AutoCAD Interface

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What is icy about model space is that it is boundless in size. This means you can draw anything on a one:1 scale, such as, a whole factory or country. Before you get drawing, check out which workspace you are in. There is a switch at the bottom of the screen. You will probably find yourself in the Drafting & Annotations workspace. They can switch by right-clicking on the arrow next to the switch. For example, you can switch to AutoCAD Classic, which takes you to the pre-ribbon AutoCAD interface that was introduced in AutoCAD 2009. In the event you watch some AutoCAD tutorials, it is going to be simpler to see what I am speaking about. You can also switch workspaces from the Rapid Access Gizmo Bar.
autocad student

The first thing you'll notice about the AutoCAD interface is the giant black space in the middle. It might have guidelines (that is lines across & up/down) enabled. This area is where you'll spend most of your time, & it is called the workspace or the graphic area. Formally it is known as model-space, & when you generate a brand new drawing, by default you find yourself in model space.

In older versions of AutoCAD, they also had the standard windows menu with Edit, View, & so on. Now these commands are obtainable from the Application button's menu.

In the top left corner of the screen they have the Application Button. Here they access the standard windows commands of New, Open, Save, Save As, as well as Publish, Search etc.
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Right on top of the screen is what is known as the ribbon bar. In the event you don't see it, click the tiny arrow to toggle it visible. They also have a few more view options: Minimize to tabs, Minimize to panel titles, Minimize to panel buttons. So you can change how the ribbon appears at the top of the screen, & change how much it takes up. Let's say your monitor is not so big; you will require to make the ribbon as tiny as feasible so you have more room to draw in model space.

This knowledge I am presenting here pertains to basic AutoCAD tutorials. The giant majority of the commands they use are available on the ribbon. They can add or remove tabs from the ribbon. The ribbon is categorized in to a variety of tabs. I can switch between the tabs with a simple left click on each tab. Each panel on the tab has its own gizmo set. If you are not positive what a gizmo does, hover the mouse over the gizmo for a gizmo tip, & hover a bit longer for the extended gizmo tip, which explains how the gizmo is used & provides an example. tooltip is very handy for the beginner AutoCAD student!

At the bottom of the gizmo tip they see that pressing F1, while the tooltip is active, takes us to the AutoCAD help files for more detailed support.

In the event you don't see the gizmo tip, go to Options, Display tab, & check Show Gizmo Tips. They also have sub options checked-Show shortcut keys in gizmo tips & Show extended gizmo tips. These are useful when you are beginning out, but as you get more skilful you won't require the extended gizmo tips. They select the number of seconds delay before the extended tooltip flies out. (By default you require to wait seconds).

autocad student