Welcome!

[ctsturdiv]

Hello! I am currently preparing to begin my second semester for an AAS in Drafting and Design.

Been lurking for a second. I figured it would be cool to be able to have discussions with people already in the industry that way once everything is said and done, I will be much more informed by what is out there and what pitfalls to avoid.

I am coming into CAD a bit later in life. I spent most of my 20s and early 30s working as a banquet waiter in the New Orleans French Quarter. I then had a few years stint as an agency Certified Nursing Assistant then later worked in call centers.

The call centers almost broke me, and made me think I needed to get training for better pay and more humane treatment.

For 20+ years, I have been a Dungeon Master for Dungeons and Dragons, often doing my own battle maps. One of my players who was an engineer said I should work in drafting. I did research, talked to about 4 colleges, and decided to take the plunge.

Looking forward to the discussions!

[DennisD]

Hi Everyone,
Johan on this side of the world, South Africa, downloaded Solid edge 2 days ago, so I am still brand new at this, I used qcad which is 2D until now and the to have a 3d representation of my models I used an old version of sketchup. I mainly play around on a cnc plasma table.

I am really struggling and hope to find some help to just get started.
Hopefully in a short time I will also be able to add value to the forum.

Go through the tutorials of any software you use. With few exceptions the tutorials are very well done.

[jcapriotti]

Hello! I am currently preparing to begin my second semester for an AAS in Drafting and Design.

Welcome. What software are you using at the school?

[ctsturdiv]

Welcome. What software are you using at the school?

We are using AutoCAD. Though I think some of the later classes use Revit and Solidworks.

[zxys001]

We are using AutoCAD. Though I think some of the later classes use Revit and Solidworks.

Welcome!
Kewl!,.. depending on your path, either Revit (Architectural Engineering) or SolidWorks (Mechanical Engineer) are good.

[jcapriotti]

We are using AutoCAD. Though I think some of the later classes use Revit and Solidworks.

If you go the mechanical route, I'd learn as much SolidWorks as you can. I don't think many are still doing AutoCAD for mechanical design.

BTW, I'm an old D&D grognard (Started on 2e AD&D), although I moved on from the D&D system back around 3.5.

[bnemec]

FIFY

If you go the mechanical route, I'd learn as much SolidWorks Solid Edge as you can. I don't think many are still doing AutoCAD for mechanical design.

BTW, I'm an old D&D grognard (Started on 2e AD&D), although I moved on from the D&D system back around 3.5.

[jcapriotti]

FIFY

Well, I did want to him to actually find a job

[ctsturdiv]

If you go the mechanical route, I'd learn as much SolidWorks as you can. I don't think many are still doing AutoCAD for mechanical design.

BTW, I'm an old D&D grognard (Started on 2e AD&D), although I moved on from the D&D system back around 3.5.

Yeah, I went through all the editions except 1e. It was around, but I didn't know many people that played it. Had a bit of a black hole during the 4e era. Ran a bit of 4e, but back then I had a lot going on. Like having to move cities a lot. (I was actually caught in Hurricane Katrina and where I landed, you had like almost NO grognards around unless you drove 200 miles)

By the time I got things straightened out, 5e came out and it's been pretty solid since. Though my campaign has gone all online due to people being spread out, moving, and just ease of replacing the occasional turnover.

Plus, nowadays at our age, people don't want to come in person unless you have a really, really nice place. My current place is kinda in a rough area that's really cheap to live in. I'm talking 600/mo 2BR/2ba and have to keep a pit bull with a dim view of outsiders kind of place. Didn't matter back in the 00s era New Orleans as much what kind of place you had as long as someone sprung for cold drinks and food. But nowadays with Crit Role, these newer people in the hobby expect nice areas and be gaming with models and voice actors..lol!

[Frederick_Law]

Do you really want to do CAD or graphic/game design?
CAD is more for mechanical geometric shapes.
Game is on free form, organic shapes.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/solu ... e%20design

[ctsturdiv]

Do you really want to do CAD or graphic/game design?
CAD is more for mechanical geometric shapes.
Game is on free form, organic shapes.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/solu ... e%20design

I'd prefer do mechanical or civil geometric shapes.

Don't get me wrong. I like my games. And I really geek out over old RPG maps. But game dev is scary. I'd prefer make money and actually be employed. Not have to pay back a loan and still have to do call centers.

I knew someone several years back that went that route. He went to ITT Tech back around the early 10s for multimedia. Worked with MAYA, early Blender, you name it. When he got out, he found out the AA degree he got was not well considered and that the only job offer he got was an offer to to logos for a sign shop for around 10 USD an hour. Also, that field is super, super competitive because everybody and their brother dreamed of game dev. But, to get those jobs you have to be top 10 percent good, usually BS minimum, know someone, and have to move far away to very high cost of living areas.

My friend ended up working at a deli for a chain grocery and basically working for vested interest on some obscure indie Steam game I don't think took off at all from a no name studio. He did get his 80K of loans forgiven, though when the Department of Education shut down ITT Tech.

No. I'd prefer keep my hobbies my hobbies.

That said, after Intro to CAD and Principles of Drafting, I was able to reproduce AEG's 3e classic The World's Largest Dungeon Region C in AutoCad, import into GIMP to lay basic texture, then put into Roll 20 to lay in assets. One of my players had to go out and buy a new computer for it since it crushed a chromebook, but turned out pretty good.

So there is some cross over.

But there is a saying. "The difference between a pizza and an RPG writer is that one can feed a family"

[Frederick_Law]

Drafter is also a dime a dozen.
Offshore charge $7 an hr. Or less.
Do look at local job sites and see what they got.

3D printing is another area that need 3D modeler.
Basically you can make what you can model.

There is always manufacturing, always construction.

[ctsturdiv]

Drafter is also a dime a dozen.
Offshore charge $7 an hr. Or less.
Do look at local job sites and see what they got.

3D printing is another area that need 3D modeler.
Basically you can make what you can model.

There is always manufacturing, always construction.

For architectural, yeah. The instructor says he's happy to teach it and worked himself for a large architectural firm for a decade or so before going into teaching, but you have to immediately go some place like LSU for a BS because so many people want to do architectural blueprints and the architects tend to put people with 4 year degrees on that unless you personally know people. Probably would take 5 years for that route, but damn. You'd probably be miles ahead with both the trade school knowledge and theoretical knowledge.

Fortunately, in my area, they tend to have a deep dislike of offshoring stuff. Most of the firms exist to support oil and gas, maritime, and civil and there are plants all up and down the Mississippi with main offices in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Very salt of the earth, no nonsense, hard working people.

One thing that is kind of cool, is the community college has a program called "last mile" offered by a major chemical company. If you survive the first year, they give you like 2K or so a semester towards loans or if you have no loans, your pocket. Of course, I am sure with caveats saying you are THEIRS for X amount of time for little negotiating power. But could be wrong on that as i have not seen the fine print details.

[Frederick_Law]

Of course, I am sure with caveats

We need you to jump into this pool of bubbling chemical and see what happen.

[jcapriotti]

That said, after Intro to CAD and Principles of Drafting, I was able to reproduce AEG's 3e classic The World's Largest Dungeon Region C in AutoCad, import into GIMP to lay basic texture, then put into Roll 20 to lay in assets. One of my players had to go out and buy a new computer for it since it crushed a chromebook, but turned out pretty good.

You might try DungeonScrawl (Free) or DungeonDraft ($20), works much better than Autocad. Although I admit when I was in school I used Autocad R10 to draw character sheets. It was the early 90s though so options were limited then.

I believe DungeonDraft has the option to export /import to Roll20 or Foundry VTT (what I use). For Foundry it will even bring in the walls for dynamic lighting.

[ctsturdiv]

You might try DungeonScrawl (Free) or DungeonDraft ($20), works much better than Autocad. Although I admit when I was in school I used Autocad R10 to draw character sheets. It was the early 90s though so options were limited then.

I believe DungeonDraft has the option to export /import to Roll20 or Foundry VTT (what I use). For Foundry it will even bring in the walls for dynamic lighting.

For a while, I was using Dungeon Painter Studio, but AutoCad had much more powerful tools. For instance, in DPS, you can make a textured circle. Say, for a tower. But, instead of doing the sane thing and making the circle go out from the center in a radius or diameter, it would go out from some point outside the circle where invisible lines perpendicular to the top and left intersected outside the circle. Made it to where it was guess work or had to do construction line tricks to get a circle the size I wanted.

I did consider dynamic lighting lines with autoCAD using offset function and layer tricks, but Roll 20 considers the entire file an object and does not consider transparencies, so no go. Foundry, has some interesting things, but my playerbase loves R20 and has purchased hundreds in books for me there, so I'd have some rebellion.

Deployable assets, I keep in Roll 20. The players like to move furniture around and destroy things because there are no other resources there in the WLD and I don't want to have to go re-compress and re-upload every time a minor change is made such as placing a door somewhere. Roll 20 has a decent library of free deployable assets.

I am in the process of thinking of redoing maps seeing that Region C worked out well. On tap is Region A. Originally region A, I converted the 2000's era pdf to jpeg and plopped it in there but it had scale issues and the original map maker I don't think was intending people to use it as a battlemat barring these nerds that had huge gaming spaces and enormous amounts of black construction paper for line of sight and funds to take to a professional print shop.

Also, Region N and the remaster of J should be interesting and much easier to do.

[ctsturdiv]

We need you to jump into this pool of bubbling chemical and see what happen.

They actually have that.

Fortunately, it's an OSHA cert that you have to have confined space training and they usually at least have to empty the bubbling chemicals and give you suits and respirators.

Fortunately, they give that to the skinny, small kids.

A plant I worked at long ago subcontracted that out to Aaramark. Sad thing is those guys got paid literally like 9-10 USD an hour for some pretty hazardous stuff. Like scraping dough off of this winding conveyor belt in a room you basically had to crawl in that was always 100 percent humidity and at least 135 -140 degree heat index.

Me? I am to rotund and old. So if they need a measurement of some valve or gasket down there, I don't think I'm the guy they will make do it. Nor would they hire me for that. They'd probably pass me over if that's what they want.

[Damianes]

Hello hello
i like this forum, I'm very happy forums are alive instead of stupid facebook groups where everything is dead so quick
I'm quite new to cad