AutoCAD Resources


Note: More AutoCAD resources are provided on the "Friends" page of this website.
30-day FREE AutoCAD 2000i for evaluation. Just complete the short questionnaire and they'll mail you the CD.
http://www.autodesk.com/forms/cadltdemo/cadltdemo.htm

Software for Academic Use:
Besides the local community college bookstores, you can buy AutoCAD software for purely academic use, at roughly 10 percent of the full professional cost. The technical restrictions vary from release to release. Last I heard the AutoCAD 2000 academic software placed an annoying banner across the drawing saying "Made with Academic Software", or something like that. I'm told, however, you can carry your AutoCAD file on a floppy and plot it out from school or business AutoCADs and avoid the banner. Last I heard the full version of AutoCAD for academic use costs about $110 PER YEAR to own. AutoCAD LT is usually about $125 for unlimited time.
http://www.cadcampus.com/
http://www.paton.com/
http://www.journeyed.com/
Thomas Nelson Community College Bookstore: 825-2974 (?)

Local Contacts for AutoCAD Training:   

The Workforce Training and Continuing Education (WTCE) at Thomas Nelson Community College offers Introductory and Intermediate AutoCAD classes on Saturday mornings for 6 weeks. The slow-paced classes generally run each season and cost $100, plus the $20 (or less) textbook. Contact Paul (who usually teaches it) for general info. For registration and details, call (757) 825-2937, email to wtce@tncc.vccs.edu or check webpage: http://www.tncc.cc.va.us/administration/wtce/fall01_noncred.html#Data%20519
The next Saturday Intermediate (Level 2) class (CADD 101) is from Mar 16, 2002 to Apr 20.

NNS Employees and Contractors: Consider a shipyard night school AutoCAD class. For 10 weeks (one night each week) learn Introductory, Intermediate or Advanced AutoCAD commands and concepts, FREE. For more information, call Shirley Smith-King at smith_sj@nns.com or call 688-8608.

Tidewater Community College - For the schedule of current AutoCAD classes, call Technologies Office at 822-2431, or check the Autodesk Training Center website at: http://www.tc.cc.va.us/portsmth/eihsdiv/autocad/index.htm

RRTC- Holds classes in Richmond and Northern Va. See "Friends of PAUG"

Avatech- Holds classes in Virginia Beach or on-site. See "Friends of PAUG"

Script file tutorials and writers

Autodesk University's 16 page tutorial, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
http://www3.autodesk.com/adsk/files/347753_Super_Scripting_Secrets2.pdf
Ralph Grabowski's "How to Write a Script File".
http://www.upfrontezine.com/Tailor/tailor19.htm
Scott Boudreau’s tutorial for script files.
http://www.uti.com/~boudreau/jjc102/scripts.doc
Simple slide show tutorial.
http://www.triton.cc.il.us/faculty/fheitzman/scripts.html
Comprehensive tutorial on Perspectives, Slides, and Scripts. Develops walk-throughs
http://www.gre.ac.uk/directory/archland/learn/autocad/perspect/perspect.html#Scripts
User friendly add-on that writes and manages script files. Cost $65 as of Aug 2000.
http://www.74mph.com/
Another user friendly script writer. Cost aprox $45 as of January 2001.
http://www.vicware.nl/asb
Shareware script writing add-on.
http://www.softseek.com/Graphics_and_Drawing/AutoCAD_Utilities/


General Purpose AutoCAD Websites:

AutoCAD User Group International:    http://www.augi.com/english/idxengl.htm  
You can download a PDF version of PaperSpace from the web site at http://www.augi.com/english/world/pshome.htm
To subscribe to the newsletter, email to: hot-news-request@augi.com with "subscribe" in the subject field.


Hardcopy magazines (snail mail):

CADENCE   AutoCAD magazine is available for FREE:    http://www.cadence-mag.com/contact/freesub.html  Complete the application to be considered. Cadence is one of the two major magazines for AutoCAD users.
If (in the unlikely event) they won't authorize you a free subscription, you can pay for one at http://www.cadence-mag.com/contact/subscribe.html . Cost (I'd guess) is $30 per year.
Other newletters and articles are available through the Cadence website. Newsletters are tailer for your choice of CAD managerment, mechanial, or architectural. Check out: http://www.cadenceweb.com/indexFlash.html .

CADALYST    AutoCAD magazine is available for FREE:     http://www.cadonline.com/readerservice/subscribe.htm . Complete the application to be considered. Cadalyst is one of the two major magazines for AutoCAD users.
The home page for Cadalyst is: http://www.cadalyst.com/ .


AutoCAD and General CAD Email Newsletters.

A Code A Day   http://vbdesign.hypermart.net/cadpages/acad.htm
A Code A Day brings you daily articles about using VBA in AutoCAD, provides a forum for you to ask question with "Ask the Wonder Llama Tuesday", a chance to get someone else to develop that "Wish List" program, and lessons in the basics of AutoCAD VBA. Totally FREE.

upFront.eZine email newsletter for free:    http://www.upfrontezine.com
Now in the 5th year, the weekly unbiased email newsletter is an information source for the computer-aided design (CAD) industry. Send message 'subscribe upfront' to editor@xyzpress.com.

TenLinks.com's email newsletter for free. To SUBSCRIBE send a blank email to: join-cadheadlines@laser.sparklist.com
Newsletter includes links to articles on CAD related subjects. Comes out each week or so.
Also see "CADENCE" hard copy magazine above, for more email newsletter options.


AutoCAD Tutorials.

Some tutorials may apply to old releases of AutoCAD, or may merely teach the type-in commands. Right now I can't recommend which tutorial is best. Please drop me a message saying which tutorial you find to be the most helpful.

Autodesk Press publishes learning materials for all your AutoCAD needs. Professionals, instructors and students benefit from many resources including AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD R14, 3D Studio MAX, Database Connectivity, Fundamentals of Drafting and more. Autodesk Press is an imprint of Delmar, which is a division of Thomson Learning.
http://www.autodeskpress.com  (books, CD-ROM)

http://www.eaglepoint.com   (books, CD-ROM)
http://www.manmachine.com   CD-ROM)
http://www.nvsi.com  (CD-ROM)
http://www.tutohelp.com   (CD-ROM)
http://acad.complete-support.com/  (60 dollar per year "all you can learn" website.)
http://www.orthocadd.com   (CD-ROM)
http://www.referentia.com   (CD-ROM)

Terry Rawkins training documents.
Excellent web-based exam.
http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com/terry.rawkins/index.htm  or
http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com/terry.rawkins/ 

List of AutoCAD books:
http://www.upfrontezine.com/books/books.htm 

ActiveDwg - Collection of AutoCAD articles, VBA code, and essential freeware:
http://www.activedwg.com/ 

Introductory tutorials. Doubt the site is well tested. Looks nice, but wonder how easy it is to follow. For "Line", it says Keystroke Line / L. Do I type the spaces along with the /? The black background doesn't help. -paul 11/03/01
http://www.we-r-here.com/with/The-CAD-Guy/Lesson_toc.htm 
Ron Leigh's AutoLISP programming training documents.
http://pw1.netcom.com/~rogh/autolisp.htm/ 
Autodesk's web-based training. Costs $60 per year, but gives a 7-day free trial. Also offers $40 CD tutorials.
http://autodesk.complete-support.com/08.html/ 
or... http://acad.complete-support.com/greetings.htm 

North Carolina State University, fair/poor graphics, some pages missing.
http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cep/oed/gc/acadtut/acadtut-home.html/ 

Reini Urban’s Library of Tutorial Websites, links to several sites, includes a few tutorials on this list.
http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/autocad/tutorials/ 

The University of Michigan College of Engineering, AutoCAD Tutorial. Says it applies to R14, but it's not well-updated. Poor graphics.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/caen/technotes/notes.caen/CAEN813_AutoCADTut.html/ 

The University of South Wales, Australian, good graphics.
httphttp://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/Learning/autocad/R2000/ 
or
http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/Learning/AutoCAD/
 

Scotty's CAD Web Site, drawings and exams for practice.
http://www.uti.com/~boudreau/winners.html  
Scotty's index of lessons for R14 and A2000. Some pages missing. Mostly narrative.
http://www.uti.com/~boudreau/lessons.html  

Murray State University, requires registration and tuition.
http://www.cadinstitute.com/  

Joe Biddy's AutoCAD LINKS, includes a few tutorials on this list.
http://members.aol.com/jbiddy/autocad.html 

Alambina school's non-printable(?) .pdf files. Requires free Acrobat reader. Good graphics, teaches Pull-Down Menus. http://www.alambina.utm.my/1dacad/1dacad.htm  

Gigantic website for AutoCAD, including tutorials. Some are already on this list. www.tenlinks.com/CAD/AutoCAD/autocad_tutorials.htm  


= = = = = Below are AUTOCAD TUTORIALS posted on The CAD Depot Newsletter - Apr 01, 2001 http://www.caddepot.com

Complete Support for AutoCAD http://acad.complete-support.com/ - delivers comprehensive online training for AutoCAD R14 and AutoCAD 2000.

AutoCAD On-line Tutor http://www.cadtutor.net/ - offers a broad range of free tutorials for AutoCAD R14 and AutoCAD 2000, plus 3D Studio VIZ and Adobe Photoshop.

Learning AutoCAD R12, R13 R14 http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/Learning/AutoCAD/ - delivers a variety of projects for several versions of AutoCAD. Includes 3D AutoCAD and AutoVision and several student exhibitions. By University of New South Wales, Australia.

AutoCAD User Group International (AUGI) http://www.augi.com/ - sponsors instructor-led online training in AutoCAD. You must sign up for a for an account on the site before you can sign up for training.

Bad Link: Technical Learningware Company Web-Based Training http://www.tlware.com/ - AutoCAD fundamentals, advanced and update training, Mechanical Desktop training too.

AutoCAD On-Line Tutor R14 http://www.gre.ac.uk/directory/archland/learn/autocad/index.htm - offers a broad range of free tutorials covering a wide variety of fundamental concepts.

Using AutoLISP and AutoLISP FAQs http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/autocad/news/faq/autolisp.html#4_5 - a few good tips, tricks and reference page for AutoLISP.

Eric Stephens CAD Training & Services http://www.iwcom.com/erin/ - Tips & Tricks Online.

Journey Educational Software http://www.journeyed.com/ - special pricing on software and support materials for students and instructors.

Tailoring AutoCAD http://www.upfrontezine.com/Tailor/tailor01.htm - a 20-chapter tome covering menus, AutoLISP, hatch patterns and more. Ralph Grabowski.

~~~~~ Compiled from the TenLinks list: "AutoCAD Tutorials" http://www.tenlinks.com/CAD/users/autocad/tutorials.htm



Instructor Materials.

Misc Exams and True-False Quizes:
http://www.csi.edu/ip/ti/draf/drat132-14/stuhomef.htm
http://www.webfooters.com/acadtest.html  

Courseware for Instructors. These companies have textbooks on CD and license your right to make hardcopies. The NNS Apprentice School and Night School currently uses RRTC's manuals, but the others are very similar and competitively priced. Tidewater Comm College uses and recommends Caddex, last I heard. Keep in mind that the cost of harcopies is about 2/3 the price of a ready-made textbook (such as the "Applying", or "Applications" books), unless you're printing hundreds of copies.
http://www.cadegy.com  (books, CD-ROM, up to 2000)
http://www.caddex.com/products_summary.shtml
http://www.rrtc.com/  
Bad Link: http://www.tlware.com/ 

This page was last edited on August 31, 2001.