AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015: No Experience Required

Donnie Gladfelter is a highly visible and respected thought leader in the CAD community. While perhaps best known for his CAD Geek blog (www.thecadgeek.com), which gets more than 10,000 visitors per month, Donnie is also a columnist for AUGIWorld Magazine, a top-rated speaker at Autodesk University and other industry events, and a trainer at CADD Microsystems, a large Autodesk Training Center and reseller. He has worked with the development team at Autodesk to help share future versions of AutoCAD, and the company often features him in their popular ?Ask the Expert? series.

Introduction xvii
Chapter 1 Getting to Know AutoCAD for Windows 1


Starting AutoCAD for Windows 2


Exploring the User Interface 2


Using the New Tab 3


Introducing Workspaces 5


Exploring the Drafting & Annotation Workspace 6


Putting the User Interface to Work 10


Using the Ribbon 12


Using File Tabs to Manage Drawings 15


Working in the Command-Line Interface 17


Understanding the Status Bar 20


Using the Application Menu 22


Using the Keyboard 27


Using the Mouse 28


If You Would Like More Practice? 29


Are You Experienced? 30


Chapter 2 Learning Basic Commands to Get Started 31


Using the Line Tool 31


Using Coordinates 37


Using Relative Coordinates 41


Using the Direct Distance Method 44


Drawing the Shape 44


Using Relative Cartesian Coordinates 45


Erasing Lines 46


Using Relative Polar Coordinates 47


Using Direct Input 47


Using the Offset Command 49


Using the Fillet Command 52


Completing the Shape 56


Offsetting Lines to Mark an Opening 56


Extending Lines 57


Trimming Lines 59


If You Would Like More Practice? 62


Are You Experienced? 63


Chapter 3 Setting Up a Drawing 65


Setting Up the Drawing Units 66


Setting Up the Drawing Size 71


Using the Grid 72


Setting Up Drawing Limits 76


Drawing with Grid and Snap 79


Taking a Closer Look at Dynamic Input 82


Saving Your Work 85


Saving Drawings to Your Hard Drive or Network Drive 86


Saving Drawings to Autodesk 360 Storage 89


Understanding AutoCAD Units 91


Exploring Options for Linear Units 92


Exploring Options for Angular Units 93


Are You Experienced? 94


Chapter 4 Developing Drawing Strategies: Part 1 95


Laying Out the Walls 96


Creating Polylines from Existing Objects 97


Creating and Editing Polylines 100


Creating the Exterior Wall Lines 102


Creating the Interior Walls 106


Cutting Openings in the Walls 120


Creating Doors 130


Drawing Swinging Doors 131


Copying Objects 142


Mirroring Objects 144


Scaling the Bathroom Door 149


Drawing a Sliding Glass Door 151


Drawing the Bifold Doors 162


Reviewing Drawing Strategies Used in This Chapter 168


If You Would Like More Practice? 169


An Alternative Sliding Glass Door 169


An Addition to the Cabin 170


Three Views of a Block 171


Are You Experienced? 173


Chapter 5 Developing Drawing Strategies: Part 2 175


Starting and Running Commands 175


Drawing the Thresholds 178


Drawing the Front Threshold 179


Drawing the Back Threshold 184


Drawing the Decks and Stairs 186


Drawing the Front Deck 186


Drawing the Deck Posts 190


Drawing the Stairs 195


Mirroring the Post and Railing 197


Drawing the Back Deck and Stairs 201


Using Point Filters to Finish the Deck 206


Laying Out the Kitchen 210


Drawing the Counter 211


Drawing the Stove and Refrigerator 216


Completing the Stove with Parametrics 218


Drawing the Kitchen Sink 233


Constructing the Bathroom 236


Setting Running Object Snaps 237


Drawing a Shower Unit 239


Drawing the Bathroom Sink and Mirror 241


Positioning the Toilet and Shelves 245


Drawing the Hot Tub 249


If You Would Like More Practice? 252


Drawing the Cabin Again 252


Drawing Something Else 253


Drawing Furniture for the Cabin 253


Drawing a Gasket 254


Drawing a Parking Lot 256


Are You Experienced? 258


Chapter 6 Using Layers to Organize Your Drawing 259


Using Layers as an Organizing Tool 260


Setting Up Layers 262


Assigning Linetypes to Layers 274


Assigning Objects to Layers 279


Turning Off and Freezing Layers 295


Drawing the Headers 299


Drawing the Roof 303


Setting a Linetype Scale Factor 309


Drawing the Ridgeline 312


Using the Layer Walk Tool 313


Setting Properties of Layers and Objects 316


Assigning a Color or a Linetype to an Object Instead of a Layer
316


Making a Color or a Linetype Current 317


Using the Action Recorder 317


If You Would Like More Practice? 321


Creating a Layer State 321


Setting Up Layers for Your Trade or Profession 325


Are You Experienced? 326


Chapter 7 Combining Objects into Blocks 327


Making a Block for a Door 328


Inserting the Door Block 336


Understanding and Using Groups 341


Finding Blocks in a Drawing 344


Using Grips to Detect a Block 344


Using the LIST Command to Detect a Block 345


Using the Properties Palette to Examine a Block 347


Creating a Window Block 348


Inserting the Window Block 353


Rotating a Block during Insertion 354


Using Snap Tracking to Set the Insertion Point 357


Changing a Block?s Scale Factor by Using Object Properties
360


Finishing the Windows 362


Revising a Block 366


Sharing Information between Drawings 369


Copying Objects between Drawings 369


Using the AutoCAD DesignCenter 371


Using Other Ways to Share Information between Drawings 377


If You Would Like More Practice? 385


Are You Experienced? 387


Chapter 8 Controlling Text in a Drawing 389


Setting Up Text Styles 390


Determining the Text and Drawing Scales 391


Defining a Text Style for View Titles 392


Placing Titles of Views in the Drawing 397


Using Annotative Text 401


Defining an Annotative Text Style 402


Placing Room Labels in the Floor Plan 404


Using Text in a Grid 417


Creating a Border and Title Block 428


Using Multiline Text 446


Finishing the Title Block 446


Using Mtext for General Notes 450


Using the Spell-Check Feature 459


Exploring Other Aspects of Multiline Text 463


If You Would Like More Practice? 468


Are You Experienced? 470


Chapter 9 Using Dynamic Blocks and Tables 471


Using Attributes for a Grid 472


Defining Blocks with Attributes 477


Inserting Blocks with Attributes 479


Editing Attribute Text 482


Setting Up Multiple Attributes in a Block 483


Defining a Block with Multiple Attributes 488


Calculating Areas 490


Inserting the Room Information Block 494


Editing Attributes 499


Controlling the Visibility of Attributes 503


Exploring Other Uses for Attributes 507


Creating a Dynamic Block 507


Setting Up Parameters and Actions 509


Fine-Tuning the Dynamic Block with the Properties Palette
513


Inserting a Dynamic Block 517


Creating a Table 524


Defining a Table Style 524


Designing a Table 528


Adding Formulas to a Table 532


Creating Tables from Attributes 537


Modifying the Table Display 542


If You Would Like More Practice? 544


Are You Experienced? 545


Chapter 10 Generating Elevations 547


Drawing the South Elevation 548


Creating the South Elevation 549


Setting Up Lines for the Heights 551


Using Construction Lines to Project Elevation Points 553


Copying Objects by Using Grips 554


Trimming Lines in the Elevation 557


Assigning Elevation Layers 563


Drawing the Decks in Elevation 565


Generating the Other Elevations 583


Making the Opposite Elevation 583


Revising the New South Elevation 586


Making the Front and Back Elevations 593


Considering Drawing Scale Issues 604


Drawing Interior Elevations 605


If You Would Like More Practice? 606


Are You Experienced? 607


Chapter 11 Working with Hatches, Gradients, and Tool Palet
tes 609


Hatching the South Elevation 610


Looking at Hatch Patterns 614


Hatching the Rest of the South Elevation 616


Using Hatches in the Floor Plan 629


Creating the User-Defined Hatch Pattern 630


Controlling the Origin of the Hatch Pattern 632


Finishing the Hatches for the Floors 634


Modifying the Shape of Hatch Patterns 637


Creating and Managing Tool Palettes 639


Creating a New Tool Palette 639


Setting Up a Palette for Hatches 642


Creating a Palette for Commands 644


If You Would Like More Practice? 646


Creating the Hatch Patterns for the Other Elevations 647


Are You Experienced? 648


Chapter 12 Dimensioning a Drawing 649


Introducing Dimension Styles 649


Preparing for Dimensioning 650


Creating a Text Style for Dimensions 652


Making a New Dimension Style 653


Setting Up the Primary Units Tab (Architectural) 658


Setting Up the Primary Units Tab (Metric) 660


Completing the Dimension Style Setup 661


Exploring the Alternate Units and Tolerances Tabs 664


Placing Dimensions on the Drawing 666


Placing Horizontal Dimensions 666


Using the Dimension Continue Command 668


Using the Dimension Baseline Command 671


Setting Up Vertical Dimensions 673


Finishing the Dimensions 676


Using Other Types of Dimensions 677


Using Radial Dimensions 678


Adding a Diameter Dimension 679


Adding an Arc Length 680


Setting Up Parent and Child Dimensioning Styles 681


Using Aligned and Angular Dimensions 684


Using Leader Lines 686


Modifying Dimensions 692


Editing Dimension Text Content 693


Moving Dimensions 696


Adjusting Space between Stacked Dimensions 698


Using Dimension Overrides 700


Dimensioning Short Distances 701


If You Would Like More Practice? 705


Dimensioning the Garage Addition 705


Dimensioning to a Centerline 706


Practicing on Your Own 710


Are You Experienced? 711


Chapter 13 Managing External References 713


Drawing a Site Plan 714


Using Surveyor?s Units 715


Drawing the Driveway 719


Setting Up an External Reference 727


Using the External References Palette 727


Organizing the Drawing Objects 733


Moving and Rotating an Xref 735


Modifying an Xref Drawing 736


Modifying an Xref by Making It the Current Drawing 736


Modifying an Xref from within the Host Drawing 740


Adding an Image to a Drawing 745


Putting Xrefs to Use 749


Exploring Additional Xref Features 751


Setting the Xref Path 751


Changing Path Types 754


Binding Xrefs 755


Exploring on Your Own 758


If You Would Like More Practice? 759


Building Architectural References 759


Comparing Reference Types 760


Are You Experienced? 760


Chapter 14 Using Layouts to Set Up a Print 761


Preparing the Title Block 762


Creating the Title Block Drawing 762


Sizing and Cleaning Up the Title Block 765


Defining the Title Block Attributes 767


Setting Up a Sheet Template 772


Finishing the Sheet Template 778


Creating Plan Sheets 781


Creating the Cover Sheet 781


Generating Floor Plan Sheets 783


Composing the Floor Plan Sheets 788


Creating Elevation Sheets 793


Composing the South Elevation 794


Composing the Other Elevations 795


Using Sheet Set Manager 798


Creating a New Sheet Set 798


Adding Drawings to a Sheet Set 802


Defining Sheet Properties 804


If You Would Like More Practice? 808


Are You Experienced? 809


Chapter 15 Printing a Drawing 811


Using the Plot Dialog Box 812


Assigning Lineweights to a Drawing 817


Assigning Lineweights to Layers 818


Updating Xref Layer Definitions 824


Plotting from Model Space 827


Configuring the Plot 827


Previewing a Print 829


Plotting a Drawing Using Layouts 832


Publishing a Single Layout 832


Publishing Multiple Layouts 834


Publishing with Sheet Set Manager 837


A Few Words about Plot Styles 839


Introducing Plot Style Table Files 840


Understanding How Plot-Style Table Files Are Organized 841


Going Forward 845


If You Would Like More Practice? 845


Are You Experienced? 846


Chapter 16 Creating 3D Geometry 847


Modeling in 3D 848


Setting Up the 3D Workspace and Environment 848


Making the Walls 854


Creating the Door and Window Block-Outs 858


Moving and Rotating in 3D 863


Using the First Right-Hand Rule 864


Cutting the Openings 868


Creating the Floor, Foundation, and Thresholds 870


Creating the Foundation and Supports 873


Building the Windows 874


Navigating with the ViewCube 890


Adding the Sliding Door 893


Building the Decks 897


Putting a Roof on the Cabin 916


Getting Further Directions in 3D 930


Using Other Solid-Modeling Tools 930


Using Mesh-Modeling Tools 933


Using Surface-Modeling Tools 935


If You Would Like More Practice? 937


Are You Experienced? 937


Chapter 17 Rendering and Materials 939


Creating Cameras to Reproduce Views 940


Using the Loft Tool 940


Creating the Cameras 945


Creating a Lighting Scheme 950


Creating a Light Source 950


Enabling Shadows 954


Creating the First Render 956


Controlling the Background of the Rendering 960


Adding Materials 964


Adjusting the Material Mapping 969


Rendering to a File 974


If You Would Like More Practice? 978


Are You Experienced? 979


Index 981