Quick Tour Exercise

1- Launch AutoCAD by double-clicking on the shortcut (if there is one) or by using the Start button.
2- Pick the Open a Drawing task button and then pick the Browse button to invoke the Select File dialogue box.

3- Navigate to your personal folder. Select the T101_1.dwg drawing file and pick the Open button to open this drawing.

Throughout this course you will be instructed to open drawings or use other files that are stored in your personal folder.

• illustrations in this manual show this folder as D:\Course.4- Pick Tools in the pulldown menu then hold your cursor over the Run Script option without picking it to observe the help string at the bottom of the screen.
  Pick Run Script to invoke the Select script file dialogue box. Navigate to your personal folder and select T101.scr as the script file name.
  Then pick the Open button there to run this script file.

This script will run several commands to save basic system variables for drafting tools in the registry of your computer.

• this will ensure that you can complete the remainder of this exercise as described in this manual.
• you will reset variables at the start of each new chapter (module) in this course which is why there are several script files to use.5- Double-click on the grab bars of the Modify toolbar to make it float as separate window.

6- Left-click on the small x in the upper right corner of the floating Modify toolbar to Close it.

7- Right-click on the Draw toolbar to invoke a shortcut menu and select Modify to display this toolbar again.

8- Drag the Modify toolbar back to the left side of the AutoCAD window and when the border of the dragged toolbar changes to a vertical orientation release your mouse button to dock this toolbar back where it began.

It is easy to arrange toolbars in AutoCAD to suit your current task.

• the default state for Draw & Modify toolbars is docked on the left side of the AutoCAD window as shown in this exercise.
• they do not occupy too much space here and it is convenient for them to be displayed because they include common commands.

9- Locate the Rectangle button in the Draw toolbar. Hold your cursor above this button without picking it and observe the help string at the bottom of your screen.
Left-click on this button to invoke the Rectang command.
Move your crosshairs near P1 then left-click.
Move your crosshairs near P2 and left-click again.

10- Left-click on the Interior Design tab of this drawing near the bottom of the screen to switch to this layout.

11- From the pulldown menus pick Tools then pick Inquiry and then pick List to invoke the List command.

The instructions for invoking a command from the pulldown menus will be abbreviated from now on in this manual.

• for example, the last step will be abbreviated to “pick Tools + Inquiry + List”.

12- Hold your pickbox over the rectangle that you created earlier near P1 and left-click to select this object (it will become highlighted as shown below). Then press <enter> to continue with this command.

13- Read the report for this object then press the F2 function key to switch back to the AutoCAD drawing window.

You can create different types of objects in AutoCAD & you may not know which type is used in drawings made by someone else.

• use the List command to determine the object type and other useful information about selected objects.
• you now know that the Rectang command creates a LWPOLYLINE object type.

14- Right-click in the drawing area to invoke a shortcut and select Repeat List to invoke the List command again.

15- Hold you pickbox over the top edge of the wall near P1 then left-click to select the object shown as being highlighted. Press <enter> to continue with this command. Read the report shown and then press the F2 function key to return to the AutoCAD drawing window.

16- Pick Draw + Circle + Center,Diameter. Move your crosshairs near P2 and left-click to use this as the center point. Then enter 60 at the keyboard as the diameter.

17- Type the letter i at the keyboard (the alias for Insert) and press <enter> to invoke Insert. Select CHAIR as the Name for the block. The Specify On-screen box for Insertion point should be checked. The other two Specify On-screen boxes should be unchecked. Pick OK to continue.

18- Left-click near P1 as the insertion point for the chair symbol.

19- Use a similar technique to insert a block called SOFA.

You will be learning more about creating and inserting blocks later on in the course.

• do not worry about all of the other options in the Insert dialogue box for now.

20- Type LINE at the keyboard and press <enter> to invoke the Line command. Then press the F1 function key to get some Help on how to use the Line command. You can scroll down the list to read the entire section if you wish. When you are ready to continue using Line, left-click on the x in the upper right corner of the Help window to Close it.

21- Pick points to create LINE objects that model a plant similar to the one shown below. When you are finished picking end points for LINEs press the <enter> key to terminate Line.

22- Press F2 to examine the command line history and then press F2 again to return to the AutoCAD drawing area.

You will be given instructions for some hands-on exercises that involve typing responses at the keyboard.

The command line history will be printed with prompts and responses using different fonts.

• the AutoCAD prompts use a courier font and responses use a bold Arial font.
• responses that you must type appear without parentheses.
• instructions for responses appear inside parentheses.

For example, the command dialogue for the previous step would be presented using the following format.

Command: LINE↵

Specify first point: (pick a point)

Specify next point or [Undo]: (pick another point)

Specify next point or [Undo]: (keep picking points until you have sketched a plant)
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: ↵

Command:

23- Pick File + Save to invoke Qsave and update your changes to this file. Observe the command line.

The Qsave command is a “Quick” way to update the active file (if a file has been given a name you do not invoke a dialogue box).

• the first time you save a file (with Qsave) a dialogue box will appear so you can specify a name and a location.

24- Pick File + Close to close the T101_1.dwg drawing file.

• Pick File + Exit to close the AutoCAD program.

This is the end of your quick tour.

• now that you are more comfortable using the AutoCAD interface you can proceed to learning more about this powerful program.
• in the remainder of this course you will learn how to create drawings like this on your own from scratch.