AutoCAD Basic

Commands
Suitable for Grades 6-12

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In This Tutorial You Will Learn…

• How to type commands in • How to make fillets

AutoCAD • How to trim
• How to make new layers • How to hatch
• How to draw lines • How to draw rectangles
• Drafting Settings • How to write text
• How to offset
• How to erase
• How to draw circles

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Commands in AutoCAD

• Commands tell AutoCAD what to do and draw

• Commands are typed into the command bar
• In these tutorials, commands are written in all capital letters
• If you are ever unsure of what you are doing or do not want to be using
a command you have inputted, press the escape button on your
computer (“Esc”)
• Check out the “AutoCAD Commands Cheat-Sheet” for a list of
commands that may be helpful for you

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LAYER

• When creating a drawing, you can work in different layers

• Layers are different parts of your drawing that overlap to create one
complete drawing
• By creating different drawing layers in the “Layer Properties Manager” you
can change the line colour, thickness, and type in each layer you create
• This way you can have drawings with lines of different colours, thicknesses,
and types
• Managing your layers is very important to keeping your drawing organized

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Making New Layers and Changing Line Colours
Create new layer icon

1. Type “LAYER” into the command bar

or select a layer in the layer panel.
2. Click the create new layer icon, name
your layer and change the colour and
line type.
3. Double click on that layer to draw on
that layer, a green check mark will
show you what layer you are on.
4. If you click on the sun icon in the
Layer Properties Manager, it will turn
into a snowflake which means you
have frozen your layer (cannot see it).

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Viewing and Changing Layers

The drop-down menu on the layer

panel will also show you what layer
you are working in. You can change
what layer you are working in using
the drop down menu (click on desired
layer) and you can freeze and
unfreeze layers by clicking on the sun
or snowflake.

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Viewing and Changing Layers in Properties

You can also see what layer a line is

on or change the layer of a line by
going into properties. Type
“PROPERTIES” into the command bar
and press enter. Click on the line you
want to change the layer of. Click on
the layer (in the properties window)
and a drop-down menu will appear.
Here you can change what layer the
line is on by clicking on your desired
layer.

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Drawing lines

• There are two basic ways to draw lines on AutoCAD, using absolute or relative
coordinates.
• Drawing lines using absolute coordinates means you first specify a starting (x,y)
coordinate, then you specify an end (x,y) coordinate
• Drawing lines using relative coordinates means you first establish a starting
coordinate (click on another line or type in a coordinate) then you specify how long
you want the line to be and what direction it goes in (given by an angle)
• The format for this is @length<angle when you type it in on the command bar

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Use positive (x,y) coordinates when
drawing lines on AutoCAD such as
(20,30). It can be helpful to start a
drawing at (0,0) and draw using
relative coordinates after that, rather
than using absolute coordinates.

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AutoCAD recognizes angles in this
format, with 0 degrees starting on the
right hand side and angles increasing
counterclockwise from 0. You can tell
AutoCAD what direction you want a line
to go in by using angles. You can also
input negative angles into AutoCAD (if
you have learned them in school).

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Drawing Lines Using Absolute Coordinates

Let’s draw a line using absolute

coordinates:

1. Type “LINE” on the command

bar and press enter
2. Specify the first coordinate as
(0,0) and press enter (*note,
the brackets are not needed
but the comma is)
3. Specify the second point as
(0,10) and press enter
4. Press enter again to terminate
the LINE command
5. You should now have this line
on your screen
6. If you cannot see it perform the
“ZOOMEXTENTS” command or
“PAN” to see it

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Drawing Lines Using Relative Coordinates

Let’s draw a line using relative

coordinates:

1. Type “LINE” into the command bar

and press enter
2. Specify the first coordinate by
clicking on the top endpoint of the
first line you drew
3. Specify the second coordinate as a
relative coordinate by typing
@10<0 into the command bar and
pressing enter
4. This means that from the top of
the first line we drew, we are
drawing another line that is 10
units long and is going directly
right (0 degrees)
5. Press enter again to terminate the
LINE command
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OSNAP

• The Object Snap command opens Drafting Settings.

• This lets you choose what your pointer can “snap” onto such as the end
or middle of a line, the intersection between two lines, or the centre of
a circle.
• “Snapping” onto a line means that you can click onto different parts of
it and draw new lines off of it.
• Turning these snap settings on and off lets you control what you can
click on and draw lines off of.

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Drafting Settings

1. Type “OSNAP” into the

command bar and press enter
2. Select your object snap modes
(helpful to always have
“endpoint” on, “centre” and
“midpoint” can also be helpful)
3. Click “OK” after you have made
your selections

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Snap Options (What Snapping Looks Like)

As mentioned before, OSNAP settings

determine what you can “snap” onto
when drawing lines. For example, if you
did not have the OSNAP setting for
“Midpoint” turned on, you would not be
able to click onto the midpoint of the
line as is shown in the picture.
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OFFSET

• The OFFSET command creates parallel lines a specific distance apart.

• You can specify what objects you want to make a parallel for, and what
distance away from the original you want the parallel object to be.
• You can offset straight lines, curved lines, and circles.

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Offsetting Lines

1. Type “OFFSET” into the command

bar and press enter.
2. Specify the offset distance by
entering in a numeric value and
press enter.
3. Select the object to offset by
clicking on it.
4. Specify the direction of the offset
by moving your pointer to one side
of the pre-existing line, hover your
mouse to see where the new line
will go, click when you want to
finalize the position.
5. Press “esc” to terminate the
command.

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Experiment with the OFFSET
command by hovering your cursor
above and below the line you initially
made and inputting different
OFFSET distances.

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ERASE

• Erase lines, circles, or curves you have drawn

• The ERASE command always erases the entire line and not just portions
of it

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Erasing Lines

1. Type “ERASE” into the

command bar and press enter.
2. Select the objects you want to
erase by clicking on them.
3. Press enter again and the lines
should be removed.
4. Press “esc” if the ERASE
command is not automatically
terminated

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Try This!

• Draw a line starting at (0,0) going to (0,10)

• OFFSET the centre line 2 units to the left
• OFFSET the centre line 2 units to the right

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Try this example

You should have

something that looks
like this.

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CIRCLE

• Draw circles of different sizes

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Drawing a Circle

1. Type “CIRCLE” into the

command bar and press
enter.
Make the centre of your circle 2. Specify the centre point of
the endpoint of the centre line
and make the radius of your the circle by either typing in
circle 4 units. a (x,y) coordinate or
selecting a point on another
line by snapping onto it with
your cursor.
3. Then input a numerical
value for the radius of your
circle and press enter.

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FILLET

• Make a round (fillet) between two objects.

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Drawing a Fillet

1. Type “FILLET” into the command

bar and press enter.
Input a value of 2 units for 2. Type “r” and press enter (we want
the radius of your fillet. to make a round between two
objects so we need to input a
radius).
3. Input a numerical value for the
radius of the round and press enter.

Next Slide

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Drawing a Fillet

Select the circle as your 4. Select the first object to be

first object.
filleted by clicking on it.

Next Slide

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Drawing a Fillet

5. Select the second object by clicking

Select the left line as your on it and a round will be made
second object. between the two.

Next Slide

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Drawing a Fillet

Your drawing should now look like this.

This is what a fillet look like.

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Try This!

Make anther fillet with a radius of 2 on

the other side of your drawing. Once
you are finished, it should look like this.

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TRIM

• TRIM removes portions of your linework without deleting the entire

line
• When using the TRIM command, you cannot start deleting sections
right away
• You must first set “boundaries” which tell AutoCAD that you want to
delete the portion of the drawing that is between the two lines you set
as the “boundaries”

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Trimming a Line

1. Type “TRIM” into the command

bar and press enter.
We want to trim the bottom part of
2. First select the linework that will
the circle (not the whole circle) so
we can “hollow” out the object we be the boundaries of what you
have created. To do this, set the trim away (everything on one side
will remain and everything on the
boundaries of the TRIM command
as the two fillets we made other side will get erased) and
press enter.
previously. If we tried to use the
ERASE command instead of TRIM,
it would delete the entire circle, Next Slide
which is not what we want to do.

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Trimming a Line

3. Click on the line you want to trim

4. Press enter to terminate the
Click on the bottom of the TRIM command.
circle between the boundaries
we set to trim it. Next Slide

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Your drawing should now look like this.

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Try This!

• ERASE the centre line of your drawing

• Make your drawing an enclosed object (so that we can fill it in with
colour later)
• Enclose your object by drawing a horizontal LINE at the bottom of the
object
• Go to the next slide to see a picture of the final result

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To draw the horizontal line:

1. Type “LINE” into the command bar and

press enter
2. Specify the first coordinate as the
endpoint of the left line by clicking on it
3. Specify the second coordinate as the
endpoint of the right line by clicking on it
4. Press enter to terminate the LINE
command
OR
1. Type “LINE” into the command bar and
press enter
2. Specify the first coordinate as the
endpoint of the left line by clicking on it
3. Specify the second coordinate using a
distance and angle, type @4<0 and
press enter
4. Press enter to terminate the LINE
command
5. If you had specified your first coordinate
as the right line, the relative coordinate
would have been @4<180 (so the line is
drawn to the left, 180 degrees)
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HATCH

• Add texture, patterns, or fill enclosed objects with solid or gradient

colour

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Filling an Enclosed Object Using HATCH

1. Type “HATCH” into the command

line and press enter
2. Select the enclosed area you want
to fill
3. AutoCAD will automatically fill the
area the solid colour of the layer
you are working on
4. Go to “Hatch Editor” on the top
panel
5. Go to the “By Layer” drop-down
menu, here you can change the
type of pattern for your fill and
change the colour of the fill.

Next Slide

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Changing the Fill Colour: Hatch Editor

● Under the “By Layer” drop-down

menu, you can change the colour
of your fill
● Under the “Solid” drop-down
menu, you can make your solid fill
into a gradient colour

Next Slide

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Changing the Hatch Pattern: Hatch Editor

● Scroll through the pattern options

and select a pattern
● Your HATCH fill will change to this
pattern
● Make sure your fill is selected with
your pointed when you want to
make changes to it
Next Slide

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Changing the Hatch Pattern Size: Hatch Editor

● Change the size of your HATCH

pattern
● The larger the number, the more
spread out the pattern will be
● The smaller the number, the
closer together the pattern will be

Next Slide

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Changing the Hatch Pattern Angle: Hatch Editor

Change the angle of the HATCH pattern

by typing in a numerical value for the
angle

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RECTANG

• Draw rectangles of different sizes

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Drawing a Rectangle

1. Type “RECTANG” into the

command bar and press enter.
2. Specify the first corner of the
rectangle by clicking on a line or
inputting a coordinate.

Next Slide

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Drawing a Rectangle

3. Type “d” for dimensions into the

command bar and press enter.

Next Slide

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Drawing a Rectangle

4. Input a numeric value for the first

dimension and press enter.
5. Input a numeric value for the
second dimension and press enter.

Next Slide

Our first dimension will be 15 units,

our second dimension will be 10 units.

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Drawing a Rectangle

6. Specify the second corner by

hovering your pointer where you
want it to be and clicking down.

Click down when your rectangle is in

this position.

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DTEXT

• Write a single line of text

• Decide on the text justification (if the text is aligned on the right side,
left side, or center) and text height
• DTEXT stands for Dynamic Text

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Writing a Single Line of Text

1. Type “DTEXT” into the command

line and press enter
2. Type “J” for justify, follow the
prompt and type in how you
want the text justified (middle
right, middle centre, etc.)

Next Slide

We will left justify our text:

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Writing a Single Line of Text

3. Specify the starting point of your

text by clicking down on a point

Next Slide

We will specify our starting point as the

left midpoint of the rectangle we drew
previously.

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Writing a Single Line of Text

4. Specify the text height

Next Slide

We will specify our text height as 1.5

units.

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Writing a Single Line of Text

5. Specify the text rotation angle as

zero by pressing enter
6. If you want the text to be written on
an angle, specify that angle

Next Slide

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Writing a Single Line of Text

7. Type in your text!

8. Click off of the text to stop typing

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MTEXT

• Write a multiples lines of text

• Decide on the text justification (if the text is aligned on the right side,
left side, or center) and height
• MTEXT stands for Multiline Text

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Writing a Multiple Lines of Text

1. Type “MTEXT” into the

command bar and press enter.
2. Select the first corner of your
textbox by clicking, then select
the next corner.
Next Slide

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Writing a Multiple Lines of Text

3. After you specify the second corner,

a text box will appear where you
can type multiple lines of text

Next Slide

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Writing a Multiple Lines of Text

3. Type your text into the text box

4. Click off the text box to stop typing
5. Double click on the text box if you
want to add more text of make edits

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AutoCAD Basic Commands

• Now that we know how to use basic commands to draw in AutoCAD,

we can start making more complicated drawings!
• Check out the other AutoCAD tutorials based on your grade
• Feel free to try tutorials from other grades than your own
• Don’t forget to check out the “AutoCAD Commands Cheat-Sheet” for a
list of other commands not mentioned in this tutorial!

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