AutoCAD Books

Although the content is O.K. I'm very disappointed with the book itself. It's all in black and white with no color. The pictures are not very bad- hard to see, especially with no color. The paper is very low quality and the entire book is only a quarter inch thick or so with a paper cover. If I had only paid $10-20 for the book it would be all right but $60 is a little hard to swallow. I realize this is a technical manual but for the price I believe it should be of higher quality.

This book is far from ideal. My background is computers, and I'm used to documentation being written to tell me what I need to know, quickly. This book is a set of tutorials--it is NOT a reference. When I need to know something specific this book is nearly useless. If you don't really know what you want to learn and want to be led through a series of exercises this book may be useful. However, if you're starting from zero, I recommend "AutoCAD 2002: No Experience Required" by David Frey, which is written much more clearly and will more quickly give you a taste of all (or most) elements of AutoCAD. Omura's book required spending too much time on things I didn't need to know to get to what I did want to know.

Another major complaint is that this book is loaded with typos and errors. Clearly it was not proofread. Numbers in examples don't add up (example: last paragraph on p. 221: two times twelve is NOT forty-eight), assumptions are made about all settings being in their default positions (not safe if you're using someone else's computer) and commands that have not yet been covered are referred to. In the chapter on AutoLISP both the first and the second example programs have typos in them and if you don't have a programming background you could tear your hair out trying to figure out what you're doing wrong. I started to keep a list of all the errors I found, but it seems there's one every couple of pages. (Incidentally, I didn't find a single typo in David Frey's book, and I went through the entire thing.)

Finally I should mention the CD-ROM. The first thing this CD-ROM did was crash the computer I was using. After rebooting--twice--it still crashed when trying to run the installation program. This was running a recent installation of Windows ME with over 500MB of RAM. I was able to copy the example files off the disc manually, but this whole package clearly meets a very low standard of quality assurance.

Fortunately I'm about at the point where I'm able to find what I need in the online documentation, and this book was not completely useless in teaching me enough to reach that point. However, I find it hard to imagine there isn't something far superior out there that I could have used instead. This book could be worse, but it's far from ideal.

I had just received this book from the post a few days ago. After fliping thru' the contents, the following are my sincere comments:
1. It is well written and easily understood by those with experience but not to the novice of the subject.
2. It is a solid practical approach which should be useful for those who wants to further their knowledge and experience in 3D modelling.
3. Only complain is that the author should have a diagramatic approach of the lessons to cater for new starters of the subject.

This book has some very good ideas and can point you in the right direction. However, they would have been better off going into a bit more detail in some of the examples. For instance, with a bit more Sketcher information, you could work along with their problems without all the guesswork. My feeling is that they teach you as if you already have mastered the subject; I spent several hours pouring over the PTC reference books. It's a good reference for the intermediate user, but by no means is it the end-all of Pro/E books.

Why does a book on AutoCAD 2002 come out in 2005? Especially when there is already AutoCAD 2005 out, and AutoCAD 2006 will be released soon? The tardiness of this book is a little strange.

Ok, if you are new to AutoCAD, then you need to learn the basics. And in all probability, the majority of the book's explanations about the 2002 version will apply to the 2005 and 2006 versions. AutoCAD has been out long enough that the basics of two and three dimensional modelling are well established and stable. So the book won't be a total loss, if you already have it.

Then again, if you haven't gotten the book, try a different, more up to date version. You should not have to get a new book for every AutoCAD annual revision. But getting a more recent book means that you can usefully retain it longer than this 2002 book.

As an absolute beginner I naturally purchased this 'for Dummies' book in the assumption that I would be guided through Autocad in the simplest form possible.
But alas no, this book immediatly immersed me in confusion and fustration. With no precise step by step guides or no simple tutorial exercises, the author Mark Middelton has no business teaching to beginners.
He then has the audacity to give himself a five star review on this review page, and whine about any criticism of his book.
I suggest he reads Cheryl R Schrocks 'Exercise Workbook for Beginning Autocad' to experience a true professional teacher in action.

This is a great book for beginners of AutoCad. It takes you step by step through the the most basic operations to the more complex ones. Great book.

AutoCAD is one of the most complex and powerful programs I have ever seen. It's necessary to understand some potentially intimidating concepts, like paper space, xrefs and plotting procedures. After reading previous reviews of this book, I suspect the reviewers may have been disillusioned when they didn't understand everything about the program after reading part of the book.

I know a good deal about this program and I was glad to get a list and read some commentary about what was new and what was unchanged from the last release. For an experienced user, keeping up with the changes is what it's all about.

Middlebrook is clearly very knowledgeable, but remembers what it's like to be a beginner and is able to write from the point of view of someone who is poking the buttons in this program for the first time. There are often several ways to do things with AutoCAD and it was great to see tips about the easiest way for a novice to do them. In addition to the "how to" there is commentary which illuminates the "why" behind the commands, techniques and concepts. You can't get that from the online help. As someone who has tried to explain this program to people myself, I think this is exactly what's needed.

He also writes from a non-AutoDesk point of view. I got the feeling that I was getting good information rather than the company line as well as some tips that I wouldn't expect to find in the program manuals and online help, like how to save a file so that other people who are using AutoCAD R14 can use it.

It's very readable, which is a rare thing considering the technical subject. There is a sense of humor and it is a pleasure to read.

The bottom line is that it's a great way to get up to speed with the changes if you already have experience with AutoCAD, and if I were learning this program for the first time I would definitely want to have this book in order to make sense out of the program.

Are we looking at the same book?! At the risk of sounding like the defensive, whiny author (again!), I humbly submit:

A reader from Mc Lean, VA writes: "I picked up the manual that came with AutoCAD. The manual that came with the software was better than this book!" That's strange, since AutoCAD 2004 doesn't come with a printed manual.

wizard621 from Denver, CO writes: "There are so many typos, grammatical errors and mismatches between the examples and the software...." That's strange, too, since I recently went through the book in order to correct errors in preparation for a new printing. I found exactly five misspellings, no grammatical errors, and a handful of places where the description didn't match the software.

sbruce28 from Sandston, Virginia writes: "Doesn't anyone proof read [sic] anymore?" Yes, I do, the copy editor does, and the proofreader does. This kind of criticism is suspect when it comes from someone who doesn't realize that the verb is spelled "proofread" and who spells "AutoCAD" two different ways, both incorrect, in the same sentence.

I will agree that this book expects readers to be somewhat familiar with a few basic drafting concepts - such as scale, the representation of three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional sheets of paper, and how real-world objects are shown on (printed) technical drawings. If you don't understand or aren't willing to learn a little bit about how technical drawings are presented in your industry, then you probably aren't ready to use a CAD program.

In fact, several parts of the book review basic drafting concepts and connect them to corresponding AutoCAD concepts and practices. For example, Chapter 3 explains how drawing scale (a fundamental drafting concept) relates to drawing scale factor (an essential CAD concept). And Chapter 12 describes how many AutoCAD drafters represent printed lineweights (drafting) with object colors on the screen (CAD).

In my pursuit to learn AutoCAD as quickly as I can, I have purchased the three main tutorial books for AutoCAD 2004.

While AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies by Mark Middlebrook is the most basic of the three (Duh... it's for dummies) it still covers much of the important material in a manner that a complete newbie could probably understand a specific instruction or chapter.

The way Mr. Middlebrook approaches AutoCAD though is pretty tough to comprehend. That is, he spends the entire book discussing various commands and how to approach a drawing, but never walks you through a project.

I found David Frey's book AutoCAD 2004 and AutoCAD LT 2004 a much better instructional book and while only slightly more techie he manages to walk you through a project that lets you truly understand what he's trying to teach you.

My biggest gripe with AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies is the incredible amount of typos! Gawd! I am a high school teacher and this guy would fail an essay that I assign at the high school level. What in the world is he doing writing a book if he can't spell or proofread? Either he or his editor should go back to English class. I see that Mr. Middlebrook himself has weighed in on this. Just so he knows, I'm looking at the fourth printing (I think... The information page says 10 9 8 7 6 5 4. Does that mean it's on the third or fourth printing? I'm not a librarian!) I only mention this because he says he's only found 5 mistakes. I've found at least a dozen pretty obvious ones, and a many, many minor ones.

The single most grievous mistake is on pages 100 and 101, Chapter 5, table 5-1. It is supposed to be a table of various tools you can use to draw objects. Other than the first one, each icon is incorrectly matched with a description! For example, he shows the "copy" tool icon, but then calls it a SPLine and gives the description for a SPLine. I count eight errors in that table alone. If you are truly a newbie to AutoCAD then you might never get it sorted out. This mistake alone merits not purchasing the book or asking of your money back because it's an example of how a "typo" can be critically damaging. No, I am not an English teacher, nor am I overly zealotous toward proofreading. However, I do have only a certain tolerance for typos and when they interfere with my learning the subject, then its time to move on to another resource.

While I have learned things from this book, it is clearly the least useful of the three I have bought. The two Sybex books by Frey and Omura have much more thought and effort put into them and are extremely comprehensive. I'd pick the Frey book first though.

I do not doubt for a second Mr. Middlebrook's knowledge or experience with AutoCAD. He clearly knows his stuff. I just wish he, and his editor, would learn to proofread. That, or hire me to proofread for you! I'm as literate as your editor, computer savvy, and experienced. Look me up.

The Dummies series could really learn from the mistakes made here. I'm done with the Dummies series. There are much better resources out there, at least on the topics that I'm interested in. They've lost my purchases. Good luck though!

Well below the manufacturer's manual. Not worth spending time or money

I felt the book greatly lacked depth into topics. It seemed to only cover some of the remedial basics. It is not a very good choice for someone who really wants to leearn how to effectively use this program. It also does not serve too well as a refence manual.

Autocad LT 97 was the second book I tried to use to learn Autocad. My goal was to learn AutoCad LT by myself. The first book (bought last year) that I tried was AutoCad LT by Omura. It was very difficult to follow for two reasons. First, I needed a book for the extreme novice. Second, Mr. Omura's book is about Autcad release 3.0, which differs greatly from release 14. Mr. Grabowski's book is clearly written, informative, and knowingly focuses on the challenge faced by the beginning CAD student. He starts each section by explaining the goals, and he also shares the perspective enjoyed by the high end CAD person, one who is in it every day. This book is excellent for the beginner and intermediate student. It includes a CD with all the drawings you have to make already done. After making each one of these at least 6 times, I learned even more by opening up the same drawing from the CD, one that was done by an expert. I think you will need at least two books to learn AutoCad LT97 well enough to make money at it.

I am converting from a DOS Cad program with which I am intimately familiar, to AutoCAD LT.

This book gave a useful tutorial guided introduction to the package (although most of the stuff is intuitive if you are familiar with Windows and CAD concepts).

What the book lacks is a detailed index, or in fact much detail at all about CAD operations.

After 2 evenings I already need to buy a more in-depth reference book.

Andrew

I found "AutoCAD LT 97 for Windows 95/NT" to not point out the real potentials and had some statements that it could not do things that it could do very well. In reading the book I felt the author was playing down the importance of AutoCAD LT 97 and its abilities. The book did have some good material to help out a beginner.

If you are looking for a book that will help you understand Visual Lisp - this is NOT it. Page after page of screen shots with a line or two of unhelpful text - you would be much better off just using AutoCAD help. Maybe the next book on VL will do more than scratch the surface.

This book finally brought Descriptive Geometry down to my level - beginner. I was amazed at how this book managed to explain the subject matter in a simple, straight forward way. And the illustrations are great! I took Descriptive Geometry several years ago and did not complete the course because I could not understand what the instructor or the other D.G. textbook (I don't remember the title) were talking about. Now, I wonder why the other book did not say, and illustrate, what this book covers so effortlessly.

This book is of zero educational value. You will not find it useful. Some scattered information without any reasonable relationship. It is a waste of time and money. I am not quite sure why they have decided to publish such a useless book. You cannot even use it as a reference.

I found this book to be a jumble of disconnected terms. After reading the first two chapters I thought the rest of the book can go nowhere but up. I was wrong. The rest of the book maintained its confusing presentations. Even the supplied disk was as confusing as the book. If your looking to get into LISP programming STAY AWAY from this book. I guess I will spend another 30 or 40 dollars and try another LISP programming book.

This by far is the preeminent of its kind. The immeasurable amount of detail that the author covers, leaves no doubt in the readers mind that every facet has been covered. This book is truly a assertion that the author shows no evidence of diffidence. I highly advocate the purchase of this book!

This book is a disappointment in comparison to other Sybex "Mastering" series publications. Petroutsos' Mastering Visual Basic is a must if one is to take advantage of many examples shown in "Mastering AutoCAD VBA". The rudimentary AutoCAD examples left a lot to be desired.

The book assumes the reader is a novice at both AutoCAD and VBA. This is good, since other books seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge. Certain topics which would seem to demand more explanation, such as a transformation matrix, are left without any. Still, I recommend this book for beginner.

Clear, simple code and very basic operations make this a good primer for those just starting. In order to actually write the app you had in mind, you will need much more information( Joe Sutphin's book at least). Even on a beginners level much is left out --- filtering selection sets, DXF codes, classes, .DLL's, the API, just for starters. As a low end intermediate user the book is a disappointment, but I'll keep it anyway.

Yes, this book is for beginners, but geared more toward AutoCAD (and perhaps programming) novices rather than toward those wishing to systematically learn and employ VBA in AutoCAD. This is in contradisctinction to its back cover description, which says "[this book] is written specifically for AutoCAD users." (And the book description in the editorial above is even more misleadling!) Topics and headings are arranged around AutoCAD, not around VBA, as though the subject is AutoCAD, not VBA. In addition, code may reference other code from two or three chapters back, but with needed intermediate changes found only one or two chapters back. Too many such 'goto' statements make this book tedious even for someone wanting to focus his new VBA skills on a particular aspect of AutoCAD. The reader is forced to delve into every chapter in order to gain just one or two necessary--but unlabeled--points about VBA buried within the pages. (And don't expect the accompanying CD to be of any help here. Instead of including the necessary VBA projects--.dvb files--it merely includes the listings in the chapters as text, sans the changes needed to make 'em work!) I'm still looking for the book that will lead one through VBA (with bold references to important steps) using AutoCAD as the teaching environment. If the author had paid more attention to the VBA side of the equation, I'm sure I would have given this book a much higher rating. It would appear that this book (written by a professor) was really designed to supplement a semester course in learning some basics of AutoCAD with reference to VBA. It needs major input from an instructor. It certainly can't do the job by itself.

i like to review so can save my money and time very real

This multimdia work, which is entirely on disk with no hardcopy backup, is an innovative and effective approach. I've been battling with self teaching the very unintuitive 3-D aspects of AutoCad for several years, and this tutorial actually made it possible for me to generate really fine 3-D furnituire drawings. That said, I gave it four stars instead of five simply because it didn't take some areas deep enough or far enough. Also, I couldn't get the "material rendering" and lighting aspects to work well following their instructions. They sort of worked, but not as advertised. The authors need to add more depth to this section. Several other of the more advanced tutorials need more work. Also, some of the learning curve of just using the tutorial could be eliminated by more and better instrutions about using the tutorial and it's buttons. Overall, pricey, but it's an approach that's long overdue and I've spent that much money on several 3-d books which were downright uninspiring and somehow all lacking in the same areas. This Referentia for Cad 3-d works best in conjuntion with a good encyclopedic style reference book.