Suggestions for books on AutoCAD?

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My son is considering going back to school for mechanical engineering, and in the context of doing theater/stage work is looking into completing an AutoCAD certification — suggestions on books? (or titles which should be avoided?)

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I feel like the school will be in bed with one of the CAD venders and push students towards using whatever that is. Might be swimming against the current if AutoCAD isn’t the goto.

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Apparently for the theater industry it’s AutoCAD or VectorWorks and nothing else — in NYC at least.

The text isn’t so much for the school (it is expected that they will have a text) but rather a text which will help him complete an AutoCAD certification separate from, and in addition to the academic work.

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Never heard of VectorWorks. I’ll have a Google.

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Don’t know about AutoCAD training in the US, but it might be worth noting that AutoCAD and Revit go together whilst Fusion360 is a quite different UI and modelling approach, so Fusion skills don’t transfer that easily.

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@WillAdams not sure about specific tutorials, however… i’am in the architectural, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering design and construction field, which Auto desk is king, and @LiamN is bang on, AutoCad produces the deliverable from the Revit 3d model. So focus on the Autodesk suite including Revit is key.

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The thing is, the theater folks don’t seem to use Revit.

I did find:

AutoCAD for Theatrical Drafting: A Resource for Designers and Technical Directors
by John Keisling (Author)

which hopefully will apply, we’ll see, and to supplement that I sent:

AutoCAD 2024 For Beginners: Easy-to-Follow AutoCAD 2024 Guide for Novice Designers and Engineers
by CADFolks (Author)

which hopefully will be a start and maintain his interest until he can begin the classes.

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Back in the day when I last used AutoCad, everyone recommended the books George Omura wrote.
I don’t know if he still publish books on the subject.

Edit: Spilling and grammmar :wink:

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Unfortunately, the most recent book by that author is from 2021, and their website:

mentions a 2019 book as coming soon.

However, I did find:

so a copy is on its way to him now.

Thanks!

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Apparently it has a really well done lighting module, so has become the de facto standard for theater work (at least in New York City).

It also helps that it has a Mac version.

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