Books on Autocad & inventor ?

Hi,

I have just started learning Autocad /Inventor 2010 , dont have a laptop at the moment & cant run the discs/downloads , wondering what good books are around for learning it & understanding the principles ( reading it ) ?

been reading a "How to- Autocad 2007" , but want the latest version so once have a new laptop can run it/understand it alot more easily , also is 2007 Autocad lot different to 2007 ( as startn to understand the basic principle sof 2007 )?

thanx

First thing, AutoCAD and Inventor are two different beasts altogether. You will find the layout similar, as in how it looks on-screen but other than that, there are so many differences, especially in the methods on how to use the programs. So first question, are you gonne learn both programs parallell? Or one at a time?

As for books, do a search here for AutoCAD books and you'll find loads of suggestions.

As for differences between 2007 and 2010 - I can answer for AutoCAD, have not used an Inventor version prior to 2010 - sure, there are differences, but for a beginner, not so much. What will be different is the layout, where you find buttons and menus - but once you find the commands, most will work the same in 2007 and 2010.

Tiger >> thanx for the mesage , yep i plan to learn both parallel . Or maybe its best to learn one at a time ? Is Autocad a good basis to learn for other things , like autocad mechanical , Revit ,etc ?

What do you feel is the best program for people with ideas/inventions , ect that they want to create with 3D to use besides Inventor , heard of solid works , etc ?

what a name to have now with the crap hittn tiger woods-lol

To know AutoCAD is a very good base, both to learn the drawing mechanics and because it's a very wide-spread program, so the chance that you'll encounter it out in work life is quite big, no matter where in the world you are. I would say that learning both AutoCAD and Inventor from scratch at the same time is very hard work. Both to learn them both, they are not programs that you learn in an afternoon - there are people here that have worked with one or both for many many years and still find new things, but also becuase they are in fact so different.

To design in 3D with Inventor is nothing like designing in 2D with Autocad. But to know what the best program is for you, that is not easy. The best way is to try them out really. If you are a registered student you can download educational versions of both AutoCAD and Inventor from Autodesks homepage.

I would also make a pitch for Sketch-up, it is a free 3D-program that is very good, especially for concept design. try it out, it's not hard to get started in it and we have a few people here that can help you if you get stuck.

As for Tiger Woods (dang, there are new people here that don't know I wasn't always just 'Tiger' ), I am more on Elins side, being swedish and all

Skip AutoCAD and go right to learning Inventor. I think even JDM would agree with me on this one.

Skip AutoCAD and go right to learning Inventor. I think even JDM would agree with me on this one.

ofcourse he would :wink:

"What do you feel is the best program for people with ideas/inventions..."

My advice was based upon the above statement. And once a person gets a taste for 3D the next thing you know they want to start introducing movement and constraints and etc., etc., etc. That's why I think Inventor would be the way to go. Don't get stuck in a 2D frame-of-mind. Think 3D.

Hi,

 

I have just started learning Autocad /Inventor 2010 , dont have a laptop at the moment & cant run the discs/downloads , wondering what good books are around for learning it & understanding the principles ( reading it ) ?

 

thanx

I have "Autodesk Inventor 2010 Essentials Plus" book and it is a good one.

Knowing AutoCAD is not helpful to learning Inventor and in fact gets in the way as the process is so different.

I did take a 4 day course through Imaginit which helped greatly. I don't think I would be able to learn Inventor from a book without the class first. Nothing like being able to ask someone a question while they are in the same room.

My natural father is an engineer/designer & uses inventor pro as with other ones , he sent me the tutorial for it & was going to send me a copy of the program to learn from .

I dont have PC/laptop at the moment ( sold my last one & moved to a new area ) & everyones different to how they learn , i like to work things out for myself & if i'm stuck i'll ask specific questions ( than gettn stuck in a classroom ) & over here New Zealand , cad courses are $$$ - like 3grand for 5 days

Been told solid works is easier than Inventor , but is it better program ?

Think will have a look at amazon/ebay

cheers

s

 

Been told solid works is easier than Inventor , but is it better program ?

Most, but ofcourse not all, will answer based on what program they use. If they use Inventor, that will be the best. If they use SolidWorks, that will be the best. If they learned Inventor before SolidWorks, Inventor will be the best and vice versa.

In short, it's a hardr question. You can do the same things basically in Inventor as in SolidWorks.

My department bought Inventor a few months back, and when the choice came down to SolidWorks or Inventor there were just one thing that matter. Money. We could upgrade our exisisting AutoCAD licenses to Inventor licenses for about a fourth of what SolidWorks licenses would cost.

Been told solid works is easier than Inventor , but is it better program ?

For a competent user they are essentially the same program (geometry is geometry).

Students can download AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor for free from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity (along with many thousands of dollars worth of other programs - you might want to check out Alias as well).

You will find a link to some tutorials (a little out of date) in my signature.