Can anyone explain to CAD to me?

[Vashts6583]

Yeah. I'm a sophomore with no experience whatsoever on Computer Aided Drafting or anything of the sort. We have autodesk(R) here at the school, but I have no clue how to use it. Can anyone explain to me how to use it?

[Cory]

Try using the tutorial lessons included with the software.

P.S. spelling things at least semi coherently will help people to not just ignore your threads in the future

[petek]

Originally Posted by Vashts6583

Yeah. I'm a sophomore with no experience whatsoever on Computer Aided Drafting or anything of the sort. We have autodesk(R) here at the school, but I have no clue how to use it. Can anyone explain to me how to use it?

First, which Autodesk CAD program are you refering to: Inventor or AutoCAD? Inventor is a 3D solid modelling program and AutoCAD is a 2D/3D design program. Either can be used to design stuff - like robots.

In both cases you start a design by drawing a flat, 2D "projection" of a part and then add to that, either by making it into a 3D model or by adding different views to show what it looks like from different angles. In any case, the final result is a set of drawings or a computer file which describe what the manufactured part should look like.

Autodesk included some very good tutorials with Inventor which will get you started in the right direction. If you plan to use Inventor do them first. They're in the Open screen under Getting Started - click on "Learn how to build models quickly" and work your way through the lessons. You'll be glad you did.

AutoCAD takes a little more work to get up to speed on. I expect there are some good tutorials out there for it, but I haven't run across them. Maybe someone else on CD can point to them?

A good place to look for more info on Inventor is: http://www.sdotson.com/

Post back if you need more general info. We'll be happy to help.

Pete

[rmmlg]

You might also want to consider getting a book or finding some other tutorials in addition to the tutorials that come with the software. It's always best, though, to find someone to check your work when you are learnign to make sure you are doing things correctly.

[M. Hicken]

its kind of hard to teach someone, especially through a forum. The totorials (spelling) are pretty good. Im teaching myself inventor right now. The books out there are great, most of them. I have used a bunch while working in my CAD II and III class. Just play around with the software. Theres alot to learn.