Table Of ContentAutoCAD
®
User’s Guide
2004
00118-010000-5020A February 2003
Copyright © 2003 Autodesk, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.
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AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Map, Autodesk, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk (logo), Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk University
(logo), Autodesk WalkThrough, Autodesk World, AutoLISP, AutoSketch, Biped, bringing information down to earth, CAD Overlay,
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Cinestream, Cleaner, Cleaner Central, ClearScale, Colour Warper, Content Explorer, Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, Design Doctor,
Designer's Toolkit, DesignProf, DesignServer, Design Web Format, DWF, DWG Linking, DXF, Extending the Design Team, GDX Driver,
gmax (logo), gmax ready (logo),Heads-up Design, IntroDV, jobnet, ObjectDBX, onscreen onair online, Plans & Specs, Plasma, PolarSnap,
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The following are trademarks of Autodesk Canada Inc., in the USA, Canada, and/or other countries: backburner, backdraft, Multi-Master
Editing.
Third Party Trademarks
All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Third Party Software Program Credits
ACIS Copyright © 1989-2001 Spatial Corp. Portions Copyright © 2002 Autodesk, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
International CorrectSpell™ Spelling Correction System © 1995 by Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V. All rights reserved.
InstallShield™ 3.0. Copyright © 1997 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved.
PANTONE ® Colors displayed in the software application or in the user documentation may not match PANTONE-identified standards.
Consult current PANTONE Color Publications for accurate color.
PANTONE ® and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of Pantone, Inc. © Pantone, Inc., 2002
Pantone, Inc. is the copyright owner of color data and/or software which are licensed to Autodesk, Inc., to distribute for use only in
combination with certain Autodesk software products. PANTONE Color Data and/or Software shall not be copied onto another disk or
into memory unless as part of the execution of this Autodesk software product.
Portions Copyright © 1991-1996 Arthur D. Applegate. All rights reserved.
Portions of this software are based on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
RAL DESIGN © RAL, Sankt Augustin, 2002
RAL CLASSIC © RAL, Sankt Augustin, 2002
Representation of the RAL Colors is done with the approval of RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. (RAL
German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification, re. Assoc.), D-53757 Sankt Augustin."
Copyright © Stade de France - Macary, Zublena et Regembal, Costantini - Architectes, ADAGP - Paris - 2003
Typefaces from the Bitstream ® typeface library copyright 1992.
Typefaces from Payne Loving Trust © 1996. All rights reserved.
GOVERNMENT USE
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 12.212 (Commercial Computer Software-
Restricted Rights) and DFAR 227.7202 (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software), as applicable.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Install the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Use the Help System Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Find Information in Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Use Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Use Ask Me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Understand How Help Topics Are Organized . . . . . . . . 7
Use the Up Arrow to Navigate Help Topics. . . . . . . . . 8
Print Help Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Show and Hide the Contents Pane . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Get Additional Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Use Active Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Learn the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Obtain Documentation Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Receive Product Updates and Announcements . . . . . . . . 13
Overview of Communication Center . . . . . . . . . 13
Customize Program Update and Announcement Options . . . 14
Receive New Information Notifications. . . . . . . . . 15
View the Product Readme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
iii
Part I The User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 2 Menus, Toolbars and Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . 19
Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Insert Blocks and Hatches Using Tool Palettes. . . . . . . 20
Change Tool Palette Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Control Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Customize Tool Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Save and Share Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Menu Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Shortcut Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Object Snap Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 3 The Command Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Enter Commands on the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . 36
Enter System Variables on the Command Line . . . . . . . . 38
Navigate and Edit Within the Command Window . . . . . . . 39
Switch Between Dialog Boxes and the Command Line. . . . . . 41
Dock and Resize the Command Window . . . . . . . . . . 42
Chapter 4 DesignCenter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Overview of DesignCenter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Understand the DesignCenter Window. . . . . . . . . . . 46
Access Content with DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Add Content with DesignCenter. . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Retrieve Content from the Web with DesignCenter Online . . . . 55
Overview of DesignCenter Online . . . . . . . . . . 55
Understand DesignCenter Online Content Types . . . . . 57
Retrieve Content on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Chapter 5 Customize the Drawing Environment . . . . . . . . . 61
Set Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Customize Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Save and Restore Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Chapter 6 Pointing Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Pointing Device Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Digitizing Tablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
iv | Contents
Part II Start, Organize, and Save a Drawing. . . . . . 75
Chapter 7 Start and Save a Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Start a Drawing from Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Use a Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Use a Template File to Start a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Save a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 8 Open an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Overview of Opening Drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Find a Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Specify Search Paths, File Names, and File Locations . . . . . . . 90
Work with Multiple Open Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Open Part of a Large Drawing (Partial Load). . . . . . . . . . 92
Add Identifying Information to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . 95
Recover a Damaged File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 9 Specify Units, Angles, and Scale. . . . . . . . . . . 101
Set Units of Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Set Angle Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Draw to Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Chapter 10 Organize Drawings and Apply Standards. . . . . . . . 109
Overview of CAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Define Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Check Drawings for Standards Violations . . . . . . . . . 114
Translate Layer Names and Properties. . . . . . . . . . . 121
Convert Layers to Established Drawing Standards . . . . . 121
View Selected Drawing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Purge Unreferenced Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Part III Control the Drawing Views. . . . . . . . 125
Chapter 11 Change a View in Two Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . 127
Pan a View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Magnify a View (Zoom) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Pan and Zoom with the Aerial View Window . . . . . . . . 133
Save and Restore Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contents | v
Chapter 12 Specify a 3D View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
View a Parallel Projection in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Overview of Viewing Parallel Projections in 3D . . . . . . 140
Choose Preset 3D Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Define a 3D View with Coordinate Values or Angles. . . . . 141
Change to a View of the XY Plane . . . . . . . . . . 143
Change a 3D View Dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Display a Perspective View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Specify 3D Views Interactively (3D Orbit) . . . . . . . . . . 147
Overview of 3D Orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Set 3D Graphics Display Options (3D Orbit) . . . . . . . 148
Set Lights and Materials (3D Orbit) . . . . . . . . . . 148
Locate the Camera Position (3D Orbit) . . . . . . . . . 149
Use 3D Orbit Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Adjust Clipping Planes (3D Orbit) . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 13 Display Multiple Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Set Model Tab Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Select the Current Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Save and Restore Model Tab Viewport Arrangements . . . . . . 165
Part IV Create and Modify Objects . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 14 Control the Properties of Objects . . . . . . . . . 169
Overview of Object Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Display and Change the Properties of Objects . . . . . . . . 170
Copy Properties Between Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Work with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Overview of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Use Layers to Manage Complexity . . . . . . . . . . 175
Create and Name Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Change Layer Settings and Layer Properties . . . . . . . 180
Filter and Sort the List of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Save and Restore Layer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Work with Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Set the Current Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Change the Color of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Use Color Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
vi | Contents
Work with Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Overview of Linetypes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Load Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Set the Current Linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Change the Linetype of an Object . . . . . . . . . . 197
Control Linetype Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Display Linetypes on Short Segments and Polylines . . . . 200
Control Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Overview of Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Display Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Set the Current Lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Change the Lineweight of an Object . . . . . . . . . 205
Control the Display Properties of Certain Objects . . . . . . . 206
Control the Display of Polylines, Hatches, Gradient Fills,
Lineweights, and Text. . . . . . . . . . 206
Control the Display Order of Overlapping Objects . . . . . 208
Chapter 15 Use Precision Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Use Coordinates and Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . 210
Overview of Coordinate Entry . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Enter 2D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Enter 3D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Control the User Coordinate System (UCS) in 2D . . . . . 222
Specify Drawing Planes in 3D (UCS) . . . . . . . . . 225
Assign User Coordinate System Orientations to Viewports . . 230
Control the Display of the User Coordinate System Icon . . . 232
Snap to Locations on Objects (Object Snaps) . . . . . . . . 234
Use Object Snaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Set Visual Aids for Object Snaps (AutoSnap) . . . . . . . 236
Restrict Cursor Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Adjust Grid and Grid Snap . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Use Orthogonal Locking (Ortho Mode) . . . . . . . . 240
Use Polar Tracking and PolarSnap . . . . . . . . . . 241
Lock an Angle for One Point (Angle Override) . . . . . . 244
Combine or Offset Points and Coordinates . . . . . . . . . 244
Combine Coordinate Values (Coordinate Filters) . . . . . 244
Track to Points on Objects (Object Snap Tracking) . . . . . 246
Specify Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Enter Direct Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Offset from Temporary Reference Points . . . . . . . . 249
Specify Intervals on Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Contents | vii
Extract or Calculate Geometric Information from Objects. . . . . 254
Obtain Distances, Angles, and Point Locations . . . . . . 254
Obtain Area Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Use the Geometry Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Chapter 16 Draw Geometric Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Draw Linear Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Draw Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Draw Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Draw Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Draw Multiple-Line Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Draw Freehand Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Draw Curved Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Draw Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Draw Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Draw Polyline Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Draw Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Draw Ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Draw Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Draw Construction and Reference Geometry . . . . . . . . . 289
Draw Reference Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Draw Construction Lines (and Rays). . . . . . . . . . 290
Create and Combine Areas (Regions) . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Create 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Overview of 3D Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Add Extruded Thickness to Objects . . . . . . . . . . 297
Create Wireframe Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Create Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Create 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Create and Insert Symbols (Blocks) . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Overview of Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Create Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Insert Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Modify Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Attach Data to Blocks (Block Attributes) . . . . . . . . 339
Remove Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Create Revision Clouds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
viii | Contents
Chapter 17 Change Existing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Select Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Select Objects Individually . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Select Multiple Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Prevent Objects from Being Selected . . . . . . . . . 360
Filter Selection Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Customize Object Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Group Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Correct Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Modify Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Overview of Modifying Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Remove Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Move Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Rotate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Align Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Copy, Offset, or Mirror Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Change the Size and Shape of Objects. . . . . . . . . 390
Create Fillets, Chamfers, or Breaks in Objects . . . . . . 398
Use Grips to Edit Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Modify Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Modify Compound Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Disassociate Compound Objects (Explode) . . . . . . . 420
Modify Hatches and Solid-Filled Areas. . . . . . . . . 421
Modify or Join Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Modify Multilines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Modify 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Overview of Modifying 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . 429
Fillet and Chamfer 3D Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Section and Slice 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Modify Faces of 3D Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Modify Edges of 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Imprint 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Separate 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Shell 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Clean and Check 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Use Windows Cut, Copy, and Paste . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Contents | ix
Part V Hatches, Notes, and Dimensions . . . . . . 447
Chapter 18 Hatches, Fills, and Wipeouts . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Overview of Hatch Patterns and Fills . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Define Hatch Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Overview of Hatch Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Control the Hatching in Islands . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Define Hatch Boundaries in Large Drawings . . . . . . . 456
Create Unbounded Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Choose Hatch Patterns and Solid Fills . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Create Solid-Filled Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Create Gradient-Filled Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Use Predefined Hatch Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Create User-Defined Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . 464
Create a Blank Area to Cover Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Chapter 19 Notes and Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Overview of Notes and Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Create Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Overview of Creating Text and Leaders . . . . . . . . . 468
Create Single-Line Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Create Multiline Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Create Text with Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
Import Text from External Files . . . . . . . . . . . 485
Work with Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Overview of Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
Assign Text Fonts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Set Text Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Set Text Obliquing Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Set Horizontal or Vertical Text Orientation . . . . . . . 496
Change Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Overview of Changing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Change Single-Line Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Change Multiline Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Change Text with a Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Change Text Scale and Justification . . . . . . . . . . 501
Check Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Use an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Overview of Using an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . . . 504
Format Multiline Text in an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . 505
x | Contents
