Civil & Env. Engineering
Computer Lab
Tutorial 1 - Starting AutoCAD
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TUTORIAL 1: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3



Introduction
. In this first tutorial you will learn how to start AutoCAD, enter a command, save a drawing, and exit AutoCAD.
Starting AutoCAD
If AutoCAD is running inside a windowing environment (such as Win3.x, Win95/98/NT or OpenLook on the SUN graphics workstation), then it may not occupy the whole screen and will include a window bar across the top of the window. On a DOS-based PC, AutoCAD occupies the whole screen.

In a DOS environment you start AutoCAD by typing in a command word in the command line. In most cases the command word will be acad.

In a windowing environment (Win3.x or Win95/98/NT) the most common way to start AutoCAD is by double-clicking on the AutoCAD icon. The AutoCAD icon will probably be in an AutoCAD group. You can also start AutoCAD by using Run command and typing in the command word (probably acad). The Run command can be found in Program Manager, File menu if you're using Windows 3.x or in Start Menu if you're using Win95/98/NT. AutoCAD will take a few moments to load, so be patient.

Once AutoCAD has loaded, move the mouse around until you see a crosshair cursor. There are lots of AutoCAD Screen Layouts you might come across, depending on an operating system that AutoCAD is running inside, and the release of AutoCAD. Some of them are shown in Figures below.

Figure a) Screen Layout of the AutoCAD 13 for Win3.x/Win95.
Figure b) Screen Layout of the DOS-like AutoCAD.
Figure c) Screen Layout of the AutoCAD 14 for Windows 95.
Figure d) Layout of the AutoCAD Screen on the SUN SparcStations.
. No matter how many AutoCAD Screen Layouts you can encounter, all of them have a number of features which are in common. These are:
  1. The drawing (graphics) area - that's the area where you draw. The major portion of the AutoCAD window is assigned to this area.
  2. The standard drop-down (pull-down) menus. On a DOS-based PC they are hidden and show up, temporarily replacing the status area, only if the graphics cursor is moved into the status area. On other platforms, such as Win3.x, Win95/98/NT or OpenLook on the SUN graphics workstation, the pull-down menus are displayed permanently.
  3. The status area displays various items of status information (such as the current layer, current colour, coordinates of the last point entered, etc.). The status area is set above the drawing area in a DOS environment and at the bottom of the AutoCAD window in a windowing environment.
  4. The command area - this small area (by default) has space for three lines of text - this is where you type commands.
  5. The screen menu OR the toolbars. To the right of the DOS based AutoCAD screen is displayed the permanent screen menu. In Win based AutoCAD releases the screen menu is replaced by the toolbars (such as the standard windows toolbar below the menus, or Object Properties, Draw and Modify toolbars).
    However, a Screen Layout Customisation is also possible. It means that a windows-like Screen Layout can be turned into a DOS-like Screen Layout as shown in Figure b.

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