Learning AutoCAD® 2013

Take a tour of the AutoCAD user interface. Learn to navigate the tabs, ribbons and panels, and how to find the tools you need for your CAD project.

Explore the ribbon interface in more detail, and become familiar with how the tools are organized.

Get an overview of the status bar. Learn the functionality of the elements of the status bar, toggle modes, and context menus.

Learn to interact with a drawing or model using commands. Use dynamic input options and modifiers to get the most out of commands.

Begin working with images and drawings. Understand the difference between raster and vector graphics.

Navigate 2D drawings using the Pan and Zoom commands.

Understand measurements and unit settings. Learn to convert between Imperial and Metric units.

Use a template to create a new drawing. Alter and save a drawing as a new custom template.

Draw with the line tool. Learn to make use of drawing aids such as the Polar Coordinate system and dynamic input.

Using the Circle tool on the Draw panel, create circles, ellipses, and elliptical arcs.

Learn how to create arcs by two methods: trimming circles using the Circle tool, and with the dedicated Arc tool on the Draw panel.

Understand how to draw complex shapes using the Polyline tool. Edit shapes using grips.

Learn how to use Cartesian coordinates with rectangles and polygons. Explore the Fillet and Chamfer options on the command line or by using dynamic input.

Use points, rays, and Xlines as "scaffolds" in your drawings. Use the Trim tool to convert temporary rays and Xlines into line objects.

Learn to create complex shapes with splines using either the Fit method or the Control Vertex (CV) method. Explore the Spline Edit options.

Explore the Grid and Snap tools. Work with Grid and Snap settings such as Polar Snap and Isometric Snap.

Connect objects in a drawing to the geometric features of other objects using Object Snap.

Learn to use Object Snap Tracking in your drawings.

Understand how coordinate systems work in AutoCAD. Switch from the default World Coordinate System (WCS) to the User Coordinate System (UCS).

Draw using the User Coordinate System aligned to a specific geometry.

Use QuickCalc, AutoCAD's built-in calculator, to perform numeric calculations and take measurements from the geometry of a drawing.

Learn how to use the various methods for selecting objects in AutoCAD, and why certain methods are best in different circumstances.

Use the basic transformation commands Move, Copy and Rotate to change an object's position, orientation or scale. Transform objects freehand, using measurements, and by snapping them to other objects.

Work with the Mirror, Scale, and Offset commands. Learn how to scale objects by referring to other objects in a drawing.

Associate objects in arrays using Rectangular, Polar, and Path arrays.

Change the shapes in a drawing using the Deform commands Trim, Extend, Fillet, Chamfer, Stretch and Lengthen.

Learn to edit objects with grips. Stretch, lengthen, move, rotate, scale, mirror and offset objects in a drawing without using commands.

Work with layers using the Layer tool and the Layer Properties Manager. Use layer filters and group filters in your drawings.

We typically set object properties by layer (so they inherit those properties), then override them as needed for specific circumstances or as we move objects from one layer to another.

Tools on the Layers panel make it easy to navigate layers and move or assign objects to them.

See how to load a linetype, how to use it in your drawing, and how to adjust the linetype scale for best view.

You can adjust the draw order of objects so that objects are shown or hidden as you wish.

On screen, all lines are 1 pixel width by default. But printed views need to have varying lineweights, for ease of interpretation; you can set various linewidths and also choose to display them on your monitor.

Define commonly used symbols as blocks so they can be used repeatedly.

Insert locally defined blocks into a drawing. Rotate blocks at insertion to save time.

Combine several blocks into a single dynamic block. Add geometric and dimensional constraints to a block.

Control which symbol is visible in a dynamic block by working with visibility states. Learn to set block visibility in the Block Editor.

Continue working with dynamic blocks. Stretch, rotate and flip dynamic blocks using custom grips.

Store commonly used blocks on the Tool Palette. Insert blocks into other drawings by dragging them from the Tool Palette.

Get familiar with the Design Center. Find blocks and styles stored locally and import them into drawings.

Work with the Content Explorer plugin to search for content locally, or search globally on Autodesk Seek.

Group a collection of blocks. Learn to use groups to facilitate transforming related objects at the same time.

Use external references, called Xrefs for short, to allow collaboration on large and complex drawings.

Create hatch patterns and fill closed boundaries in a drawing with patterns of linework in order to visually differentiate the parts of a drawing.

Edit existing hatch objects. Use the Hatch Editor to select and work with boundaries, change patterns, adjust pattern scale, and set the origin of patterns.

Create and edit hatch objects in a drawing using solid fills and gradients. Add a background color to an existing hatch pattern.

Create new text styles in addition to the default Standard and Annotative styles. Select the font and the the width of the text. Set text height in a text style or within the Text command when creating a text object.

Write single lines of text to create text objects suitable for simple annotations to a drawing. Work with the DDEdit command to edit existing text objects.

Use the Multiline Text, or MText, command to add paragraphs of text to a drawing. Import blocks of text and adjust text to fit into columns or shapes in a drawing.

Attributes are data structures that contain non-graphical information associated with a drawing. Create attribute definitions by adding tags and prompts to your attributes.

Define a block and edit its attributes to create room tags. Work with the Enhanced Attribute Editor and the Block Attribute Manager.

Fields can be used to display information from AutoCAD's Drawing Database. Create and edit fields to show values such as room area within a text object.

Add a table to a drawing containing data extracted from attribute values within the drawing. Format cells and edit text in a table.

Working with the Dimension flyout on the Annotate tab, create dimension objects and include them in a drawing. Use the linear, aligned, angular, arc length, radius and diameter, and baseline dimension types.

Control the appearance of dimension objects in a drawing with dimension styles. Apply dimension sub-styles to particular dimension objects and override the dimension style on individual objects.

Eit dimensions using grips and commands. Break extension lines, adjust the spacing of dimension lines, alter geometry associated with dimensions and override existing dimension text.

Work with multileaders to identify parts of a drawing with descriptive text. Edit multileader styles, add additional multileaders and align multileaders in a drawing.

Apply geometric constraints to shapes and lines in a drawing, either manually with the options on the Parametric tab of the ribbon or automatically using Auto Constrain. Explore how this limits dynamic editing of objects.

Work with dynamic, annotational, and reference constraints. Observe how these constraints interact with geometric constraints to drive a system of related objects.

Apply what you've learned about constraints to dynamic blocks. Convert selected objects into construction geometry in order to hide geometry within a dynamic block.

Explore different methods for navigating in a 3D model. Use the ViewCube, the camera command, and a steering wheel to move through 3D space. Save a 3D view of a model using the View Manager.

Work with basic 3D modeling techniques. Use the Boundary command to place enclosed polylines and the Extrude command to create the walls of a house in a 3D model. Manipulate sub-objects and change the visual style of a solid surface in 3D.

Select materials from a library and load them into a drawing. Create a realistic rendering of a 3D model.

Add illumination to a 3D model. Site the model in a location for natural sunlight and work with simulated interior spotlights.