If you’re considering learning design but are wondering how to go about it without blowing your budget, you will be pleased to know that there are plenty of free CAD resources. With free tutorials, courses, guides, and software available, starting your design career has never been easier. This article discusses the top free CAD resources for beginners, detailing how you can find them and how they can help you learn the various CAD concepts. This article follows our earlier article on the student’s guide to free CAD software and resources.
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Scan2CAD – Free Guides, Tutorials and File Conversion Tools
At Scan2CAD, we have provided numerous elaborate guides at no extra charge. In fact, the Scan2CAD blog is laden with free CAD resources in the form of educational articles and guides that cover various topics across CAD, CAE, CAM, CNC, and BIM. You can access articles like the guide to BIM, the BIM software you should use, the complete guide to AutoCAD data extraction feature, the complete guide to AutoCAD object snap feature, and scaling in AutoCAD, just to mention a few.
You can also find how-to articles, including how to prepare CAD files for CNC machining, how to batch plot drawings in AutoCAD, how to resolve the ‘drawing file is not valid’ error in AutoCAD, how to create and customize AutoCAD palettes, and how to improve slow AutoCAD performance.
In addition, we are also on YouTube. Our Scan2CAD channel is the home of tutorials that provide step-by-step instructions on how to complete certain CAD-related tasks. For instance, you can learn how to convert PDF to DWG in AutoCAD, how to batch convert multiple PDFs to DXF, and how to import floor plans to different software like Revit, Vectorworks, ArchiCAD, and SketchUp.
Free CAD Software for Beginners
As a beginner, you may not have the resources to purchase a perpetual license or subscribe to CAD software. Although many CAD programs offer free trials, these typically last only a few weeks — often too short to fully grasp the concepts.
In addition, learning how to use paid software that you won’t be able to use long-term may not be ideal. In such an instance, and before making enough money to afford a subscription or landing a position in a company that pays the subscription fee, free CAD software is the way to go. (Alternatively, if you are a student, you can register to access free student licenses to various CAD software.)
Today, many free CAD programs are available. And we have, in fact, previously discussed the top 14 free CAD software to download. Our list includes both 2D and 3D CAD software.
The free 2D drafting software includes DraftSight, QCAD, LibreCAD, and Draft IT Systems. The free 3D modeling software includes the SketchUp Web App, Onshape (free plan), FreeCAD, Sweet Home 3D, and TinkerCAD, just to mention a few. Click onF the link above to view the complete list.
Free CAD Software for Students
Software developers support students who want to learn their software by offering free educational licenses. Designed to help them kick-start their careers in design, engineering, architecture, or manufacturing, these licenses are a boon to beginners. With free CAD software and free CAD resources like tutorials, guides, and courses, beginners can learn the basics and intricacies of CAD software.
To start us off, PTC offers Creo and Onshape for free to K12 and university students. Autodesk offers TinkerCAD, Fusion, Revit, Inventor, AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Maya, Advance Steel, Civil 3D, and more for free to eligible students for a renewable one-year term.
Vectorworks also offers free licenses for its Design Suite software. The licenses are available to educators and students in select markets. The same applies to ArchiCAD: according to Graphisoft, students are entitled to the educational version of the software at no cost. The license is valid for a one-year term, with students entitled to apply for yearly extensions.
And if you want to learn Solid Edge or NX for free as a student, you can do so with the Solid Edge Student Edition or the NX Student Edition. Students who opt for the Solid Edge Student Edition get the same software used by professionals for free. They can also access free CAD resources like online courses, tutorials, and webinars, as detailed below.
Bricsys also offers BricsCAD for free to students. Students get a single-user license of BricsCAD Ultimate for one year. This license gives them access to all BricsCAD features. It’s worth noting that while there are student versions of SolidWorks, CATIA, and SketchUp, they aren’t free. Instead, they are available at a subsidized subscription fee.
Free Online CAD Courses, Guides and Tutorials
Free CAD resources include courses, tutorials, guides, case studies, and industry insights.
Free CAD Resources and Guides
Siemens offers design software resources for its CAD software. These free CAD resources, which include videos and documents, help beginners get started with NX and Solid Edge.
They provide information about the software’s layout and user interface, the basics of design processes, how to manage settings, and how to set up roles, just to mention a few. You can also access documentation to learn more about the software.
SolidWorks provides both a Help page and a Resource Center. Users who visit the latter can find free CAD resources like in-depth guides, real-world use cases, customer stories, and industry insights. This resource center includes guides for both SolidWorks and DraftSight.
Vectorworks published the Beginner’s Guide to BIM to help beginners familiarize themselves with building information modeling (BIM). This free guide breaks down this broad topic into several chapters, such as the benefits of BIM, what BIM is, how it works, and so on.
Autodesk also offers the Hitchhiker’s Guide to AutoCAD. This guide introduces beginners to the basic commands to create 2D drawings, set the layout and dimensions, and print documents. You can also access get-started guides via the Autodesk Learning platform.
Free CAD Lessons and Courses
Courses Sponsored by CAD Software Developers
Onshape, a subsidiary of PTC, has a learning platform for beginners as well as professional engineers and designers. It offers two learning pathways for beginners. The first, Onshape Fundamentals, helps those who want to transition to Onshape. The second, CAD Basics, is tailored for new designers; it comprises introductory courses that introduce various CAD concepts.
For free introductory lessons on SolidWorks, you can use the MySolidWorks platform. All you need to do is visit the site and view either the MySolidWorks Lessons or the MySolidWorks Learning Paths. For context, lessons are individual models that comprise videos, explanations, and questions that help you learn at your preferred pace. Learning paths, on the other hand, combine lessons by topic. MySolidWorks also includes lessons for users who wish to learn about the 3DExperience Platform.
The Graphisoft Learn Portal offers Graphisoft-approved online training programs covering BIM and ArchiCAD. One of these programs, titled New to ArchiCAD, is available for free. It’s tailored to beginners and is geared towards onboarding them to ArchiCAD and helping them learn BIM skills. The portal has multiple other free courses for beginners.
Autodesk University offers on-demand sessions all year round. These sessions are essentially classes that impart new design skills and explore new ideas. Some of these classes include a practical guide to parametric drawing in AutoCAD, an introduction to Subassembly Composer for Civil 3D, and more.
Autodesk also has a separate platform called Autodesk Learning. It’s a repository of courses and modules, tutorials, and collections featuring curated learning content. You can explore learning content related to all Autodesk products, from AutoCAD and Civil 3D to Fusion, Inventor, and Maya. Simply create or log in to your Autodesk account to access the content on Autodesk Learning.
Third-Party Free CAD Courses
E-learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and EDX feature free online courses. Coursera and EDX also offer online programs from world-class universities, complete with certificates. But you must pay in order to receive the certificates. That said, and depending on the platform and the program’s terms and conditions, you can enroll in each course and complete it at no cost. For its part, Udemy has plenty of free CAD courses. To access them, filter the results by price and check the appropriate ‘Free’ box.
Free CAD Tutorials
PTC offers free tutorials through PTC University. The tutorials offer training on the company’s products, from Creo, Windchill, and ThingWorx to Vuforia and Codebeamer. They cover the product’s features. However, you’ll need to create and log in to a PTC University account to access the tutorials.
Siemens provides Solid Edge tutorials. You can select between three difficulty levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) and the tutorial school level (all ages, elementary school, middle school, and high school). This means the tutorials accommodate different users and are especially tailored for beginners. You can also access Siemens-sponsored free on-demand webinars that discuss various subjects. Some of these subjects include generative design, 3D design, 3D printing, assembly modeling, 3D rendering, and much more.
Away from the software developers, user-generated tutorials are equally helpful. This is especially true because such tutorials will delve into nuanced topics borne out of their day-to-day interactions with the software. Many such tutorials are readily available on YouTube. To access them, simply type in the software and another keyword for the topic you want to learn. The likelihood that you’ll find a video covering that topic is always non-zero.
In addition to using the search bar to find the videos, you can also subscribe to channels that publish CAD tutorials. For instance, Lars Christensen has a series of Fusion 360 tutorials for beginners. Another creator, JOKO Engineeringhelp, has published tutorials on FreeCAD and Alibre. The channel CADCAMTutorials includes tutorials on AutoCAD, Creo, Fusion 360, Inventor, and SolidWorks.
Free CAD Libraries and Templates
Graphisoft, the developer of ArchiCAD, lets you download sample projects to learn new ideas as well as new approaches to modeling, documentation, and how to handle metadata. SolidWorks also offers electrical project samples for SolidWorks Electrical 2022 users to enable them to discover the possibilities and capabilities of the software.
Most developers, however, don’t offer free samples of 2D drawings or 3D models. If you’re looking for such, perhaps because you want to use them as templates to learn design and modeling skills, third-party CAD libraries are your best bet. GrabCAD Library, for instance, has over 6 million free CAD files. There are also plenty of websites and libraries with free template title blocks, free DXF designs, free CAD blocks, and free 3D CAD models.
CAD Forums and Communities for Beginners
Almost every CAD program has an online community or forum where users can ask questions and find solutions. Such communities are moderated and maintained by the software’s developer and can be accessed via their official website.
As free CAD resources, CAD forums and communities are a repository of reliable user-generated information. Beginners can rely on such information to solve issues they encounter while using CAD software.
In addition to the developer-run CAD forums and communities, beginners can use Reddit. Reddit is a social media platform founded on forums and communities. The forums on this platform are known as subreddits and are focused on a specific subject or interest.
Some of the subreddits you can use to find free CAD resources include r/3Dmodeling, r/MechanicalEngineering, r/3Dprinting, r/FreeCAD, and so on. You can choose to join these subreddits. Alternatively, you can append the keyword “Reddit” to your query on the search engine’s search bar. This approach helps you find and access information from different forums.
Conclusion
Kick-starting your career in design, engineering, architecture, or manufacturing can seem daunting, especially considering that the popular CAD software applications are expensive. Additionally, some of them have a steep learning curve, which makes using them a tad intimidating.
Despite that, you don’t have to struggle, given that you can learn design without spending a dime and at your own pace. This is thanks to free CAD resources as well as free CAD software. Some of these resources include Scan2CAD, which offers guides, in-depth educational articles, and video tutorials. CAD software developers also provide tutorials, guides, and courses that help you get your foot in the door.
