Hello, welcome to this tutorial dedicated to Autodesk AutoCAD, one of the
best CAD software for Windows and MacOS to realize 2D and 3D designs. It is
available through monthly or yearly subscriptions, or with limited tokens
if you do not use it often.
In just 12 minutes we are going to cover all 2D and 3D basics you
need to start using it.
When you first open AutoCAD, the Start Page appears with online tips,
recent projects and news from Autodesk. On the left side of the page you
can either go to Open to browse for an existing project or New to start
with a blank project by taking a ready a template. In this tutorial, we
will be using the default acad.dwt template.
The new project opens on the main interface. You
always come back to the previous Start Page by clicking on the Start tab.
The main interface is composed of a big preview, the Ribbon with
several tools you can use, the visualization tools on the right and the
Command Line at the bottom we are going to see.
You can use the minimize button on top to change the Ribbon size and also
hide or show any tool from the View tab.
Now let's move on to 2D drawing. Any new project is ready for 2D design and
comes with a gizmo system located in the bottom left corner, also known as
User Coordinate System (UCS). The X axis is represented by a red line for
horizontal direction, while the Y axis by a green line for vertical
direction. Together the X and Y axes define the ground plane (or work
plane), where 2D designs lay.
Open the Home tab and go to the Draw section to access all the tools to
draw several 2D shapes. You can click on the down arrow to change the way
to drop the same object, hovering over any button to get hints and tips. In
this video we will only cover the default drawings.
Enable the Line or the Polyline tool and click twice on the preview to draw
a straight segment. You will go on dropping others until you press the Esc
key to stop. You can enable the tool again with the Enter key.
Enable the Circle tool to drop a circle with two points. To draw an arc,
enable the Arc tool and drop three points instead. Press the Enter key to
enable the tool again and drop another arc.
Use the Rectangle or the Polygon tool to draw these shapes. Type the number
of sides, apply with the Enter key and fix two points to drop the shape.
Enable the Ellipse tool to drop an ellipse with three points.
AutoCAD offers several measurements and drawing aids to make your drawing
effective and efficient.
While drawing, AutoCAD provides a live preview of the object in progress
along with its measurements. To undo the drawing, simply press the Escape
key.
When drawing a line AutoCAD shows the angle degrees with
respect to the X axis and the length measurement in accordance with the
unit set for the project. To change this unit, type UNITS and press Enter.
On the new dialog box, you can set the unit to use, its format and
precision.
Precise values can also be typed directly, using the Tab key to apply it
and move on to the next step. Press the Enter key to proceed to the next
drawing step.
Drawing aids are all collected in the bottom right corner. The GRIDMODE
button can be used to turn the drawing grid on and off. The SNAPMODE to
turn on or off snapping to the grid while drawing. With ORTHOMODE you can
draw through the X or Y axis only.
You can enable Object Snap to snap object keypoints, which can be
selected from the list next to the Snap button. The keypoints include
object endpoints, centers, midpoints, intersections and perpendicular
directions, shown in green color. You can also use these to extract dashed
green guidelines connecting other keypoints.
You can use the keyboard to ease the drawing process. For example type
POLYLINE and press Enter to enable the Polyline tool. The Command Line will
show several options with blue letters highlighted at the bottom: type A
and press Enter to enable Arc and drop a curve; type L and press Enter to
enable Line and drop segments again; and type C to close the polyline
shape. You can also use the up and down arrow keys to select these same
options and apply with the Enter key.
When you don't have any drawing tool enabled, your cursor is in selection
mode, indicated by a small square within it. You can click on any object to
select it, highlight it in blue color and start editing it!
Use CTRL (or CMD) and X,C,V keys to cut, copy and paste a selected object.
To remove it you can press the Delete key. To undo your last action, use
CTRL (or CMD) and Z.
When you select any object several blue nodes appear on it depending on it
shape. On Lines, Arcs, Circles and Ellipses you can drag the central node
to move the object or drag other nodes to resize it. You can also hover
over the nodes to get additional information and options. You can use
Stretch to move endpoints, Lengthen to adjust the line or arc length or
Radius to change the arc radius.
When selecting Polylines, Rectangles and Polygons you get bigger and
smaller nodes. Drag from the bigger nodes to move, add or remove selected
vertices.
Use the smaller nodes to manage the sides.
Select Stretch to move the side, Add Vertex to add a new vertex at the side
midpoint or Convert to Arc or Line to turn the side into a curve or
segment.
You can also edit multiple objects by selecting all of these together.
Click on each object to be selected or click and drag to select large
groups of objects with the Lasso. Dragging from left to right will activate
a Window Lasso, which select objects fully included within the blue
area. Dragging from right to left will enable the Crossing Lasso, which
selects objects touching the green area.
To deselect any object hold down the Shift key and click on it. To deselect
all objects, use the Escape key instead.
Open the Home tab and go to Modify to get all the tools to edit 2D
drawings.
To move an object or a group of them, select these first and enable the
Move tool. You can also enable the Rotate tool to rotate the selection,
setting rotation point and angle as needed. With the Scale tool you scale a
selected object without deforming it.
To adjust the preview over your project you can zoom in and out around the
cursor with your mouse wheel. From the right side you can also enable the
Pan tool to click and drag to pan. To end any tool, simply press the Escape
key.
The 3D View Cube displays the point of view seen on the project. Use the
arrows above the cube to rotate the view by 90 degrees and drag its
circumference to rotate in 2D.
Let's see how to build 3D objects in AutoCAD! First of all you have to
switch to a 3D preview. To do so click on any vertex or side of the 3D View
Cube or enable the Orbit command to 3D rotate your project.
On a 3D preview, the UCS shows a third Z blue axis, representing the height
from the work plane. If you are more familiar with an X-Z convention on the
work plane, you can change the UCS by selecting it, right-clicking on it
and going to Z Axis, placing the Y axis on top.
The 3D drawing tools may be hidden by default. In this case right-click on
the top bar and go to Show Tabs, 3D tools. This opens the 3D tools under
the Modeling section. You can hover over any tool to get tips and hints on
how to draw each 3D solid.
The Box tool allows you to create a 3D box by defining a base on the X-Y
plane, followed by its extrusion on the Z axis. The Sphere tool, on the
other hand, allows you to create a sphere by dropping two points.
These 3D solids are shown with their skeleton called wireframe according to
the default Wireframe View selected from the top left corner. You can show
the 3D volume with either Realistic or X-ray.
You can create more complex 3D solids from 2D drawings. For example the
Extrude tool adds extrusion to a 2D drawing laying on the ground plane.
Just select the 2D object, apply with Enter and set the extrusion to build
the 3D object.
The Revolve tool allows you to make a 3D solid by rotating a 2D section. In
this case select the section, apply with Enter, fix two points to set the
rotating axis and fix another point to create the object.
You can edit these 3D objects with their blue nodes as seen for 2D. Select
any object to show a gizmo system on it that you can use to move, scale and
rotate across each axis. You can change the gizmo type from Selection
above.
You can build Meshes to make more complex 3D objects. These are made of
smaller polygons that, edited singularly, allow you to make very custom
shapes.
Extend the Modeling section to enable any mesh tool and drop one. You can
also transform any 3D solid into a Mesh by selecting it and going to
Convert to Mesh.
You can edit an entire Mesh with the gizmo system or hold down the CTRL (or
CMD) key to select portions from such Mesh. This way if you move these
polygons you customize the shape of the Mesh as you like.
To improve accuracy increase the smooth level and use Mesh Refine from
above, increasing the number of polygons composing the Mesh. Finally, to
convert the Mesh to a 3D solid type CONVTOSOLID on the command line, press
Enter, select the Mesh and press Enter again.
To save your project click on the AutoCAD icon and go to Save As. Your
project will be saved as a .dwg file which you can open anytime you need.
To export the project click on the Output tab and select Export. You
can choose a .dwft or a .dwf file to share your work as read-only
or a .pdf document to send the work to a printer.
Whereas to get a realistic render of your 3D project go to the Visualize
tab and then to Render to Size. Check it out!
Thank you very much for watching this tutorial! Make sure to check our
YouTube channel and our website to learn more about other CAD software and
other outstanding tools!