AutoCAD has a few ways for you to view an object other than the plan view that you have used for your 2-D drawings.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

By now you should be very comfortable working your way around the X-Y co-ordinate system. Anyway, here is a quick review. Looking from the plan (top) view, this is what you see to figure out where is positive X and positive Y.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

Using Isometric commands is one of the simplest ways to give a 3-D representation while using only 2-D commands. This has been the usual way of doing things before CAD allowed true 3-D work to be done. Many times an isometric drawing is used to compliment a 3 view orthographic drawing.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

You may have already found out why CAD has many advantages over manual drafting. One big advantage is that once you've drawn something, you shouldn't have to draw it again. If you manually drew a house plan, you would have to draw a front elevation, side elevations, and possibly a perspective view. With one 3-D CAD model, you can generate views from any angle either inside or outside the house. Afterwords, if your client needs something changed, you can then make the changes once. If you're drawing mechanical parts, you can generate virtual prototypes or even create rapid prototypes.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

This lesson will show you the preferred way of plotting your drawings. In AutoCAD there are two different workspaces: model space and Layout / Paper Space. For now think of model space where you make your model, or draw. Think of the Layout Tabs as where you print your drawing from, or layout the final drawing complete with dimensions, notes, title block, etc.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

A polyline is an object in AutoCAD that consists of one or more line (or arc) segments. A rectangle is an example of a polyline that you are already familiar with. As you've seen, it is one object that can be modified and worked with easier than four separate lines.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

Like most things in AutoCAD, there is more than one way to do it. Creating text is no exception. Here are the common commands for working with text.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

Hatching in AutoCAD is a way of filling in areas of your drawing with a pre-formatted pattern to represent certain materials. It is usually used in sectional views. Starting with AutoCAD release 14, you can use a solid fill to completely fill in areas such as walls in a floor plan.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

So far in using AutoCAD you have created geometry: lines, circles, etc. You have also added things such as text and dimensions. All of these things could also be done by hand, so what else does CAD have to offer?
One of the easiest ways of adding non-graphical information is to use attributes. An attribute is text that can be attached to a block that conveys more information than just the geometry on its own could convey.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago

This tutorial will give you some drawing practice using real world examples. You will be asked to draw the sample drawing using some techniques you haven't been shown yet. This lesson requires you to have Adobe's Acrobat reader for PDF files. Here we're using an example of someone who has to measure and draw a room.

submitted: 5 years and 3521 days ago