Prologue

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the journey of thousand miles that begins with a single step…!

Before starting off let’s get a preview of what this venture provides and what it does not!

This endeavor to learn AutoCAD application is neither the manual of AutoCAD nor the do-it-yourself guide to exploit AutoCAD abilities. However philosophical it may sound, this is an effort to unleash and explore the immense and incredible power of AutoCAD, in the simplest possible discourse, backboned by experience of experimenting with AutoCAD for almost 15 years in form of digitizing, designing, modeling, standardizing, teaching, management and facilitation.

When we finish this book, with all the topics learned, all the tutorials attempted and all the tips and tricks mastered, we will be in a position to –
1. Apply AutoCAD tools and techniques for Designing and Drafting
2. Bring into play AutoCAD to facilitate the design process workflow
3. Conduct Digitizing sessions for proper integrity and better productivity
4. Document and record the journey of an idea from concept to realization
5. Evaluate and extract information from the drawing for execution and analysis

Although, it’s imperative to master AutoCAD for above objectives, it would not –
1. Automate digitizing process without adequate human interaction
2. Replace the cognitive and perceptive abilities of Human senses
3. Offer desired results without standardization or management
4. Produce photorealistic renderings or visualizations
5. Take decisions or make amendments all by itself

The bottom line is AutoCAD is nothing but a digital tool that empowers the drawing and drafting process depending upon the set of conditions it’s been applied in and can never ever replace or even compare to the effort of a human brain to cognize, envisage, develop and manage concepts or ideas.

Simply put it is nothing more than a Pencil as far as drafting process is concerned, not more than a calculator where calculations are concerned, hardly better than a camera in view of capturing the scene and as good as a car for an anticipated journey.

Assuming AutoCAD, or computer for that matter, as a magic lamp that offers the desired results in blink of eye, without effort, would be as childish as sitting in a car and waiting to reach the destination without starting the engine. To make the journey possible you need three basic things apart from a vehicle –
1. The road map to follow in order to reach the destination – Where to go - Objective
2. The driving skills to steer and control the vehicle and – How to reach - Process
3. The fuel to keep the engine running – What is the input – Data

This is our FIRST step towards a long journey which might extend to 300-400 pages. But don’t get worried about its volume, think of the value it will put to your routine work. Besides we will never exceed 3 Pages at a single session making it baby steps, easy to ingest and digest…!

Tomorrow we will start with studying the road map to our journey, stay tuned…!