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

3D modeling workspaces

Many types of projects and models can be built using AutoCAD, and each application or project type has a specific set of tools and commands that best serve this type of project or application. Workspaces are a feature of AutoCAD that help you optimize the working area to help you display and access the appropriate tools that best serve your project.

In this section, the concept of workspaces will be introduced, and we will take a quick tour of the preset 3D workspaces that are available in AutoCAD.

Introduction to workspaces

As shown in Chapter 1, An Introduction to AutoCAD, the commands and tools are organized into tabs and panels. Each tab contains several panels, and each panel contains a group of commands and tools. These collections of tabs and panels are a part of bigger groups called workspaces.

The reason for using workspaces is to optimize the user interface to best serve the application or the project. Workspaces help the user display specific...