AutoCAD LT 2013 User's Guide January 2012 © 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose. Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. 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Contents Chapter 1 Get Information . 1 Find the Information You Need . 1 Access and Search the Product Help . 1 Learn the Product . 2 View the Product Readme . 3 Join the Customer Involvement Program . 3 Join the Customer Involvement Program . 4 Get Information from Drawings . 4 Obtain General Drawing Information . 4 Chapter 2 The User Interface . 7 Start a Command . 7 Parts of the User Interface . 7 The Menu Bar . 8 The Tool Sets Palette . 8 The Command Line . 10 Overview of Using the Command Line . 10 Enter Commands on the Command Line . 11 Enter System Variables on the Command Line . 13 Switch Between Dialog Boxes and the Command Line . 14 View and Edit Within the Command History . 14 Work with Shortcut Menus . 15 iii About Keyboard Shortcuts . 16 Control the Drawing Area Interface . 22 Interface Themes and Background Color . 22 Interface Themes and Background Color . 22 Cursors in the Drawing Area . 23 Selection Style . 23 The UCS Icon . 24 The Coordinates Display . 25 Model Space and Layouts . 25 Control Status, Layers, Properties, and Content . 26 The Status Bar . 26 The Status Bar . 27 The Layers Palette . 27 The Layers Palette . 29 The Properties Inspector . 30 The Content Palette . 31 Customize the Drawing Environment . 32 Set Interface Options . 32 Set Up the Drawing Area . 32 Specify the Behavior of Palettes . 33 Performance Tuning . 34 Customize Startup . 34 Chapter 3 Start and Save Drawings . 37 Start a Drawing . 37 Overview of Starting a New Drawing . 37 Specify Units and Unit Formats . 38 Determine the Units of Measurement . 38 Set the Unit Format Conventions . 39 Use a Drawing Template File . 40 Add Identifying Information to Drawings . 41 Open or Save a Drawing . 41 Open a Drawing . 41 Work with Multiple Open Drawings . 44 Preview Open Drawings and Layouts . 44 Switch Between Open Drawings . 45 Switch Between Layouts in the Current Drawing . 45 Transfer Information between Open Drawings . 45 Save a Drawing . 46 Find a Drawing File . 49 Specify Search Paths and File Locations . 49 Repair, Restore, or Recover Drawing Files . 50 Repair a Damaged Drawing File . 50 Create and Restore Backup Files . 52 Recover from a System Failure . 53 iv | Contents Chapter 4 Control the Drawing Views . 55 Change Views . 55 Pan or Zoom a View . 55 Save and Restore Views . 57 Control the 3D Projection Style . 58 Define a Parallel Projection . 58 Choose Preset 3D Views . 59 Define a 3D View with Coordinate Values or Angles . 59 Change to a View of the XY Plane . 60 Hide Lines or Shade 3D Objects . 60 Hide Lines in 3D Objects . 60 Add Simple Shading to 3D Objects . 61 Display Multiple Views in Model Space . 63 Set Model Space Viewports . 63 Select and Use the Current Viewport . 65 Save and Restore Model Layout Viewport Arrangements . 65 Chapter 5 Organize Drawings and Layouts . 67 Create Single-View Drawings (Model Space) . 67 Quick Start for Model Space Drafting . 67 Draw, Scale, and Annotate in Model Space . 68 Create Multiple-View Drawing Layouts (Paper Space) . 71 Quick Start for Layouts . 71 Understand the Layout Process . 71 Work with Model Space and Paper Space . 72 Work in Model Space . 73 Work on a Named Layout . 73 Access Model Space from a Layout Viewport . 74 Create and Modify Layout Viewports . 75 Control Views in Layout Viewports . 76 Scale Views in Layout Viewports . 77 Control Visibility in Layout Viewports . 78 Scale Linetypes in Layout Viewports . 81 Align Views in Layout Viewports . 81 Rotate Views in Layout Viewports . 82 Reuse Layouts and Layout Settings . 83 Work with Layouts in a Project . 84 Quick Start for Projects . 84 Understand the Project Manager Interface . 85 Create and Manage a Project . 86 Create a Project . 87 Create and Modify Layouts in a Project . 89 Work with Views on Layouts . 91 Organize a Project with Groups . 91 Contents | v Include Information with Projects, Groups, Layouts, and Views . 92 Publish Layouts and Projects . 93 Use Projects in a Team . 94 Use Projects in a Multiple Operating System Environment . 96 Chapter 6 Create and Modify Objects . 99 Control the Properties of Objects . 99 Work with Object Properties . 99 Overview of Object Properties . 99 Display and Change the Properties of Objects . 100 Copy Properties Between Objects . 101 Work with Layers . 101 Overview of Layers . 101 Use Layers to Manage Complexity . 102 Create and Name Layers . 105 Change Layer Settings and Layer Properties . 106 Override Layer Properties in Viewports . 107 Group and Sort the List of Layers . 109 Reconcile New Layers . 113 Work with Layer States . 113 Work with Colors . 116 Set the Current Color . 116 Change the Color of an Object . 117 Use Color Books . 118 Work with Linetypes . 119 Overview of Linetypes . ..