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From Drafting Board to Screen
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) replaced manual drafting in the 1980s and remains foundational to architectural practice. AutoCAD, the industry standard, uses a Cartesian coordinate system where every point is defined by X, Y, and Z values. Architects draw lines, arcs, polylines, and hatches on organized layers—one for walls, another for doors, another for dimensions—just as manual drafters used separate transparent overlays. Understanding layer management, line weights, and drawing scale is essential before touching any tool, because a well-organized CAD file saves hundreds of hours across a project's lifecycle.