TECHNICAL DRAFTING 10

INTRODUCTION TO AUTOCAD
CAD IS IN!
COMPUTER AIDED DRAWING IS A TECHNIQUE WHERE THE
ATTRIBUTES OF THE COMPUTER AND THOSE OF THE DESIGNER
ARE COMBINED TOGETHER INTO A PROBLEM SOLVING TEAM.
USING THIS SOFTWARE MEANS FASTER AND EASIER PRODUCTION
OF QUALITY OUTPUT. CAD IS AN ESSENTIAL SKILL TO BE
ACQUIRED BY DRAFTSMAN NOWADAYS IN ORDER TO FINISH AN
ASSIGNED TASK.
Think about it!
What will happen if a draftsman uses a computer to
accomplish a task? As a future draftsman, what will
be your tool to be successful in this chosen career?
Let’s identify the computer hardware and
functions!
A. Hardware
A computer’s hardware includes all the physical parts of the computer.
These are the parts that we can see and touch.
The hardware components include the Central Processing Unit (CPU),
keyboard, monitor and primary storage memory (RAM), and the
secondary storage memory. Peripherals include disk drives, mouse,
digitizers, printers/plotters, etc.
THE SYSTEM UNIT
The main part of a microcomputer
is sometimes called the chassis. It
includes the following parts:
motherboard, microprocessor,
memory chips, buses, ports,
expansion slots, and cards.
 CENTRAL PROCESSING
UNIT (CPU)
It is the brain of the computer where it
performs all instructions and
calculations that are needed to manage
the flow of information. It holds
instructions, data, and intermediate final
results during processing. It also
receives instructions from software or
computer programs and executes them.
KEYBOARD Click icon to add picture
It is the principal device for
communicating with the computer.
All keyboards have letter keys,
punctuation keys, and a space bar
which are similar to the keys on a
typewriter. Keyboards also have
functions, numeric and arrow keys
in additional to Alt, Ctrl, and Enter
keys.
MONITOR Click icon to add picture
It has a screen that displays
information such as the instruction
you send to the computer and the
information and results from your
computer are sent back after
interpreting your instructions.
HARD DISK DRIVE (HDD) Click icon to add picture
It is known as a hard drive, which
is a storage device that is installed
inside the computer. The hard
drive is used as permanent storage
for data. In a Windows computer,
the hard drive is usually
configured as the C: drive and
contains the operating system and
applications.
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OPTICAL DRIVE
It is a storage device that uses
lasers to read data on the optical
media. There are three types of
optical drives: Compact Disc
(CD), Digital Versatile Disc
(DVD) and Blu-Ray Disc (BD).
 Click icon to add picture

MOUSE
It is a small hand-held device used
to control the cursor / crosshair on
the screen. It is used to select an
item by pointing to it and clicking
a button.
DIGITIZER TABLET Click icon to add picture
IT IS A GRAPHICS
It is a graphics drawing tablet used
for sketching new images or
tracing old ones. It is also called a
"graphics tablet," where the user
writes or draws on the surface of
the device with a wired or wireless
pen or puck. Often, mistakenly
called a mouse, the puck is
officially the "tablet cursor."
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PRINTER
It is an output device that is used
to print information processed by
your computer. Printers and
plotters vary in speed and output
capabilities.
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PLOTTER
It is an output device that can
produce better quality drawings as
compared to the printer. However,
the speed of plotter is generally
slower than a printer.
B. SOFTWARE
The software is the set of programs that make a computer run.
Opposite to the hardware, the software is an intangible part of
a computer. They are sets of instructions that tell the computer
what to do to come up with the desired result. The software
can be categorized into two main groups: operating system
software and application software.
OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE
THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE PROVIDES VARIOUS
LEVELS OF INTERACTION (CALLED INTERFACE) BETWEEN THE
COMPUTER AND THE USER, AS WELL AS BETWEEN THE
COMPUTER AND THE APPLICATION SOFTWARE. THESE ARE THE
PROGRAMS THAT WORK WITHOUT YOUR INTERVENTION. THEY
AUTOMATICALLY OPEN ONCE YOU BOOT YOUR COMPUTER.
SOME OF THEIR TASKS INCLUDE LOADING AND RUNNING
PROGRAMS, CHECKING AND PROTECTING COMPUTERS, AND
CONTROLLING HARDWARE.
Application Software
The application software is the program installed in a
computer. It is also
called as programs. These enable you to do different tasks
like typing, making
presentations, editing pictures and videos, and surfing the
internet. It has a specific
use or task to perform such as AutoCAD for architectural
drawings and layouts,
Lotus 1-2-3 for business and marketing, Adobe Photoshop
for image processing,
and so on.
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