Table Of ContentPractical Autodesk AutoCAD
2021 and AutoCAD LT 2021
A no-nonsense, beginner's guide to drafting and 3D
modeling with Autodesk AutoCAD
Yasser Shoukry
Jaiprakash Pandey
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Practical Autodesk AutoCAD 2021 and
AutoCAD LT 2021
Copyright © 2020 Packt Publishing
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First published: May 2020
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ISBN 978-1-78980-915-2
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Contributors
About the authors
Yasser Shoukry is an engineering professional with a master's degree in mechanical
engineering. He lives in Egypt and has more than 10 years of experience in different
fields. He has worked in the construction industry as an MEP engineer, participated
as a CFD technical analyst in automotive R&D and building smoke management
projects, and worked on 3D modeling projects for oil and gas companies. The
countless hours of drafting and modeling spent on all of these projects have given
him extensive knowledge and experience in using AutoCAD. Moreover, he has great
experience in AutoCAD training as he has successfully published training courses for
AutoCAD on different online learning platforms.
Most of all, I would like to thank my loving and patient family and friends for their
continued support, patience, and encouragement throughout the long process of
writing this book.
Jaiprakash Pandey is a certified Autodesk AutoCAD professional and a member of
the Autodesk Expert Elite community. He has worked in the design, manufacturing,
and training industries and primarily delivers training to corporate clients. He has
extensive experience in delivering CAD training to clients from Fortune 500
companies, design consulting firms, government organizations, and the military.
Jaiprakash lives in India and has also created online courses and CAD training
material for colleges and online portals. His articles have appeared in many CAD-
and engineering-related publications.
I would like to thank my parents for their support and also my sister Kalpana for her
encouragement throughout the process of writing this book.
About the reviewer
Abhijeet Narwal has always been intrigued by the mechanics of complex machines.
Product design is an aspect of engineering that comes to him naturally, and he has
more than 5 years of experience in this sphere. Building on his passion, he graduated
from the University of Texas at Dallas with an MS Mechanical Engineering,
specializing in manufacturing and design innovation. He has worked in different
domains of design, including the automotive, agriculture, and robotics industries.
Currently, he is working at Ford Motor Company as a product design engineer,
which requires extensive knowledge of AutoCAD, Ansys, CATIA, Creo, and
SolidWorks.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: An Introduction to AutoCAD 5
AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD for Macintosh 6
Understanding the user interface 7
The application button 9
The quick access toolbar 10
The info bar 10
The ribbon area 10
The file tabs 12
The ViewCube and navigation bar 12
The selection cursor 13
The command line/palette 13
The user coordinate system 14
The layout tabs 15
The status bar toggles 15
Navigating in AutoCAD 16
Selecting and panning 16
Zooming in and out 18
Making selections 20
A simple selection 20
The selection window 21
The crossing window 22
The "window lasso" selection 23
The "crossing lasso" selection 24
Setting units and limits 24
Setting units 26
Setting limits 29
Saving settings as a template 30
Saving a drawing file as DWG 32
Summary 34
Chapter 2: Basic Drawing Tools 35
Understanding the coordinate system 35
Cartesian coordinates 36
Polar coordinates 38
Using the Line command 39
Making lines with direct distance entry 40
Making lines using absolute coordinates 42
Using polar coordinates 43
Using relative coordinates 44
Table of Contents
Making a drawing without coordinate values 46
The status bar modes 47
Using Dynamic Input 48
Using ortho mode 51
Using polar tracking 52
Making a circle 54
Center, radius, and diameter 55
2-Point and 3-Point 56
Tan, Tan, Radius and Tan, Tan, Tan 58
Making an arc 59
Start, Center, End 61
Start, End, Radius 62
Center, Start, End 63
Making a rectangle 64
Making a rectangle using absolute coordinates 64
Making a rectangle using relative coordinates 66
Making a rectangle with Dynamic Input 66
Making a polygon 68
Inscribed and circumscribed polygons 69
Making polygons 70
The Move and Copy commands 72
The Rotate command 73
Simple Rotate 74
Rotate with Reference 76
The Fillet command 77
The Trim command 80
The Extend command 82
Summary 85
Chapter 3: Learning about Modify Commands 86
Using Object Snaps 87
The Endpoint and Midpoint snaps 89
The Center snap 91
The Geometric Center snap 92
The Node snap 94
The Quadrant snap 94
The Intersection snap 95
The Extension snap 96
The Perpendicular snap 98
The Tangent snap 99
The Nearest snap 100
The Parallel snap 102
The Object Snap override 104
Object Snap tracking 106
Making an ellipse 107
[ ii ]
Table of Contents
The Construction Line command 109
The revision cloud tool 112
The Rectangular revision cloud tool 113
The Polygonal revision cloud tool 114
The Freehand revision cloud tool 115
Working with regions 117
Making regions 117
Point and point style 118
Working with Spline 121
Spline fit 122
Spline CV 123
More Modify commands 125
The Mirror command 125
The Offset command 127
The Scale command 129
Making a copy of the scaled object 131
Scale with a reference 132
The Chamfer command 133
Making a Chamfer using an angle 135
Making Chamfers on multiple vertices 137
The Join command 138
The Explode command 139
The Stretch command 141
Summary 144
Chapter 4: Working with Arrays and Reusable Objects 145
Using advanced status bar modes 146
Grid mode 146
What if the grid spacing does not match the settings? 150
Snap mode 152
Selection cycling 155
Making Arrays 158
The Rectangular Array 159
The Associative option 162
The Polar Array tool 164
The Path Array 167
Working with blocks 173
Making blocks 174
Inserting blocks 177
Insertion Options 180
Inserting blocks from other drawings 181
Modifying blocks 184
Redefining blocks 187
Working with groups 190
Creating groups 191
Using groups 192
[ iii ]
Table of Contents
Working with attributes 195
Making attributes 196
Understanding attribute modes 202
Making invisible attributes 205
Summary 208
Chapter 5: Managing Drawings with Layers and Properties 209
Managing object properties 210
Adding linetype 212
What if the linetype does not look right in the drawing? 215
Adding transparency 216
Adding lineweight 218
Adding color 220
Changing properties using the PROPERTIES palette 224
Using Match Properties 227
Modifying property types to match 229
Using enquiry commands 230
Quick 231
Distance 232
Radius 233
Angle 233
Area 233
Drawing management using layers 236
Making layers 238
Adding color to layers 240
Adding linetype, lineweight, and transparency settings 241
Assigning objects to layers 242
What if lineweight and transparency changes are not visible in the
drawing? 243
Making a drawing on an active layer 243
On, Off, and Freeze 246
Layer lock 248
No-plot layers 250
Using the quick access tools in the Layers panel 251
Layer off 251
Layer isolate 252
Layer freeze 253
Layer lock 254
Match Layer 255
The layer states manager 256
Summary 258
Chapter 6: Working with Hatches, Text, and Dimensions 259
Filling an area with Hatches 260
Hatches with pick points 261
Hatches with the Select option 263
[ iv ]
