Mastering AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019

George Omura, Brian C. Benton

• Publisher: Sybex
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781119495031
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Digital Media
• Index: Computer Science

The world's favorite guide to everything AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT—updated for 2019!

Mastering AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019 is the world's all-time best-selling guide to the world's most popular drafting software. Packed with tips, tricks, techniques, and tutorials, this guide covers every inch of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT—including certification. This new edition has been fully updated to align with the software's 2019 update, featuring the same expert instruction augmented by videos of crucial techniques. Step-by-step walk-throughs, concise explanations, specific examples and plenty of hands-on projects help you learn essential AutoCAD skills by working directly with the necessary tools—giving you a skill set that translates directly to on-the-job use.

AutoCAD is the dominant design and drafting software for 2D and 3D technical drawings, while AutoCAD LT is the more affordable version often used by students and hobbyists. Professional designers need complete command of the software's tools and functions, but a deeper exploration of more complex capabilities can help even hobbyists produce work at a higher level of technical proficiency. This book is your ultimate guide to AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, whether you're seeking certification or just looking to draw.

• Get acquainted with the workspace and basic drafting tools
• Gain greater control of your drawings with hatches, fields, fills, dynamic blocks, and curves
• Explore the 3D modeling and imaging tools that bring your drawing to life

• Customize AutoCAD to the way you work, integrate it with other software, and more

As certification preparation material, this book is Autodesk-endorsed; as a self-study guide to AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT mastery, this book is the gold-standard, having led over a half million people on the journey to better design. If you're ready to learn quickly so you can get down to work, Mastering AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019 is your ideal resource.

Part 1
The Basics

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• Chapter 1: Exploring the Interface
• Chapter 2: Creating Your First Drawing
• Chapter 3: Setting Up and Using the Drafting Tools
• Chapter 4: Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups
• Chapter 5: Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks

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Chapter 1
Exploring the Interface

Before you can start to use the new capabilities of the AutoCAD^® 2019 software, you must become familiar with the basics. If you're completely new to AutoCAD, you'll want to read this first chapter carefully. It introduces you to many basic operations of AutoCAD, such as opening and closing files, getting a close‐up look at part of a drawing, and changing a drawing. If you're familiar with earlier versions of AutoCAD, you should review this chapter anyway to get acquainted with the features that you haven't already used.

AutoCAD 2019 offers updates that cover a wide range of features. The Layer Manager includes controls for managing external reference layers. Views and viewports are easier to create and retrieve. A Drawing Compare feature has been added to allow you to quickly visualize changes in a drawing. 3D Graphics performance has been enhanced. Finally, 4K monitor support has been introduced in the form of updated icons and dialog boxes. Before you begin the exercises in this chapter, make sure that you have loaded the sample files from this book's web page at www.sybex.com/go/masteringautocad2019. See the introduction for details. If you have purchased the e‐book version, please see the introduction for instructions on how to download the sample files.

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IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL LEARN TO

• Use the AutoCAD window
• Get a closer look with the Zoom command
• Save a file as you work
• Make changes and open multiple files

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Taking a Guided Tour

First, you'll get a chance to familiarize yourself with the AutoCAD screen and how you communicate with AutoCAD. As you do the exercises in this chapter, you'll also get a feel for how to work with this book. Don't worry about understanding or remembering everything you see in this chapter. You'll get plenty of opportunities to probe the finer details of the program as you work through the later chapters. To help you remember the material, we have included a brief set of questions at the end of each chapter. For now, just enjoy your first excursion into AutoCAD.

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AUTOCAD REFERENCES IN THIS BOOK

In this chapter and throughout the rest of the book, when we say AutoCAD, we mean both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT^®. Some topics apply only to AutoCAD. In those situations, you'll see an icon indicating that the topic applies only to AutoCAD and not to AutoCAD LT. If you're using AutoCAD LT 2019, these icons can help you focus on the topics that are more relevant to your work by letting you skim over items that do not apply.

AutoCAD 2019 is designed to run on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. This book was written using AutoCAD 2019 running on Windows 7 Professional.

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Launching AutoCAD

If you've already installed AutoCAD (see Appendix B, “Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD”) and are ready to jump in and take a look, proceed with the following steps to launch the program:

1. Choose Start ➢ All Programs ➢ Autodesk ➢ AutoCAD 2019 ➢ AutoCAD 2019. You can also double‐click the AutoCAD 2019 icon on your Windows Desktop. AutoCAD LT users will use AutoCAD LT 2019 in place of AutoCAD 2019.
2. The AutoCAD Start tab appears, offering options to open existing drawings or to create a new drawing. You may also see the Design Feed panel, which allows you to use a cloud‐based collaboration feature. Click the Start Drawing thumbnail in the left side of the view under “Get Started” (see Figure 1.1).

   

   FIGURE 1.1 The Start tab offers easy access to previous work

3. The AutoCAD window displays a blank default document named Drawing1.dwg. Users may see the Sheet Set Manager palette to the left of the AutoCAD window. In brand‐new installations, you will see the Design Feed panel. Close the Design Feed panel for now. AutoCAD LT users may see the Info palette to the left of the AutoCAD window.

If you're using the trial version, you'll see the Product License Activation window before step 2. This window shows you the number of days you have left in the trial version. You can also activate the product here if you purchase a license. Click the Try button to continue opening the program. Now let's look at the AutoCAD window in detail. Don't worry if it seems like a lot of information. You don't have to memorize it, but by looking at all of the parts, you'll be aware of what is available in a general way.

The AutoCA...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Basics
• Part 2: Mastering Intermediate Skills
• Part 3: Mastering Advanced Skills
• Part 4: 3D Modeling and Imaging
• Part 5: Customization and Integration
• Appendix A: The Bottom Line
• Appendix B: Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD
• Appendix C: The Autodesk AutoCAD 2019 Certification
• Index
• End User License Agreement