Book Image

Practical Autodesk AutoCAD 2021 and AutoCAD LT 2021

By : Yasser Shoukry, Jaiprakash Pandey
Book Image

Practical Autodesk AutoCAD 2021 and AutoCAD LT 2021

By: Yasser Shoukry, Jaiprakash Pandey

Overview of this book

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are one of the most versatile software applications for architectural and engineering designs and the most popular computer-aided design (CAD) platform for 2D drafting and 3D modeling. This hands-on guide will take you through everything you need to know to make the most out of this powerful tool, starting from a simple tour of the user interface through to using advanced tools. Starting with basic drawing shapes and functions, you'll get to grips with the fundamentals of CAD designs. You’ll then learn about effective drawing management using layers, dynamic blocks, and groups and discover how to add annotations and plot like professionals. The book delves into 3D modeling and helps you convert your 2D drawings into 3D models and shapes. As you progress, you’ll cover advanced tools and features such as isometric drawings, drawing utilities for managing and recovering complex files, quantity surveying, and multidisciplinary drawing files using xRefs, and you'll learn how to implement them with the help of practical exercises at the end of each chapter. Finally, you’ll get to grips with rendering and visualizing your designs in AutoCAD. By the end of the book, you’ll have developed a solid understanding of CAD principles and be able to work with AutoCAD software confidently to build impressive 2D and 3D drawings.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)

Basic Drawing Tools

As you are now familiar with the user interface of AutoCAD and the basic navigation tools, we can move on to learning about the basic draw tools. In this chapter, we will learn how to make simple drawings using the basic draw and modify tools available in AutoCAD. Using these tools, you will be able to make and modify the simplest kind of drawings in AutoCAD. These tools also happen to be the most frequently used ones in AutoCAD.

We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

  • Understanding the coordinate system
  • Using the Line command
  • Basic status bar modes
  • Making circles and arcs
  • Making rectangles and polygons
  • The Move and Copy commands
  • The Rotate and Fillet commands
  • The Trim and Extend commands

So, let's begin by understanding the user coordinate system (UCS) in AutoCAD.