Wiley AutoCAD 2004 for dummies may 2003 ISBN 0764540459

AutoCAD 2004 For Dummies ISBN:0764540459 by Mark Middlebrook John Wiley & Sons © 2003 This user-friendly guide covers AutoCAD 2004's new interface, conforming with CAD standards, 3D, AutoCAD's various capabilities, and much more Table of Contents AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies Introduction Part I - AutoCAD 101 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 - Introducing AutoCAD 2004 - Le Tour de AutoCAD 2004 - Setup for Success Part II - Let There Be Lines Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 - Get Ready to Draw - Where to Draw the Line - Edit for Credit - A Zoom with a View - On a 3D Spree Part III - If Drawings Could Talk Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 - Text with Character - Entering New Dimensions - Down the Hatch - The Plot Thickens Part IV - Share and Share Alike Chapter 13 - Playing Blocks and Rasteroids Chapter 14 - CAD Standards Rule Chapter 15 - Drawing on the Internet Part V - The Part of Tens Chapter 16 - Ten Ways to Do No Harm Ten Ways to Swap Drawing Data with Chapter 17 Other People and Programs Index Cheat Sheet - AutoCAD 2004 For Dummies List of Figures List of Tables List of Sidebars Back Cover Tour AutoCAD’s new features, make CAD standards rule, and find the friendlier xref Once upon a time, architectural drawings were created with—gasp— pencils, paper, and T-squares Then came AutoCAD, with all its capabilities and complications While this book won’t turn back the clock, it will make it easy to explore AutoCAD 2004’s new interface, conform with CAD standards, get the lowdown on 3D, and discover all the amazing things you and AutoCAD can do About the Author Mark Middlebrook owns a CAD consulting company and maintains a Web site to assist AutoCAD users AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies Mark Middlebrook AutoCADđ 2004 For Dummiesđ Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 www.wiley.com Copyright â 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8700 Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc., in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with a professional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S at 317-572-3993, or fax 317572-4002 Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books Library of Congress Control Number: 2003101851 ISBN: 0-7645-4045-9 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Author Mark Middlebrook used to be an engineer but gave it up when he discovered that he couldn’t handle a real job He is now principal of Daedalus Consulting, an independent CAD and computer consulting company in Oakland, California (In case you wondered, Daedalus was the guy in ancient Greek legend who built the labyrinth on Crete Mark named his company after Daedalus before he realized that few of his clients would be able to pronounce it and even fewer spell it.) Mark is also a contributing editor for CADALYST magazine and Webmaster of markcad.com When he’s not busy being a cad, Mark sells and writes about wine for Paul Marcus Wines in Oakland He also teaches literature and philosophy classes at St Mary’s College of California — hence "Daedalus." AutoCAD 2004 For Dummies is his fifth book on AutoCAD Dedication To Puck and Pretzel, two absolute AutoCAD dummies who never cease to inspire and amuse It was during walks in the woods with them that I originally worked out some of the details of these chapters I’m pretty sure that Puck could learn AutoCAD, if only he could figure out how to manipulate a mouse Pretzel, on the other hand, is too interested in squirrels to bother with mice Author’s Acknowledgments Thanks first of all to Bud Smith, who initiated this book four editions ago, brought me in on it along the way, and finally handed it over to me in toto for this edition I hope that I prove as good a steward as he was a midwife (or is the gender-neutral term “midspouse”?) Terri Varveris shepherded the project through the development process and helped all of us make it more than just another update Dave Byrnes was once again a dependably excellent tech editor — he kept me relentlessly honest and saved me from a few embarrassing mistakes Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/ Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor Pat O’Brien (Previous Edition Paul Levesque) Acquisitions Editor Terri Varveris Senior Copy Editor Kim Darosett Technical Editor David Byrnes Editorial Manager Kevin Kirschner Media Development Supervisor Richard Graves Editorial Assistant Amanda Foxworth Cartoons Rich Tennant www.the5thwave.com Production Project Coordinator Maridee Ennis Layout and Graphics Seth Conley Carrie Foster Michael Kruzil Tiffany Muth Proofreaders John Greenough Andy Hollandbeck Susan Moritz Carl Pierce Dwight Ramsey TECHBOOKS Production Services Indexer TECHBOOKS Production Services Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Publisher Andy Cummings Editorial Director Mary C Corder Publishing for Consumer Dummies Vice President and Publisher Diane Graves Steele Acquisitions Director Joyce Pepple Composition Services Vice President of Production Services Gerry Fahey Director of Composition Services Debbie Stailey Introduction Overview It’s amazing to think that AutoCAD came into being two decades ago, at a time when most people thought that personal computers weren’t capable of a lot It’s almost as amazing that, 20 years after its birth, AutoCAD remains the king of the microcomputer CAD hill by a tall margin Many competing CAD programs have come to challenge AutoCAD, many have fallen, and a few are still around Rumblings are circulating that the long-term future of CAD may belong to specialpurpose, 3D-based software such as the Autodesk Inventor and Revit programs Whether or not those rumblings amplify into a roar remains to be seen, but for the present and the near future anyway, AutoCAD is where the CAD action is In its evolution, AutoCAD has grown more complex, in part to keep up with the increasing complexity of the design and drafting processes that AutoCAD is intended to serve It’s not enough just to draw nice-looking lines anymore If you want to play CAD with the big boys and girls, you need to organize the objects you draw, their properties, and the files in which they reside in appropriate ways You need to coordinate your CAD work with other people in your office who will be working on or making use of the same drawings You need to be savvy about shipping drawings around via the Internet AutoCAD 2004 provides the tools for doing all these things, but it’s not always easy to figure out which hammer to pick up or which nail to bang on first With this book, you have an excellent chance of creating a presentable, usable, printable, and sharable drawing on your first or second try without putting a T-square through your computer screen in frustration Cheat Sheet: AutoCAD 2004 For Dummies Ten Top AutoCAD 2004 Drawing and Editing Commands Ten Top AutoCAD 2004 Keyboard Shortcuts Drawing Scale and Limits Charts: Feet and Inches Drawing Scale and Limits Charts: Millimeters Drawing Scale and Text Height Chart: Feet and Inches Drawing Scale and Text Height Chart: Millimeters List of Sidebars Chapter 1: Introducing AutoCAD 2004 AutoCAD-based applications No Express service? Chapter 2: Le Tour de AutoCAD 2004 Technical Stuff Screen test yields high profile Hot-wiring the menu bar The toolbars that ET AutoCAD AutoCAD is no vin ordinaire Chapter 3: Setup for Success AutoCAD and paper Drawing scale versus the drawing scale factor Making snap (and grid) decisions Chapter 4: Get Ready to Draw Looking at layers Stacking up your layers About colors and lineweights A load of linetypes CAD precision versus accuracy Chapter 6: Edit for Credit Polishing those properties Chapter 8: On a 3D Spree Tip 3D thumbs up Tip 3D thumbs down Chapter 9: Text with Character Attack of the giant text strings Figuring out a drawing’s scale factor Chapter 10: Entering New Dimensions Why dimensions in CAD? Chapter 11: Down the Hatch Catch a hatch: Copying hatch properties Make it solid, man Chapter 12: The Plot Thickens Plotting with plodders Tip When in doubt, send it out Chapter 13: Playing Blocks and Rasteroids BLOCK and WBLOCK Purging unused block definitions Chapter 14: CAD Standards Rule The aesthetics of CAD Industry standards Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Swap Drawing Data with Other People and Programs AutoCAD LT Round-trip DWG fare Warning Why not just shout, “OLE!”? ... which DWG file formats Table 1-1: AutoCAD Versions and DWG File Formats AutoCAD LT Version AutoCAD Version Release Year DWG File Format AutoCAD 2004 (“A2k4”) AutoCAD LT 2004 2003 Acad 2004 AutoCAD 2002... 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, e-mail: permcoordinator @wiley. com Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies. com and related trade... all the amazing things you and AutoCAD can do About the Author Mark Middlebrook owns a CAD consulting company and maintains a Web site to assist AutoCAD users AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies Mark Middlebrook AutoCAD 2004 For Dummies