Which Architecture 2008 book to buy?

[mpednault]

Not sure where to post this but here it goes. I work for a small (8 person) architecure firm that just updated to Architecture 2008 and I am the CAD Manager. I would like to purchase a book to help me fully implement the program to it's fullest, or at least to it's full potential for our use. Which book is the most detailed and covers all the tools and utilities of the program?

I've found these books:

AutoCAD Architecture 2008; A Comprehensive Tutorial by H. Edward Goldberg

Accessing AutoCAD Architecture 2008 by William G. Wyatt

Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Fundamentals by Elise Moss

Mastering AutoCAD Architecture 2008 by Paul F. Aubin

Choices, choices, choices...

[david_peterson]

Well now that you're no longer a Lurker Congrats on the first post.
i'd sugest Paul Aubin's book if you already know the basics of the program and you know how it works. He gives lots of great pointers on "Cad Managers Notes". The only issue is that he dosen't always update everything in the book. ie Graphics and sometime Terms. But since that are basically the same, you should be able to figure it out if you've used the program before.
You may also want to take a look around the 2006 & 2007 AU handouts. I think there were a few on network deployments and such.
Hope this helps. Now don't be a stranger.

[mpednault]

thanks, i was leaning towards Paul's book anyhow. i've been using autocad since release 13 and others in the office have less experience so I would like to get a text that covers both in-depth topics for myself as well as a broad range for the less "endowed". lol

[dzatto]

I've got Pauls book as well. I've learned a lot from it. I keep it sitting on my desk for reference. I've even learned some thing that I wasn't looking for in the first place! It's a good book, I'd get it.

[mpednault]

DONE! Thanks for the comments guys.

[david_peterson]

I will say that for a user that's neved looked at ADT and dosen't have the mindset for it, Pauls Book may be a little over the top for them. But since I don't have any others I can't comment on them. I can comment on the user manual (the one for 05 was something like 2500 pages) is decent, but jumps around alot. Also the help menu can explain a few things. If you are just getting in to ACA (Switching) be prepared. I'd suggest that you take a past project, and redraw it in ACA. By the time you get done, you'll know the type of problems you will encounter as well as what content needs to be developed. I wouldn't expect anyone to jump in, and finish a project with out creating any custom content. Also remember the Kiss mentality at first. Keep it stupid simple. Walls, doors and windows. Basic objects. Don't over detail. Just a few thoughts.

[dkoch]

thanks, i was leaning towards Paul's book anyhow. i've been using autocad since release 13 and others in the office have less experience so I would like to get a text that covers both in-depth topics for myself as well as a broad range for the less "endowed". lol

In addition to the Mastering text, if you are charged with setting things up, you may want to consider AutoCAD Architecture - An Advanced Implementation Guide (coauthored by Paul Aubin and Matt Dillon). Mastering is great for getting someone who is familiar with AutoCAD up and running on the basics of ACA - if you can make it through all of the tutorials. (I made it about 2/3 of the way through the original Mastering, but I never seem to have time to get all the way through - despite having bought each of the successive editions.) The Advanced Implementation Guide is written for someone who has to figure out how to make ACA work for her/his office. The AutoCAD Architecture version was written for 2007 (there is one written for 3.3, called Autodesk Architectural Desktop - An Advanced Implementation Guide, that you would not want to get at this point), so it will not cover annotative scaling, but most of the implementation issues are the same between 2007 and 2008. No update is planned for 2008.

[mpednault]

hmmm, thanks for that dkoch. we upgraded from ADT 3.3 to Architecture 2008. Maybe AutoCAD Architecture - An Advanced Implementation Guide is a better book for us.