Digital Drawing for Designers:
A Visual Guide to AutoCAD 2021
by Douglas R. Seidler
Focused, clear, and relevant AutoCAD instruction
for interior design and architecture students.
Updated for AutoCAD 2021Now in its sixth edition, Digital Drawing for Designers: A Visual Guide to AutoCAD 2021 continues to provide interior design and architecture students a visual, clear, and concise guide to AutoCAD.
Neither simplistic nor exhaustive, Digital Drawing for Designers teaches by relating to what architects and interior designers understand best: hand drawing and the visual world. |
The AutoCAD book written for you
You can broadly sort the numerous AutoCAD books into two categories: “guides for dummies” and “exhaustive references”. Very few of these books address how architects and interior designers use AutoCAD.
Packed with visual examples, Digital Drawing for Designers is written specifically for architecture students and interior design students. It provides a thorough primer for new learners and advanced instruction for designers. |
Construction Documents
Revised for AutoCAD 2021, Digital Drawing for Designers includes a renewed focus on using AutoCAD for construction documentation.
Chapters 5—9 introduce you to graphic standards that will help you use AutoCAD to create drawings that communicate your design ideas. Understanding these standards keeps you in control of your drawing and allows you to “ask of the computer” rather than let the computer dictate how your drawings will look. You will learn organizational strategies to efficiently draw and print plans, sections, and elevations. Each chapter introduces these new skills using AutoCAD standards that can be adapted to any office environment. Improved in this edition, Chapters 10—13 focus on construction documents. Topics include dimensioning drawings, annotating drawings, detailing for construction, and drawing symbols. |
AutoCAD Web & Mobile
Chapter 16 introduces AutoCAD Web & Mobile, Autodesk’s mobile AutoCAD application. The chapter includes instructions on using AutoCAD on the Internet, iPhones, iPads, Android phones, and Android tablets.
Sample exercises are provided in the companion download to help students master AutoCAD using this new and innovative touch interface. |
AutoCAD version compatability
Written to help you easily switch between different versions of AutoCAD as you transition from the classroom to the office.
The instruction in this book is compatible with AutoCAD version 14 through AutoCAD 2021 (and everything in-between). While most universities teach and use the latest version of AutoCAD, many professional offices do not update their AutoCAD software annually due to hardware requirements and professional education costs. |
Compare editions
AutoCAD Version
Publish date Construction Documents AutoCAD Web/Mobile Sample Drawings Drawing Templates Learning Exercises Plot Styles New to this edition
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Integrates instructions using the metric system (SI) throughout the textbook.
Updates for changes to AutoCAD's web and mobile apps. Backwards compatible with AutoCAD versions 14 through 2021. |
New chapter devoted to furniture plans and reflected ceiling plans.
New chapter devoted to construction detailing. Backwards compatible with AutoCAD versions 14 through 2017. |
Completely revised chapter dedicated to AutoCAD 360 including apps for the iPhone and Android mobile devices.
Backwards compatible with AutoCAD versions 14 through 2015. |
Companion Download
This full companion download, updated for AutoCAD 2021, is provided as a supplement to Digital Drawing for Designers.
The companion download contains digital learning exercises, page templates, AutoCAD Plot Styles (CTB Files), and sample AutoCAD drawings. |
Extended Contents
Acknowledgments xvii
HAND AND DIGITAL DRAWING 1 Chapter 1, Digital Drawing Tools 3 Traditional Drawing Tools 4 Starting a New Drawing/Command Prompt 6 Ribbon Interface 7 Pan 8 Zoom 9 Viewcube/Additional Resources 10 Chapter 2, Drawing Lines and Shapes 11 Drawing Straight Lines 12 Erasing Lines 13 Horizontal and Vertical Lines 14 Line Length 15 Circles 16 Rectangles and Polygons 17 Arcs 18 Ellipses 19 Object Snaps 20 Running Object Snaps 21 Drawing Precision/Units 22 Undo 24 Learning Exercise 25 Chapter 3, Modifying Lines and Shapes 27 Moving Lines 28 Copying Lines 29 Rotating Lines 30 Mirror (Reflect) Lines 31 Stretching Lines 32 Learning Exercise 33 Chapter 4, Drawing with Accuracy and Speed 37 Drawing Polylines/Grips 38 Editing Polylines 39 Trimming Lines 40 Extending Lines 41 Offsetting Lines 42 Fillet 43 Rectangular Array 44 Polar Array 45 Path Array 46 Break/Explode 47 Blend 48 Learning Exercise 49 DESIGN DRAWINGS 51 Chapter 5, Floor Plans, Furniture Plans, and Reflected Ceiling Plans 53 Line Weight 54 Drawing with Layers 56 Selecting Colors 58 Boundary Hatch/Wall Poché 59 Hatch Patterns—Plan/Elevation 61 Linetypes/Dashed Lines 62 LTSCALE/Adding Linetypes 63 Drawing Floor Plans 64 Construction Plans 66 Furniture Plans 68 Reflected Ceiling Plans 70 Demolition Plans 72 Learning Exercise 74 Chapter 6, Sections and Elevations 83 Drawing Sections 84 Drawing Building Sections 86 Drawing Elevations 88 Drawing Building Elevations 90 Drawing Interior Elevations 92 Learning Exercise 94 Chapter 7, Drawing and Printing to Scale 99 Paper Layout 100 Plot Styles 102 Adding a Plot Style 103 Drawing Templates 104 Creating a Custom Layout 106 Selecting a Paper Size 107 Creating a Layout: ANSI B (11" × 17") & A3 108 Creating a Layout: ARCH C (18" × 24") & A2 110 Creating a Layout: ARCH D (24" × 36") & A1 112 Adjusting and Creating Viewports 114 Scaling/Locking Viewports 115 Drawing to Scale with Viewports 116 Plotting a Layout/Drawing 117 Learning Exercise 118 Chapter 8, Text Styles and Sizes 121 Text Height 122 Annotative Text 123 Text Styles/Fonts 124 Adding Text Styles 125 Adding Text/Multiline Text 126 Editing Text 127 Learning Exercise 128 Chapter 9, Stencils and Blocks 131 Stencils/Blocks 132 Creating a Block 133 Inserting Blocks 135 Exploding Blocks/Exporting Blocks 136 Editing Blocks 137 Learning Exercise 138 CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS 141 Chapter 10, Dimensioning Your Drawing 143 Dimension Styles 144 Dimensioning Walls and Corridors 146 Dimensioning Windows and Doors 147 Dimensioning to Structure 148 Adding Linear Dimensions 149 Adding Aligned Dimensions 150 Adding Angular Dimensions 151 Dimension Style: Tick 152 Dimension Style: Dot 156 Learning Exercise 160 Chapter 11, Text Leaders 163 Text Leaders 164 Adding Text Leaders 165 Multileader Style: Arrow 166 Multileader Style: Dot 168 Learning Exercise 170 Chapter 12, Construction Detailing 175 Drawing Scale and Detail 176 Boundary Hatch 178 Hatch Patterns—Details 180 Detail Components 181 Linetypes/Dashed Lines 182 LTSCALE/Adding Linetypes 183 Casework Details 184 Plan Details 186 Ceiling Details 188 Chapter 13, Drawing Symbols and Attributed Text 191 Drawing Symbols 192 Creating Attributed Blocks 194 Inserting Attributed Blocks 195 Editing Attributed Blocks 196 Drawing Name Symbol 197 Detail Symbol 198 Exterior Elevation/Section Arrow 199 Grid Symbol 200 Interior Elevation Symbol 201 Learning Exercise 202 ADVANCED DRAWING TOOLS 205 Chapter 14, Advanced Editing Tools 207 Properties Palette 208 Match Properties/Distance 209 Scale/Scale Reference 210 Audit/Purge 211 Express Tools/Flatten 212 Overkill/Layer Off/Layer On 213 Layer Isolate/Layer Freeze/Layer Thaw 214 Layer Lock/Layer Unlock/Layer Delete 215 Layer Merge 216 Learning Exercise 217 Chapter 15, Linking Drawings/External References 219 Drawing with Overlays 220 Drawing with XREFs 221 XREF Manager 222 Adding XREFs to Your Drawing 223 Plan XREFs for Individual Designers 224 Plan XREFs for Multiple Designers 225 Elevation XREFs for Individual Designers 226 Elevation XREFs for Multiple Designers 227 Chapter 16, AutoCAD Web & Mobile 229 AutoCAD Web & Mobile 230 Web App 231 Mobile App for iOS 232 Mobile App for Android 233 Uploading Drawings to AutoCAD Web & Mobile 234 Opening Drawings 236 Command Ribbon 237 Drawing Tools 238 Drawing Tools/Measuring Tools 239 Select and Modify Tools 240 Annotation Tools 242 Layers/Layouts/Undo and Redo 243 Sharing/Exporting Drawings 244 Index 245 Basic Metric Conversion Table 251 Layer Name Reference Guide 252 Quick Command Reference Guide 254 |