MAC
04-16-2002, 04:17 PM
Keep in mind that your teacher is a half-wit who had to teach himself this stuff over the course of 5 years...and he is by no means QUALIFIED to teach you.
..but this isn't a discussion about public schools, this is an autocad tutorial.
I encourage anyone with autocad experince to chime in at anytime with tips and techniques for making the CAD experience faster and more accurate.
_______________________________________________
What is autoCAD
Computer Assisted Drafting is a wonderful program that enables you to literally create in 3 dimensions, models of damned near anything you can imagine.
It allows you to create lines and shapes of all descriptions in 3-d space, based on simple plotting on the X, Y, and Z axis.
And as a drafting program it is designed to allow you to make precise scale models.
An understanding of basic geometry is a necessity, and an advanced understanding of trigonometry (which I don't have) will make your work much better and faster.
________________________________________________
My education occured in 3 stages.
1) learning the tools and commands (ongoing process)
2) manipulating 3-d space (this can piss oyu off at first and be fun as hell later)
3) thinking like the program (let go your conscious mind)
________________________________________________
I'll try to cover each of these in some detail as I'm able, but for now I'll give you something to get you started.
NOTE: I am using autoCAD 2000 but the commands and set ups should be very simialr on any release AFTER ACAD13 (which was win3.1 shit).
14, 2000, 2002, and all the lite programs should be close.
___________________________________________________
Function keys:
F1 HELP (never used it, can't comment on it)
F2 COMMAND LOG (tells you what commands you have used)
F3 OSNAP (jumps from point to point midpoint, center, endpoint, intersection, etc)
F4 TABLET ON/OFF (never used it)
F5 ISOPLANE (I leave it on top, it deals with some type of orientation)
F6 COORDINATES ON/OFF (the numbers that tell you where you are in space)
F7 GRID ON/OFF (th egrid is exactly that, a grid of odts that shows you distances....I rarely use it)
F8 ORTHO (left and right up and down all at 90 degrees)
F9 SNAP (thisis point to point motion 1 to 2 to 3 to 4, no in between)
F10 POLAR (you know, like my personality)
F11 OBJECT SNAP TRACKING (hmmmm I should knwo what that is but off hand I don't..I know it moves it one unit at a time and it tracks it...but uhh)
F12 DUNNO...
____________________________________________________
I'll be back with more instructions soon.
..but this isn't a discussion about public schools, this is an autocad tutorial.
I encourage anyone with autocad experince to chime in at anytime with tips and techniques for making the CAD experience faster and more accurate.
_______________________________________________
What is autoCAD
Computer Assisted Drafting is a wonderful program that enables you to literally create in 3 dimensions, models of damned near anything you can imagine.
It allows you to create lines and shapes of all descriptions in 3-d space, based on simple plotting on the X, Y, and Z axis.
And as a drafting program it is designed to allow you to make precise scale models.
An understanding of basic geometry is a necessity, and an advanced understanding of trigonometry (which I don't have) will make your work much better and faster.
________________________________________________
My education occured in 3 stages.
1) learning the tools and commands (ongoing process)
2) manipulating 3-d space (this can piss oyu off at first and be fun as hell later)
3) thinking like the program (let go your conscious mind)
________________________________________________
I'll try to cover each of these in some detail as I'm able, but for now I'll give you something to get you started.
NOTE: I am using autoCAD 2000 but the commands and set ups should be very simialr on any release AFTER ACAD13 (which was win3.1 shit).
14, 2000, 2002, and all the lite programs should be close.
___________________________________________________
Function keys:
F1 HELP (never used it, can't comment on it)
F2 COMMAND LOG (tells you what commands you have used)
F3 OSNAP (jumps from point to point midpoint, center, endpoint, intersection, etc)
F4 TABLET ON/OFF (never used it)
F5 ISOPLANE (I leave it on top, it deals with some type of orientation)
F6 COORDINATES ON/OFF (the numbers that tell you where you are in space)
F7 GRID ON/OFF (th egrid is exactly that, a grid of odts that shows you distances....I rarely use it)
F8 ORTHO (left and right up and down all at 90 degrees)
F9 SNAP (thisis point to point motion 1 to 2 to 3 to 4, no in between)
F10 POLAR (you know, like my personality)
F11 OBJECT SNAP TRACKING (hmmmm I should knwo what that is but off hand I don't..I know it moves it one unit at a time and it tracks it...but uhh)
F12 DUNNO...
____________________________________________________
I'll be back with more instructions soon.