learning autocad

[frankinaround]

Hi ive been trying for 2 years to teach myself to build robots and the like. (2 years of mostly programing and math and now circuit analyzing). Now I ordered the parts to build a reprap 3d printer and so I figured I should learn some 3d design. I downloaded a free student version of autocad 3d for mac.... But im having a tough time finding any good training material...

So does anyone know a good way to learn autocad3d (or some other good 3d design software) so that I can design parts for robots and rc cars ect. ? Preferably it would have some homework and projects ect. pls let me know.

[Soeren]

https://www.google.com/webhp?q=autocad+3d+tutorial

[newInRobotics]

Get Autodesk Inventor, it's great tool, also, it comes with tutorials.

[Th232]

Get Autodesk Inventor, it's great tool, also, it comes with tutorials.

^This.  IMHO, AutoCAD is awesome for 2D, but extremely painful for 3D considering all the other options out there.  Like most other AutoDesk products, Inventor is free for students and educators.  If you want to check out the tutorials before getting it, they're all here:

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2012&product=Inventor

[frankinaround]

honestly a google search did not really help. I also bought a 60 dollar book... but trying to read the pages makes my brain hurt. Im really looking for some kind of video tutorial or something that can teach me basics or a program to follow to learn everything.

[newInRobotics]

Believe You me, learning everything AutoCAD related is next to impossible and also useless. Aim to learn things that are going to be useful to help You achieve whatever You want to achieve 

I'm not sure if You knew, but YouTube is great video source 

[Gertlex]

If you have any friends that use CAD programs a lot, buy them an age-appropriate drink and have them show you the basics.  In my opinion, it's not so much learning a specific program (Solidworks and Inventor being based on the same approach, and being the widest-used) as it is learning how to approach drawing a part and turning it into a 3D part.  I gained that ability by practicing reading drawings and reproducing the part in 3D.  My high school had a textbook with a section full of such drawings.  I also did a few models where I took an object I possessed and attempted to reproduce it in CAD.