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AnnexCAD – Getting Started (Tutorial)

A practical walkthrough („your first hour with AnnexCAD"). Whitepaper format, PDF-ready. Screenshots are taken according to the shot list at the end.

What you'll achieve

By the end you have drawn a small floor plan as an .axcad document: four walls closing a room, a door and a window, a named room — plus the plan exported as PDF and a look into the 3D viewport.

Step 1: Launch the app and meet the workspace

AnnexCAD window after launch with an empty canvas

Launch AnnexCAD from AnnexHub. An empty document opens in the three-column layout: layers and storeys on the left (floor plan, furnishing and electrical are provided), the drawing canvas with grid in the centre, the inspector on the right.

Step 2: Draw the first walls

Canvas with two walls drawn

Pick the wall tool and set the axis of the first wall with two clicks — about 4 m to the right. You can simply type the length: 4000 and Return. Draw three more walls until you have a closed ring (e.g. 4 × 3 m). Snap points at the wall ends help you attach precisely.

Step 3: Place a door and a window

Wall with a door and its swing arc

Switch to the door tool and click into a wall: the opening aligns to it, and the swing arc shows the opening direction. With the window tool, place a window opening in the opposite wall.

Step 4: Detect and name the room

Room label with a name in the floor plan

The room tool detects the area enclosed by walls under the click point. Give the room a name in the inspector — „Living" — and optionally a number.

Step 5: Room book and plan

Export dialog for the plan with format and scale choices

File ▸ Room book shows the room's area (clear dimension), perimeter and volume — exportable as CSV and directly openable in AnnexCalc. File ▸ Export plan… writes the vector plan: A4 sheet, scale or fit, title block from your brand kit.

Step 6: See the model in 3D and render it

3D viewport with wall bodies and the room floor

The viewport button in the toolbar reveals the 3D view — the same walls, now as bodies with cut-out openings. File ▸ Render in Blender… produces a rendered image of the scene (with Blender installed).

Learning packages in the Hub and “Draw a room in 5 minutes”

Every learning package in AnnexHub carries three things: a step PDF, the example file, and the matching video (the video workshop produces the clips; the package reserves the slot for them). You will find the step PDF for the first package right next to the example file: zimmer-in-5-minuten-schritte.pdf together with zimmer-in-5-minuten.axcad.

On first launch, the drawing assistant offers an extra tile besides the templates: “Draw a room in 5 minutes.” It opens exactly this example file — four walls forming a closed ring (3.80 m axes, 24 cm wall thickness), a door and a window inside the walls, one room with an area of 12.6736 m² (clear dimensions 3.56 × 3.56 m) — instead of an empty template. You see the intended result right away and work through the PDF steps against it.

“Show me how” — the hover demo

You never have to guess a tool: hover over a tool in the tool strip of the context bar (at the bottom of the canvas). A small demo card appears above the bar and shows how the tool works, step by step — two to four plain-language moves, playing automatically, without sound. Click a tool to select it directly.

Shot list (screenshots)

  1. cad-01.png — launch window, empty canvas, three columns.
  2. cad-02.png — wall tool with two walls and snap points.
  3. cad-03.png — door in a wall with swing arc.
  4. cad-04.png — named room with its label.
  5. cad-05.png — plan export dialog.
  6. cad-06.png — 3D viewport of the same model.