BAHRIA UNIVERSITY KARACHI CAMPUS
Department of Electrical Engineering
AUTOCAD
LAB # 02
The Drawing Commands
Objectives
To learn about AutoCAD commands
Using different co-ordinates for different purposes
Drawing objects using basic AutoCAD drawing commands
AutoCAD allows you to have access to a large number of commands. A general rule is that you
will use 20% of the commands 80% of the time. We will start by introduction of the most
common drawing commands. When you combine these with the basic modify commands, you
will be able to make elaborate drawings quite quickly.
The important thing to remember is that AutoCAD will expect you give it information in a very
particular order. The most frustrating thing when you begin using this program is that you will
try to do something, but AutoCAD will 'not work'. In most cases, it means that you are trying to
input information at the wrong time. This is why it is very important to be in the habit of looking
at the command line.
Our first drawing assignment is the use of drawing commands in conjunction with the co-
ordinate system. This is a basic assignment, but it is very important to understand how to give
the program accurate information. Make sure you are comfortable with the co-ordinate system as
explained in Lab 1. In this lab we will learn that how to use the line, circle, rectangle, ellipse,
polygon and polyline command. The commands, their icons and shortcuts are given below in the
table.
Command Shortcut Icon Description
Lin L Draw a line using absolute, relative or polar co-ordinates
e
circle c Draw a circle with a center and radius
Rectangle rec Draw a rectangle with width and hight
Ellipse el Creates an ellipse using a specific center point and radius
Polygon pol Creates a polygon with desired number of sides
Pline pl Draw a 2D polyline
(Some basic drawing commands and their shortcuts)
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Starting with a New Drawing
Start AutoCAD and a new drawing by pressing the Application Button (top left corner) and
pressing the new button to reveal the flyout. Once you see the flyout, click on Drawing.
You will see a dialog box open that asks you to select a template drawing to use (as shown
below):
Select the "acad.dwt" template file and press the Open button to continue to the drawing screen.
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Once there, type in Z <ENTER> E <ENTER> this will zoom into to the extents of the drawing
area and make it easier to see what you are drawing (NOTE: nothing will appear to happen).
Exercise 1
Drawing a 2x2 Rectangle using Absolute Co-ordinates
The first task is to draw a 2x2 rectangle using line command and absolute co-ordinates which we
have covered in lab 1.
1. Start the LINE command by clicking on the icon or by typing line in the command
line.
2. Input the co-ordinates in the command line (1, 1 to 3, 1 to 3, 3 to 1, 3 to 1, 1).
3. Your command history (F2 key) should look like this:
Command: L LINE Specify first point: 1,1
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 3,1
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 3,3
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 1,3
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 1,1
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: <ENTER>
For the last line, you can either type in 1, 1 or C to close the line back to the first point you
entered.
Exercise 2
Drawing a 3x3 Rectangle using Relative Co-ordinates
Now draw a similar box of dimensions 3x3 using relative co-ordinates. Start the LINE command
and begin at point 4,1. From there draw a line two units to the right by typing @3,0 (this means 3
units in the X direction, 0 units in the Y direction based on the last point you entered). Next
type @0,3 then @-3,0 then @0,-3 to finish the box. (Remember to press enter after each point)
Now your command history will look like this:
Command: L LINE Specify first point: 4,1
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @3,0
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @0,3
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @-3,0
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @0,-3
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: <ENTER>
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Exercise 3
Drawing a Diamond using Polar co-ordinates
Now we are going to draw a diamond type box using polar co-ordinate input. Start
the LINE command and begin at point 8,2 then type @1<45 to draw the first line. Next
enter @1<135 then @1<225 then @1<315 (or C to close). What we have just done is drawn a
line 1 unit long at 45o, then another at 135o and so on.
The command history will now look like this.
Command: L LINE Specify first point: @1<45
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @1<135
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @1<225
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: @1<315
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: <ENTER>
Exercise 4
Drawing a Circle in AutoCAD
Start the CIRCLE command and add a circle that has a center point at 11,3 with a radius of 1.
Follow the following steps:
Command: c <enter>
CIRCLE Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan
radius)]: 11,3
Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]: 1
Exercise 5
Drawing an ellipse using ellipse command
Now draw an ellipse using ellipse command. Follow the following steps:
Click on ellipse or type ellipse in command window. The command History will look like this.
Command: ellipse <enter>
Specify axis endpoint of ellipse or [Arc/Center]: 11,5
Specify other endpoint of axis: 11,7
Specify distance to other axis or [Rotation]: 3
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Exercise 6
Using the Polygone command
A polygon is a regular shape width different number of sides inscribed or circumscribed by a
circle with some radius. In a polygon all sides have same length and the interior angles of all the
sides are also same.
When you draw a polygon in AutoCAD then AutoCAD first ask you the number of sides, then
center point of polygon, then inscribed or circumscribed circle and finally the radius of polygon.
Try the following commands.
Command: pol
POLYGON Enter number of sides <4>: 6
Specify center of polygon or [Edge]: 6.5,6.5
Enter an option[Inscribed in circle/Circumscribed about circle] <I>: i
Specify radius of circle: 1
Exercise 7
Using the Polyline command
A 2D polyline is a connected sequence of segments created as a single planar object. You can
create straight line segments, arc segments, or a combination of the two.
Start by entering your first point, then (with Ortho or Polar on) move your cursor to the right and
type 3 <ENTER>then A <ENTER> for arc and move your cursor up and
type 1.5 <ENTER> then type L <ENTER> (to go back to straight lines) and more your cursor
to the left and type 3 <ENTER> then back to arc (A <ENTER>) and then type CL to close the
polyline.
Command: PLINE <enter>
Specify start point: 1.5,5
Current line-width is 0.0000
Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: 3
Specify next point or
[Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: A Specify
endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second
pt/Undo/Width]: 1.5
Specify endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second
pt/Undo/Width]: L
Specify next point or
[Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: 3
Specify next point or
[Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: A
Specify endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second
pt/Undo/Width]: CL
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Exercise 8
Using the Rectangle command
Finally we will use rectangle command. Let finish the drawing, by putting a 15"x8" border
around the all the drawing starting at 0,0 using following commands.
Command: rec
RECTANG
Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: 0,0
Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: @15,8
We can also draw the rectangle using polar, absolute or relative co-ordinates. Use of polyline is
also a good option for drawing rectangles and triangles as well.
At the end your drawing will be looking like this one.
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LAB EXERCISE
1) Draw the following figure in AutoCAD using polar, absolute and relative
coordinates and enclose your drawing in a 10x7 rectangle starting form (0, 0)?
(Task 1)
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2) Use polyline command to reproduce the following drawing. Try to make it a single
object, i,e; do not break the poly line?
(Task 2)
3) Use the drawing commands to draw the given shape?
(Task 3)
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