Best Crash Course

[New_to_AC]

I'm an ME/IE that must quickly learn Autocad for a plant layout. Please, all you CEs that are expert in Autocad, I would greatly appreciate your advice on the best crash course book / disk to self-teach Autocad. Thanks in advance.

[ReMark]

The best thing you could do is call your local authorized AutoDesk dealer and inquire if they offer a 3-day class in the program you are interested in. You will get a knowledgeable instructor, small class size, a chance to ask all the questions you want, learn tips & tricks you probably would not discover on your own, and you'll get all the course materials (for later review and refreshing your memory) in either printed or electronic format (or both, as I did). Yes, the cost will be higher but it will be money worth spent as the end result will mean less time fumbling about and a quicker route to being productive.

 

And one other thing, get names and telephone numbers of your classmates. You'll have your own little instant network of people using the same program as yourself.

[rkent]

These are the best tutorials I have run across, and they are freeeeee!

http://www.we-r-here.com/cad/tutorials/

[ReMark]

If you are going to do a plant layout why not look at AutoCAD Plant? It may save you a lot of time/effort in the long run.

[Bill Tillman]

If you are going to do a plant layout why not look at AutoCAD Plant? It may save you a lot of time/effort in the long run.

 

Yes, get the free 30 day trial and try it out. That's one of the drawbacks to AutoCAD is the steep price. But in the end if you're seriously doing business with it, the investment will payoff. As for crash courses, the resellers will offer these but usually not on a tight schedule. The best, and FREE way I did it was to just open up AutoCAD, decide what you need to do, and then google the heck out of it. There are loads of tutorials with everything from simple lines to 3D surfacing.

 

Good luck.

[Dadgad]

Welcome to CADTutor.

There is much to be said for all of the previous posts.

When I started using the software 4 years ago,

I used the site rkent suggested on my own (well thought out and logically presented), and a few others which I found online, for about 10 days to get the hang of it,

before going for a 2 day intensive private basic autodesk instruction.

Started work the next day.

Been learning every day since then, and still loving it.

Maybe start with the 30 day trial of regular Autocad to get your feet wet,

then you could download the 30 day trial of PLANT, once you know your way around the program a little bit,

so as to better understand and utilize the enhancements of the vertical (PLANT) product.

Good luck.

[Organic]

I think I also used the site rkent suggested (and they have just updated their layout since although the tutorials look the same) when first learning AutoCad and to be honest I didn't like it and struggled with their explanations.

 

The book I would recommend you buy and work through is AutoCad No Experience Required. I've now read most of the books and in my opinion that is the best for teaching you AutoCad (and draws on examples from both architectural and mechanical/manufacturing mostly).

[mikekmx]

'AutoCAD Secrets Every User Should Know' is very good as well - for most levels of user.