Autodesk AutoCAD AutoCAD - 2004 Instruction Manual

AutoCAD

®

User’s Guide

2004

00118-010000-5020A February 2003

This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.

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Autodesk, Inc., reserves the right to revise and improve its products as it sees fit. This publication describes the state of this product at the time of its publication, and may not reflect the product at all times in the future.

Autodesk Trademarks

The following are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries: 3D Props, 3D Studio, 3D Studio MAX, 3D Studio VIZ, 3DSurfer, ActiveShapes, ActiveShapes (logo), Actrix, ADI, AEC Authority (logo), AEC-X, Animator Pro, Animator Studio, ATC, AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Map, Autodesk, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk (logo), Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk University (logo), Autodesk WalkThrough, Autodesk World, AutoLISP, AutoSketch, Biped, bringing information down to earth, CAD Overlay, Character Studio, Cinepak, Cinepak (logo), Codec Central, Combustion, Design Your World, Design Your World (logo), Discreet, EditDV, Education by Design, gmax, Heidi, HOOPS, Hyperwire, i-drop, Inside Track, Kinetix, MaterialSpec, Mechanical Desktop, NAAUG, ObjectARX, PeopleTracker, Physique, Planix, Powered with Autodesk Technology (logo), RadioRay, Revit, Softdesk, Texture Universe, The AEC Authority, The Auto Architect, VISION, Visual, Visual Construction, Visual Drainage, Visual Hydro, Visual Landscape, Visual Roads, Visual Survey, Visual Toolbox, Visual TugBoat, Visual LISP, Volo, WHIP!, and WHIP! (logo).

The following are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries: 3ds max, AutoCAD Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD Learning Assistance, AutoCAD LT Learning Assistance, AutoCAD Simulator, AutoCAD SQL Extension, AutoCAD SQL Interface, Autodesk Envision, Autodesk Map, Autodesk Streamline, AutoSnap, AutoTrack, Built with ObjectARX (logo), Burn, Buzzsaw, Buzzsaw.com, Cinestream, Cleaner, Cleaner Central, ClearScale, Colour Warper, Content Explorer, Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, Design Doctor, Designer's Toolkit, DesignProf, DesignServer, Design Web Format, DWF, DWG Linking, DXF, Extending the Design Team, GDX Driver, gmax (logo), gmax ready (logo),Heads-up Design, IntroDV, jobnet, ObjectDBX, onscreen onair online, Plans & Specs, Plasma, PolarSnap, ProjectPoint, Reactor, Real-time Roto, Render Queue, Visual Bridge, Visual Syllabus, and Where Design Connects.

Autodesk Canada Inc. Trademarks

The following are registered trademarks of Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or Canada, and/or other countries: discreet, fire, flame, flint, flint RT, frost, glass, inferno, MountStone, riot, river, smoke, sparks, stone, stream, vapour, wire.

The following are trademarks of Autodesk Canada Inc., in the USA, Canada, and/or other countries: backburner, backdraft, Multi-Master Editing.

Third Party Trademarks

All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Third Party Software Program Credits

ACIS Copyright © 1989-2001 Spatial Corp. Portions Copyright © 2002 Autodesk, Inc. Copyright © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. International CorrectSpell™ Spelling Correction System © 1995 by Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V. All rights reserved. InstallShield™ 3.0. Copyright © 1997 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. PANTONE ® Colors displayed in the software application or in the user documentation may not match PANTONE-identified standards.

Consult current PANTONE Color Publications for accurate color. PANTONE ® and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of Pantone, Inc. © Pantone, Inc., 2002 Pantone, Inc. is the copyright owner of color data and/or software which are licensed to Autodesk, Inc., to distribute for use only in

combination with certain Autodesk software products. PANTONE Color Data and/or Software shall not be copied onto another disk or into memory unless as part of the execution of this Autodesk software product.

Portions Copyright © 1991-1996 Arthur D. Applegate. All rights reserved. Portions of this software are based on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. RAL DESIGN © RAL, Sankt Augustin, 2002 RAL CLASSIC © RAL, Sankt Augustin, 2002 Representation of the RAL Colors is done with the approval of RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. (RAL

German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification, re. Assoc.), D-53757 Sankt Augustin." Copyright © Stade de France - Macary, Zublena et Regembal, Costantini - Architectes, ADAGP - Paris - 2003 Typefaces from the Bitstream ® typeface library copyright 1992. Typefaces from Payne Loving Trust © 1996. All rights reserved.

GOVERNMENT USE

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 12.212 (Commercial Computer SoftwareRestricted Rights) and DFAR 227.7202 (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software), as applicable.

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You can easily install and configure AutoCAD on a stand-alone computer. Insert the product CD in the CD-ROM drive. Then in the AutoCAD CD Browser, on the Install tab, click Install. The Installation wizard leads you through the installation process. The AutoCAD CD Browser also provides instructions for network installations and access to information about technical support and licensing.

If you want more extensive information about installing a stand-alone version of AutoCAD, you can consult the Stand-Alone Installation Guide. To access this guide, in the AutoCAD CD Browser, after you click Install on the Install tab, click Stand-Alone Installation Guide (.pdf).

If you want more extensive information about deploying AutoCAD on a network, you can consult the Network Administrator's Guide. To access this guide, in the AutoCAD CD Browser, click the Network Deployment tab, and then click Network Administrator's Guide (.pdf).

Once the product is installed, you can access either the Stand-Alone Installa- tion Guide or the Network Administrator's Guide in the Help system.

Migration Tools

AutoCAD Migration Tools help you when upgrading to a new release of AutoCAD. You can download the Migration Tools from the Autodesk website in several languages. Available tools include

■ Layer State Converter

■ Batch Drawing Converter

■ AutoLISP Compatibility Analyzer

■ Menu and Toolbar Porter

■ Command Alias Porter

■ ScriptPro

After going to the Autodesk website, http://www.autodesk.com/migrationtools, perform a search on Migration Tools.

Note Because these are public tools, product support for them is limited to the

Autodesk discussion groups.

2 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

Use the Help System Efficiently

AutoCAD Help contains complete information about using AutoCAD. In the Help window, you use the left pane to locate information. The tabs above the left pane give you several ways for finding the topics you want to view. The right pane displays the topics you select.

Find Information in Help

The tabs on the left side of the Help window provide different methods for finding information. To locate a specific word or phrase in the current topic, use the CTRL+F keys.

Contents Tab

■ Presents an overview of the available documentation in a list of topics and

subtopics.

■ Allows you to browse by selecting and expanding topics.

■ Provides a structure so you can always see where you are in Help and

quickly jump to other topics.

Index Tab

■ Displays an alphabetical list of keywords related to the topics listed on the

Contents tab.

■ Accesses information quickly when you already know the name of a fea-

ture, command, or operation, or when you know what action you want AutoCAD to perform.

Search Tab

■ Provides full-text search of all the topics listed on the Contents tab.

■ Allows you to perform an exhaustive search for a specific word or phrase.

■ Displays a ranked list of topics that contain the word or words entered in

the keyword field.

Favorites Tab

■ Provides an area where you can save "bookmarks" to important topics.

■ Displays your list of favorite or often-used topics.

■ Lists any topic that is displayed in the right pane of the Help window,

even topics that are on the Web.

Use the Help System Efficiently | 3

Ask Me Tab

■ Allows you to find information using a question phrased in everyday

language.

■ Displays a ranked list of topics that correspond to the word or phrase

entered in the question field.

■ Provides a "Search the Web" link that sends a query to a search engine on

the Web.

To start Help

■ On the Help menu, click Help or Developer Help.

Note You can press F1 at the Command prompt, in a dialog box, or at a

prompt within a command to display Help information.

To use the Help Contents

1 If necessary, choose the Show button to display the left pane of the Help

window. Then choose the Contents tab to display Help Contents.

2 To expand the Help Contents list, use one of these methods:

■ Double-click a closed-book icon or click the + icon next to it.

■ Right-click in Help Contents and choose Open All.

3 To close the Help Contents list, use one of these methods:

■ Double-click an open-book icon or click the - icon next to it.

■ Right-click in Help Contents and choose Close All.

4 To view a topic, use one of these methods:

■ In Help Contents, click the topic.

■ Click any blue underlined text in a topic.

To use Favorites for storage and retrieval of Help topics

1 In the right pane of the Help window, display the topic that you want to

store.

2 Click the Favorites tab, and then click Add. 3 Do one of the following:

■ To redisplay the topic, select it in the Topics list and click Display.

■ To remove the topic from Favorites, select it in the Topics list and click

Remove.

4 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

Use Searches

A basic search using the Search tab consists of the word or phrase you want to find. The basic search rules are as follows:

■ Type your search in uppercase or lowercase characters; searches are not

case-sensitive.

■ Search for any combination of letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9).

■ Do not use punctuation marks such as the period, colon, semicolon,

comma, hyphen, and single quotation marks; they are ignored during a search.

■ Group the elements of your search using double quotation marks or

parentheses to set each element apart.

Note When you use the Search tab, all topics that contain the word or phrase

that you specify are listed. This includes the text in topic titles and labels, not just the topic text.

Use Advanced Search

Advanced full-text search on the Search tab allows you to search using Boolean operators and wild cards. You can limit the search to previous results, match similar words, or search topic titles only. When searching for multiword topics, use double quotation marks (" ") to enclose words that must appear next to each other in the specified sequence. For example, enter "specifying units of measurement" to find only topics with all those words in that order. If you don’t use the quotation marks around that text, Help finds all topics containing any one of the listed words, that is, all topics containing "specifying", all topics containing "units", all topics containing "of", and all topics containing "measurement".

With the AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR operators, you can precisely define your search by creating a relationship between search terms. The following table shows how you can use each of these operators. If no operator is specified, AND is used. For example, the query "spacing border printing" is equivalent to "spacing AND border AND printing".

Search for Example Results

Both terms in the same topic

Either term in a topic "raster" OR "vector" Topics containing either the word

"tree view" AND "palette"

Topics containing both the words "tree view" and "palette"

"raster" or the word "vector" or both

Use the Help System Efficiently | 5

Search for Example Results

The first term without the second term

Both terms in the same topic, close together

"ole" NOT "dde" Topics containing the word "OLE," but

not the word "DDE"

"user" NEAR "kernel" Topics containing the word "user"

within eight words of the word "kernel"

Note The |, &, and ! characters do not work as Boolean operators. You must

use AND, OR, and NOT.

To search for information in Help

1 Choose the Search tab and then enter the word or phrase you want to

find. To use Boolean operators to refine your search:

■ Click to add Boolean operators to your search.

■ Enter the word or phrase you want to appear after the Boolean

operator.

You can also use the check boxes at the bottom of the Search tab to further refine your search:

■ Search previous results. Refines a search by applying new search

criteria to the results of a previous search.

■ Match similar words. Expands the search to include words similar to

your search criteria, rather than limiting the search to exact matches.

■ Search titles only. Limits the search to topic titles, rather than search-

ing titles and topic contents.

2 Choose List Topics, select the topic you want, and then choose Display. 3 To sort the topic list, click the Title, Location, or Rank column heading.

To view only procedures, click the Title column heading and scroll down to the items that begin with the word “To.”

Use Ask Me

You can find information by typing a question phrased in everyday language. You can perform this natural language query in Help by choosing the Ask Me tab and entering a question, a word, or a phrase. For example, you could enter: How do I create a layout?

6 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

The results of natural language queries are often more accurate than the results of searches. Matching topics are ranked by percentages that reflect how likely they are to answer your questions.

You can also expand your natural language query to the Web.

To use natural language queries in Help

1 Choose the Ask Me tab, and then enter the question you want answered.

Alternatively, you can enter a phrase or a single word.

2 To narrow query results, select a particular item or set from the List of

Components to Search.

3 Click the link for the topic you want to display.

Note For hints on obtaining good query results, click the Query Tips link on

the Ask Me tab.

To expand your queries to the Web

Use this procedure if the results of a natural language query did not provide the information you needed.

1 Scroll to the bottom of the list of matching topics that resulted from your

query.

2 Click the Search the Web link at the bottom of the list.

A web search engine displays the results of your search.

Note For hints on obtaining good query results, click the Query Tips link on

the Ask Me tab.

Understand How Help Topics Are Organized

Most topics in the Help system have three tabs above the right pane of the Help window. The tabs display different types of information.

■ Concepts. Describes an AutoCAD feature or function. When you click a

concept tab, notice that the Help Contents list in the left pane of the Help window expands and highlights the current topic. The Contents tab displays the structure of the Help on that topic. You can easily display nearby topics by clicking them in the list.

Use the Help System Efficiently | 7

■ Procedures. Provides step-by-step instructions for common procedures

related to the current topic. After displaying a procedure, you can click the Procedures tab to redisplay the current list of procedures.

■ Reference. Lists commands and system variables related to the current

topic, with links to detailed descriptions of related commands. If you click an entry on the Reference tab, the Command Reference opens to the command or system variable that you selected.

When you click a different tab, the topic remains the same. Only the type of information displayed--concepts, procedures, or reference links--is different.

Concepts Tab Organization

In the Concepts tab, there are two types of information displayed: navigation text and destination text. Navigation text displays links with short descrip-

tions. The purpose of navigation text is to guide you step-by-step to the information that you need. The links on navigation pages lead to additional navigation pages deeper in the Help structure until you come to a destination page. Each link is designed to provide you with more detailed information.

Procedures Tab and Reference Tab Organization

As you navigate deeper into the Help structure, the corresponding information on the Procedures tab and on the Reference tab becomes more specific, and the number of entries displayed on each tab decreases.

To change the type of Help information displayed

■ Choose the Concepts, Procedures, or Reference tab to change the type of

information displayed in the right pane of the Help window.

Use the Up Arrow to Navigate Help Topics

An up arrow may be displayed in the upper right corner of a topic.

Click this arrow to move up a level from the current topic to a topic that contains a broader scope of information.

Print Help Topics

The quickest way to print the current topic is to right-click within the topic and choose Print.

The Print button on the Help toolbar provides these print options:

■ Print the selected topic (recommended)

■ Print the selected heading and all subtopics

8 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

Note When you select the second option, you may get numerous printed

pages, depending on how many subtopics the currently selected topic contains.

To print a Help topic

1 Display the topic you want to print. 2 Right-click in the topic pane and select Print. 3 In the Print dialog box, choose OK.

To print a selected heading and all subtopics

1 Display the topic you want to print and make sure that the Contents tab

is showing.

2 On the Help toolbar, choose the Print button. 3 In the Print Topics window, select Print a Selected Heading and All

Subtopics.

4 Choose OK.

Show and Hide the Contents Pane

You can shrink the Help window to a compact size by hiding the pane that contains Help Contents, Index, Search, Favorites, and Ask Me tabs. The compact window size is best for displaying procedures while you work.

You can expand the Help window to display the pane that contains Help Contents, Index, Search, Favorites, and Ask Me tabs. The expanded window size is best for locating and displaying conceptual and reference information.

Use the Help System Efficiently | 9

Get Additional Help

You can access several additional sources of help:

■ Press F1 from within a command, system variable, or dialog box. Dis-

plays complete information from the Command Reference.

■ Choose the question mark button in many dialog boxes. Displays a

description of the dialog box option you select.

■ View the product Readme topic in Help. Displays late-breaking informa-

tion about this product.

Other resources help you get information about Autodesk products and assistance with your AutoCAD questions.

■ Autodesk website. Access http://www.autodesk.com.

■ Local support. Check with your AutoCAD dealer or Autodesk country

office.

Use Active Assistance

The Active Assistance window provides a convenient portal to the Help system. During any command, Active Assistance displays links to the Command Reference and to procedures that are relevent to the current command.

You can type a question in the box at the top of the Active Assistance window and then click Ask. The Help system then displays a list of topics that are related to your question.

Often, the guidance you get from Active Assistance is just enough to get you started performing unfamiliar or rarely used tasks.

To display Active Assistance

■ From the Help menu, choose Active Assistance.

To navigate in Active Assistance

1 Right-click in the Active Assistance window to display the shortcut menu. 2 Choose Home, Back, or Forward to navigate in Active Assistance topics, as

you would in a web browser.

10 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

To control Active Assistance settings

1 Right-click in the Active Assistance window. 2 Choose Settings from the shortcut menu. 3 In the Active Assistance Settings dialog box, use the Show on Start check

box to determine whether you want Active Assistance to start automatically when you start AutoCAD.

■ Selecting Show on Start causes Active Assistance to start automatically.

■ Clearing Show on Start causes Active Assistance to start in an alterna-

tive manner. Select an alternative in the next step.

4 In the Active Assistance Settings dialog box, under Activation, select one

of these options to determine when you get Help from Active Assistance:

■ All commands. Active Assistance starts when you begin a command.

■ New and enhanced commands. Active Assistance starts when you

begin a command that is new or changed in this version of AutoCAD.

■ Dialogs only. Active Assistance starts when a dialog box is displayed.

■ On demand. Active Assistance starts when you choose Active Assis-

tance from the Help menu or enter

ASSIST on the command line.

5 Choose OK to close the Active Assistance Settings dialog box.

Note If you close Active Assistance, double-clicking the Active Assistance icon,

which is usually located in the system tray in the lower-right corner of your screen, reopens the window.

To print Active Assistance information

1 Display the information you want to print in the Active Assistance

window.

2 Right-click in the Active Assistance window. 3 Choose Print from the shortcut menu. 4 In the Print dialog box, choose OK.

To disable Active Assistance

1 Right-click the Assist icon located in your system tray in the bottom right-

hand corner of your display.

2 Choose Exit.

Use Active Assistance | 11

Learn the Product

Through Autodesk’s training programs, products, and services, you can learn about fundamental or advanced features, and about products.

For the latest information about Autodesk training, visit http:// www.autodesk.com or contact your local Autodesk office.

Autodesk Authorized Training Centers

The Autodesk Autodesk-authorized, instructor-led training to design professionals who use Autodesk software. More than 1,100 ATC sites are available worldwide to meet your needs for discipline-specific, locally based training.

Autodesk Official Training Courseware

Autodesk Official Training Courseware (AOTC) supports training organizations and customers. AOTC is authorized technical training material developed by Autodesk for traditional 2- to 5-day, instructor-led classroom training. You can purchase AOTC from your local reseller or distributor, or you can order it online from the Autodesk Store at autodesk.com.

Partner Products and Services

Autodesk works together with thousands of software partners around the world. These partners provide products and services that enhance Autodesk’s products for design professionals. Visit the “Partner Products & Services” page at autodesk.com for a list of resources available for your Autodesk product and your industry.

®

Authorized Training Center (ATC® ) network delivers

Obtain Documentation Updates

You can obtain product documentation updates from the Web. To check whether documentation updates are available, click on the link below.

Between releases of documentation updates, check here for interim documentation of known issues. You may find it helpful to add some of the interim updates to your Favorites tab for easy reference as you work.

■ Check for updates

12 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need

Receive Product Updates and Announcements

Overview of Communication Center

Communication Center provides the following kinds of announcements:

■ General Product Information. Stay informed about Autodesk company

news and product announcements; provide your feedback directly to Autodesk.

■ Product Support Information. Get breaking news from the Product Sup-

port team at Autodesk.

■ Subscription Information and Extension Announcements. Receive

announcements and subscription program news if you are an Autodesk subscription member (available in countries where Autodesk subscriptions are offered).

■ Articles and Tips. Be notified when new articles and tips are available on

Autodesk websites.

When you begin using your product, you use the Welcome wizard to set Communication Center for your country, and for the frequency you prefer for updates and the information channels you want displayed.

To open Communication Center, click the Communication Center icon in the tray on the right side of the status bar.

Receive Product Updates and Announcements | 13

Communication Center Online Privacy

Communication Center is an interactive feature that must be connected to the Internet to deliver content and information. Each time Communication Center is connected, it sends information to Autodesk so that the correct information can be returned. All information is sent anonymously to maintain your privacy.

The following information is sent to Autodesk:

■ Product Name. The name of the product in which you are using Commu-

nication Center

■ Product Release Number. The version of the product

■ Product Language. The language version of your product

■ Country. The country that was specified in the Communication Center

settings

Autodesk compiles statistics using the information sent from Communications Center to monitor how it is being used and how it can be improved. Autodesk will maintain information provided by or collected from you in accordance with Autodesk’s published privacy policy, which is available on http://www.autodesk.com/privacy.

Turn Communication Center On or Off

The CAD Manager Control utility turns Communication Center on and off. For example, if you want to prevent Communication Center from sending information to Autodesk, you can turn it off. Information about how to use the utility is available by installing and running the utility, and then clicking Help in the CAD Manager Control Utility window.

To install the utility, double-click setup.exe on the product CD. In the CD Browser, click the Network Deployment tab, and under Install Supplemental Tools, click Autodesk CAD Manager Tools 2.0. Under Autodesk CAD Manager Tools 2.0, click Install. After you install the CAD Manager Control utility, you access it from the Start menu (Windows).

Customize Program Update and Announcement Options

After installing your Autodesk product, you configure Communication Center with the Welcome wizard to specify the information you want sent to you.

■ Country. Specifies your country so that Communication Center can

provide information that is designed specifically for your location.

14 | Chapter 1 Find the Information You Need