I have had two periods when I was a serious AutoCAD user. One was a
job as an engineer, I was given a copy of AutoCAD 10 and a 1" thick
photocopy of the manual. First job was cleaning up some drawings that
a contracted draftsman had managed to screw up.
Now, I work in technical translation, and had a project where a
customer needed over 1000 drawings translated into Spanish. I didn't
need all the features, but I was concerned that my customer might use
something that other software couldn't duplicated, so I purchased
AutoCAD LT. The manual for that is almost useless, and the online
help isn't a whole lot better. I got a lot of help from another guy I
was working with, who used to be a draftsman.
AutoCAD LT was the right decision for me at that time. I understand
that my version (2000) was one of the better ones as far as
compatibility with older versions, both reading and writing, and that
has been helpful dealing with several customers since then.
But If I needed drawings for personal use, and didn't have to send
them to an AutoCAD user, I think I just get IntelliCAD.
--
Steve M - snipped-for-privacy@houston.rrdirt.com (remove dirt for reply)
"Give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless there are
As others have said what is it you need to accomplish? Are you learning CAD
because you want to work in the field or have you taken a job and need to
learn AutoCAD.
One of the best ways is to learn cad is to take a course on it. There are
many vendors who teach autocad, some of them use a rapid fire method you are
in class for a week, and then you are on your own. Others have forty or so
hourse over several weeks, and you get time to play with the software in
class. Sometimes an employer has a good in house program.
The point though is that there are many ways to learn this program but when
you get right down to the bottom line, you will need to either take a class,
or have some one to mentor you for a couple of months then you must do
battle with the computer everyday or couple of days with meaningfull
projects that you have to show to someone else or have built.
Bill Carty
Oh by the way if you live in the columbus ohio area, eastland career center
at hamilton and williams road on the south east side of the city started a
CADD Basic Class last night.
There are AutoCad Tutors, occasioinally on Ebay. One by
"Softutor" is quite good. It won't make you an expert, but
it will get you past the beginner stage.
-Dennis
I suggest you go to a site called E-Technikon which has a superb
tutorial/course for a beginner who needs an overview of AutoCAD. The url is:
http://www.e-technikon.com
Greetings
Dave
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