AutoCAD 2011 For Dummies

AutoCAD has grown more complex over the years, in part to keep up with the increasing complexity of the design and drafting processes that AutoCAD 2011 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 carefully organize the objects you draw, their properties, and the files in which they reside. This guide provides the basic information and tools for doing all these things, without putting a T-square through your computer screen in frustration.

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AutoCAD 2011 Drawing Setup Roadmap

Drawing setup in AutoCAD 2011 can seem a little complicated before you get used to it. The following table lists ten fundamental AutoCAD setup commands in the order you probably use them, explains what they do, and tells you where to find them on the classic pull-down menu system as well as on the Ribbon and Application Menu. If you’d rather type than click, you can enter the full command name or its alias or keyboard shortcut (where available — shown in parentheses).

Ribbon / Application Menu	Classic Menu	Command	Description
Model Space
1. Application menu→New→Drawing	File→New	NEW (Ctrl+N)	Creates a new drawing based on a template drawing (DWT file)
2. Application menu→Drawing Utilities→Units	Format→Units	UNITS (UN)	Specifies linear and angular units
3. None	Format→Drawing Limits	LIMITS	Specifies working area
4. View tab→Navigate panel→Zoom drop-down flyout→Extents	View→Zoom→Extents	ZOOM (Z), Extents	Zooms to drawing extents
5. None	Tools→Drafting Settings	DSETTINGS (DS)	Specifies snap and grid spacings
6. Home tab→Properties panel→ Linetype drop-down→Other→Show Details→Global Scale Factor	Format→ Linetype→Show Details→Global Scale Factor	LTSCALE (LTS)	Sets linetype scale
7. Home tab→Annotation slideout→ Dimension Style	Format→Dimension Style	DIMSTYLE (D)	Sets dimension style
8. Application menu→Drawing Utilities→Drawing Properties	File→Drawing Properties	DWGPROPS	Enters drawing informational properties
Paper Space
9. None	Tools→Wizards→Create Layout	LAYOUTWIZARD	Creates a paper space layout
10. Application Menu→Save	File→Save	QSAVE (Ctrl+S)	Saves the drawing

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AutoCAD 2011’s Top Keyboard Shortcuts

Over AutoCAD’s 25-year existence, the one input method that’s remained constant is typing into the command line. Most experienced AutoCAD users find typing command aliases and entering Ctrl+key combinations to be the most efficient way of communicating with AutoCAD — and if you can find your way around a keyboard, you’ll probably find the same thing. The following table lists useful keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcut	Command	Purpose
Ctrl+S	QSAVE	Saves the drawing
Ctrl+O	OPEN	Displays the Select File dialog box
Ctrl+P	PLOT	Displays the Plot dialog box
Ctrl+Tab	None	Switches to the next open drawing
Ctrl+PgUp/Ctrl+PgDn	None	Switches to the previous/next tab in the current drawing
F1	HELP	Displays AutoCAD’s Help in a Web browser window
F2	TEXTSCR	Toggles the AutoCAD Text Window on and off
F3	OSNAP	Toggles running object snap mode on and off
F7	GRID	Toggles grid mode on and off
F8	ORTHO	Toggles ortho mode on and off
F9	SNAP	Toggles snap mode on and off
F10	POLAR	Toggles polar mode on and off
F11	None	Toggles object snap tracking on and off
F12	DYNMODE	Toggles dynamic input mode on and off

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AutoCAD 2011's Drawing Scale and Limits Chart: Feet and Inches

It's not a bad idea to set limits for your AutoCAD 2011 drawing. 'Limits in AutoCAD represent the rectangular working area that you'll draw in, which usually corresponds to the paper size. Setting limits correctly lets you display the drawing grid over your working area, use ZOOM All to display that working area, and plot your working area from model space. The following table sets out the dimensions in whole feet or feet and inches of work areas for different paper sizes at different drawing scales.

Drawing Scale	8-1/2" x 11"	11" x 17"	24" x 36"	30" x 42"	36" x 48"
1/16" = 1'–0"	136' x 176'	176' x 272'	384' x 576'	480' x 672'	576' x 768'
1/8" = 1'–0"	68' x 88'	88' x 136'	192' x 288'	240' x 336'	288' x 384'
1/4" = 1'–0"	34' x 44'	44' x 68'	96' x 144'	120' x 168'	144' x 192'
1/2" = 1'–0"	17' x 22'	22' x 34'	48' x 72'	60' x 84'	72' x 96'
3/4" = 1'–0"	11'–4" x 14'–8"	14'–8" x 22'–8"	32' x 48'	40' x 56'	48' x 64'
1" = 1'–0"	8'–6" x 11'	11' x 17'	24' x 36'	30' x 42'	36' x 48'
1-1/2" = 1'–0"	5'–8" x 7'–4"	7'–4" x 11'–4"	16' x 24'	20' x 28'	24' x 32'
3" = 1'–0"	2'–10" x 3'–8"	3'–8" x 5'–8"	8' x 12'	10' x 14'	12' x 16'

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AutoCAD 2011’s Drawing Scale and Limits Charts: Millimeters

It’s not a bad idea to set limits for your AutoCAD drawing. The limits represent the rectangular working area that you’ll draw in, which usually corresponds to the paper size. Setting AutoCAD's limits correctly lets you display the drawing grid over your working area, use ZOOM All to display that working area, and plot your working area from model space. The following table sets out the dimensions in millimeters of work areas for different paper sizes at different drawing scales.

Drawing Scale	210 x 297 mm	297 x 420 mm	420 x 594 mm	594 x 841 mm	841 x 1,189 mm
1:200	42,000 x 59,400 mm	59,400 x 84,000 mm	84,000 x 118,800 mm	118,800 x 168,200 mm	168,200 x 237,800 mm
1:100	21,000 x 29,700 mm	29,700 x 42,000 mm	42,000 x 59,400 mm	59,400 x 84,100 mm	84,100 x 118,900 mm
1:50	10,500 x 14,850 mm	14,850 x 21,000 mm	21,000 x 29,700 mm	29,700 x 42,050 mm	42,050 x 59,450 mm
1:20	4,200 x 5,940 mm	5,940 x 8,400 mm	8,400 x 11,880 mm	11,880 x 16,820 mm	16,820 x 23,780 mm
1:10	2,100 x 2,970 mm	2,970 x 4,200 mm	4,200 x 5,940 mm	5,940 x 8,410 mm	8,410 x 11,890 mm
1:5	1,050 x 1,485 mm	1,485 x 2,100 mm	2,100 x 2,970 mm	2,970 x 4,205 mm	4,205 x 5,945 mm

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