FINKELSTEIN
If AutoCAD 2002 can do it, you can do it too . . .
Packed with practical, real-world examples and authoritative advice, the AutoCAD 2002 Bible is your complete
guide to the best AutoCAD yet. Expert author Ellen Finkelstein shows you how to master every aspect of this
powerful design software, from 2D drawing and plotting fundamentals to database interactions, VBA and
AutoLISP programming, Internet collaboration, and more.
Inside, you’ll find complete
coverage of AutoCAD 2002
• Discover the latest techniques for creating high-quality drawings
• Master precision tools for creating 2D and 3D drawings and
renderings
• Learn to use new features for manipulating blocks (symbols) and
their attributes (properties)
• Explore updated methods for getting your drawings on the Web
and collaborating via the Internet
• Control your drawings with new CAD Standards features
• Harness the advanced database access and data-sharing features
of AutoCAD
• Customize AutoCAD to fit the way you work for maximum
productivity
Shelving Category:
Graphics/CAD/AutoCAD
Reader Level:
Beginning to Advanced
System Requirements:
Pentium 450 Mhz or better, Windows 98, Me, or
Win NT w/SP5 or later, 128MB RAM, 200MB free hard
drive space, VGA display with 1024x768 resolution
or better, and CD-ROM drive. See “About the CD-ROM”
appendix for more.
ISBN 0-7645-3611-7

• AutoCAD 2002 trial version
• 160+ sample drawings files
www.hungryminds.com
100%
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT
COMPREHENSIVE
AUTHORITATIVE
WHAT YOU NEED
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT
Loaded CD-ROM includes:
• AutoCAD 2002 15-day trial version
• 160+ sample drawings and support files
• Extensive parts and symbols libraries
• 40+ shareware/freeware software programs
A
utoCAD 2002
Bible
*85555-AIHEDj
®
Learn how to prepare
presentation-quality drawings
Use real-world
drawings to
practice what
you’ve learned
®
®
®
Learn about AutoCAD’s
new dimensions

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013611-7 FM.F 9/11/01 9:50 AM Page ii
About the Author
Ellen Finkelstein learned AutoCAD in Israel, where she always got to pore over the
manual because she was the only one who could read it in English. After returning
to the United States, she started consulting and teaching AutoCAD as well as other
computer programs, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Ellen has
written books on Word, PowerPoint, and Flash (Flash 5 For Dummies, published by
Hungry Minds, Inc.). Her first book was AutoCAD For Dummies Quick Reference. She
was a contributing author to AutoCAD 13 Secrets, also published by Hungry Minds,
Inc. Previous editions of this book were AutoCAD 14 Bible, appearing in 1997, and
AutoCAD 2000 Bible, which was published in 1999.
To MMY for teaching me that there’s more to life than meets the eye.
013611-7 FM.F 9/11/01 9:50 AM Page iii
Acquisitions Editor
Tom Heine
Project Editor
Melba Hopper
Technical Editor
Darren Young
Copy Editor
Roxane Marini
Editorial Manager

customer, ultimately seek. Don’t we all? Delivering on this proposition requires that
we provide two key deliverables to you:
1. Great software technology with the right features.
2. The support you need so you can use Autodesk software effectively in your
job with improved performance and productivity.
Our product designs have always been user-centric and driven by what you need to
continuously improve productivity. AutoCAD 2002 sets a new standard for user pro-
ductivity. This is the AutoCAD that users and managers alike asked for— and more.
Most of the new features and enhancements came from the ultimate source, cus-
tomer requests, and for the ultimate purpose: improving the performance and pro-
ductivity of you and your team.
But creating great software based solely on your feedback is not enough.
Autodesk’s commitment to increasing productivity requires that we go beyond
what our customers ask. We’re always searching for new performance-enhancing
innovations — even if they fall outside the scope of current software features, and
even if you haven’t thought to ask for them. Our focus, like yours, is on results. If it
works, if it enables you to be more successful and achieve better results, we’ll go
there. So in addition to specific software enhancements, we are focusing more on
supporting the entire process of collaborative design. We are “digitizing the design
process” and enabling more effective use of the Web in order to simplify the com-
plexities of collaborative design.
Yet, introducing these innovations also poses new challenges, namely learning how
to use and effectively apply these enhancements. We have done much to address
these challenges both within AutoCAD 2002 and with new offerings such as
AutoCAD Today and Autodesk Point A Web resources. However, the real solution
must be more than what Autodesk alone can provide, hence the critical role of the
Autodesk virtual community. We are therefore particularly grateful to Ellen
Finkelstein for having written such a comprehensive and reliable guide to AutoCAD
2002, and to the good people at Hungry Minds for making this so widely available.
Following the great success of the AutoCAD 2000 Bible, this new book draws upon

are the many new features covered in this book that will make your drawing easier
and faster. The new features include both those introduced with 2000i, an interim
release, and 2002.
This book covers every major AutoCAD feature. If you’re a beginning AutoCAD user,
you’ll find everything you need to start out; if you’re already using AutoCAD regu-
larly, the book covers advanced material as well. It provides a solid reference base
to come back to again and again, as well as short tutorials to get you drawing.
Sidebar profiles show how companies out in the real world use AutoCAD. Finally,
the CD-ROM is chock full of drawings, a trial version of AutoCAD 2002, and AutoLISP
programs. This book should be all you need to make full use of that expensive pro-
gram called AutoCAD.
Is This Book for You?
The AutoCAD 2002 Bible covers all the essential features of AutoCAD and includes
clear, real-life examples and tutorials that you can adapt to your needs.
Although I fully cover AutoCAD basics, I have also included material on the many
advanced features, such as external database connectivity, AutoLISP, Visual Basic
for Applications (VBA), 3D modeling, rendering, and customization. The following
categories should help you decide if this book is for you.
If you are a new AutoCAD user
If you are new to AutoCAD, the AutoCAD 2002 Bible guides you through all you need
to know to start drawing effectively, whatever your field.
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viii
AutoCAD 2002 Bible
If you are upgrading to AutoCAD 2002
This book highlights all the new features of AutoCAD 2002 and helps you make the
upgrade transition as seamless as possible.
If you are switching from another CAD program
You already know what CAD is all about. This book clearly explains the AutoCAD
way of drawing the models you have already been drawing. In addition, you’ll find a

which you can use to create macros.
Part VII: Programming AutoCAD
Part VII introduces you to programming AutoCAD. It includes three chapters on
AutoLISP and Visual LISP and one chapter on Visual Basic for Applications.
Appendixes
Appendix A gives instructions for installing and configuring AutoCAD. Appendix B
covers all the ways to get help on AutoCAD, and Appendix C explains what you’ll
find on the CD-ROM.
The CD-ROM contains a complete copy of this book in PDF format. The book in
that format includes two bonus appendixes. Appendix D displays all the menus
and submenus as well as the toolbars and their flyouts. Appendix E lists new,
changed, and discontinued commands and system variables as well as a list of
system variables often used on the command line.
How to Use This Book
You can use this book in two ways: as a reference or as a learning tool or tutorial.
As a reference
The AutoCAD 2002 Bible is organized as a reference that you can refer to whenever
you get stuck or when you try to do something for the first time. Each chapter cov-
ers a topic completely, making it easy to find what you’re looking for. Each Step-by-
Step exercise (with a few exceptions) can be done on its own without doing the
other exercises in the chapter. You can easily look up a topic and complete a
related exercise without having to go through the entire chapter. A complete index
at the back of the book can also help you look up features and topics.
As a tutorial
The overall organization of the book goes from simple to complex, and each chap-
ter has several Step-by-Step sections. This enables you to use the book as a
tutorial — from beginning to end. You can then go back and redo any exercise when
you need to refresh your memory on a particular feature.
Cross-
Reference

If you do the exercises, I recommend that you do them from the beginning.
Important instructions are given during earlier exercises that may affect your sys-
tem later. For example, one of the first exercises is to create a new folder to hold
your drawings from the exercises. This folder keeps your exercise drawings sepa-
rate from other drawings created in your office. However, each exercise stands on
its own so you can go back and do only the exercise you need.
You can create your own AutoCAD configuration that helps ensure that changes
you make will not affect others. Instructions for doing this appear in Appendix A
under the heading “Creating Multiple Configurations.”
The exercises in the AutoCAD 2002 Bible have been carefully checked by a technical
editor to ensure accuracy. However, we cannot anticipate all situations, either due
Cross-
Reference
013611-7 FM.F 9/11/01 9:50 AM Page x
xi
Preface
to varying hardware/software configurations or customization within AutoCAD. If
you have a problem with an exercise, contact me at the e-mail address listed at the
end of this Preface so I can correct the problem in the book’s next edition.
Conventions Used in This Book
Given all the ways in which you can execute a command in AutoCAD, you’ll find it
useful to read through this section, which describes this book’s typographical con-
ventions. You will find this section helpful for doing the Step-by-Step exercises as
well.
AutoCAD commands
AutoCAD uses standard Windows conventions for menus and toolbars. To indicate
that you should choose a command from the menu, for example, I say, “Choose
View ➪ Viewports,” which means that you should click the View menu with your
mouse or puck/stylus and then click the Viewports menu item. Some of AutoCAD’s
toolbar buttons have flyouts, which are equivalent to submenus. They are called

Specify next point or [Undo]: 10,0 ↵
Specify next point or [Undo]: 10,7 ↵
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 0,7 ↵
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 0,0 ↵
Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: ↵
Often I make references to specific elements in a drawing. References to these ele-
ments appear in the text as numbers in circles, such as 1, 2, 3, and so on. You’ll
find the corresponding number in the figure to which the text refers.
Mouse and keyboard terms
You can draw in AutoCAD using a mouse or a puck. The mouse is familiar to all
users. A puck (or sometimes a stylus) is used with a digitizing tablet. Because most
AutoCAD users do not have a digitizing tablet, I do not directly refer to it in this
book. If you have one, follow the instructions for using the mouse in the same way,
using your puck.
A mouse can have two or more buttons. Many AutoCAD users like using a mouse
with at least three buttons because you can customize the buttons to suit your
needs. However, because many mice have only two buttons, I assume only two. The
left mouse button is used to choose commands and toolbar buttons and to pick
points in your drawing. For this reason, it is sometimes called the pick button. The
right button usually opens a shortcut menu.
If I say one of the following
✦ Choose Tools ➪ Options
✦ Click Line on the Draw toolbar
✦ Select the circle in your drawing
it means to use the left button of your mouse.
When I say to press Enter, it means to press the key that is marked Enter, Return, or
↵ on your keyboard. Often I use the bent arrow symbol (↵) to indicate that you
should press Enter.
I also use the mouse terms listed in the following table.
013611-7 FM.F 9/11/01 9:50 AM Page xii

Feature
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AutoCAD 2002 Bible
A Tip shows you a way to accomplish a task more efficiently or quickly. You’ll find
plenty of practical advice here.
Cross-References refer you to a related topic elsewhere in the book. Because you
may not read this book straight through from cover to cover, use cross-references
to quickly find just the information you need.
The On the CD-ROM icon highlights references to related material on the
CD-ROM.
The Caution icon means you should pay special attention to the information or
instructions because a possibility exists that you could cause a problem otherwise.
About the CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains all the drawings you need to do the exercises in this book.
These drawings save you time as you learn AutoCAD’s features. In addition, the
CD-ROM includes the drawings that result once you finish an exercise or tutorial. In
this way, you can check what you have done if you wish.
The CD-ROM is also chock-full of resource material that I hope you will find useful
for many years to come. Appendix C lists the contents of the CD-ROM. I am espe-
cially pleased to include a 15-day trial version of AutoCAD 2002 on the CD-ROM as
well as the entire book in PDF format.
Other Information
If you are an advanced AutoCAD user but need tips and secrets for getting the most
out of AutoCAD, this book will probably not add too much to your already great
store of knowledge.
If you want to learn about Windows, look for a book that focuses on Windows. This
book assumes that you know the basics of Windows, although the instructions
you’ll read here are usually detailed enough to get you through any task. For more
information about Windows, try Windows 98 For Dummies or Microsoft Windows Me

Acknowledgments
I
would like to offer special thanks to Tom Heine, my acquisitions editor, who was
very supportive throughout the writing of this book.
Special thanks go to Melba Hopper, whose infinite organizing power kept the book
on track. Melba kept up with seemingly infinite number of versions of text docu-
ments, and images, coordinating the writing editing, and production of the enire
book. Also, thanks to Darren Young for his extremely knowledgeable and thorough
technical editing. Darren’s comments improved the book throughout.
I also thank Roxane Marini for her precise and careful editing and all the people at
Hungry Minds who helped with the production of this book and its CD-ROM.
Bill Plante, an AutoCAD and AutoPLANT consultant, spent many hours helping me
connect over the Internet via the MeetNow feature. Leonid Nemirovsky created two
AutoLISP routines for managing single-line text (on the CD-ROM) at my request.
Alan Praysman sent me an AutoLISP routine to break an object at an object snap
point (also on the CD-ROM).
Thanks to Wayne Hodgins, Autodesk’s strategic director for worldwide learning and
training, for writing the Foreword for this book. I also want to express my great
appreciation to the members of Autodesk’s beta team who were very supportive
throughout the alpha and beta period.
Many people contributed drawings for this book. I’d like to thank all of them. They
have helped make this book the most comprehensive book on AutoCAD available.
Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Evan, and two kids, Yeshayah and Eliyah,
who helped out around the house while I was writing, writing, and writing (and who
wanted to see their names in print). Without their support, I could not have com-
pleted this book.
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013611-7 FM.F 9/11/01 9:50 AM Page xviii
Contents
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Saving a Drawing Under a New Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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AutoCAD 2002 Bible
Chapter 3: Using Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using AutoCAD’s menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using shortcut menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Using dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Using toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Understanding command names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Responding to command options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Command Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Repeating commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Canceling commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Undoing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Redoing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using the OOPS command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using one command within another command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Of Mice and Pucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Getting Help in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Getting help on a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Using the main help system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Working with help screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Using Active Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Getting more help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 4: Specifying Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Understanding the X,Y Coordinate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Drawing units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Setting blips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Setting snap, grid, and ortho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The MVSETUP Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Part II: Drawing in Two Dimensions 113
Chapter 6: Drawing Simple Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Using the LINE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Drawing Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Drawing Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Creating Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Creating Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter 7: Drawing Curves and Point Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Drawing Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Understanding the circle options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Drawing circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Drawing Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Understanding arc options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Drawing arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Creating Ellipses and Elliptical Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Understanding ellipse options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Drawing ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Making Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Understanding DONUT options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Drawing donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Placing Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Changing the point style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Creating points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Chapter 8: Viewing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Understanding How AutoCAD Displays Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
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Drawing in isometric mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 9: Editing Your Drawing: Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Editing a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Understanding object-selection basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Erasing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Moving objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Copying objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Copying and moving objects from one drawing to another . . . . . . 190
Rotating objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Scaling objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Using the CHANGE command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Selecting objects after choosing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Cycling through objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Selecting objects before choosing a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Implied windowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Customizing the selection process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
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Contents
Chapter 10: Editing Your Drawing: Advanced Tools . . . . . . . . . . 215
Copying and Moving Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Using the MIRROR command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Using the ARRAY command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Offsetting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Aligning objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Resizing commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Extending objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Lengthening objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Stretching objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Changing an object’s color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Changing the current color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Changing an object’s linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Changing the current linetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Changing an object’s lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Changing the current lineweight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
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AutoCAD 2002 Bible
Working with Linetype Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Changing linetype spacing by using a different linetype . . . . . . . 304
Changing linetype spacing by changing the global linetype scale . . . 305
Changing linetype spacing by changing the object linetype scale . . . 307
Importing Layers and Linetypes from Other Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Matching Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Chapter 12: Getting Information from Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . 315
Drawing-Level Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Listing the status of your drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Listing system variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Tracking drawing time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Object-Level Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Listing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Calculating distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Finding coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Calculating area and perimeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Getting information from the Object Property Manager . . . . . . . 326
Measurement Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Dividing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Measuring objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
AutoCAD’s Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330