Click on File -> Import -> Insert Image.

Draw a neat freehand sketch (if possible without texts).

LibreCAD provides an option of adding freehand drawn sketches meaning you can draw your freehand sketch, scan it as an image, and insert it into LibreCAD for use in your drawing. Most designers, architectures, and engineers start by drawing a freehand sketch of what they want to draw on a CAD application. Importing Freehand Sketches into LibreCAD To save, go to File -> Save and input your preferred name. Then go ahead and save the current document to ensure that your project is saved in a named document that you can easily access later. Here you can configure the background color to white or black or any other color that you wish to use. Once you are satisfied with the version you are using, you should go ahead and set your application preferences using Options -> Application Preferences -> Appearance. To check the version of LibreCAD you are using, click on Help on the menu bar. You may want to check the version of LibreCAD you are using to be sure if it has all the recently updated features since it is a living CAD application that is constantly being updated by the LibreCAD community. To start using LibreCAD, open/start the application. You should follow the same process ( Options -> Widgets) to create a custom toolbar or Widget but choose Toolbar Creator and Widget Options instead of menu creator. The drawing window is where the active drawing (the drawing that you are working on) is displayed.

Grid – Shows the major and minor grid spacing for the X and Y axes.

Current Layer – Shows the current layer in use.

Selected – show the number of entities selected and the total length selected.

Next Action – Shows a prompt of the next action.

The absolute coordinates are displayed on the left while the relative coordinates are displayed on the right.

Coordinates – This is where the absolute coordinates and relative coordinates of the cursor are displayed as Cartesian and polar coordinates.The status bar provides you (the user) with information about the current drawing operation. The toolbars provide access to the various drawing tools that you may require to perform the various drawing tasks.ĭocks (also commonly referred to as Dock Widgets) provide access to the most preferred/used drawing tools and functions, which are docked there. The menu provides access to the main application functions found in the various menus (File, Options, Edit, View, Plugins, Tools, Widgets, Drawings, and Help) LibreCAD v2.2.0-rc1 Interface ( Source )įrom the above screenshot, it is evident that there are six main parts of the LibreCAD interface namely Menu, Toolbars, Dock areas, Drawing Window, Command-Line, and Status Bar. Below is a screenshot showing the various parts of the LibreCAD interface.įigure 1. Orientationįor you to easily learn LibreCAD, it is important to first understand what the various parts of its interface are used for. One of its unique features/characteristics is that it has a very highly customizable interface that allows users to customize toolbars and menus. It is also a popular DWG and DXF file format viewer and users can also use it to save drawing in DXF, and SVG, among other formats. Isometric projections are at times referred to as 2.5D drawings. The orthogonal projection is for creating 2D drawings while isometric projection allows users to represent their 3D models in 2D. LibreCAD is used for producing orthogonal and isometric projections. Operating Systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux.Current stable release: LibreCAD v2.2.0-rc1.The CAD application has gone on to port to Qt5 which is even more advanced than the Qt4. QCad was initially built on Qt3 library which was becoming outdated and it had to be ported to a more advanced library, the Qt4, and its name was changed to CADuntu.Īfter a few months, the community decided that the name CADuntu was inappropriate and they changed it to LibreCAD.

LibreCAD was started as a project for incorporating CAM capabilities into the QCad so that it would be with the Mechmate CNC router. Importing Freehand Sketches into LibreCAD.

Librecad isometric