ENGR 111 Class 5.2a AutoCAD Basics Thursday, September 30 th, 2004

Why CAD? l Computer Aided Drafting. l Tool engineers use to create designs. l Easier and more efficient than drafting by hand. l Consistency between users.

Today’s AutoCAD commands l Drawing setup –SNAP –GRID l Display control –ZOOM –PAN l Drawing –LINE –MTEXT –CIRCLE –ARC l Editing and inquiry –ERASE –DDEDIT –UNDO –Modify properties –Grips l General Concepts –Layers –Ortho Mode

Entering AutoCAD l Log on to the network l Double click on AutoCAD 2004 icon l Select Use a Template –Find drawing template A-blank.dwt –Select OK

Immediately……. l File –SaveAs Your Drawing to your login File or USB Drive with a unique file name. l Save as a.dwg file

Grid and Snap l Grid is just a visual aid for your drawing l Snap allows you to specify precise coordinates when using the mouse l They are modified with the GRID and SNAP commands l Neither affect anything already drawn l They can be changed on-the-fly

Function Keys l Function keys turn GRID and SNAP “modes” on and off –F7 - Sets GRID mode on/off –F9 - Sets SNAP mode on/off l DO NOT DRAW ANYTHING WITH SNAP TURNED OFF!!!!

Status line at the bottom l The status line at the bottom of the display tells you whether any of the modes are on or off. l The “pressed” modes are on. (SNAP, GRID, ORTHO and MODEL in the picture below)

Drawing Objects l Drawing commands are found on the toolbar located at the left of the screen l The four of interest today are Line, Arc, Circle, and Mtext l These may be abbreviated from the keyboard using the first letter(s) (e.g.) –Line - L –Arc - A –Circle - C –Mtext - MT Line Circle Arc Mtext

The Line Command l The line command requires two or more points and will connect them with straight lines l Points are selected by pressing the left mouse button l Pressing Enter or Escape will terminate the command

The Circle Command l The Circle command has several options which change the required input – Center, Radius - This is the default and requires a point and either a second point (which will be on the circumference) or a radius type via the keyboard. – Center, Diameter - as above, but the second point will not lie on the circumference, it will define the diameter. To use this option, you must type “D” prior to selecting the second point or entering the diameter. –Other options will be discussed as needed

The Arc Command l While the Arc command can be accessed via the toolbar, the pulldown menu offers easy access to the various options within the Arc command l For most applications the Start, Center, End option is most useful

The Mtext Command l The Mtext command has the most options of any of the commands we have yet seen. Most will be obvious in their use. l Mtext is a full multiline text editor. l It supports word wrap, bold and italic, and multiple fonts. l As inputs it needs a starting point and the width of the text. l Given these, a dialog box is displayed as shown on the next slide.

The Mtext Dialog Box

Working with Layers l Layers are used to control the type of line that will be drawn l They are pre-defined on the templates used for this class l They are accessed from a dropdown list as shown to the right

Layer Control l Consider two possible states for a layer –ON/OFF l ON/OFF controls whether the layer can be seen on screen l Nothing on an OFF layer can be selected using the mouse

Display Control l ZOOM -- scales the screen view to an area of the drawing surface –“Window” will zoom down to a window –“All” will zoom out to show the larger of the drawn entities or limits –Realtime allows you to shrink or enlarge the display in real time. l PAN -- moves around on the drawing surface

Paired Exercise l Start a new drawing. l Use template B05c.dwt l You have 15 minutes to practice drawing lines and arcs using different linetypes and layers. Draw the various objects. Be creative, have fun. l Save your solutions to your login file, or USB drive.

Completing the Title Strip l Rather than using the MTEXT command to compete the title block, it is simpler to edit the existing text. l The command to do this is DDEDIT, or find “Text…” under the Modify pulldown menu. l Or you can double click on the text to be edited.

Title Strip l For FILE enter your two digit file number. l For TEAM enter your Team number l Complete Drawn by with Last, First Name l Date in Day/Month/Year format using the DUE DATE (30 Sep 04) l Make sure you include your section number 30 Sep 04 HUGHES, S. W.14

Before Printing in AutoCAD l Z.. (ENTER) l A.. (ENTER) Why ? Why ? And Always perform a Print Preview !

Plot Device Settings l Make sure the correct printer is selected, \\FRED\ L \\FRED\ R l and the Plot Style Table is set to “monochrome.ctb”.

Printing in AutoCAD l Printing is done via the PLOT command l Always plot limits l Always plot at a scale appropriate to the drawing (normally 1:1) l Set origin to “Center the Plot” l ALWAYS GET A FULL PREVIEW BEFORE PRINTING

Homework l Individually complete drawings: –5C: A Skateboard & Wheelbarrow. –6C: Clincher Jumbo Stapler. »Note the “C” means Computer drawing l Due: End of class ?