Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
This exercise has given you some practice working with AutoCAD's Command Line palette
prompts and entering keyboard commands—skills you'll need when you start to use some of
the more advanced AutoCAD functions.
As you can see, AutoCAD has a distinct structure in its prompt messages. You first issue a
command, which in turn offers options in the form of a prompt. Depending on the option you
select, you get another set of options or you're prompted to take some action, such as picking a
point, selecting objects, or entering a value.
As you work through the exercises, you'll become intimately familiar with this routine. After
you understand the workings of the Tool Sets palette, the Command Line palette prompts, and
the dialog boxes, you can almost teach yourself the rest of the program!
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Now you know that you can select command options by typing them. You can also right-click
at any time during the execution of a command to open a shortcut menu containing those same
options. For example, in step 2 in the previous exercise, you typed
C
↵ to tell AutoCAD that you
wanted to select the center of the arc. Instead of typing, you can right-click the mouse to open a
shortcut menu with options that are currently applicable to the Arc command.
Notice that in addition to the options shown in the Command prompt, the shortcut menu
shows you a few more: Enter, Cancel, Pan, and Zoom. The Enter option is the same as pressing
↵. Cancel cancels the current command. Pan and Zoom let you adjust your view as you're work-
ing through the current command.
The shortcut menu is context sensitive, so you see only those options that pertain to the
command or activity that is currently in progress. Also, when AutoCAD is expecting a point,
an object selection, or a numeric value, right-clicking doesn't display a shortcut menu. Instead,
AutoCAD treats a right-click as ↵.
The location of your cursor when you right-click determines the contents of the shortcut list.
A right-click in the Command Line palette input area displays a list of operations you can apply
to the command line, such as repeating one of the last several commands you've used or copy-
ing the most recent history of command activity to the Clipboard.
A right-click in the drawing area when no command is active displays a set of basic options
for editing your file, such as repeating the command most recently used, Pan, and Zoom, to
name a few (see Figure 2.15).
FIGURE 2.15
A set of basic list
options
If you're ever in doubt about what to do in AutoCAD, you can right-click to see a list of
options. You'll learn more about these options later in this topic. For now, let's move on to the
topic of selecting objects.
