OUAN406 - Learning AutoCAD

After speaking for the second time with Roger, this time with an actual design and some ideas for what I wanted to produce and to what scale. He thought that this was an appropriate project to use the CNC router and the laser cutter in order to save myself from cutting pieces of wood and cardboard by hand. It would also be more accurate and a lot quicker. In order to use these pieces of machinery however, I needed to learn how to use a piece of software called AutoCAD, which seeing how I'd never used before, Roger very kindly offered to give me a morning tutorial on it in the form of an induction.

The induction proved to be incredibly useful. I learnt how versatile AutoCAD could be as a piece of software and quickly adapted to using the keyboard in combination with the mouse to achieve certain actions such as changing settings. The first thing we covered was simple layout features such as where certain functions were located and what are the most important tools in general use. This also included turning off the grid as it wasn't necessary and changing units to mm from meters, as it is more accurate to work in a smaller unit. Finally, it was also noted that using the Esc key is something that comes in useful when deselecting certain functions.

Although the software itself is quite simple, it's amazing how much you can achieve when using it. I went over several things that I wanted to incorporate into my designs, including windows and archways because of the type of architecture, this was all easily achievable. Because a lot of my designs included straight lines, for walls and edges I used the line tool a huge amount, along with the circle tool. I think something that I found myself using frequently is the measuring tool, so that you know for sure that lines are of the correct length or circles have the radius you want for example. Another thing that became apparent quite quickly was the need to use lines no only as parts of the design, but as construction lines, so that you can build accurate designs that are made up of careful measurements. Furthermore, the software has function where you can snap lines to align with the end point of other lines when you create a line and touch the end point of another. This makes it easy to make accurate perpendicular joins quickly, and saves time overall. Another tool I was shown how to use was the trim tool, this proved to be especially useful when drawing complicated objects that needed more complex shapes than just lines and other shapes, objects that had almost a pattern to them. The trim tool allowed for certain lines to be removed, I expect this will be very useful when creating patterned windows for example. Finally, another tool I was introduced to was the offset tool. For the purpose of creating Gothic architecture this tool will be vital in enabling this, as it allows for a line or shape to be emulated a certain distance from itself. I found this comes most useful when creating layered arches over an arched door, doorway or a window frame for example.

The screenshots below show; the functions for drawing lines and shapes, and the functions for turning the grid off as well as the object snap tool and the polar tracking tool. Below that there are screenshots demonstrating drawing a measured line, the line snap function, using a point as a starting point for a shape and the measure tool showing the length of the line drawn.