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Workflow Processes:

• AutoCAD Interface and Concepts

  To begin working with AutoCAD, it is important to have an understanding of the program interface and how to use the different areas in it.

• Start and Save a Drawing

  The following process describes:

  How to create new drawings.
  How to open drawings.
  How to save drawings.
  How to create drawing templates.
  How to use the utilities to repair, restore, and purge drawings.

• Draw Model

  This process shows the general steps to create the model geometry in a drawing. The tasks explain how to create the most common CAD objects including points, lines, arcs, circles, and polylines.

• Edit Drawing

  The tasks in this process explain how to use the most common editing functionality in AutoCAD.

• Annotate Drawing

  The tasks and steps in this process describe how to create, configure, and use some of the most common annotation objects in AutoCAD. Generally use single-line or multi-line text for notes and labels; tables to layout data in tabular format; dimensions for object dimensioning; hatch for hatches, gradients, and fills; leader or multileader for leaders; blocks and attributed blocks for title blocks and assigning additional attributes to objects in the drawing (refer to the Working with Blocks process for more on this).

• Work with Blocks

  A block is essentially a collection of objects in the drawing that have been grouped together and can be reused in the drawing you are working on or for other drawings. For example, furniture elements for a floor plan or a section detail and specifications for a concrete footing. In this process you will find the tasks and steps to create and use blocks for your drawings.

  To better understand blocks and their behaviors, it is also important to understand how they are stored and referenced in a drawing. Every drawing has an invisible data area called the block definition table. The block definition table stores all block definitions, which consist of all information associated with the block. It is these block definitions that are referenced when you insert blocks in the drawing. Because a link is established between the block reference and the block definition, if a block definition is changed, all references are updated automatically.

• Share and Collaborate on the Design

  The tasks and steps in this process describe the use of several tools in AutoCAD that can help you coordinate your work with others whether by referencing their drawings for your work or by extracting data from your drawing.

• Publish the Drawing

  The tasks and steps in this process describe how to publish your drawing. The term publish encompasses printing, plotting, and other electronic delivery mechanisms. In this process, a layout representing a drawing sheet will be created. Then, a title block and viewports (views of the model space) will be added to develop the sheet which will be published.