Issues wtih "Assembly Sample.dwg" provided with AutoCAD

[joseph.dunfee805577]

I am a new instructor for a CADD program at a technical college. So, I now finding myself looking at things from a different perspective. At the moment, I am looking at one of the drawings that AutoCAD installs as an example, "Assembly Sample.dwg".

Immediately I started noticing things that made me feel it is not a good sample drawing to provide. First I noticed that the Bubbles calling out parts was using different colors. Why would the circle be red, and the text black? The last time I saw that type of approach, was in the pen plotter days with AutoCAD v10 in the late 1980's. For younger folks, you would choose the color based on your intended thickness for the line. Then that color would later be assigned to a specific physical pen.

Next is the fact that object colors are set at the entity level, not at the layers. And everything is exploded. The bubble is not a block, the leader is a line and a separate 2D solid making the arrow. Finally, the drawing itself looks like a poor export from another program. (look at the edges of the bends in the sheet metal parts)

Surely, the students will be examining this sample drawing, and would reasonably assume this was a good example of how to use AutoCAD. Not only is this a BAD example of how to do things, it looks like it wasn't even done in AutoCAD!

At first I was going to write this message to ask if perhaps I was misjudging this drawing, in anticipating of an explanation of why colors should be set by entity, etc. But, the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous the drawing seemed as an example. So, the message turned into a rant.

I am planning to tell the students that the examples from Autodesk are bad examples.

-Joe

[remi678731]

Hi
Try Rick Ellis book at CADAPULT

[joseph.dunfee805577]

Does he address the issue of the sample AutoCAD drawings in some way?

[remi678731]

HI
Not that I have seen he supplies all new dwg to go with his lessons

[tedg]

Reading what you described on how that sample drawing is made up, I would also be concerned of using that as an example.
I've seen similar drawing files that were exported from other programs, usually from a vendor you download, never good.

You are on the correct path of teaching students to use AutoCAD properly in my opinion.
Layers: colors and linetypes ByLayer, use Mleaders and blocks with attributes, all the great built-in stuff AutoCAD gives you.

Layouts (PS) with titleblocks and proper viewports, geometry in model space drawn to real size and annotated properly, all that great stuff!

I would use that sample as what NOT to do, maybe show an example by plotting it using a CTB (and the layer colors are set properly).
Or maybe as an xref where you can't control the layer colors because they are over-ridden.

HTH

[Ed Jobe]

It sounds like you are designing your own lessons. If so, you may want to approach local architects and ask for some samples. You will still need to QC them though. My daughter worked for an architect for a while, and she was always having to fix other's work. But it's a start. Every worker is at a different level and mistakes creep in. So choose your samples so that they illustrate the lesson you are trying to teach. In that case, as Ted mentioned, maybe a bad example is a good one for teaching what not to do.