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

Navigation and switching views

In 2D drafting, the whole drawing exists on one plane, so the drawing area view is normal to that plane, and the only navigation tools that are needed are panning and zooming. In 3D modeling, you will need to create details that may exist on any angle of the three main axes, and even creating a single part or detail of a model may require switching back and forth between different viewing angles. Therefore, an understanding of navigation and switching between different views is essential for efficient 3D modeling. So, in this section, we will present the basic navigation and view switching tools.

Basic navigation

The navigation tools used in the normal 2D drafting mode are still usable when in 3D modeling. Starting with zooming, the mouse wheel can be used to zoom in and zoom out. The zoom and zoom extend commands can also be used, which work the same as in the 2D drafting mode. For more details on these commands, please refer to Chapter 2, Basic...