Mastering AutoCAD 2002 (With CD-ROM) [Paperback]

George Omura (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782140157 | ISBN-13: 978-0782140156 | Publication Date: September 15, 2001

The Classic AutoCAD Authority--and Still the Ultimate AutoCAD Authority

Mastering AutoCAD 2002, the fully updated edition of Omura's classic, continues to be your one-stop authority on the latest release of AutoCAD. If you're new to this powerful design tool, you'll get started using AutoCAD right away thanks to the tutorial approach and step-by-step instruction. If you're an experienced user, you'll benefit from in-depth explanations of AutoCAD's newest and most advanced features, including database connectivity, support for splines and polylines, and 3D modeling and rendering. No matter what your experience level or how you use AutoCAD, this is an indispensable resource that you'll keep on your desk and refer to again and again.

Coverage includes:
* Finding your way around the AutoCAD interface
* Creating and developing an AutoCAD drawing
* Managing your drawing projects
* Controlling your drawings' printed output
* Improving your efficiency and precision
* Aligning points with existing elements
* Previewing your drawings using WYSIWYG plotting
* Discovering hidden or hard-to-find features
* Working with multiple documents
* Mastering the 3D modeling and rendering process
* Customizing AutoCAD
* Collaborating with others on large AutoCAD projects
* Taking advantage of AutoCAD's Internet features
* Linking drawings to databases and spreadsheets
* Combining tools to accomplish complex tasks

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Classic AutoCAD Authority--and Still the Ultimate AutoCAD Authority

Mastering AutoCAD 2002, the fully updated edition of Omura’s classic, continues to be your one-stop authority on the latest release of AutoCAD. If you‘re new to this powerful design tool, you’ll get started using AutoCAD right away thanks to the tutorial approach and step-by-step instruction. If you’re an experienced user, you’ll benefit from in-depth explanations of AutoCAD’s newest and most advanced features, including database connectivity, support for splines and polylines, and 3D modeling and rendering. No matter what your experience level or how you use AutoCAD, this is an indispensable resource that you’ll keep on your desk and refer to again and again.

Coverage includes:

• Finding your way around the AutoCAD interface
• Creating and developing an AutoCAD drawing
• Managing your drawing projects
• Controlling your drawings’ printed output
• Improving your efficiency and precision
• Aligning points with existing elements
• Previewing your drawings using WYSIWYG plotting
• Discovering hidden or hard-to-find features
• Working with multiple documents
• Mastering the 3D modeling and rendering process
• Customizing AutoCAD
• Collaborating with others on large AutoCAD projects
• Taking advantage of AutoCAD’s Internet features
• Linking drawings to databases and spreadsheets
• Combining tools to accomplish complex tasks

About the Author

George Omura is an architect and illustrator who has been using AutoCAD for fifteen years. As a CAD specialist, he has worked on design projects ranging from resort hotels to metropolitan transit systems to the prestigious San Francisco Library project. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he is the all-time best-selling AutoCAD author. George's other AutoCAD books, all from Sybex, include Mastering AutoCAD 2000, Mastering 3D Studio VIZ, AutoCAD Instant Reference, and Mastering AutoCAD for Mechanical Engineers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1352 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (September 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782140157
• ISBN-13: 978-0782140156
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 2.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,756,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George Omura is a licensed architect and Autodesk Authorized Author who has more than 30 years of experience in architecture and has been using AutoCAD for more than 20 years. As a CAD specialist, he has worked on design projects ranging from resort hotels to metropolitan transit systems to the San Francisco Library project. He is the all-time bestselling AutoCAD author and was cited as favorite CAD author by members of the Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) in AUGIWorld magazine's "Best of Everything CAD" issue.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be worse, September 23, 2003

By 

A. Mackler (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering AutoCAD 2002 Premium Edition (Hardcover)

This book is far from ideal. My background is computers, and I'm used to documentation being written to tell me what I need to know, quickly. This book is a set of tutorials--it is NOT a reference. When I need to know something specific this book is nearly useless. If you don't really know what you want to learn and want to be led through a series of exercises this book may be useful. However, if you're starting from zero, I recommend "AutoCAD 2002: No Experience Required" by David Frey, which is written much more clearly and will more quickly give you a taste of all (or most) elements of AutoCAD. Omura's book required spending too much time on things I didn't need to know to get to what I did want to know.

Another major complaint is that this book is loaded with typos and errors. Clearly it was not proofread. Numbers in examples don't add up (example: last paragraph on p. 221: two times twelve is NOT forty-eight), assumptions are made about all settings being in their default positions (not safe if you're using someone else's computer) and commands that have not yet been covered are referred to. In the chapter on AutoLISP both the first and the second example programs have typos in them and if you don't have a programming background you could tear your hair out trying to figure out what you're doing wrong. I started to keep a list of all the errors I found, but it seems there's one every couple of pages. (Incidentally, I didn't find a single typo in David Frey's book, and I went through the entire thing.)

Finally I should mention the CD-ROM. The first thing this CD-ROM did was crash the computer I was using. After rebooting--twice--it still crashed when trying to run the installation program. This was running a recent installation of Windows ME with over 500MB of RAM. I was able to copy the example files off the disc manually, but this whole package clearly meets a very low standard of quality assurance.

Fortunately I'm about at the point where I'm able to find what I need in the online documentation, and this book was not completely useless in teaching me enough to reach that point. However, I find it hard to imagine there isn't something far superior out there that I could have used instead. This book could be worse, but it's far from ideal.