Introduction of Basic

AutoCAD 2000

Commands
 STANDARD DWG SIZES
Sizes are devised in such a way that each smaller size
is exactly half the size of the previous one e,g.
cutting an A2 sheet in half is equivalent to two A3
sheets. The standard drawing sizes are listed as
below :
A0 1189 x 841
A1 841 x 594
A2 594 x 420
A3 420 x 297
A4 297 x 210
A5 210 x 148
 DRAWING OBJECTS
 THE LINE COMMAND
 THE CONSTRUCTION LINE COMMAND
 THE RAY COMMAND
 THE POLYLINE COMMAND
 THE RECTANGLE COMMAND
 THE POLYGON COMMAND
 THE DONUT COMMAND
 THE CIRCLE COMMAND
 THE ARC COMMAND
 DRAWING OBJECTS
 THE ELLIPSE COMMAND
 THE SPLINE COMMAND
 THE POINT COMMAND
 THE MULTILINE COMMAND
 THE MULTILINE STYLE COMMAND
 MODIFYING OBJECTS
 THE ERASE COMMAND
 THE COPY COMMAND
 THE MIRROR COMMAND
 THE OFFSET COMMAND
 THE ARRAY COMMAND
 THE MOVE COMMAND
 THE ROTATE COMMAND
 THE SCALE COMMAND
 MODIFYING OBJECTS
 THE STRETCH COMMAND
 THE LENGTHEN COMMAND
 THE TRIM COMMAND
 THE EXTEND COMMAND
 THE BREAK COMMAND
 THE CHAMFER COMMAND
 THE FILLET COMMAND
 THE EXPLODE COMMAND
 THE ERASE COMMAND

PULL DOWN : MODIFY > ERASE

KEYBOARD : ERASE or E

The Erase command is one of the simplest

AutoCAD commands and is one of the most used.
The command erases (deletes) any selected object
(s) from the drawing.
Remember you can always get deleted objects
back by typing to UNDO.
 THE ERASE COMMAND
From the standard toolbar or by using the
OOPS command.

If you simply want to erase the last object

you created you can type L at the “selected
objects” prompt. The last object will be
highlighted and you can then select more
objects or press enter to end the command.
 THE COPY COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > COPY
KEYBOARD : COPY or CP

The Copy command can be used to create one or

more duplicates of any drawing object which you
have previously created.
Copy is a very useful and time saving command
because you can create very complex drawing
elements and then simply copy them
 THE COPY COMMAND
as many times as you like.

The multiple option allows you to create

additional copies of the selected object(s) by
picking as many new points as you like. To end a
multiple copy, just hit the enter key.
 THE MIRROR COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
MIRROR
KEYBOARD : MIRROR

The Mirror command allows you to mirror

selected objects in your drawing by picking
them and then defining the position of an
imaginary mirror line using two points. Notice
that in the command sequence above, pressing
the enter key when asked whether to
 THE MIRROR COMMAND
“delete old objects?” resulted in a “No” is the
default option. AutoCAD always shows the default
option within triangular brackets in this case
“<N>”. Many AutoCAD commands offer default
options.

They are usually the mostly commonly used

and you need only centre key to accept them.
 THE OFFSET COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
OFFSET
KEYBOARD : OFFSET

Offset is one of the most useful commands for

constructing drawings. The offset command
creates a new object parallel to or concentric
with a selected object. The new object is drawn
at a user defined distance (the offset) from the
original and in a direction
 THE OFFSET COMMAND
chosen by the user with a pick point. You can
offset lines, arcs, circles, ellipses, polylines,
xlines, rays and planar splines
 THE ARRAY COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
ARRAY
KEYBOARD : ARRAY

The Array command makes multiple copies of

selected objects in a rectangular matrix
(columns and rows) pattern.
 THE MOVE COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > MOVE
KEYBOARD : MOVE or M

The Move command works in a similar way to the

Copy command except that no copy is made,
instead the selected object(s) is simply moved
from one location to another.
 THE ROTATE COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > ROTATE
KEYBOARD : ROTATE or RO

The Rotate command allows an object or objects

to be rotated about a point selected by the user.
AutoCAD prompts for a second rotation point or
an angle which can be typed at the keyboard.
 THE SCALE COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > SCALE
KEYBOARD : SCALE

The scale command can be used to change the

size of an object or group of objects. For example
a scale factor of 2 will double the size of the
objects in the selection set and a factor of 0.5 will
half them.
 THE STRETCH COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > STRETCH
KEYBOARD : STRETCH

The Stretch command can be used to move one

or more vertices of an object whilst leaving the
rest of the object unchanged. To select vertices to
stretch, you must use a crossing window or
polygon.
THE LENGTHEN COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > LENGTHEN
KEYBOARD : LENGTHEN

The Lengthen command can often be used

instead of either the Trim or Extend commands.
Indeed the end result is exactly the same. The
lengthen command can be used to either
lengthen or shorten Lines, Arcs, open Polylines,
Elliptical arcs and open Splines without the use of
cutting or boundary edges.
 THE TRIM COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > TRIM
KEYBOARD : TRIM or TR

The Trim command can be used to trim a part of

an object. In order to trim an object you must
draw a second object which forms the “cutting
edge”. Cutting edges can be lines, xlines, rays,
polylines, circles, arcs or ellipses. Blocks and text
cannot be trimmed or used as a cutting edges.
 THE EXTEND COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
EXTEND
KEYBOARD : EXTEND

This command extends a line, polyline or arc to

meet another drawing object (known as the
boundary edge). Lines and other objects can be
extended in one of two directions. You can tell
AutoCAD in which direction to extend by picking
a point to the right or left of the midpoint
respectively.
 THE BREAK COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > BREAK
KEYBOARD : BREAK

The Break command enables you to break (remove

part of) an object by defining two break points. The
break command can be used with lines, polylines,
circles, arcs, ellipses, splines, xlines and rays.
When you break an object, you can either select the
object using the first break point and then pick the
second break point, or you can select the object
and then pick the two break points.
THE CHAMFER COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
CHAMFER
KEYBOARD : CHAMFER

The Chamfer command enables you to create

a chamfer between any two non-parallel lines.
Usually, the Chamfer command is used to set
the chamfer distances before drawing the
chamfer.
 THE FILLET COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > FILLET
KEYBOARD : FILLET

The Fillet command is a very useful tool which

allows you to draw an arc between two
intersecting lines. You first need to use the
command to set the required radius and then a
second time to select the two lines.
 THE EXPLODE COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY >
EXPLODE
KEYBOARD : EXPLODE

The Explode command is used to explode

single object back to their constituent parts. In
other words, the command is used to return
blocks, polylines etc (which may be composed
of a number of component objects) back to their
individual component parts. The change has no
visible effect.
 OBJECT PROPERTIES

 THE LAYER COMMAND

 CREATING A NEW LAYER
 SETTING COLOUR AND LINE TYPE “BYLAYER”
 SETTING THE COLOUR OF A LINE
 SETTING THE LINE TYPE OF A LAYER
 LOADING LINETYPES
 MAKING A LAYER - THE CURRENT LAYER
 CONTROLLING LAYER STATUS
 TURNING LAYERS ON AND OFF
 OBJECT PROPERTIES
 FREEZING AND THAWING LAYERS
 TURN OFF OR FREEZE
 LOCKING AND UNLOCKING LAYERS
 RENAMING A LAYER
 DELETING A LAYER
 PURGING LAYERS AND LINETYPES
 COLOURS
 LINETYPES
OBJECT PROPERTIES

 THE LINE TYPE COMMAND

 SETTING THE LINETYPE SCALE
 CHANGING OBJECT PROPERTIES
 THE PROPERTIES COMMAND
 THE MATCH PROPERTIES COMMAND
 EDITING WITH THE OBJECT PROPERTIES
TOOLBAR
 THE LAYER COMMAND
The most important object to understand is the layer
property. The concept of layer is very important in AutoCAD
and the correct use of layers can make your drawing much
easier to work with. When you start a new drawing,
AutoCAD has only one layer. This layer is special and is
called layer “0”(zero). Layer 0 is special because you
cannot change its name or delete it and it has certain
properties. By default layer 0 is assigned the color white
(color number 7) and the “Continuous” line type.
 CREATING A NEW LAYER
To create a new layer, click on Object properties
toolbar, the Layer and linetype properties dialogue box
appears. Click on the “New” button. A new layer called
“layer 1” is automatically created below layer “0” as
you can see from the illustration, the layer name is
automatically highlighted for you so that you can give
the layer a more meaningful name. When you have
entered an appropriate name press the enter key to
complete the operation.
 SETTING COLOUR AND
LINETYPE “BYLAYER”
AutoCAD offers two methods of setting the color and
linetype of a drawing object. First of all color and
linetype can be set ByLayer.

For example, if you draw a circle on a layer that

you have called “Detail” and you have set the colour of
detail to blue and the line type to dashed, then the circle
will be displayed in a dashed blue line. When an object
takes on the properties of its layer, the color and
linetype are said to be set “ByLayer”.
 SETTING COLOUR AND
LINETYPE “BYLAYER”
The second method AutoCAD offers is to set the colors
and line type by object.
For example, if you have drawn 100s of object on
the same layer and have set their colour to green. Later
in the drawing process you decide that these object
should, in fact be yellow. Thus for this change you have
to select each object one by one.
If you had set the objects color to ByLayer, you
would only have to change to the layer colour from
green to yellow and all the object would change.
 SETTING THE COLOUR OF A
LAYER
It is often convenient to set the layer color when the
layer is created, although this can be done at any
time. This layer colour can be changed as many
times as you like. You can select any of the 255
standard AutoCAD colour by picking on the colour
Palette or by entering the colour name or number in
the text edit box.
 SETTING THE LINETYPE OF A
LAYER
In the same way that you can also assign a color to a
layer you can also assign a linetype to a layer. By
default, layer have the “Continuous” linetype. Clicking
on the linetype name brings up the select Linetype
dialogue box. You will notice that the “Continuous”
linetype is the only one listed. That’s because all
linetypes, except “Continuous”, are stored in an
external file and have to be loaded before they can be
used.
 MAKING A LAYER THE
CURRENT LAYER
You can only draw on one layer at a time. In order to
draw on a particular layer you must first make it the
current layer. To set the current layer, select a layer
name from the list and then click on the “Current”
button and then click the “OK” button to finish. The
selected layer is now the current layer and it is
properties are displayed on the Object Properties
toolbar.
TURNING LAYERS ON AND OFF

You can turn layers off or on either by using the

Layer command, from the Object Properties toolbar
or you can more easily do it using the “Layer
Control” list, directly from the object properties
toolbar. In either case, all you have to do click on
the icon you wish to change objects on the layer
which is turn off are not displayed in the drawing
window and they will not be plotted.
 FREEZING AND THAWING
LAYERS
Freezing and thawing layers work exactly in the same
way as turning them off or on. By freezing a layer you
are effectively instructing AutoCAD to ignore the
objects on that layer when regenerating the drawing.
Objects on frozen layers are not displayed or plotted,
and AutoCAD spends no time calculating where to go.
Therefore by freezing layers you can increase the
ZOOM, PAN, VPOINT, REGEN, etc for complex
drawings.
TURN OFF OR FREEZE
Objects on layers that are recalculated during
regeneration, but simply not displayed. Layers
that are frozen are not recalculated during
regeneration and therefore REGENs and
object selection can be much faster because
there is less wok for AutoCAD to do. When a
frozen layer is thawed, however, regeneration
must be performed before objects on that
layers can be displayed.
 LOCKING AND UNLOCKING
LAYERS
Locking and unlocking layers when as far as turning
layers off and on and freezing and thawing them. Simply
click on lock icon to toggle and unlock layer so that it
becomes locked and click to reverse the process. You
cannot select or edit the objects on a locked layer,
however, the objects are still visible if the layer is on and
thawed. You can make a locked layer current, so you can
draw or a locked layer.
 RENAMING A LAYER
To rename a layer, start the layer by clicking on the
button on the object properties toolbar then click on the
“Details>>” button to pick the layer name you wish to
change from the list. Simply edit or retype the name in
the edit box and you will see the new change
simultaneously in the layer list. You cannot rename
layer “0”, the default layer, nor can you rename a 0
layer.
 DELETING A LAYER

To delete a layer, start the layer command, from the

object properties toolbar to open the layer and
linetype properties dialogue box. Click the name of
the layer to highlight it, click the “Delete” button and
the click “OK”
 PURGING LAYERS AND
LINETYPE
Layer and linetype definitions and to size of your
drawing because of they are kept in the drawing’s
database. It is therefore worthwhile purging layers
and linetypes that you are not using.
The purge command lets you delete many
types of unused definitions, including blocks,
dimension styles, layers and linetypes. You will find
the Purge Command on the pull down menu at File>
Drawing Utilities> Purge Options, there is no toolbar
button for this command.
 THE LINETYPE COMMAND
PULL DOWN : FORMAT > LINETYPE
KEYBOARD : LINETYPE

In a new drawing the only true line type available will be

the “Continuous” linetype. Before assigning any other
linetype, you must first load the linetype you may need. To
load linetype you must use the “Linetype” command. In
the layer and linetype properties dialogue box, click on the
“Load” button, this brings up the Load or Reload linetypes
dialogue box. Select the required linetypes from this
dialogue box and then click “OK”.
 SETTING THE LINETYPE
SCALE
In many cases the linetypes will display as we want
them. By default the linetype scale is set to 1.0, this
means that each linetype pattern will repeat every 1.0
drawing units.
To make the pattern appear larger, change the
scale to a larger number. Setting the linetype scale to
5.0, for example, causes the linetype pattern to
repeat every 5.0 drawing units so that the pattern will
appear 5 times larger.
 THE PROPERTIES COMMAND
PULL DOWN : MODIFY > PROPERTIES
KEYBOARD : DDCHPROP (multiple objects),
DDMODIFY (single objects)

When you start the properties command you are asked to

“Select objects”. If you select more than one object you will
be able to change only those properties which are common to
all objects, namely Colour, Layer, Linetype, Linetype Scale
and Thickness.