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)

Summary

This chapter was about the advanced tools and features of AutoCAD. In this chapter, we learned how to make AutoCAD tables and also use Excel tables right inside AutoCAD. We learned how to add tables as data links and use formulas in tables. We also learned how to add fields in our drawing, which are dynamic pieces of text connected to other drawing properties.

We learned how to make isometric drawings, which are drawings that look like 3D drawings with X-, Y-, and Z-axis values. Finally, we learned about parametric tools, which are especially helpful when it comes to dynamic blocks. Using the parametric feature, we also learned how to make drawings with constraints and formulas.

In the next chapter, we will continue to learn about more advanced tools; we will mostly focus on customization-related features of AutoCAD, such as customizing linetypes and the user interface...