AutoCAD is a software popular for drafting plans, sections, elevations, and other details of a building accurately to scale. In the beginning, CAD might prove to be tedious and time-consuming. But there are certain techniques to make working in CAD more faster and efficient.
The first thing you do when you open your workspace is to create layers for each of the elements that you will be creating in your drawing.
Layers help organize your drawing. You might not notice it when you start, but CAD drawings will include hundreds of elements that become hard to keep track of. Keeping them in different layers helps to easily differentiate and identify them.
This might be more of a personal preference than a rule. But this makes drafting more easier since walls make up most of the building's outline and layout.
Once you start drawing walls, it is easier to place support elements, especially columns. Since columns of the same dimensions are repeated throughout the drawing, they can be made into blocks and copy-pasted.
Doors and windows are mostly of the same or minimally varied dimensions. Hence, they can also be made into blocks and pasted wherever needed. Once you place the blocks, however, don't forget to trim the overlapping lines in the wall layer.
A plan is more than walls and windows. Other details like roofs, railings, trusses, etc. should be marked.
Drafting a staircase might be easy, but representing it accurately in a plan is difficult.
Since a plan is two-dimensional, it becomes difficult to understand whether an object is placed close to the ceiling or near the floor. To depict this, line weights are used.
Hatching is used to differentiate between elements and their materials. They can also be used to depict the elements being cut by the viewing plane.
Now that the layout of our plan is done, the detailing work starts. Placement of furniture like chairs, beds, tables etc. are done next.
These can be drafted, made into block and repeated or directly be downloaded from the internet. Make sure to scale them properly.
AutoCAD drawings need to be clean, that is, lines should not be repeated or overlapped. Use the fillet tool to join the edges and trim unwanted lines.
You can also use the 'overkill' command to clean it. This step is extremely important as overlapping and repetitive lines will clearly be visible when you print the drawings. They might also lead to mistakes when used on-site.
Dimensions are the most important part of the plan. They need to be as accurate and precise as possible.
The text height, arrow size and design etc. can also be edited.
Mention the scale used for the drawing. If the drawing is not to scale (nts), me tion that as well.
Arrange the drawing, dimensions, scale etc neatly and in the same way for all your plans.
Place the final drawing on sheets after a thorough checking. The sheet size (A4, A3, A2…..) is chosen based on the requirement. Align the drawing in the center and fill in the details.
Printing your plan is the final step.
The same steps as mentioned above is applicable for drafting sections and elevations as well.
Once you finish drafting the section and elevation, do not forget to mark the ground line.
Both the plan and the elevation should depict the section line accurately.
