Need to Learn Autocad 1

[ChipperB]

I am an older civil engineer. I have past experince designing water, wastewater, and drainage projects the old fashioned way. I would like to learn Autocad. If possible the instruction should be web based, geared toward civil design, and cheap. Thats not too much to ask is it?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[gbam]

Chipper8,
I am not sure how cheap is cheap but can you take a class at your local JC? I started out taking an evening course. As it being geard towards CE, not sure you can get that. When I took my class it was geared towards ME. But it allowed me to become familiar with the operations of ACAD. If you are looking for design software training that is a seperate couse that should be taken after you are familiar with ACAD. At least that was the way I went through it all. Good luck!

 

[PEinc]

I took an AutoCAD class at my local high school. It cost me about $50. It wasn't great but it did get me started.

http://www.PeirceEngineering.com

 

[brandoncdg]

What are you looking to learn, basic CAD or CAD Civil Engr style? If you ever want to chat online, I wouldn't mind helping out. I had an old school engineer teach me how to grade by hand, and know it's important to share knowledge. Go to my website for my email.

Civil Development Group, LLC
Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com/blog

 

[msquared48]

Looks like I need to do the same thing here - both for the civil and structural side.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[boo1]

Autocad does have free Featured Articles/Tutorials

http://civilcommunity.autodesk.com/

 

[brandoncdg]

boo1: That's a good site, especially the newsgroup/discussion forum on there. Lots of helpful people. I basically learned Civil 3D asking a lot of questions over there and messing around in the software.

Civil Development Group, LLC
Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com/blog

 

[MEM1]

Check out theswamp.org

Lots of knowledgable people over there.

 

[Ussuri]

Autodesk themselves also provide online tutorials to get you started. I had a quick look and it seems that you download the course material along with dwg drawings to practice on. Looks like a good start to me.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=10947410&linkID=9240815

 

[brandoncdg]

I really think that the Civil side of things are done very different in CAD compared to other disciplines. That's why I asked what kind of CAD do you want to learn, generic or Civil style?

Civil Development Group, LLC
Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com

http://www.civildevelopmentgroup.com/blog

 

[francesca]

The Autodesk site also has skill builders and tutorials for Civil 3D, which would be more appropriate for a civil engineer than AutoCAD. (C3D is an AutoCAD "vertical" product.

 

[wmta]

try lynda.com

 

[QualityTime]

As wmta said ...go to lynda.com and download the video tutorial. In total the tutorials are about 6 hours long. You can start and stop and rewind the tutorial on you computer if you missed something. You then practice doing the same drafting as you saw in the tutorial. It is a lot easier than reading a book. You may want to buy a book off ebay for reference.

I have tried it and it works. Sometimes you need to understand what your drafting people are telling you and it helps to understand the terminology