Bryant / Langston / Aarhus Mastering AutoCAD

Level up your AutoCAD skills with advanced methods and tools, including AutoCAD Web and Trace
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-83763-924-3
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 458 Seiten

AutoCAD helps you communicate your design intent by plotting your designs to drawings, in both paper and electronic format. But using AutoCAD can be daunting, even for an experienced user who wants to get their designs into the AutoCAD native DWG file format.
Written by an Autodesk Certified Instructor at Platinum level with 30+ years of industry experience, this book will guide you on how to use new and existing AutoCAD tools to work smarter, not harder, and it will familiarize you with the processes needed to use AutoCAD much more effectively. As you work through the chapters, you'll get used to these new methodologies in AutoCAD and build up 'muscle memory' so that these skills become second nature. You'll also take advantage of the author's expertise and experience, learning some highly effective AutoCAD tips and tricks along the way.
By the end of this AutoCAD book, you'll have gained valuable insights into the knowledge needed to confidently prepare for your Autodesk AutoCAD certification.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bryant, Shaun

Langston, Jessica

Aarhus, Jeanne

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein

Leseproben

1

Customizing the AutoCAD Interface

AutoCAD is the world’s most well-known Computer-Aided Design (CAD) application. Globally used by architects, engineers, and designers, AutoCAD has been around for over 40 years. It has been the go-to CAD application for millions in that time, and the DWG file format is universally recognized.

This chapter looks at the AutoCAD interface and how it can be customized quickly and easily. With this customizability, you can make quick and easy changes to your AutoCAD interface to enhance productivity. You will also be able to work with different interface setups for different production environments.

By the end of the chapter, you will be able to work with your ribbon settings in AutoCAD, work effectively with the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), and be more knowledgeable about the AutoCAD CUI command.

This chapter covers some of the best practices associated with the AutoCAD user interface. We also look at the following topics in depth:

• Introducing the default AutoCAD interface settings
• The AutoCAD ribbon settings
• Using sticky panels
• Using the QAT effectively
• The AutoCAD CUI command

Technical requirements

Using AutoCAD will require you to have a licensed version of AutoCAD installed either on your desktop computer or your laptop. You will also require the following:

• A subscription (license) for AutoCAD. This will need to be the version of AutoCAD, not AutoCAD LT. Ideally, this will be the latest version of AutoCAD: AutoCAD 2026. You can use earlier versions, but it is suggested that you go no further back than AutoCAD 2022.
• In order to use AutoCAD with a subscription, you will need an Autodesk account. If you do not have one, you can set one up at https://accounts.autodesk.com/.
• This book covers AutoCAD 2026, running on the Microsoft Windows Operating System (OS). All figures and graphics are from AutoCAD 2024 and the Windows 11 OS. However, this book contains instructions for both Windows and Mac users. While comprehensive instructions have been provided for Windows users, special instructions relating to deviations in the Mac interface have also been provided within callout boxes.
• All the graphics and drawings for this book can be found here: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Mastering-AutoCAD.

Okay, let’s get into the chapter now!

Introducing the default AutoCAD interface settings

Before we jump into the rest of the chapter and learn about how to tweak AutoCAD’s UI for our benefit, let us familiarize ourselves with the default AutoCAD interface settings. These are known as workspaces. As an AutoCAD user, you will have more than likely already been using these workspaces without knowing it.

The following default workspaces are available in AutoCAD:

• Drafting & Annotation: The Drafting & Annotation workspace is used primarily for 2D drafting in AutoCAD. This is the most-used AutoCAD workspace.
• 3D Basics: The 3D Basics workspace is exactly what it says: a basic 3D interface that is used for 3D modeling. It is, however, a limited, cut-down 3D interface with only basic functionality.
• 3D Modeling: The 3D Modeling workspace is a comprehensive 3D workspace that includes all the 3D ribbon tabs, panels, and commands. It would normally be the 3D workspace that you would use for everyday 3D modeling.

  I have introduced you to these default workspaces now so that you can check where to find them and ascertain which workspace you are currently using. To check which workspace is being used, you can click on the fly-out arrow to the right of the gearwheel icon on the status bar,as shown in .

Figure 1.1: The gearwheel icon on the status bar

When clicking on the fly-out arrow, the Workspace menu appears. The preceding figure shows that the Drafting & Annotation workspace is the current one (as indicated by the checkmark next to it).

Make sure to check which workspace you are using, and for the purposes of this chapter, make sure to set the Drafting & Annotation workspace as current. We will go into workspaces in more depth in .

AutoCAD for Mac

Some of you might be using AutoCAD for Mac on an Apple computer that uses the macOS OS. The AutoCAD for Mac interface is decidedly different from the AutoCAD interface you would see when running it on Windows OS. Workspaces in AutoCAD for Mac work differently. You will find the Drafting and Modeling workspaces in AutoCAD for Mac at the top of the icon menu on the left-hand side of the screen, as shown in .

Figure 1.2: The Drafting and Modeling tabs in the AutoCAD for Mac interface

Now that you have an understanding of the AutoCAD interface, the next section introduces the AutoCAD ribbon and its settings.

Understanding the AutoCAD ribbon settings

The AutoCAD ribbon is a fundamental part of your AutoCAD interface. It provides you with ribbon tabs, each of which is occupied by ribbon panels, which incorporate most of the commands you need to operate AutoCAD effectively.

AutoCAD has four ribbon settings. These can sometimes inadvertently be activated, making you think you have broken AutoCAD somehow. You haven’t, trust me. It takes a lot to break AutoCAD nowadays!

The ribbon settings are activated by clicking on a small button on the top of the ribbon. If you blink, you might miss it, and many AutoCAD users do. It is one of those buttons that gets clicked on, and then you’re not sure how to get things back to what they looked like before.

If you check the top of your AutoCAD ribbon, you will see a small white rectangular button with an arrow on it. shows you where you will find it.

Figure 1.3: The ribbon settings button

Based on its size, you can understand why it gets missed easily, right? If you click on the button (not the fly-out arrow to the right of it), you will see the appearance of your ribbon change. Don’t panic. All you have done is change the appearance of the ribbon.

Each of the four settings displays the ribbon differently, giving you varying methods of utilizing the ribbon during your day-to-day AutoCAD work.

I’ll briefly explain how each setting works. The ribbon settings change based on whether you have clicked the ribbon settings button at the top of the ribbon and how many times you have clicked it consecutively:

• The default ribbon (no click required): This ribbon setting is set by default when you first start using AutoCAD. As you can see in , it provides a view of all the ribbon tabs, panels, and icons.

Figure 1.4: The default ribbon display

• Minimize to Panel Buttons (first click): After the first click of the ribbon settings button, you will set the ribbon to Panel Buttons. The ribbon tabs are still available, but each panel on its respective tab will now only display as a button, as shown in .

Figure 1.5: The ribbon display using Minimize to Panel Buttons

Upon clicking on any panel button, the selected ribbon panel will display, as shown in .

Figure 1.6: The Draw panel selected while using Minimize to Panel Buttons

The preceding figure shows the Home tab as current, and the Draw panel after the Draw panel button has been clicked.

As you can see, this ribbon setting reduces the footprint of the ribbon, providing more screen space for your AutoCAD drafting and modeling, by only displaying the panel selected by the panel button. If you move the cursor away from the selected panel, it will revert back to the panel buttons view.

• Minimize to Panel Titles (second click): After the second click of the ribbon settings button, you will set the ribbon to Panel Titles. The panels are now displayed with only their titles, thus reducing the ribbon footprint on your screen even more as seen in

Über Autor(innen)

Bryant Shaun :

Shaun Bryant is an Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI) at Platinum level with over 34 years of industry experience. 21 of these 34 years have been spent as a consultant, trainer, and instructor. Shaun is a world-class LinkedIn Learning instructor with over 60 courses in the LinkedIn Learning library and is also the owner and author of the reputable blog, Not Just CAD! Shaun has been an Autodesk University (AU) speaker since 2006 and is an AU Speaker Mentor. He was also the AutoCAD expert at the first AU London in the UK in 2017. Shaun is a member of the Autodesk Expert Elite program and an AutoCAD Influencer, and lives in East Yorkshire in the UK where he is the owner and director of the company CADFMconsultants Limited.