AutoCAD Books

Ahh...Paul is the master of big thinking. I am by myself with a draftsman, using email. I only used 5% of the stuff, however it was great. The BEAST ADT shines, this is the Rolls polish, someday (when I die) I will put it all in place. :)

this is one case where "It was worth the wait!" Until now the only source i trusted for getting answers for how to deploy ADT3_3 was the Autodesk Newsgroups. What Paul has done here to collect his vast experience and knowledge of the product into a complete thought and then run it through the Autodesk gamut of approval is nothing short of tremendous.

Look -- let's admit it, ADT is a small BEAST. It can take months to implement some of these concepts fully into your firm. And if you think you will come to all the same conclusions Paul does on your own your crazy. I refer back to my brother who is in the music business "You have to know the rules before you can break them!" Paul knows the rules.

for lack of space i will comment only on content here . . .

i dove in this past weekend. i scanned 8 of the 13 chapters. (chapter 13 is available on the web site only). you don't have to read the book in order but i suspect to use it is as a guide you would need to follow it in order. So far i have found many good suggestions. and a few healthy disagreements too. it is really good reading!!! the same nice balance of technical assumptions and laymans terms that we have come to expect from Paul.

i foresee it becoming the guidebook for implementation as Autodesk Press intended for many offices. and for others such as mine it is an excellant balance and check to review current implementation. I also look forward to editing some of the included cd-rom content for documenting my own implementation, something i never seem to get to.

here's a couple specifics:

Pro's
page 41:
I agree with "include an OBJRELUPDATE/all statement in your Acad.lsp file."
Realizing that regenall does not regen adt objects was very helpful.

too many more to list.

Con's
page 47:
I don't agree with "Optimize for Speed check box in the Object Snap area . . . it is recommended that you not activate this feature"
I find little use for the extra snapping on the effected objects, and in a production environment; file sizes are large enough that performance would surely be sacrificed.

enjoy. cheers,

matthew

This book should be used in conjunction with the Mastering Autodesk ADT 2007 or Mastering Architecture 2008 books. This is more for the person that sets the standards. If you are like me, a pretty much one man team, then this makes your understanding of ADT a lot more comprehensive. It explains a lot more of the "why" than the "Mastering books" did. My picture of the project got a lot bigger frame as I was going thru this book. It is written in such a way that you can go from the beginning to the end, as usual. But, it is also written so that you can go & look up certain areas that you have questions about, go to that part of the book & get your answer without a loss of understanding because you took it out of sequence.

I would recommend this book to any user of ADT or Architecture from intermediate & up. I also would recommend it to any CAD managers or those that want to be CAD managers. If you want to get the most complete education of ADT or Architecture you can have, get both books, the one for this review and either Mastering AutoCAD Architecture 2008 or Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007, depending on which program you have. I would also recommend getting The Illustrated AutoCAD 2008 Quick Reference (Illustrated AutoCAD Quick Reference) or the year that matches the year of your program. It doesn't contain the ADT or Architecture commands but does a great job on the AutoCAD commnads & system variables.

This is an excellent companion to Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007 and in many cases picks up where MADD leaves off. If you are using MADD to get up & going with ADT and find yourelf thumbing the index thinking "There's got to be more detail", it is here. Detailed information and sound advice for figuring out and making sense of the whole Projects, Display, Styles and Objects systems is here.
We are a 2 seat high end residential firm. I have been using ACAD since R9 and ArchT as an architectural front end for 10 years. ADT2007 is my first go at ADT. It is definitely complex & multi-layered, but I believe that it will improve the quality & timeliness of our production. This book is an integral part of the process. It's worth it.

I'm over half way through the exercises, and have learned a lot. Easy to follow.

Perfect book for beginners. Easy to follow instructions. Thanks to the author.

Robert Greens book showed me how the higher Management in a company does think.We do have different workflows in Europe, but at the end of the day to save money is what counts for all of us.The book is a good source of knowledge, specially for Users that are becoming CAD Managers.
I like the idea that the book is not only written for Autodesk Users.
Users of other CAD Systems will find the Book interesting as well.

This is a must read for anyone involved with CADD Management. The author has real world experience and is shared well in the book.

This is a great book for CAD Managment, and for users who inspire to be leaders in the CAD field. Even though this book does not directly speak on specific CAD functions it covers a broader look at the task that a CAD Manager/Coordinator must know in order to be succesful in leading other CAD users, and helps you get a better understanding of the business side that we as technical people overlook a lot. If you are a manager or a user that would like to be better at your job or to advance to a better position, I would advise you to read this book.

The publishers have just reprinted the book, with new page breaks. The only addition that I can see are solutions to select problems, tacked on at the very end. Get a used copy, save some money, and buy other good books out there!

Faster than expected delivery and still in decent condition. Even has cd though outdated. Overall, very satisfied.

This is an excellent tutorial for AutoCAD 2000 and also a great reference. I find that it is very comprehensive and is a valuable reference for programming and customizing AutoCAD 2000. As a bonus this book had a 30 day trial full version of AutoCAD in back on CD-ROM. Great value!

I use ACAD 200 daily. My copy of this book is quite dog eared and probably needs to be replaced. I am almost constantly thinking of ways that I could get my ACAD 2000 program to work better with me. This book is extremely helpful for me to do that. I have found this book to be laid out well and has a VERY extensive index so that I can find out how to do what I want to do. I recommend very strongly that anyone that uses ACAD 2000 on a regular basis to have this book in their library and within reach.

I am still using this book again and again, trying to learn everything inside, because you know it explains everything what you need in design, ligtning, forming, modeling, texturing looks like you are working in a real 3d or 2d world, THANKS FOR AMAZON-THE BEST SELLING COMPANY, I like amazon service more than other ones, thanks

The item was exactly what I was looking for and I got it timely and at a very good price.

A perfect and user friendly book and its a must have reference book especially to whom practicing AutoCAD.

The downside to technology is that you have to try and keep pace, expecially in CAD technology. This book helps to make the learning curve not quite so steep. It is laid out like the other "Quick Reference" books for ACAD, in alphabetical order, with numeric commands (usually 3d) after 'Z'

When you get to the command that you have a question about, there is a wealth of information. You not only have the command, but the icon also, if there is one for that command. You then get the command line reference, and a picture of the dialog box (again, if there is one with that command) In the command line feature, you also get the way to type the command, with a hyphen, to use the command in the command line only. You also get a brief description of options, related commands, system(s) variables, and quite a set of tips. They also tell you if a command has been renamed or is an undocumented, by AutoDesk, command.

All in all, you get very good information for a basic grasp of the command. This will make it easier for you when you go to more in depth resources for AutoCad.

Some other good features of the book are: 1) pictures of the function key and their functions on the inside cover, as well as some of the Control key combinations, 2) Command prefixes on the inside front cover, 3) 29 pages of system variables, 4) Commands that have been removed, and 5)some miscellaneous information on the inside back cover.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is now using AutoCad 2002. I would also suggest that anyone thinking of purchasing AutoCad 2002 to pick it up and see what it has to offer.

Even while flipping through it for the first time, I found at least a dozen things that I didn't know about AutoCAD, and I've been using AutoCAD for 10 years now! I can't decide what I like most about this book. Not only do you get commands listed alphabetically, but it includes tips, keyboard/mouse functions, a detailed section on system and dimension variables, and highlighting new options in R14 (including the new Bonus Tools) all of which is in a neat, well organized format. A book like this usually comes in the size of a phone book with a price tag close to $85, but this book is a convenient size for much-much less. If you only buy one AutoCAD [R14] book this year, get this one!

Clear, concise, and authoratative reference for AutoCAD R14. A must for all users of AutoCAD (including R12 and R13 users).

While a co-worker was spending hundreds of dollars to
learn AutoCad at the local collage, I learned as much at
the same pace at home with this fine book. It should be sub-titled as a tutorial. The book begins assuming you know nothing about AutoCad,
and carefully explains in a straight-forward method all you need to know. Everything is done in sequence so each excercise teaches
new commands to be used in following drawings. It is a great primer
for new users learning 2-D basics, and I have shared it with experienced users at work as a reference manual for 2-D
and 3-D drawings. The book comes with a disk with programs
to help you learn which was a real time-saver for me. I would recommend this book to all beginning and professional
AutoCad users. I have other titles from The New Riders Publishing Company, and they have all been a very good investment.

Inside AutoCad 12 For DOS ISBN 1562050559
While a co-worker was spending hundreds of dollars to
learn AutoCad at the local collage, I learned as much at
the same pace at home with this fine book. It should be sub-titled as a tutorial. The book begins assuming you know nothing about AutoCad,
and carefully explains in a straight-forward method all you need to know. Everything is done in sequence so each excercise teaches
new commands to be used in following drawings. It is a great primer
for new users learning 2-D basics, and I have shared it with experienced users at work as a reference manual for 2-D
and 3-D drawings. The book comes with a disk with programs
to help you learn which was a real time-saver for me. I would recommend this book to all beginning and professional
AutoCad users. I have other titles from The New Riders Publishing Company, and they have all been a very good investment.