AutoCad 2d tutorial Example number 2

Review the basic AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT controls.

After you launch AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, click the Start Drawing button on the Start tab to begin a new drawing.



A standard tabbed ribbon displays across the top of the drawing area. You can access nearly all the commands presented in this guide from the Home tab. In addition, the Quick Access toolbar shown below includes familiar commands such as New, Open, Save, Print, and Undo.



Note: If the Home tab at the top of the ribbon is not the current tab, go ahead and click it.

The Command Window

At the heart of the program is the Command window, which is normally docked at the bottom of the application window. The Command window displays prompts, options, and messages.



You can enter commands directly in the Command window instead of using the ribbon, toolbars, and menus. Many long-time users prefer this method.

Notice that as you start to type a command, it completes automatically. When several possibilities are available such as in the example below, you can make your choice by clicking it or using the arrow keys and then pressing Enter or the Spacebar.



The Mouse

Most people use a mouse as their pointing device, but other devices have equivalent controls.



Tip: When you look for an option, try right-clicking. Depending on where you locate your cursor and whether you're in command, the menu that displays will provide relevant commands and options.

New Drawings

You can easily conform to industry or company standards by specifying settings for text, dimensions, linetypes, and several other features. For example, this backyard deck design displays two different dimension styles.



All these settings can be saved in a drawing template file. Click New to choose from several drawing template files:



For imperial drawings that assume your units are inches, use acad.dwt or acadlt.dwt.

For metric units that assume your units are millimeters, use acadiso.dwt or acadltiso.dwt