RE: Re: ASME (or other) Piping Codes and Standards

Paul Bowers wrote:

>Teach the older guys the keyboard commands/shortcuts. It's faster and
>this way they won't have to re-learn when Autodesk decides to "improve"
>the user interface.

Paul,

I agree completely. Thing is, we've still got guys learning about features/shortcuts they added 4 versions ago. A valuable lesson I learned early on is to learn CAD right out of the box, and not to rely on several, or very complicated customizations as this develops a dependency and eventually that customization will not work with some newer version and then you're up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

As for me, drawing on CAD has become so natural, that's it's pretty much become the equivalent of someone picking up a pencil and drawing. And THAT leaves ME with less to concentrate on with CAD and leaves me more available to concentrate on the design aspect of my work.

CAD is not without its faults, and I'll openly concede that, I mean with the easiness of the "copy" feature, it's VERY easy to make a mistake and not pick up on it until too late in the game. I'll look at a group of reference drawings and the manual one I'll trust well before the CAD one, because you'll always have to wonder if there's a CAD-originated error somewhere. With manual drawings you know someone drew something somewhere intentionally and it's supposed to be there.

But as like any other aspect of this business, attention to detail is key to being a good designer. I have and currently am learning this as I go.

I'm not offended or anything, but I got to admit, it kind of bothers me that there's a perception that just because I entered the field via my CAD experience, that it seems like I'm being given less of a chance of being a good designer. And it's not just a view I've read here, it's a view shared out in this business. HOW I got started drawing shouldn't really matter when it comes to my design skills and/or potential. Just like the guys that got started drawing manually had more time to concentrate on the design aspect, I've been so exposed to the CAD that I have more time to concentrate on the design aspect. I think that perception would be true for those that RELY on CAD to do the work FOR them. THOSE are the ones I think would be destined to be mediocre at best.

Paul, and so I'm clear, I'm not taken that perception personally, I just felt the need to vent. hehe

From: PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com [mailto:PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Paul Bowers
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 11:47 AM To: PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PipingDesign] Re: ASME (or other) Piping Codes and Standards

Michael Roble wrote:

> I think CADD can be, and is, a pretty valuable tool. Only problem is most
of
> the old-schoolers don't know how to, or they don't care to look and learn
> what the new features of a program are.

Mike,

Teach the older guys the keyboard commands/shortcuts. It's faster and this way they won't have to re-learn when Autodesk decides to "improve" the user interface.

Maybe I'm obtuse or something, but I always wanted to learn more about how to design, not how I could draw faster.

My concern is that if one has to constantly upgrade more effective button-pushing skills there's less time for deeper thinking.

Paul

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Mon Aug 13 06:59:00 2007