CAD drawing - how long does it take?

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Sciencelovah, Apr 18, 2008.

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  1. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    I am thinking to do summer job in my coming semester holiday. Last year,
    there are a lot of vacancy for cad drawing job. I have no basic at all,
    and I have like only 1 month time to learn a cad drawing software such as
    autocad. To you who know this stuff:

    - can you suggest me good online tutorial page? (I have visited some, but
    I think this is not my main problem)

    - my main problem is, how long do you think it takes for a beginner to know
    this stuff without taking any course? If I spent like 4-5 hours a day for 1
    month, do you think this is sufficient for me? In any cases, I will still be
    interested to learn about it.

    Any suggestions are appreciated. Btw, perhaps I can't respond to your
    reply from tomorrow. I'm having long vacation for next 2-3 weeks from
    tomorrow, but I'll be back.

    Thanks...!
     
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  3. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    It's not enough time to learn. I mean, you could learn alot in a month, enough to do simple things, but it's hard. I have used various CAD programs for about 10 years, and I'm only starting to be able to accomplish complex CAD models of footwear. Beyond that, a measure of engineering knowledge is usually required, depending on what you need to draw.
     
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  5. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    Oh ok.. thx anyway!
     
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  7. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    Actually, I know a bit about drawing, I worked using visio technical to draw
    flow chart of chemical processes or temporary projects, but yes it is
    completely different with CAD drawing. In my undergraduate years, I also
    learned about process vessel drawing (not with computer), but I know a bit
    about projection etc. I know its not enough, but anyway, suppose I download
    and read basic of engineering drawing to get more familiar, how long do you
    think it will take? I mean, in 10 years, how long is the effective time..?? (if
    you convert into 5-8 hrs a day continuously). Otherwise I´ll try to learn other
    thing e.g. web design, though it has less demand. All those vacancies are for
    drawing or database..! :-/ and i want to try

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  8. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    CAD usually requires alot of mathematics, for instance you need to know how to use Radians and convert Degrees, although some packages do the conversion for you, if you are dealing with physical measurements it's best to know how to deal with the mathematics.

    Other instances are when dealing with Cartesian conversions. Most CAD systems are made to attempt to be user friendly, however it's best to undergo proper training with the techniques used as it allows for faster completion of projects over having to muddle through and surf the net should you get stuck. (It sometimes isn't fun either if you get the wrong type of person giving you jobs to do and they don't have the foresight to identify any flaws in their presentation so you have to create hundreds of revisions

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    )

    As for web design.... It's not as simple as people like to make out. If you want to create a complete working website thats "unique" with all the bells and whistles you'd need to know how particular OS's handle, what particular software you should imploy to run for the servers, What programming language to use for Server side operations, How to program client-side sanitization of forms, how to make sure you don't create a site with security flaws, How to write a mixture of HTML and CSS, as well as perhaps XML.

    Basically it's one big headache if you want to compete with the Major firms or don't want to use the Free CMS projects like Joolma.

    The one thing that some will find easy which most coders don't find easy is generating Skins/layouts for their sites, this is more Design and photoshopping rather than coding though.
     
  9. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349

    Ufffhhhh... no wonder there is so high demand for that job (in germany),
    eventhough just a part time job.. I dont have money for proper training,
    but I will do when I got a chance. I am thinking to buy a book with cd
    inside..



    I made few website already for small uni projects, I will give u link by PM,
    but I just use simple frontpage. I know html but thats all I know.

    Thx..
     
  10. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    I send you the link by pm already, pls dont laugh

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    I know that is very simple
    web but I learned through online tutorial to make it, and it works though just
    for uni project

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    About the mathematics, I´m gonna refresh my mind about the cartesian
    conversion and stuffs. If you know any which is relevant for the drawing,
    pls share me the link. No, just kidding, I will try myself!

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    I´m going to be off from tomorrow for 2-3 weeks but I´ll be back. Thanks for
    all suggestions.
     
  11. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349

    Stryder, what do people use these day to create professional website?
    I read some vacancy asking dreamwaver skill, but I´m not sure though.
    I want to learn something, perhaps will take months but if I can use it
    for coming years, its also ok!
     
  12. draqon Banned Banned

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    35,006
    CAD takes a lot of time...and unless you are really into it and willing to spend every hour you can on it...well dont go into it for suchshort time
     
  13. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    13,105
    It is possible to learn programs like Dreamweaver for webdesign, however it's really a difference between professional and amateur websites. I know that I've not been able to pull off a professional site, mainly because it requires way more work than using Dreamweaver or Frontpage.

    It requires documented planning using various design structures similar to how software engineers use SSADM. (Storyboarding, Flow diagrams, Application layer designs etc) This is of course for a professionally developed site.

    There are of course people online that claim to be professional website developers that charge hundreds/thousands of pounds (in the UK) and all they do is configure Joolma with a shopping cart using Skins that were developed freely on the internet.

    You then also have Adobe's (was Macromedia's) Flash & Shockwave which works well for animations and online presentations, however it's wasn't originally the best thing to make a website 100% out of because as a SWF it wasn't SEO (Search Engine Optimized) so any information contained within the SWF wouldn't come up on a search engine search. I'm not sure if this has been rectified or not, considering that Adobes PDF format can be searched online.

    In essence what you are best looking at is one area at a time in regards to webdesign. Obviously understanding how to make the documentation is important, as the documentation is the fundamentals of a websites design, it allows others to join a project or takeover a project should that be required in the future, it also attempts to take into consideration the limits of the design. Which could be down to resources, or coding ability etc.

    Obviously it's pretty daunting if done properly. In fact so daunting that the "Artistic" side of a person can feel persecuted by the stringent rules, methods and regulations that are suppose to be applied

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  14. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    I tried and I couldn't do it. I have all the knowledge to do it, but I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the 3Dness of it. Blueprints, no problem, on a computer screen....can't do it. I don't know if its a male/female thing, but all the designers at my old job were male. The women were the fine tuners of the finished product.
    CATIA was the one we used
     
  15. Jozen-Bo The Wheel Spinning King!!! Registered Senior Member

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    1,597
    I have learned some different CAD programs (Cheif Architect, Nemetschek, Vectorworks) in under one week! It can be done (then again...I did a whole year of math curriculum in 5 days and got skipped a grade ahead because of this- but you can do it...if you put in hard time and stay focused, even when your head is throbbing from learning so much- this just means your brain is changing to encompass the new information), but you need to have the program to do it with, and don't expect to learn everything, that does take more time. But the basics can be learned quickly enough. Once you know, for example, AutoCAD 2008, then any other program can be quickly grasped (because this is the most complicate one of them all, and the fastest and in my professional opinion...the best!).

    Without access to a program to practice on...you won't have any chance at all.
     
  16. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    AutoCAD is more complicated than CATIA?
     
  17. Xelios We're setting you adrift idiot Registered Senior Member

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    I only have some basic knowledge of AutoCAD that I learned in an optional High School course, I think it depends on what you need to model. We mainly did floor plans for houses, but also some simple mechanical drawings for metal connectors or simple machines. These things weren't too hard, but we probably used maybe 10% of the program in those simple courses. It's much more complex than Photoshop.

    I'm learning my way through web design right now, because there's a severe lack of good designers here in Germany (are you in Germany too?). Many of the "professionaly designed" websites for various small businesses look more like something a high school student might whip up in North America. But still, it's not as easy as it looks. The hardest part so far is getting the CSS code to be consistent on different browsers. What looks fine in Firefox looks totally different in IE or Opera. It can be a real pain in the ass.

    The html/css isn't hard to learn though. And CSS is way better than the mess of font and color tags in the old HTML. Designing layouts and color schemes is more difficult. That's mostly experience, knowing what looks good and what doesn't, deciding how to structure a website, which colors to use, what kind of graphics fit well with the layout. That's what takes a while to learn. If you want to learn there's 2 essential books, both can be downloaded in ebook form, they are:

    Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
    Really good explanation of xhtml, css, some javascript and web graphics.

    The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
    All about choosing the right color schemes, layout, graphics and so on.
     
  18. Jozen-Bo The Wheel Spinning King!!! Registered Senior Member

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    As a matter of fact...yes I am!
     
  19. Xelios We're setting you adrift idiot Registered Senior Member

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    What area? What about you inzomnia?

    I'll be in Saarbrucken starting in September, till then I'm near Dortmund.
     
  20. Jozen-Bo The Wheel Spinning King!!! Registered Senior Member

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    Hamburg!
     
  21. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    Thank you! You all are so nice and helpful. I tried to access this forum several
    times from my mobile, but the display is so awful. I will be off again for
    sometime, but I'll be back, and thanks a lot for all reply, I really appreciate it.

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    I am studying in Köln, Germany, but at this moment I am doing my master thesis in
    La Serena, Chile. I'll be back to Germany on 1st of June. I am happy to know
    that some of you also live in Germany (oww Dortmund

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    ), but Hamburg is a bit far

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  22. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    Thanks for that as well. I am going to download them, perhaps I can learn
    them at home. I am taking a bed rest right now and I will have wi-fi connection
    just after 5th of May. Till then, I come to office and access internet just sometimes.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2008
  23. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Some of the simpler programs can be learned to make simple 3D models in about 2 weeks. This is assuming you are already computer literate. Obviously, a welding shop would require less sophisticated models than the aerospace industry. If you are being asked to interpret design sketches for product models, that's a whole other level of artistry.
     
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