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

Setting the lighting of a scene

An essential part of creating a scene is to set the lighting properly because different lighting conditions can produce totally different results. In AutoCAD, there are different types of light sources, and you can add one or multiple light sources of these different types to the model to set the lighting as desired.

In this section, we will start by learning how to set the lighting intensity units in AutoCAD, and then we will explore the different light sources that are available in AutoCAD. Each type will be covered in a dedicated subsection. We will learn how to create and properly adjust their settings, and we will look at the differences between them. Let’s now begin with adjusting the lighting intensity units.

Lighting intensity units

Before working with light sources, the first step is to properly adjust the lighting intensity units so that the light source will behave as expected. AutoCAD has two light source intensity units....