AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013: No Experience Required 1st Edition

i am a recent graduate from wake tech in raleigh nc with an associate degree in mechanical drafting technology. i bought this book along with the free trial version of autocad 2013. it's a refresher of sorts. i've been working my way through the tutorial and i am here to say this book is awesome. it has step by step instructions that are straight forward and easy to follow. there are many shortcuts, tips, keyboard entries, and functions that will save an enormous amount of time. it's easy to learn quickly with this book. i'm half way through as of this writing and have learned a great deal. i think this book would be a great text book for any college teaching autocad. highly recommend it and would venture to say a lot of it could be used with earlier versions of autocad, at least to some degree. buy the book, i promise you won't regret a single page of it.

Whoever edited the book sure didn’t use the LT software to coordinate with the full Cad software when producing this manual:Step-by-step instructions are out of order.Missing non-LT use indicators.Spelling & grammar errors.Even directions for stuff that didn’t exist, just to mention a few of the errorsSupport? What support? If I didn’t have some background with the software I’d of thrown this manual out, but I was able to gleam enough info to get the basic commands for this version under control.So, if you're going to use the LTsoftware be ready for confusion.

Older learners, like me, must have access to a machine with an installed vers. of AutoCAD use it. I had many issues with Autodesk when trying to install and use a " free 30 day free trial" version. A great deal of experience is required, not with AutoCAD, but with Office, Windows and computers in general-- never mentioned, early on in the sales blubs for the products, is, microprocessor speed reguired. Don't ask me why an 85 yr old wants to so desperatly learn how to use AutoCAD, I can't answer that query. I'm just an old, retired, curious draftsman for whom "free 30 day trials" are not enough.

I bought this book to learn AutoCAD. The write up about the author was good; however, I don't think this book was proof read. There are several 5/4 star write ups on this book but I am convinced they are working for the author or publisher or are friends as they did not read this book. The author has confused me because of his improper use of feet and inches - he has them backwards! In Chapter 3 the author describes a hard requirement to "use the foot sign (")" but the use of the inches sign (') is optional. This inaccuracy carries throughout the book and manifests itself later when you are asked to draw a wall 7' thick - I am sure he meant 7" thick.There are also some other errors in the book as the author had his AutoCAD software preferences set different then a default install. This causes some described features to not operate as he describes.The web site is a joke! There are no videos for AutoCAD 2013, nothing for the book (other then a place to purchase it) and no drawings available for download as described in the write-up.Save your money on this one.

I have experience in other CAD software, but I never used AutoCad before. I wanted a well-written book that taught me how to use the program from the ground up with no assumptions made. This book is probably THE best beginner's CAD book I've ever read. Includes very relevant practice problems at the end of each chapter which is a huge plus. Not only does it get you started, it teaches you many tricks within the program to make you the most efficient CAD user possible should you continue using this software. Highly recommended for anyone who needs an introduction to the latest version of AutoCAD.

I used this for a text in my class at the college. It does a good job of getting people off the ground and starting into AutoCAD.

I'm a part-time home designer and this book was exactly what I needed; Unlike many other books, it's oriented toward architectural drawing, which is exactly what I was looking for. Creating a drawing in model space is pretty straightforward if you have some drafting experience, but getting everything scaled properly and printing it out can be daunting. This book addresses many of the "philosophical issues" regarding the use of layers, xfefs, and model space vs. paper space which I am now beginning to better understand. Yes, there are some typos here and there, but really, who cares? This book has helped me a lot and it well worth the money.

I've been using AutoCAD since they came out with release 2.01, probably in the late 80's. This version is not that intuitive and not that accurate as I've seen my drawings can vary from view to view, even though I copy from one view to another. You've got to be very careful with it.