Introduction
You will use AutoCAD to prepare a technically-proficient planting plan and planting schedule. We will integrate several important objectives at once, including clear technical communication, a robust plant schedule that meets professional standards, and the continued development of planting design ideas and palettes (“design” continues until the project is fully established on-site!). The following video playlists will assist you throughout the course, but specifically, they will assist you in creating your first construction document related to planting design and plant schedule. Note: to be successful it will be imperative for you to integrate and refine your command of layer and sheet organization, line weights, and line types.
Figure 1: Example planting plan.
AutoCAD 01: Units and options
In this series of videos, you will learn how to set up a basic AutoCAD drawing for your garden construction documentation. Before watching this series of videos please review the National CAD standards lecture. Specific skills include:
- Introduction to AutoCAD and drawing units
- Edit and manage options
- Layers, line types, and line weights
- Work with templates
If you are struggling with the above concepts, need additional support in basic AutoCAD skills, or want to advance your skills further please use the following resources:
AutoCAD 02: External references
In this series of videos, you will learn how and when to use external reference drawings in your workflow, also known as xrefs. Specific skills include:
- Work with XREFs
- Clip XREFs
- Edit XREFs
- Referencing hand drawings
- Edit XREFs in place
AutoCAD 03: Drawing objects
In this series of videos, you will learn how to draw basic line, polylines, and polygons in AutoCAD. Specific skills include:
- Lines and polylines
- Rectangles and polygons
- Points and donuts
- Object snapping
- Revision cloud
- Bpoly
AutoCAD 04: Modifying objects
In this series of videos, you will learn how to use a number of commands to modify objects in AutoCAD. Specific skills include:
- Selecting objects
- Move and copy
- Rotate and scale
- Create and use arrays
- Offset and mirror
- Trim and extend
- Break and join
- Fillet