AutoCAD Reference

Drawing Primitives

• LINE (L)
• Polylines (PLINE creates a 2D polyline) (3DPOLY creates a 3D polyline, required by Raytrace II)
• CIRCLE (C)
• ARC
• Basic Text (TEXT)
• Multiline Text (MTEXT)
• 3DFACE 3D

Commands for Wireframe models

• SURFTAB1 & SURFTAB2 (Must type in these system variable names. These values set the resolutions used in the wireframe surface creation commands.)
• REVSURF (revolves a profile about a line)
• TABSURF (extrudes a profile along a line, which is called a "direction vector")
• RULESURF (creates a surface between 2 arbitrary curves in 3D)
• EDGESURF (creates a surface between 4 arbitrary curves in 3D, but the curves must be joined at their end points)

Editing

• COPY (C)
• ERASE (E)
• MOVE (M)
• ARRAY
• ROTATE (2D command, always rotates about the local Z axis)
• ROTATE3D (3D command)
• MIRROR (2D command)
• SCALE
• EXPLODE (X)
• STRETCH
• TRIM (TR)
• EXTEND (EX)
• PEDIT (editing a polyline) (PE)

Drawing Tools

• OSNAP (END, MID, CENTER, NEAREST, etc.)
• Absolute/Relative Coordinates (use the "@" symbol to specify relative coordinates)
• Ortho Mode (F8)

Tasks

• Drawing lines at angles (@10<12) makes a line 10 units long at a 12 degree angle.
• To set the UCS in a new view (UCS - V)
• Zoom Window (Z - W)
• Zoom All (Z - A)
• 3D view - (R14: View - 3D Viewpoint - SE Isometric) or (2000-2002: View - 3D Views - SE Isometric)
• Polyline Edit (PEDIT)
• Mirror about X axis (Mirror - 1st point (0,0), 2nd point (1,0)
• Mirror about Y axis (Mirror - 1st point (0,0), 2nd point (0,1)
• To import a lamp model (DXFIN)
• To set the resolution of extruded arcs using TABSURF (SURFTAB1)
• To terminate a command (ESC key)
• Various Osnaps: a. Endpoint (END) b. Midpoint (MID) c. Center of arc or circle (CEN) d. Intersection of 2 lines (INT)