TABLE OF CONTENTS Before you can start to use AutoCAD 2008's new capabilities, you'll need to become familiar with the basics. If you're completely new to AutoCAD, you'll want to read this first chapter carefully. It introduces you to many of AutoCAD's basic operations, such as opening and closing files, getting a close-up look at part of a drawing, and changing a drawing. If you're familiar with earlier versions of AutoCAD, you should review this chapter anyway to get acquainted with features you haven't already used.
Autodesk has recently changed its AutoCAD update strategy to release new versions every year. Part of this strategy is to introduce new items that focus on a particular category of features. This latest version, AutoCAD 2008, includes several new features focused on 2D drafting. AutoCAD now sports a new tool panel called a dashboard which includes the most common tools needed to produce technical drawings of all types. The ability to setup the scale of drawings has been improved and there are more learning resources at your fingertips.
You'll get a chance to explore these new features in Part 4 as you work through this book; but for now, let's get started with some basics.
Topics in this chapter:
Using the AutoCAD Window
