Book Image

Practical Autodesk AutoCAD 2023 and AutoCAD LT 2023 - Second Edition

By : Jaiprakash Pandey, Yasser Shoukry
Book Image

Practical Autodesk AutoCAD 2023 and AutoCAD LT 2023 - Second Edition

By: Jaiprakash Pandey, Yasser Shoukry

Overview of this book

AutoCAD is 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 2nd edition guide will take you through everything you need to know to make the most out of this powerful tool, from a simple tour of the user interface 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 plots like a professional. As you progress, the book will show you how to convert your 2D drawings into 3D models and shapes. You’ll also discover advanced features, such as isometric drawings, drawing utilities for managing and recovering complex files, quantity surveying, and multidisciplinary drawing files using xRefs. Finally, you’ll focus on rendering and visualizing your designs in AutoCAD. By the end of this 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 creations.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Introduction and 2D Drafting
6
Part 2: Customization, Collaboration, and Using Reusable Content
12
Part 3: 3D Modeling

External References and Dynamic Blocks

In a real-world situation, you will often find many people working on a single project. This will be a big issue if everyone is required to work on a single AutoCAD file because once a file is opened by someone, if you open it again, the file will be read-only and won’t allow you to make modifications. Fortunately, we have a tool in AutoCAD that allows many people to work on separate files of a project. Then, these files can be grouped in the main drawing using the External References tool, which we will discuss in this chapter. We will also discuss the dynamic block tool, which lets us make blocks with dynamic features. Finally, we will learn about cleaning our drawings and fixing drawing-related issues.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Working with External References (XRefs)
  • Working with dynamic blocks
  • Cleaning and fixing drawing issues

Let’s get started with an overview of External...