The start and exit of AutoCAD

1.4.1 Start AutoCAD

First, we introduce how to enter the graphical interface of AutoCAD. Select the "AutoCAD 2000" package in the operating system "start" menu (WINDOWS95/98 or WindowsNT4.0) and select "AutoCAD 2000", and AutoCAD will display the Startup dialog box as shown in Figure 1-1.

Whenever you start a new diagram, either by using wizards, templates, or by default to create a new diagram, AutoCAD will name the new diagram "DRAWING1." DWG ". At this point, you can immediately start drawing graphics on this new diagram, and then use the Save or Save As command to save the new diagram as a graphics file in subsequent operations.

1.4.2 AutoCAD 2002 Interface

When you start the AutoCAD 2002 system, the main interface is shown in Figure 1-15.

The interface of AutoCAD 2002 consists of a title bar, a menu bar, a toolbar, a status bar, a drawing window, and a text window, among other parts:

(1) title bar: As with other standard Windows application interfaces, the title bar includes the control icon and the Maximize, minimize, and close buttons of the window, and displays the name of the application and the current graphic.

(2) Menu bar: Menu is a way to invoke commands. The menu bar organizes the menu items in a cascading hierarchy and displays them in the form below. The main menus in AutoCAD 2002 include:

(3) Toolbar: The toolbar is another way to invoke commands, and the toolbar allows you to visually and quickly access some commonly used commands. The AutoCAD 2002 system provides 26 kinds of toolbars, respectively:

(4) Status bar: The status bar is located at the bottom of the drawing screen, used to display coordinates, prompt information, and so on, but also provides a series of control buttons, including snap (capture), Grid (GRID), ORTHO (orthogonal), POLAR (polar), Osnap (object capture), "Otrack (object Tracking)", "LWT (line width) and" Model/paper (model/Drawing).

(5) Drawing window: the drawing window is the main place to display and draw graphics in AutoCAD. When you create a new graphic file in AutoCAD or open an existing graphic file, the corresponding drawing window is generated to display and edit its contents. Since the AutoCAD 2000 version to support multiple files, so in AutoCAD can have more than one graphics window.

Because you can often see only the local content of the graphic in the drawing window, the drawing window includes a vertical scroll bar and a horizontal scroll bar to change the viewing position.

In addition, the lower part of the drawing window also includes a model tab and multiple layout (Layout) tabs, which are used to display the model space and the drawing space of the graphic respectively.

(6) Text window: The text window provides a third way to invoke the command, which is to enter the command directly with the keyboard. The bottom of the text window is the command line, and the user can enter various commands at the prompt. The text window also displays hints and information about the AutoCAD commands, and can review and copy the history of the commands.

 注意 在AutoCAD主窗口中，除了标题栏、菜单栏和状态栏之外，其他各个组成部分都可以根据用户的喜好来任意改变其位置和形状。
　　说明
　　1.“CAD Standards（CAD标准）”和“Text（文字）”工具栏是AutoCAD 2002版新增的工具栏。
　　2. 在第一次运行AutoCAD 2002系统时，其菜单栏中还包括“Image”项，用于了解和下载AutoCAD Overlay产品。用户可选择“Remove this Menu”项删除该菜单。该项也是AutoCAD 2002新增项目。

1.4.3 Exit AutoCAD

Users can exit AutoCAD by following several methods.

• Directly click on the button in the upper-right corner of the AutoCAD main window

• Optional Menu "file" → "exit"

• Enter at the command line: Quit (or alias exit)

If the current graphics file is not saved when you exit AutoCAD, the prompt dialog box prompts the user to save or discard changes to the graphic before exiting AutoCAD. As shown in Figure 1-16.

This chapter mainly introduces the meaning of AutoCAD, the development process and the new features of AutoCAD 2000, 2000i and 2002 edition. With AutoCAD 2002 edition as an example, the installation, start-up and exit of AutoCAD system and the basic interface of AutoCAD system are introduced.