By:

Dr. S. SUMATHI
Introduction to CAD

• Creating engineering drawings using software

• Computer Aided Design
• Useful in all fields of Engineering (Mechanical, Civil,
Architectural, Electrical, Aerospace, Chemical,
Environmental etc.)
• The main purpose is to communicate to other engineers
• Famous one is AutoCad – Mainly used by Mechanical Eng.
• There are many others as well such Inventor, Solidworks,
Civil 3D, etc.
Properties of AutoCAD
Standard
Toolbar

Properties
Toolbar

UCS

Command
Bar Tracking Bar Cursor
Main Tracking

• SNAP- track distance for X & Y axis

• DYN – track the movements
• OSNAP- track the edges
• POLAR – track the angle
• ORTHO – straight line
• OTRACK – track changes by OSNAP
• DUCS – 3D drawing
• GRID- to have grids on
Always make sure

• This icons must be “ON”

• GRID
• DYN
• MODEL
Drawing Background Setting

• Click “new” above the “file”

• Sheet Sets
• Civil/Architectural Metric
• Click “format”
• Units
• Decimal
• Precision:0.00
• Units to scale: Centimeter
• Lighting: International
Drafting
• To set the drawing limits
• Click “format”
• Drawing limits
• A4 – start (0,0) end (29.7, 21.0)
• A3 – start (0,0) end (42.0, 29.7)
GRID Spacing

• To set the grid spacing

• Click “Tools”
• Drafting settings
• Snap & Grid
•Change grid spacing X & Y = 1.0
•Change snap spacing X & Y= 1.0
Basic command

• To delete
• Highlight and delete
• Use eraser, click the item to
delete, press enter
• To Undo
• “Ctrl Z” or “shift U enter”
• To drag drawing area
• Hold the scroll at mouse and drag
• To Zoom and back to original
position
• “Z” enter “A” enter
DRAWING LINES USING
AUTOCAD
Draw Lines

• To draw line use draw tool bar

• Go to “Draw”
• Click “line”
Cartesian Coordinate System

• To define the exact location of points in the

graphics AutoCAD uses “Cartesian
Coordinate System”
• (0,0) is the “ORIGIN POINT”
• Works with 2 axis, X-axis, Y-axis
• Lines drawn in 2 dimension has start and
end point coordinates
• Example : start (0,0)
Relative coordinates

• Autocad enters points based on the position

of a point that has already been defined
• Relative to the last point
• This is named as dynamic input
• Example
– Start at (2,2)
– (3,3)
– (1,5)
– esc
Absolute coordinates

• Autocad places the points according to

Cartesian coordinate system
• This is named as absolute input
• With DYN (on) use the #
• Example:
– Start at (2,2)
– #(7,3)
– #(10,6)
– #(4,7)
– esc.
Exercise 1

• Drawing a square
• Start point (1,1)
• (8,0)
• (0,8)
• (-8,0)
• (0,-8)
Exercise 2
• Start point (1,1)

(6,0)

(1,2)

(0,2)

(-3,0)

(-2,2)

(-1,0)

(-1,1)

Type C (Close)

return to original
Exercise 3

Draw this dimension using your own reference command

Exercise 4
2
0.5
Start 2,2 5

1
3
3
2
6
4

2
1 1

Draw the following figure using autocad drawing commands

Exercise 5
Polar coordinates

• Same as relative positioning but used for

angles
• Area surrounding is 360º
• Angles measured counterclockwise
• East is considered zero degree
• Uses “tab” not “comma” for coordinates
• Example;
- (2 tab 120°)
 Exercise 6

• Start point (1,1)

(6,0)

(2.25 tab 60)

(2 tab 120)

(3.5 tab 160)

(1.5 tab 90)

(1.5 tab 180)

Close (C)
Exercise 7

2
4 3
4 30

3
240 117

Starts at (2,2)
Practical 2
THANK
YOU