MasteringAutoCAD® for Mac®

George Omura

Rick Graham

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Willem KnibbeDevelopment Editor: Candace EnglishTechnical Editor: Lee AmbrosiusProduction Editors: Rachel Gigliotti and Dassi ZeidelCopy Editor: Judy FlynnEditorial Manager: Pete GaughanProduction Manager: Tim TateVice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard SwadleyVice President and Publisher: Neil EddeBook Designers: Maureen Forys and Judy Fung Compositor: JoAnn Kolonick, Happenstance Type-O-RamaProofreader: Publication Services, Inc.Indexer: Ted LauxProject Coordinator, Cover: Lynsey StanfordCover Designer: Ryan SneedCover Image: © PhotoAlto/James Hardy/Getty Images

Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-93234-6 ISBN: 978-1-118-01096-9 (ebk) ISBN: 978-1-118-01097-6 (ebk) ISBN: 978-1-118-01079-2 (ebk)

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Mastering AutoCAD for Mac. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing con-sistently 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 comments 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 nedde@wiley.com. 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

To the memory of Barry Elbasani, 1941–2010: founding member of ELS Architecture and Urban Design —George Omura

AcknowledgmentsMany talented and hardworking folks gave their best effort to produce Mastering AutoCAD for Mac. I offer my sincerest gratitude to those people who helped bring this book to you.

Heartfelt thanks go to the editorial and production teams at Sybex for their efforts. Willem Knibbe, as always, made sure things got off to a great start and was always there for support. Candace English kept a watchful eye on the progress of the book. Lee Ambrosius did an excel-lent job of ensuring that we didn’t make any glaring mistakes and offered suggestions based on his own writing experience. On the production side, Rachel Gigliotti kept the workflow going and answered my dumb questions during the review process, and Judy Flynn made sure we weren’t trying out new uses of the English language. I can’t forget my son Charles, for helping with the reviews of the earlier chapters.

At Autodesk, special thanks go to Rob Maguire for taking the time from his busy schedule to write the foreword. Thanks for the kind words. Thanks also go to Denis Cadu, who has always given his steadfast support of our efforts over many projects. Jim Quanci always gives his gener-ous and thoughtful assistance to us author types. We’d be lost without your help, Jim. Thanks also go to Barbara Vezos and Richard Lane for their assistance. As always, a big thanks to Shaan Hurley, Lisa Crounse, and the Autodesk beta team for generously allowing us to have a look at the prerelease software.

And finally, a big thank-you goes to Rick Graham for making such a huge contribution to this book as coauthor.

—George Omura

Thanks to my wonderful wife Melony, for putting up without me during the preparation of this book. Thanks to George Omura for a fine series of books and allowing me to be a part of this. Thanks to the AutoCAD for Mac team for all the work you’ve done to make this the product it is today. And last, thanks to Willem Knibbe and all the folks who work behind the scenes at Sybex to make sure what is published is the absolute best.

—Rick Graham

About the AuthorsGeorge Omura is a licensed architect, Autodesk authorized author, and CAD specialist with more than 20 years of experience in AutoCAD and over 30 years of experience in architecture. He has worked on design projects ranging from resort hotels to metropolitan transit systems. George has written numerous other AutoCAD books for Sybex, including Introducing AutoCAD 2010, Mastering AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011, and Introducing AutoCAD 2009.

Richard (Rick) Graham is a CAD/IT manager at James R. Holley & Associates, Inc. He has been using and supporting users of AutoCAD and other Autodesk products for over 20 years. Rick has multidiscipline experience, from architecture to civil engineering. He is currently serving as president of his local AUGI chapter and has presented various topics. He coauthored Introducing AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 and is involved with several blogs, including his latest, www.macacad.com. He has been using the Mac OS for many years and has long felt that the marriage between Mac and AutoCAD would happen again. Oh, happy days!

Contents at a Glance

Foreward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxiii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv

Part 1 • The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1  •  Exploring the AutoCAD Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2  •  Creating Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 3  •  Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Chapter 4  •  Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 5  •  Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Part 2 • Mastering Intermediate Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Chapter 6  •  Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Chapter 7  •  Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References. . . . . . . . . 205

Chapter 8  •  Introducing Printing and Layouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Chapter 9  •  Adding Text to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Chapter 10  •  Using Fields and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Chapter 11  •  Using Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Part 3 • Mastering Advanced Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Chapter 12  •  Using Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Chapter 13  •  Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Chapter 14  •  Advanced Editing and Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Chapter 15  •  Laying Out Your Printer Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

x | Contents at a GlanCe

Chapter 16  •  Making “Smart” Drawings with Parametric Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Chapter 17  •  Drawing Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Chapter 18  •  Getting and Exchanging Data from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Part 4 • 3D Modeling and Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Chapter 19  •  Creating 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Chapter 20  •  Using Advanced 3D Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Chapter 21  •  Rendering 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Chapter 22  •  Editing and Visualizing 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Chapter 23  •  Exploring 3D Mesh and Surface Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Appendix A  •  The Bottom Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Appendix B  •  Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD for Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Appendix C  •  Hardware and Software Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Appendix D  •  System Variables and Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763

Bonus Chapter 1  •  Exploring AutoLISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783

Bonus Chapter 2  •  Customizing Toolsets, Menus, Linetypes, and Hatch Patterns . 813

Contents

Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxiii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv

Part 1 • The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 • Exploring the AutoCAD Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Taking a Guided Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Launching AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4The AutoCAD Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Picking Points in the Drawing Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Understanding the UCS Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Using the Command Line Palette and the Dynamic Input Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Getting Familiar with AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Opening an Existing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Using the Model Space and Layout Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Using Zoom and Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Saving a File as You Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Making Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Working with Multiple Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 2 • Creating Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Getting to Know the Tool Sets palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Starting Your First Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Specifying Exact Distances with Coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Specifying Polar Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Specifying Relative Cartesian Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Interpreting the Cursor Modes and Understanding Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Understanding Cursor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Choosing Command Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Using a A-Click and Selection Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Using Noun/Verb Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Editing with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Stretching Lines by Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Moving and Rotating with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Using Rotate Reference to Align Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Using Dynamic Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

xII | Contents

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Using Context-Sensitive Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Finding Additional Sources of Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Displaying Data in the Command Line Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Displaying the Properties of an Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Chapter 3 • Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Setting Up a Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Specifying Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Fine-Tuning the Measurement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Setting Up the Drawing Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Looking at an Alternative to Limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Understanding Scale Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Using Polar Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Setting the Polar Tracking Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Exploring the Drawing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Locating an Object in Reference to Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Getting a Closer Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Modifying an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Planning and Laying Out a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Making a Preliminary Sketch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Using the Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Erasing the Layout Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Putting On the Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Aligning Objects by Using Object Snap Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Using the AutoCAD Modes as Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Using Grid Mode as a Background Grid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Using the Snap Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Chapter 4 • Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Creating a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Understanding the Define Block Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Inserting a Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Scaling and Rotating Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Using an Existing Drawing as a Symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Modifying a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Unblocking and Redefining a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Exploring the Block Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Saving a Block as a Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Replacing Existing Files with Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Other Uses for Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Understanding the Annotation Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Grouping Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Modifying Members of a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Working with the Group Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Contents | xIII

Chapter 5 • Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Organizing Information with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Creating and Assigning Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Working on Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Controlling Layer Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Adding Control Features to the Layer List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Finding the Layers You Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Assigning Linetypes to Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Adding a Linetype to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Controlling Line Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Using Objects to Control Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Keeping Track of Blocks and Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Getting a Text File List of Layers or Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Part 2 • Mastering Intermediate Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Chapter 6 • Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Creating and Using Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Creating a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Using a Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Copying an Object Multiple Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Making Circular Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Making Row and Column Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Fine-Tuning Your View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Finishing the Kitchenette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Developing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Importing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Using Osnap Tracking to Place Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Finding an Exact Distance along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Changing the Length of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Creating a New Drawing by Using Parts from Another Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Eliminating Unused Blocks, Layers, Linetypes, Shapes, Styles, and More . . . . . . . 201The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 7 • Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References . . .205Assembling the Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Taking Control of the AutoCAD Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Understanding Regeneration and Redrawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Saving Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Understanding the Frozen Layer Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Using Hatch Patterns in Your Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Placing a Hatch Pattern in a Specific Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Adding Predefined Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Positioning Hatch Patterns Accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Updating a Block from an External File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Changing the Hatch Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Modifying a Hatch Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

xIV | Contents

Understanding the Boundary Hatch Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Controlling Boundaries with the Boundaries Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Fine-Tuning the Boundary Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Controlling Hatch Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Using Gradient Shading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Tips for Using Hatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Space Planning and Hatch Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Using External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Other Differences between External References and Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Other External Reference Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Clipping Xref Views and Improving Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Chapter 8 • Introducing Printing and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243Print a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244Understanding the Print Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Paper Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248Drawing Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248Plot Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248The Advanced Printing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

WYSIWYG Printing Using Layout Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Setting Print Scale in the Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Examining Output-Device Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Adding a Printer Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Changing the Default Printer Configuration File Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Understanding Plot Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Making Your Plot Styles Visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Printer Hardware Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Understanding Your Printer’s Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Knowing Your Printer’s Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Chapter 9 • Adding Text to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Preparing a Drawing for Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Organizing Text by Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Setting the Annotation Scale and Adding Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Exploring Text and Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Adjusting the Text Height and Font. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Understanding Text Formatting with the Text Editor Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

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Adding Symbols and Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Setting Indents and Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

What Do the Fonts Look Like?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Adding Simple Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Justifying Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Using Special Characters with Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Using the Check Spelling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294Finding and Replacing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Chapter 10 • Using Fields and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Using Fields to Associate Text with Drawing Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Adding Tables to Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Creating a Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Adding Cell Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Adjusting Table Text Orientation and Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Editing the Table Line Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311Adding Formulas to Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Using Formulas Directly in Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Using Other Math Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Exporting Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Chapter 11 • Using Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Understanding the Components of a Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Creating a Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Setting Up the Primary Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323Setting the Height for Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Setting the Location and Orientation of Dimension Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Choosing an Arrow Style and Setting the Dimension Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326Setting Up Alternate Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329Setting the Current Dimension Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330Modifying a Dimension Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Drawing Linear Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331Understanding the Dimensions Tool Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331Placing Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332Continuing a Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333Drawing Dimensions from a Common Base Extension Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334Adjusting the Distance between Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Editing Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337Appending Data to Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337Using Grips to Make Minor Adjustments to Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340Editing Dimensions and Other Objects Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343Associating Dimensions with Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344Adding a String of Dimensions with a Single Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Adding or Removing the Alternate Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

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Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Linear Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347Dimensioning Radii, Diameters, and Arcs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349Skewing Dimension Lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Adding a Note with a Leader Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Creating Multileader Styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Editing Multileader Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Breaking a Dimension Line for a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Applying Ordinate Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357Adding Tolerance Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Adding Inspection Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Part 3 • Mastering Advanced Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Chapter 12 • Using Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365Creating Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Adding Attributes to Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Copying and Modifying Attribute Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Turning the Attribute Definitions into a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372Inserting Blocks Containing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Editing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376Editing Attribute Values One at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376Editing Attribute Text Formats and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377Making Global Changes to Attribute Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379Making Invisible Attributes Visible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380Making Global Format and Property Changes to Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381Redefining Blocks Containing Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Chapter 13 • Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .385Methods for Converting Paper Drawings to AutoCAD Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385Importing a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386Working with a Raster Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Scaling a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Controlling Object Visibility and Overlap with Raster Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390Clipping a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391Adjusting Brightness, Contrast, and Fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393Turning Off the Frame, Adjusting Overall Quality, and

Controlling Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Chapter 14 • Advanced Editing and Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .397Using External References (Xrefs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Preparing Existing Drawings for External-Referencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398Assembling Xrefs to Build a Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Contents | xVII

Importing Named Elements from Xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405Controlling the Xref Search Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Managing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Chapter 15 • Laying Out Your Printer Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411Understanding Model Space and Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Switching from Model Space to Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412Setting the Size of a Paper Space Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414Creating New Paper Space Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415Reaching inside Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Working with Paper Space Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419Scaling Views in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420Setting Layers in Individual Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422Creating and Using Multiple Paper Space Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Creating Odd-Shaped Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425Understanding Line Weights, Linetypes, and Dimensions in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . 428

Controlling and Viewing Line Weights in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428The Lineweight Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430Linetype Scales and Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430Dimensioning in Paper Space Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431Other Uses for Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Chapter 16 • Making “Smart” Drawings with Parametric Tools . . . . . . . . . . .435Why Use Parametric Drawing Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435Connecting Objects with Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Using Autoconstrain to Automatically Add Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437Editing a Drawing Containing Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438Creating Constraints from Scratch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439Using Other Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443Using Constraints in the Drawing Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Controlling Sizes with Dimensional Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445Adding and Editing a Dimensional Constraint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Editing the Constraint Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448Putting Constraints to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Chapter 17 • Drawing Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451Introducing Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Drawing a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451Setting Polyline Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Editing Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454Setting Pedit Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457Smoothing Polylines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458Editing Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Creating a Polyline Spline Curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

xVIII | Contents

Using True Spline Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469Drawing a True Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470Understanding the Spline Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471Joining Splines to Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472Fine-Tuning Spline Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Marking Divisions on Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476Dividing Objects into Segments of Equal Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476Dividing Objects into Specified Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Chapter 18 • Getting and Exchanging Data from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481Finding the Area of Closed Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Finding the Area of an Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482Using Hatch Patterns to Find Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483Adding and Subtracting Areas with the Area Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Getting General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488Determining the Drawing’s Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488Keeping Track of Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490Getting Information from System Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491Keeping a Log of Your Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491Capturing and Saving Text Data from the Command Line Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Using the DXF File Format to Exchange CAD Data with Other Programs . . . . . . . . . 493Exporting and Importing DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Using AutoCAD Drawings in Page-Layout Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494Exporting Raster Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495Exporting Vector Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Part 4 • 3D Modeling and Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Chapter 19 • Creating 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .499Getting to Know the 3D Modeling Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Getting to Know the Modeling Tool Sets Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499Finding the 3D Options in the Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502Revisiting the Drawing Area Viewport Controls and ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502Expanding the Status Bar for More 3D Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Drawing in 3D Using Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504Adjusting Appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504Creating a 3D Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505Editing 3D Solids with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506Constraining Motion with the Gizmo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508Rotating Objects in 3D Using Dynamic UCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508Drawing on a 3D Object’s Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511Pushing and Pulling Shapes from a Solid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512Making Changes to Your Solid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Creating 3D Forms from 2D Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516Extruding a Polyline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Contents | xIx

Isolating Coordinates with Point Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521Moving around Your Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Finding Isometric and Orthogonal Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524Rotating Freely around Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525Changing Your View Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526Changing Where You Are Looking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527Changing from Perspective to Parallel Projection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Getting a Visual Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528Using Visual Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529Creating a Visual Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Turning a 3D View into a 2D AutoCAD Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Chapter 20 • Using Advanced 3D Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .535Setting Up AutoCAD for This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535Mastering the User Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Defining a UCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536Saving a UCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539Working in a UCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540Building 3D Parts in Separate Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Understanding the UCS Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544UCS Based on Object Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545UCS Based on Offset Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546UCS Rotated around an Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547Orienting a UCS in the View Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549Saving a UCS with a View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Using Viewports to Aid in 3D Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549Creating Complex 3D Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Laying Out a 3D Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554Using a 3D Polyline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556Creating a Curved 3D Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557Converting the Surface into a Solid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561Shaping the Solid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562Finding the Interference between Two Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563Creating Tubes with the Sweep Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566Using Sweep to Create Complex Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Creating Spiral Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571Creating Surface Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Slicing a Solid with a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575Finding the Volume of a Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577Understanding the Loft Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Moving Objects in 3D Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583Aligning Objects in 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583Using the 3D Move command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584Rotating an Object in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

xx | Contents

Chapter 21 • Rendering 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .589Testing the Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589Creating a Quick-Study Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593Simulating the Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Setting Up the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594Creating Effects Using Materials and Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Adding Glass to the Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595Adding a Self-Illuminated Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597Using the Sun and Sky Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598Simulating a Night Scene with Spotlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600Adding a Point Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603Editing Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

Controlling Render Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608Printing Your Renderings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611

Chapter 22 • Editing and Visualizing 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613Understanding Solid Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613Creating Solid Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

Joining Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616Creating Complex Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Tapering an Extrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619Sweeping a Shape on a Curved Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620Revolving a Polyline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Editing Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624Splitting a Solid into Two Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624Rounding Corners with the Fillet Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626Chamfering Corners with the Chamfer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627Using the Solid Editing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629

Streamlining the 2D Drawing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637Drawing Standard Top, Front, and Right-Side Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637Adding Dimensions and Notes in a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639Using Visual Styles with a Viewport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Visualizing Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

Chapter 23 • Exploring 3D Mesh and Surface Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651Creating a Simple 3D Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Creating a Mesh Primitive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652Understanding the Parts of a Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653Smoothing a Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Editing Faces and Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654Stretching Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656Moving an Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659Adding More Faces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

Contents | xxI

Rotating an Edge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664Adding a Crease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666Splitting and Extruding a Mesh Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Creating Complex Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670Revolved Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670Edge Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671Ruled Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672Tabulated Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Understanding 3D Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674Editing Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675

Using Extrude, Surface Trim, Surface Untrim, and Fillet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677Using Surface Offset, Surface Blend, and Surface Patch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680Understanding Associativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683Editing with Control Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686Editing with the 3D Edit Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690Making Holes in a Surface with the Project Geometry Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693

Visualizing Curvature: Understanding the Surface Analysis Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Appendix A • The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .697Chapter 1: Exploring the AutoCAD Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697Chapter 2: Creating Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698Chapter 3: Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699Chapter 4: Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699Chapter 5: Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700Chapter 6: Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701Chapter 7: Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References . . . . . . . . . . . 701Chapter 8: Introducing Printing and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702Chapter 9: Adding Text to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703Chapter 10: Using Fields and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704Chapter 11: Using Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704Chapter 12: Using Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706Chapter 13: Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706Chapter 14: Advanced Editing and Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707Chapter 15: Laying Out Your Printer Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707Chapter 16: Making “Smart” Drawings with Parametric Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708Chapter 17: Drawing Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709Chapter 18: Getting and Exchanging Data from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710Chapter 19: Creating 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711Chapter 20: Using Advanced 3D Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712Chapter 21: Rendering 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713Chapter 22: Editing and Visualizing 3D Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714Chapter 23: Exploring 3D Mesh and Surface Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

xxII | Contents

Appendix B • Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD for Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .739Before Installing AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739Proceeding with the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739Configuring AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743Turning On the Grips Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752Setting Up the Tracking Vector Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Appendix C • Hardware and Software Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .753The Graphics Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753Pointing Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753Output Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754Fine-Tuning the Appearance of Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754Memory and AutoCAD Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756AutoCAD and Your Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757Using Spatial and Layer Indexes to Conserve Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757When Things Go Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

Appendix D • System Variables and Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .763System Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763Taking a Closer Look at the Dimension Style Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

Bonus Chapter 1 • Exploring AutoLISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .783Putting AutoLISP to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784Understanding the Interpreter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790Using Arguments and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792Creating a Simple Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795Selecting Objects with AutoLISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801Controlling the Flow of an AutoLISP Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803Converting Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808Storing Your Programs as Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

Bonus Chapter 2 • Customizing Toolsets, Menus, Linetypes, and Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813Customizing the User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813Creating Macros for Tools and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828Pausing for User Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829Understanding the Diesel Macro Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830Creating Custom Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833Creating Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842

ForewordDeveloping AutoCAD for Mac has been a great opportunity for Autodesk to deliver something our customers have been requesting for almost 20 years. To meet the high expectations of our customers, Autodesk had to deliver a high-quality customer experience, tailored not only for the traditional AutoCAD user, but one for the native Mac OS user as well. We needed a product that was the best of both worlds.

I was fortunate to help deliver the best of both worlds in my role as product manager for AutoCAD for Mac. After learning AutoCAD in Mechanical Engineering school and at UC Berkeley, I began working for Autodesk immediately in the QA department, and quickly tran-sitioned to a software development role on the AutoCAD team for six years. Following a break from Autodesk, I returned to school and graduated at the top of my class with a dual Master’s degree in Business Administration and Information Systems. I was in the unique position of being able to understand our technical customers, push the limits of software development, and justify the business motivation to do so. AutoCAD for Mac was the perfect project for me.

AutoCAD for Mac first and foremost is AutoCAD. We needed to make it native, so change from the Windows version was inevitable; however, we knew none of the changes could alter the customer’s impression that “this is AutoCAD.” After countless research sessions, customer interviews, and some numerical analysis of commands and functioned used, we had our initial scope. Next we had to understand the essence of what makes a Mac program truly native. To help us understand this, Autodesk recruited the largest pool of beta testers in the history of the company. These customers helped us guide the development of the product so that we kept the right balance of AutoCAD and Mac-native experiences.

George Omura and Rick Graham were among our most active beta testers and helped us craft the product, address issues, and understand and articulate our customers’ needs. Both have had many years of AutoCAD experience under their belts, which allows them to under-stand both users who are new to AutoCAD, as well as those that have used it for many years. No matter what your skill level, this excellent book will help you quickly become productive with AutoCAD for Mac.

Finally, to our many users, I’d like to say that we are eternally grateful for the opportunity to provide such a great product and benefit from your constant feedback. I wish you all good luck with the product, and the AutoCAD for Mac team will eagerly await your feedback on the dis-cussion forums.

Thank you,

—Rob Maguire Product Manager, AutoCAD for Mac Platform Solutions and Emerging Business Division Autodesk, Inc.

Introduction

Welcome to Mastering AutoCAD for Mac. As many readers of the original Mastering AutoCAD have already discovered, this book is a unique blend of tutorial and reference that includes everything you need to get started and stay ahead with AutoCAD.

How to Use This BookRather than just showing you how each command works, this book shows you AutoCAD for Mac in the context of meaningful activities. You’ll learn how to use commands while working on an actual project and progressing toward a goal. This book also provides a foundation on which you can build your own methods for using AutoCAD and become an AutoCAD expert. For this reason, I haven’t covered every single command or every permutation of a command response. You should think of this book as a way to get a detailed look at AutoCAD as it’s used on a real project. As you follow the exercises, I encourage you to also explore AutoCAD on your own, applying the techniques you learn to your own work.

Both experienced and beginning AutoCAD users will find this book useful. If you aren’t an experienced user, the way to get the most out of this book is to approach it as a tutorial—chapter by chapter, at least for the first two parts of the book. You’ll find that each chapter builds on the skills and information you learned in the previous one. To help you navigate, the exercises are shown in numbered steps. To address the needs of all readers worldwide, the exercises provide both Imperial (feet/inches) and metric measurements.

After you’ve mastered the material in Parts 1 and 2, you can follow your interests and explore other parts of the book in whatever order you choose. Part 3 takes you to a more advanced skill level. There you’ll learn more about storing and sharing drawing data and how to create more complex drawings. If you’re interested in 3D, check out Part 4.

You can also use this book as a ready reference for your day-to-day problems and questions about commands. Optional exercises at the end of each chapter will help you review and look at different ways to apply the information you’ve learned. Experienced users will also find this book a handy reference tool.

Getting Information FastIn each chapter, you’ll find extensive tips and discussions in the form of sidebars set off from the main text. These provide a wealth of information I have gathered over years of using AutoCAD on a variety of projects in different office environments. You may want to browse through the book and read these boxes just to get an idea of how they might be useful to you.

xxVI | IntroduCtIon

Another quick reference you’ll find yourself using often is Appendix D, “System Variables and Dimension Styles,” included on the companion website, www.sybex.com/go/ masteringautocadmac. It contains descriptions of all the dimension settings with comments on their uses. If you experience any problems, you can consult the section “When Things Go Wrong” in Appendix C, “Hardware and Software Tips,” also included on the companion website.

The Mastering SeriesThe Mastering series from Sybex provides outstanding instruction for readers with intermediate and advanced skills, in the form of top-notch training and development for those already work-ing in their field and clear, serious education for those aspiring to become pros. Every Mastering book includes the following:

Real-World Scenarios, ranging from case studies to practical information you can use now, •u

that show how the tool, technique, or knowledge presented is applied in actual practice

Skill-based instruction, with chapters organized around real tasks rather than abstract •u

concepts or subjects

Self-review test questions, so you can be certain you’re equipped to do the job right•u

What to ExpectMastering AutoCAD for Mac is divided into four parts, each representing a milestone in your progress toward becoming an expert AutoCAD user. Here is a description of those parts and what they will show you.

Part 1: The BasicsAs with any major endeavor, you must begin by tackling small, manageable tasks. In this first part, you’ll become familiar with the way AutoCAD looks and feels.

Chapter 1, “Exploring the AutoCAD Interface,” shows you how to get around in AutoCAD.

Chapter 2, “Creating Your First Drawing,” details how to start and exit the program and how to respond to AutoCAD commands.

Chapter 3, “Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools,” tells you how to set up a work area, edit objects, and lay out a drawing.

Chapter 4, “Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups,” explores some tools unique to CAD: symbols, blocks, and layers. As you’re introduced to AutoCAD, you’ll also get a chance to make some drawings that you can use later in the book and perhaps even in future proj-ects of your own.

Chapter 5, “Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks,” shows you how to use layers to keep simi-lar information together and object properties such as linetypes to organize things visually.

IntroduCtIon | xxVII

Part 2: Mastering Intermediate SkillsAfter you have the basics down, you’ll begin to explore some of AutoCAD’s more subtle qualities.

Chapter 6, “Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently,” tells you how to reuse drawing setup information and parts of an existing drawing.

Chapter 7, “Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References,” details how to use viewing tools and hatches and how to assemble and edit a large drawing file.

Chapter 8, “Introducing Printing and Layouts,” shows you how to get your drawing onto hard copy.

Chapter 9, “Adding Text to Drawings,” tells you how to annotate your drawing and edit your notes.

Chapter 10, “Using Fields and Tables,” shows you how to add spreadsheet functionality to your drawings.

Chapter 11, “Using Dimensions,” gives you practice in using automatic dimensioning (another unique CAD capability).

Part 3: Mastering Advanced SkillsAt this point, you’ll be on the verge of becoming a real AutoCAD expert. Part 3 is designed to help you polish your existing skills and give you a few new ones.

Chapter 12, “Using Attributes,” tells you how to attach information to drawing objects and how to export that information to database and spreadsheet files.

Chapter 13, “Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD,” details techniques for transferring paper drawings to AutoCAD.

Chapter 14, “Advanced Editing and Organizing,” is where you’ll complete the apartment building tutorial. During this process you’ll learn how to integrate what you’ve learned so far and gain some tips on working in groups.

Chapter 15, “Laying Out Your Printer Output,” shows you the tools that let you display your drawing in an organized fashion.

Chapter 16, “Making ‘Smart’ Drawings with Parametric Tools,” introduces you to parametric drawing. This feature lets you quickly modify a drawing by changing a few parameters.

Chapter 17, “Drawing Curves,” gives you an in-depth look at some special drawing objects, such as splines and fitted curves.

Chapter 18, “Getting and Exchanging Data from Drawings,” is where you’ll practice getting information about a drawing and learn how AutoCAD can interact with other applications, such as spreadsheets and page-layout programs. You’ll also learn how to copy and paste data.

xxVIII | IntroduCtIon

Part 4: 3D Modeling and ImagingAlthough 2D drafting is AutoCAD’s workhorse application, AutoCAD’s 3D capabilities give you a chance to expand your ideas and look at them in a new light.

Chapter 19, “Creating 3D Drawings,” covers AutoCAD’s basic features for creating three-dimensional drawings.

Chapter 20, “Using Advanced 3D Features,” introduces you to some of the program’s more powerful 3D capabilities.

Chapter 21, “Rendering 3D Drawings,” shows how you can use AutoCAD to produce lifelike views of your 3D drawings.

Chapter 22, “Editing and Visualizing 3D Solids,” takes a closer look at 3D solids and how they can be created, edited, and displayed in AutoCAD.

Chapter 23, “Exploring 3D Mesh and Surface Modeling,” introduces you to free-form 3D modeling using mesh and surface objects. With this latest addition to AutoCAD, there isn’t anything you can’t model in 3D.

The AppendixFinally, this book has one appendix.

Appendix A, “The Bottom Line,” contains the solutions to the book’s Master It review questions.

What’s on the Book’s WebsiteThe companion website, www.sybex.com/go/masteringautocadmac, contains the sample draw-ing files from all the exercises in this book. You can pick up an exercise anywhere you like with-out having to work through the book from front to back. You can also use these sample files to repeat exercises or to just explore how files are organized and put together. In addition, you’ll find the following:

Links to important resources like video demos of the new features in AutoCAD for the Mac•u

A trial version of AutoCAD for the Mac•u

Trial software of companion products to AutoCAD for the Mac•u

Three appendices and two bonus chapters to further enhance your skills•u

Appendix B, “Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD for Mac,” contains an installation •u

and configuration tutorial. If AutoCAD isn’t already installed on your system, follow the steps in this tutorial before starting Chapter 1.

Appendix C, “Hardware and Software Tips,” provides information about hard-•u

ware related to AutoCAD. It also provides tips on improving AutoCAD’s perfor-mance and troubleshooting and provides more detailed information on setting up AutoCAD’s plotting feature.

Appendix D, “System Variables and Dimension Styles,” provides a reference to •u

dimension style settings.