Learning AutoCAD

Hi,

What's it take as far as training/schooling to learn one's way around
AutoCAD? I'd like to be able to make drawings of medium complexity, to edit
drawings of same complexity, and to print just about anything.

I've heard horror stories about the time and expense required to get just to
this point. I don't have the time or patience it takes to figure it out on
my own.

Are community college-level classes adequate, or to I have to go to an
AutoDesk-sanctioned private school somewhere in Europe for a couple years?

 

I took 3 courses at night school. The first was AutoCAD basic which will get
you up and going and is probably all you would need. The second was AutoCAD
advanced which discussed some of the tools provided in AutoCAD which make
the job easier and faster. The last was a 3D course. Each course was 1 night
per week for 20 weeks and 3 hours per night. A lot (probably most) of the
things you'll come to use will be self taught by using the help files and
various Internet sources as well as trial and error. The basic course,
though, is a must, just to get you going. To become adept at it afterwards
would take a minimum of 12 months of practice on a full time basis (IMHO).

 

If that's true, then you should pursue something entirely different. No
matter how many courses you take, or how many books you read, you'll never
"learn" AutoCAD without a *lot* of hands-on experience.
___

 

While it probably takes years to master, I think a bright, computer-
literate individual with some experience of drawing and some knowledge
of geometry could learn their way around AutoCad in 3 or 4 days. There
are some concepts which are harder to grasp
(blocks,xrefs,layers,paperspace) but if all you want to do is draw and
manipulate polygons, lines and arcs, and add some text here and there
then I think it's not too daunting. I did take a 3-day course once
(release 11 !?!) - I wanted a piece of paper that said I could use it.
I won't say it was very useful - but it did show me the basics, and
I'd recommend something like that to get you going.

 

I use an Autodesk tutorial for AutoCAD 2005 and found it to be very
good. You can step through the fundamentals and also jump to sections
that interest you.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=331041&siteID=123112

JAM

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate it. One more question - I've
heard that just learning how to print/plot from AutoCAD requires a 6 - 12
week course that focuses only on that topic.

Is that really true?

 

Is somebody trying to sell you a lot of expensive training?

Bob

 

Plotting could probably be pretty well covered in a couple of days.

Bob

 

It might be one of the harder aspects to get to grips with - but a 6 -
12 week course sounds like taking the piss.

 

Although I'm no expert in autocad, I do believe that the best way to
learn how to use it properly is to simply tinker with it. Whenever you
hit a snag then there is always the help file and also a couple of very
helpful usenet newsgroups that does serve as probably the best knowledge
base on this subject.

I do believe that the typical autocad courses are a bit of a scam. They
ask for tons of money to teach you trivial stuff that you can easily pick
by yourself after a brief moment fiddling with the application. The so
called advanced courses are nothing better either.


Rui Maciel

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate it. One more question - I've

Those of us who have been using Acad for years, had a bit of a learning
curve when Acad changed how plots were done. I suspect that someone who
is just learning the current way, will only take a couple of hours (if
that - providing the person teaching you knows what they are doing).
Pretty simple once you get the hang of it though. And that goes for the
rest of learning Acad.

You can pick up the basics pretty fast. But it's learning personal
'tricks' and ways of doing things (and thinking ahead on what you are
trying to do) will take some time.

BruceF