Course description
AutoCAD Architecture is the new name given to the application formerly known as Autodesk Architectural Desktop, which was in turn a development of the initial combination of AutoCAD plus a set of architectural tools from Softdesk.
The abbreviation used to refer to this application in the newsgroups is ACA (Auto CAD Architecture). This was the first solution promoted as BIM (Building Information Model) from Autodesk, before Revit. ACA is based on the AutoCAD platform. Therefore, it is preferable to have a basic knowledge of AutoCAD before starting to learn ACA.
ACA has the capacity to fully model in great detail all the physical elements of a building, and it has an impressive set of tools to produce tables of quantities and properties of all those elements. It can produce as well multiples sections and elevations. However, these sections and elevations do not update bi-directionally with the model, but instead, they depend absolutely on the changes made to the model. Sections and elevations can not be edited freely to produce changes in the model. This is ACA´s main fault. On its favor, though, ACA includes all the great tools of its AutoCAD platform, which enables ACA to model almost anything imaginable and in great detail. It also includes an excellent library of detail components, which are essential to complete a set of construction drawings.
Courses are scheduled on demand, according to the information collected from the sign up form. Once the information is collected, the definitive dates and times are sent by email to the people who have sent us the form, and then the information is published here. The course which fills up first, starts first.
Length: 24 hours, distributed in 12 lessons of 2 hours each.
Frequency: 8 hours a week, during 3 weeks.
Days: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Hours: Please select the hours that are more convenient for you from the options shown in the sign up form. The times shown on the list refer to the time at your city. It might be different from the time the class originates in the US Eastern Time (Miami). Para comparar los horarios, check the timezones chart.
Instructor: Alfredo Medina
Lesson
Topics
1 Introduction. Description of the interface. The ribbon. The content browser. The properties window. Tool palettes. Most useful options of the status ber. The cube. The wheel.
2 Conceptual design in volumes. The model explorer. Points of view in 3D. Visual styles. Create a mass element. Create a mass group. Attach and detach elements to the mass group. Cut the volume into slices to start up the floor plans.
3 Description of the project to do in the course. How to organize all with the Project Navigator. How to set up levels. Creating the structural grid and using it as a reference for other levels. Using design files (constructs). Using elements.Using view. Using sheets. Putting all the levels together to form the buildings.
4 Creating structural elements. Using the structural catalog. Using the wizard. Using the style manager. Creating walls. Wall styles. Connections, wall endcaps. Adding masses to walls. Using profiles for walls.
5 Creating openings. Openings with profiles. Adding doors. Door styles. Frames. Adding windows. Window styles.
6 Adding window assemblies. Window assembly styles. Adding and mofifying curtain walls. Curtain wall styles. Creating curtain walls from a sketch.
7 Adding slabs, and adding holes in the slabs, for shafts or vertical circulation. Structural framing for the slab. Adding ramps. Adding railings. Creating other floors of the building.
8 Adding stairs. Parts of a stair. Using stair styles. Options for the shape of the stair. Options for the return, for the landing. Representation of a stair in plan view as per level. Creating a stair tower.
9 Using Design Center to add furniture and fixture to the project. Using design center from custom libraries.
10 Creating the structure of the roof. Creating the roof. Different types. Adding hatch pattern, gutter and downspouts.
11 Creating sections and elevations. Organizing all the main views: plans, sections and elevations.
12 Organizing the set of sheets. Publishing and printing to DWF.
