getting off first base

continued from here: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30985

 

Thank you Remark and Strix for your help. Here is my problem....I have limited access to resources and I am trying to learn Autocad2009 from a trial copy, which means I now have 28 days to learn what I can. Its a long story but I use to be a structural draftsman during the days of paper and pencil...now I need to learn it for a job. At the moment I need to understand some basics, eG: what are the numbers that are constantly changing below the command line? do you need to enter commands or can you create the same affect with the mouse executing the icon displayed utilities? Can you access a list of commands within the software? I know my questions are very basic and I apologize for my ignorance but any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated...if I could use you for a resource...provided that you are willing that would be great..I'll understand if you don't wish to participate.

 

Best Regards...........John

Run, don't walk, to the book store and pick up an AutoCAD for Dummies book, or any others that offer a step by step (tutorial)approach to learning the program. I would avoid the reference type books that cover everything in the program but not in a tutorial manner.

Applying AutoCAD 2008 by Terry Wohlers is a great book by a great author and teacher.

The constantly changing numbers are your x,y,z coordinations.

You can activate command with your mouse by clicking on the the buttons on the available tool bars or with your keyboard by entering commands like 'm' for move 'c' for circle 'L' for line and thousands of other.

I must admit I started out with a CAD book, it was a good book and it helped me allot, but I didn't know about this site so I was always stuck with problems! so don't hesitate to ask.

 

Don't run to hard it'll hurt more when you fall down.

Lets break those last few questions up

 

what are the numbers that are constantly changing below the command line?

 

They are displaying the current coordinates of the cursor, often in Scientific form as the character counts can get rather hairy. Set your snap to 1 unit increments and you'll see.

 

do you need to enter commands or can you create the same affect with the mouse executing the icon displayed utilities?

 

Simple answer, yes. Because of the way AutoCAD has grown over the years it has probably the single most versatile interface available today. Even with some of the major interface changes for 2009 you'll usually find 2-3 ways to activate any command.

 

Can you access a list of commands within the software?

F1 for the Help file. Click the contents tab then expand the following items AutoCAD Help->Command Reference->Commands The will display the alphabetical grouping of all commands.

 

You should also check out some of the Tutorials available here as well. You may feel discouraged at first working on such simple objects when you know you could draw them by hand in mere minutes, but obtaining a solid base understanding of the simple commands is crucial for reaching and possibly even surpassing your conventional skills.

learning the keyboard shortcuts such as M for move are well known to be the quickest method of draughting once you've learned them all - similar to learning to touch type really, but command line entry of commands or clicking toolbar buttons is probably an easier way to learn from scratch

 

I've never learned keyboard shortcut methods as I tend to establish the repetitive tasks for a given job then construct my own single toolbar and button macros for those and park it within the drawing area, so I can work with just the mouse and with minimal movement - but most of my jobs have been editing existing drawings rather than draughting from scratch

 

each to their own I suppose