How to learn Designcenter NX CAD | Comprehensive guide of learning resources

What is Designcenter NX CAD?

Designcenter NX is a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and engineering software for next generation product development. The software includes a wide range of features and capabilities for mechanical CAD, electrical and electronics CAD, industry-specific workflows and more. From startups to global enterprises, engineers across the globe use Designcenter NX software to bring innovative products to market with increased design efficiency and quality, reduced development costs and enhanced collaboration.

Why should I learn Designcenter NX CAD?

Whether you are an aspiring engineer wanting to learn CAD for the first time, or if you are an experienced engineer looking to switch to Designcenter NX, you will be adopting a digital skillset that helps prepare you for industry work and digital transformation. With knowledge in Designcenter NX CAD software, you can stand out to employers and show that you are ready to join an engineering team with CAD experience, no matter what company size or industry.

How do I get access to Designcenter NX?

You can get free access to Designcenter NX CAD, regardless of academic affiliation/student/educator status with NX Student Edition. It is a comprehensive software download with basic CAD, CAM and CAE features that help you learn the software. It is only available for Windows 64-bit machines.

Or, if you are enrolled at a school that is part of our Academic Partner Program, you can leverage our industry-grade software through NX Academic Edition (on-premises) or Designcenter X NX Academic Edition (cloud SaaS).

Or, if you are working at a company that uses Designcenter NX, you can access the commercial version of NX with all of your company’s preferences, settings, data, etc.

How do I learn Designcenter NX CAD?

If you’re not enrolled in an educational program that teaches Designcenter NX or you’re looking for supplemental instruction, Siemens provides many resources for learning at your own pace.

Master Designcenter NX CAD with Siemens Xcelerator Academy

Siemens Xcelerator Academy offers world-class training in all Siemens Xcelerator software, including on-demand, virtual and in-person training. For Designcenter NX, there are plenty of courses to help you with basic design and assemblies to specific workflows like mold design or routed systems design. Plus, you can follow specific Learning Paths to prepare you for the NX Design Associate and NX Design Professional Certification exams that prove your competency in Designcenter NX software. These on-demand tutorials include slides, videos and activities for you to follow, with quizzes throughout to test your knowledge.

Academic students and educators can verify their academic status for free access to online on-demand courses from Siemens Xcelerator Academy.

Learn Designcenter NX within the software

If you’re not quite ready to jump into a full course, or looking for how to learn a specific function or application in Designcenter NX, you can explore options within the software once you are set up such as with Discovery Center and Design Copilot NX.

Discovery Center

Discovery Center is a great place to start learning about key capabilities within Designcenter NX. Here, there is both content for helping you get started and design for the first time, as well as content for getting up-to-date with new capabilities or features that are new in each release. It is also a great, centralized location where you can look for links to additional tutorials and resources. Plus, Discovery Center can give you personalized recommendations that are relevant to your workflows.

Design Copilot NX

Design Copilot NX is an add-on module that is available via value-based licensing for users with Designcenter X NX Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers (only available via cloud SaaS). With the copilot, you can ask natural-language questions and get feedback on how to do certain tasks, how to use a certain module, understand what a best-practice might be or access technical documentation. In addition to learning with Design Copilot NX, you can also get assistance on your design, run analyses and make design changes.

Follow a semester of CAD with the NX Curriculum Package

If you are looking for a more traditional learning approach, you can download the NX Curriculum Package. The package includes a semester’s worth of learning through ebook, lab exercises and links to online videos to assist you with Designcenter NX. Over ten chapters, you will learn how to navigate the user interface, design complex, freeform shapes and create complete 3D models.

Learn Designcenter NX with Coursera courses developed by Siemens

Coursera is an online learning platform that allows anyone to explore new skills and gain valuable credentials. There are two free Siemens Digital Industries Software courses available for learning Designcenter NX, Intro to Siemens NX: Engineering Essentials and Part Design for sketching, 3D modeling and part design and Siemens NX Mastery: Advanced Design & Applications for advanced modeling, freeform design, simulation, convergent modeling and sheet metal. These courses allow flexible learning at your own pace, but on average take a couple weeks to complete. Though the courses themselves are free, sharable certificates are a paid add-on.

Follow the NX Design blog to continue learning Designcenter NX

The NX Design blog hosts multiple blog series to ensure your success with learning and adopting Designcenter NX. New articles based on each new release of Designcenter NX are available on a regular basis.

Get started with the “How-to” series

Throughout the “How-to” series, you will learn a complete end-to-end workflow through articles and videos. You’ll learn the steps you need to take as well as best practices recommended by the Designcenter NX team. You can learn how to model a part for the first time, how to build an assembly for the first time, how to design a sheet metal bracket and more with Designcenter NX.

Keep up to date with new features with the “What’s new in NX”, “Tips & Tricks” and “Introducing” series

In “What’s new in NX” and “Introducing” series, you will learn about new updates to existing feature categories as well as information about completely new modules or capabilities. For example, for our June 2025 Designcenter NX release, you can learn about what new enhancements to core design functionality are available and their benefits. Or, you can learn all about characteristics management and first article inspection (FAI) within Designcenter NX with the new NX Inspector module.

With the “Tips & Tricks” series, you can explore the new capabilities in more detail. You’ll learn how the new capabilities can enhance your workflow improve efficiency as well as how to use them. For example, you can learn how to use the NX Realize Shape Chamfer Cage and Transform Cage commands and how they help to save you time and ensure product quality.

While each of these articles are written, most Introducing and Tips & Tricks blogs include a video tutorial that you can follow along with to learn how to adopt these new capabilities into your workflow.

Make your process more efficient with the “Clicks and Tricks” series

With the brief 3-part “Clicks and Tricks” series, you can learn how to use Designcenter NX quickly and fluently to boost productivity and reduce unnecessary clicks. Discover how to maintain focus in your graphics window, take advantage of the CTRL key and model more efficiently.

Get tips from others on the NX CAD community

If you need help with a certain function, UI or can’t figure out exactly what you’re supposed to do next, you can join the NX CAD community. Search if your question has already been asked, or ask a new one! Other Designcenter NX users and Siemens team members alike help to answer questions.

Demonstrate Designcenter NX CAD proficiency to employers with NX certifications

How do I get certified in Designcenter NX CAD?

There are two certifications available for Designcenter NX, the NX Design Associate certification and the NX Design Professional certification. These certifications demonstrate your proficiency with using and designing in Designcenter NX to peers and employers. To get certified, you can enroll for the exam on Siemens Xcelerator Academy. Once you pass the exam, you are certified! Add your certification to your resume and accept your digital badge via Credly which you can share on social media and add to your “Licenses & certifications” on LinkedIn.

NX Design Associate

This certification exam validates knowledge of determining modeling strategies; creating & editing solid models, assembly models and structures; parametric vs. non-parametric modeling techniques and associative links between parts using NX CAD. This certification does not expire and does not need to be renewed.

NX Design Professional

This certification will validate abilities and competencies on surface modelling processes and curve geometry; PMI structures and 3D model usage for downstream application; HD3D tools and validation features and documenting with drafting using NX CAD. This certification expires and will need to be renewed every 3 years.

We get calls from companies asking for [NX certified] resumes. We have evidence for NX Certification being an accelerator.

– Sheri Klug Boonstra, Principal Investigator of NASA L’Space Program

With numerous learning resources of different types, you can learn and adopt Designcenter NX software with ease. Stay tuned to our blog to hear tips from students and industry engineers alike on advice for learning CAD and NX for the first time.