Where I went to school, people used it all through their education and even some master's students were using them exclusively for everything. That has changed recently, though.

still using mine.

oh, you must be young, m'dear. I used it all through undergrad and find myself missing it all the time, now that I have no room for my drafting table in my apartment. But then again, I went to school in the Age Before Computers Were Mandatory...

If I need a drawing that's more than a sketch but I don't want to model it, I'll construct a quick perspective on the trusty drafting table, scan, and add materials & color in Photoshop. (okay, when I write it all out like that it doesn't sound so quick, but trust me, it's faster than Maya... at least for me)

I do that too, santa monica. super fast, works great for last-minute ideas.

i still use mine, you could really tell the differences from computer perspectives to drafted perspectives. best thing about it is it doesn't crash and it is good to know how to really draft well by hand, after all computer drafting programs haven't been around too long, but they have their use, I think it also makes me a better computer program operator too.

mines in my studio that I rarely visit. It's filled with lizards and old books - I really wish I did though. I loved mine - bought it second hand in boston during grad school it was a missing a few screws and we didn't have ebay to search for random missing items like you whipper snappers do today.

i love my mayline. try to take it and you die (or at least become the target of a withering stare.

ditto. love my mayline. and stay away from my rapidographs!

I still have mine set up and I use it at least a few times a week.

how can you not love hand drafting? it's up there with sex and food for one of the most pleasurable things one can do.

and kids these days will never experience the orgiastic music of 40 people stippling and poche-ing simultaneously.

Also, the tracking drafting machines! Those were really high tech.

Still have mine, but I haven't used it in years. My niece and nephew love using it/playing with it though when they are over.

Still have mine, packed away somewhere. Made a portable table for it so I didn't have to take it apart every semester, just slap it down on top of the existing table.

Only used it for like 3 semesters, then everything went computerized, and the profs didn't care which you used.

My wife and I both had them and used them exclusively in school (before CAD, my friends) and early to mid-career. We finally donated one of them to a local school that seemed ecstatic to get it. We decided to hang on to the other one even though we really do not use it anymore....just couldn't let go.

Toasteroven, I'm not sure I put it up there with sex, but I agree that hand-drafting was (is) a very fine experience that simply can not be replicated with CAD.

Oh...and Toasteroven, LOL on the orgiastic music comment. Now that really brought back some memories, including the final hour, or so, of the old paper/pencil design exam. A couple thousand people all stippling at the same time. Really great!

I even bought a used one couple years ago because... one part of me was missing...now I feel complete...

honestly as tools go, the mayline is fabulously well-designed. Simple, elegant, and perfectly suits its purpose. Add two triangles and a leadholder and you literally can construct a complete set of drawings. What a concert of perfect tools!

What's about a lettering system? Any old schooller out there?

I guess I am really young, lol. At my school, rarely any student uses a Mayline in the upper-division studios - computers are the main thing.

Times have definitely changed.

no your just misguided

oops "you're"

good luck