Outside of enrolling in a school program, what is the easiest way to learn AUTOCAD?
Answer:
dude i am an auto cad junkie and u know how i got good at it.just messin around. i suggest getting ur hands on a version of it maybe not the newest cuz that would be expensive, and just draw away its pretty easy to get the basics down and the rest u can honestly learn thru the help menus. College would help you a lot but honestly you can get good at it just by messing around thats probably your cheapest way of figuring it out
Autocad is really really simple.
try urself starting to draw 2D items like circle, polygon, line, etc..
use the inbuilt help, tats quite enough. for advanced techniques use some book on autocad.
It all depends on if its easier for you to learn by text books, or hands on. I am a hands on, so it was easier for me to find someone that was using it, sat down for a week next to them and learned the basics. Then after that, I started to experiment with things and got to the point were I could customize my own toolbars. I did take a class at the local community college about 4 years before I started using auto cad, but found the class moved too slowly for me and by the time the instructor was done, I had finished the assignment and was moving on. This is what worked for me.
I have heard of a website that you pay for what training you want, never used it, but I have been told its good. Don't know the cost, but the website is Lynda.com. Not sure if they have auto cad or not.
Ive been in the industry for about 14 years. Your best bet is to take basic AutoCad training at a training site. Go to this link to find a training center.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ind...
A full license of AutoCad is going to cost you in the neighborhood of 5000.00 dollars. I just paid 7000 but I am running Civil 3D, which is a version of the AutoCad product geared towards civil engineering. It has alot more GIS capabilities and might be what you need.
it's easy to learn AutoCAD using just the software and a book, but the license cost is extremely high ($4000).
call every library in town & see if any of them have computers with AutoCAD installed. failing that, find out if any local colleges have computers with AutoCAD, and if so, whether it is possible (as a non-student) to use this equipment.
if your current employer hires engineers, chances are there are computers with AutoCAD licenses already in the company. if these are desktop workstations (as opposed to notebooks), there's a good chance the engineers that use them leave them unused after business hours. talk to a few engineers & explain that you are trying to learn AutoCAD without having to spend $1000 on the license. ask if they will allow you to use their computers after business hours.
next option would be an academic license ($380). in general, this requires that you provide proof that you are in a degree-seeking program, and that you not use the software for any commercial purpose.
if you can live with the time limit, a 30 day free AutoCAD 2008 trial is available from Autodesk:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/mfo...
failing all else, you may have to bite the bullet and shell out $4000 of your own money on a license.
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default...
once you have figured out how to get access to the software itself, choose a book from which you want to learn. consider these options:
AutoCAD 2008 Fundamentals (Elise Moss)
http://www.amazon.com/autocad-2008-funda...
3D AutoCAD 2008: One Step at a Time (Timothy, Sean Sykes)
http://www.amazon.com/3d-autocad-2008-st...
Autocad 2008 (Sham Tickoo)
http://www.amazon.com/autocad-2008-sham-...
AutoCAD 2008 3D Modeling Workbook For Dummies (Lee Ambrosius)
http://www.amazon.com/autocad-modeling-w...
AutoCAD 2008 For Dummies (David Byrnes)
http://www.amazon.com/autocad-2008-dummi...
AutoCAD 2008 Essentials (Munir Hamad)
http://www.amazon.com/autocad-essentials...
good luck, & i hope all works out for you =]
PS - you may come across another Autodesk product (AutoCAD LT). this is the 2D only version of AutoCAD, and probably won't teach you what you're looking for.
If they want someone "trained" in AutoCAD, you might want to go to the nearest community college and take a class. Some people want proof that you have learned something. You will learn more if you will just play around with it. If you want something at home to work on, you might try Cadopia6 (cadopia.com). It's basically an autocad knockoff, but does have an almost identical interface for drawing, and for the most part, files are interchangable. Cadopia offers a free downloadable version for evaluation. A full license is only about $250. If you can learn this you can switch to AutoCAD almost seamlessly.
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