AutoCAD is Autodesk's technical drawing software. It went on sale in December 1982 and remains the most widely used tool for two-dimensional drawings in Vietnamese construction. The document set a client receives, a contractor builds from and an authority files is almost always a set of sheets drawn in AutoCAD.
This is the overview page of the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering, where several hundred engineers and students learn technical drawing every year. It answers the questions that come up most often: what the software does on a real document set, how the three versions on sale differ, what it costs. Later sections cover the machine you need, how long it takes to learn, and when to move to Revit.
If you want to start from nothing and work through a complete document set, the AutoCAD course from basic to advanced is the shortest route. If you only need one specific answer, each section below links to an article that goes deeper.
What AutoCAD is
AutoCAD lets you draw geometry accurate to the millimetre, then dimension it, add symbols, arrange it on a sheet and print it. Unlike ordinary drawing software, every line carries real coordinates and real dimensions, so the result can be built from rather than merely looked at.
One detail is copied wrongly across a great many pages: that the name stands for "Automatic Computer Aided Design". Autodesk publishes no such expansion. AutoCAD is a trade name, in which CAD means computer aided design.
What matters more than the name is the software's place in the industry. Since 1982 its file format, DWG, has become the common language for exchanging drawings. Architects, structural engineers, building services engineers, contractors and reviewing authorities all send each other DWG files. That is why anyone working in construction rarely escapes it, even after moving to other modelling software.
What AutoCAD is used for on a construction project
Most articles answer this by listing industries: aerospace, cars, mechanical engineering, interiors. For someone in construction, a more useful answer is which part of a project the software actually covers.
At concept stage, massing software such as SketchUp or Revit is usually faster. But from detailed design onwards, what has to be issued is a set of two-dimensional sheets on paper, with a title block, a scale, notes and signatures. That is AutoCAD's part of the job.
Three groups of tasks take up nearly all the time of an AutoCAD user in construction.
- Producing the drawings. From the agreed scheme, drawing each floor plan, section, elevation, connection detail and component detail. This is the heaviest part and the easiest to get wrong.
- Standardising and printing. Setting layers, line weights, text heights, scales and title blocks, then arranging sheets at A1 or A3 and printing the set. A file of dozens of sheets each done differently gets sent back.
- Revising and reissuing. Every project changes. Drawings must be revisable quickly and consistently, or the print on site will differ from the file in the office.
Those three are also what the construction drawing reading course and the article on how to read construction drawings accompany: drawing and reading are two sides of one skill.
Five things that make a drawing professional
Beginners tend to think learning AutoCAD means memorising commands. In practice what separates an amateur drawing from a usable document set is the five ideas below, and not one of them is a drawing command.
- Layers. Each kind of line on its own layer: walls, columns, grids, dimensions, notes. That is what lets you switch parts off and print at the right line weights.
- Model and Layout. Draw at full size in Model, then set the scale for printing in Layout. This is the one first-year students most often do backwards.
- Xrefs. Referencing one drawing into another. When the architect revises a plan, the structural and services drawings follow instead of being redrawn.
- Attributed blocks. A symbol drawn once, reused across the set, carrying data so quantities can be scheduled.
- Sheet Sets. Managing the whole set as one document, numbering sheets and batch printing instead of opening files one by one.
Getting those five right is the line between knowing how to draw and being able to produce a document set. The article on what advanced AutoCAD covers extends this list into ten working skills.
How the three versions differ
Autodesk sells three levels, and many technical departments pay for the most expensive while their daily work needs only the cheapest.
AutoCAD LT is two-dimensional drafting. It has Layers, Layout, Xrefs, attributed blocks and Sheet Sets, which is all five ideas above. Since the 2024 release LT also has AutoLISP for simple custom commands; what it lacks is .NET and 3D modelling. For most people producing construction drawings, this is exactly enough.
Full AutoCAD adds three things: three-dimensional modelling, .NET programming so you can write your own commands, and seven specialised toolsets covering Architecture, Mechanical, Electrical, Map 3D, MEP, Plant 3D and Raster Design. Pay the difference only if you use them.
The AEC Collection contains full AutoCAD plus Revit, Civil 3D, Navisworks, 3ds Max and more. If a firm needs two or more Autodesk programs, the collection costs less than buying separately.
The cheapest way to check before buying: ask everyone in the department whether they opened anything beyond 2D drafting last month. Many find that only one or two people need the full version.
DWG files, versions and the machine you need
DWG is AutoCAD's native format; DXF is the intermediate format for exchanging with other software. The DWG format changes only every few years. A newer release always opens older files, while going the other way means the sender must Save As an earlier version. That accounts for nearly every case of "I sent the file and they cannot open it".
On versions, Autodesk releases one a year, named for the following year. For drawing production the differences between adjacent releases are small, so there is no need to chase the newest. What matters more is that the whole team uses one release, or agrees to save to a common format.
On hardware, AutoCAD is far lighter than Revit. Its bottleneck is usually not the graphics card but single-core processor speed, because many drawing operations run on one core. A recent office machine with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD handles ordinary construction drawings. Official requirements for each release are published on Autodesk's system requirements page.
Where to download AutoCAD, and what it costs
The only legitimate download is from Autodesk's own site, after signing in with an account that has the right to use it. There are three legal ways to hold that right:
- The education version, free. Students and teaching staff who register an Autodesk Education account get the full version for a year, renewable while studying. The steps are in installing AutoCAD free for students. The limit: study only, never paid work.
- The 30-day trial. Enough to find out whether you need LT or the full version.
- A paid subscription. Rounded current ranges are 10 to 13 million dong per seat per year for LT, and 40 to 48 million for the full version. The article on what an AutoCAD licence costs works through the three price levels, whether three years is cheaper, and how to recognise accounts advertised for a few hundred thousand dong.
A cracked copy carries legal exposure and also loses updates and support, so it often fails on files from partners. For a company there is a further risk: many tenders now require proof of software licensing in the capability file.
AutoCAD and Revit: when to move
This is the question the Institute is asked most often, and the answer is not which software is better. The two do different jobs: AutoCAD draws drawings, while Revit builds a model and cuts drawings from it.
The practical consequence is in revisions. In AutoCAD, moving one column means editing the plan, the section, the detail and the schedule by hand — four places, and missing one leaves the set inconsistent. In Revit, the model is edited once and every drawing cut from it updates.
But moving to Revit does not mean dropping AutoCAD. What gets submitted is still drawings, and those drawings are still exported to DWG to print and to send to partners. Revit is covered in the Revit guide, and the mandatory BIM timetable in Vietnam in the article on Decree 217/2026.
Infrastructure takes a slightly different path: roads, earthworks and drainage usually move to Civil 3D, which runs on top of AutoCAD, so the interface stays familiar.
Learning AutoCAD: how long, and how far
Drawing your first shape takes an evening. Producing a proper document set takes two to three months of steady practice, and the milestones are set out in how long it takes to learn AutoCAD.
The better question is how far to go. There are three levels:
- Reading and editing. Enough to open someone else's drawing, measure, look things up and make small corrections. Site engineers and cost engineers usually stop here.
- Production. Building a whole set of drawings from a scheme, standardising it and printing a complete document set. This is the designer's level.
- Automation. Writing your own commands for repetitive work. The article on how many hours AutoCAD programming saves has a table for deciding whether you belong at this level.
Students should aim at the production level before graduating; how far a civil engineering student should take AutoCAD sets out that line.
Frequently asked questions
Is AutoCAD free?
No, with two exceptions. Students and teaching staff use the education version free while they are studying, and anyone can run a 30-day trial. Otherwise it is a paid subscription, monthly, yearly or three-yearly.
Should I learn AutoCAD before Revit?
AutoCAD first. Reading two-dimensional drawings underpins both, and whatever a document set is modelled in, it is still issued as drawings.
Can AutoCAD LT open files from the full version?
It can, since both use DWG. But three-dimensional objects, or objects made by a specialised toolset, can only be viewed rather than edited properly.
How many machines does one licence cover?
A single-user licence installs on up to three machines, but only one person may use it, and never on two machines at once.
Can someone outside construction learn AutoCAD?
Yes. But to produce construction documents you need to read drawings first, or you will follow the commands correctly and break the conventions.
If I learn on the education version, do I have to relearn at work?
No. The education version is the full product, identical in interface and features; only the terms of use and the markers on exported files differ.
Related articles
- What advanced AutoCAD actually covers: 10 working skills
- How long does it take to learn AutoCAD?
- What an AutoCAD licence costs in 2026
- Installing AutoCAD free for students
- How many hours a week does AutoCAD programming save?
- How to read construction drawings
- Revit: the complete guide to Autodesk's BIM software