CHAPTER 1

AUTOCAD 2018 BASICS

You will learn in this chapter

Starting AutoCAD
Dealing with the AutoCAD interface
AutoCAD defaults and drawing units
Dealing with file-oriented commands
Undo and Redo commands

1.1 STARTING AUTOCAD

AutoCAD was released in 1982 by Autodesk, Inc., which was a small
company at that time. It was designed to be used for PCs only. Since then
AutoCAD has enjoyed the biggest user base in the world in the CAD business.
Users can use AutoCAD for both 2D and 3D drafting and designing. AutoCAD
can be used for architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental,
and manufacturing drawings and for road and highway designs.
Though the focus these days is BIM (Building Information Modeling),
AutoCAD is still the most profitable software for Autodesk, Inc. due to its ease
of use and comprehensiveness, which address all user needs. Another version of
AutoCAD, called AutoCAD LT, is used for 2D drafting only.
To start AutoCAD 2018, double-click the shortcut on your desktop that was
created in the installation process. AutoCAD will show the Welcome window,
which looks like the following:

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While you are in this part you can:

Start a new drawing

Open an existing file
Open a Sheet Set
Download more templates accessed online
Explore the sample files that come with the software
See the recent files you opened
Check if AutoCAD has a notification for you concerning your
software/hardware
Connect to Autodesk 360 (Autodesk Cloud)
Send your feedback to Autodesk

At the bottom, click the LEARN option to see the following:

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 You will see in this part the following:

Videos of the new features of AutoCAD 2018

Other videos discussing features of AutoCAD 2018, like how to use some
modifying commands in AutoCAD
Tips from Autodesk (normally you will see different tips every time you
start AutoCAD)
Some online sources to help and train you like Hitchhiker videos and
Lynda.com

Starting a new file or opening an existing file will show you the interface of
AutoCAD 2018, which will look like the following:

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1. Application Menu 2. Start tab 3. File tab
4. Ribbon 5. Workspace 6. Info Center
7. Autodesk 360 8. ViewCube 9. Navigation Bar
10. Cross Hairs 11. Status Bar 12. Command window
13. Layout tab 14. Model tab 15. Graphical Area

1.2 AutoCAD 2018 INTERFACE

The AutoCAD interface is based on Ribbons and the Application Menu.
The most important feature of this interface is that the size of the Graphical
Area will be bigger.

1.2.1 Application Menu

The Application menu contains file-related commands:

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 Included are commands such as creating a new file, opening an existing
file, saving the current file, saving the current file under a new name and in a

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different folder, exporting the current file to a different file format, printing and
publishing the current file, etc. We will discuss almost all of these commands in
different places in this book. By default, you will see the recent files. You can
choose how to display the recent files in the Application Menu using this
control:

Also, you can choose how to sort the recent files using this control:

1.2.2 Quick Access Toolbar

This toolbar contains all File commands mentioned in the Application
Menu along with Workspace and Undo/Redo.

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 The user can customize this toolbar by clicking the arrow at the end, which
will bring up the following:

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 As you can see, the user can add or remove commands; clicking Show
Menu Bar may also be useful because the ribbon doesn’t include all AutoCAD
commands.

1.2.3 Ribbons
Ribbons consist of two parts: tabs and panels, as shown below:

Some panels have more buttons than shown: the following is the Modify
panel:

Click the small triangle near the title and you will get the following:

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 If you move away from the panel, buttons will disappear. To make them
visible always, click the push pin. The new view will be as follows:

For some commands, there are many options. To make the user’s life easier,
AutoCAD put all the options in the same button. Check the following
illustration:

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 The ribbons have a very simple help feature. If you hover the mouse over a
button, a small help screen comes up:

If the user leaves the mouse over the button for a longer period of time,
AutoCAD will show more detailed help:

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Other buttons may have video help, like the following:

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 Panels have two states—either docked or floating. By default all panels are
docked in their respective tab. Drag and drop the panel in the graphical area to
make it floating. One important feature of making the panel floating is you will
be able to see it while other tabs are active.
You can send the panel back to its respective tab by clicking the small
button at the top right side:

While the panel is floating you can toggle the orientation:

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 It will either extend to the right:

Or down:

The button at the end of the tab names allows you to cycle through the
different states of the ribbons. The main objective of this new feature is to give
you yet more graphical area. Clicking the small button will bring up the
following:

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 1.2.4 InfoCenter
InfoCenter is the place to access help topics online and offline, along with
some other tools:

For instance, if you type a word or phrase in the field shown below,
AutoCAD opens the Autodesk Exchange window and finds all the related topics
online and offline. Online means all Autodesk websites along with some popular
blogs.
Use Sign In to access Autodesk Online Services. The X at the right will
activate the Autodesk Exchange Apps website.

1.2.5 Command Window

By default the command window is floating, but you can dock it at the
bottom or the top of the screen. Reading the command window all the time will
save lots of wasted time trying to figure out what AutoCAD wants. AutoCAD
will show two things at the command window: your commands and AutoCAD
prompts asking you to perform a particular action (e.g., specify a point, input an
angle, etc.). Check the following illustration:

1.2.6 Graphical Area

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 The graphical area is your drafting area. This is where you will draw all
your lines, arcs, and circles. It is a precise environment with an XYZ space for
3D and an XY plane for 2D. You can monitor coordinates in the left part of the
status bar.

1.2.7 Status Bar

The status bar in AutoCAD contains coordinates along with important
functions; some of them are for precise drafting in 2D, and some of them are for
3D.

The buttons you will see on the status bar are not necessarily all that are
available. To customize this, click on the last button at the right (the one with
three horizontal lines) and you will see the following list (showing some of the
options):

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 1.2.8 Start Tab
When you click the Start tab at any moment, you will get the welcome
screen again. Hence you can start a new drawing, open an existing drawing, etc.

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 1.3 AUTOCAD DEFAULTS
Before using the AutoCAD environment, you should be aware of the
following AutoCAD settings:

AutoCAD saves points as cartesian coordinates (X,Y) whether metric or

imperial numbers were used. This is the first method of precise input in
AutoCAD to type the coordinates using the keyboard

To specify angles in AutoCAD, assume east (to your right) is your 0o and
then go counterclockwise. (This is applicable only for the northern
hemisphere; we will learn in Chapter 10 how we can change this setting for
the southern hemisphere)

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The wheel in the mouse has four zooming functions: Zoom In (move wheel
forward), Zoom Out (move wheel backward), Panning (press and hold the
wheel), and Zooming Extents (double-click the wheel)
Pressing [Enter] or [Spacebar] is equal in AutoCAD
When pressing [Enter] without typing any command, AutoCAD will repeat
the last command. If it is the first thing you do in the current session, it will
start Help
Pressing [Esc] will cancel the current command
Pressing [F2] will show the Text Window—check the following:

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 1.4 WHAT IS MY DRAWING UNIT?
If you draw a 6-units line in AutoCAD, what does AutoCAD really mean
by 6 units? Is it 6 m, 6 ft, or neither? AutoCAD deals with whatever units you
choose; if you mean 6 m, so let it be! If you mean 6 ft, AutoCAD will go with
this assumption as well. What is important is that you be consistent throughout
your file. This is true for the Model Space, where you will do your drafting, but
when it comes to printing, you have to recall your assumption and set your
drawing scale accordingly. In Chapter 9, we will discuss printing. At the bottom
left of the screen you can see the model tab and the layouts, just like the
following:

1.5 CREATE A NEW AUTOCAD DRAWING

This command will create a new drawing based on a premade template. Use
the Quick Access Toolbar and click the New button:

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Or you can click the (+) sign in the File tab:

You will see the following dialog box:

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Do the following steps:

Select the desired template file (AutoCAD template files have the extension
*.dwt). AutoCAD 2018 comes with lots of premade templates that you can
use (it is preferable for the companies to create their own template files).
Once you are done, click the Open button
AutoCAD drawing files have a file extension of *.dwg
AutoCAD will start with a new file (which has a temporary name like
Drawing1.dwg; you should rename it to something meaningful)

In the Start tab under the Start Drawing section, you can use the
Template drop-down list to choose from the existing templates to
start a new file, just like the following:

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 1.6 OPEN AN EXISTING AUTOCAD DRAWING
This command will open an existing drawing file for additional
modifications. From the Quick Access Toolbar, click the Open button:

You will see the following dialog box:

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 Take the following steps:

Specify your desired drive and folder

You can open a single file by selecting its name from the list and clicking
the Open button, or you can double-click on the file’s name. Or, you can
open more than one file by selecting the first file name, holding the [Ctrl]
key, clicking the other file names in the list (which is a common MS
Windows skill), and then clicking the Open button.

1.6.1 File Tab

Using the File tab beneath the ribbon, you will see a tab for each opened
file, as in the following:

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 The color used is gray. The current file (tab) will appear in a lighter gray,
and the other tabs will appear in a darker gray. If you hover over one of the tabs,
two things will take place:

The path of this file will appear above the tab

The model space and the layouts of this file will appear beneath

Check the following:

There will be a blue frame around the model space view. Moving your
mouse to the right will show the layouts in the graphical area; if you find what
you are looking for, click the layout view to move to it.

A star beside the name of the file in the file tab means this file was
changed and you need to save changes
Click (x) beside the name to close the file, hence closing the tab
The user can customize the File tabs and the Layout tabs by
switching them off
All you have to do is to go to the View tab and locate the Interface
panel; the two buttons will be blue if the tabs are on, but if you
want to turn them off, click once on each button:

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 1.7 CLOSING DRAWING FILES
This command will close the current opened files or all opened files,
depending on the command you choose. Use the Application Menu, move your
mouse to the Close button, then select either Current Drawing to close the
current file, or All Drawings to close all the opened files in single command:

If any of the open files were modified, AutoCAD will ask if you want to
save or close without saving, as in the following dialog box:

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 1.8 UNDO AND REDO COMMANDS
Undo and Redo are to help you to correct mistakes. They can be used in the
current session only.

1.8.1 Undo Command

This command will undo the effects of the last command. You can reach
this command by going to the Quick Access toolbar and clicking the Undo
button. If you want to undo several commands, click the small arrow at the right.
You will see a list of the commands; select the group and undo them:

Also, you can type u at the command window (don’t type undo, because it
has a different meaning), or press Ctrl + Z at the keyboard.

1.8.2 Redo Command

This command will undo the undo command. You can reach this command
by going to the Quick Access toolbar and clicking the Redo button. If you want
to redo several commands, click the small arrow at the right. You will see a list
of the commands; select the group and redo them:

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 Also, you can type redo at the command window or press Ctrl + Y.

PRACTICE 1-1 AutoCAD Basics

1. Start AutoCAD 2018

2. Open the following files:
1. Ground Floor
2. Mechanical-1
3. Mechanical-2
3. Using the File tab, check the three files and their layouts
4. Use the different zoom techniques with the mouse wheel
5. Using the Application menu, close all files without saving

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NOTES

CHAPTER REVIEW

1. The File tab will show the Model space and layouts of the opened files
1. True
2. False
2. The AutoCAD template file extension is _________
1. *.dwt
2. *.dwg
3. *.tmp
4. *.temp
3. AutoCAD units can be a meter or foot, per user desire
1. True
2. False
4. Moving the wheel forward will mean __________________
5. To undo any command in AutoCAD you can:
1. Click the Undo icon from the Quick Access Toolbar
2. Type u at the command window
3. Type [Ctrl] + Z
4. All of the above
6. Ribbons consist of _________________ and _______________________
7. The Menu bar by default is not shown, but I can show it if I want to:
1. True
2. False
8. The AutoCAD drawing file extension is ___________________
9. Positive angles in AutoCAD are created by moving in this direction:
______________________

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CHAPTER REVIEW ANSWERS
1. a
3. a
5. d
7. a
9. CCW (counterclockwise)

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