Customer Reviews

Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Architectural Desktop is conceptually easy to understand, but expert guidence is required in order to use all it's features to produce "real" work, . This is a book written by an Architect who intimately knows ADT and also knows how Architects work. The book is very well written, it is clear and useful in its presentation. I wasn't getting very far with ADT until I read this book, (and I've read other ADT books). I highly recommend it.

Keeping up with technology is getting harder every year, almost every day. This book has made it easier for me and my company. As a CAD company, we need to stay on top of it. Mr. Aubin's book has been a great aid in that. You really need to go through the first section, but then you can go to the part of the book that deals with what you are working on in your project. The exercises that are in the book are easy to understand and thorough in their coverage of the topic. The drawings that come with the book are excellent. And the exercises deal with both residential and commercial projects with drawings for each type. One of the great pluses of these drawings are that you do not have to keep building from the first one to the last. Each section has an updated drawing for you to use so that you can concentrate on the topic that you are working on. There is also a completed drawing for you to reference and see the finished result. I created a seperate sub-directory for my exercises. This way, I can keep the original drawings intact and use them again, in case I need to start over or want to try again. I also open both the exercise drawing for the topic that I am working on as well as the project that I am working on at the time. This has been a great help in getting my drawings to be correct and so that I get the finished project done correctly.

If you have no other reference book on ADT R3 or R3.3, get this one. You will have it broke in and dog-eared in no time at all. I made sure that everyone in my firm has one, as well as the architects that I work with.

Great book essential for getting started! (The autodesk book "Gettign Started" certainly doesn't. Nor does the online training included with ADT.) Very thoughtfully laid out and really gets you into the "guts" of the product in short order. CD included has a great setup for doing residential and commercial work...you can use it to set up your shop. Any corrections or clarifications in the book or on the CD are on paulaubin.com. As software is a work in progress, so are these books on the software, and the site includes some important clarifications that have come out since the release of 3.3. If you need to know ADT, buy this book.

I found this book on ADT3 (3.3)to be clear and easy to follow. I learned more about actual production on ADT3.3 than I expected. Load and follow the lessons start to finish and actually learn how to create drawings correctly. I assume it will take a few projects to really get this all into my memory but I can say that this book is the best help I have had. If you have a one man office with only yourself to turn to get Mastering Autodesk ADT3

I am a self taught AutoCAD user and this book was exactly what I needed! This is my first time using Desktop, and I have learned a lot more from this book than I would have been able to pick up on my own. It is easy enough to follow, and I have learned more of the "tricks" to use when working. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a first time user of Desktop.

I am been a long time follower of the progression of ADT and it goes without saying that Mastering series by Paul F. Aubin are far and away the best resources for harnessing the power of Architectural Desktop. This book however, is geared towards a more experienced ADT user who wants to expand their abilities or further investigate the functionality of ADT.

With thorough explanations, practical examples and lots of pictures, each chapter provides a clear set of objectives as well as every day production tips which really prove insightful.

The scope of the work is readily applicable to production usage in both Residential and Commercial studios and provides both Imperial and Metric explanations of its examples.

The outline like format of the book starts at the big scale of the Building and Flooring diagrams and works its way to manifesting detail creation from the BIM. Property Sets, Keynoting and Area takeoffs are extremely well explained and take advantage of new field functionality.

One chapter is resolved to provide an overview of the rendering platform Viz Render which has been shipping with ADT since the 2004 release of ADT. While anything more than an overview was out of the scope of this book, Paul does make mention of a future book dedicated entirely to understanding Viz Render.

The latest edition in the Mastering Series is quite honestly the best resource available for ADT 2005. Its thorough, articulate, and really demonstrates the ability to harness the software's potential.

Steven D. Papke, President, Vizdepot.com, An ADT/VR support site.

Using Mastering ADT by Aubin is probably the only method for learning ADT R3 without going to class. There are other books but these are not in the class of the Aubin text. Of course, in these days of fast and cheap, there are errors in the writing (e.g. page 220, corner railing -the railing is in the horizontal plane including the connectors and not continuous with the other railings -Check the outcome in 3D). Possibly, Autodesk should have more qualified checkers. In the least there should be a newsgroup where errors can be filed or in the alternate an email address for such purposes. Another suggestion in the writer's presentation is to separate the text into residential and commercial categories rather than combining them. If one doesn't have the inclination, or funds for ADT classes this book is your only choice. Regardless, any method will take some time. A must for the ADT R3 drafter's bookshelf.

At last a book from someone who understands the program and what you want to do with it.
A good book for those picking up Desktop from AEC. A pity it uses imperial units. I felt that in the rush to beat other books to the market that subjects were not covered. But I agree with the author that missing out the conceptual side of the software was reasonable as this allowed decent coverage of what is covered. So do not expect to find any advice on massing etc. But if you want to learn a way of how to set up architectural drawings in Desktop this book clearly demonstrates how.
I have already recommended this book to others

This book only scratches the surface of mastering ADT 2005. However, it was a great book for getting over the beginning humps of ADT.

Congratulations, Paul.

For those of us in architectural community who wish to implement this program effectively, you have done a great service.

The greatest challenge in upgrading an office to new software is the training involved. This book will make that job much easier, and will be a staple desktop reference for our associates after training.

ADT3 is a huge leap in a new direction away from the traditional 'lines, arcs, and circles' methodology held over into CADD from the days of t-squares and triangles. And its not easy to master.

This book offers insights to users and managers alike, the best being "why" things work the way they do in the program. I look forward to more from you, especially that Tips and Tricks Book I hope you'll write!