A Brief Guide to AutoCAD 2000

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 194 pages
• Published by: Prentice Hall
• Edition: 1st Edition December 15, 2000
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0130889857
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0130889850
• Book Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 15.5 ounces

Product Description
(Autodesk) A guide for the beginning AutoCAD 2000 student providing a fundamental understanding of its basic 2-D commands. A preparatory guide for more advanced future studies in AutoCAD. Features activities within and at the end of each chapter providing practice for each skill. Wire-spiral bound. DLC: Computer graphics.

From the Inside Flap
Preface

A Brief Guide to AutoCAD® 2000 is a beginner's guide to AutoCAD® 2000 software to create 21) computer-aided drawings. This text provides a method that enables the reader to learn to use the software in the easiest possible manner. The information is based on a generic systems approach. Moreover, the approach taken in writing the text was to define and explain the terms most commonly used in creating, editing, displaying, plotting, and printing drawings. Thus, readers can understand the basics for using the software and then apply these to their own areas of expertise.

This text should appeal to students and teachers at the secondary and collegiate level, including those who are involved in Technology Education and Industrial Technology programs. A Brief Guide to AutoCAD® 2000 is not meant to be all-inclusive. CAD users will need to consult more detailed manuals to address specific questions and to learn to produce advanced drawings.

The following features in the text make it unique as a learning and teaching tool:

Key Concepts listed at the start of each chapter specify commands and new content reviewed in the chapter. Margin definitions provide explanations of new terms introduced in the chapter and reinforce Key Concepts. Because some of the terminology may be new to the reader, margin definitions help the reader understand and review new terms when they are used in context. "Try This" activities woven throughout every chapter are abbreviated lessons and drawing activities that give the reader a chance to practice a command or concept immediately after it has been introduced. Drawing Activities located at the chapter end provide a more in-depth use of the commands and concepts covered in the chapter. Drawing, activities cover creating both mechanical parts and architectural drawings.

In addition to these features, A Brief Guide to AutoCAD® 2000 provides chapter content that is sequenced logically and arranged so that the content learned in one chapter is applied in later chapters. Chapters 1 through 5 focus on creating objects using AutoCAD® 2000 layout techniques and drawing tools. Readers will learn commands to:

create a drawing sheet template; place geometric figures on the drawing sheet; use drawing aids that help improve the layout of a drawing; change how objects are displayed on the computer screen; and use object snaps, drawing tools that help in drawing more precisely.

As users draw, it is inevitable that they will make mistakes. AutoCAD® 2000 editing commands make correcting these mistakes easy and also help the user locate dimensions correctly. In addition, some common mistakes can be avoided with the use of template files that have predefined characteristics consistent from drawing to drawing. Chapters 6 through 8 cover commands that help the reader to:

correct drawing errors; properly locate and use dimension variables; and use template files.

Once the drawing and editing stages have been completed, the next step is to plot and print the file. Chapters 9 and ten provide a brief discussion of how to:

plot and print drawings and set dimension variables so that they appear correctly on mechanical and architectural drawings.

Finally, because drawings can be complex in nature, users often find it necessary to identify object properties, such as layer, length, and distance. AutoCAD® 2000 has built-in commands that help the user determine object properties. Other commands help the user create objects that can be used from one drawing to the next. Chapter 11 discusses:

commands for determining object properties and block commands for inserting objects into drawings.

Readers will find this text easy to use. The numerous illustrations throughout the text assist the reader in grasping the concepts discussed. In addition, the level and scope of the technical content covered in the text enable the reader to create drawings almost immediately-giving the reader that early sense of accomplishment so important to beginning users.