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[Fifie]

Grendel is right
Cad is funny software
Which is why people like us strange individuals  like to be challenged on a daily basis
Maybe its our Adrenalin fix
On the last year of my apprenticeship, in the spacial projects dept,  at the Rover Co in 1966 we dabbled with a very simple 2D drawing package
It was shelved after early trials, the drawing board was by far the quickest and best
Fife

[grendel]

a few years before I started with CAD we did trial a drawing machine, it could draw lines circles and write text that was typed in, but had to be positioned over the right place on the drawing first, that would have been about 1984-85 ish.
Grendel

[grendel]

my company bought one of the first A0 scanners made, it weighed close on a ton, had 12 cameras mounted on a solid aluminium bar 3"x6", adjusting the cameras was the work of 2 to 3 days, then each had to have dots affixed to reduce the aperture, the cost, somewhere in the region of £125,000 my department acquired it after about 10 years, kept it for another 6 or so, then when scanners came down to a few thousand each, we scrapped it, I cut a section of the 2" steel square section from the frame to make  a towbar, that section was nearly 3/8" thick walls, you could have driven a tank over that beast without disturbing the alignment.
Grendel

[Yogibear]

Its not as hard to do as people thick. I learned the majority of Solidworks in 2 weeks.

Probably quite over whelming to most , i taught my daughter the basics one evening and she was 5 at the time.

There are quite a few tutorials out these but an hour or 2 with someone who knows what they are doing 1 evening will probably get you going in the right direction.

If you do decide to do a collage course then use your student status to get a student version of one of the cad software packages which will save yourself a fourtune.

[vnkiwi]

If your new to CAD, no, its not all that hard.
And if you have someone who knows the software to show you the basics, then its easier still.
But, if you have used Autocad, as I have since v2.8, then try and learn Solidworks or similar, on your own without any support, then its a very uphill battle. What you already know and do in Autocad, simply does not hack it in Solidworks.
The trick to learning any new CAD package, is to have someone who knows, walk you through, and be available for the inevitable questions which will follow.
This is the only way I've been able to learn four packages I've had to learn and use as a professional Design Draughtsman, just retired.
 The fact that I did 20 years "on the board", before CAD came along helped enormously through the CAD years, as to draw something on the board, you had to have a 3D picture of it in your mind. With CAD, to many can't do this and simply construct things in the computer, and accept what the machine tells them. Very dangerous.
Yogibear's and Grendel's advice is very sound, and if you want to do CAD, find a 3D parametric program or similar, not Autocad, unless Inventor at a pinch. And the student versions are a huge saving in cost.
Just my penny's worth
cheers
 

[warspite]

Funnily enough, had autodesk called me yesterday to talk about updating the AutoCad 2008LT we have at work, I basically told him that if we ever decide to change the pc's and the OS will not run our program then we would look at another platform as the cost is too much with them, especially that the program needs to be 'in touch' with their server every 14 days, a subscription is required either yearly or every 7 years, really not interested in the whole bells and whistles at work as we only create fabrication drawings and simple layouts, for special clients I do 3D visualisations to show how the equipment would look in their clients premises - but I use my CAD at home for that.
The bit I am getting to is that I gave him a bit of feedback on the Autocad 15 - and how unfriendly it is, the software designers have made it very difficult to do the most simpliest task in their efforts to make it different from previous releases - so some functionality has been lost, he said that they had various complaints and these had been addressed in this lastest version - yea right, still told him its mainly down to cost why we will more than likely change to another platform.
Being self taught and keeping to the basic functions is all I am capable of - and agree that the board is faster (1984 - 1997), so having someone experienced is always a god send.

[vnkiwi]

Hi Warspite,
very familiar the senario you describe.
I retired about 4 months ago, from an engineering consulting firm which would be one of the bigges inNZ, with 5 offices spread over the main centres. They upgrade Autocad every 12 months, and they are now one year licences to use the software. Don't renew for the next release, you can't use the software. They also use other speciallist software from Autodesk, with the same arrangement.
Costs them a fortune every year.
Me, I have a proper licenced copy of AutocadLT2004, which I now run on my Sony Vaio i7 running windows 7. Ask Autodesk, if it will run on this computer, and the answers probably not.
I use Delftship and Sketchup to, which covers all I want to do with my boat and model drawing.
Works for me
cheers
 

[bj]

I'me very surprised cad has been around for so long, I thought it was a relativley new technology.

As far as I am aware and here I paste a quote in red from http://www.westwoodworks.net/HowItWas/TheDrawingOffice/index.htm (Westwood Works was the office and factory of Baker Perkins Ltd) and I believe that these were the first terminals in the UK. There were enough UK govt ministers looking at the equipment at the time.
The first 4-terminal CAD/CAM system was introduced in the spring of 1977.
It was the first Unigraphics system to be installed outside of North America. The software ran on a Data General S200 with 128 kilobytes of main memory (you read that correctly, less then 0.13 MB), a 96 MB removable disk drive, a 9-track backup system, a paper tape punch/reader and a Calcomp 960 plotter. This turnkey configuration, including the Unigraphics software, cost over $400,000 (in 1977 dollars) and required the setting up of special facilities including an air conditioned room for the CPU and disk drive and special controlled lighting for the terminal room.
The former Apprentice School (built in 1952?) is now a Grade 2 listed building and all that remains on the "old" site.
In reply to vnkiwi, Delftship failed to load on an iMac but have you tried LibreCad which is free to use on Windows, Linux and Apple software?

[vnkiwi]

I started on CAD - Computer Aided Drawing, back in mid 1984, using an Australian written piece of software written by engineers and draughtsmen in Queensland, called "Palette". Ran on a macro/mini computer which was similar to bj describes, around the size of two microwaves, back to back, tape backup etc. We ran 4 terminals off ours and our project ran 12 terminals. Had 15 layers which could be worked on by different stations simultaniously. Cost per computer and 4 terminals in 1984, not adjusted figure, $100,000aud, adjust that to todays numbers will give some idea how expensive they where.
You selected the sheet size you wanted, pen thickness, and away you went drawing.
No PC's then to run on. I had a Tandy, colour computer then. My current hand calculator is more powerful than them.
Mid 1985, I started using Autocad v 2.8, real stupid piece of software written by American programmers, who had not a lot of knowledge of draughting. Paperspace/model space didnt arrive until very early 1990, if memory serves with I think v10. sorta useful from then onwards.
I worked at a ship-builders in South Australia, 1987, when they purchased an "Intergraph" 3D CAD package from someone in Victoria, came in 2 containers, one for the computer itself, the other containing the 4 dual screen workstations. Was considered "old" then, but they used it for a quite a number of years to design and build ships. Would have used it for the submarine project but they missed the selection. All they built was the ship lift and buildings for the Sub-Corp.
So, yes, CAD does go back a ways, but its only comparatively recently that affordable 3D packages have been available for the average draughtsman at home. Prior to that, companies had to have huge budgets for big jobs to justify them.

Just as an aside, I started working in 1967, at the NZ Ministry of Works, that same year they installed a computer for engineering design, no drawing. Cost $1,000,000nzd, in 1967 dollars, and took up the whole basement of a new 14 story building. Tape input, and wardobe size cabinets with the tape reel window. All in airconditioned rooms. You punched your cards, checked them, took them down, next day you went down to collect the tractor feed continuous printout, with a trolley. To big to carry, man this forests took a hammering back then.

[grendel]

I remember the first two intergraph systems we had installed at our office - we were told they cost the same as a ferrari each (about £32,000 at the time I believe)
Grendel