Up and Running with Autocad® 2013 started out as a set of classroom notes that outlined, in an easy to understand manner, exactly how AutoCAD is used and applied, in contrast to theoretical musings or clinical descriptions of the commands as found in other books. This book attempts to use experience and top-level knowledge to sort out what is important and what is secondary, and to explain the essentials in plain language. This volume comprises 20 chapters, beginning with the AutoCAD fundamentals. The following chapters then focus on layers, colors, linetypes, and properties; text, Mtext, editing, and style; and hatch patterns; dimensions; blocks, Wblocks, dynamic blocks, groups, and purge. Other chapters cover polar, rectangular, and path arrays; basic printing and output; advanced linework; options, shortcuts, CUI, design center, and express tools; advanced design and file management tools; advanced output and pen settings; and isometric drawing. Each chapter in the book ends with a summary and some review questions to aid the reader in retaining essential concepts. This book will be of interest to engineers, architects, and industrial designers.

Elliot Gindis is the founding author of the Up and Running with AutoCAD series of textbooks. He is a former AutoCAD drafter and designer who got his start in New York City in 1996 and has logged in over 25,000 hours of screen time with a wide variety of architecture and engineering companies. From 1999 to 2008 he was on staff with the Pratt Institute of Design and as visiting instructor at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), teaching beginner, intermediate, and advanced (3D) AutoCAD classes. He was also the president of Vertical Technologies Consulting and Design, an AutoCAD training firm, and has advised, consulted, or assisted more than 60 companies nationwide in using and optimizing AutoCAD. Elliot was part of the AutoDesk Developers Network and was a Certified Technical Trainer. He published the first edition of the Up and Running textbook with Elsevier in 2010, and has supported each subsequent edition until 2020, when Robert Kaebisch took over full-time. Elliot currently resides in the Los Angeles area, and is an engineer in the defense industry.