Categories

AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible

The most comprehensive AutoCAD book around!

AutoCAD Tutorial: Create regions for mix-it-up, 2D/3D flexibility

A region is an interesting type of AutoCAD object. You can think of it as a 2D surface. Regions are always closed and they look like polylines, but AutoCAD can do some interesting things with regions, such as:

Calculate centroid, moments of inertia, and products of inertia Extrude them to create 3D solids Combine (UNION […]

Free AutoCAD video training

Steve Johnson e-mailed me to tell me that Lynda.com has added over 30 free video courses on AutoCAD. Go to http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk0=361.

Create a polyline from the boundary of existing objects

Sometimes you need to create a closed polyline from several existing objects that don’t meet end to end.For example, let’s say that you want to draw a polyline from the inside border created by the rectangle and two circles.

The BOUNDARY command is a very easy way to do this.

Start the BOUNDARY command to […]

Find coordinates

Some coordinates are easy to find. For example, to find the endpoint of a line, you just use the Endpoint object snap.

But others are more elusive.

For example, recently someone asked me, “I would like to ask if there is a simple way to select a center of a rectangle.”

My answer was: If […]

Specifying and changing line spacing

Sometimes, you need text to have a specific line spacing, to fit into a schedule in your drawing. If you can use the TABLE command, that’s great, because the text automatically fits nicely into the rows of the table.

But sometimes, you need to fit your text into an existing set of lines, like a […]

Tutorial: Draw a 3D threaded bolt – video tutorial

Some people prefer to learn from video, so I’ve created a video of a tutorial that I created on drawing a 3D threaded bolt. The video is 9 minutes long. You can find the text version at “Draw a 3D threaded bolt.”

[…]

Use the Shift key as a shortcut

You can use the Shift key in AutoCAD in many ways to help make your AutoCAD tasks easier and quicker:

Press Shift with the FILLET or CHAMFER command to change the radius to 0 and extend to lines to meet Press and hold Shift to temporarily override ORTHO. Press and hold Shift+A to temporarily override […]

Precisely scale an object when you know before and after dimensions

Ken Monsanto of Bahrain Precast Concrete sent in this tip for scaling an object when you know the current and desired dimensions. For example, let’s say that you have a circle with a diameter of 35 and you want to scale it so that it has a diameter of 50.

He suggested these steps:

Start […]

How to put an AutoCAD drawing in a PowerPoint presentation

You can put an AutoCAD drawing — in DWF format — directly into PowerPoint. Not just a JPEG or other image of the drawing, but the actual drawing. More incredible, with Autodesk® Design Review, you can zoom in and out and pan around the drawing to show all of the drawing in detail, all from […]

AutoCAD tutorial: Create a simple sheet set

Architects use sheet sets all the time to pull together the many required drawings into one package. Other disciplines use them less often, but if you need to deliver a number of drawings together, they can help you organize and maintain them.

Sheet sets have a reputation for being complicated and they are, if you […]