1. Learning Objectives Menu
• Starting
Learn Create Screen.
Usage of components of the initial AutoCAD screen.
• Invoke AutoCAD commands.
• Work with File Tabs.
• Function of dialog boxes.
Start a new drawing.
• Save the work.
• Close a drawing.
• Open an existing drawing.
• Multiple Document Environment.
• Quit AutoCAD.
• Various options of AutoCAD’s help.
Autodesk Exchange Apps.
Autodesk Point Cloud.
Design Feed

2. What are the advantages of CAD?
Accuracy
Efficiency
What are the basics?
Mastering Concepts (ideas - settings and commands)
Contact time to acquire skill – there is no short cut that will substitute for the amount of time spent creating drawings!
"Thought without practice is empty, practice without thought is blind."
-- Kwame Nkrumah Former President, Ghana

3. CAD and Careers
Look at everything non-organic in your life, and chances are pretty good, that everything you see started as a drawing
Examples? How about your coffee maker, oven, microwave, refrigerator, table, chairs, clothes, home, car? How about roads & bridges, workplace building(s), filing cabinets, lights, fans, sprinkler systems, HVAC systems, utility company transmission line layouts, theme park designs, golf courses, water treatment plants, and on and on!!!
Someone has to make the drawings for design and fabrication/assembly/construction of all of the things you can see around you!

4. Show us the skills…
Learning basic technology competencies is important for all students; those who directly enter the workforce, and those who pursue higher education. The application of technology may differ by profession or field of study, but foundation level knowledge, skills and abilities form the basis for success. The U.S. Department of Education has produced several national education technology plans. Their first plan identified technological literacy as the "new basic“ or the "Fourth R" along with reading, writing and arithmetic mentDownload.aspx?DocumentID=793

5. Technical Studies
Some careers require engineering, architecture, or industrial technology degrees, but many jobs can begin with basic CAD knowledge and skill. A simple certificate or two year degree may help a candidate to meet minimum qualifications. Some typical jobs without the stiff degree requirements are sign making, package design, survey and cartography (map making), cabinet/furniture design, pattern making, Title 24 & energy consultants, and AEC drafting work.
A CAD certificate or two year degree can be a step- stone for promotion or even a new career direction.

6. Let the Drawing Begin…!
CAD software has been around quite awhile and continues to grow more user friendly. Initially, it was done via writing computer programs, with names such as “blocks” and “sights”, and plotted using Zeta plotters from the programs which were run (executed) on mainframe computers. One wrong comma, and your program would fail to run. This was not very user friendly technology!
The first release of AutoDesk AutoCAD for microcomputers was in Jan. of Over 25 improvements later, we have arrived to the release of the current version, ACAD 2014.

7. The PPT Lectures Format
Although Autodesk has changed the software over the years, we didn’t see such huge changes in the software up until recently.
Circles, and lines, created and modified in a variety of ways, were the mainstays of the software. These were basic kinds of objects, and they were mainly drawn to full size and then printed at a desired scale on the desired paper size.
In recent years, drawn objects are now created as parametric. This means that you can update dimensions to object sizes and vice versa. They dimensions and objects can “follow” values set for either.
In recent years, scales for some kinds of objects have become “annotative”.
The PPT Lectures strive to bring you up to date information.
Most of the graphics you will see in your textbook and the PPT Lectures are from AutCAD screenshots, although, there may be an occasional shot from an earlier release of AutoCAD if similar components persist in the current release.
Read & do practice drawings to succeed. Use the PPT’s to review, study and refresh your memory regarding the information covered.

8. Starting AutoCAD
Starting AutoCAD depends on what computer OS you use, and options used upon installation. By far, a shortcut on the desktop, taskbar or in the Apps location is simplest (shown at left). In the absence of a shortcut, you can right click on the the MS Windows start button and left click Run, then browse to acad.exe to run the executable file for AutoCAD.

9. Learn and Create start default view
Autodesk AutoCAD initial screen with Learn and Create. Create is the default option. Left Click on Learn for learning options. Left Click on Create then Start Drawing to start a new drawing.

10. AutoCAD Create – NEW .dwg
Left click on Start Drawing uses default acad.dwt as the template. Two other options allow selection of template as shown below.
Select new icon method – red arrow points to the new icon. Left click it. Then left click your template choice. Acad.dwt is the default.
Get Started drop down method – left click black triangle then left click acad.dwt (each click highlighted in yellow)

11. Learn
There are many Learn options. Videos. Tips. Online Help that can be downloaded. AFTER you start a new drawing, the F1 key provides access to help. More about that in other later.

12. Default new drawing screen
Pop down for a menu of options
Drawing name title bar
View navigation tools mainly for 3D work
360 Palette – close using the X. Open from the view tab. Various other palettes behave the same way.
Command Line. Dockable. Type commandline to bring it back if closed accidentally.

13. More screen components…
Return to Start screen here
Current drawing. Multiple tabs will show if multiple drawings are open.
Status bar with tools and aids for drawing scale, accuracy, and more settings
Model Space UCS icon
Model space layout tab – create the drawing model here
Workspace
icon
Suggestion list with relevant commands
Paper space layout tabs. Default 2 of these
More AutoCAD screen components in AutoCAD Drafting & Annotation Workspace. Note: the 360 palette of tools is closed in this view.

14. Creating and Managing Workspaces
There are three predefined workspaces. The default, Drafting and Annotation is primarily for 2D work. Choose the workspace from the Status Bar gear shape icon to change to another workspace if needed. Customization is possible.

15. Ribbon and Command Line
The Ribbon is Contextual. When you select a tab, (such as Annotate), the set of Control Panels and tools that show are specific to the tab selected. The Home tab is the default with many common basic tools.
The Command Line can be “anchored” by dragging it to the bottom. The number of lines can be increased by dragging the top edge. It is helpful to see command options and errors feedback at the Command Line.

16. Command Line or Tools
Home tab of the Ribbon shown with the Draw Control Panel and the Line tool icon circled in red. Select a Tool to invoke its command.
The Line command typed in Command Line with autocomplete list with suggested commands
Commands are either picked from tools in the “Ribbon” or typed at the Command Line. Typed commands offer options and show errors feedback. Keep an eye out for the information.

17. Summary of Tools for commands in AutoCAD
Keyboard Ribbon Application Menu Toolbar
Tool Palettes Menu Bar Shortcut menu
The Pointer Input box displayed when the Dynamic Input is on
The Ribbon for the Drafting & Annotation workspace

18. The Status Bar displayed in the Drafting & Annotation workspace
Note: Not all tools are displayed by default; you can choose what tools to display from the Customization menu, the right-most button on the status bar. The tools displayed on the status bar might change depending on the current workspace and whether the Model tab or a layout tab is currently displayed.

19. The Draw toolbar
The Application Menu

20. Partial view of the shortcut menu with the recently used commands
Shortcut menu with the Polyline tool active

21. View Element Toggles & .dwg Tabs & Layout Tabs
In the View Tab Blue color Ribbon Tools allow easy on/off toggle of specific components.
Immediately below the Ribbon is the
File Tab Bar. Left Click on the plus sign at right end to create new .dwg files.
The order of the tabs can be dragged to arrange them in the File Tab Bar
Left Click on the plus sign to the right of the Layout tabs creates new paper space layouts.
Right click over the tabs to see options for working with them, such as Rename or Delete, etc.

22. AutoCAD Dialog Boxes
Toggle Box
(square)
Components of a dialog box

23. Starting a New Drawing Application Menu: New > Drawing
Menu Bar: New > Drawing
Quick AccessToolbar: New
Command: NEW or QNEW
Select template dialog box method of creating a new drawing allows the user to choose a template other than the default acad..dwt template. Other options include typing.

24. Open Options
Selecting the Open Read-Only option

25. Saving your work
Application Menu: SAVEAS, SAVE
Menu Bar: File > Save or Save As
Quick AccessToolbar: Save or Save As
Command: QSAVE, SAVEAS, SAVE
If you already saved the file to any name, it will continue to save in the first name given, but SaveAs allows you to give a new name and create a new file. It also allows you to overwrite a file, but will by default warn you. Be careful to only overwrite the file if that is your intent. Your .bak, backup of the .dwg, is one step behind, so you can rename it to .dwg if you need to, but saving again, updates the .bak (backup file), to be the same as the resaved file!
The Save Drawing As dialog box

26. Save Drawing As Dialog Box
The Files of type drop-down list
The Views drop-down list
The Tools drop-down list

27. Automatic Timed Save Creating Backup Files
Changing Automatic Timed Saved and Backup Files into AutoCAD Format
Using the Drawing Recovery Manager to Recover Files
The Drawing Recovery message box
The Drawing Recovery Manager

28. Closing file(s)
From the Application Menu (the large A towards top and left), you can open a drop down menu where the bottom option is to Close the current or Close all open drawings. This is a quick way to close multiple files. If you have unsaved changes, you’ll be asked if you wish to save them or not before each file is closed.

29. Open Work
To view more Open options, left Click the Open item and the various types of files possible to open will display.
Choose the red A (to top and left of screen) If you do not move your mouse to Open (2nd item) you can select from recent files.You can open the types of files that are shown on the list

30. MDE - Opening Existing Drawing(s)
The Open drop-down list
Offers more options for how
to open files.
Opening Existing Drawing(s) Using the Select File Dialog Box. Note: AutoCAD offers a Multiple Drawing Environment (MDE). Options can be set to limit the number of open files.

31. Loading Additional Objects to Partially Opened Drawing
Partial Open
Loading Additional Objects to Partially Opened Drawing
The Partial Open dialog box

32. Quitting AutoCAD
You can either close all the work, or you can select the Exit Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 button at bottom right to exit AutoCAD. Either option allows saving any unsaved work prior to closing the file. The Exit button won’t prompt for another save if you’ve already saved your work.

33. HELP Help Menu Learning Additional Documentation Community and Support
The InfoCenter bar
Left Click on the triangle displays the help options available to select.
The Help menu
Titlebar: ? > Help Shortcut Key: F1 Command: HELP or ?

34. The Autodesk Cloud Documents window

35. The document added in Autodesk cloud

36. Autodesk Exchange Apps
The Feature Apps panel of the Feature Apps tab in the Ribbon

37. The Autodesk Exchange Apps window

38. The Autodesk Exchange Apps window

39. The Autodesk Exchange App Manager dialog box

40. Design Feed The Design Feed palette
The Design Feed palette with all options activated

41. Drawing with enclosed area and design feed bubble
Post with the number assigned in the Design Feed palette

42. ADDITIONAL HELP RESOURCES
a. Autodesk Web site
AutoCAD Technical Assistance Web site
c. AutoCAD Discussion Groups Web site