why don't you take a class?

i doubt anyone will send you cd's but best of luck ..

you will likely find people more willing to share knowledge on p2p than on a forum of people protecting what they perceive to be their own intellectual property for corporate interests.

also go down to the city planning dept. of your city most documents are public record that would be a good start

yeah the thought of sending someone you don't know cd's are unlikely in most countries they are legal documents subject

might I suggest asside from doing classes to buy a few books on architectural construction like DK Ching books - helpful to say the least

thanks for the help. College session is starting in May end so I thought to utilize my time.

city planning dept is also a good idea. But I wanted to see actual set of construction documents that are prepared in an architect's office and what skills I would need to work as an entry level drafter? any codes, I should be familiar with, standards etc??

thanks.

There are a few...

Good luck. Take this time to relax.

you'll pick that stuff up (codes, standards) on the job.

OK I understand it is not legal to share a complete set, can I request something simpler? Can anyone send me practical work like converting a sketch into cad and guide me through it like I do the conversion and may be, you check it. It will give me confidence of my skills. PLz.

thanks.

how are your drawing skilz?
post some sketches!

seriously - learning how to sketch and communicate will take you farther than knowing autocad.

I love to draw, paint. Here are 2 sketches.



[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/7490744@N08/428552007/[img]

nice sketches, but are there any architectural ones??

have you taken any courses in hand drawing and perspectives, etc. I must agree with el jeffe, that knowing how to communicate that way is far superior to autocad, and you can always learn autocad quite easily (there are tons of self teaching books out there - even at the library for free use)

thx... I donot have any architectural ones.. will do some and will post. I understand that understanding architecture is very IMP but all I see in job postings and I have been to some architect's offices and all they need is practical experience in autocad, 'coz they want me to be productive from Day 1. Thats why I was asking for any set of documents which I can read and learn from or any sketches which I can convert into CAD etc, any tips for an entry level.

One thought was, do you have anyone in the family that is in the construction industry (contractor). Cause that could be one route. If you learn to see what the contractor is using and learn about how they use our drawings, it will help you when you actually sit down to draw them (practical experience).

Aside from that, it's a tough one, if you don't have someone that will lend you the drawings. Have you thought of asking an architect/architectural office for access to their drawings at their offices?

That might be one "old skool" way of doing it.

if you are just looking to learn the program then mess around with it and create your own designs.
When job postings ask for knowledge of a program (auto cad, maya, sketchup, etc.) they hope that you can translate their drawings into a computer model, the only way that you can do that is tons of practice, not just copying a couple of construction documents.
Get the Ching books that were mentioned and begin to understand the perspectives, plans, sections and elevations. Then auto cad will be much more intuitive for you. It is possible that you can even use the Ching sketches and try and create the same thing in auto cad.

good luck with classes coming up, way to work extra hard before they even start!

one way that you could practice, if you really wanted to is:

- visit several websites for architects that show flr plans, sections, axo's etc - just to get a feel for the lineweight quality, etc

- measure your house / apartment best you know how - wall lengths and thicknesses, overall dimensions (clear / total lengths) locate doors and windows from the corners of the walls, ceiling heights, etc

- draw said living environment - plan, section, elevation

- post your results for a friendly crit.

goto cben the have example construction docs. there

this thread is really alive today..

what type of projects are you looking to be working on? do you have a particular architecture office that is going to hire you/that you are looking at?

commercial: public works;facilities;retail
residential: track;custom;greenbuild;multi-family

once you have a better idea what direction you will be headed look towards documents of those types.

as far as CADD skills I would say build yourself some toolbars with all the commands you will be using (there are not that many) and also I recommend to look at the Rhinoceros 4 eval. it knocks autodesks socks off

standards each office has their own, a variant of AIA/NCS and some have none or just adapt to what other people give them from prototypes etc.

but I think you are on the right path, examples to work from (clean accurate ones) and experience (apprenticeships from a willing patient mentor)are key.

by the time you finish your education, autocad will be a dead dog, learn about architecture and leave cad to the dinosaurs.

there are detail books on ando tadao's work that you can use to make drawings if interestedin real construction.

also, can copy from detail magazine.

in both cases above the drawings are a bit (or a lot) cleaner than you will find in an office, but are close enough for jazz.

all answers are great! and opens a way for learning...

cben site is cool, just had a look... can surely pick things up. I looked on internet for ando tadao's work, again a great suggestion. I have reserved ching's books, found them in my local library.. measuring my own house and putting it in cad is what I am going to do next, will help me through.

any more suggestions/ideas/remarks welcome..

Try to think about the schedule of construction when you are doing working drawings. This is a good thing to keep in the back of your head and may keep contractors from yelling at you quite as much, especially when it comes to dimensioning. Think about what is constructed first, second third, etc and give your dimensions from a known to an unknown element.

In the same sense, and sorry if this is painfully obvious, but it is important to keep in mind that when you are doing CDs in an office every single line in a drawing means something. It is very different from the sketching or even the loose cad work you will do in school. The best way to understand CDs is to know how each line you are drawing is actually going to get built. This is a learning process so better to ask for help now like you are doing, than make mistakes on the job. Good luck, you certainly seem motivated.

or better yet get the CD of that it has CAD drawings