Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

AutoCAD 2012and

AutoCAD LT 2012 Essentials

By Scott Onstott

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Using the Navigation Bar:• Pan• Zoom• Zoom flyout menu

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Accessing Zoom Options:• Ribbon user interface• View tab • Navigation panel• Multiple zoom options

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

AutoCAD Zoom• Virtually infinite zoom capability• An infinity within every point• Resolution is not compromised when

zooming in or out• Zoom real time• Zoom window• Zoom previous• Zoom extents

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Drawing Lines• Typing L and pressing Enter• Clicking the Line tool on the Draw panel• Rubberband• Continuing the LINE command with Enter or the Spacebar

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Right Click Customization• Time-sensitive right click• More efficient drawing by using right click to end

commands• Hold down right mouse button longer to invoke

shortcut menu• Shortcut menu has additional choices that are useful

less frequently than invoking Enter without a menu

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Making Mistakes• The Esc key cancels the active command• The Delete key erases the selection• There is a difference between the Delete and

Backspace keys; Backspace does not erase• You have unlimited Undos and Redos in a session• The undo buffer is stored in RAM rather than in the

file

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Cartesian Coordinates• All points in space represented in terms

of x,y, and z coordinate values relative to the origin point

• Absolute coordinates are in relation to the origin point

• The # symbol signifies absolute coordinates (this is the default)

• Relative coordinates are in relation to the first point picked

• The @ symbol signifies relative coordinates

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Polar Coordinates• Polar coordinates are comprised of a

distance and an angle• The angle is measured from the zero

angle which is East (to the right) by default

• The < symbol signifies an angle value• Polar coordinates take the form

distance<angle, i.e. 4<60

Ch 2: Basic Drawing Skills

Fillet and Chamfer• Fillet creates a tangent arc

transition between two lines• Fillet can be used to join lines in

sharp corners when its radius value is set to zero

• Chamfer creates a beveled edge transition between two lines

• Chamfer requires two distance values