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The aim of this set of notes is to provide some 'in-depth'
guidance for those considering undertaking CAD training courses
and are contemplating taking a course with us. It is written with potential students of ours in mind,
but should apply to anyone contemplating learning CAD.
Our training can
be delivered in your offices, (Adelaide or Canberra ACT), in-house in our training room at Thebarton, South
Australia or by distance learning. Distance learning can be
delivered on CD-ROM or via our
broadband learning site. The broadband site has the
advantage of incorporating various forums where questions can be
answered.
 We have successfully taught students
in remote areas of all Australian states (and Christmas Island) in Hong Kong, Singapore,
South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States via our distance learning program.
We try and mimic the one-on-one approach and our distance students are supported by
email, a
support section on this web site
and if broadband learning is chosen, by Q&A forums.
In many different disciplines, the advent of CAD has radically changed
the
way professionals work.
Most project managers now expect that any drawings describing
design work will be
created using some type of CAD software. They also assume that the work
will be delivered in both printed and electronic format. In most
professions, design work on paper drawings alone is no longer
acceptable.
This change in attitude has major implications for many
of us. If you are working, or intend to work, in the Architecture, Engineering or
Construction industry, you need to be able to produce CAD drawings if
required. If you want to use a
computer to generate accurate drawings describing your design work, then
you need to learn how to operate (use) CAD software to create the
drawings that you currently prepare on a drawing board. Our CAD courses help
you do that. You can start with a modest investment in an introductory
course and if you like what we do, progress along a learning path which
leads to CAD competence.
Although the user
interfaces in CAD
software are very intuitive, learning to use CAD software to produce professional
drawings is not a trivial exercise; you need to commit to CAD and allocate
sufficient time to 'come up to speed'. Producing CAD drawings using CAD software is certainly not as simple as using Microsoft Word where with minimal
instruction, raw beginners can 'knock out' an acceptable piece of work
such as a
letter or report in a very short space of time.
We offers
comprehensive tuition in the use of IntelliCAD and AutoCAD software.
Both CAD programs 'speak' the same language - a set of instructions to
place entities in the drawing space and a common file format. What you
learn in one environment can be directly applied to the other.
IntelliCAD is a clone of AutoCAD. If you
want to learn more about these two CAD applications, click
here.
You first step in determining a
suitable training program for
your needs should be to make sure that you understand what it is
that you want to achieve i.e. you need to define your aims at the
outset.
There are many possible
scenarios:
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You may simply want to know what CAD programs can do
for your own interest. If that is the case, then read some of the more
general articles on CAD in the support
section of this web site. We have for example, published articles on
choosing the
correct CAD software, working in 3D, sending CAD drawings to laser cutting
firms etc. You can also get a feel for what CAD entails by playing some of the movies from the syllabus pages
of our CAD courses on our broadband learning site.
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Alternatively, you might be
interested in CAD because you have been asked to manage a team of
drafting staff involved in a major project, but not necessarily become CAD proficient yourself. If so,
we suggest that you enrol for our QuickStart CAD course.
QuickStart CAD
focuses on the overall process of taking a design idea to a plot on
paper without going into any detail about the mechanism of performing each
step. Thus this course is suitable for those who
want to know what CAD is all about, i.e. architectural, engineering and
other managers and professionals who want to understand what the CAD
process entails and what they can expect from CAD drafting by
their staff and consultants. It is also suitable for those who might be
contemplating a career in CAD drafting, or apprentices who must complete a
certain amount of exposure to CAD as part of their training. This
course costs $AUD345.00 when taken in house (as a one-on-one course) and is a
one day course. When taken as a distance CD-ROM based offline course,
the cost is $AUD285.00. If taken as a broadband learning course, the cost
is
$AUD250.00. Distance courses require at least 20-30 hours of time, and more if you take advantage
of the Q&A and submit exercises forums.
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Finally, you may have
decided that you want to acquire professional CAD drafting skills and
earn at least part of your income by producing CAD design work. We
suggest that you take
the QuickStart CAD course first, perhaps by broadband learning to keep
your learning costs low, confirm that you like our learning system and
then enrol in Basic CAD 1, Basic CAD 2
plus Paper Space & Model Space. Completion
of these courses will lead to CAD competency. We then offer discipline specific workshops and for
those for which it is appropriate, a course in how to produce
design work in 3D.
This next stage is a major commitment of time and effort and should not
be entered into lightly.
Enrol in our QuickStart CAD
plus
Basic CAD 1, Basic CAD 2
plus Paper Space & Model Space
courses which lead to CAD competency.
This
series of courses will cost $AUD 1,380.00 ($AUD 345.00 per course) when taken
in-house and $AUD1000.00 when taken as a distance student.
Please note that you do need to allocate
considerable time if you choose this option (>100 hours practicing skills
that we have taught you) in addition to the formal course
instruction (approx 24 hours).
When you have completed these
courses and begun
creating a reasonable number of working drawings, it's time to take some
more of our workshop courses .
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Don't forget, visit
http://www.softwaretutor.net
and examine the syllabus for each course.
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Play at
least one of our sample movies embedded within the course syllabus.
These movies are in WMV format and will play in Windows Media Player on
most Windows based computers. If they do not play, you may have to
download a recOur courses contain many
instructional moviesent version of Windows Media Player from the
Microsoft web site. We want to be
reassured that your equipment works with the movies that we make to
illustrate the use of CAD commands.
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Obtain a copy of the trial
version of IntelliCAD
software and establish that it works on your computer before ordering a course.
Download a free copy of IntelliCAD from
http://www.siacad.com. Alternatively, make sure that you have a
working copy of AutoCAD on your computer.
We offer several advanced
modules for those drafters who have been working with CAD for some time. Various
CAD workshops (covering Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Instrument, P&ID,
Civil, Survey, Landscape disciplines etc.) follow QuickStart CAD and Basic CAD 1 and
2. These workshop courses are usually taken some time after a student has
been working professionally as a CAD drafter and are designed to enhance
your skills. We like you to come to us with some 'real work' so that we
can work on it together.
Courses will also be available
at a later stage in the programming languages supported by AutoCAD &
IntelliCAD - AutoLISP and Visual Basic for applications.
The most commonly used CAD software
in Australia (and in many other parts of the world) is
AutoCAD. It is general purpose software and is used by
professionals in fields as diverse as surveying, landscape architecture,
circuit board design, mechanical engineering, architecture,
electrical
engineering, boatbuilding, monumental masonry and so on. There is really
no limit to the use to which the software can be put, it is even used by
some graphic designers.
AutoCAD is quite
expensive (circa $AUD 6,500.00), and Autodesk, the company that makes
(publishes) it
encourages you to pay them an annual maintenance/upgrade fee. This
annual fee can be as
high as $AUD 750.00).
Even though our company
owns several AutoCAD licenses, we sell and
support IntelliCAD, a
much cheaper alternative to AutoCAD
which we sell for (AUD$385.00). We can do this because the commands that you use in AutoCAD to
produce drawings are replicated in IntelliCAD.
Note that there are different
versions of AutoCAD and IntelliCAD and also other CAD software, so
obtain some expert advice before 'plumping your money down'. If you
would like more information on your choice of CAD software, click
here to visit
our support pages where the topic is discussed.
Yes. We provide all
students with a "Certificate of Achievement". A statement that a student
has reached a satisfactory standard and completed a competent set of working
drawings can also be added on request. Click
here to view a copy of the
certificate.
Yes. As mentioned, we provide a
trial version of IntelliCAD if you do not own a licensed
version of IntelliCAD or AutoCAD. This trial version allows you to
practice creating drawings, but will not allow drawings to be saved or printed.
We would expect that anyone embarking on Basic CAD 1 or Basic CAD 2 to own a copy
of IntelliCAD or AutoCAD.
No. As long as you have a
printer attached to your computer, that will do. The principles involved
in preparing a drawing on an A1 sheet (which measures 801mm by 566mm) are the same as
those used to prepare a drawing on an A4 sheet.
If you take a course as a
distance student, on receipt of an official
order from your company (a purchase order) or email note from you if you
are studying privately, we will ship a CD-ROM (with a personal password to unlock
modules in the course) and
a set of course notes. An invoice will be included in the package. Payment
can be by direct deposit to our bankers. Details of our bank
account is included on the invoice.
If you wish to pay by credit card, we use the
PayPal system (www.paypal.com). PayPal
offers a very secure system for processing payment across the
Internet and takes all major credit
cards. PayPal acts as an intermediary between you and Design Cad. They
will hold payment to us until you notify PayPal that you have received the
course materials in good order.
More information on our distance learning program can
be found by clicking here.
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