AutoCAD Tutorial

 AutoCAD Tutorial

With this guide, you can get started learning AutoCAD.

AutoCAD is computer-aided drafting software that allows users to create precise 2- and 3-dimensional drawings for use in construction and manufacturing. On your Mac or PC, you can run the most recent version of AutoCAD. AutoCAD users can create scaled drawings used to manufacture equipment, plan infrastructure projects, design electrical circuitry, and construct homes and commercial structures. If you're new to AutoCAD, this wikiHow will help you navigate the app and become acquainted with its basic features and functions.

1 Launch AutoCAD. It can be found in the Windows menu or in the Applications folder on your Mac. If you haven't already, go to https://www.autodesk.com to download and install it now.

2 Look around the Start screen. When you launch AutoCAD, you'll notice two bottom tabs: LEARN and CREATE (the default tab). You'll find helpful videos to get you started with your project if you click the LEARN tab. Returning to the CREATE tab, you'll see the following areas:

• Start Drawing to create a new project, Open Files to choose an existing project, or Templates to start from a template are all available in the "Get Started" section on the left.[1]
• If you have any recent AutoCAD documents to work on, they will be displayed in the Recent Documents section in the centre of the screen.
• If there are any updates available, they will be displayed in the Notifications area at the top-right corner.
• Sign in to your A360 account by clicking the Sign In button in the bottom-right corner.

3 Choose either Start Drawing or Open an Existing File. Choose that template instead if you want to start a new project from scratch.[2] 

• If you don't see the option, go to the File menu and select New to start a new drawing right away.

4

Make yourself at home in the workspace. After you've opened a drawing, spend some time familiarising yourself with the menu and tool locations:

• The drawing area is the workspace section with a gridded background. There are two tabs at the top-left corner of this area: one for the current drawing (which will have a name like "Drawing1") and the other to return to the Start screen. If you open multiple drawings at the same time, each will have its own tab above the drawing area.
• The Y-axis is shown in green on the left side of the drawing area, and the X-axis is represented by the red line at the bottom.
• When working in 3D, the Viewcube is the square with a directional compass around it.
• The ribbon toolbar, located above the drawing area, organises your tools into tabs (Home, Insert, Annotate, and so on).
• To show or hide tools and features on the workspace, use the View tab at the top.
• Once you've become acquainted with the app, the "Type a command" area at the bottom allows you to enter commands and tool functions.[3]

5

Navigate to the Home tab. It's in AutoCAD's upper left corner. Your drawing tools are located in the "Draw" section on the left side of the ribbon toolbar.

• Hover your mouse over any of the tools to learn more about what they do and how to get more help with their applications.
• As you draw with any tool, useful measurements such as length and angle will appear near the cursor.

6 Configure your default measurement formats. If you need to change the appearance of the scale, length, or angle measurements on the screen, type units into the command prompt and press Enter or Return to bring up the Drawing Units panel. For example, if you're seeing measurements in microns but need to see them in metres, you can change that here at any time.

1

To draw lines, use the Line or Polyline tool. Both tools are located in the upper left corner. The Line tool is used to draw individual line segments, whereas the Polyline tool allows you to create a single object from multiple line segments.[4] To begin, draw the following lines:

• Place your cursor at the beginning of your line segment.
• Move the mouse to the point where you want the segment to end, and then click the mouse. This completes your first segment/line if you're using the Line tool.
• To continue creating segments with the Polyline tool, move the mouse again and click. When you're done, press the Esc key to stop drawing.
• Instead of clicking a segment endpoint, type the desired measurement into the box near the cursor if you need to set precise measurements for your segments (this is true for any tool). When you press Enter or Return, the endpoint is moved to the distance you specified.

2 To draw a circle, use the Circle tool. In the toolbar, it's to the right of the Polyline tool. To make a circle, follow these steps:

• Click in the drawing area where you want the circle's centre to be.
• To select the radius, drag the mouse outward and click.

3

To create a curved line, use the Arc tool. In the toolbar, it's to the right of the Circle tool. To make an arc, follow these steps:

• Place the mouse pointer over the starting point.
• To end the segment, move the mouse and then click.
• Curve the line by moving the mouse in the desired direction and clicking.

4

To make a rectangle, use the Rectangle tool. The rectangle tool is straightforward: click the first point, which will be any corner of the rectangle, and then drag the mouse until the rectangle is the desired size. To position the rectangle, use the mouse.

5 Use the Polygon tool to create a multi-sided shape. Here's how it's done:

• When you move the cursor to the drawing area, you'll notice a box that says "Enter the number of sides." Enter or Return after entering the number of sizes.
• Click the shape's centre point.
• Place the shape by dragging the mouse to the desired size and clicking.

6

To make an oval, use the Elipse tool. Three points are used to form an ellipse. Here's how it's done:

• Select the desired centre point by clicking it.
• Move the mouse to the desired size and then click again.
• Shape the ellipse with the mouse and then click to place it.

7

To fill a shape with a pattern, use the Hatch tool. It's the square in the toolbar's bottom-right corner of the Draw panel. To fill a shape, first click the tool, then click it. While Hatch is enabled, you can select any of the patterns or solid fills that appear in the "Pattern" panel that appears in the toolbar.

8

To edit your shapes, use the tools in the "Modify" panel. To begin, if you simply click a shape or line without first selecting a tool, anchor points will appear; you can drag these anchor points to modify the shape if desired. There are numerous other changes you can make:

• To move a line or shape, click Move. After selecting the tool, select the object to be moved and drag it anywhere. You can move multiple objects at once by selecting them all at once.
• To turn a shape clockwise or anticlockwise, click Rotate and then a shape. The Mirror tool can be used to flip the image.
• To change the size of a shape, click Scale and then a shape. Learn more about scaling in AutoCAD by visiting How to Scale in AutoCAD.
• If you want to resize an image by stretching it rather than scaling it, select Stretch.
• To make an array of the object you've chosen, use one of the Array tools (Rectangular Array, Path Array, or Polar Array).
• Trim allows you to cut a segment or side of one object that meets the border of another, combining them into a single object.
• By intersecting two selected sides, the Fillet and Chamfer tools allow you to create curved and sharp vertices.

9

To add text and tables, go to the Annotate tab. The tab is located at the top, next to the "Insert" tab. This is where you can add text boxes, tables with multiple rows and/or columns, and other features.

• To switch between text styles, click Single Line or Multi Line on the top-left side of the ribbon toolbar.
• Any text you enter will function as a single object that you can move.
• This tab also includes a "Dimensions" panel, which allows you to annotate the dimensions of shapes and lines.

10

Work with three-dimensional objects. To switch to a 3D view, drag the Viewcube in the top-right corner of the drawing area in any direction, or click the Orbit icon in the right panel (it's the circle with an upward-pointing arrow inside).

• Click the 3D Tools tab at the top to access 3D design editing tools. If you don't see this tab, right-click the empty space after the last tab above the ribbon toolbar, choose Show tabs, and then choose 3D Tools.
• Select different 3D objects to draw by clicking the down arrow below "Box" in the "Modelling" panel of the toolbar view (e.g., Cone, Sphere, Pyramid). You'll draw the images in the same way you did in regular 2D format, but this time you'll have another axis to work with (the blue line).
• Instead of having volume, the shapes will appear as 3D line drawings. You can change this by selecting another view, such as Shaded, Realistic, or X-ray, by clicking 2D Wireframe near the top-left corner of the drawing area.
• To make a 2D object 3D, use the Extrude tool to add depth and/or Revolve to rotate it around an axis.[5]
• 3D objects can be modified in the same way that 2D objects can—click an object to reveal the blue draggable nodes, then move them around as needed.
• Advanced editing tools for creating and editing complex shapes are available in the "Solid Editing" and "Surfaces" panels.

11 Arrange the drawings on different layers. When working on more complex drawings, it can be useful to separate parts into layers that you can edit, hide, view, and rearrange.[6] Here are some fundamentals to get you started with layers:

• Click the Layer Properties icon in the "Layers" panel on the Home tab to open the Layer Properties panel. This demonstrates all of the layers and what you can do with them.
• To create and name a new layer, click the icon of three sheets of paper with a red-and-yellow circle on the left side (it's the first icon on top of the Layer Properties panel). The panel will now have two layers.
• To select a layer, double-click it. The current layer is indicated by a checkmark.
• To hide or show a lightbulb on a layer, click on it. When working with large files, use the sun icon to freeze the layer rather than hide it.
• By locking a layer, you can protect it from accidental edits.

12

Make a copy of your drawing. To save what you're working on, go to the top-left corner and select Save As, then Drawing. This allows you to save your work as a DWG file, the standard AutoCAD format.

• Now that you've mastered the fundamentals, try drawing an L-shaped stairway or a step pyramid!
• As you gain experience with AutoCAD, you'll be able to convert lines into surfaces, surfaces into 3D solids, realistic material representations, and light and shadow manipulation.