Old vs new AutoCAD user

[LONDONDERRY]

I'm Mechanical Engineer and I've used 5-6 3d modelers s/w in my career time, recently I've been tasked to create a 2d floot plan in AutoCAD. The last time I've used this program was in 1990 with DOS. I mentioned to my manager that I have'nt used the program in 20years, but her reaction was well I'm sure it hasn't changed much, but we do need this floor plan don really quick, mine you this is from a Ph'D scientis. So my question to everyone is, how difficuly will it be to relearn this program?

 

[btrueblood]

Most of the simple typed commands and shortcuts still work, i.e. "L" for line, "C" for circle. Or you can use the menu bar. There's a lot of fancy 3D crap in Acad now, which I mostly ignore in favor of more dedicated 3D software. The only thing I detest about floor plans is that once you have drawn one, people will keep coming to you to draw their proposed changes, mostly having to do with increasing the size of their offices (kidding somewhat). Good luck!

 

[LONDONDERRY]

Thanks... I've seen the 3d abilities in AutoCAD in the past and you're better off using Inventor in my opinion. Where I employed at they use a crap 3d program called Solid Edge.
Surly I'll remember the advise on floor plan layouts.....

 

[chicopee]

I like Autodesk ACAD 2D and 3D software. I predominantly use ver. 2004 and sometimes 2000. The reasons that I like these versions is first you don't have to load two and more disks to get going. Another reason, I can start from scratch without relying on other people block drawings. These versions makes you think a little harder than newer versions and other brands of ACAD. Isn't Inventor by Autodesk?

 

[LONDONDERRY]

Yes Autodesk makes Inventor

AutoCAD is more of a work horse for 2d drafting,but its 3d isn't as powerful as Inventor, and the same cna be said about Inventor great 3d and 2d abilites, but not so great for creating 2d drawings from scratch

 

[cfee]

What version of AutoCAD are you being asked to use at work? You can probably find a book on line for any version they are asking you to use, and most every one can be ordered for delivery in just a couple of days. The idea here is that almost every one will cover the basics you'll want to know in the first chapter or 2 or so . You can think in terms of the basic commands you want to use and type them in at the command line and work your way through it. Like btrueblood mentions, most every one or 2 letter commands (L = Line) etc, also still work. That'll get you started, and just a simple re-read of the 2 or 3 chapters at the front of the book will help you remember alot (like how Offset works, or how you need a basepoint AND a destination point for Move AND Copy, etc.) You'll do well.

Now here's something of a surprise for you - ACAD 3D is VERY strong. Learning how to make your assemblies in 3D and extract your Assembly and component drawings to Paperspace viewports works VERY well, and ANY really familiar workflow creates faithful followers ! I like AutoDesk Inventor better, but I can knock out a completed Assembly with all Subassemblies, Components and ALL Extracted Drawings very handily in basic AutoCAD !

Surprise number 2 ? Well, a number of AutoCAD workalikes can be had for around $500 that do a decent job on your computer at home , are stable, and the drawings load right up into your AutoCAD at work ! I like ProGeCAD, but BricsCAD is strong too ! So your options are many and varied, and a $500 copy of ProGeCAD or BricsCAD or any other of your choosing, can help you learn your WORK AutoCAD since pretty much ALL of the commands are identical !

Ok, Good Luck and let ust know how it went ?

Charley.

 

[brandonbw]

If you could remember how to use a DOS version of Autocad it should be very similar. Meaning you can use the command line for everything, though there have been some changes. If you are going at this purely alone it might take you some time to get re-acquainted with the current version. But it is doable. Sending a file or plotting will be another animal though.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer

http://bwengr.com

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http://bwstructuralengineer.com

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http://bwcivilengineer.com

 

[chicopee]

Don't forget that Autodesk has kept all the older commands used in past versions including those commands used when you had to load a half dozen 5-1/4" floppy disks which I still kept .

 

[transmissiontowers]

I am self taught on Acad and have been using LT and Acad since 1990. We upgraded from 2006 to 2012 recently an I took a course. The instructor was an old drafter and didn't teach much of the new menu system, but went back to the keyboard input.

If you are using 2012 or later, use the 2D set ribbon (MS has gone to a big ribbon bar and expects everyone else to do the same). My biggest tip is the Control Right Mouse click to bring up the object snaps menu so you can draw lines from the endpoint, midpoint, etc of lines.

_____________________________________
I have been called "A storehouse of worthless information" many times.

 

[IFRs]

I find Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, Ctrl-3, Ctrl-4, Ctrl-9 and Ctrl-0 useful as well.

 

[racookpe1978]

If you prefer to use the Acad command line entries - which I do, beginning like you back in the DOS era - you can add any Acad command into the acad.pgp file as a 1 or 2 character shortcut.

If you are right-handed 9and many Acad users are left handed) remember to keep your two-character shortcuts on the left-side of the keyboard so your right hand can stay on the mouse.

 

[zdas04]

Seems like a lot of folks here have a lot of faith in a person's ability to remember esoteric commands 20 years later. My reaction is always "I can remember having known that" when I find a way to get refreshed. I've been using AutoCad 10-15 times a year for 25 years and have found the last 4-5 versions to be incredibly counter intuitive. Just doing simple stuff (e.g., open a new drawing and draw a simple outline of a pipe yard to scale took me a couple of hours to do something that would have taken 10 minutes on a drafting table) is frustrating. The worst thing about post-2006 is the "help" functionality. What I expected (and had in earlier versions) was a command reference. What I have in 2013 is a link to a forum filled with snotty, snarky, AutoCad purists who seem to live for the annual AutoCad University and look down on anyone who doesn't attend. I never needed help more or got less value from it than with the current version. If you can get AutoCad LT for your floor plan you'll be better off for around $500, it still won't be easy but a large percentage of the professional-drafter stuff is not there so you don't have to ignore as much.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.

 

[transmissiontowers]

I used ACAD-LT for many years and the first version was $495 from Autodesk and did about 90% of what we needed. The list price from Autodesk for the new version is $1200 but I just checked on Amazon and it can be had for around $900. My company had 15 ACLT licenses that were very old (2006 I think). We probably have about 3 concurrent users and when it was time to upgrade, the cost for 15 copies of ACLT was about the same as 3 or 4 copies of full Autocad with the NLM so we got on the annual subscription and get a new version of Autocad when it comes out. Getting the network server set up initially was a pain but now it is pretty seamless to pull up ACAD 2013 and work on drawings and we can have 4 concurrent users.

It is way more powerful than 90% of our users need and I agree the on-line help is not very good. I find the search for terms gives me way too many hits. I would rather have a manual in PDF form and search through that. I took a course to try to learn the new menus, but the instructor was an old draftsman that used the 2 letter commands.

_____________________________________
I have been called "A storehouse of worthless information" many times.

 

[MusicEngineer]

ACAD is probably one of the easiest softwares to learn. It is quite self-explanatory as far as basic 2D modelling goes. I was able to teach myself ACAD without too much brain damage and now I can design complex foundations with containments (3D ofcourse) with ease. With the help of CADWorx, steel design is a piece of cake too. If your goal is to create 2D floorplans, you should be able to produce them relatively quickly. The tricky part is switching to 3D, which might be out of your scope at the moment. Give it a shot and you will see how straightforward the software really is.