2. Computers & electronics
  3. Software
  4. Autodesk
  5. AutoCAD 2011

Autodesk AutoCAD 2011 User guide

  • Hello! I am an AI chatbot trained to assist you with the Autodesk AutoCAD 2011 User guide. I’ve already reviewed the document and can help you find the information you need or explain it in simple terms. Just ask your questions, and providing more details will help me assist you more effectively!
AutoCAD 2011
User’s Guide
February 2010
©
2010 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be
reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.
Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.
Trademarks
The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and other countries:
3DEC (design/logo), 3December, 3December.com, 3ds Max, Algor, Alias, Alias (swirl design/logo), AliasStudio, Alias|Wavefront (design/logo),
ATC, AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Learning Assistance, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Simulator, AutoCAD SQL Extension, AutoCAD SQL Interface,
Autodesk, Autodesk Envision, Autodesk Intent, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Map, Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk Streamline, AutoLISP, AutoSnap,
AutoSketch, AutoTrack, Backburner, Backdraft, Built with ObjectARX (logo), Burn, Buzzsaw, CAiCE, Civil 3D, Cleaner, Cleaner Central, ClearScale,
Colour Warper, Combustion, Communication Specification, Constructware, Content Explorer, Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, Design
Doctor, Designer's Toolkit, DesignKids, DesignProf, DesignServer, DesignStudio, Design Web Format, Discreet, DWF, DWG, DWG (logo), DWG
Extreme, DWG TrueConvert, DWG TrueView, DXF, Ecotect, Exposure, Extending the Design Team, Face Robot, FBX, Fempro, Fire, Flame, Flare,
Flint, FMDesktop, Freewheel, GDX Driver, Green Building Studio, Heads-up Design, Heidi, HumanIK, IDEA Server, i-drop, ImageModeler, iMOUT,
Incinerator, Inferno, Inventor, Inventor LT, Kaydara, Kaydara (design/logo), Kynapse, Kynogon, LandXplorer, Lustre, MatchMover, Maya,
Mechanical Desktop, Moldflow, Moonbox, MotionBuilder, Movimento, MPA, MPA (design/logo), Moldflow Plastics Advisers, MPI, Moldflow
Plastics Insight, MPX, MPX (design/logo), Moldflow Plastics Xpert, Mudbox, Multi-Master Editing, Navisworks, ObjectARX, ObjectDBX, Open
Reality, Opticore, Opticore Opus, Pipeplus, PolarSnap, PortfolioWall, Powered with Autodesk Technology, Productstream, ProjectPoint, ProMaterials,
RasterDWG, RealDWG, Real-time Roto, Recognize, Render Queue, Retimer,Reveal, Revit, Showcase, ShowMotion, SketchBook, Smoke, Softimage,
Softimage|XSI (design/logo), Sparks, SteeringWheels, Stitcher, Stone, StudioTools, ToolClip, Topobase, Toxik, TrustedDWG, ViewCube, Visual,
Visual LISP, Volo, Vtour, Wire, Wiretap, WiretapCentral, XSI, and XSI (design/logo).
All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Disclaimer
THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. "AS IS." AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMS
ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS.
Published by:
Autodesk, Inc.
111 McInnis Parkway
San Rafael, CA 94903, USA
Contents
Part 1 Get Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Find Information Using InfoCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Overview of InfoCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Search For Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Access Subscription Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Receive Product Updates and Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Save and Access Favorite Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Specify InfoCenter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Search Topics in Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Learn the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
View the Product Readme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Where to Find AutoCAD Express Tools Volumes 1-9 . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Join the Customer Involvement Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 2 Get Information from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Obtain General Drawing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Count Objects Within a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Part 2 The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
iii
Chapter 3 Tools in the Application Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Application Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Search for Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Access Common Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Browse Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Quick Access Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Overview of the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Display and Organize the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Customize the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Chapter 4 Other Tool Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Access the Classic Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Status Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Application Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Drawing Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Keytips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Command Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Enter Commands on the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Enter System Variables on the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Navigate and Edit Within the Command Window . . . . . . . . . 58
Switch Between Dialog Boxes and the Command Line . . . . . . 60
Dock, Resize, and Hide the Command Window . . . . . . . . . . 62
Shortcut Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Create and Use Tools from Objects and Images . . . . . . . . . . 69
Create and Use Command Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Change Tool Palette Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Control Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Customize Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Organize Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Save and Share Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Overview of DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Understand the DesignCenter Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Access Content with DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Add Content with DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Retrieve Content from the Web with DesignCenter Online . . . 101
Chapter 5 Customize the Drawing Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Set Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Set Up the Drawing Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Set Options for 3D Modeling with Perspective Projection . . . . 118
iv | Contents
Switch Between Model Space and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Specify Application Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Specify the Behavior of Dockable Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Control the Display of Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Create Task-Based Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Save and Restore Interface Settings (Profiles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Customize Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Play Back an Action Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Migrate and Specify Initial Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Part 3 Start and Save Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 6 Start a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Overview of Starting a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Specify Units and Unit Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Determine the Units of Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Set the Unit Format Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Use a Drawing Template File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Add Identifying Information to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Specify the Geographic Location of a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Chapter 7 Open or Save a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Open a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Open Part of a Large Drawing (Partial Load) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Work with Multiple Open Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Preview Open Drawings and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Switch Between Open Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Switch Between Layouts in the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . 193
Transfer Information between Open Drawings . . . . . . . . . . 196
Save a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Find a Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Specify Search Paths and File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Chapter 8 Repair, Restore, or Recover Drawing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Repair a Damaged Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Create and Restore Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Recover from a System Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Chapter 9 Maintain Standards in Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Overview of CAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Define Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Check Drawings for Standards Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Translate Layer Names and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Contents | v
Part 4 Control the Drawing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Chapter 10 Change Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Pan or Zoom a View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Pan and Zoom with the Aerial View Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Save and Restore Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Control the 3D Projection Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Overview of Parallel and Perspective Views . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Define a Perspective Projection (DVIEW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Define a Parallel Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Choose Preset 3D Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Define a 3D View with Coordinate Values or Angles . . . . . . . 253
Change to a View of the XY Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Shade a Model and Use Edge Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Use a Visual Style to Display Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Customize a Visual Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Control Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 11 Use Viewing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Specify 3D Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Overview of 3D Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Use 3D Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Walk and Fly Through a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Create a 3D Dynamic View (DVIEW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Use ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Overview of ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
ViewCube Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Reorient the View of a Model with ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . 301
Change the UCS with ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Navigate with SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Overview of SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Wheel Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Navigation Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Define and Change Views with ShowMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Overview of ShowMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Create and Modify Shots and Shot Sequences . . . . . . . . . . 342
Play Back a Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Define a 3D View with a Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Overview of Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Create a Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Change Camera Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Create Preview Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Create Motion Path Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
vi | Contents
Control a Camera Motion Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Specify Motion Path Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Record a Motion Path Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Use Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Available Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Reposition and Reorient the Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Control the Display of Navigation Tools on the Navigation
Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Use 3Dconnexion 3D mouse to Navigate Views . . . . . . . . . 369
Chapter 12 Display Multiple Views in Model Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Set Model Space Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Select and Use the Current Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Save and Restore Model Tab Viewport Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . 378
Part 5 Organize Drawings and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Chapter 13 Create Single-View Drawings (Model Space) . . . . . . . . . . 383
Quick Start for Model Space Drafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Draw, Scale, and Annotate in Model Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Chapter 14 Create Multiple-View Drawing Layouts (Paper Space) . . . . . 391
Quick Start for Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Understand the Layout Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Work with Model Space and Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Work on the Model Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Work on a Layout Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Access Model Space from a Layout Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Export a Layout to Model Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Create and Modify Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Control Views in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Scale Views in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Control Visibility in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Scale Linetypes in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Align Views in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Rotate Views in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Reuse Layouts and Layout Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Chapter 15 Work with Sheets in a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Quick Start for Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Understand the Sheet Set Manager Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Create and Manage a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Create a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Contents | vii
Organize a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Create and Modify Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Include Information with Sheets and Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . 451
Publish, Transmit, and Archive Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Use Sheet Sets in a Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Part 6 Create and Modify Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Chapter 16 Control the Properties of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Work with Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Overview of Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Display and Change the Properties of Objects . . . . . . . . . . 467
Copy Properties Between Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Work with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Overview of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Use Layers to Manage Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Create and Name Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Change Layer Settings and Layer Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
Override Layer Properties in Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Filter and Sort the List of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Use New Layer Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Reconcile New Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Work with Layer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Work with Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Set the Current Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Change the Color of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Use Color Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Work with Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Overview of Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Load Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Set the Current Linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Change the Linetype of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Control Linetype Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Display Linetypes on Short Segments and Polylines . . . . . . . 531
Control Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Overview of Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Display Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Set the Current Lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Change the Lineweight of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
Control the Display Properties of Certain Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Control the Display of Polylines, Hatches, Gradient Fills,
Lineweights, and Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Control the Transparency of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Control How Overlapping Objects Are Displayed . . . . . . . . . 545
Control the Display of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
viii | Contents
Chapter 17 Use Precision Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Use Coordinates and Coordinate Systems (UCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Overview of Coordinate Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Enter 2D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
Enter 3D Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Understand the User Coordinate System (UCS) . . . . . . . . . . 561
Specify Workplanes in 3D (UCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Assign User Coordinate System Orientations to Viewports . . . . 574
Control the Display of the User Coordinate System Icon . . . . . 576
Use Dynamic Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
Snap to Locations on Objects (Object Snaps) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
Use Object Snaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
The Object Snap Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
Set Visual Aids for Object Snaps (AutoSnap) . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Override Object Snap Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Restrict Cursor Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Adjust Grid and Grid Snap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Use Orthogonal Locking (Ortho Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Use Polar Tracking and PolarSnap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Lock an Angle for One Point (Angle) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
Combine or Offset Points and Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
Combine Coordinate Values (Coordinate Filters) . . . . . . . . . 606
Track to Points on Objects (Object Snap Tracking) . . . . . . . . 608
Track to Offset Point Locations (Tracking) . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Specify Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Enter Direct Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Offset from Temporary Reference Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Specify Intervals on Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Extract Geometric Information from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Obtain Distances, Angles, and Point Locations . . . . . . . . . . 620
Obtain Area and Mass Properties Information . . . . . . . . . . 621
Use a Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
Use the QuickCalc Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
Use the Command Prompt Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
Chapter 18 Draw Geometric Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Draw Linear Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Draw Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Draw Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Draw Rectangles and Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Draw Multiline Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
Draw Freehand Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
Draw Curved Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Draw Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Draw Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Contents | ix
Draw Polyline Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
Draw Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Draw Ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Draw Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
Draw Helixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Draw Construction and Reference Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Draw Reference Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Draw Construction Lines (and Rays) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Create and Combine Areas (Regions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Create Revision Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Chapter 19 Change Existing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Select Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Select Objects Individually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Select Multiple Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
Prevent Objects from Being Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
Select Objects by Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Customize Object Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Group Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Correct Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
Erase Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Use Windows Cut, Copy, and Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Modify Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Choose a Method to Modify Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Edit Objects with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Move or Rotate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
Copy, Offset, or Mirror Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Change the Size and Shape of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
Fillet, Chamfer, Break, or Join Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
Modify Complex Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
Disassociate Compound Objects (Explode) . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
Modify Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Modify Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
Modify Helixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Modify Multilines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
Chapter 20 Add Constraints to Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
Overview of Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
Constrain Objects Geometrically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
Overview of Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
Apply or Remove Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
Display and Verify Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
Modify Objects with Geometric Constraints Applied . . . . . . . 820
Infer Geometric Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
Constrain Distances and Angles between Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
x | Contents
Overview of Dimensional Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Apply Dimensional Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
Control the Display of Dimensional Constraints . . . . . . . . . 834
Modify Objects with Dimensional Constraints Applied . . . . . 836
Constrain a Design with Formulas and Equations . . . . . . . . . . . 840
Overview of Formulas and Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
Control Geometry with the Parameters Manager . . . . . . . . . 842
Organize Parameters into Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
Part 7 Define and Reference Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Chapter 21 Work with Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Overview of Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Insert Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
Work with Dynamic Blocks in Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
Overview of Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
Work With Action Parameters in Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
Work With Constraint Parameters in Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . 862
Remove Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
Chapter 22 Create and Modify Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
Define Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
Create Blocks Within a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
Create Drawing Files for Use as Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
Control the Color and Linetype Properties in Blocks . . . . . . . 870
Nest Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
Create Block Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
Use Tool Palettes to Organize Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
Create Construction Geometry Within a Block . . . . . . . . . . 874
Attach Data to Blocks (Block Attributes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
Overview of Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
Define Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
Extract Data from Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
Extract Block Attribute Data (Advanced) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
Modify Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
Modify a Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
Modify the Data in Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
Modify a Block Attribute Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
Disassemble a Block Reference (Explode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
Chapter 23 Add Behaviors to Blocks (Dynamic Blocks) . . . . . . . . . . . 901
Overview of Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
Quick Start to Creating Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
Contents | xi
Create and Edit Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
Overview of the Block Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
Create Custom Block Authoring Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906
Test Blocks Within the Block Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
Modify Dynamic Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
Add Constraints to Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
Overview of Constraints in Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . 912
Define User Parameters in Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
Control Constrained Blocks with the Parameters Manager . . . . 915
Use a Block Properties Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
Identify Fully Constrained Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
Add Action Parameters to Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
Overview of Actions and Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
Add Parameters to Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
Add Actions to Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
Specify Properties for Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
Specify Value Sets for Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
Specify Distance and Angle Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947
Specify Grips for Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947
Control the Visibility of Objects in a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
Part 8 Work with 3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
Chapter 24 Create 3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Overview of 3D Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Create Solids and Surfaces from Lines and Curves . . . . . . . . . . . 966
Overview of Creating Solids and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966
Create a Solid or Surface by Extruding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
Create a Solid or Surface by Sweeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972
Create a Solid or Surface by Lofting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
Create a Solid or Surface by Revolving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
Create Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
Overview of Creating 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
Create 3D Solid Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987
Create a Polysolid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
Create 3D Solids from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002
Combine or Slice 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
Check 3D Models for Interferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
Create Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
Overview of Creating Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
Create Procedural Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
Create NURBS Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031
Create Associative Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036
Create Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
Overview of Creating Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
xii | Contents
Create 3D Mesh Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
Construct Meshes from Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
Create Meshes by Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
Create Custom Mesh (Legacy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
Create Wireframe Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083
Add 3D Thickness to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
Chapter 25 Modify 3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
Overview of Modifying 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
Use Gizmos to Modify Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
Overview of Using Gizmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
Use the Gizmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
Move 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
Rotate 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Scale 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Use Grips to Modify Solids and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
Use 3D Subobject Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
Cycle Through and Filter Subobjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1112
Use Grips to Edit 3D Solids and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
Modify 3D Subobjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119
Move, Rotate, and Scale 3D Subobjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119
Modify Faces on 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122
Modify Edges on 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126
Modify Vertices on 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
Work with Complex 3D Solids and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Display Original Forms of Composite Solids . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Modify Composite Solids and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1136
Shell and Remove Redundancies in 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . 1138
Press or Pull Bounded Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1140
Add Edges and Faces to Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
Modify Properties of 3D Solid, Surface, and Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . 1144
Modify Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
Overview of Modifying Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
Trim and Untrim Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Extend a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153
Fillet a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154
Edit NURBS Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155
Analyze Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
Modify Mesh Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
Overview of Modifying Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
Change Mesh Smoothness Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Refine Mesh Objects or Subobjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176
Add Creases to Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178
Modify Mesh Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181
Create and Close Mesh Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1186
Tips for Working with Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189
Contents | xiii
Chapter 26 Create Sections and 2D Drawings from 3D Models . . . . . . 1197
Work with Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
Overview of Section Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
Create Section Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Modify a Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204
Save and Publish Section Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1213
Create a Flattened View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218
Part 9 Annotate Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1221
Chapter 27 Work with Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223
Overview of Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223
Scale Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1224
Overview of Scaling Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225
Set Annotation Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227
Create Annotative Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229
Display Annotative Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251
Add and Modify Scale Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253
Set Orientation for Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256
Chapter 28 Hatches, Fills, and Wipeouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259
Overview of Hatch Patterns and Fills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259
Specify Hatch and Fill Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267
Control the Appearance of Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272
Choose a Hatch Pattern or Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272
Control the Hatch Origin Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1278
Control the Scale of Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280
Set Property Overrides for Hatches and Fills . . . . . . . . . . . 1283
Control the Display of Hatch Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
Control the Draw Order of Hatches and Fills . . . . . . . . . . 1288
Modify Hatches and Fills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
Modify Hatch Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
Modify Hatch Alignment, Scale, and Rotation . . . . . . . . . . 1290
Reshape a Hatch or Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1291
Re-create the Boundary of a Hatch or Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293
Create a Blank Area to Cover Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295
Chapter 29 Notes and Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297
Overview of Notes and Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297
Create Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300
Overview of Creating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300
Create Single-Line Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1304
Create Multiline Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1308
xiv | Contents
Create and Edit Columns in Multiline Text . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Import Text from External Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1334
Create Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336
Overview of Leader Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336
Create and Modify Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338
Work with Leader Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346
Add Content to a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348
Use Fields in Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1352
Insert Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1352
Update Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1358
Use Hyperlinks in Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361
Work with Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363
Overview of Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363
Assign Text Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366
Set Text Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1373
Set Text Obliquing Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375
Set Horizontal or Vertical Text Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . 1376
Change Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377
Overview of Changing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377
Change Single-Line Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1378
Change Multiline Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1380
Find and Replace Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383
Change Text Scale and Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385
Check Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1387
Use an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1391
Overview of Using an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . . . . . . . 1391
Format Multiline Text in an Alternate Text Editor . . . . . . . . 1392
Chapter 30 Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397
Create and Modify Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397
Link a Table to External Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1401
Work with Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1404
Add Text and Blocks to Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1407
Use Formulas in Table Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412
Chapter 31 Dimensions and Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417
Understand Basic Concepts of Dimensioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417
Overview of Dimensioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417
Parts of a Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420
Associative Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1421
Use Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424
Overview of Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424
Compare Dimension Styles and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . 1425
Control Dimension Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1427
Control Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1437
Contents | xv
Control Dimension Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1448
Set the Scale for Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461
Create Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1464
Create Linear Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1464
Create Radial Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1472
Create Angular Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1480
Create Ordinate Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483
Create Arc Length Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1485
Modify Existing Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486
Modify A Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1487
Apply a New Dimension Style to Existing Dimensions . . . . . 1500
Override a Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501
Modify Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1504
Modify Dimension Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1508
Change Dimension Associativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1511
Add Geometric Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513
Overview of Geometric Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513
Material Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516
Datum Reference Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516
Projected Tolerance Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517
Composite Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1518
Part 10 Plot and Publish Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521
Chapter 32 Prepare Drawings for Plotting and Publishing . . . . . . . . 1523
Quick Start to Saving Settings for Plotting and Publishing . . . . . . 1523
Specify Page Setup Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1524
Overview of Page Setup Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1524
Select a Printer or Plotter for a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1526
Select a Paper Size for a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1527
Set the Plot Area of a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1532
Adjust the Plot Offset of a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1533
Set the Plot Scale for a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1535
Set the Lineweight Scale for a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1536
Select a Plot Style Table for a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1537
Set Shaded Viewport and Plot Options for a Layout . . . . . . . 1540
Determine the Drawing Orientation of a Layout . . . . . . . . 1542
Use the Layout Wizard to Specify Layout Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 1543
Import PCP or PC2 Settings into a Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544
Create and Use Named Page Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545
Use Named Page Setups with Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549
Chapter 33 Plot Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553
Quick Start to Plotting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553
xvi | Contents
Overview of Plotting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553
Use a Page Setup to Specify Plot Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558
Select a Printer or Plotter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560
Specify the Area to Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561
Set Paper Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562
Position the Drawing on the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1565
Specify the Printable Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1565
Set the Position of the Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566
Set Drawing Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567
Control How Objects Are Plotted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568
Set Plot Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568
Set Shaded Viewport Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571
Set Options for Plotted Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1575
Use Plot Styles to Control Plotted Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 1579
Use Color-Dependent Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1588
Use Named Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1589
Change Plot Style Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1596
Preview a Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1608
Plot Files to Other Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1609
Plot DWF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1609
Plot DWFx Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610
Plot to DXB File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612
Plot to Raster File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1613
Plot Adobe PDF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1615
Plot Adobe PostScript Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1616
Create Plot Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618
Chapter 34 Publish Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621
Overview of Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621
Create and Modify a Drawing Set for Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . 1624
Create a Paper or Plot File Drawing Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1628
Publish an Electronic Drawing Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631
Publish a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1636
Republish a Drawing Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1643
View Electronic Drawing Sets with Autodesk Design Review . . . . . 1645
Set Publish Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1646
Publish 3D DWF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652
Print 3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1660
Part 11 Share Data Between Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1663
Chapter 35 Reference Other Drawing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1665
Overview of Referenced Drawings (Xrefs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1665
Attach and Detach Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1668
Contents | xvii
Attach Drawing References (Xrefs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1668
Set Paths to Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1674
Detach Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1679
Update and Bind Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1680
Nest and Overlay Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1680
Update Referenced Drawing Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . 1682
Archive Drawings That Contain Referenced Drawings
(Bind) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1685
Clip External References and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686
Edit Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1691
Edit a Referenced Drawing in a Separate Window . . . . . . . . 1691
Edit Selected Objects in Referenced Drawings and Blocks . . . . 1692
Use the Working Set to Edit Referenced Drawings and
Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696
Save Back Edited Referenced Drawings and Blocks . . . . . . . 1698
Edit Referenced Drawings and Blocks with Nesting, OLE, or
Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1700
Resolve Referenced Drawing Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701
Resolve Missing External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701
Resolve Circular External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1703
Resolve Name Conflicts in External References . . . . . . . . . 1704
Track External Reference Operations (Log File) . . . . . . . . . 1706
Increase Performance with Large Referenced Drawings . . . . . . . . 1709
Overview of Demand Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1709
Unload Xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1710
Work with Demand Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711
Work with Layer and Spatial Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1712
Set Paths for Temporary Xref File Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . 1714
Chapter 36 Link and Embed Data (OLE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1717
Overview of Object Linking and Embedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1717
Import OLE Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1720
Overview of Importing OLE Objects into Drawings . . . . . . . 1720
Link OLE Objects in Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1721
Embed OLE Objects in Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724
Export OLE Objects from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1727
Edit OLE Objects in Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1729
Chapter 37 Work with Data in Other Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1733
Import Other File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1733
Import Autodesk 3ds MAX Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1733
Import FBX Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734
Import 3D Point Cloud Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1735
Import ACIS SAT Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739
Convert DXF and DXB Files to DWG Format . . . . . . . . . . 1740
xviii | Contents
Import MicroStation DGN Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1741
Manage Translation Mapping Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1743
Insert WMF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1747
Attach Files as Underlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1749
Overview of Underlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1749
Attach, Scale, and Detach Underlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1750
Work with Underlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1760
Manage and Publish Drawings Containing Underlays . . . . . 1774
Attach Raster Image Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781
Overview of Raster Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781
Attach, Scale, and Detach Raster Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1783
Modify Raster Images and Image Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . 1787
Manage Raster Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1794
Tune Raster Image Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1799
Export Drawings to Other File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802
Export DWF and DWFx Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802
Export PDF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804
Export DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1806
Export FBX Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1807
Export MicroStation DGN Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1808
Export WMF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811
Export Raster Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811
Export PostScript Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1813
Export ACIS SAT Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814
Export Stereolithography STL Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1815
Use Drawings from Different Versions and Applications . . . . . . . 1817
Work with Drawings in Earlier Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1817
Save Drawings to Previous Drawing File Formats . . . . . . . . 1822
Work with AutoCAD Drawings in AutoCAD LT . . . . . . . . . 1825
Work with Custom and Proxy Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1829
Chapter 38 Extract Data from Drawings and Spreadsheets . . . . . . . . 1833
Overview of Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1833
Extract Data Using the Data Extraction Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835
Start the Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838
Select the Source for a Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1839
Select Objects for Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1841
Organize and Refine the Extracted Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844
Use Table Styles for Data Extraction Tables . . . . . . . . . . . 1850
Link an Excel Spreadsheet to Access Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1851
Output Extracted Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855
Update Extracted Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1858
Overview of Updating Extracted Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1858
Update Extracted Data Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1859
Update Data Extraction Table Automatically . . . . . . . . . . 1861
Modify a Data Extraction Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863
Contents | xix
Detach a Data Extraction Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866
Chapter 39 Access External Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867
Overview of Using External Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867
Access a Database from Within AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1869
Configure a Database for Use with AutoCAD Drawings . . . . . 1869
View Data in a Database Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872
Edit Data in a Database Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877
Link Database Records to Graphical Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1880
Create and Edit Links and Link Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . 1880
Identify and Select Existing Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885
Find and Correct Link Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1888
Export Link Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1889
Use Labels to Display Database Information in the Drawing . . . . . 1891
Create and Edit Labels and Label Templates . . . . . . . . . . . 1891
Update Labels with New Values from the Database . . . . . . . 1896
Use Queries to Filter Database Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
Overview of Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
Construct Simple Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899
Use the Query Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903
Use SQL Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906
Combine Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907
Save and Reuse Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910
Share Link and Label Templates and Queries with Other Users . . . . 1912
Work with Links in Files from Earlier Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913
Manage Files with Autodesk Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917
Part 12 Collaborate with Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919
Chapter 40 Protect and Sign Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921
Drawing Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921
Overview of Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921
Protect Drawings with Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922
View Password-Protected Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925
Sign Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927
Overview of Digital Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927
Personally Sign Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929
View Drawings with Digital Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937
Chapter 41 Use the Internet for Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1943
Get Started with Internet Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1943
Add Hyperlinks to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1944
Overview of Using Hyperlinks in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . 1944
xx | Contents
/