AutoCAD 2020 Beginners Guide by CADFolks (PME0013)

AutoCAD 2020 Beginners Guide

Preface

CAD is an abbreviation for Computer-Aided Design. It is the process used to design and draft components on your computer. This process includes creating designs and drawings of the product or system. AutoCAD is a CAD software package developed and marketed by Autodesk Inc. It can be used to create two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models of products. These models can be transferred to other computer programs for further analysis and testing. In addition, you can convert these computer models into numerical data. This numerical data can be used in manufacturing equipment such as machining centers, lathes, mills, or rapid prototyping machines to manufacture the product.

AutoCAD is one of the first CAD software packages. It was introduced in the year 1982. Since that time, it has become the industry leader among all CAD products. It is the most widely used CAD software. The commands and concepts introduced by AutoCAD are utilized by other systems. As a student, learning AutoCAD provides you with a greater advantage as compared to any other CAD software.

Scope of this Book

The AutoCAD 2020 Beginners Guide book provides a learn-by-doing approach for users to learn AutoCAD. It is written for students and engineers who are interested to learn AutoCAD 2020 for creating designs and drawing of components or anyone who communicates through technical drawings as part of their work. The topics covered in this book are as follows:

• Chapter 1, “Introduction to AutoCAD 2020”, gives an introduction to AutoCAD. The user interface and terminology are discussed in this chapter.
• Chapter 2, “Drawing Basics in AutoCAD”, explores the basic drawing tools in AutoCAD. You will create simple drawings using the drawing tools.
• Chapter 3, “Drawing Aids in AutoCAD”, explores the drawing settings that will assist you in creating drawings.
• Chapter 4, “Editing Tools in AutoCAD”, covers the tools required to modify drawing objects or create new objects using the existing ones.
• Chapter 5, “Multi View Drawings in AutoCAD”, teaches you to create multi view drawings standard projection techniques.
• Chapter 6, “Dimensions and Annotations in AutoCAD”, teaches you to apply dimensions and annotations to a drawing.
• Chapter 7, “Parametric Tools in AutoCAD”, teaches you to create parametric drawings. Parametric drawings are created by using the logical operations and parameters that control the shape and size of a drawing.
• Chapter 8, “Section Views in AutoCAD”, teaches you to create section views of a component. A section view is the inside view of a component when it is sliced.
• Chapter 9, “Blocks, Attributes and Xrefs in AutoCAD”, teaches you to create Blocks, Attributes and Xrefs. Blocks are group of objects in a drawing that can be reused. Attributes are notes, or values related to an object. Xrefs are drawing files attached to another drawing.
• Chapter 10, “Layouts and Annotative Objects in AutoCAD”, teaches you create layouts and annotative objects. Layouts are the digital counterparts of physical drawing sheets. Annotative objects are dimensions, notes and so on which their sizes with respect to drawing scale.
• Chapter 11, “Templates and Plotting in AutoCAD”, teaches you create drawing templates and plot drawings.
• Chapter 12, “3D Modeling Basics in AutoCAD”, explores the basic tools to create 3D models.
• Chapter 13, “Solid Editing & Generating 2D Views”, covers the tools required to edit solid models and create new objects by using the existing ones.