Autocad 2010 3D

Hello all,

I am just about to finish my Autocad course with PennFoster, and would like to eventually convert my student version into a 'licensed' version, which gets rid of the 'Student Edition' markups on all my drawings. Once this is done, I would like to start to learn how to do more work in 3D. I know that Inventor is preferable for 3D over Autocad2010, but as an individual, purchasing Inventor is not going to happen anytime soon!

But, for those that actually produce images in 3D, using Autocad 2010, can you post some links to your images, if online, so I can see what the capabilities are of 3D, with Autocad2010? Also, any good books for learning 3D with Autocad?

Thanks!!

Do you realize how much the software costs?

To convert your student license to commercial license - contact the Value Added Reseller for your area.

You will be assigned a new serial number.

Go to Help>About AutoCAD>Product Information and click Change Serial Number and follow the on-screen instructions.

Of course converting your license to commercial is meaningless for work already created. Any attempt to remove the edu banner is a violation of your EULA.

If it was so easy - unethical companies would use multiple seats of free student license and only one purchased commercial license to "clean up" the files. (actually it is pretty easy to defeat the banner - but I won't go there.)

While you are still a student you can download Inventor and start learning that over the life of the 3-yr student license. Hopefully it will take you less than 3 yrs to find employment

Finding links to 3D work done in AutoCAD is so trivially easy - that it concerns me when someone even asks. But you might start with the tutorials in my signature.

I am aware of the costs of converting the license and plan on using the student version for awhile yet. If I decide on doing some 'freelance' work at a later date, then will convert it to stay legal. Removing the student banner from end drawings is trivial, as mentioned, but of course the actual .dwg file still has this 'watermark', which is why I will stay legal if I am producing drawings for an actual client, so to speak. For my own needs, such as drafting up a shed, etc, I removed the banners from my final drawings just to neaten things up a bit, but would never consider doing so for any drawings other than my own personal needs.

I have searched the net and found tons of 3D drawings, as indicated in your reply, but alot of the drawings shown were done with other versions of Autocad, or Inventor, etc. I was just trying to narrow it down to 3D exclusively with Autocad 2010. I have heard rumours that 3D with straight Autocad, was 'challenging' at best, so was just trying to see what the level of complexity of 3D drawings were capable in just Autocad, seeing as that is clearly what I have access too at the moment!

In regards to the student version of Inventor, can I download this as a student with Penn Foster? My understanding is that Autodesk wants a student email address, but seeing as this is home study, and the software was actually included in the course materials via DVD, can I still download Inventor?

Thanks!

In regards to the student version of Inventor, can I download this as a student with Penn Foster? My understanding is that Autodesk wants a student email address, but seeing as this is home study, and the software was actually included in the course materials via DVD, can I still download Inventor?

Thanks!

Autodesk removed the edu email requirement last year (and you could always get an Invitation even if you did not have an edu email as long as you could find an instructor that would vouch that you are a student). Any student of any age anywhere in the world can join the student community. http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity now more than 3 million members (about 75,000 new members in the past week).

Thanks for the link. I will check that out when I am home tonight and see about a student version of Inventor. I am assuming their should be no issues with running Autocad 2010 and Inventor on the same PC?

I am running AutoCAD, Inventor, Inventor Fusion, Autodesk Simulation (there is over $100,000 worth of software on the student website - was something like 21 titles in all. Also running Solidworks, Pro/E, MSWord, Excel, PowerPoint, ...... you get the idea.

Yes - thanks!

/... I have heard rumours that 3D with straight Autocad, was 'challenging' at best, so was just trying to see what the level of complexity of 3D drawings were capable in just Autocad, seeing as that is clearly what I have access too at the moment!

It's only what you make out of it. There are certainly other software packages out there which specialize in only 3D but IMHO AutoCAD does a very nice job as well. The only difference is what you the user become familiar with. I don't let other people's opinions get in my way with software....hot women yes, but software, no. Over the years I have heard from other users that this software is better or this software sucks...but in the end I find that people will use what they become most familiar with.

I found that with a little work and diligence that teaching one's self to do 3D drawings in AutoCAD was not that difficult. And while I can't claim to be the end-all guru, (see JD Mather) I do find that the 3D work I produce with AutoCAD is more than adequate for professional as well as personal projects.

It's only what you make out of it. There are certainly other software packages out there which specialize in only 3D but IMHO AutoCAD does a very nice job as well. The only difference is what you the user become familiar with. I don't let other people's opinions get in my way with software....hot women yes, but software, no. Over the years I have heard from other users that this software is better or this software sucks...but in the end I find that people will use what they become most familiar with.

 

I found that with a little work and diligence that teaching one's self to do 3D drawings in AutoCAD was not that difficult. And while I can't claim to be the end-all guru, (see JD Mather) I do find that the 3D work I produce with AutoCAD is more than adequate for professional as well as personal projects.

Thanks! I understand what your saying about varying opinions on software, which is why I mentioned 'rumour' rather than stating as so. Until I start to learn ACad 3D, the rumour cannot be confirmed or denied at this present time!

I did manage to download and install the student version of Inventor as well, and will try to learn 3D in both Autocad 2010 and Inventor. Will probably head over to my favourite book store, (Amazon) and see what they have to offer in the way of learning materials.

Much of the software choice will be dictated by what you need to draw. Inventor is a great product, but I don't know many people who use it to draw houses. Revit is a wonderful tool for architectural work, but drawing machinery with it is a pain. Autocad, or more precisely, the .dwg format is what the mass of people are still using. Is Autocad always the best tool for the job? No, but you can get it done with it. The vertical tools certainly make it easier to do things.

You wanted a 3d image in 2010, here ya go. I've posted this before, but this was done in plain old vanilla autocad 2010 and then rendered in a product called Showcase.

You can take a look in the Showcase forum here on Cadtutor and find lots of work by lots of people. Most of them say what they used to draw and render it. Lots of much more talented folks than me in there.

Thank you for your reply and very nice picture!

As a student of Autocad, I have not quite figured out what sort of drafting I would like to do most of, so to speak. Although after going through the civil portion of my course, I can certainly rule out civil drafting...lol. I would like architectural work, or mechanical, and have downloaded both Inventor and Autocad mechanical student editions to learn as well, but should I also download Autocad Architectural as well? Maybe I should just concentrate on 'plain old' Autocad and see where it takes me! But, and this question is strictly based on my 'lack of knowledge' regarding the more specialized Autocad packages, if one learns 'plain old Autocad', then lets say ends up in a design house specializing in architectural, would the foundation in Autocad easily transfer to say, Revit? I guess what I'm asking is and based on some of the screen shots of the various Autocad packages, it would appear that most of the same commands are transitioned across the other product lines, so one would already have a good foundation, and all one would need to do is 'get up to speed' on the package specific features to related to their Cad package, such as architectural?

AutoCAD Mechanical is a 2D program - but it runs on top of vanilla AutoCAD (as does AutoCAD Architecture).

To get to vanilla AutoCAD go to Start>Autodesk>AutoCAD Mechanical>Run as AutoCAD.

Set your Workspace to 3D and just start creating stuff (there are some older tutorials in my signature).

Maybe try this simple problem as a challenge http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?63260-making-a-wheel-or-a-rim

If you find you are able to pick this stuff up with less difficulty - that is a good sign you will do well.

This is a screenshot of the cad drawing of the phone. File size is too big to post the dwg.

Thanks for the explanation, JD, and Jack, still a nice picture! Will have to attempt something similar one day! :-)