Introduction

In this first tutorial you will learn how to start AutoCAD,

save a drawing, and a range of common drawing commands.
Starting AutoCAD
Alternatively, click on the AutoCAD icon in the "icon tray" at the bottom of the (Windows 95/98/NT)
screen. Note that these instructions are specific to the FBE. Start AutoCAD by clicking on the
Windows Start button (bottom left), then move the mouse to Programs then CAD and
Modelling then "AutoCAD Architectural Desktop 2" and click on AutoCAD
Architectural Desktop 2. A dialog giving various startup options will be displayed.
Select the second option: "Start from Scratch" and click OK.
Despite command line interfaces being considered totally archaic the command area in AutoCAD is
absolutely vital! One of the key things I'm trying to "get you to do" in these tutorials is to watch the
command area! Using AutoCAD is like a conversation and AutoCAD's half of the conversation comes from
the text in the command area... Once AutoCAD has loaded, move the mouse around until
you see a crosshair cursor. The AutoCAD window has a number of important features:
1. The standard Windows drop-down menus.
2. The standard Windows toolbar below the menus, it includes: File-New, File-
Open, File-Save, Print and "Find and Replace"(!!).
3. In addition to the standard toolbar there will be a number of AutoCAD specific
toolbars: Object Properties, Draw and Modify (there may be others...?).
4. The graphics area - that's the area where you draw - note the scroll bars and the
axis label.
5. View Tabs - these 'tabs' give access to different view of the current drawing. The
"model" tab should be selected at present.
6. The command area - this small window (by default) has space for three lines of
text - this is where you type commands.
7. The status area, at the bottom of the AutoCAD window, this includes the current
cursor position.
 Figure 1 AutoCAD R14 screen.

Command Entry
Typically there are three ways of giving a command!
1. Not all commands are on the Menus and/or toolbars! Type the command using the
keyboard - the command is displayed in the command area.
2. Select the command from a menu.
3. Select the command's icon from a toolbar.

When I want
This means : type the text (qsave) and then press the Enter key (or the space-bar).
you to type a command in the command area the AutoCAD command will be written
like:
type: QSAVE
This means : click on the 'File' menu and then 'Save' (which should be one of the items on the 'File' menu).
When I want you to select a command from a menu, it
will look like:
select File - Save
AutoCAD also supports common shortcuts like Ctrl-S for Save!! When I want you to pick a
command from a toolbar, I'll write:
select Save
Here I'm trying to cover all the bases by giving you the command to type, the menu options and showing
you what the toolbar icon looks like! Despite all of the above, I'll probably use a combination
of the above like:
select File - Save (or type QSAVE )
Draw a Rectangle
Select Rectangle (or type rectang ), then type:
The text typed is displayed in the command area at the bottom of AutoCAD's window. 15,15
415,315 these are absolute cartesian coordinates
Hopefully AutoCAD drew a rectangle, which fits
comfortably in the AutoCAD graphics area!? If you can't see the rectanlge, type z
[space] a [space] (zoom all) - this instructs AutoCAD to redraw the view, "zooming
out" to show all the graphics on the drawing.
Saving a Drawing

Note that if you type SAVE , you actually get "Save As"!!

The quickest way to save is to press Ctrl-S - this is the same as "qsave". Select
the Save icon from the
standard toolbar. The drawing has not been saved before, so AutoCAD will display the
SAVE AS dialog box, select the appropriate Drive and Directory (for example:
S:\arch\u1234567), type the drawing name (for example TUT1), and then select "OK".
Draw some Lines
Instead of LINE, you can also type: L this is an "alias" - which is a short-cut.

The exact positions of these lines is not important. We will now draw some more graphics and
then save and exit AutoCAD.
Type LINE
Move the crosshair to near the bottom-left of the
rectangle and click the left mouse button, then move the crosshair to the top-right of the
rectangle and again click the left mouse button.
Remember this! If you press after you finish a command, the command is re-issued. Press to
terminate the command, and then press again to re-start the command!
Draw a line from the top-left to the bottom-right of the
rectangle, and then press to end the command.
This will save the drawing and exit AutoCAD - don't PANIC! Now type:
QUIT
You will be prompted to save the changes you've made -
click OK.
Starting AutoCAD with an Existing Drawing
To load a drawing, either
Please note that this icon is specific to the FBE's Labs at UNSW.
click on the "Your Account" icon or start Windows Explorer and select the appropriate
Drive and Directory. Once Explorer is showing the correct directory then double-click on
your drawing.
If you can't find your drawing (in Windows Explorer)
then press F5 (function key 5), this tells Explorer to update the directory display; if you
still can't find your drawing then perhaps you saved the drawing in some other directory -
load AutoCAD and then select the File menu, at the bottom of the File menu is a list of
recently opened drawings, select your drawing from the list.
Coordinate Systems
AutoCAD is a three dimensional CAD system, so you can enter XYZ values instead of the XY values shown
here. When specifying positions you can use Cartesian or Polar
Coordinates. Cartesian coordinates are simply a X value, a comma, and a Y value, for
example: 100,100. Polar coordinates are a Distance followed by a < symbol and an
angle, for example: 10<25. Angles are measured in degrees, with 0 = East and 90 =
North. Any of these numbers can have decimal values.
Consider relative coordinates simply as distances! The positions specified above are "absolute
coordinates", because they specify a particular position. AutoCAD can also use
"relative coordinates" to specify a position relative to the current position, for example:
@5.6,-3.4 and @16.32<62.
Draw a "Diamond"
This should draw a "diamond" (a rotated rectangle) shape.

If you make a mistake, you can undo the last line segment by typing: u .

"c" means "close" the shape. The "polyline" used below is used to create a sequence of
joined line segments, which become one object. Using the "line" command each line
segment is a separate object.
Select Polyline (or type: pline ) and then type:
215,15 absolute cartesian coordinate
@212<45 relative polar coordinate
@212<135
@212<225
c
Snap Modes
A simple way to turn Object Snap ON or OFF, is to click on "OSNAP" in the status Area. To see the various
snap options "right-click" on "OSNAP" (in the status area) and select "Settings...". It is often
useful to be able to draw something from (for example) the end of another shape.
AutoCAD has a large selection of "snap modes" for this purpose. The most commonly
used snap modes are "Endpoint" (which snaps to the end of the selected graphics entity)
and "Intersection" (which snaps to the intersection of two graphics entities).
To get AutoCAD to display the Object Snap Modes toolbar, select "Toolbars" from the "View" menu and
then select "Object Snap". The object snap modes can either be typed or they can be
selected from the standard toolbar or from the snap toolbar:
To display the "Drafting Settings" dialog, click on the "horse-shoe" shaped icon on the end of the Object
Snap Toolbar.

Draw an Arc

Select Arc (or type ARC ), then select the midpoint

snap mode (or type: MID ) and select the left side of the bottom of the "diamond"
polyline you drew before. Then use the midpoint snap to enter points on the right side at
the bottom and then the top of the polyline (see figure 2).

Figure 2 Arc construction.

Finally...
Draw the rectangle by selecting
from the draw toolbar (or type rectang ) Lastly, I want
you to draw a rectangle in the diamond shape, another diamond inside that rectangle, a
circle inside that diamond and a horizontal and vertical line also inside the last diamond
(see figure 3)! Each shape should touch the Midpoints of the previous shape...
 and then type 2p then pick the points. HINT: To draw the
Alternatively select the circle icon
circle, select Draw - Circle - 2 Points and then (using midpoint snap) pick opposite sides
of the inner diamond.
If you use the MIDpoint Snap Mode for each point(!), you should be able to draw the shapes without much
trouble.

If you make a mistake, press "Esc" (the "escape" key, located at the top-left of the keyboard). Then type U
(the undo comand).

Figure 3 Finished Tutorial 1 drawing.

 FBE AutoCAD Page
Stephen Peter, S.Peter@unsw.edu.au

This tutorial has been prepared for architecture students at the Faculty of
the Built Environment studying AutoCAD. It has been placed on the Web to
facilitate access by those students and because I believe others may find the
material of use!

Note that throughout this document I am using the character " " to
symbolise the [Enter] and [spacebar] keys.

Stephen Peter, 17 July 2000 (8 October 1998).

Introduction
The drawing used for this tutorial comes from Clark R. and M.Pause, "Precedents in Architecture", VNR
1985, page 135. In this tutorial you will learn how to edit graphics(!) and
about setting model space limits. You will draw a simple plan based on Frank Lloyd
Wright's 1956 (New York) Guggenheim Museum.
Please note that the dimensions used in this tutorial are
neither accurate nor correct! I don't have access to an accurately dimensioned drawing
of the building so I've guessed the dimensions...
Starting AutoCAD
On my computer, the bottom-left coordinate was 0,0,0 and the top-right coordinate was 514,296,0. Start
AutoCAD, and then move the cursor to the bottom left of the screen, you will note the
coordinates (on the status line) go down to near 0,0. In the version I am using the drawing
limits are set to the size (in millimetres) of an A3 sheet of paper (420,297).
Setting the Limits and Units
It is normal when using AutoCAD to draw objects full
size, so it's usually necessary to reset the drawing limits to (about) the size of the object
being drawn (or in the case of a building the building's site). Type:
Alternatively, select Format - Drawing Limits and then type the numbers shown. limits
This sets the drawing "size" to 50x50 metres.
0,0
50000,50000
 Next we need
If the coordinates in the status area didn't change to no decimal places, move the mouse!
to get rid of the 4 decimal points! Select "Format - Units...", AutoCAD will display the
"Drawing Units" dialog. Make sure Decimal is selected in the Units section and
Decimal Degrees in the Angles section, then in Unit's Precision, click on the down arrow
beside "0.0000" and select "0", and finally select "OK".
Zoom All
Zoom Window
Z is the alias (shortcut) for ZOOM. Remember that [space] is the same as This sets the
.
"model space" dimensions. To reset the drawing view to the whole of the (empty)
drawing, select the zoom-all icon, which is hiding under the zoom-window icon (on the
standard toolbar) - hold the button down and then rest of the zoom toolbar is displayed
(or type: Z [space] A [space] ).
Move the cursor around now and note that the
coordinates are now bigger numbers!
Let the Drawing Begin!!
Firstly draw a rectangle from 0,0 to 50000,50000, you
This shows us the "drawing area".
should remember how to do that from the first tutorial!
Circle
"C" is the alias for CIRCLE. Then draw a circle, centred at 30000,24000 with a 6000
radius. Select circle (or type: C ), then type:
30000,24000 the circle centre
6000 the circle radius

Centre snap

To get AutoCAD to display the Object Snap Modes toolbar, select "Toolbars" from the "View" menu and
then select "Object Snap". Next you will draw another circle, with the same centre, but
with a 9500 radius. Press: to "recall" the last command. Select the centre snap mode
(or type: CEN ), then pick the first circle (NOT the centre of the circle), then type:
9500 the circle radius

Draw the Building "Wing"

Hopefully you remember how!! Next draw a rectangle from the centre of the circles to
39500,33500.
Hint: use a relative coordinate @1500,9500. Once you
have done that draw another rectangle to
the right of the last, start at 39500,24000 and make the rectangle 1500x9500.
You might find the following section easier if you turn object snapping ON (make sure "OSNAP" is IN in
the status area).
Endpoint Snap
Midpoint Snap Now you will draw an arc on the end of the last rectangle
(see figure 1). Select Draw - Arc - Start-Center-End, then select the Endpoint snap
mode (or type: END ) and select the bottom-right of the last rectangle. For the centre
point of the Arc, select the Midpoint Snap Mode (or type: MID ) and select the middle
of the right edge of the last rectangle. For the end of the Arc, select the Endpoint Snap
Mode and select the top-right of the rectangle.

Figure 1 Showing the location of the ARC.

Save the drawing
Save Save the drawing: select the save icon (or type: QSAVE
), if you are prompted for a drawing name, select the appropriate Drive and Directory and
type a drawing name (for example: TUT2) and select "OK".
Copy & Rotate the Building Wing
The array command is used to copy one or more objects in either a rectangular or circular pattern and
when a circular pattern is used the objects can be rotated; it can be an incredibly powerful command.
Now we want to copy & rotate the two rectangles and the
arc (3 times), AutoCAD provides the array command to achieve this.
Select Modify - Array, AutoCAD will prompt for the
objects to be selected: click below and to the left of the bottom-left corner of the left
rectangle and then move the mouse until the selection rectangle encloses the two
rectangles and the arc - then click the mouse button (3 objects should be selected). Then
press to end the selection process.
Centre snap
After selecting the Centre snap mode, pick the circle NOT the centre! AutoCAD will then prompt
for the type of Arrary - rectangular or polar, type: P for polar. Then use the Centre snap
mode to select the centre of the circles. Then type:
4 the number of items (including the exisiting item)
accept 360 degrees
accept "rotate as copied"
Figure 2 Drawing with all four building "wings" in place.
Exploding Objects!
For convenience, in the following section, I'll talk of the "top-right wing" and the "bottom- right wing". By
the "top-right wing" I mean the first rectangles and arc that you drew, and the "bottom-right wing" is the
rectangles and arc in the bottom-right corner!! Now we need to erase some of the lines
we've drawn. When the rectangle command is used the rectangle that is drawn is a
"polyline" which means that all the lines that make up the object are joined together, the
lines must be "exploded" before any parts of the rectangle can be erased.
Explode
Be aware that explode does not appear to do anything! It doesn't say - "yes, I've done that" and the display
doesn't change, but AutoCAD will dispaly an error message if it failed to explode the objects. Select
explode from the modify toolbar (or type X which is the alias for "explode") select both
the rectangles in the "top-right corner" and then press . If AutoCAD doesn't display any
error messages then the explode command worked!
Erasing Objects
We need to delete some extraneous lines from the
drawing...
Erase Select erase from the modify toolbar (or type: E ).
Click on the right edge of the inner rectangle (from the "top-right" corner), and press .
AutoCAD should automatically redraw the area around the erased line.
Now we erase the other line there! An alternate way to delete is to click on the object to be
deleted and then press the keyboard's "Delete" key. Click on the line in the same place
and press "Delete".
To test your understanding: explode the two rectangles in
the "bottom-right wing" and the erase all the "inner" lines (see figure 3).
Figure 3 Lines to be erased.
Stretching Your Wings
Now you need to stretch the "bottom-left wing" and then
remove the inner lines.
Stretch
The "C" tells AutoCAD that you want a "crossing" window. The normal selection window selects only
those objects wholly within the section window. A crossing selection window selects objects that are wholly
or partly within the selection window.

A useful short-cut to know is that if you draw a selection rectangle left-to-right (in the positive X direction)
AutoCAD interprets it as a "window" selection; but if you draw the selection rectangle right-to-left
AutoCAD interprets it as a "crossing" selection.
[Tip thanks to Jack Barton] Select stretch (or type: S which is the alias for stretch).
Type C and then draw a selection window around the arc and through the small
rectangle (see figure 4), press to terminate the selection process, click with left mouse
button near the selected objects, and type: @-10000,0 (this is the "stretch distance"). If
that worked the building wing should stretch 10 metres (to the left).
Figure 4 Stretch selection rectangle.
Explode both the rectangles in the "bottom-left wing" and
erase the vertical lines, except the line from the centre of the circles.
One Last Circle...
Circle
Centre snap The last object to add is a circle inside the arc of the
"bottom-left wing". Select circle (or type: C ). Select the Center snap mode (or type:
CEN ) and click on the arc; then type 3600 (the circle's radius).
It's always worth saving your work regularly! Select save (or press Ctrl-S).
More Explosions and Deletions....
The drawing is basically complete, all that needs to be
done is to change some of the line-types!
Explode
AutoCAD should display a message saying that some objects could not be exploded - ignore the message -
it's simply saying that some of the rectangles have already been exploded.
Erase Select: explode from the modify toolbar (or type X ),
select all the rectangles at the centre of the original circles (use a crossing selection
window), and then press .
There are 8 lines going to the centre (4 are "covered" by
the others). You need to erase 4 of them, select erase from the modify toolbar (or type: E
), then click on each of the four lines and finally press .
You should now be able to see the lines that were under
the lines you erased!
Changing Line Types
Before changing some of the lines to dashed lines, we
need to load the linetype(!). Select Format - Linetype..., then select "Load...".
AutoCAD will display a list of linetypes, select "Hidden" (you will need to scroll
through the list!), then select "OK", then select "OK" again to dismiss the "Select
Linetype" dialog box.
Select the 4 lines going to the circle centre and the arcs in
the "top- left" and "top-right" wings (see figure 5), then select Modify - Properties..., A
dialog with the properties of the selected objects is displayed. Change the Linetype to
HIDDEN and the Linetype Scale to 75 and dismiss the dialog.
The objects should be redrawn using dashed lines (see
figure 5).

Figure 5 Finished form study of Wright's Guggenheim Museum

The End!
That's all for tutorial two!
Save your drawing and then exit AutoCAD.
Remember to log off before leaving.
 FBE AutoCAD Page
Stephen Peter, S.Peter@unsw.edu.au

This tutorial has been prepared for students at the Faculty of the Built
Environment learning AutoCAD. It has been placed on the Web to facilitate
access by those students and because I believe others may find the material
of use!

Note that throughout this document I am using the character " " to
symbolise the [Enter] and [spacebar] keys.

Stephen Peter, 22 July 2000 (12 March 1999).

Introduction
This church has been selected because it is very symmetrical. Whenever you are drawing anything, look
carefully for symmetry and repetition, because CAD systems excel at those things. In this tutorial
you will draw a plan of Brunelleschi's Church of San Maria Degli Angeli (Florence, Italy,
1434-1436), from Clark and Pause's "Precedents in Architecture", page 28; have a look at
figure 20 at the end of the tutorial. You will note that the church has eight "bays" and that
each bay is itself symmetrical. You will draw half of one bay and then mirror that half to
create a whole bay and then copy that to complete the plan...
Please note that the dimensions used in this tutorial are neither accurate nor correct! I don't have access to
an accurately dimensioned drawing of the building so I've guessed the dimensions... This tutorial
introduces a number of AutoCAD construction commands:
 offset, and
 mirror,
and a number of AutoCAD editing commands:
 fillet,
 trim,
 break, and
 extend.

In case all that isn't enough for you, you will also learn
about layers, hatching, and grip editing.
Setting Limits and Units
 You will draw the building in a 50x50m space, but this
time, the limits will centre on 0,0! If these seem like particularly perverse drawing limits,
it's because they ARE! I'm making sure that you are aware that the limits do not need to
start at 0,0. Type:
The coordinates used make the centre of the drawing 0,0 which makes it easy to copy the church "bay"
around. limits
-25000,-25000
25000,25000

Like in the previous tutorial, we need to get rid of the 4

decimal points: select Format - Units, AutoCAD will display the "Drawing Units"
dialog. Make sure Decimal is selected in the Units section and Decimal Degrees in the
Angles section, then in Unit's Precision, click on the down arrow beside "0.0000" and
select "0", and finally select "OK". Alternatively, type UNITS and then follow the
prompts.
Zoom All To reset the drawing view to the whole of the drawing,
select zoom-all from the standard toolbar (or type: Z [space] A [space])
Don't forget to do this . . . Now that you've "zoomed out", draw a rectangle using
the coordinates from the drawing limits (this will provide a border for the drawing)!
If the Axis label (which is called the "UCS icon") is
distracting - I certainly find it so - you can hide it by selecting View - Display - UCS
Icon - On.
Layers
Most CAD systems have some kind of overlay concept.
AutoCAD uses layers. Layers are used to separate and structure drawings; layers can be
turned on and off (for example to vary the amount of detail in a drawing), and can have
linetypes associated with them....

Figure 1 The Layer status area (Object Properties toolbar).

When using AutoCAD, the graphics appears on the
current layer, so be careful that the current layer is correct. Look near the top-left of the
screen: the current layer and it's colour is displayed there (see figure 1).
Layers icon
The current layer is the layer to which new graphics is added. The properties command (which was
introduced in the previous tutorial) cann be used to change a graphics object's layer (or linetype or
colour). Select the Layers icon or select Format - Layers...,
AutoCAD will display the "Layer Properties Manager" dialog. Click on the "New" button
and then type CONST (to change the default "layer1" name to something more
meaningful), then click on the "Current" button to make this the current layer.
Change the colour and then "OK" the dialog box.

Draw "Construction" Lines

Line icon Draw a line from the centre of the building: select then
line icon (or type L ), and then type:
0,0
0,-17500
@3000,0
terminate the command

Zoom Window Before continuing, you should "zoom in" to the lines,
select zoom-window (or type Z W ), enclose the lines in the selection rectangle.
Offset Select offset from the Modify toolbar (or type [the letter
'o'] O ), and then type:
The offset command makes it easy to set up a series of grid line or (drawing) construction lines.
250 the offset distance
select the short horizontal line
pick a spot anywhere above the line
select the new line
pick a spot anywhere above it
terminate the command

This should produce one vertical and three horizontal

lines.
Revisiting Polar Array
Now you will use polar array to copy and rotate some
lines.

Array
(under the offset icon) Select array from the modify toolbar (or
type AR ), then select the lines just drawn by picking a spot below and to the right of the
"corner" and then another spot above and to the left or the "corner" - make sure the
selection rectangle crosses the three horizontal lines (and the vertical line). Press to end
the selection process, type P (to specify a polar array), type 0,0 (for the centre of the
rotation), 2 (number of items), 22.5 (angle), Y (rotate the objects).
Figure 2
The lines after using Array.

Editing

Fillet icon
(be careful because it looks like chamfer).

The Fillet command is exceptionally useful. It basically extends two lines until they meet, and optionally,
inserts a curve where the lines join. The lines at the bottom represent the outside of the
building. To connect these lines select the fillet icon (or type F ), look at the command
line area - if the current fillet radius is NOT 0 (zero) - then type R 0 (that's a zero).
If you had to change the radius, press type to restart the
command.

Select the outer of the three sloping lines, and then select the bottom horizontal line.
AutoCAD will extend the two lines until they connect to each other.

Figure 3 Fillet.

Next, you will trim the sloping line back to the line from
the centre.
The trim command is another command that you use very
often. The first point you specify selects the "cutting edge", that is, the line to which you
are trimming back to. While succeeding selections identify lines to be trimmed.
Trim icon
When picking lines to be trimmed, the part of the line that you select is important. In the example in figure
3, if you pick to the left of the first line selected (rather than to the right of it), then the line will be trimmed
from the fillet point to the boundary line. In other words, you'll undo the fillet you just did! Select
the trim icon from the Modify toolbar (or type TR ), for the "cutting edge" select a spot
near "first point" on Figure 4, press (to end the selection process), select the line to be
 trimmed ("second point"); and press (to end the command).

Figure 4 Points to be selected for the Trim

Repeat the fillet and trim process for the other two inner lines!

Draw the Floor Pattern

Layers Before you draw the floor pattern, you'll create a new
layer, select the layers icon (or type LA ), create a new layer called FLOOR, and make
it the current layer.
This line uses absolute & relative coords. (Figure 6 shows the finished floor pattern.) To draw the
horizontal lines of the floor pattern, select line (or type L ), and type 0,-6500
@5000,0 and press again (to end the command). This line will be trimmed later....
Offset icon Select offset (or type OFFSET or just o ), type 625
(the offset distance), select the line just drawn, click below the line to indicate the
direction of offset, and press again. Press (to start another offset), type 1375 (offset
distance), select the last line created by the offset, click below the line to offset down, and
press again to end the command.
Remember that you can restart the last command by pressing

This is basically trying to teach you to watch (and interract with) the prompts that AutoCAD displays in the
command area. Offset this line 625 down! If that worked, you should
have two pairs of lines. These lines will form the octagonal pattern in the centre of the
building. Continue offsetting the "last" line, using the following offsets:
500, 750, 500, 4625, 500
That's most of the horizontal lines in the plan! Next, you
will now draw the rest of the floor pattern. Have a look at figure 16 which shows the
completed bay.
Trim icon

I'm introducing the "fence" option because it makes it very easy to trim a whole series of lines by simply
drawing a line that crosses them. The fence line works like the "crossing window" selection in that the
objects that the line crosses are selected. Firstly, offset the vertical (centre) line 2000 to
the right, and then select : trim (or type TR ), pick the vertical line just created press
(end the selection process), type F (this tells AutoCAD that you will draw a fence line
- see figure 5), draw a fence line like that shown in the figure (it must cross the four lines
shown), after you pick the second point of the fence line, press twice (firstly to end the
fence line and secondly to end the command)!
Figure 5 Trim fence line.

Alternatively, display the Object Snap Toolbar. Select View - Toolbars... check Object Snap (the toolbar
will be displayed) and then click on close. The following section uses a number of snap
modes. The easiest way to work with snaps is to pre-set them and then let AutoCAD
dynamically show which snap it can use...
Right-click on "OSNAP" (in the status area at the bottom
of AutoCAD's window) and select "Settings...", then turn "Endpoint" and "Midpoint" ON
(by clicking on them). It would probably be a good idea to turn OFF any of the other
snaps that are ON. Finally, make sure the "OSNAP" button is IN.
Erase icon

Save icon Select erase from the Modify toolbar (or type E ),
select the vertical line used as the "trim guide", press (end the command). Now is a
good time to save the drawing, select save (or press Ctrl-S), enter a drawing name if
prompted (and don't forget to change the drive & directory if necessary).
Line icon

Endpoint snap mode icon Now you will draw the line and arc for the floor pattern,
select line (or type L ) then, using the Endpoint snap mode (which should automatically
be set by moving the cross-hair near the endpoint), select the right edge of the "bottom"
trimmed line and (again using the Endpoint snap mode) select the right edge of the line
above it, then press (end the command).
Midpoint snap mode icon
Select Draw - Arc - Center-
The arc should start and end just "inside" the ends of the vertical line.
Start-End (do NOT pick the arc icon) then, using the Midpoint snap mode select the
middle of the line just drawn, then type @0,-1800 @0,3600 . That should have drawn
an arc to the right of the vertical line.
Break icon
Break is an extremely useful command that is used often in editing operations.

An alternative way to choose a snap mode is to hold the Ctrl key and click the right mouse button(!) -
AutoCAD will display a pop-up menu with the snap modes.

While we're talking about the mouse ;-), right-clicking in AutoCAD generally causes a context sensitive
popup menu to be displayed (showing a selection of the options available "at the moment"). Now
you will use "break" to remove the part of the line between the arc's endpoints. Select
break (or type BR ), select the vertical line, type F (to specify that the next point will
be the "first" point of the break), then using the Endpoint snap mode, select the bottom
end of the arc, and finally using the Endpoint snap mode again, select the top end of the

arc.
Figure 6
Lines trimmed and broken!
Now draw a line (using the Endpoint snap) joining the two other trimmed lines (see
figure 6). Then trim the remaining four horizontal lines towards the top of the bay, back
to the right-hand edge.

Zoom Window icon The last floor pattern is at the top of the "bay". You will
need to enlarge the view of the centre to be able to see it clearly. Select zoom-window (or
type Z W ), enter the selection window (so you can see at least the area shown in
Firgure 7).
Polyine icon

Intersect snap mode icon Select polyline (or type PL ), and then type 0,-600
@1000,0 ), then using the Endpoint snap mode, pick the right-hand end of the top

horizontal line below, finally press to end the command.

Figure 7 Grip editing
positions.

Now you will use a technique in AutoCAD called "grip-editing". Click on the lines just
drawn (they'll become "dashed"), then click on the "joint" point of the lines ("First Pick"
in Figure 7), select then Intersect snap mode, click on the position where the horizontal
line crosses the bay's right-hand edge line ("Second Pick" in Figure 7). AutoCAD should
move the selected vertex to the intersection point!
Press the Escape key (ESC) twice to de-select the lines.

Zoom Dynamic

One of the most

If you don't like the dynamic zoom command, there's always the scroll bars...
powerful of the zoom options is zoom-dynamic, it allows for zooming and panning at the
same time. Type Z D or select the command from the zoom flyout (flydown?) shown

in figure 8.
Figure 8 Zoom Dynamic
AutoCAD should draw the whole drawing, a green (or purple) rectangle showing the
current view and the cursor will turn into a rectangle with a X cross at the centre. If you
click with the left mouse button you can resize the zoom window's size (click again to fix
the new size).

"REGEN" can be abbreviated to "RE"... Move the zoom window (the cursor!) over the lower
half of the "bay" and press . If the arc has turned into a series of straight lines then type
REGEN to re-generate the view.
Draw the Walls
Before drawing the walls, create a new layer called
"WALLS", and set the layer's colour to be something other than white, and make it the
current layer.
Don't forget to offset the line at the "top" of the arc (see figure 9) The wall is 700 outside the
arc floor pattern, so we will offset that pattern. Offset the arc and the vertical lines on
either end (to the right) by 700. Notice that the new lines are in the floor layer, you will

need to change the lines into the walls layer.

Figure 9 Change properties
selections.

Select the lines and arc just created as well as the lines at the bottom (see figure 9) - do
this by click first at about the bottom-right of the selection rectangle in figure 9 and then
the top-left point.

This should select everything except the line at the top,

pick it now. Having selected the objects, now they'll be changed to the new layer. Go to
the layers drop-down list and select "WALLS" (the layer you just created). All the
selected objects will change to that layer! Press "Esc" (escape) twice to de-select the
objects.
Fillet icon
In selecting both these points, it's important where you click on the line! The first point should be in the
bottom-half of the line, while the second point should be to the left of the (projected) first line. Now
you will join up the sections of the wall line. Select fillet (or type F ), select the bottom
of the short vertical line and then select the horizontal line to the left of the vertical line

(see figure 10).

Figure 10 Fillet points.

Now, use fillet on the lines shown in figure 11.

Note that the extact position that you pick is not important, but, it is important that you
pick to the right (1st point) and below (2nd point) the intersection, the part you pick (at
this stage of the fillet command) is the part that AutoCAD will not remove!

Figure 11 Second Fillet.

Save icon That completes the bottom end of the bay. Have you
saved your drawing recently?
Now use the scroll bars to move the view so that you can
see more of the lines at the "top" - you need to be able to see the top of the arc you drew
earlier (see figure 12).
Offset icon Select offset (or type o [the letter 'o']), and then type
250 , pick the bottom (of the four lines that extend to the right edge-line), pick a
position below the line to indicate the offset direction, press to end then command.

Fillet icon Now you will use fillet to clean up the rest of the
wall lines. Select fillet (or type F ), pick the short vertical line (see figure 12), and then

pick the right-hand end of the line just created.

Figure 12 Third Fillet.
Restart the fillet command, pick the outer arc to the right of the vertical, and pick the
vertical (at a point above the arc).

Change the horizontal line ("2nd pick" in figure 12) into

the WALLS layer.
Extend icon

It's necessary to pick to the right of the middle of the line because AutoCAD extends the nearest endpoint
to the "boundary edge". Lastly, you will extend the horizontal line to the right
edge-line. Select extend (or type EX ), pick the right edge-line (this is the line you will
extend to), press (end the selection process), pick to the right of the middle on the
horizontal line, and finally press .

Draw the Passage Between the Bays

Use the scroll bars to bring the bottom into view.

To draw the passage-way we will firstly draw its centre line, and then use offset to get the
location of the walls.
Line icon
Center snap mode icon Select line (or type L ), select the Center snap mode,
pick one of the arcs, type @3000,0 (to show the direction of the line), press (to end
the command).
Offset icon Offset this line 500 above and below the line - so that you
end up with 3 lines, with the original in the middle.

Intersection snap mode icon

Perpendicular snap mode icon Extend the bottom line the the right edge-line!

Figure 13 Bay Bottom!

Select line (or type L ), select the Intersection snap mode, pick the intersection of the
outer arc and the top-most of the 3 lines; select the Perpendicular snap mode, pick the
right edge-line (see Figure 13).

Trim the bottom line to remove the section to the left of the arc.Erase
the top two horizontal lines,
and trim the bottom line back to the outer arc.
Break icon Finally, use Break, to remove the arc between the
remaing two lines.
Finishing the Walls!
Before hatching the wall areas(!) you will need to close off

the walls. Firstly, you'll turn off the CONST layer.

Figure 14 Layers Drop-down list

Click on the layer

These lines are needed because you must close off areas before hatching them.
status area, AutoCAD will display a list of the layers and their status. The first icon
controls whether the layer is "on" or "off". Click on this icon beside CONST, the 'light'

will go out! Then click on WALLS to close the drop-list.

Figure 15 Lines to close of hatch areas.

Now draw the lines identified in Figure 15, you may need to use zoom or the scroll bars
to get all the lines in the view.

Hatching
Save icon Before hatching it's often a good idea to save your
drawing (select save or press Ctrl-S).

Hatch icon Create a new layer, called hatch, and make it current, and
then select hatch from the Draw toolbar, make sure the pattern type is "Predefined", and
set the patern to AR-SAND, set the scale to 2, select "Pick Points", pick inside the two
areas, press to end the selection process, pick "OK". AutoCAD should draw lots of
dots, almost filling-in the wall area.
Note that the hatch style we are using may appear solid, but it is not! Zooming in will show that hatch is a
"sand" pattern. To have the hatch "solid" simply select the SOLID style instead of "AR-SAND"...
Finally, you need to erase the three lines you added to
close the wall areas so you could hatch them (see figure 15). Use the Layer Controls to
turn the "HATCH" layer OFF first. If you accidentally pick the wrong thing, type: R
(remove) to remove selections, and then type: A to restart adding selections. Once
you've erased the three lines, turn the "HATCH" layer back ON.
If your mouse has a scroll wheel roll it and see what happens... That completes the basic half
bay! Use zoom dynamic to view the whole of the bay and then save your drawing!
Mirror the Half Bay.

Mirror icon To mirror the section completed, select mirror from

the modify toolbar (or type MI ), enclose all the graphics inside the selection rectangle,
press (to end the selection process), type 0,0 (the centre of the building will be the
start of the mirror line), type @0,-1 (this creates a vertical line as the mirror line, this
causes the graphics to be mirrored to the left), type N (don't delete the old objects).

Figure 16 Completed Bay.

 FBE AutoCAD Page
Stephen Peter, S.Peter@unsw.edu.au

This tutorial has been prepared for students at the Faculty of the Built
Environment learning AutoCAD. It has been placed on the Web to facilitate
access by those students and because I believe others may find the material
of use!

Note that throughout this document I am using the character " " to
symbolise the [Enter] and [spacebar] keys and the Right mouse button.

Stephen Peter, 12 March 1999.

Introduction
In this fourth (and final) AutoCAD tutorial you will learn
how to plot drawings. In doing this you will learn about paper space and viewports. Let
me comment before you begin, that in this tutorial I will be telling you to draw things (as
much as possible), rather than explaining how to go about drawing them... read through
the text carefully!
The drawing is quite simple, to allow time at the end to cover the issues relating to plotting. You
will draw a form study of Robert Venturi's "Fire Station - Number 4" in Columbus
Indiana (1966), from Clark and Pause's "Precedents in Architecture", page 122. The
drawing is quite simple, to allow time at the end to cover the issues relating to plotting.
Please note that the dimensions used in this tutorial are
neither accurate nor correct! I don't have access to an accurately dimensioned drawing
of the building so I've guessed the dimensions...
Set the drawing limits from 0,0 to 50000,35000; then set
the units (set the number of decimal points to 0) and finally do a zoom-all.
Draw the "Construction" Lines
Before you continue, I'd suggest that you display the Object Snap Toolbar.

Alternatively, you can get a "pop-up" menu of the snap modes by Shift-right clicking! Create a
CONST layer, set its colour and make it current. Draw a 18800 x 18800 rectangle
(starting somewhere near the bottom-left corner of the screen).
Draw a Circle, using the MIDpoint snap mode, pick the
bottom edge of the square, and then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-right of
the square.
Next you will draw a rectangle to complete the golden
rectangle. To do this we can use the bottom-right corner of the square for one corner, but
the other corner is more difficult: you will use AutoCAD's point filters to take the x value
from the circle and the y value from the original square!
The point filters that I'm introducing here are really useful - they often provide a way to "find" positions
without having to type in numbers. Start the rectangle command, then using the ENDpoint
snap mode, pick the bottom-right of the square, then type: .X , using the PERpendicular
snap mode, pick the circle to the right of the bottom of the square, then type: .Y , using
the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-right corner of the square. This technique for
drawing objects is very useful!
Start the line command, then using the ENDpoint snap
mode, pick the top-left corner of the square, using the MIDpoint snap mode, pick the
right edge of the rectangle, using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-left of the
square, press to end the command.
Now you will use grip-editing to move the end of the lower line up 1800: Pick the last line
drawn (near the bottom-left corner), then pick the grip-box on the bottom-left corner (to
move that endpoint), and type: @0,1800 .
FROM snap mode icon

The FROM snap mode is really useful for specifying objects that are positioned relative to other objects.
The entry will be shown as a circle about mid-way along
the bottom of the square. Start the circle command, then select the FROM snap mode,
then using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-left corner of the square, then type:
@9800,1400 1400 . Here you are saying that the circle's centre is to be 9800,1400
from the bottom-left corner!
Now, explode the original square and then offset the
bottom of the square up 600, and then offset that line 1500 up. Then offset the left of the
square 10000 to the right.
These are the major construction lines that will be used to set-out the plan.

Your drawing should look like figure 1.

If you haven't saved your drawing yet, then save it now!

Figure 1 The construction lines.
Draw the Walls
Create a new layer called WALLS, set it's colour and
make it current. Use Zoom Window to enlarge view of the plan.
The walls will be drawn using the polyline command so
that you can set the thickness of the lines after drawing them. But before drawing the
walls, you will set a running-snap! The reason for drawing construction lines in the first
place is to make it easier to draw the walls. To make it even easier, you will tell
AutoCAD to automatically snap to line intersections, this saves you from having to
specify the snap mode for every point (though you still need to set the snap mode when
you want to use another snap mode or none).
Running-snap icon

Be careful not to pick "insertion". Select running-snap from the Object Snap toolbar (or
type: OSNAP ), then select "Intersection" from the dialog box and select "OK" to dismiss
the dialog box.

Figure 2 Path of exterior walls.

Polyline icon
Note that the arc should be part of the polyline.
NEArest snap mode icon Start the polyline command and pick the first five points
shown in figure 2, then type: ARC (the next segment of the polyline will be an arc),
type: SECOND this specifies you will enter a "second" (& third) point, using the NEArest
snap mode, pick the 6th point, then pick the 7th point to end the arc. Now type: LINE
(to go back to drawing straight-lines), pick the 8th point, and finally press to end the
command.
Having demonstrated the running snap, let's now turn it
OFF! Select running-snap again (or type: OSNAP ), select the "Clear All" button (below
the various snap options), and then select "OK".
Turn the CONST layer OFF.
Now you will change the width of the external wall to
make it a thick line - the wall was drawn using polyline to demonstrate polyline editing!
Did you turn the CONST layer OFF?
Many AutoCAD commands have 1 or 2 letter abbrieviatons! PE is short for PEDIT. Select Modify
- Object - Polyline (or type: PE ), pick the external wall polyline. Spend a moment
having a look at the various editing options - you can even fit a curved (spline) line to the
polyline. Type: WIDTH (or simply: W ), then type: 250 , this is the new line-width.
Press to end the command.
Turn the CONST layer ON.

Paper Space
Venturi's building is quite interesting, but we don't have time to draw the whole plan -- and cover
plotting.... In these tutorials, you have been drawing in what's
called
MODEL SPACE. The significance of this is that you use real-world sizes. When
plotting, you can either specify a scale factor to plot the drawing at a particular scale or
you can use PAPER SPACE.
During the following step your drawing will disappear,
don’t panic...
During this step your drawing will disappear, don't panic...

"Tile" on the status area:

Double-click on "TILE" (on the
Note that instead of typing "tilemode" you can type "ti".
status area at the bottom of the screen), the "TILE" should become greyed-out.
Alternatively, type: TILEMODE 0 . When this setting is ON, AutoCAD displays
multiple viewports beside each other, this allows you to have two views (of different
parts) of the same drawing on the screen. When the setting is OFF, AutoCAD displays
multiple viewports, but the viewports are allowed to overlap each other; also viewports
can be moved, erased or resized like "normal" graphics! Turning tilemode OFF, also
changes the "MODEL" space setting (next to "TILE) to "PAPER", indicating that you are
now in "PAPER SPACE"!
The advantage of paper space is that you can have
numerous drawings (or views of the one drawing), each at a different scale; and you can
draw text using "paper heights" rather than world heights.
Set the Paper Space Limits
Now we set the limits again! This time for the paper.

If you aren't sure of a printer's margins do a test plot with diagonal lines that would go to the paper's edge
and then measure the margins! The plotter being used (at the Built Environment’s
CADLab at UNSW) is a "HP DesignJet 200 Ink Jet Printer", this plotter has 17mm left
and right margins and 5mm top and bottom margins, this is critical! When you lay-out
your drawing you must remember that you can’t draw on this part of the page! My
solution is to set the drawing limits to the area of the page that can be drawn on (the
"plotable area"), and then draw a border equidistant from each of the paper edges.
Don't forget to do a zoom-all after setting the limits. A landscape oriented A3 sheet is
420x297mm, this leaves a plotable area of 386x287mm. Set the limits to 0,0 to 386,287.
Create a layer called FRAME, set it's colour and make it
current.
Draw a rectangle 20mm in from the edges of the A3
sheet; because of the plotter’s 17 & 5mm margins, draw the rectangle from 3,15 to
383,272, see figure 3. The rectangle is used to position "viewports" and then its layer can
be turned OFF before plotting (if desired).
If you can't see the rectangle, select zoom-all.

Figure 3 A3 sheet with limits and 20mm border shown.

Create a Viewport
If you want to change to size of the viewport to make it cover more of the "paper", use grip-editing to
resize the viewport. You could use snap modes to "snap" the viewport to the drawing border. Once
in paper space you can create a number of views of your drawing, with each a different
scale! But for this tutorial, you will create just one viewport; select View - Floating
Viewports - 1 Viewport (or type: MVIEW ), pick a point towards the bottom-left of the
drawing (the exact position doesn’t matter at the moment), and then pick a point towards
the top-right of the drawing. AutoCAD should show a view of your drawing! This view is
at no particular scale.
Return to Model Space
Notice that if you move the mouse cursor outside the viewport it changes back to an arrow!
Double-click on "PAPER" on the status area or select
View - Model Space (Floating) (or type: MSPACE ), the "PAPER" on the status area will
change to "MODEL". Move the cursor around inside the viewport and you will see the
normal cross-hair cursor appear. Usually, you want to have the view at a particular scale
but sometimes you simply want a particular part of the drawing to plot and you don't care
what it's scale is.
Select zoom-window (or type: Z ), enclose the entry
circle in a selection rectangle, type: REGEN - this should force AutoCAD to recalculate
the circle (and therefore display it better). If your drawing is like mine you will see that
AutoCAD has made a mess of the line widths of the polyline around the arc...
Zoom-previous icon Select zoom-previous (or type: Z P ), this is a
particularly useful zoom option, because it's very common to zoom in on a detail and
then want to zoom back out. Of course, you could use zoom-in and zoom-out, or zoom-
dynamic if you’re panning as well as zooming.
Setting the View Scale
Zoom-scale icon

You could also type 0.01xp.

Pan icon To set the viewport to a particular scale, you need to

express the scale, relative to the paper. If you want the view at 1:100 you use a scale
factor of 1/100 (or 0.01). Select zoom-scale from the zoom flyout (or type : Z S ),
then type: 1/100xp ), this will produce a view at 1:100, the "xp" means "multiplied by
the paper". Select pan (or type: P ), and drag the view until the "golden rectangle" is
centred within the viewport, then press .
Paper Space Revisited
You may need to re-size the viewport to get the building fitting comfortably on the page - if you haven't
already snapped the viewport to the border. Return to paper space by double-click on
"MODEL" on the status area or select View - Paper Space (or type: PS this is short
for "PSPACE").
Text
 Select Format - Text Style, in the top section of the
dialog select "New", click on OK (to accept the default name) then choose a font from the
Font Name drop-down list - choose a true-type font (look for the TT icon), for example
Arial, set the Height to 10, select "Apply" then select "Close".
Create a TEXT layer, set it's colour and make it current.
Text icon
The Text command can also be used to add text in MODEL SPACE, but the height of the text must be the
text height x the plot scale, for example if you want the text 5mm high and the drawing at scale 1:100, the
height must be 500. Make sure you're in Paper Space, then select text (or
type: MT which is short for MTEXT), you will now enter two points that will define the
"boundary" of the text area. When you to type a paragraph of text, AutoCAD will wrap
the text to fit inside the boundary! Pick a position below the bottom-left corner of the
building, and a second point near the right edge of the 20mm border try to make sure
there's enough height for the text...
Depending on the way AutoCAD is configured, you may enter the text into a dialog box or the word
processor. This section assumes you are using the "Multiline Text Editor" dialog box.

Type: Robert Venturi’s Mother’s Fire Station

#4!
You can change the properties of the text (within the
dialog box) by selecting the property that you want to alter: select "Mother's" then select
the colour drop-down list (it should show "ByLayer" at present), select a colour, then
click on "OK" to dismiss the dialog box.
This text is obviously wrong.
Properties icon Select properties, pick the text and press , AutoCAD
will display the Modify MText dialog, take a moment to look at the various options
available...

Click on the "Full Editor..." button (beside the text),

highlight "Mother's" (include the space after the word), press the "Delete" key, select
"OK" twice - to dismiss the Editor and then the Modify dialog.
You can also use Grip Editing to change the text area! If the text has wrapped onto 2 lines,
select properties and then the text again, then increase the Width (try adding 10 for each
letter on the second line), then dismiss the dialog.
If necessary, move the text so that it is better centred under the "Golden Rectangle".

Figure 4 The Completed Drawing.

Creating the Plot File

Before plotting, turn OFF the FRAME layer - this is
optional, but if your viewport and your 20mm border are not the same, then you’ll have a
mess!
Print icon Select print or select File - Print (or type: PLOT ), the Plot
Configuration dialogue box will be displayed. This complicated dialog box has six areas:
 Device and Default Information
 Pen Parameters
 Additional Parameters
 Paper Size and Orientation
 Scale, Rotation, and Origin
 Plot Preview

The plotting instructions here are specific to UNSW - if you're plotting elsewhere you will need to ask your
"local expert" (and if that's you then read throught the AutoCAD and printer manuals and make some test
plots)! The "Device and Default Information" section will show
the currently selected output device, if it doesn't list the DJ200 then click on the button
and select "HPGL2 - DJ200" from the list of devices.
In the "Additional Parameters" section, make sure
"Limits" and "Plot to File" are selected. Then click on "Filename", change the Drive to Q:
(the print queue), if your drawing name is not distinct the you should change the plot
filename to something unique (and short), finally click on "Save" - this saves the filename
it doesn't do the plot!
In the "Paper Size and Orientation" section make sure
"MM" is selected, if the plot area is not equal to your limits (386 x 287) then select
"Size..." and choose the correct paper size or type the dimensions as a USER size.
 In the Scale section, set the scale to 1 = 1 and make sure
"Scaled to fit" is not selected.
It’s usually a good idea to do a preview! In the "Plot
Preview" section, select "Full" and then click on "Preview". The preview should show the
drawing! When you are ready, press to return to the plot dialog.
Click on the "OK" button near the bottom of the Plot
Configuration dialog box. AutoCAD will then create the plot file (which should only
take a moment because your drawing is very simple). The plot file will be "tut4.plt" or
whatever your drawing is called, with the ".plt" extension.
Note that the "paper" in the preview is in fact the drawing's limits, which were set to the area of the paper
that the plotter can draw on!

If something looks wrong with the preview, check that all the settings are correct and if they are, then
cancel the plot and check that your limits are correct. If you still can't work out what's wrong call the tutor!

Figure 5 Plot Preview.

That's all folks! Save the drawing and exit AutoCAD!

Plotting
In addition to this text, refer to Jim Plume's "Notes on using the HP Designjet 200 iInk Jet Ploter".
Plotting this tutorial is strictly optional. But, hopefully at
least one drawing will be plotted from each group. This will allow you the opportunity to
see it done!
Each plot costs $1.00, using your UNICARD photocopy
card.
The dj200 plotter is located in Lab 3 (Rm 3034), the
ON/OFF switch is on the bottom-left of the front. If the lights on the right are dark then
turn the plotter ON.
 Go to the computer beside the plotter and follow the
instructions there!
Take the paper from the cupboard to the left of the plotter
and carefully load the paper into the plotter: hold the sheet with its short edge facing the
front of the plotter, the right edge of the paper must be between the dotted lines and
exactly straight. Carefully push the paper up into the plotter until the plotter grabs the
sheet. If the paper is not straight the Error and Load Media lights will blink, press Form
Feed, remove the sheet and try again. If the paper is loaded correctly the Ready light will
come on.
When the plot is complete, carefully remove the paper
from the plotter and leave for one minute to dry.
Conclusion
These tutorials have given you the basics of (2
dimensional) drawing using AutoCAD, I sincerely hope that this knowledge serves you
well and that you continue to increase your knowledge and understanding of AutoCAD
(and CAD in general).
The first tutorial introduced AutoCAD and got you to
focus on the interaction on the command line between you and the program. In addition,
you used toolbars to select drawing commands and learnt a bit about snap modes.
The second tutorial introducing "real" coordinates; and
then focused on editing, using the array command to copy and rotate graphics objects,
using explode and erase to modify, and then changing linetypes.
Tutorial three is the longest and most difficult. It (like the
second tutorial) focused on editing, using offset, array and mirror, in addition to fillet,
trim, break and extend. It also introduced the concept of layers which is vital to a proper
understanding of CAD.
Finally, this tutorial introduced the concepts of model &
paper space, viewports, plotting and text.
These tutorials cover most of the basics of architectural
drawing in AutoCAD, but there is much that is not covered: dimensioning and 3D, for
starters(!), and while I have tried to show you how you might approach drawing a
building, I haven’t directly discussed this at all!
If you’re asking where do I go from here? - that's great -
read up on the concepts of CAD and AutoCAD. There are numerous books available on
the topic and more appearing all the time. In my opinion, keep away from books that
seem to be thousands of pages long, you hopefully have access to the AutoCAD manuals,
use them as reference materials, if necessary. Look instead for books that give you things
not covered in the manuals! By reading books that cover how CAD can or should be
implemented or managed in an office, I think you'll learn more about CAD related issues
than you'll learn from a thousand pages of reference manual.
 3D

FBE AutoCAD Page

This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction

Throughout these tutorials I'll put commentary and hints in the left column (as well as most of the images).
This first tutorial will take you through the basics of
creating a very simple drawing using the Solid Modelling tools of AutoCAD R13 for
Windows, it should require 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete. Please read carefully through
the text of this document(!), I am liable to put important bits of information at the end of
paragraphs, to see if you are paying attention! Once you've logged on, start AutoCAD
(select Start - Programs - CAD Applications - AutoCAD R13).

Move your mouse cursor (slowly) along the toolbar icons (AutoCAD will display a
"bubble" with the command name), to get a feel for the commands there. Note that if you
drag one of the floating toolbars to the top of the window, the toolbar becomes integrated
into the top toolbars!
Create a Box

Select: Tools - Toolbars - Solids, the solids toolbar will be

displayed, move it up towards the top of the "window".

Note that the first icon (the box) has a small arrow in the bottom right of the icon, this
indicates that it has a "flyout" (with more options). If you click on the icon, the box
command is executed using the current default option; if you press and hold down the left
mouse button (over the icon) then the flyout toolbar will be displayed. The current default
option should be "center", the other option is "corner".

Draw a couple of boxes -

Make some of the boxes centre-boxes and others corner-boxes...
remember to watch the prompts - make some intersect others!
Create Some Spheres

The ".xy" forces AutoCAD to filter the input to use only the specified coordinates (in this case the x and y
coordinates).
This ensures that the sphere is not centred at a height of 0 (zero). Select the second icon to draw a
sphere, AutoCAD will request the "Center of sphere", type .xy , move your crosshair until
it is near one of your boxes and click (the left mouse button). AutoCAD will respond with
"need Z", type in a height (Z) value (for example 3 ).
Remember that you can press (the "Enter" key) to recall the last command. For the radius: move your
cursor (AutoCAD will draw a line), until the line passes through one of your boxes, then
click the left mouse button. AutoCAD will draw a strange "shape" - the outer circle
represents the sphere's "equator".

Draw a few more spheres.

Create Some More Shapes

Now you’ll create some cylinders and cones! Select the cylinder icon,
and then type c (for "center"), pick a point to be the centre of the base of the cylinder.
AutoCAD now prompts for the "Axis endpoint", pick a point somewhere near the centre; and
then pick another point to be the "other axis distance". Enter a value (for example 10 ) for
the height of the cylinder.

Select the cone icon, and then type c (for "center"), pick a point to be the centre of the base
of the cone. AutoCAD now prompts for the "Axis endpoint", type @3,0,0 for the other axis
distance type @0,3,0 type 3 for the height. This should produce a cone with a circular
base (with a radius of 3) and height of 3.

Now, draw some more cylinders and cones and note how the commands are subtly different
(this is because we have changed the "default").

Looking at the Objects in 3D

Select: View - Tiled Viewports - 2 Viewports; and then

type v (to have the "screen" split vertically into two views). Then move your mouse cursor
into the right-hand viewport and click, this will make that viewport the "active viewport".

Select: View - 3D Viewports Presets - NE isometric. The right viewport should change into an
isometric view of your objects. If you want to, select some of the other preset views to view
your objects.

When you’re finished looking at the preset views, select: View - 3D Viewpoint - Tripod.

AutoCAD will display a dynamic 3D axis and the double circle. Note the cross in the circles
- that represents your "position"; the inner circle represents the "equator" of an arbitrary
sphere. By moving the cross into the "NE" quadrant inside the inner circle, you are
specifying you want to view the objects from the north-east, from above the horizon. Move
the cross around and watch the 3D axis change until you understand what’s happening, then
select a viewpoint and click the left mouse button.

"Shade" the View

Use the "3D axis and Tripod" (explained above) to get a view looking at your objects
from just above the "horizon" (the inner circle). When you’re satisfied with the view, type
"shade". This command will produce a shaded view of your objects! If the drawing area is
white then your objects should be black with white lines defining edges (and facets); if the
drawing area is black, your objects will be white . . .
The "type" of shade produced can to altered by issuing the "shadedge" command and (the
valid values are 0, 1, 2 and 3); after resetting the "shadedge", re-issue the "shade" command.

Remember to save your drawing and exit AutoCAD, before you log-out.

Investigate....!

Shades using shadedge = 0 & 1 respectively

Shades using shadedge = 2 & 3 respectively

 FBE AutoCAD Page
This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction

Throughout these tutorials I'll put commentary and hints in the left column (as well as most of the
images). This first tutorial will take you through the basics
of
creating a very simple drawing using the Solid Modelling tools of AutoCAD R13 for
Windows, it should require 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete. Please read carefully
through the text of this document(!), I am liable to put important bits of information at
the end of paragraphs, to see if you are paying attention! Once you've logged on, start
AutoCAD (select Start - Programs - CAD Applications - AutoCAD R13).

Move your mouse cursor (slowly) along the toolbar icons (AutoCAD will display a
"bubble" with the command name), to get a feel for the commands there. Note that if
you drag one of the floating toolbars to the top of the window, the toolbar becomes
integrated into the top toolbars!
Create a Box

Select: Tools - Toolbars - Solids, the solids toolbar will be

displayed, move it up towards the top of the "window".

Note that the first icon (the box) has a small arrow in the bottom right of the icon, this
indicates that it has a "flyout" (with more options). If you click on the icon, the box
command is executed using the current default option; if you press and hold down the
left mouse button (over the icon) then the flyout toolbar will be displayed. The current
default option should be "center", the other option is "corner".

Draw a couple of boxes -

Make some of the boxes centre-boxes and others corner-boxes...
remember to watch the prompts - make some intersect others!
Create Some Spheres

The ".xy" forces AutoCAD to filter the input to use only the specified coordinates (in this case the x and y
coordinates).
This ensures that the sphere is not centred at a height of 0 (zero). Select the second icon to
draw a sphere, AutoCAD will request the "Center of sphere", type .xy , move your
crosshair until it is near one of your boxes and click (the left mouse button). AutoCAD
will respond with "need Z", type in a height (Z) value (for example 3 ).
Remember that you can press (the "Enter" key) to recall the last command. For the radius: move
your cursor (AutoCAD will draw a line), until the line passes through one of your boxes,
then click the left mouse button. AutoCAD will draw a strange "shape" - the outer circle
represents the sphere's "equator".

Draw a few more spheres.

Create Some More Shapes

 Now you’ll create some cylinders and cones! Select the cylinder
icon, and then type c (for "center"), pick a point to be the centre of the base of the
cylinder. AutoCAD now prompts for the "Axis endpoint", pick a point somewhere near
the centre; and then pick another point to be the "other axis distance". Enter a value (for
example 10 ) for the height of the cylinder.

Select the cone icon, and then type c (for "center"), pick a point to be the centre of the
base of the cone. AutoCAD now prompts for the "Axis endpoint", type @3,0,0 for the
other axis distance type @0,3,0 type 3 for the height. This should produce a cone
with a circular base (with a radius of 3) and height of 3.

Now, draw some more cylinders and cones and note how the commands are subtly
different (this is because we have changed the "default").

Looking at the Objects in 3D

Select: View - Tiled Viewports - 2 Viewports; and

then type v (to have the "screen" split vertically into two views). Then move your
mouse cursor into the right-hand viewport and click, this will make that viewport the
"active viewport".

Select: View - 3D Viewports Presets - NE isometric. The right viewport should change into
an isometric view of your objects. If you want to, select some of the other preset views to
view your objects.

When you’re finished looking at the preset views, select: View - 3D Viewpoint - Tripod.

AutoCAD will display a dynamic 3D axis and the double circle. Note the cross in the
circles - that represents your "position"; the inner circle represents the "equator" of an
arbitrary sphere. By moving the cross into the "NE" quadrant inside the inner circle, you
are specifying you want to view the objects from the north-east, from above the horizon.
 Move the cross around and watch the 3D axis change until you understand what’s
happening, then select a viewpoint and click the left mouse button.

"Shade" the View

Use the "3D axis and Tripod" (explained above) to get a view looking at your
objects from just above the "horizon" (the inner circle). When you’re satisfied with the
view, type "shade". This command will produce a shaded view of your objects! If the
drawing area is white then your objects should be black with white lines defining edges
(and facets); if the drawing area is black, your objects will be white . . .

The "type" of shade produced can to altered by issuing the "shadedge" command and (the
valid values are 0, 1, 2 and 3); after resetting the "shadedge", re-issue the "shade"
command.

Remember to save your drawing and exit AutoCAD, before you log-out.

Investigate....!
Shades using shadedge = 0 & 1 respectively
Shades using shadedge = 2 & 3 respectively
 FBE AutoCAD Page
This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction

This second tutorial will introduce the two remaining

"Solids" primitives in AutoCAD R13. Then you'll see how to use Constructive Solid
Geometry (CSG) to join and cut solids! As with the first tutorial, this one will be short!

Start AutoCAD (select Start - Programs - CAD Applications - AutoCAD R13). Before
proceeding, split the screen into two vertical viewports (select: View - Tiled Viewports - 2
Viewports, and then press 'Enter' to accept a vertical split line).
Wedge

Select the 'wedge' icon from the Solids toolbar. Note that there is a small arrow in
the bottom right of the icon, you'll remember from the first tutorial that this indicates that
there are a number of ways to execute this command. The default (shown on the icon)
should have a dot in the centre of the wedge, indicating that the centre point (rather then a
corner point) will be selected first.

AutoCAD should prompt for the "Center of wedge", pick a position near the middle of
the drawing area; the next prompt is for the "Corner of wedge", pick a position on the
screen up and to the right of the centre, finally enter a height (by drawing a distance or by
typing a value).

If you haven't already made one of the viewports a 3D

view then click on the right view and make it a 3D view (View - 3D Viewport - Tripod, and
then view from the 'north east'). You may need to zoom out to increase the space around
the object (select the magnifying glass icon with the minus "-").
To change the UCS, type: ucs [enter] and then z [enter] and the angle [enter]. Note that the wedge is
created parallel to the crosshair axis, to create a wedge (or other shape) at some other
angle, rotate the crosshair or create the shape and then rotate the shape! Draw a couple of
wedges (make some intersect others)!
Torus

Select the torus (donut) icon, enter the "Center of torus"; then enter a second point
to provide the "Radius of torus" (note there's an option to enter the diameter instead);
then enter a distance (number or two positions) for the radius of the tube. Create a few
more tori.

This is the last of AutoCAD's Solid Modelling primitives. Now we'll cover some of the
commands used to modify those primitives.

Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG)

AutoCAD has three commands for CSG: union, subtract

and intersect. If you can remember the mathematics that you studied in school, these
terms may be familiar to you from "Sets". The icons for the CSG commands are "hidden"
in the Modify Toolbar!
Union

As the name suggests, union joins objects together. In joining the objects, any
surfaces that are internal to the result are discarded; this is significant, because if you cut
a section through a unioned object, you don't want to see all the bits that made up the
original parts.

If none of your objects intersect at present, create some new objects that do intersect
other objects. You can do this by re-issuing the wedge or torus command; or you could
use copy or move! Select the union icon (or type "union"), pick two objects and press
"Enter". You may notice in the 3D viewport that the objects look slightly different.

Subtract
 As I'm sure you can guess, subtract uses one solid to cut away part of another
solid.

Start the Subtract command, and then select the object(s) that you want to cut into, press
"Enter" when you've picked the object(s); then select the object(s) that will do the cutting,
and press "Enter". This command should cause a more significant change to the objects
involved, the 'cutting' objects will disappear and the first objects will (hopefully) have
holes in them!

Intersect

The Intersect command operates similarly to the union

command. Two (or more) objects are selected and then after the selection process the
command executes. The result is that the parts of the objects selected that are common to
all the objects are left!
These two views above show two wedges that have been copied 3 times and then unioned, subtracted and

intersected.

Render
If you want spheres and cylinders to appear more round, then type: facetres 2 [enter].

Select: AutoVis - AutoVis Toolbar. Drag this toolbar out of the way if you wish. Have a
look at the icons and run your mouse along them (slowly) to get the bubble text. Click on
the first icon (Render). Set the "Rendering Type" to AutoCAD Render; make sure none
of the options under "Rendering Options" are checked (have "X"s), then click Render.

Once that has completed (it should only take a moment); click on the Render icon again,
this time click the Smooth Shading option and the Render button, you should note that
any objects with curves are drawn without faceting.

Click on Render again and select AutoVision as the "Rendering Type" (click the Render
button). This time you should see some highlights starting to appear, and the image
should be "softer"!

Materials

Most of the materials are based on small images. These images lie in the xy-axis, so if you want to have the
texture on a vertial surface, select the mapping icon (or type: setuv), select 'adjust coordinates' and change
the axis. During this section we'll apply some predefined materials to the objects created.
Select the Materials icon (or type: rmat [enter]). Select the Materials Library... button;
this should display the "Materials Library" dialog(!), select a number of materials from
the list on the right, for example: aqua glaze, beige pattern, blue glass, blue plastic 50,
and checker opa/shin; then click on Import and OK (to dismiss the dialog box), select one
of the materials from the listing in the Materials dialog, click on Attach and then select an
object. Repeat this process (using different materials) for each of the objects in the
drawing.

Select the Render icon, click on Apply Materials and Render. The result will probably be a
mess(!) but I'm sure you get the idea!

Investigate....!

Remember to save your drawing and exit AutoCAD, before you log-out.
 FBE AutoCAD Page
This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction
This tutorial
Select: View - Tiled Viewports - 2 Viewports, and then press to accept a vertical split line.
will bring together the concepts and commands introduced in the previous tutorials.
You'll create two rooms and then produce a rendered image of the result. It should take
between 60 and 90 minutes to complete.

Start AutoCAD, display the Solids toolbar (if necessary), and split the screen into two
vertical viewports.
Drawing Limits and Units The previous tutorials used the default drawing,
without regard for sizes; this tutorial creates rooms so it's necessary to define the "virtual
space" before creating the objects. Select Data - Drawing Limits, AutoCAD will prompt
for the "lower-left corner" press to accept the default (0,0), then type 20000,20000 for
the "top-right corner". Select Data - Units and set Precision to "0". Finally, select View -
Zoom - All.
Or type: limits

Zoom All
Create Layers
Select Data - Layers, type walls in the text input field, select "New", then select
WALLS in the layer name window, select "Set Color..." and choose a (bright) colour,
select OK (to dismiss the colour dialog).

Still in the layers dialog, type ceiling in the text input field, select "New", then select
CEILING in the layer name window, select "Set Color..." and choose a (bright) colour,
select OK (to dismiss the colour dialog).

Type floor in the text input field, select "New", then select FLOOR in the layer name
window, select "Current", select "Set Color..." and choose a (bright) colour, select OK (to
dismiss the colour dialog), and finally, select OK (to dismiss the layers dialog).
Don't forget to make the Floor layer the current layer...
Draw the Floor

This tutorial will use the second technique. The outline of the floor will be drawn in 2D, to make it easier to
create the walls, then the floor will be converted into 3D.
Draw the outline of the first space.

There are generally two ways you might create a simple shape like a floor: either
create the shape using box(es) or draw the shape's outline and then extrude it to the
required thickness.

Pick the polyline icon (or type pline ), pick a position (click the mouse button) near the
bottom-left of the screen, then type:
@7000,0
@0,4000
@-2000,0
@0,4000
@-5000,0
c

c = close (this automatically joins the last point to the first point).

The Rectangle icon is under the Polygon icon on the Draw toolbar. Pick the rectangle
icon (or type rectang ), type: end , and pick the top-right corner of the floor section
just completed, for the other corner, type: @4000,-4000 .
Draw the Walls

Set the current layer to Walls.

Using the Box command...

Select the corner box icon (or type box ), type end , and pick the bottom-right
corner of the larger space, type @300,3900,3000 .

Select the box icon again (or press to recall the last command), type end , and pick
the bottom-left corner of the larger space, type @7000,-300,3000 .

Recall the command, type end , and pick the bottom-left corner of the larger space
(again), type @-300,8000,3000 .

Recall the command, type end , and pick the top-left corner of the larger space, type
@5000,300,3000 .

Recall the command, type end , and pick the top-left corner of the smaller space, type
@4000,300,3000 .
Recall the command, type end , and pick the top-right corner of the smaller space, type
@300,-4000,3000 .

Recall the command, type end ,

Note that this distance is less than the length of the wall...!?
and pick the bottom-right corner of the smaller space, type @-1900,-300,3000 .
Internal Walls... Recall the command, type end , and pick the bottom-left corner of the
smaller space, type @100,4000,3000 .

Recall the command, type end , and pick the same point and type @2200,-100,3000 .

Turn the Floor layer OFF.

Look "under" Explode, in the Modify toolbar.

The "bottom" walls of the small space need to be

joined togther. That will be done using the union command. Pick the union icon (or type
union ), then select the two parts of the "bottom" wall of the small space and press .
This joins the two sections into one new (complex) solid.
Extrude the Floor

Turn the Walls layer OFF and the Floors layer ON

(and make it the current layer).
Pick the extrude icon (or type extrude ), pick both
spaces and press , type -100 (for the extrusion height), and press again to accept a
taper angle of 0.
Create the Ceiling

Select the copy icon (or type copy ), pick both

spaces and press , pick in the middle of the spaces and then type: @0,0,3100 .
Change an object's layer Select the change properties icon (or type chprop ),
pick both spaces and press , change their layer to Ceiling.
Add the Doors and Windows

Turn the Floors and Ceiling layers OFF, and the Walls
layer ON (and make it the current layer).
The box's position does not need to be exact, but it should be thicker that the wall. Create a box
1200x600x2100 (WxDxH) and place it near the middle of the "southern" wall of the
larger space.
Create a box 600x1200x2100 and place it in the wall
that separates the spaces. Then place a copy of the box in the "eastern" wall of the smaller
space.
A Window Create a box 600x2000x1600, then move the box up
500 so that the bottom of the box is at 500. Place the box in the "western" and "eastern"
walls of the larger space.

Plan showing the Door and Window boxes in place.

Be careful that you pick walls...

Select the subtract icon (or type subtract
if you make a mistake type "u" to undo the selection.
), pick a wall, press , pick the opening in that wall and press . Repeat this process for
each wall. It is important that each wall is done separately!
Place Some Simple Objects in the Two Spaces . . .

If you are not at UNSW, then you will first need to download the table and then access it (from your local
hard-disk).
If necessary, (after inserting the object) move the table to the centre of the space (it doesn't need to be
perfect). Select the insert block icon from the Draw toolbar.
Select "File...", change the drive to "R: Resources on EmuWater" and select the
"samples\benv\autocad\r13" directory, pick "table.dwg", select OK (to dismiss the File
dialog), select OK (to dismiss the Insert dialog). Place the table in the larger space, press
(don't change the length of the table), press (don't change the width), type 90
(rotate the table).
download the chair

Use the same technique to insert a chair ("chair.dwg").

The chair back should be on the right. Place the chair at the table, then copy the chair to
get two chairs on one side of the table. Next, use copy and rotate to place a chair at one
end of the table. Then use mirror to copy those chairs to the other side of the table!
download the vase Now insert a large vase, pick "vase.dwg", click on
"Specify Parameters on Screen" (to de-select it), for the insertion point type 8500,6000,0,
for the scale type 0.25,0.25,0.5.

Select copy, pick the vase, press , type m (for multiple), pick a point near the vase (as
the "base point"), place copies of the vase beside each door (see figure below). Erase the
"original" vase.
Plan showing the positioning of the table and vases.
Put a vase on the table!
Don't pick the insert icon. Type insert , type vase , pick near the middle of
the table, type 0.1 (X scale), press (let Y = X scale), press (rotation = 0).
Select move (or type m ), pick the vase, press ,
pick near the vase, and type @0,0,750 , this should move it up onto the table!

download the bar Finally

use insert block to place a "bar" in the top left of the large space
(remember to click on "Specify Parameters on Screen"). Once you've placed the Bar, you
may want to move the table down a bit.

Turn all the layers ON and then save the drawing!!

Apply the Materials

Select the materials icon from the AutoVision toolbar (or type rmat ), select
"Materials Library...", select some materials, for example:
floor: BUMPYWHITE STONE
walls: LIGHT WOOD TILE
ceiling: BEIGE PLASTIC
table: WOOD - WHITE ASH
chairs: BLUE METALIC
vase: PINK MARBLE or SOUTHWEST PATTRN
bar: WOOD - WHITE ASH

When you've selected enough materials from the library, select "OK" to close the library.

Attach the materials to the objects by

Carefully watch AutoCAD's prompts while you are doing this!
selecting the material, clicking on "Attach", then selecting the object(s).
If you select the wrong object,
type u , to undo the selection. If you have problems selecting the correct objects, turn
some layers OFF.
We will need to alter some of these materials, but for the moment, we'll continue on...

Lights . . .

In a "more serious" model, you should create light fittings and then put the light sources in those fittings!
Select the light icon from the AutoVision toolbar (or type light ), make sure
"Point Light" is the light type, select "New...", make the Light Name p1, set the intensity
to about 1000, select "Modify", type .xy , pick a position over the Bar (use a Z value of
2900). You can also turn shadows ON or leave them OFF. Select OK to dismiss the "New
Point Light" dialog.

Create two more point lights in the same way. Place one over the table and the other in
the middle of the smaller space.

Change the light type to "Distant Light", and select "New..." again. Call this light
sun. The light's horizontal angle (azimuth) and vertical angle (altitude) are set on the right
of the dialog box. Set the azimuth to -55 and the altitude to 35. Finally, turn the shadows
ON.

Select "OK" to dismiss the "New Distant Light" dialog, and again to dismiss the "Lights"
dialog.

Save the drawing!

Perspective . . .

This command (in my opinion) is really clumsy, but once you get the "hang" of it, it's workable!
Make sure that both points selected are inside the space. Select View - 3D Dynamic View (or
type dview ), pick the walls. AutoCAD will use the selected object(s) to help compose
the view; press , type po (for points), for the TARGET, type .xy , and then pick a
position near the door joining the two spaces, AutoCAD will prompt for the Z (height)
value, type 1500 . For the CAMERA, type .xy (again), and pick a position near the
bottom-left corner of the larger space, use 1700 for the Z value. AutoCAD will display
the Walls in 3D wire-frame, type d (for distance) play around with the distance but
make sure you don't move out of the 0 to 1 range; note the appearance of the
perspective icon in the bottom-left corner of the view, press , to end the command.
If you move the "distance" to greater than 1, you are moving the camera further away from the target. This
often moves the camera outside the space, which means that only the outside wall is visible!
If the view is quite restricted (and it will be), remove the second viewport, so the
perspective takes the whole of the "screen".
If you still don't like your view, enter the dview command again, pick a few objects, and
then type ta (to change the target position). This allows you to dynamically tilt and
rotate the view!

Note that this "records" the view parameters, it does NOT SAVE THE DRAWING. Type view ,
then type s (for save), type v1 for the view-name.

Save the drawing!

Type shadedge , then type 1 (one), then type shade . This shows how AutoCAD
(without AutoVision) displays the space.

Rendering . . .

A "yucky" render! Select the render icon from the AutoVision toolbar (or
type render ). Make sure the Rendering Type is "AutoVision", the Scene to render is
"current view", under Rendering Options make sure Smooth Shading, Apply Materials &
Shadows are all turned OFF. Select "Render", the image should take up of a minute to
generate.
Still pretty awful, notice the vases are rendered much smoother!? If they are not smooth, type facetres 2.
Press (to recall render), select "Smooth Shading",
and click on "Render". The image should take a bit longer up still only take a minute or
so.
(Hopefully) a not so yucky render! Press (to recall render), select "Apply Materials",
and click on "Render"; this image will take a bit longer again (but will still be fast).
Hopefully another not so yucky render!

But the materials are not that realistic, at present.

Press , select "Shadows", and click on

Also note that the shadows are not that convincing!
"Render"; now the image will take up to 30 minutes!

If you compare the last two images, you'll note they are quite similar. But, on my views,
the chair seats in the second image were in shadow, whereas in the first image they were
not. Obviously, turning shadows ON increases the rendering time considerably!

Fixing the Materials . . .

To return to the plan view,

type plan world . Return to the wire-frame view (from a rendered view), type regen
.

As a "first fix", we will turn one of the materials around!

 Select the mapping icon (or type setuv ), select the
wall (with the door) separating the spaces, press . The Mapping dialog will be
displayed, select "Adjust Coordinates" and set the Plane to "WCS YZ Plane". This will
turn the material so that its long edge faces the long edge of the wall. Select "Adjust
Bitmap...", and then reset the Scale (near the bottom of the dialog) from u=1 v=1 to u=1
v=10, in other words change the Scale "v" value to 10! Select OK, three times, to dismiss
the dialog boxes.
Select render, turn "Shadows" OFF(!), and click on "Render". This should
produce a (more) realistic rendering of a timber veneer wall.

This is just the beginning! There is much more that you could do to improve the two
rooms. Try to fix some of the other problems on your own...

Save the drawing!

 FBE AutoCAD Page
This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction
This tutorial will show you how the objects used in tutorial 3 are created. It should
take between 40 and 60 minutes to complete.

Start AutoCAD, display the Solids toobar (if necessary), split the screen into two vertical
viewports (select: View - Tiled Viewports - 2 Viewports, and then press 'Enter' to accept a
vertical split line).

Drawing Limits and Units

Select Data - Drawing Limits, AutoCAD will prompt for
the "lower-left corner" press Enter to accept the default (0,0), then type 5000,5000 for the
"top-right corner". Select Data - Units and set Precision to "0". Finally, select Zoom All.
Create the Drawing Layers
Select Data - Layers, type "chair" in the text input field,
select New, then select CHAIR in the layer name window, select Current, select Set
Color... and choose a (bright) colour, select OK (to dismiss the colour dialog). Then
create TABLE, VASE and BAR layers.
Create a simple chair frame
Firstly, we'll create a chair leg. Select (corner)box, pick a
position anywhere on the screen, type @25,25,400. This box will appear as a dot, zoom
in on the chair leg until is appears as a rectangle. Make one of the viewports a "Front
View".
 Select Copy, pick the chair leg, press Enter, pick near the chair leg, and
type @400,0 we've now got a first "back" leg. Select copy again, pick the new chair leg,
press Enter, using ENDpoint snap, pick the leg again, then type @0,0,400. Now the
"new" leg should be 800 high (though it's made up of 2 boxes)

Select (corner) box, pick the top-right of the left chair leg, using the ENDpoint snap, type
@375,25,-25. Select copy, draw a window around the whole chair frame, press Enter,
pick a point near the chair, type @0,400,0. Now we've got the two side frames.

Change the "front view" into

a "3D view" - look at the chair from the "south-west", zoom in on the chair frame. Select
(corner) box, using ENDpoint snap, pick the inside top corner of the chair leg, using
ENDpoint snap, pick the other end (see figure).

Select copy, pick the front corssbar just created, press

Enter, type m (for multiple), pick near the frame (base point), then type @0,0,-200, then
type @400,0,0, then type @400,0,400, then type @400,0,200, @400,0,-200, then press
Enter. That completes the timber frame for the chair.

Make the chair seat

Select (corner) box, Use ENDpoint snap to select the top of the near chair
leg (this should be the leg that's in the bottom-left of the plan view), type @400,425,25.

Press Enter to re-start box, pick the bottom end of the cross-bar 200m above the seat
(using the ENDpoint snap), type @-25,425,225. Note that on the plan view this seat back
projects beyond the chair frame...

Click on the seat back just created, click (in the plan view) on the top-right grip point (the
small blue rectangle), note (in the 3D view) which grip point turns red..., then type @0,-
25,0.

That completes our (very) boxy chair, now we'll save it using "write block"...

Create chair block (and write the block to disk)

 Select block, type chair, then (for the insertion point) pick the bottom-left
chair leg - in the plan view - using the ENDpoint snap mode, then draw a selection
rectangle around the chair, and press Enter. the chair should disappear.

Type wblock, select your drive (s:) and path, replace "UNNAMED" with "chair", type
chair for the "block name". This saves the block in a separate drawing.

Create a simple table

Select Data - Layers, select layer TABLE, select Current, select OK to dismiss the
dialog box. Select (corner)box, pick a position anywhere on the screen, type @50,50,715,
to make the first table leg. Select Copy, pick the box, press Enter, type m (for multiple),
using the ENDpoint snap mode pick the bottom-left of the table leg, then type
@1850,0,0, type @0,850,0, type @1850,850,0, and press Enter.

Select (corner)box, type @-50,-50,715, then type @2000,1000,35. That completes our
(very) boxy table, now we'll save it using "write block"...

Select block, type table, using the ENDpoint snap mode pick the bottom-left table leg - in
the plan view, then draw a selection rectangle around the table, press Enter. The
tableshould disappear.

Type wblock, select your drive (s:) and path, replace "UNNAMED" with "table", type
table for the "block name". This saves the block in a separate drawing.

Create a large vase

 We'll create the vase by drawing a section through the
vase and then revolving that section through 360 degrees. The vase is approximately
1500
Select Data - Layers, select layer VASE, select Current,
select OK to dismiss the dialog box.
Select pline, pick a position anywhere on the screen, type
the following sequence (press Enter between each word or coordinate pair) @150,0 @0,-
30 @50,0 @0,50 arc second @150,150 @-100,1500 @0,50 @-50,25 line @0,-84 arc
second @53,-50 @-92,-1571 line (double-click on "ORTHO" on the bottom of the
autocad screen), type .x, then using the ENDpoint snapmode pick the poltline's starting
point, pick a point about 40mm above the starting point, type close (see figure 3a-2).
Select revolve, pick the polyline, press Enter, using the
ENDpoint snapmode pick the bottom-left of the vase (the starting point), then (using
END again) pick the other end of the "vertical" line segment, press Enter. This turns the
2D shape into a 3D solid object by revolving the outline about the axis (centre-line).

"Stand" the vase up...

Select 3D rotate (from the modify toolbar), pick the vase, press Enter, then (using END)
pick the base of the vase, for the "2nd point on axis" type @100,0,0, for the angle type
90. Select the 3D viewport (to make it "current"), and select render.
Change the plan view into a "front" view, and then use
zoom dynamic to centre the vase in the view.
Select block, type vase, using the CENter snapmode pick
the bottom of the vase, pick the vase, press Enter, the vase should disappear.
 If the error message "Beware, Z insertion base is not zero"
appeared then press "Esc" to cancel the block command, the vase must be moved so that
the bottom is at Z=0. Select move, pick the vase, press Enter, using the CENter snapmode
pick the bottom of the vase, type 0,0,0 to move the centre of the vase bottom to 0,0,0. If
the vase disappeared from the viewport(s), then use zoom dynamic to get in back. Now
"block" it again...
Type wblock, proceed as before (use the name VASE)!
Create a Drinks Bar
For this object we'll use the extrude command to convert a
closed 2D polyline into a 3D solid.
Select Data - Layers, select layer BAR, select Current, select OK to
dismiss the dialog box. I recommend that you have 2 viewsports: plan & 3D (if you don't
already). If you don't have a plan view, then click in a viewport and then type plan.

Draw the object in the plan view . . .

Select polyline, pick a point towards the bottom of the screen, type the following
sequence @0,500 arc sec @500,1250 @-500,1250 line @0,500 @-800,0 @0,-500 arc sec
@500,-1250 @-500,-1250 line @0,-500 close.

To create the base, select offset, type 100, pick the object,
pick inside the object, press Enter.
To extrude the pieces up, select extrude, pick the inner
polyline, press Enter, type 200, press Enter (accept taper angle of 0). This creates the
"kick board" at the bottom of the Bar.
To create the main body of the Bar, first raise the outline
200mm: select move, select the outer polyline, press Enter, pick anywhere, type
@0,0,200.
Select copy, pick the outer polyline, press Enter, pick
again, type @0,0,800. This creates the top section of the Bar - check the 3D view...
 Now we need to move the top out of the way: pick the
upper polyline in the 3D view (it should become dashed and have grips), select move,
pick anywhere, type @2000,0 (2nd point of displacement). Then click in the plan view
and REDRAW the view.
Decrease the width of the bar top to 400mm: select stretch, type c (for
crossing), create a selection rectangle around the left of the polyline (see figure), pick
anywhere, type @400,0.

Move the top back: pick the upper polyline in the 3D view (it should become dashed and
have grips), select move, pick anywhere, type @-2000,0 (2nd point of displacement).

Select extrude, pick the bar top polyline, press Enter, type 200, press Enter (taper = 0).
Select extrude again, pick the (left of the) outer polyline, press Enter, type 800, press
Enter (taper = 0).

That completes the bar object. Make it a block and save the block (using wblock) as
above. That completes the object creation exercise.
 FBE AutoCAD Page
This tutorial has been prepared for students studying:

ARCH7221 Computer Modelling and Rendering, and

ARCH5222 Computer Applications 1,

at the School of Architecture, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction
In this fourth tutorial, you will create an animation
"walk-through" of the two spaces created in the third tutorial. It should take about 60
minutes to complete.
Create a new directory by clicking with the right mouse button in your directory area (the right pane of
explorer), select 'New' from the menu and then select 'Folder' and type the folder's name. Once you've
logged-on, click on Explorer ("Exploring") on the task bar, change to your student
directory and create a directory called (for example) anim, this directory will be used to
store the individual frames of the animation you will create.

Double-click on your tutorial 3 drawing to start AutoCAD with that drawing.

Draw the "Paths"

Create a PATH layer and make it current.
Draw the Camera Path
In the plan view, use Zoom out, to put plenty of space around the rooms, then use
polyline to draw the camera path through the spaces. I suggest that this line starts 5 to 10
metres to the right of the spaces, goes through the door of the room on the right, through
the door into the other space and then stops before the "bottom" door. Make the polyline
out of only a few lines.

Select move, pick the camera-path line, press , pick anywhere, then type @0,0,1700 .
This moves the line up to eye height (vary this height if you wish).

Draw the "Target" Path Draw another polyline, starting about in the middle of
the "right most" door, and continuing through the space and out the "bottom" door. Make
sure that this line does not cross the first line - AutoCAD gets quite upset if the
movement paths cross!
 Select move , pick the camera-path line, press , pick
anywhere, then type @0,0,1500. This moves the line up to just below eye height (vary
this height if you wish).

Save the drawing!

This should only happen in a Network enviroonment. Before continuing, save your drawing by
clicking on the save icon.

If AutoCAD displays a "Drawing write protected" error, use File - Save As to save the
drawing, and then re-load the drawing, using File - Open. When loading your drawing,
be very careful to make sure that the "Read Only" option is not checked. If it is checked,
then you won't be able to create any animation files!

Rendering Preferences

Select Rendering Preferences from the AutoVision

toolbar (or type rpref). Under "Rendering Options", make sure "Shadows" is de-selected;
under "Destination" set "Sub Sampling" to 2:1; select OK. Once you've mastered the
basics of animation you can set the "Sub Sampling" to 1:1 - this will result in an
animation t hat takes longer to create, but is of better quality.
Create the Animation

Select Animation (or type animate). Select New, name

the animation (for example "test1"), select OK, select Camera Path, select Insert
Movement, press Enter, pick the camera path polyline, press Enter, pick the target path
polyline, select OK.
Remember to put the slash "/" at the end of the path. Select Options, you may want to change the
first four letters of the Name Template from ANIMXXXX to, for example, TESTXXXX.
Change Image File Directory to the animation directory you created in your account at
the beginning of the tutorial (for example: s:/arch/u1234567/anim/ ). Note that you can
vary the number of frames per second and the "Lens Length". Select OK.
You may want to switch to Explorer and check that the image files are being created in your animation
directory. Select Save Script, save the script in your account, use the same name as
the name you gave the animation (above).

Select Run Script and then sit back and relax while AutoCAD does its stuff... (it will take
up to 30 minutes).

If all the TGA images a 0 bytes (file size)

There should be a total of 31 images in the end!!
then press "F5" (function key 5) - this asks Explorer to check the directory again, if the
files are still 0 bytes then switch back to AutoCAD and then press the ESC key to cancel
the command (if the command is not already finished). Save the drawing using File -
Save As, and then re-load the drawing using File - Open. When loading your drawing, be
very careful to make sure that the "Read Only" option is not checked. If it is checked,
then you won't be able to create any animation files! Then try running the animation
script again.
This set should take about 3 minutes - watch the screen carefully to see that the process actually works!
Select File - Save As (save your drawing), and then select File - Exit;
alternatively minimise AutoCAD instead of exiting.

Click on the Start button on the task bar, then move the cursor to Programs then move
the cursor to "Graphic Applications" then select "TGA to FLC" type in the path to your
animation folder, for example: arch\u1234567\anim, you should use back slashes "\" and
not put a slash after "anim". This information is then passed to a DOS program, which
will create the animation file...

View the Animation Click on the Start button on the task bar, then move the
cursor to Programs then move the cursor to "Graphic Applications" then select "FLC
player", select File - Open Animation set the drive and directory, select the animation
file (anim.flc) and select Open. Select File - Anim Settings change the speed to 5 and
select OK. Finally select play, to view the animation.