digital T Square and Triangle 53

Getting a Visual Reference

with the Grid Mode 56

Snapping to the Grid or Other

Regular Intervals 57

Changing the Grid and Snap Settings 58

Selecting Exact Locations on Objects 62

Aligning Objects Using Object Snap

Tracking and Tracking Points 67

Using the Temporary Tracking

Point Feature 70

Summary 72

Chapter 3 ■ Drawing 2D Objects 73

Working with the Draw Panel 74

Drawing Straight Lines 74

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Drawing Circles and Arcs 75

Drawing Curves 79

Drawing Parallel Lines 85

Drawing Revision Clouds 86

Working with Hatch Patterns and Solid Fills 88

Drawing Regular Polygons 102

Using Objects to Lay Out Your Drawing 104

Summary 110

Chapter 4 ■ Editing AutoCAD Objects 111

Selecting Objects 112

Editing the Windows Way 115

Changing Objects with Grips and

Dynamic Input 119

Controlling Objects Using the

Properties Palette 123

Summary 125

Chapter 5 ■ Editing with the Modify Panel Tools 127

Selecting Objects 128

Erasing Objects 129

Joining Objects 130

Moving and Copying 137

Scaling, Stretching, and Rotating 142

Breaking an Object into Two 146

Editing Xrefs and Blocks 147

Editing Polylines 150

Summary 153

Chapter 6 ■ Creating 3D Drawings 155

Getting to Know the 3D Modeling

Workspace 156

Drawing in 3D Using Solids and Surfaces 159

Changing Your Point of View 173

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Creating 3D Forms from 2D Shapes 180

Specifying Exact Distances in 3D Space 193

Controlling the Appearance of Your Model 194

Summary 211

Chapter 7 ■ Getting Organized with Layers 213

Creating and Assigning Layers 214

Setting the Current Layer 218

Controlling Layer Visibility 219

Locking Layers from Printing and Editing 224

Finding the Layers You Want 225

Taming an Unwieldy List of Layers 226

Saving and Recalling Layer Settings 231

Using the Layers Panel to Manage Layers 233

Organizing Visual Content by

Using Properties 235

Summary 244

Chapter 8 ■ Using Blocks, Groups, Xrefs,

and DesignCenter 245

Using Blocks to Organize Objects 246

Organizing Objects by Using Groups 256

Getting Multiple Uses from Drawings

Using External References 261

Keeping Track of Drawing Components

with DesignCenter 265

Keeping Tools on Hand with the

Tool Palettes Window 272

Summary 275

Chapter 9 ■ Creating Text 277

Adding and Formatting Text 278

Understanding Text and Scale 287

Using Styles to Organize Your Fonts 289

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Adding Single Words with the

Single-Line Text Object 292

Adding Tables to Your Drawing 293

Summary 307

Chapter 10 ■ Using Dimensions 309

Understanding the Parts of an

AutoCAD Dimension 310

Dimensioning in the Model or Layout View 311

Drawing Linear Dimensions 312

Dimensioning Nonorthogonal Objects 316

Adding a Note with an Arrow Using the

Leader Tool 320

Using Ordinate Dimensions 324

Adding Tolerance Notation 325

Editing Dimensions 327

Setting Up the Dimension’s Appearance 330

Summary 343

Chapter 11 ■ Gathering Information 345

Measuring Areas 346

Finding the Coordinate of a Point 349

Measuring Distances 350

Measuring Angles 350

Getting the General Status of the Drawing 351

Finding the Time Spent on a Drawing 352

Adding Nondrawing Data to Store with

Your Drawing 353

Finding Text in a Drawing 354

Locating and Selecting Named Components 355

Finding Missing Support Files 356

Summary 359

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