Resource(s) on HOW CAD users use AutoCAD day to day

I need resources on how CAD users use the software each day to complete simple tasks, chain of tasks, and complete projects. In some offices, a high performance worker, CAD workhorse, has no problem doing basic drafting like coding: typing hour after hour through the CAD command prompt. In the next cubicle, the worker does a different set of CAD tasks, maybe only for a fraction of the work week, dragging the cursor all over the screen to select icons and ribbons, but at a slower pace. She prefers to receive markups and revisions digitally. In another cubicle, a third worker might prefer to work with paper copies of revisions, uses more modeling add-ons, and delegates most drafting tasks to others.

I have terrible work habits when it comes to using my mouse and keyboard.

Four months ago I developed a mild case of carpal tunnel from 2 1/2 years of very heavy AutoCAD use (10 years experience total). I was so focused on clients needs that I never EVER learned how to take breaks regularly. I never stretched. I worked on any type of counter top. I sat at and worked at practically any angle. I relied heavily on my mouse, especially panning and zooming around the screen on a small mouse jerking my hand and wrist at odd angles just to get the job done.

I have largely fixed the ergonomic issues (better chair, tested multiple types of keyboards/mice, and avoided hand surgery). However, over the long term I need to change HOW I do CAD. I manage a few other CAD users as a urban planner in a civil engineering firm (2D CAD). I hand off as much as I can, but I know that for the considerable future I will be doing CAD for 75% of my work week. I need to change my work habits, to avoid REALLY screwing things up. Are there resources that can point me in the right direction? This is more of a work habit issue at this point rather than an ergonomic problem.

Thanks!

Have you looked into the possibility of using speech recognition software?

Like Remark tried it a couple of times the obvious was @#$^ UNDO

Its common knowledge that talking to your self is the first sign of madness.

I was so focused on clients needs that I never EVER learned how to take breaks regularly. I never stretched. I worked on any type of counter top. I sat at and worked at practically any angle. I relied heavily on my mouse, especially panning and zooming around the screen on a small mouse jerking my hand and wrist at odd angles just to get the job done.

This is your problem right here. Stop doing everything you mentioned. Take regular breaks, get up, walk around, stretch, etc. And for the love of Pete, stop jerking your hand around and working at odd angles. You mentioned that you got a better chair, and that is important, but you need to learn how to slow down and work at a comfortable but steady pace. I have been using Autocad on a daily basis for over 25 years, but because of my good work habits, I've never experienced any carpal tunnel issues.

Here's an article that may be of interest: http://blog.visionmarketingaz.com/10-healthy-habits-for-working-at-a-desk

Yeah, it's not really about how you CAD it's about how you approach your ergonomics. Getting up and stretching on a regular basis does wonders, even if your furniture isn't good ergonomically.

This is your problem right here. Stop doing everything you mentioned. Take regular breaks, get up, walk around, stretch, etc. And for the love of Pete, stop jerking your hand around and working at odd angles. You mentioned that you got a better chair, and that is important, but you need to learn how to slow down and work at a comfortable but steady pace. I have been using Autocad on a daily basis for over 25 years, but because of my good work habits, I've never experienced any carpal tunnel issues.

 

Here's an article that may be of interest: http://blog.visionmarketingaz.com/10-healthy-habits-for-working-at-a-desk

Looking back, I should have called this thread "improving AutoCAD work habits". Over the past several months I implemented many improvements on the ergonomics: chair, keyboard/mouse, stretching exercises, etc. I have seen some improvements so far. I developed a separate skin problem at the same time I developed carpal tunnel, which led to very inflamed hands, especially at the base of the fingers, which is a dermatological issue. Changing the ergonomics (chair, desk, keyboard, mouse) changes the position of various parts of the body while working at a desk. Rest and exercise strengthen tissue over time (joints, tendons, skin, nerves, etc).

It will take several months for the dermatological issues to heal. I have to work on hands that get very inflamed throughout the day. My next step is to change my over-reliance on the mouse for day-to-day AutoCAD use (reducing mouse clicks). As I mentioned on a few other threads, I design subdivisions and master planned communities largely doing 2D AutoCAD work. Most of my CAD work is drawing lines, circles, polylines, offsetting, filleting, extending, etc. I move copious amounts of text and MTEXT around the screen by copying and dragging, TORIENTING text and MTEXT at various angles. I learned AutoCAD with panning and zooming using the wheel button, so I am hopping from one part of the screen to another very fast. I'm not too familiar with zoom previous. I went from two giant monitors to a much smaller single monitor so I didn't move the cursor a greater distance. My department uses a lot of text and mtext, but not too many dimstyles. That means a lot of individual clicking, editing, rotating, aligning, etc. I am familiarizing myself with the FILTER command and I have a very sophisticated QUICKPROPERTIES open in my workspace to change properties of multiple selected objects. I manually align individual building pads (which is a very simple AutOCAD block of a rectangle and circles) within curved building lines. I am teaching myself how to place these using DIVIDE, ARRAY, and MEASURE tools.

I do AutoCAD within Civil 3D, and I am generally familiar with labeling and styles as a way to automate more manual labeling. I am not a huge fan of parcels, site topology, or styles. I am looking into simple third party LSPs that do things as labeling polylines, closed polyline area labeling, and table creation from Excel. Tables in our drawings is nothing more than a collection of vector lines and text boxes, which again, is drawn out manually...with a lot of mousework...and clicking.

Finally, I had a very unbalanced workload for two years in a row, averaging easily 30-40 hours of straight CAD work, taking few if any breaks, drawing in the way I just described. My department has five CAD users. Apart from my boss, the other three were entry-level planners with no previous experience in AutoCAD or subdivision design. In 2013 and 2014 I handled the work of two people on these projects (although I was paid very well by employer). As my hand problems intensified this year, I started to spend more time training other people to get the drafting off my desk. There is still a lot that I won't hand off because of the technical precision and complexity. Therefore, I will STILL be doing a lot of the CAD work in my everyday work despite managing more people. My boss knows about my hand problems caused the ergonomics and the company has taken this issue very seriously. However, the department's lack of experienced designers has been an equally contributing factor in me over-working myself. Fortunately 2015 has not been as crazy busy as 2013 or 2014. But I am very concerned regarding my workload when we have the next big boom in residential development in 3-4 years. I don't think my hands are up to the task.

Hopefully, this gives you an in-depth explanation of the MANY contributing factors in my work habits. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated (and especially alternative ways of doing 2D drafting I described a few paragraphs ago).

Thanks!

What you just described is not all that different from what I did for 8 years at the architecture firm where I last worked. Autocad, all day, every day, 40-50 hours per week. It was a very fast paced firm and I was constantly juggling multiple projects at once, doing the work of 2 and sometimes even 3 people as I was constantly helping out with other people's projects as well as doing my own work. And I had a dual monitor set up so I was constantly moving my cursor around on both monitors.

The problem with your hands is not due to your workload, it's due to your work habits. I cannot express enough, the importance of taking breaks. It's not an option. You HAVE TO take breaks. Even if it's just a few minutes. You HAVE TO get up and stretch and move around. You can't just sit at your desk all day long like some sort of machine. Every hour you should get up and move around for 5 minutes. Go to the water cooler, get a cup of coffee, go outside and walk around your building, go talk to a co-worker for a few minutes, etc. Do something that gets you away from your desk. If you don't develop better habits your condition is only going to get worse.

Also, you may want to ask some questions in the Civil 3D section of the forum and talk to some of our Civil guys. With all that manual editing that you're doing, it sounds like your company may not be using the program to it's fullest potential.

Thank you for the response. I started incorporating breaks a few months ago. I also do hand stretches regularly. Some people recommend every 20-30 minutes, others recommend every hour. Some recommend 1-2 exercises, yet others recommend 5-6. I think it's personal preference.

However, when I am back AT my pc doing the actual work, I don't have the time to quickly change my software work habits. If I have a drawing with a bunch of lines and labeling that has to get out the door by end of day, I am going to do rely on my SOFTWARE work habits to get the damn drawing out the door so I can put out the next fire. I am not going to have the time in between working and resting to focus on how to redraw things. I am not expecting a quick and easy solution to changing software work habits. I have more time this Labor Day weekend to start re-thinking about my work habits, and I fully expect changing my habits, both good and bad, will have to work in tandem alongside my work-rest-work-rest day-to-day routine.

I have thought a lot about C3D and the many tools outside of 2D draftinng that can help us. My boss learned AutoCAD about twenty years ago, and the way that he does drawing hasn't changed in that time. It is a lot of manually drawing lines, circles, and moving text boxes around. Obviously that needs to change, but re-thinking residential lots and streets as a collection of alignments, parcels, sites, and surfaces in Civil 3D is a VERY different school of though than a grouping of arcs, lines, polylines, etc. in AutoCAD. For right now, I would rather focus on improving work habits through the largely 2D tools I previously described. Thanks!

I'll say it again because I'm sure you thought I was kidding. Voice recognition software. If you can reduce the number of commands you type in as aliases or pick with your mouse by 25-40% you'll be doing yourself a favor.

Some years back CADalyst magazine ran an article about a CAD tech working for an electrical power supply company who had to resort to using voice recognition software after being involved in a horrendous car accident. It took time. It took patience. But eventually he taught himself a new way of doing his old job. In the course of doing so he actually started to out-produce his able bodied co-workers to the point that the company started encouraging the other CAD techs to try VR.