Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Clean Screen:
No, this button doesn't squeegee your monitor. Clicking this
button frees up a bit more screen space by first maximizing the AutoCAD window
and then turning off the title bar, toolbars, palettes, and the Windows taskbar.
Click the button again to restore those elements.
Several status bar buttons, including Snap Mode, Polar Tracking, Object Snap, and Ob-
ject Snap Tracking, sport right-click menus that offer a speedier way of setting options.
With some of the other buttons, such as Grid Display and Dynamic Input, you right-click
the button and choose Settings to open the Drafting Settings dialog box to specify op-
tions. Chapters 4 and 6 give you specific guidance about when and how to change these
settings.
In AutoCAD 2012, primary access to the display commands is via the Navigation bar that
appears, by default, at the right edge of the program window. AutoCAD also has a
ViewCube that provides an alternative to the Orbit tool. (Neither the ViewCube nor the
Orbit tool are included in AutoCAD LT.) Figure 2-8 shows the differences between the
navigation devices in AutoCAD (on the left) and AutoCAD LT. I introduce you to the Nav-
igation bar buttons in the following list, and explain their operation more fully in
Chapter 12. I give you the drill on the ViewCube and the Orbit tool in Chapter 21.
SteeringWheels:
You were probably wondering when this motoring meta-
phor was going to pay off, right? Well, believe it or not, there really is an AutoCAD
function called the SteeringWheel! (I'm still looking for the Gas Pedal . . . oops, I
mean GasPedal.) A
SteeringWheel
is described in the online help as a tracking
menu — the idea here is that you combine a number of display operations into a
single input “device.” I mention SteeringWheels in Chapter 12 but point out here
that it's of little use in 2D drafting — which, unfortunately, is all that AutoCAD LT
users can do with it.
Pan and Zoom:
These buttons provide access to two commonly
used display commands, PAN and ZOOM. PAN moves you around your drawing
without changing your viewing distance; ZOOM brings the drawing objects closer
so you can see more detail, or farther away, so you can see more of the drawing
area. These and other display commands are described in Chapter 12.
