TABLE OF CONTENTS Considering the complexity of AutoCAD, it s not surprising that many people who use it miss something important along the way. Many users had little training on the software before being expected to start producing useful work, and these users in turn have trained others based on what they figured out on their own. Even the most experienced AutoCAD users have likely forgotten some useful things they once knew.
This chapter is the result of the many questions I ve been asked by AutoCAD users over the years while teaching, training, consulting, and responding to e-mails and phone calls. Here I ll offer advice on using AutoCAD, with an emphasis on features and techniques that are often overlooked or forgotten by users. I ll include general design advice that applies to the use of any CAD system, providing my recommendations for universal standard practice in using AutoCAD, reviewing techniques and commands that apply to all releases of AutoCAD.
This chapter isn t meant to be a comprehensive review of AutoCAD many excellent books already provide that nor is it a replacement for learning how to use the software. What I ve selected here are items that people often overlook.
Design Standards
AutoCAD Best Practices
Feature Review (All Releases)
CAD software is used in so many fields of design that it would be impossible to develop extensive standards that apply to all of them. I ve trained people who use AutoCAD to design quilts, hearing aids, doll clothes, houses, barns, commercial buildings, M16s, submarine hatches, and the...
