Hi
I have used in the past mainly Solid Works and Solid Edge, AutoCAD is fairly new to me.  Can anyone please guide me in getting started.  Are there any tutorials in the program?  I'm looking to do building plans.  Upon setting up the program I was offered choices on what way to set up the program.  This happened on the 2010 version.  For purposes of doing house plans, what way should I set up the program?
 
I have been used with making mechanical parts, is there much change when it comes to using autoCAD - floor plans etc
 
Thanks for any help.
 
D 

Hello deadleg, if you where used to Solidworks thant I think that you will cry but, I think that there are not bad tools but bad workers ( joke ).
Please tell us if you really don't know nothing about AutoCAD first.
I supose that you want to do 3D right now.
Then I propose to learn all about UCS and 3D viewpoint.
For what it is about making 3D volumes it's preatty the same that with Soliworks :
You create a closed shape ( that you can transform into a REGION for ease or not ) and you :
EXTRUDE , REVOTUTION it along a height or a path ( line , polyline , helix , etc... ).
The thing that I would add is to allways keep your initial volumes in each big modification step for ease of reuse.
I will stop this now.
You have AutoCAD 2010 so you have the AutoCAD documentation loaded in your C disk.
Look for it in a "search" with PDF in : C:\Program Files\Autocad.
Tell us more of your searches etc...

Hi Philippe


In the meantime I've been watching tutorials on youtube.  Found a really good series, have learnt alot about commands and behaviour of the package.  I find it annoying though why it takes so long to draw a floor plan.  I dont want to do any parametric modelling at this stage, but its good to know its similar to solidworks.


Do you know much about 2D floor plans.  I'm at the stage now where I want to find a method of drawing walls whereby I don't need to offset, copy, fillet, trim etc etc its such a time stealer.  Is there a function that you can draw walls - with the thickness and all included if you get me?  I know wall thickness's vary within buildings, and you could just use a different thickness measurement.

Perhaps AutoCAD does this to ensure accuracy, I get it.  But for purposes where measurement isn't important and just to have an idea of the house layout.  I know there's loads of inferior packages out there that do this.....no disrespect, they're great tools.

So yeah, in retrospect my first post was a bit naive.  That was when AutoCAD was a stranger, but now its a friend who I kinda get along with, but pisses me off from time to time

Hello again deadleg,I see that you have managed to find tutorials and found good informations.
As far as I know, simple 3D volumes are "parametricables" and if you had a hole or a chamfer it becomes more difficult to modify them although there are some 3D modification commands that are now available without you ( for example ) having to fill a hole and bore a new one.
You are talking about parametric and with your AutoCAD 2010 you are just at the first release to do this but in 2D only ( read about parametric constrain and use the commands GEOMCONSTRAINT , DIMCONSTRAINT , AUTOCONSTRAIN and DELCONSTRAINT ) altough I think that you can "move" 3D constituted blocks ( I have just moved from 2008 to 2012 and I haven't tested everything ).
Again, try and find the PDF documentation loaded in your C disk, I think that it's better to read this than the help that you get with F1 on your keyboard.

Hey Philippe,
Cheers, I may come back and visit these posts.  I'm using AutoCAD 2010.  Principally for doing standard 2D floor plan layouts.
 
Can't find that pdf you directed, had a look but It must be somewhere? 
 
You get sick of reaading, as new person to the program vids on the net are excellent. 
 
Yet to find any useful info on wall construction, whereby they can be created as on a 2D platform without the need to offset, copy, cut and fillet etc. 
 
Is MLine a good command?
 
Ta
 
D

Hello deadleg, the command MLINE is fine, I use it to figure cables that I can move all together with their centerline attached in one clic.
Look at the options when typing the command and you will find the way for the grip to be in the place that you want ( middle , up , down ), and you will find the way to put the width of your mline.
You can also modify the 2 characteristics of you mline when opening the properties panel ( Ctrl+1 ).
If the documentation is not loaded in your computer, you can find PDF to be downloade in the Autodesk official web site.
http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2010/ENU/AutoCAD%202010%20User%20Documentation/

Merci Beaucoup!
I'm getting the hang of the mline command.  Is there a method in autoCAD to dimension lines, so as they auto-correct?  I was used to doing this when working on Solid Works.  The stretching command works, and there are various other tedious methods - however I was wondering if there was quicker command to do this ie. reconstruct a rectantgle for example, by placing dimension's (length,width) so these change accordingly with dimensions you enter?  I hope you can understand my reasoning.
 
I found the pdf!  Bon!
 
I wonder if you may direct me though on laying out the page, entering scales, the name of the drawing and author etc.  There is usually a table on the bottom right-hand corner for this, but when I hit the layout tab on AutoCAD where it shows the drawing and page border, there is no table to insert this information.  Just wondering where I need to go to enter this table?  Is there a specific page template I need to select upon opening AutoCAD in the first place?
 
Thanx
 
D
 

Hello deadleg, for a drawing with dimensions driving the lines, arcs, etc than you are talking about "parametric constraint" and this is working only in 2D, as long as I know because I'm new on AutoCAD 2013.
As I said before :

You are talking about parametric and with your AutoCAD 2010 you are just at the first release to do this but in 2D only ( read about parametric constrain and use the commands GEOMCONSTRAINT , DIMCONSTRAINT , AUTOCONSTRAIN and DELCONSTRAINT ) altough I think that you can "move" 3D constituted blocks ( I have just moved from 2008 to 2012 and I haven't tested everything ).
For the pages layout, you are talking about seting ports in the paper space, learn about creating a port, opening a port, ZOOM, 1/your scaleXP to have the port at the right scale, lock the port for safety, etc... it's a litle bit abstract but it' important.
For the "automatic" informations that you want to place on your drawing, in a corner, horizontal or any other angle, inside a tittle block like the file number with the revision etc... you can lay a text an declare it as a"field" ( verify the english spelling ) by editing and with aright clic go to the "insert a field"  ( Ctrl+H ) option ( see the printscreen here enclosed ).
I think it's enough for the present day.
 

 

Cheers Philippe

Parametric Constraints....thats the one, I haven't used Parametric Modelling in donkeys. 
 
I'll have a go at your instructions,
 
One last thing....to speed up the drawing process I'd like to save some drawings as title blocks.  Doors, windows etc. How do I go about creating a folder for this, so I can quickly access them for use in future drawings?
 
Thankyou so much for your help, this will probably be my last query
 
Cheers
 
D

Hello deadleg, don't worry for the question that you may ask again, I'm working with AutoCAD since 1995 and I'm still having problems, discovering things ( mainly here in the forum ) but with the help of the AutoCAD user guide and CADforum I'm at ease.
 
You said that you want to save drawings as "title blocks" ( or maybe just "blocks" ).
I don't find necessary to "store" them in folders ( you can create a new folder with a right clic on an existing one ).
I would rather store them in files to be inserted with the command INSERT and that you would store in a componant LIBRARY ( create a directory to store your standard elements in a place available for all your job technician colleagues ).
This is part of the blocks AutoCAD technology, it can be done by different ways :
1 - Blocks inside a file that you can transfer to other files with copy/paste ( you will discover that with copy/paste you can't tranfer an updated block to an other file allready including the same block but that you will have to transfer it "exploded" and then recompose it into the other file ).
2 - Files realised as "blocks" that you insert in other files and that become blocks.
     In that case if you re-insert a "block-file" a new it will update the existing blocks into that particular file. 

3 - Files realised as "blocks" that you insert in other files and that become XREF ( eXternal REFerence ) blocks that can be shared with other drawings to be updated comformably to the original blok file just like with Solidworks.
In any case you will have to choose a goog insertion point when doing you block ( not like with Solidworks ) and in the case of a "block-file" your insertion point will have to be the coordinate 0,0 ( or 0,0,0 in 3D ) for you to have the block at the end of your pointer when inserting it.
Enough for today ????
Have I anwsred your questions correctly ?
Ask for more and have a good day.
 

Thanks Philippe for taking the time to answer my questions
 
Much appreciated
 
D