LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Start AutoCAD program

2. Understand AutoCAD Workspaces
3. Recognize all of the features in the AutoCAD Window

LESSON 1
STARTING AUTOCAD

To Start AutoCAD use one of the 2 methods below.

(Be patient it may take a few minutes to load. It is a large program)

1. Select Start / All Programs / Autodesk / AutoCAD 2015

or
Double click on the AutoCAD 2015 desktop shortcut icon.

2. The “New Tab” page should appear.

 Note: Your computer should be connected to the Internet.

The New Tab page contains two sliding content pages called LEARN and CREATE.
CREATE: The Create page (shown below) is displayed by default and allows you to
start a New drawing, Open an existing drawing or template, Explore sample drawings,
view Recent documents or access Online Services.

You can access the LEARN page by clicking on LEARN at the bottom of the page or on
the left-hand side of the page.

Continued on the next page...

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STARTING AUTOCAD….continued

You can start a new drawing using the default template by clicking on the Start
Drawing tool, or you can access a list of available templates by clicking on the
Templates down ▼ arrow.

Note: The last template you use will become the new default template and is
highlighted in the template dropdown list.

Click on the Start Drawing

tool to begin a new drawing
using the default template

Click on the down

arrow to access a list
of available templates

The default template

is highlighted

Note:
The drawing template
acad.dwt is for imperial
measurements.

The drawing template

acadiso.dwt is for metric
measurements.

Continued on the next page...

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STARTING AUTOCAD….continued

Click on the Start Drawing tool to open the default template and to open the main
AutoCAD drawing workspace.

Click on the Start Drawing tool

to open the default template

Note: If your screen does not appear as shown below go to the Intro section
of this workbook and follow the steps for configuring AutoCAD to match the
workbook configuration.

The following pages will describe each area and element.

I know you are anxious to start drawing but be patient and read the remainder
of this lesson. It is very important that you understand and are familiar with
AutoCAD’s interface.

Note: You can close the Design Feed palette by clicking on the “X”. This will
not be used until later in the workbook.

Design Feed palette.

Click on the “X” to close it

1-4
AUTOCAD APPLICATION WINDOW

The AutoCAD Application Window default workspace

Drafting & Annotation, is shown below.
Important: I have changed my 2D background color to white for this workbook. Yours
may be another color.

AutoCAD 2015 comes with new Dark and Light color themes, on some of the images
within this book you may see the ribbon color showing the Light theme, this is just for
clarity. You may choose the Light theme if you wish.

You may change the color of many areas using: Options / Display tab / Colors button

If the remainder of your screen does not appear as shown below go to the Intro section
of this workbook and follow the steps for configuring AutoCAD to match the workbook
configuration.
Applications Menu Button

Quick Access toolbar

InfoCenter

Drawing Ribbon
Tabs View Cube

Cursor
Navigation Bar

Drawing
Area
Origin Icon

Command Line

Model & Layout Tabs Status Bar Icons

A description of each area is shown on the following pages.

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APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS

WORKSPACE
Workspaces control the display of ribbons, tabs, menus, toolbars, and palettes.
AutoCAD gives you the option of deciding how you would like them displayed.
When you use a workspace, only the menus, toolbars, and palettes that are relevant to
a task are displayed. For example if you selected the 3D Modeling workspace only 3D
menus, toolbars and palettes would be displayed.

There are 3 preset Workspaces.

Drafting & Annotation (shown on the previous page)

This workspace is the default display. It displays the necessary ribbons, tabs, menus,
tools and palettes for 2D drafting. We will be using this workspace for all lessons within
this workbook.

3D Basics
This 3D Basics workspace provides a simple workspace with the most basic tools for
creating and visualizing 3D Models.

3D Modeling
The 3D Modeling workspace provides access to the vast array of 3D tools in AutoCAD.

HOW TO SELECT A WORKSPACE

2
1. Selecting a workspace is easy.
Select the T on the Workspace
Switching icon located on the
Status Bar at the bottom right
corner of the screen.

2. Select one of the workspace

names displayed.

Note: We will be using the “Drafting & Annotation” Workspace.

1-6
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS

APPLICATION MENU
The Application Menu provides easy access to common tools
Each of the tools will be discussed later in the workbook.

1. Click on the Application Menu button in the upper left corner of the AutoCAD
display screen. (The big “A”)

1. Application Menu button

Open Documents and Recent

Documents are described on the next
two pages.

These will be
discussed
later

Select this button to

display “Options”

Select this button

to “Exit AutoCAD”

1-7
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

Open Documents
First let me emphasis this is not a method to “open” a drawing file.

Open Documents is a list of all documents that are already open within AutoCAD.

Display choice: The list of documents may be displayed as icons or images.

If you hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.

Select the “Open documents” button

Display choice

Open drawings
are listed here

Hover the cursor over a document

name to see a preview image

1-8
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

View Recent Documents

When you select Recent Documents a list of the recently viewed documents will
appear.

Display choices: This list may be displayed as icons or images and may be sorted in
an ordered list or grouped by date or file type.

If you hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.

Pinned Files
You can keep a file listed regardless of files that you save later using the push pin
button to the right. The file is displayed at the bottom of the list until you turn off the
push pin button.

Select the “Recent Documents” button

Display choices

List of
documents
recently
opened

Pinned File

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APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is located in the top left corner of the AutoCAD window.
It includes the most commonly used tools, such as New, Open, Save, Save as, Print,
Undo and Redo.

How to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar

You can add tools with the Customize User Interface dialog box.

For Example:
After you have completed Lesson 4 you will find that you will be using “Zoom All”
often. So I add the “Zoom All” tool to the Quick Access Toolbar. If you would like to
add the “Zoom All” tool, or any other tool, to your Quick Access Toolbar follow the
steps below.

1. Place the Cursor on the Quick Access Toolbar and press the right mouse button.

2. Select “Customize Quick Access

Toolbar…” from the menu.

3. Scroll through the list of

Commands to “Zoom, All”

4. Press the Left mouse button on “Zoom, All” and drag it to a location on the Quick
Access Toolbar and drop it by releasing the left mouse button.
5. Select the OK button at the bottom of the Customize User Interface dialog box.
The Customize User Interface dialog box will disappear and the new Quick Access
Toolbar is saved to the current Workspace.

To Remove a tool:
Place the cursor on the tool to remove and press the right mouse button.
Select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

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APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

RIBBON
The RIBBON provides access to the AutoCAD tools.
The TABS contain multiple PANELS. Each PANEL contains multiple tools.
When you select a TAB a new set of PANELS will appear.

Tab Tool Panel

Additional Tools

Additional Tools: If you select the T symbol, at the bottom of the panel, the panel
will expand to access additional tools.

Control the display of Tabs and Panels

Right click on the Ribbon and select which Tabs or Panels you choose to display.
The check mark confirms the tab or panel is already displayed.

Control the TAB order

If you would like to change the order of the tabs, click and drag the tab horizontally to
the new location.

Floating PANELS
If you prefer to separate a Panel from the Ribbon you may drag the panel off the Ribbon
to a new location on the screen.

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APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR

The Status Bar is located on the bottom of the screen. It displays the current settings.
These settings can be turned ON or OFF by clicking on one of the buttons or by
pressing a corresponding function key, F2, F3 etc.

When an icon is turned on it will display a neon blue in color.

Model and Layout Tabs Status Bar Icons

Discussed fully in Lesson 26

Status Bar Icons

The status bar provides you with a set of commonly used drawing tools like grid display,
snap, object snap and isometric drafting. You can choose to remove some or all of
them, or you can choose to add more tools.

To add or remove tools from the Status Bar. 1

1. Select and click on the Customization button.

2. Check or uncheck the tools you want to remove
or add from the list.
3. Left click in the main drawing area to close the list.

2
Note: The tools on the status bar may change
depending on whether you are in Model Space
or Paper Space.

A brief description of each tool will be shown on the

next five pages. Each tool will be discussed in more
detail in future lessons.

1-12
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS

I have enabled all the tool buttons and broken them down into two sections starting from
the left-hand side.

X Y Z
COORDINATES
The coordinates display the location of the cursor in reference to the Origin. The Origin
is currently in the lower left corner of the drawing area. These numbers will change as
you move the cursor.
First set of numbers represents the horizontal movement of the cursor (X-axis).
Second set of numbers represents the vertical movement of the cursor (Y-axis).
Third set of numbers represents the Z-axis which is used for 3D and not discussed.

MODEL
The MODEL / PAPER button allows you to work in either model space or paper space
without leaving the layout tab. When you switch to a layout tab this button automatically
switches to PAPER.

GRID (You may also use F7 to toggle ON or OFF)

The criss-cross lines in the Drawing Area are called the Grid. It is only a drawing aid
and will not print. The default spacing is 1 unit of measurement. You may change the
Grid spacing at any time by typing DS then press <enter>, then select the Snap and
Grid tab from the Drafting Settings dialog box.

SNAP MODE (You may also use F9 to toggle ON or OFF)

Increment Snap controls the incremental movement of the cursor. If it is ON the cursor
will “snap” in an incremental movement. If it is OFF the cursor will move smoothly. You
may set the increments by clicking on the down ▼ arrow and selecting Snap Settings.

You can also choose whether to use

Grid Snap or Polar Snap on the same menu.

INFER CONSTRAINTS (Note: Not used in this workbook)

Inferred Geometric Constraints automatically applies coincident constraints for
Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, Node, and Insertion object snaps.

1-13
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS….CONTINUED

DYNAMIC INPUT (You may also use F12 to toggle ON or OFF)

When Dynamic Input is ON, you can enter coordinate values in tooltips near the
cursor. More on this in Lesson 11.

ORTHO MODE (You may also use F8 to toggle ON or OFF)

Ortho restricts the movement of the cursor to Horizontal or Vertical. When Ortho is ON
the cursor moves only in the horizontally or vertically. When Ortho is OFF the cursor
moves freely in any direction.

POLAR TRACKING (You may also use F10 to toggle ON or OFF)

Polar Tracking restricts cursor movement to specified increments along a polar angle.
More on this in Lesson 11.

You may set the increments by clicking on the

down ▼ arrow and selecting Tracking Settings, or
you can select one of the predefined angles from the list.

ISOMETRIC DRAFTING
Isometric drawing allows you to simulate a 3D object by aligning along 3 axes, these are
Top, Right and Left, called Isoplanes. When the button is enabled you can toggle the
Isoplanes by pressing the F5 key. Isometric Drafting is discussed in the Advanced
AutoCAD Workbook.

You may also change Isoplanes by clicking the

down ▼ arrow and selecting from the menu.

OBJECT SNAP TRACKING (You may also use F11 to toggle ON or OFF)
Object Snap Tracking controls the display of object snap reference lines, AutoSnap
marker, tooltip and magnet.

1-14
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS….CONTINUED

2D OBJECT SNAP (You may also use F3 to toggle ON or OFF)

When 2D Object Snap is ON the cursor will “snap” to preset locations on 2D objects.
More on this in Lesson 4.

You may also add or remove Object Snaps

by clicking the down ▼ arrow and selecting
from the menu.

LINEWEIGHT
Lineweight displays the width assigned to each object. When it is ON the lineweights
are visible. You can change the lineweight settings by clicking on the down ▼ arrow
and selecting Lineweight Settings. More on this in Lesson 3.

TRANSPARENCY
When Transparency Show/Hide is ON all transparent layers will be displayed. If it is
OFF no layers will display as transparent. More on this in Lesson 3.

SELECTION CYCLING
Selection Cycling allows you to select objects that are overlapping. This is most useful
when creating 3 dimensional models discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

3D OBJECT SNAP (You may also use F4 to toggle ON or OFF)

When 3DOsnap is ON the cursor will “snap” to preset locations on 3D objects.
This option will be discussed in the “Advanced AutoCAD Workbook”.

DYNAMIC UCS (You may also use F6 to toggle ON or OFF)

Dynamic User Coordinate System changes the grid plane to follow the XY plane of the
dynamic UCS. Used for 3D, refer to the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

1-15
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS….CONTINUED

SELECTION FILTERING
Selection filtering allows you to filter whether certain faces, edges, vertices or solid
history subobjects are highlighted when you roll over them, very useful in complex 3D.

GIZMO
Gizmo tools help you move, rotate, or scale an object or set of objects along a 3D
Plane, and discussed in the Advanced AutoCAD Workbook.

ANNOTATION VISIBILITY
When switched ON the Annotation Visibility tool displays or hides the visibility of
annotation objects at the current scale.

AUTOSCALE
When switched ON the AutoScale tool Automatically updates annotative objects to
support the annotation scale when the annotation scale is changed.

ANNOTATION SCALE
The Annotation Scale tool displays the current annotation scale. You can change the
scale by clicking on the down ▼ arrow and selecting from the list of predefined scales
or you may create a custom scale. You can also display the scale in percentages by
selecting Percentages from the list.

WORKSPACE SWITCHING
Workspace Switching allows you to change the workspace environment, you can
choose between “Drafting & Annotation”, 3D Basics and 3D Modeling. You can change
the Workspace by clicking on the down ▼ arrow and selecting from the list.

ANNOTATION MONITOR
Provides feedback regarding the state of associative annotations when using parametric
dimensioning. This option is discussed in the “Advanced AutoCAD Workbook”.

UNITS
The Units tool allows you to change the display style of the Drawing Units. You can
choose between Decimal, Architectural, Engineering, Fractional and Scientific. You can
change the drawing unit display by clicking on the down ▼ arrow and selecting from the
list.

1-16
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

STATUS BAR TOOL BUTTON DESCRIPTIONS….CONTINUED

QUICK PROPERTIES
If ON, Quick Properties displays the properties of the object selected. If OFF the Quick
Properties box will not appear. More on this in Lesson 12.

GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE
The Graphics Performance tool examines your graphics card and 3D display driver and
determines whether to use software acceleration or hardware acceleration. You can
change the performance settings by right-clicking on the tool button and selecting
Graphics Performance, then change any settings required in the dialog box.

ISOLATE OBJECTS
You can choose to isolate objects by keeping them visible on the screen, all other
objects will be hidden. Or you can choose to hide objects. To isolate or hide objects, left
click on the Isolate Objects tool button and select either Isolate Objects or Hide
Objects from the list. To restore all hidden objects left click on the Isolate Objects tool
button and select End Object isolation from the list.

CLEAN SCREEN (You may also use Ctrl+0 to toggle ON or OFF)

When Clean Screen is selected it will hide all tool palettes, windows and ribbons from
the screen leaving you with a larger drawing area to work with. You can restore all the
palettes, windows and ribbons by selecting the Clean screen tool button again.

1-17
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

FLOATING COMMAND LINE

When you first start AutoCAD, and if the software has not been modified, the
Command Line will be displayed at the bottom of the screen, as shown below.

This is where AutoCAD will prompt you for information and you will enter commands,
values and select options. Basically this is how you communicate with AutoCAD.

You may “dock” the command line at the top or bottom of the AutoCAD window or let it
float in the drawing area.

To move the command line, place the cursor on the left end grip, press the left mouse
button and drag the command line to a desired location.

Click and drag

To move

To “dock” the command line drag it to the top or bottom of the drawing area. It will snap
to the edge. You can’t dock the command line to the sides.

You may also drag it below the drawing area as shown below.

Note: You may toggle the Command Line ON and OFF using Ctrl + 9.

1-18
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

COMMAND LINE

How to enter a command on the Command Line.

1. Type the first letter of a command, such as c for circle.

Scroll Bar

AutoComplete Command Entry

automatically completes the entry.
It displays a list of all the
commands whose prefix matches
what you have typed. This
enables you to scroll and select
from the list.

Click the ‘+’ sign

for more commands

2. A list of commands that begin with the letter c will appear. Select the desired
command from the list.

3. When you enter a command such as Circle, the prompt and options will be
displayed on the command line.

4. The prompt for Circle command asks you to:

“Specify center point for circle” or [ 3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius) ]:

The information within the [ ] brackets are options that you may select.

Clickable options are displayed in blue.

Options displayed in Black must be typed or selected from the option menu.

This will be discussed more in Lesson 2. Or for more advanced Command Line
options, see Appendix-D.

1-19
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

FLOATING COMMAND LINE

Command and Prompt history

As you enter commands AutoCAD records them as “history”. You may

display this history by pressing F2 or the up arrow at the right hand end
of the command line.

Command Line tools

Recent commands tool displays recently selected commands.

Customize tool allows you to select options for the AutoComplete by selecting ‘Input
Settings’. You can also control how many lines of history are displayed and the degree
of transparency for the Command Line.

1-20
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

DYNAMIC INPUT

Dynamic Input is another method of inputting commands, values and selecting options.

To use Dynamic Input you must turn ON the Dynamic Input button in the Status Bar,
shown on page 1-14.

If you choose to use Dynamic Input the command will be entered in the tooltip box
beside the cursor.

How to enter a command using Dynamic Input.

1. Place the cursor in the Drawing Area.

2. Type the first letter of a command, such as c for circle.

3. A list of commands that begin with the letter c will appear. Select the command from
the list.

Tool tip box AutoComplete Command Entry

automatically completes the
entry. It displays a list of all the
commands whose prefix matches
what you have typed. This
enables you to scroll and select
from the list.

4. If you press the L down arrow the options will appear below the prompt.

Prompt down arrow

Options

Notice the command entry is being displayed on the command line also.

Using the Command Line or Dynamic Input is your choice.

This will be discussed more in Lesson 2. Or for more advanced Command Line
options, see Appendix-D.

1-21
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

DRAWING AREA
The Drawing Area is the large open area of the screen. This is where you will draw.
Consider this your paper.
The color of this area can be changed using Options / Display tab / Color

ORIGIN Icon
The Origin icon or UCS icon indicates the location of the Origin.
The Origin is where the coordinates X, Y and Z originate.
The X and Y coordinates for the Origin is 0, 0.
This will be discussed more in future Lessons.

CURSOR
The Cursor is located within the Drawing Area. The movement of the
pointing device, such as a mouse, controls the movement of the cursor.
You will use the cursor to locate points, make selections and draw
objects.
The size can be changed using Options / Display tab / Crosshair Size.

INFOCENTER
The InfoCenter is a tool to search for information. It is located in the upper right corner
of the screen.

Autodesk 360 Online Services

Search Box
Autodesk Exchange Apps
Help Menu

Search Connect with Autodesk

Search Box
The InfoCenter allows you to search for information by typing key words or a question in
the “Help Box”. After typing press <enter>

Search
Displays multiple search options.

Autodesk 360 Online Services

Sign in to Autodesk Online to access services that integrate with your desktop software.

Autodesk Exchange Apps

Displays the Autodesk Exchange window.

Help Menu
Displays the Help Window

1-22
APPLICATION WINDOW DESCRIPTIONS….continued

VIEWCUBE and NAVIGATION BAR

The ViewCube and the Navigation Bar are used primarily in the 3D mode. They enable
you to view and rotate the 3D Model.

We will not be using these tools in this Workbook.

Refer to the “Advanced” workbook. ViewCube

Since we are not using these tools you may choose to turn their
display off. Follow the easy instructions below to turn the display off
or on.

How to turn off the View cube and Navigation bar.

There are 2 methods:

Navigation
Method 1 Bar
1. Type navbardisplay <enter>
2. Type 0 <enter> [0 = off 1 = on]
3. Type navvcubedisplay
4. Type 1 <enter>

Note: Navvcubedisplay has 4 settings:

0 = Not displayed in 2D or 3D
1 = Displayed in 3D only (Select this one for the workbook)
2 = Displayed in 2D only
3 = Displayed in both 2D and 3D

Method 2.
1. Select the View tab
2. Left click on the ViewCube and Navigation Bar buttons.

Note: The buttons will be a Neon Blue in color when switched on.

2 1

1-23
TOOLTIP HELP

Basic Tooltip
When you hover your cursor over a tool
an initial Tooltip will appear telling you the
name of the tool with a brief description.

Extended Tooltip
If you hover just a little longer, a graphic
display directly from the Help system,
will appear.

How to turn off Tooltips

After you become familiar with AutoCAD
you will want to turn these off. Or you may
just want to delay the extended Tooltips.

1. Type options and press <enter>.

2. Select the Display tab

3. Uncheck boxes

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