Reference
CYLINDER in AutoCAD
How AutoCAD's CYLINDER (CYL) draws a 3D solid cylinder, prompt by prompt: base, radius, height, 3P, 2P, Ttr, Elliptical and Axis endpoint. Try it free online.
CYLINDER draws a 3D solid cylinder: give the centre of its base, then the radius, then the height. The base lies on the UCS's XY plane, at the centre's Z, and the height rises along its Z; a negative one goes down, and a point gives it by how far it is from the base, as at BOX. The radius and the height are offered as defaults that Enter takes, shared with the other primitives and EXTRUDE. The cylinder lies on the current layer, and Undo takes it back in one step.
The cylinder keeps its sizes: LIST shows its position, normal, radius and height, and the Properties palette lets you type the radius and the height. Its grips move it, set its height and, at each quarter of the base, its radius. It is a 3D solid for UNION, SUBTRACT and the rest of MellowCAD's 3D, which is solids only and still partial.
- Command:
CYLINDER - Aliases:
CYL - Panel: Draw
- Try it: Open the editor, type
CYLand press Enter.
At the command line
The engine draws it and writes its history as you would type it: the prompts in AutoCAD 2027's order, with the same option letters.
- Command: CYLINDER
- Specify center point of base or [3P/2P/Ttr/Elliptical]: 0,0
- Specify base radius or [Diameter]: 20
- Specify height or [2Point/Axis endpoint]: 40
- Command: -VIEW
- Enter an option [Orthographic]: SEI
- Command: ZOOM
- Specify corner of window, enter a scale factor (nX or nXP), or [All/Extents/Previous/Scale/Window/Object]: 0.8x
Options
3P
At the base's centre: asks for three points, and the base is the circle through them, in their plane. Three points on the UCS's XY plane still make the cylinder rise along Z.
2P
At the base's centre: asks for the two ends of the base's diameter; the second is read in the first's plane.
Ttr (T)
At the base's centre: pick two lines, circles or arcs, under the Tangent snap, and give a radius: the base touches both, nearest the points picked, at their height.
Elliptical (E)
At the base's centre: the base is an ellipse. Give both ends of its first axis, then the end of the second; or choose Center and give its centre, the first axis' half length, then the end of the second axis.
Diameter (D)
At the radius: asks for the diameter instead, offering twice the last radius.
2Point (2P)
At the height: asks for two points, and the height is the distance between them.
Axis endpoint (A)
At the height: asks for the axis' other end. The cylinder runs from the base's centre to that point in any direction, its base square to the axis.
What it does not do yet
EXPLODE of a cylinder, which AutoCAD turns into its two ends and a surface: MellowCAD has no surfaces, so it says it could not explode it. Move, Rotate, Scale and Mirror from a hot grip, and a height dragged past the base. The dotted dimensions AutoCAD draws while you give the radius, the ellipse's points and the axis. Typing a round cylinder into an elliptical one in the Properties palette. The silhouettes AutoCAD's DISPSILH draws. In plan, where the top circle hides the base's, the Nearest snap finds the base's circle, where AutoCAD finds the top's. The visual styles VSCURRENT lacks beyond 2D Wireframe, Hidden and Conceptual.
What it does and still lacks, in detail (in English)
Questions
What is the shortcut for CYLINDER in AutoCAD?
CYL. Type it and press Enter or Space, then give the centre of the base, the radius and the height: 0,0, 20 and 40 draw the session's cylinder.
How do I draw a horizontal cylinder?
Choose Axis at the height and give the other end of the axis: from a base at 0,0,0, the point 60,0,0 lays the cylinder along X.
How do I make a hollow cylinder or a pipe?
Draw two cylinders from the same centre, the inner one narrower, then run SUBTRACT: pick the outer one, Enter, the inner one, Enter.
Why does my cylinder look like a circle?
You are looking at it from above, in plan. Turn the view: a corner of the ViewCube, -VIEW and SEIso, or 3DORBIT.