23,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Bring your design vision to life with this full-color guide to AutoCAD 2013! Used by everyone from engineers and architects to interior designers and draftspeople, AutoCAD 2013 is the world's leading 2D and 3D technical drawing program. But, with so many options and features available, finding your way around AutoCAD can be a challenge, even for experienced CAD professionals. AutoCAD 2013 For Dummies is here to help. You'll learn to build a solid foundation for all your projects, use standard CAD techniques, get familiar with new tools and features, and start sharing your models and designs in no time with this easy-to-follow guide. * Covers the latest AutoCAD features and techniques, including creating a basic layout, navigating the AutoCAD Ribbon, drawing and editing, working with dimensions, adding text, creating 3D models, and more * Walks readers through setting up a drawing environment, applying visual styles, managing data across several drawings, and showcasing your designs to potential clients and customers * Features full-color illustrations that mirror what you'll see on your AutoCAD 2013 screens plus a companion website with downloadable drawing files so you can put your CAD skills to the test Whether you're an AutoCAD amateur or a modeling master, AutoCAD 2013 For Dummies has something for you.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 861
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
Ähnliche
AutoCAD® 2013 For Dummies®
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/autocad2013 to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
AutoCAD® For Dummies®
by David Byrnes and Bill Fane
AutoCAD® 2013 For Dummies®
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Not all content that is available in standard print versions of this book may appear or be packaged in all book formats. If you have purchased a version of this book that did not include media that is referenced by or accompanies a standard print version, you may request this media by visiting http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit us at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012936846
ISBN 978-1-118-28112-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-33352-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-33465-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-39217-1 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
David Byrnes is one of those grizzled old-timers you’ll find mentioned every so often in AutoCAD 2013 For Dummies. He began his drafting career on the boards in 1979, and first learned AutoCAD with version 1.4. Dave is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he works as a civil/structural drafter. He taught AutoCAD for fifteen years at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver. Dave has authored or co-authored over a dozen AutoCAD books and was sole author of this title from AutoCAD 2008 For Dummies to AutoCAD 2012 For Dummies.
Bill Fane is a recovering doorknob designer. He was a product engineer and then product engineering manager for Weiser Lock in Vancouver, Canada for 27 years and holds 12 U.S. patents. He has been using AutoCAD for design work since Version 2.17g (1986), and Inventor since version 1.0 beta (1996). He is a retired professional engineer and an Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) certified instructor.
He began teaching mechanical design in 1996 at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver, including such courses as AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, SolidWorks, machine design, term projects, manufacturing processes, and design procedures. He retired from this position in 2008.
He has lectured on a wide range of AutoCAD and Inventor subjects at Autodesk University since 1995 and at Destination Desktop since 2003. He is the AUGI CAD Camp National Team instructor for the manufacturing track. He has written over 220 “The Learning Curve” columns for CADalyst magazine since 1986 and claims to be a close personal friend of Captain LearnCurve. He also writes software product reviews for CADalyst, Design Product News, and Machine Design. He is an active member of the Vancouver AutoCAD Users Society, “the world’s oldest and most dangerous.”
In his spare time he skis, water skis, windsurfs, scuba dives, sails a Hobie Cat, rides an off-road motorcycle, drives his ’37 Rolls-Royce limousine, or his wife’s ’89 Bentley Turbo R, travels extensively with his wife, and plays with his grandchildren.
Dedication
From Dave: I left the bohemian lifestyle of the AutoCAD consultant at the beginning of 2008 and rejoined the engineering company I last worked for in 1988 (luckily they’d forgotten all about that chandelier). Working full-time (oh! the horror!) and keeping up with AutoCAD so I can revise this book has made me somewhat inaccessible for three months a year, and I’m forever grateful to Annie and Delia, still and always the two women in my life, who remind me there are other things besides keyboards and mice (and sometimes they have to try really hard).
From Bill: Back in the last millennium I wrote a book about AutoCAD 13, after which my wife Bev swore “Never again!” This time around she was smart enough to go on a two-week South Pacific cruise while I worked on the final author review files, and so our marriage stands a chance of surviving another 46 years.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Dave thanks former author Mark Middlebrook for bringing him into the AutoCAD For Dummies world by asking him first to tech edit AutoCAD 2000 For Dummies, then to join him as coauthor of AutoCAD 2006 For Dummies, and finally to take over the title altogether.
Bill was both honored and flattered when Dave invited him to co-author this edition of the prestigious AutoCAD For Dummies title, with a view to his taking it over completely next year. Dave’s support and assistance through Bill’s teething period on this project know no bounds, and no matter where the book goes from here, there will always be parts of Dave’s soul lurking in it somewhere.
We both thank colleagues and friends at Autodesk: above all Heidi Hewett and Bud Schroeder, who never seem to mind being asked even the dumbest questions. At Wiley, Acquisitions Editor Kyle Looper was a reliable source of calm but firm direction. It was a pleasure to work with project editor Mark Enochs, and copy editor Heidi Unger pointed out where we mixed up our Ps and our Qs. And thanks, finally, to Ralph Grabowski who did a sterling job of tech editing.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions and Editorial
Sr. Project Editor: Mark Enochs
Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper
Copy Editors: Heidi Unger, Teresa Artman, Amanda Graham
Technical Editor: Ralph Grabowski
Editorial Manager: Leah Michael
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Cover Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/-Vladimir-
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery
Layout and Graphics: Claudia Bell, Carl Byers, Joyce Haughey
Proofreader: Bonnie Mikkelson
Indexer: Infodex Indexing Services, Inc.
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Kathy Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher
Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Introduction
Let’s get something straight upfront. You may have heard that AutoCAD is difficult, complex, or hard to learn and use. Well, it has been our observation that the easier any software is to learn and use, the sooner you bump up against the software’s limitations. Yes, AutoCAD is complex, but that’s the secret to its success. Some claim that few people use more than 10 percent of AutoCAD’s capabilities. Closer analysis reveals that pretty much everyone uses the same basic 5 percent, but everyone else uses a different 5 percent after that. The trick is to find your 5 percent, the sweet spot that suits your particular industry.
It should also be perfectly clear that if your career path has put you in a position where you need to learn AutoCAD, then you’re no dummy!
It’s amazing to think that AutoCAD came into being more than a quarter of a century ago, back in the last millennium, at a time when most people thought that personal computers weren’t capable of industrial-strength tasks like CAD. (The acronym stands for Computer-Aided Drafting, Computer-Aided Design, or both, depending on whom you talk to.) What’s equally amazing is the fact that many of today’s hotshot AutoCAD users weren’t even born when the program first hit the street and the grizzled old-timers writing these words began using it! It’s almost as amazing that, 29 years and counting after its birth in December of 1982, AutoCAD remains the king of the microcomputer CAD hill by a tall margin, making it one of the longest-lived PC programs ever, and it will probably be a year older next year. It’s conceivable that the long-term future of CAD may belong to special-purpose, 3D-based software such as the Autodesk Inventor and Revit programs, or to specialized market-specific variations built on top of AutoCAD. At any rate, AutoCAD’s .DWG file format is the de facto standard, and so AutoCAD will be where the CAD action is for the foreseeable future.
AutoCAD has grown more complex over the years, in part to keep up with the increasing complexity of the design and drafting processes that AutoCAD is intended to serve. It’s not enough just to draw nice-looking lines anymore. If you want to play CAD with the big boys and girls, you need to carefully organize the objects you draw, their properties, and the files in which they reside. You need to coordinate your CAD work with other people in your office who will be working on or making use of the same drawings. You need to be savvy about shipping drawings around via the Internet. You may even need to be a little cognizant of working with AutoCAD in three dimensions.
AutoCAD provides the tools for doing all these things, but it’s not always easy to figure out which hammer to pick up or which nail to bang on first. With this book, you have an excellent chance of creating a presentable, usable, printable, and sharable drawing on your first (or at least your second) try without putting a T-square through your computer screen in frustration.
What’s Not (And What Is) in This Book
This book is not Drafting For Dummies, or Engineering For Dummies, or Crash-Testing For Dummies, or anything similar. We cover the basic principles of how to use AutoCAD to create and edit the objects (lines, circles, arcs, and so on) that make up engineering, architectural, and similar technical drawings. We do not cover drafting standards and practices for any particular industry or profession. For example, we teach you how to create dashed lines, but don’t tell you specifically how and when they should be used to indicate hidden edges in solid objects.
Unlike many other For Dummies books, this one often does tell you to consult the official software documentation. AutoCAD is just too big and complicated for a single book to attempt to describe it completely.
AutoCAD is also too big and complicated for a book like this to cover every feature. We don’t address advanced topics, like database connectivity, customization, or programming, in the interest of bringing you a book of a reasonable size — one that you’ll read rather than stick on your shelf with those other 1,000-page tomes! The ultimate book that covered everything to do with AutoCAD would need a fork truck to move it.
Autodesk likes to keep its users (and us authors!) guessing about new features in future releases of the software. AutoCAD 2009 surprised users and authors alike with a totally revamped user interface, replacing the drop-down menus and toolbars of previous versions with a Microsoft Office 2007–style Ribbon (happily, Autodesk doesn’t force its users to adopt the new look the way Microsoft does — there’s still an “AutoCAD Classic” interface available). AutoCAD’s interface gets some tweaking in each succeeding release, if for no other reason than to include new functionality, so even seasoned users will always find something that’s a little different. This book focuses on AutoCAD 2013 and addresses its slightlyless-capable but much-lower-priced sibling, AutoCAD LT 2013.
We do occasionally mention differences with previous releases so that everyone has some context and upgraders can more readily understand the differences, and you are bound to encounter a few of the millions and millions of drawings out there that were created with older methods. We also mention the important differences between AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT so you’ll know what you — or your LT-using colleagues — are missing so far as this book is concerned; the major difference is the almost-total absence of 3D capabilities in AutoCAD LT.
This book does not cover the discipline-specific features in AutoCAD-based products such as AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD Mechanical (except for some general discussion in Chapter 1), but most of the information in this book applies to the general-purpose AutoCAD features in the AutoCAD-based versions of those programs as well.
Mac attack!
Late in 2010, Autodesk released the first non–Microsoft Windows version of AutoCAD in 20 years. AutoCAD for Mac is out there today, but this book covers the Windows versions only. Although the two versions are file compatible, there are many differences in how they look and what they can do. If you have AutoCAD for Mac, you should be able to gain some understanding of concepts, but you might be better off with a Mac-specific book such as Mastering AutoCAD For Mac by George Omura and Rick Graham (Sybex Publishing).
Who Do We Think You Are?
AutoCAD has a large, loyal, dedicated group of longtime users. This book is not for the sort of people who have been using AutoCAD for a decade or more, who plan their vacation time around Autodesk University, or who consider 1,000-page-plus technical tomes about AutoCAD to be pleasure reading. This book is for people who want to get going quickly with AutoCAD but who also know the importance of developing proper CAD techniques from the beginning.
However, you do need to have some idea of how to use your computer system before tackling AutoCAD — and this book. You need to have a computer system with AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT (preferably the 2013 version). A printer or plotter and a connection to the Internet will be big helps, too.
You also need to know how to use your version of Windows to copy and delete files, create a folder, and find a file. You need to know how to use a mouse to select (highlight) or to choose (activate) commands, how to close a window, and how to minimize and maximize windows. Make sure that you’re familiar with the basics of your operating system before you start with AutoCAD.
How This Book Is Organized
Appearances can be deceptive. For example, had you wandered into our office and seen the apparently random piles of stuff that covered our desks while we were writing this book, you might wonder how we could possibly organize a sentence, let alone an entire book. But — given a suitable degree of concerted thought — Bill knows exactly where to put his hands on that list of new dimension variables, and Dave can always find that bagel and cream cheese he started at coffee break yesterday. In the words of the philosopher, “A tidy desk is the sign of a sick mind.” Boy, are we healthy!
We hope you find that the book also reflects some concerted thought about how to present AutoCAD in a way that’s both easy-to-dip-into and smoothly-flowing-from-beginning-to-end.
The organization of this book into parts — collections of related chapters — is one of the most important, uh, parts of this book. You really can get to know AutoCAD one piece at a time, and each part represents a group of closely related topics. The order of parts also says something about priority; yes, you have our permission to ignore the stuff in later parts until you master most of the stuff in the early ones. This kind of building-block approach can be especially valuable in a program as complex as AutoCAD.
The following sections describe the parts that the book breaks down into.
Part I: AutoCAD 101
Need to know your way around the AutoCAD screen? Why does AutoCAD even exist, anyway? What are all the different AutoCAD-based products that Autodesk sells, and should you be using one of them — for example, AutoCAD LT — instead of AutoCAD? Is everything so slooow because it’s supposed to be slow, or do you have too wimpy a machine to use this wonder of modern-day computing? And why do you have to do this stuff in the first place?
Part I answers all these questions and more. This part also includes what may seem like a great deal of excruciating detail about setting up a new drawing in AutoCAD. But what’s even more excruciating is doing your setup work incorrectly and then feeling as if AutoCAD is fighting you every step of the way. With a little drawing setup work done in advance, it won’t.
Part II: Let There Be Lines
In this part, you discover some essential concepts, including object properties and CAD precision techniques. We know you’re rarin’ to make some drawings, but if you don’t get a handle on this stuff early on, you’ll be terminally confused when you try to draw and edit objects. If you want to make drawings that look good, plot good, and are good, read this stuff!
After the concepts preamble, the bulk of this part covers the trio of activities that you’ll probably spend most of your time in AutoCAD doing: drawing objects, editing them, and zooming and panning to see them better on the screen. These are the things that you do in order to create the geometry — that is, the CAD representations of the objects in the real world that you’re designing. By the end of Part II, you should be pretty good at geometry, even if your ninth-grade math teacher told you otherwise.
Part III: If Drawings Could Talk
CAD drawings don’t live on lines alone — most of them require quite a bit of text, dimensioning, and hatching in order to make the design intent clear to the poor chump who has to build your amazing creation. (Whoever said “a picture is worth a thousand words” must not have counted up the number of words on the average architectural drawing!) This part shows you how to add these essential features to your drawings.
After you’ve gussied up your drawing with text, dimensions, and hatching, you’ll probably want to create a snapshot of it to show off to your client, contractor, or grandma. Normal people call this process printing, but CAD people call it plotting. Whatever you decide to call it, we show you how to do it.
Part IV: Advancing with AutoCAD
A good CAD user, like a good kindergartner, plays well with others. AutoCAD encourages this behavior with a host of drawing- and data-sharing features. Blocks, external reference files, and raster images encourage reuse of parts of drawings, entire drawings, and bitmap image files. You can create symbols with changeable text or appearance, and you can apply parametric “rules” to drawing objects so they help maintain design intent. This part of the book ends by explaining how to use AutoCAD’s Internet features to enable sharing of drawings well beyond your hard drive and local network.
The drawing- and data-sharing features in AutoCAD take you way beyond old-style, pencil-and-paper design and drafting. After you’ve discovered how to apply the techniques in this part, you’ll be well on your way to full CAD nerdhood. (You may want to warn your family beforehand.)
Part V: On a 3D Spree
In this part, you learn the basics of 3D modeling in AutoCAD 2013. Beginning with the 3D environment — how to change its appearance, how to move around in it, how to examine the model itself in different ways — the chapters introduce different modeling techniques, from solid models to generating 2D working drawings from your 3D models.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
This part contains a concise catalog of differences between AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, and lists of resources and settings that can make the time you spend in AutoCADland more enjoyable. There’s a lot of meat packed into these three chapters — juicy tidbits from years of drafting, experimentation, and fist-shaking at things that don’t work right — not to mention years of compulsive list-making. We hope that these lists help you get on the right track quickly and stay there.
But wait . . . there’s more!
AutoCAD 2013 For Dummies has a companion website. Point your browser at www.dummies.com/go/autocad2013fd to find many of the drawing files we use to demonstrate commands and procedures in this book. The drawings are posted to the website in Zip format; just download and unzip them and they’re ready to open in AutoCAD. The Zip files are named for the chapters and contain one or more drawing files. For example, afd03.zip contains the versions of the drawing for the base plate exercise in Chapter 3 of the book (refer to the downloadable Read Me file for an explanation of the naming conventions used for the drawing files). Note that not all chapters have associated drawing files.
Most of the drawing files are saved in AutoCAD 2010 format and can be opened in AutoCAD 2010 or any later release.
The reverse is not true. AutoCAD 2013 files cannot be opened in earlier releases. You can SAVEAS all the way back to Release 11 (1990), but features added later won’t be supported and may translate poorly.
If you don’t have any AutoCAD release and just want to get a taste of the program before you buy, you can also download a free 30-day trial version of either AutoCAD 2013 or AutoCAD LT 2013. Just browse to
www.autodesk.com/autocad or www.autodesk.com/autocadlt
and look for the Product Trial button.
You can also find the cheat sheet that’s mentioned here and there in the book at
www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/autocad2013
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book, we point out certain morsels of particularly important or useful information by placing handy little icons in the margin. Naturally, different icons indicate different types of information:
This icon tells you that herein lies a pointed insight that can save you time and trouble as you use AutoCAD. In many cases, Tips act as a funnel on AutoCAD’s impressive but sometimes overwhelming flexibility: After telling you all the ways that you can do something, we tell you the way that you should do it in most cases.
The Technical Stuff icon points out places where we delve a little more deeply into AutoCAD’s inner workings or point out something that most people don’t need to know most of the time. These paragraphs definitely are not required reading the first time through, so if you come to one at a time when you’ve reached your techie-detail threshold, feel free to skip over it.
This icon points out text that tells you how to stay out of trouble when living close to the edge. Failure to heed its message may have unpleasant consequences for you or your drawing — or both.
There’s a lot to remember when you’re using AutoCAD, so we’ve remembered to remind you not to forget about some of those things that you should remember. These paragraphs usually refer to a crucial point earlier in the chapter or in a previous chapter. So if you’re reading sequentially, a Remember paragraph serves as a friendly reminder. If you’re not reading sequentially, this kind of paragraph may help you realize that you need to review a central concept or technique before proceeding.
This icon points to new stuff in AutoCAD 2013 (and sometimes AutoCAD LT 2013). It’s mostly designed for people who are somewhat familiar with a previous version of AutoCAD and want to be alerted to what’s new or different in this release. New AutoCAD users starting out their CAD working lives with AutoCAD 2013 will find this stuff interesting, too — especially when they can show off their new book-learnin’ to the grizzled AutoCAD veterans in the office who don’t yet know about all the cool new features.
This icon highlights text that shows the differences between AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD. If you’re using AutoCAD LT, you’ll find out what you’re missing compared to “full” AutoCAD. If your friend is using LT, you’ll know where to look to find stuff in AutoCAD to brag about.
This icon points out places where you don’t have to draw stuff from scratch. Just visit the book’s companion website at
www.dummies.com/go/autocad2013fd
and download the specified file or files.
A Few Conventions — Just in Case
You can probably figure out for yourself all the information in this section, but here are the details just in case.
Commanding from the keyboard
Text you type into the program at the command line, in a dialog box, in a text box, and so on appears in boldface type. Examples of AutoCAD prompts appear in a special typeface, as does any other text in the book that echoes a message, a word, or one or more lines of text that actually appear on-screen. Sequences of prompts that appear in the AutoCAD command-line area have a shaded background, like so:
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>:
Many of the figures — especially in Chapters 8 through 11 — also show AutoCAD command-line sequences that demonstrate AutoCAD’s prompts and example responses.
Many AutoCAD commands have aliases — shortcut (fewer-letter) versions for the benefit of those who like to type commands at the AutoCAD command line, and in the long run, this is the way the real power users work. In this book, we show command names in uppercase letters. Chapters throughout the book include tables listing the most commonly used drawing and editing commands, and for each table we list both the full command name and its alias in parentheses; for example, LINE (L), ARRAY (AR), and so forth. If you’re using the keyboard to enter commands, this means that you can type either LINE or simply L, and then press Enter to execute the command. Command input is not case-sensitive, so LINE, line, Line, liNe, LiNe, and so on will all work. You can view a list of all the command aliases in both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT by clicking Edit Aliases on the Manage tab’s Customization panel — but just look, and be careful not to change anything!
Tying things up with the Ribbon
As you’ve noticed if you’ve skimmed through the book and looked at a few of the figures, AutoCAD uses an Office 2007–style Application Menu and Ribbon interface. The Ribbon is organized into a series of task-based tabs, and each tab has a number of panels containing specific tool buttons. We tell you where to find each command.
Where to Go from Here
If you read this Introduction, you’re like us — you like to read. (The cut-to-the-chase people tend to flip to the index right away and look up what they need to know at that instant.) If you’re a total AutoCAD newbie, you can read this book in order, from front to back; it follows a straightforward route from setting up your drawing environment, to outputting your masterworks to hard copy, to sharing your work with others.
If you’re an experienced user, you’ll probably be one of those index-flippers looking for the missing information you need to complete a specific task. You can probably find the index on your own, but we encourage you to browse through the book anyway, with a highlighter or sticky notes in hand, so you can find those particularly important places when you need them again. If you’re competent in most areas of AutoCAD and pretty familiar with the previous version, look for the New In 2013 icons in the margins to find out the latest features you never knew you couldn’t live without.
Whichever route you choose, we hope you enjoy your time with AutoCAD 2013 For Dummies. And . . . you’re off!
Occasionally, we have updates to our technology books. If this book does have technical updates, they will be posted at:
www.dummies.com/go/autocad2013fdupdates
Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Part I
AutoCAD 101
AutoCAD 2013 is more than just another drawing program; it’s a complete environment for drafting and design. So if you’re new to AutoCAD, you need to know several things to get off to a good start — especially how to use the command-line area and how to set up your drawing properly. These key techniques are described in this part of the book.
If you’ve used earlier versions of AutoCAD, you’ll be most interested in the high points of the new release, including some newer interface components. The lowdown on what’s new is here, too.
Chapter 1
Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
In This Chapter
Getting the AutoCAD advantage
Using AutoCAD and DWG files
Meeting the AutoCAD product family
Using AutoCAD LT instead of AutoCAD
Finding out what’s new in 2013
Maybe you’re one of the few remaining holdouts who continue to practice the ancient art of manual drafting with pencil and vellum. If so, we must tell you that you belong to a dwindling breed. Or maybe you’re completely new to drafting and yearn for the wealth and fame (would we lead you on?) of the drafter’s life. Maybe you’re an engineer or architect who needs to catch up with the young CAD hotshots in your office. Maybe you tried to use AutoCAD a long time ago, but gave up in frustration or just got rusty. Or maybe you currently use an older release, such as AutoCAD 2006 or even (if you’re into antiques) AutoCAD 2000.
Whatever your current situation or motivation, we hope that you enjoy the process of becoming proficient with AutoCAD. Drawing with AutoCAD is challenging at first, but it’s a challenge worth meeting. AutoCAD rewards those who think creatively about their work and look for ways to do it better. You can always find out more, discover a new trick, or improve the efficiency and quality of your drawing production.
AutoCAD first hit the bricks in the early 1980s, around the same time as the first IBM PCs. It was offered for a bewildering variety of operating systems, including CP/M (ask your granddad about that one!), various flavors of Unix, and even the Apple II and then the Macintosh. By far the most popular of those early versions was for MS-DOS (your dad can tell you about that one). In 1997, Autodesk settled on Microsoft Windows as the sole operating system for AutoCAD, and that was the case for the next 13 years. Then in 2010, Autodesk released its first non-Windows version for many years: AutoCAD for Mac. The last version of AutoCAD to run on the Mac was Release 12, which appeared as long ago as 1992. It’s taken a while, but it looks like the Mac is back!
In this book, we cover only the Windows versions of AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013. AutoCAD for Mac is different enough — in both capabilities and interface — from the Windows versions that we simply can’t cover it all here. If you’re a Mac user with an interest in running AutoCAD, check out Mastering AutoCAD for Mac, by George Omura and Rick Graham (Sybex Publishing), and/or What’s Inside? AutoCAD for Macintosh, by Ralph Grabowski, available as an e-book at www.upfrontezine.com/wiam.
AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013 are supported in the following Windows flavors, including both 32- and 64-bit versions:
Windows 7 and Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 and Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows 7 and Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Business
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Home (32-bit only)
Although not officially supported, AutoCAD 2013 (and AutoCAD LT 2013) can also run in Windows XP Tablet PC 2005 Edition, and make use of the tablet functionality included in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Trying to do production drafting on a tablet isn’t a great idea because of limitations in the graphics system, but we know it works. In fact, between the two of us, we are also running it on an Acer notebook with only 1024 x 600 resolution. When AutoCAD starts, it complains that it needs a minimum 1024 x 768 resolution but starts running anyway. The secret is to set up the notebook’s graphics in dual-monitor extended-desktop mode and plug it into a higher-resolution monitor or even a digital TV and then drag AutoCAD onto that screen.
Because of AutoCAD’s MS-DOS heritage and its emphasis on efficiency for production drafters, it’s not the easiest program to master, but it has gotten easier and more consistent over the past decade or so. AutoCAD is pretty well integrated into the Windows environment now, but you still bump into some vestiges of its MS-DOS legacy — especially the command line (that text area lurking at the bottom of the AutoCAD screen — see Chapter 2 for details). But even the command line — oops! command window — is kinder and gentler in AutoCAD 2013. This book guides you around the bumps and minimizes the bruises.
Why AutoCAD?
AutoCAD has been around a long time — since 1982, which we suspect, dear readers, is longer than many of you! AutoCAD ushered in the transition from really expensive mainframe and minicomputer CAD systems costing tens of thousands of dollars to merely somewhat expensive microcomputer CAD programs costing a thousand dollars.
AutoCAD’s 3D capabilities have grown by leaps and bounds over the last several releases, and 3D modeling is becoming a common way of checking designs before they’re drafted. Nevertheless, AutoCAD is, first and foremost, a program for creating two-dimensional technical drawings, drawings in which measurements and precision are important because these kinds of drawings are often used to build something. The drawings that you create with AutoCAD must adhere to standards established long ago for hand-drafted drawings. The upfront investment to use AutoCAD is certainly more expensive than the investment needed to use pencil and paper, and the learning curve is much steeper, too. So why bother? The key reasons for using AutoCAD rather than pencil and paper are
Precision: Creating lines, circles, and other shapes of the exact dimensions is easier with AutoCAD than with pencils.
Modifiability: Drawings are much easier to modify on the computer screen than on paper. CAD modifications are a lot cleaner, too.
Efficiency: Creating many kinds of drawings is faster with a CAD program — especially drawings that involve repetition, such as floor plans in a multistory building. But that efficiency takes skill and practice. If you’re an accomplished pencil-and-paper drafter, don’t expect CAD to be faster at first!
Figure 1-1 shows several kinds of drawings in AutoCAD 2013.
Why choose AutoCAD? AutoCAD is just the starting point of a whole industry of software products designed to work with AutoCAD. Autodesk (the software corporation that develops and sells AutoCAD along with a host of other design software) has helped this process along immensely by providing a series of programming interfaces to AutoCAD (although, alas, not to AutoCAD LT — see the “Seeing the LT” section, later in the chapter) that other companies — and Autodesk itself — have used to extend the application. Some of the add-on products became such winners that Autodesk acquired them and incorporated them into its own products. When you compare all the resources — including the add-ons, extensions, training courses, books, and so on — AutoCAD doesn’t have much PC CAD competition.
Figure 1-1: Cities, houses, little toy trains — what do you want to draw today?
Here’s one more reason for choosing AutoCAD: You may need to discuss and share your drawings with people who don’t use AutoCAD, such as clients or vendors. Autodesk offers a free service called AutoCAD WS. You simply upload your files to an Autodesk web server and then invite people to access them. Now here’s the cunning part: They don’t need to have AutoCAD or any special plug-ins installed on their computer. Any standard web browser can open your files and perform basic creation, editing, markup, and printing functions. Better yet, several people can access the same file at the same time. Everyone can chat, and everyone can see everyone else’s edits and markups at the same time, live, from anywhere in the world. There’s even a free app for iPods and similar portable devices. See Chapter 20 for more details.
The Importance of Being DWG
To take full advantage of AutoCAD in your work environment, you need to be aware of the DWG file format, the format in which AutoCAD saves drawings. Here are some DWG facts to keep in mind:
In many cases, an older release of AutoCAD can’t open a DWG file that’s been saved by a newer AutoCAD release. Table 1-1 shows the relationship between AutoCAD versions and their corresponding file formats.
A newer release of AutoCAD can always open files saved by older versions. We have sample files going back to 1984 that open in AutoCAD 2013.
Some previous AutoCAD releases can open files saved by the subsequent one or two versions. As Table 1-1 shows, the DWG file format changes every three years starting with 2000, so AutoCAD 2013 has a new format.
You can use the Save As option in newer releases to save the file to older DWG formats. In fact, AutoCAD 2013 can save as far back as AutoCAD Release 14, which dates all the way back to 1997! In addition, you can Save As to the simple text-based DXF format back as far as Release 11.
The earlier formats don’t support all the features of the later ones. AutoCAD does its best at translating, but some items may be lost or won’t fully survive a round trip back into a newer release.
Table 1-1 shows which versions (described later in this chapter) use which DWG file formats.
Working with AutoCAD is easier when your co-workers and colleagues in other companies all use the same release of AutoCAD and AutoCAD-related tools. That way, your DWG files, add-on tools, and even the details of your CAD knowledge can be mixed and matched among your workgroup and partners. In the real world, you may work with people, probably from other companies, who use AutoCAD releases as old as AutoCAD 2006 — or even older.
Many programs claim to be DWG-compatible — that is, capable of converting data to and from the AutoCAD DWG format. Achieving this compatibility is, however, a difficult thing to do well. Even a small error in file conversion can have results ranging in severity from annoying to appalling. Every time you open a drawing file, AutoCAD checks its parentage and warns you if a non-Autodesk program created the drawing. If you exchange DWG files with people who use other CAD programs, you may have to spend time finding and fixing translation problems.
Seeing the LT
AutoCAD LT is one of the best deals around, a shining example of the old 80/20 rule: roughly 80 percent of the capabilities of AutoCAD for roughly 20 percent of the money. (Actually, with recent price creep, it’s now more like a 67/33 rule.) Like AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT runs on mainstream Windows computers and doesn’t require any additional hardware devices. With AutoCAD LT, you can be a player in the world of AutoCAD, the world’s leading CAD program, for a comparatively low starting cost.
AutoCAD LT is a very close cousin to AutoCAD. Autodesk creates AutoCAD LT by starting with the AutoCAD program, taking out a few features to justify charging a far lower price, and then adding a couple of features to enhance ease of use versus full AutoCAD. As a result, AutoCAD LT looks and works much like AutoCAD. The drawing areas, the Ribbon, and Application Menu of the two programs are nearly identical. (LT is missing a few Ribbon tabs, panels, and commands.)
In fact, the major difference between the programs has nothing to do with the programs themselves. The major difference is that AutoCAD LT lacks support for most customization and programming languages that are used to develop AutoCAD add-ons. That means that almost none of the add-on programs or utilities offered by Autodesk and others are available to LT users.
AutoCAD LT has limited 3D support. You can view and edit 3D objects in AutoCAD LT, so you can work with drawings created in AutoCAD that contain 3D objects. However, you can’t create true 3D objects in LT.
Although you may hear claims that AutoCAD LT is easier to master and use than AutoCAD, the truth is that they’re about equally difficult (or easy, depending on your NQ [nerd quotient]). The LT learning curve doesn’t differ significantly from that of AutoCAD, which was originally designed for maximum power and then modified somewhat to improve ease of use. AutoCAD LT shares this same heritage.
Fortunately, the minimal differences between LT and AutoCAD mean that after you climb that learning curve, you have the same great view. You have almost the full range of the AutoCAD 2D drafting tools, and you can exchange DWG files with AutoCAD users without data loss.
This book covers AutoCAD 2013, but most of the information in it (except for the 3D chapters in Part V) applies to AutoCAD LT 2013 as well. The icon that you see to the left of this paragraph highlights significant differences.
Checking System Requirements
If you’re upgrading from AutoCAD 2012 or another recent release and you work mostly or entirely in 2D, you’re probably already current with system requirements. In fact, if your work is mostly or entirely 2D — and therefore, this applies especially for LT users — AutoCAD 2013 will run fine on pretty well any recent computer that will run Windows 7, Vista, or XP.
AutoCAD’s requirements for running in Windows 7 or Vista are substantially higher than for running in XP. This section covers the details.
You should know the following before you upgrade from any older AutoCAD release:
Wash those old Windows: AutoCAD 2013 does not support older versions of Windows, such as Windows 2000, NT, 98, or Me. For AutoCAD 2013, you have three choices of operating system:
•Windows XP (Home or Professional, SP3 or later)
•Windows Vista (Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, or Home Premium, SP2 or later)
•Windows 7 (Enterprise, Ultimate, Professional, or Home Premium)
There are 64-bit versions of AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013 that run in the 64-bit versions of XP, Vista, and Windows 7. 64-bit versions can access much more system memory for faster operation, while 32-bit systems are limited to 2GB or 3GB of RAM.
Application compatibility: If you use third-party applications with a previous AutoCAD release, they may not work with AutoCAD 2013. AutoCAD applications developed with the .NET or the ObjectARX (AutoCAD Runtime eXtension) interfaces may or may not need to be recompiled. Many LSP (AutoLISP) programs written for the last several versions of AutoCAD should work without change.
Built-in support for VBA (Visual Basic for Applications, a Microsoft programming language) applications isn’t included in AutoCAD 2013. You can continue to run VBA applications, but you first have to download and install the VBA installer from the Autodesk website. At the time this book went to press, the URL wasn’t finalized; just go to www.autodesk.com and enter VBA installer in the Search box. There are 32- and 64-bit versions, so make sure that you download the right one for your system.
Computer system requirements: For AutoCAD 2013, Autodesk recommends a 1.6 GHz or better Intel or AMD processor with at least 2GB of RAM if it’s running in Windows XP, and a 3.0 GHz or better chip and 2GB of RAM if it’s running in Windows Vista or Windows 7. The recommended operating system is Windows 7 (64-bit). Multiple and dual-core processors are supported. You also need a 1024 x 768 or higher display resolution with True Color graphics, 1GB to 2GB of available hard drive space, an Internet connection, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later.
Additional requirements for working in 3D: AutoCAD recommends a 3 GHz or better processor; 4GB or more of RAM; a workstation-class, Direct3D-capable graphics card with at least 128MB of memory; and an additional 2GB of hard drive space beyond the 1GB required for installation.
I find even the recommended system requirements to be on the minimal side. For example, between the two of us we run a desktop computer at screen resolutions of 1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1024 (yes, dual monitors), a tablet computer at 1400 x 1050, a desktop at 1280 x 1024, and a laptop at 1920 x 1200. The figures in this book were shot at a resolution of 1024 x 768, and as you can see, things can get pretty crowded at that resolution. The problem is that things like icons and dialog boxes display at a fixed number of pixels, so at lower resolutions, they take up more of the screen.
When you’re running AutoCAD, there is no such thing as too much RAM.
You should also note that a gaming graphics card is different from an engineering graphics card. It’s well worth the few extra dollars to get an engineering card, especially when working in 3D. So how can you tell the difference? First, check the price. Engineering boards will usually be a little more expensive, but not outrageously so. Next, check the name. Engineering boards often have dull and boring names, while gaming boards have names that hint at violence and action. For example, the NVIDIA product line contains GeForce and Quadro series. Can you tell which one is the Engineering series? Finally, check the manufacturer’s specifications. They usually spell out quite clearly which is which.
Suddenly, It’s 2013!
There’s been a new release of AutoCAD every spring since AutoCAD 2004 was launched in 2003. That’s not much time for even an army of programmers to deliver a compelling new feature set that’s going to convince all users that they just have to upgrade. What seems to have been happening is a concentration on particular areas in recent releases. For example, AutoCAD 2007 was a 3D release; the 3D modeling engine was made much easier to use, but there was relatively little to please the 2D crowd. By contrast, AutoCAD 2008 was deemed to be “the drafter’s release” because of the number of enhancements to 2D drawing capabilities — above all, the introduction of annotative documentation objects.
In AutoCAD 2009, the new interface got the lion’s share of development (suddenly, it’s Office 2007!); major new features were limited to some 3D navigation tools, the very useful Quick Properties tool, and a palettized Layer Properties Manager. AutoCAD 2010 offered significant enhancements to both 2D and 3D users, in parametric drafting tools and free-form mesh modeling, and AutoCAD 2011 introduced some workflow changes and a welcome new object property, transparency.
The big news in AutoCAD 2012 was associative arrays. Arrays allow you to very quickly create a repeated pattern of objects, such as building columns or bolt-hole patterns. Previously, they were just multiple copies, but with AutoCAD 2012, they became linked objects. For example, if you edit one item in the array, then all copies of it in the array also update. We cover arrays in more detail in Chapters 11 and 18.
Each new release of AutoCAD typically includes about 200 new or enhanced features. It would take a full chapter just to outline the What’s New guide issued by Autodesk. Rather than listing everything, we just hit the high spots here.
As noted earlier, what’s new in each new AutoCAD release tends to have a theme. This time, it’s mainly 3D enhancements for mechanical designers, including the ability to directly open Autodesk Inventor 3D model files, and to automatically create 2D working views from them. The files remain linked so that any changes made in Inventor reflect through to the AutoCAD drawing. A full discussion of this is beyond the scope of this book, but we do introduce 3D in Part V.
Some of the additions, changes, and improvements of interest to us include the following:
Command line: Improvements to displaying and accessing the command history.
Visual previewing: Many editing operations display a preview. For example, you can see what a new color will look like before actually applying the color to the object.
Arrays: Enhancements to the creation and editing of arrays.
Crosshatching: Improved editing of hatch patterns.
Okay, let’s do it!
