Course description

AutoCAD is computer-aided design software from Autodesk, used to make accurate technical drawings. This course teaches 2D drafting from the very start: by the end you'll draw a dimensioned floor plan of a small flat and lay it out on an A3 sheet, plotted to PDF, one clear step at a time.

You learn to find your way round the screen and the command line, set up drawings in millimetres from a template of your own, and put every point exactly where you mean it with coordinates, polar tracking and object snaps. You draw and edit with the core drawing and modify commands, organise drawings with layers, and add text and dimensions in styles that suit UK practice. Then you make blocks and a title block with attributes, hatch walls, draw a floor plan from a brief, set up layouts and viewports at 1:50 and 1:100, plot to PDF and keep your files safe.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example, common slips, questions people often ask and a short exercise to try, and each section ends with a short quiz. You follow Tecla, a kitchen showroom sales adviser in Preston, as she learns AutoCAD over the spring and summer, with help from her neighbour Arnfinn, a retired architectural technician. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, an answer key and a cheat sheet, plus key and alias cards, command references, checklists, exercise sheets and answer drawings made for the course.

What you'll learn

• Getting started with AutoCAD: what AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are, getting the software safely, the ribbon, command line and status bar, commands, options and aliases, and saving drawings.
• Setting up a drawing: model space and full-size drawing in millimetres, metric templates and the Drawing Units dialogue box, with grid, snap and limits, and your own starter template.
• Drawing with precision: absolute, relative and polar coordinates, direct distance entry, Ortho mode, polar tracking, object snaps, Dynamic Input and checking sizes with DIST.
• Drawing commands: lines, polylines, circles, arcs, rectangles and polygons, selecting objects, and a bookcase front elevation.
• Modify commands: move, copy, rotate, scale, mirror, offset, trim, extend, fillet, chamfer, arrays, stretch, grips, explode, join and break.
• Layers and properties: the Layer Properties Manager, colours, linetypes and lineweights, ByLayer and the Properties palette, layer states and a layer plan for building drawings.
• Text and dimensions: text styles and multiline text, dimension styles based on ISO-25, linear, aligned, radius, diameter, angular, continued and baseline dimensions, leaders and UK drawing conventions.
• Blocks, attributes and hatching: door and window blocks, the Blocks palette, an A3 title block with attributes, hatch patterns and fills, and a block library.
• Drawing a floor plan: reading a brief, walls with offset, trim and fillet, door and window openings, wall hatching, fittings and checking a plan.
• Layouts, plotting and the final project: model space and paper space, viewports at 1:50 and 1:100, page setups, plotting to PDF, external references, file habits and a final dimensioned floor plan on an A3 layout.

Who it's for

Adults moving into drawing work in construction, interiors, engineering or joinery, and hobby makers who want accurate drawings of their projects. You don't need any drawing or CAD experience. You need AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT on a computer that meets Autodesk's requirements for your version; a wheel mouse helps. If you want to plan rooms as well as draw them, Interior Design for Beginners: Plan, Style and Decorate Rooms You Love pairs well with the floor plan sections.

What this course is, and isn't

This course teaches 2D drafting in AutoCAD. It doesn't cover 3D modelling, and it isn't made or endorsed by Autodesk. Command names, aliases, keys and dialogue box names were checked against Autodesk's AutoCAD 2027 help; AutoCAD is updated regularly, so the lessons tell you how to find a command if a button has moved. The drawings are practice drawings with made-up sizes, not designs to build from. The practice packs have no DWG files: you draw everything yourself from the steps. Tecla, Arnfinn and every other person in the course are fictional.

What will I learn?

• Find your way round AutoCAD's ribbon, command line and status bar, start commands, choose options and save drawings safely
• Set up metric drawings in millimetres with the Drawing Units dialogue box, grid and snap, and a starter template of your own
• Place every point exactly with absolute, relative and polar coordinates, direct distance entry, Ortho mode, polar tracking and object snaps
• Draw lines, polylines, circles, arcs, rectangles and polygons, and select objects with windows and crossings
• Edit drawings with move, copy, rotate, scale, mirror, offset, trim, extend, fillet, chamfer, arrays and stretch
• Organise drawings with layers, colours, linetypes and lineweights, keeping objects ByLayer
• Add text and dimensions in your own styles, following common UK drawing conventions
• Make blocks and an A3 title block with attributes, and hatch areas with patterns and fills
• Draw a floor plan from a brief, with walls, door and window openings, blocks, hatching and fittings
• Lay out a drawing on an A3 sheet with viewports at 1:50 and 1:100, plot it to PDF and keep your files in good order

Frequently asked questions