Menus and Icons

In the previous post, I've explained about the various areas in the AutoCAD window. Here they are expanded and the stuffs inside are explained below.

AutoCAD cursor
The AutoCAD cursor also known as the cross-hair is nothing but a pair of two crossed lines across the screen. This changes into a small square when an object in the drawing area is selected and it changes according to the command that is currently active. The image below shows the cross-hair.

The Pull-down menus
These menus are available from the Menu bar on the menu area. These menus are used for quick access of commands and functions. The basic functionality are,

• Display additional menu choices on the menu that contains a ">" mark on it. This is called cascading menus
• Display a dialog box that contains settings that can be changed (options with ellipse... marks).
• Issues a command that require keyboard or drawing.

As the menu is selected, AutoCAD flashes a single line help in the status bar.

Tool bars & Icons
Just as the pull down menu, the commands in the toolbar do the nitty gritty work of creating new objects and editing the existing ones. These icons are grouped by action types such as Draw toolbar and Modify toolbar and so on.
The Draw toolbar contains tools needed to create new objects. Modify toolbar contains tools to modify the objects that have been created.

The icon in the toolbars perform three types of actions. Namely,

• Display further options if the little arrow at the right hand-side corner of the icon is seen. See image below.

• Open's dialogue boxes.
• Executes commands that require keyboard or mouse inputs.

And the various toolbars are a given below,

• Standard toolbar
• Draw toolbar
• Modify toolbar
• Properties toolbar
• Style toolbar
• Layers toolbar

These toolbars can be seen marked in the image in the previous post that i've posted.

The usage of there toolbars would be explained in detail as we cover them in the upcoming posts. So stay tuned.

Mouse

The mouse has three functionality that can be used in AutoCAD. 

Left Click   - To select [specifies the pointer and commands on screen]

Right Click - Return Button [Equivalent to 'Enter' or 'Return' on the keyboard]

Scroll          - Continuously picking and moving, it as pan

                      Front and back scroll, it works as zoom in/out

Now that we have an overview idea of all the options available in AutoCAD, now its time to get in to the methods of drawing. On the next post, we'll be discussing about the co-ordinate systems.

Getting Started with AutoCAD

Now that we know a little history of AutoCAD, its time that we start the software. Well here is how we go, I know that all of you know how to kick start the application, but this is more of a procedure.

Now I'm going to go about this based on two platforms. Even though once we're in it, there is not much of a difference.

For Windows users

or just click on the icon on the desktop.

For Mac users

or of-course you can click on the icon on the dock, or even simple, use the spotlight!!!

So once you've done that, please wait for a few seconds for the application to load up. Once its done, you'll get a screen as shown below. The different parts are marked below.

WCS - World Co-ordinate System
UCS  - User Co-ordinate System

So as we all know this software is built using GUI - Graphical user interface. Thus enabling the user to interact more efficiently when drafting.

The various options on the screen editor is marked on the above picture and the explanations are given below.

To explain the various parts of the AutoCAD screen editor, we'll divide it into 4 Areas. Namely,

• Drawing Area
• Menu Area
• Command Area
• Status Area

Drawing Area
The drawing area is the area where the drawings are created and occupies 80% of the window space. When the mouse is moved across the screen, we would see two crossed lines across the screen. This is the drawing editor cursor. The cursor is used to select the position on the screen and drawings are created.

Menu Area
The menu area is the area that we see on the top of the screen and we could select the commands from here. This is quite easy as the options are in written format and in icon formats.

Command Area
The command area is the area that we could find below the drawing window and is a very important area where the commands used in AutoCAD are entered through keyboard. Here AutoCAD prompts for necessary informations to complete the command.

Status Area
The status area is the bottom-most area in the window, found below the command area. This is used for, as the name suggests, displaying current status informations regarding the work done on the Drawing area.

AutoCAD

What is AutoCAD?

AutoCAD is a basically a CAD(Computer Aided Drawing/Drafting) application software developed by Autodesk inc., leaders in the 2D & 3D drafting Engineering softwares. The most commonly used application of theirs is AutoCAD and it is available in different shades for different field of engineering.

AutoCAD  v1.0 was first introduced in the year 1982 on December. Now that was pretty much the beginning of the GUI(Graphical User Interface) computing. So it is one of the oldest softwares to be out there. Ever since then there have been numerous versions of it. Up-to the latest AutoCAD 2012, v18.2, there are 26 versions.

Versions of AutoCAD

Official Name	Version	Date of release
AutoCAD Version 1.0	1.0	1982, December
AutoCAD Version 1.2	1.2	1983, April
AutoCAD Version 1.3	1.3	1983, August
AutoCAD Version 1.4	1.4	1983, October
AutoCAD Version 2.0	2.0	1984, October
AutoCAD Version 2.1	2.1	1985, May
AutoCAD Version 2.5	2.5	1986, June
AutoCAD Version 2.6	2.6	1987, April
AutoCAD Release 9	9.0	1987, September
AutoCAD Release 10	10.0	1988, October
AutoCAD Release 11	11.0	1990, October
AutoCAD Release 12	12.0	1992, June
AutoCAD Release 13	13.0	1994, November
AutoCAD Release 14	14.0	1997, February
AutoCAD 2000	15.0	1999, March
AutoCAD 2000i	15.1	2000, July
AutoCAD 2002	15.6	2001, June
AutoCAD 2004	16.0	2003, March
AutoCAD 2005	16.1	2004, March
AutoCAD 2006	16.2	2005, March
AutoCAD 2007	17.0	2006, March
AutoCAD 2008	17.1	2007, March
AutoCAD 2009	17.2	2008, March
AutoCAD 2010	18.0	2009, March 24
AutoCAD 2011	18.1	2010, March 25
AutoCAD 2012	18.2	2011, March 22

This is a flexible application software used for designing, drafting and creating pictorial, orthographical wireframes and solid models for a wide range of application in this fast changing engineering scenario where time for designing needs to be quick. And it is available for Architectural, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical designing and so on.

Benefits of AutoCAD

Well there are a lot of reasons for you to use AutoCAD, a few are listed below.

• Improved Engineering design productivity.
• Engineering personnel requirement is less.
• Any modifications are easy to make.
• Design accuracy is more.
• Hidden details of components can be revealed.
• Dynamic viewing and zooming.
• Cost of errors are reduced.
• Efficient design is obtained.
• Quality drawing.
• Standards are maintained.
• Easily imported and exported.

Now that we know what is AutoCAD and its advantages, we'll cover how to work on it on the upcoming tutorial posts!!!

Facts : The name "Auto" in AutoCAD represents the name its company, Autodesk inc.