Total Beginner Here - Tips Needed

Hello everyone, i am a begginer, as in ive never used CAD, well, i have at college but only the basics.

 

can anyone give me reccomendations on the best way to learn CAD, by teaching myself? Books, websites (this is a good one clearly), CDs etc etc?

 

 

What about these Autocad for dummies books? as see in pc world there are quite a few different ones, like the dummies one, and much bigger ones etc etc

 

any tips would be greatly appreciated

Hello everyone, i am a begginer, as in ive never used CAD, well, i have at college but only the basics.

 

I need to learn CAD for a job i am going to apply for, can anyone give me reccomendations on the best way to learn CAD, by teaching myself? Books, websites (this is a good one clearly), CDs etc etc?

 

 

What about these Autocad for dummies books? as see in pc world there are quite a few different ones, like the dummies one, and much bigger ones etc etc

 

any tips would be greatly appreciated

Hi Iam

The way I am learning is by books and Practise, Practise,Practise.

The two books I would suggest are: AutoCad Bible 2009 by Ellen Finkelstein and AutoCad 2009 all in on desk ref for Dummies by Lee Ambrosius. Also this Forum is a must, the guys on here have helped me no end, and will do the same for you. Oh also did I mention that Practise is also another way. I practise every spare minute I get and have been using the program for around 18 months. I reckon I would know about 20% of the programs power, so stick at it.

BTW if anybody is interested we are going thru a heatwave at the moment here in Melbourne OZ. Had 4 straight days of over 40c.

Cheers Dodge.

Welcome to the CADTutor forum iamlegend.

 

I'll second what Dodge had to say. Get a good book. Finkelstein and Omura are two authors you can't go wrong with. Their books typically come with a CD that has drawing examples keyed to the chapters of the book. I know for a fact that Ellen Finkelstein has a website with a wealth of tips, tricks and plenty of valuable information. And again, as Dodge mentioned, practice makes perfect.

 

Other options include online courses (some are self-paced) and your local community college (if you are in the U.S.). And finally, of course, come here with any questions you may have.

 

In terms of practicing I would recommend drawing up common household objects. Something that you can hold in your hand and turn around to visualize the various views will work best.

 

Now what are you waiting for? Go out and start drawing.

Find yourself a good tutor.

 

I ran an ad on Craigslist. I got 1 1/2 hours of instruction that was invaluable for $25. I now understand stuff that would have taken me months to learn on my own by reading books.

Also online tutorials can be very helpful. Check out this site's Tutorials section. And a quick forum search here for "tutorial" or a Google search for "cad 09 tutorial" will yield some good links.

 

Probably my biggest advice would be learn as much as you can about a command on an individual basis. Pay attention to the options at the command line or context menu. You may find out you can use a command for a lot more than you originally thought. Open Help and navigate the Contents tab to AutoCAD Help->Command Reference->Commands to see a listing of AutoCAD's commands grouped alphabetically.

 

 

***EDIT***And as far as a tutor goes, fly me down to Oz I'll teach you everything I know

Lynda.com provides very good training DVD's for a pretty reasonable price. They have recently added training for Autocad 2008 and 2009. I have not watched these particular DVD's, but I have purchased training DVD's from them in the past, for other programs, and their instruction is very good. Click on the link I posted and watch some of the free videos to get an idea of what they're like before you buy.

^_^ just want to share few things, , all you need is the basics, , then later on as you go along with CAD software, you must understand and interpret any working drawings, in order for you to accomplish CAD works effectively, , CAD is not about how many commands you know, but the efficiency on how will you combine certain commands on your own , , of course with constant practise, ,

 

refering to what i have stated above, u have a background on autoCad, right? so having a tutor is just a waste of money but saves time, to my opinion, i prefer self study with a book,, ^_^ in that way you'll learn to investigate and experiment on yur own and devise a new set of usefull commands. .

 

peace, ,

Believe it or not but youtube has some good video tutorials.

^_^ just want to share few things, , all you need is the basics, , then later on as you go along with CAD software, you must understand and interpret any working drawings, in order for you to accomplish CAD works effectively, , CAD is not about how many commands you know, but the efficiency on how will you combine certain commands on your own , , of course with constant practise, ,

 

refering to what i have stated above, u have a background on autoCad, right? so having a tutor is just a waste of money but saves time, to my opinion, i prefer self study with a book,, ^_^ in that way you'll learn to investigate and experiment on yur own and devise a new set of usefull commands. .

 

peace, ,

 

I agree with cp6070. All you need is just basic stuff. Of course that depends on the 'job nature' you gonna apply. If just for normal engineering Cad drawing (I am talking about M&E), stuff about 2D drawing is all you need. Sometime 3D may be needed but that would only be once in a while. I have been work in a consultant company (M&E team) for 2 years. I just drew 3D once so far!!

 

So, come to ask if anything you are not sure about. but basic things like trim, snap, polyline, line type changing, layer, Xref..etc that is all you need mate:)

 

Good luck and have fun with Cad:roll:

 

Frank

There are also many good entry level tutorials here at CAD Tutor.

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/

Thanks folks, i have the hang of basic drawings, like drawing a room in a 2d view, but still need to get the hang of household objects like tables in chairs etc.

 

Im sure using this site will help me on my way!

Keep your left hand on the keyboard

Keep your left hand on the keyboard

 

4 typing commands offcourse!

 

get use 2 learn all basic commands and their shortcuts.

Thanks folks, i have the hang of basic drawings, like drawing a room in a 2d view, but still need to get the hang of household objects like tables in chairs etc.

 

I'm sure using this site will help me on my way!

 

The forums are legend in their own right!

 

You certainly will get assistance when needed in these forums.

 

Try this link for some items you might need.

http://seek.autodesk.com/

I think help (F1) of AutoCAD it is the beast friend and it is what you need