Course Details

This course is appropriate for a wide range of professionals but not limited to:

• Architects
• Engineers
• Drafters
• Design-related Professionals

Note: Ability to use any version of Microsoft Windows is required. Familiarity with other Windows applications like Microsoft Office is recommended.
 

This course covers all the fundamentals and professional features of using AutoCAD through a series of lectures, interactive sessions, and hands-on exercises. Participants will gain the knowledge and experience they need to use AutoCAD Professional as an effective drawing, editing, and design tool.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the AutoCAD workspace, tools and navigation. 
• Create and edit accurate 2D drawings. 
• Organize drawings using layers, blocks and attributes. 
• Use essential annotation, hatching and dimensioning tools. 
• Create layouts, viewports and drawing templates. 
• Prepare and plot professional drawings for PDF output.

DAY 1

AUTOCAD FUNDAMENTALS & PRECISION DRAWING
Getting Started with AutoCAD

• Introduction to AutoCAD and 2D drafting 
• AutoCAD interface and workspace 
• Ribbon, panels and command line 
• Navigation and viewing tools 
• Model Space and Paper Space 
• Opening, saving and managing drawings 
• Creating a new drawing 
• Understanding drawing templates 

Drawing Setup & Precision

• Understanding drawing units 
• Coordinate systems 
• Absolute and relative coordinates 
• Polar coordinates 
• Dynamic Input 
• Ortho Mode 
• Polar Tracking 
• Object Snap 
• Object Snap Tracking 
• Grid and Snap 

Creating Basic 2D Geometry

• Lines 
• Polylines 
• Circles 
• Arcs 
• Rectangles 
• Polygons 
• Ellipses 
• Basic curves

Selecting & Manipulating Objects

• Selecting objects 
• Window and Crossing selection 
• Move 
• Copy 
• Rotate 
• Mirror 
• Scale 
• Array 
• Using grips 

Essential Editing Commands

• Trim 
• Extend 
• Offset 
• Fillet 
• Chamfer 
• Stretch 
• Break 
• Join 
• Explode
   

DAY 2

DRAWING ORGANIZATION, LAYERS & REUSABLE CONTENT
Organizing Drawings with Layers

• Understanding layers 
• Creating and naming layers 
• Layer colors 
• Linetypes 
• Lineweights 
• Layer visibility 
• Locking and unlocking layers 
• Freeze and thaw 
• Layer isolation 
• Layer management best practices 

Object Properties

• Properties Palette 
• Changing object properties 
• Matching object properties 
• Understanding object information 
• Measuring distances and areas 

Advanced Drawing & Editing

• Working with polylines 
• Creating splines 
• Editing complex objects 
• Boundaries 
• Regions — introductory only 
• Quick Select 
• Purging unused drawing information

Reusable Drawing Content

• Understanding blocks 
• Creating blocks 
• Inserting blocks 
• Editing blocks 
• Using DesignCenter 
• Tool Palettes 
• When and why to use blocks 

Introduction to Attributes

• Understanding block attributes 
• Creating simple attributes 
• Editing attribute information 
• Using attributed blocks 

Drawing Efficiency & Best Practices

• Keeping drawings organized 
• Naming conventions 
• Layer standards 
• Reusing drawing content 
• Working efficiently with larger drawings 
   

DAY 3

ANNOTATION, DIMENSIONING, LAYOUTS & PLOTTING
Text & Annotation

• Single-line text 
• Multiline text 
• Text styles 
• Editing and formatting text 
• Creating professional annotations 

Dimensioning

• Understanding dimensioning 
• Creating dimensions 
• Linear dimensions 
• Aligned dimensions 
• Angular dimensions 
• Radius and diameter dimensions 
• Center marks 
• Dimension styles 
• Editing dimensions 

Hatching

• Creating hatch patterns 
• Hatch boundaries 
• Hatch properties 
• Editing hatch objects 
• Applying hatching to technical drawings 

Layouts & Paper Space

• Model Space vs Paper Space 
• Creating layouts 
• Setting up drawing sheets 
• Creating viewports 
• Controlling viewport scale 
• Locking viewports 
• Managing multiple drawing views

Page Setup & Plotting

• Page Setup Manager 
• Paper sizes 
• Drawing orientation 
• Plot areas 
• Plot scales 
• Printer/plotter setup 
• Plot style tables 
• Lineweights 
• Plot preview 
• Printing to PDF 
• Creating professional drawing output 

Drawing Templates

• Creating a basic drawing template 
• Setting up layers 
• Text styles 
• Dimension styles 
• Page setup 
• Saving and reusing templates