Eight commands to make you a CAD expert

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Eight commands to help you become a CAD expert: I. Drawing basic graphic objects 1. Several commonly used basic commands 1.1. Mouse operations: Usually, the left button is used for selection, while the right button is used to confirm actions, similar to the “Enter” key. If it is a 3D mouse, the scroll button is used for zooming. The drag operation involves holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse. However, dragging from left to right and from right to left when selecting a window is different. Window selection: Drag from left to right to select objects within the solid-colored box; Box selection: Drag from right to left to select objects within the dashed-colored box as well as those that are intersecting. 1.2, Esc to cancel: While a command is being executed, pressing the Esc key can terminate that command. 　 1.3, Undoing actions: AutoCAD supports unlimited undo operations; click the Undo button or type ‘u’ and press Enter. 　 1.4 In AutoCAD, the space bar and the right mouse button function similarly to the Enter key; both are used to confirm commands and are frequently utilized. 　 1.5. Regularly check the prompts in the command area and follow the instructions given. 2. Several operations for drawing graphics. This is CAD’s drawing toolbar; it is often not needed when performing 3D quantity calculations, so this toolbar has been hidden. To understand the CAD concept, the following are some basic commands. 　 2.1 Drawing a line: Click the line command on the toolbar or type L in the command line and press Enter. Click a point in the drawing area or enter the coordinate directly, press Enter, then specify the next point, press Enter, repeat for additional points, or press Enter to finish the operation. Or enter C to close. Example: To draw the three sides of a triangle: Enter ‘L’ in the command line and press Enter; to specify the first point, click on a point and then press Enter. Click another point repeatedly, then press Enter. Enter: C, then Enter. The lines close together to form a triangle. 2.2 Drawing polylines: A polyline is a special type of line formed by one or more straight line segments and arcs connected together, and it can also have different widths. Shortcut: PL. It is commonly used in 3D quantity calculation to define irregular cross-sections, hand-drawn walls, beams, etc. Example: To draw an irregular column section, enter PL in the command line and press Enter. Specify the next point, enter w (width), enter 1, and press Enter to change the width of the polyline to 1. Enter the shortcut key F8 to use CAD’s ortho function, keep the line horizontal, and enter: 500. Input: A to start drawing an arc; click another point to draw an arc. Input: L, switch to drawing a straight line; click a point to draw a segment of straight line. Input: A, draw an arc that closes with the starting point to form a boundary shape. Next, you can define a column with an irregular cross-section by selecting that polyline. II. Modification of graphic objects: Since 3D quantity calculation software has simplified the drawing functions to suit the needs of quantity calculation, it is not necessary to know many drawing commands; however, modification commands are used quite frequently. Commonly used methods include: 1. Delete: It follows Windows conventions, and the Del key is the most convenient option. 　 2. Copy: It involves copying one or more objects to a specified location, and it is also possible to copy an object multiple times in a row. Shortcut: CP. Example: Copy columns. Click or type CP to select a column; press Enter or right-click to specify the base point, then use CAD’s snap function to click on the center point of the column and right-click. Enter 1000, then press Enter. One column was copied successfully. After selecting the object, click M as prompted to duplicate it multiple times. 　 3. Move: Shortcut key: M. The operation is the same as “copy”. The difference from the copy function is that copying creates an additional object, while moving only changes the position of the object. 　 4. Trimming: Shortcut key: TR. Unwanted parts can be cut out according to the specified boundaries. Click the trim tool or type TR; a prompt will appear asking you to select an object. Choose the boundary object, right-click, another prompt will appear asking you to select an object – left-click to select the part that is not needed for the cut, then right-click and confirm. 　 5. Extension: Shortcut key: EX. Used to extend an object precisely to the target boundary. The operation is the same as cutting. The characteristic of these two commands is that they both first select the target boundary object, and then select the object to be modified. 　 III. Object Capture: When drawing, it is difficult to achieve precise control using only the mouse and eyes; the capture function in CAD can effectively help address this issue. Object snap is a transparent command, which means it can be used simultaneously without having to exit other operations. The snap command can be used when drawing lines and other shapes. 1. Object snap settings are located at the bottom of the software interface; right-click on Object Snap, then left-click on Settings. Once the dialog box appears, you can configure each desired snap method one by one. 　 IV. Orthogonal Mode: The orthogonal mode is one of the commonly used tools for drawing; the shortcut key is F8. You can use F8 to test while drawing a line. 　 V. Layer Modes: Layers are like sheets of transparent vellum; to manage all objects more effectively, different types of objects such as walls, columns, beams, etc., are drawn on each layer. To avoid overly complex graphics and incorrect selections. It is possible to first draw out the one that does not need to be viewed, which is equivalent to turning it off. It is also possible to lock, freeze it, or set different colors, and so on. Keyboard shortcut: LA 6. View zoom commands: 1. Real-time panning: Keyboard shortcut: P. Click or type P and press Enter, or use the scroll button on a 3D mouse; the mouse will turn into a hand-shaped icon. Press the left mouse button and drag to pan the graphic. 　 2. Real-time zooming: Real-time zooming can be achieved by using the scroll button of a 3D mouse. You can also click to move the mouse back and forth for real-time zooming. 　 3. Window scaling: Click on Window Scaling, then hold down the left mouse button and drag to select the area that needs to be scaled. 4. Zoom to previous: Click to restore the view to the previously zoomed level. 　 5. Range scaling: Click to display all graphics on the screen, filling it as much as possible.