Mastering AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012

I am a novice at using AutoCAD.Before ordering this book I have learned enough to do very basic 2d drawings of sail panels for Falcon Sails. [...]Now that I need to step up to 3d stuff, my just learn as I go approach does not work so well. I need to add to my knowledge base in a more structured way.So far, I have read 100 pages of this book starting with the more difficult 3d chapter.It is very well written. I rarely get lost and I am adding nicely to my autocad knowledge.I really like the way it assumes you know very little about the layout of autocad, and consistently describes each step in detail so you are not left searching around & get hung up on simple things. At the same time the consistency of process documentation allows you to breeze over the sentences you do not need.Even if you are an autocad expert, you may need this for a while when you step up from an older version of autocad.This book has had multiple editions before this one. It shows that it has been continually improved.Some people complained it is not in color. That would be better, but it is a minor issue. I will take the well written book over the color pictures every time.

Not the best book to learn AutoCAD.Of little use unless you have an interest in architecture, and the debatable as to it's merits as an instructional guide.Unless of course you are familiar with AutoCAD, but then you would not need this book.Before buying judge for yourself, by opening the book in a bookstore.Unfortunately I wasted my money as the book is of no value whatsoever to anyone involved in engineering.

Une vraie bible d'AutoCAD, très utile pour apprendre ce logiciel et évoluer vers des fonctions complexe.Ce pavé sort des sentiers battus, et ne se limite pas à un copier coller du manuel de référence du logiciel.

Ich benutze das Buch um einerseits meine AutoCAD Kenntnisse aufzufrischen und darüber hinaus in der Englischen Sprache in Übung zu bleiben.

I would recommend this book for people that are new or even at least 2 years worth of professional experience with AutoCAD. Being a 15+ year veteran, I would say that this book would have been helpful to me in my first 1 to 2 years of using CAD. I started CAD back in high school which I used a similar reference book. It did help me understand the format and functions of how Autodesk environment work. Once you get past that, I believe the book is only 2 to 3 steps better than the help menu that AutoCAD software has. I was hoping for better examples (being that it's already 30 years since the launch of the software), but at a book that has over 800 pages and the margins and printing of this book are ample for your own notes, it almost feels like it could have been printed on 400 pages or less (I'm the kind of guy that likes very small margins in my reference books, just enough to get the edges of the pages dirty from my finger prints, but not to the point where I can write my own cliff notes along the margins in the book, that's what a "notebook" is for).