I would like to start learning AUTOCAD. I'm fixing to go back to college and get a Mechanical Engineering degree. Would y'all recommend a certain program?
Do you mean course of study or do you mean CAD program?
I'd say pass on AutoCAD and get going with a parametric modeler if you have the opportunity. AutoCAD is a dying program for mechanical design - see Solid Edge, SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer, IronCAd, or Inventor (forget Mechanical Desktop - it's already dead).
If you mean course of study, get a book like Inside AutoCAD and start working through it. Begin drawing things that you have around like tools and appliances.
Good advice, but in lay-mans terms, what exactly is a parametric modeler? Where does the difference come in, for example between AutoCAD and Pro-E (which is parametric)?
Thanks
A parametric modeler allows you to drive your geometry by its dimensions and by its relationships to other geometry.
For example (staying in 2D), you have a vertical line and a 2" dia circle located 6" horizontally from the vertical line. Assume this represents the plan view of a post and a piece of hardware which will be mounted to it and you want to design the bracket to join the two. In this case, the centerline of your bracket will be 5".
Now, say you change the diameter of your circle to 3.185". In AutoCAD you'd now have to measure the new distance between your circle and the plate and then either redraw your bracket or stretch it or draw an offset line and trim or...
In a parametric modeler you'd do nothing because you defined the length of the bracket in terms of the distance between the plate and the circle. The program automatically updates the bracket to reflect the change in the geometry used to define it.
Between Pro/E & SW, I'd choose SW. The reason is that #1 it's easier to learn and #2 it's more like the other mid-range modelers (Solid Edge and Inventor). I believe that it may have more deployments than Pro/E; if not, I know for sure that it's rate of new deployments is dramatically higher than Pro/E.
Parametric modelers are the only way to go for doing mechanical design.
Pro E seems to be quite good, and SolidWorks is ok. I never used Pro E, but I have used Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, Alibre, TurboCad, about every version of Autocad, and CoCreates Solid Designer.
The best I think is CoCreate hands down, bar none. I really dont care for the history based programs. I work a lot with existing designs from other engineers or customers. Those history based seem to be a pain to try and run threw the features to find the problem or add new ones in. SolidDesigner is a little hard to figure out, but once mastered it runs circles around the others. Its not history based, and is setup for more of the high end, bigger complicated designs.
I am a subcontracted mechanical desinger/tool designer to HP and other high tech firms. I constantly design, or modify designs of assemblies with over 1000 differnt parts with ease. It runs out to the sixteen decimal place, so accurarcy is not an issue. There are designs and models I have done, or seen I have showed to other users of the mentioned software and they simply state they cant do some of the features.
The down fall is the 2D side is ok, not great, but by good enough to get the job done. The cost is around 7k, and support is still teething. CoCreate used to be an HP product only, they owned it, therefore no one else expect HP had it. CoCreate spun off on its own, orginated in Germany, and now is a private company. So its relatively new, meaning the company is teething on manuals. For solid modelling, speed, complicated designs, and complicated assemblies, it simply outperforms anything else I have yet to run.
id say take another look at autodesk products, goignwith an application vs a platfor is a mistake. Autodesk has a lot mor than people realize. ABS, ADT, VIZ, Revit, Inventor, etc...give them a call
