When you learn AutoCAD on your own, the hard part is not a shortage of material but how scattered it is: a video here, a PDF for AutoCAD 2007 there, and no sense of which command to learn first. This page arranges the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering's AutoCAD articles into a seven-stage path, from opening the program for the first time to using LISP for repetitive work.
Every article in the path was written after running the commands in AutoCAD 2027, with the command-line prompts copied word for word, screenshots and examples on construction drawings. These are free AutoCAD study materials, read directly on the web with nothing to download first. If you want someone to guide and check your work, the Institute runs an AutoCAD course for construction.
The order for AutoCAD self-study
Learning AutoCAD is like learning a language: first you learn how to talk to the program, then you build vocabulary. The order below goes from foundations to advanced work, each stage reusing the skills of the one before.
| Stage | Content | Articles | After it you can |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interface, entering commands, shortcuts, coordinates | 21 | Type commands, snap to points, draw to exact sizes |
| 2 | Drawing commands | 25 | Build a floor plan from basic linework |
| 3 | Editing commands | 26 | Edit, copy, trim and join instead of redrawing |
| 4 | Layers, text, dimensions, fonts | 24 | Produce drawings to standard, with Vietnamese text |
| 5 | Blocks, layouts, plotting and export | 18 | Plot to scale, export PDF, copy to Word and Excel |
| 6 | 3D modelling | 15 | Model, cut, combine and render solids |
| 7 | LISP and libraries | 16 | Automate repetitive work |
More than 150 articles in all. You do not need to read every one: the lists below pick the articles that matter most at each stage, and the rest can wait until a drawing calls for them. A realistic rhythm for AutoCAD self-study is one stage at a time, finishing its self-check exercise before moving on, because each stage leans on the habits of the previous one. The full table of commands, each with its alias, is on the AutoCAD commands page. How long it takes and what computer you need are covered in how long it takes to learn AutoCAD.
Stage 1: what AutoCAD is, installing it, and giving commands
The first stage answers three questions: what AutoCAD is for, how to install it, and how to talk to it. Do not skip entering commands and object snaps: both are used in every command that follows.
- What AutoCAD is: a guide for construction
- Free educational AutoCAD licence for students
- AutoCAD licence prices
- The AutoCAD interface
- How to enter commands
- Command aliases
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Exiting commands
- Drawing units
- Entering coordinates
- Object snaps
- The F8 key and Ortho
- The ZOOM command
- Selecting objects
- The UNDO command
- The Properties palette
Take your time with coordinates: absolute, relative and polar entry decide whether a drawing is accurate or only looks right. Snaps do the rest, so that lines meet exactly instead of almost.
Self-check exercise: draw a 6000 × 4500 rectangle with relative coordinates, then measure its diagonal with DIST. The right answer is 7500.
Stages 2 and 3: drawing and editing commands
Stage 2: drawing commands
Drawing commands create the geometry. For architectural and structural drawings, most of the time goes on LINE, PLINE, CIRCLE, RECTANG, OFFSET and HATCH.
- Drawing lines
- Polylines
- Circles
- Arcs
- Rectangles
- Ellipses
- Polygons
- The SPLINE command
- Parallel lines
- Arrows
- Revision clouds
- The HATCH command
Self-check exercise: draw a 4200 × 3600 room with 220 walls using OFFSET, then hatch the walls with HATCH.
Stage 3: editing commands
Fast drafting comes from good editing: experienced drafters rarely redraw; they copy and modify. Mastering this stage speeds drawing up markedly.
- The MOVE command
- The COPY command
- Rotating
- The SCALE command
- The MIRROR command
- The ARRAY command
- The TRIM command
- The EXTEND command
- The BREAK command
- Joining objects
- FILLET: rounded corners
- CHAMFER: bevelled corners
- The STRETCH command
- The EXPLODE command
- Erasing
Self-check exercise: from the stage 2 room, use MIRROR and ARRAY to build a symmetric row of four rooms, then TRIM the wall junctions.
Stage 4: layers, text, dimensions and fonts
This stage turns geometry into a technical drawing: proper layers, text and dimensions. Vietnamese text needs care with fonts, because standard SHX fonts have no accents.
- Layers
- Linetypes
- Lineweights
- Text
- Adding fonts and typing Vietnamese
- Dimensions
- Dimension styles
- The remaining dimension commands
- Calculating areas
- Measuring distances
Self-check exercise: create layers TUONG, DIM and TEXT with their own colours and lineweights, dimension the row of rooms with a 1:100 dimension style, and label the rooms in Vietnamese with accents.
Stage 5: blocks, layouts, plotting and export
After this stage you can deliver drawings: blocks for repeated symbols, sheets laid out on layouts, plotting to scale and exporting to PDF.
- Blocks
- Editing blocks
- Dynamic blocks
- Attribute blocks
- External references
- Layouts
- Plotting
- Saving as PDF
- Copying to Word
- Exporting to Excel
- Saving to an older DWG version
- Slimming heavy drawings
Newcomers also need to read drawings from others: see how to read construction drawings and construction drawing symbols.
Stage 6: 3D modelling
3D work follows an order: model basic solids or extrude from a plan, then cut, subtract and combine, orbit to check, and finally assign materials and render.
- Basic 3D solids
- The EXTRUDE command
- The REVOLVE command
- UNION and INTERSECT
- Making holes with SUBTRACT
- Orbiting the 3D view
- Rendering
Stage 7: LISP and programming
LISP routines are home-made commands, loaded with APPLOAD, that do repetitive jobs the built-in commands do not. The Institute's LISP set was rewritten from scratch, with the code in each article and a file to download.
- APPLOAD: loading LISP
- The LISP library
- LISP: trimming dimensions
- LISP: quick dimensions
- LISP: aligning dimensions
- LISP: editing many texts and dimensions
- LISP: numbering
- LISP: batch plotting
- LISP: rebar schedules
- LISP: exporting coordinates
- Importing coordinates from Excel
- LISP: total length
- LISP: hatch areas
- LISP: batch block tools
- LISP: batch text tools
- How many hours AutoCAD programming saves
Free AutoCAD study materials to download
The files below come with their matching articles and are ready to use.
| File | Used for | Article |
|---|---|---|
The Institute's LISP set (lisp-iic.zip) | Load once and get all the stage 7 routines | The LISP library |
Hatch library (hatch-iic.zip) | Material patterns for construction drawings | Hatch library |
Linetypes (iic.lin) | Grid, hidden and section lines | Linetype library |
Vietnamese font pack (bo-font-cad-tieng-viet-iic.zip) | Missing SHX, TCVN3 and VNI fonts | Adding fonts |
Attribute block library (.dwg) | Room name, grid and level blocks with attributes | Attribute blocks |
Construction drawing symbols (.pdf) | Looking up symbols while reading drawings | Drawing symbols |
AutoCAD books and AutoCAD course notes: what to use
Many people look for AutoCAD books or course notes as PDF. Many PDF course notes circulating online were written for older releases, such as AutoCAD 2007 or 2018. A few things to weigh when choosing AutoCAD study materials:
| Source | Strengths | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Older PDF course notes | Available, readable offline | The interface and commands may differ from your release |
| Autodesk's official help | Every command, updated for each release | Written like a reference, not a learning path |
| The path on this page | In Vietnamese, on the 2027 release, with construction examples and downloads | Read on the web, needs a connection |
An effective approach is to follow this path like a self-study book and consult Autodesk's help when you need to go deeper into a command. Every article gives the alias, the ribbon location and the verbatim prompts, so cross-referencing is easy. This is how to learn AutoCAD for free while still following a structured course.
Frequently asked questions
Can you learn AutoCAD on your own, without a course?
Yes, if you learn in order, practise on real drawings and check your work against the exercises. The seven-stage path on this page runs from entering commands to LISP, with a self-check exercise in the early stages.
Which commands should I learn first?
Entering commands, object snaps and coordinates in stage 1, then LINE, PLINE, OFFSET and TRIM. The 21 commands that need a single letter are listed on the AutoCAD commands page.
Are there free AutoCAD study materials?
Yes. Every article in the path is free to read on the web, along with downloads such as the LISP set, hatch library, linetypes, Vietnamese fonts and attribute blocks.
Which AutoCAD release should I learn on?
The articles were written on AutoCAD 2027. Students can use a free educational licence, as described in stage 1.
Do I still need a course after self-study?
Self-study is enough to draw. A guided course helps correct bad habits early and learn the conventions of real drawing sets; the Institute runs a 13-session AutoCAD course for construction.