Books for Autocad Architecture

[Anonymous]

I am new to using Autocad Architecture, and I am wondering about 2 things.

1. Who still uses Autocad Architecture for 3d/BIM type work, since Revit is so popular now? is there a particualr sector of the industry that prefers the program over REVIT?

2. Where can I find a comprehensive (not beginner-level) book for recent versions of ACA?

Thanks!

[MarySeufert]

1. Revit's popularity could be argued... More like it is the program being pushed more by resellers since they get more training dollars as a result. I prefer ACA over Revit for a lot of reasons. I work in dirt as well as walls, so I switch back and forth between Civil3D and ACA all day long. And the drawings are shared seamlessly on both sides. If I switched to Revit, there is a harder workflow.
2. Probably the most comprehensive is Aubin's Mastering AutoCAD Architecture 2010. Less comprehensive but updated yearly are Moss's ACA 20XX Fundamentals.

[David_W_Koch · Accepted solution]

FWIW, there is a 2011 edition of Paul Aubin's book, under the name The Aubin Academy Master Series: AutoCAD Architecture 2011.  Unfortunately, the economics of book publishing and trends in book purchasing make it difficult to produce annual updates for many software titles.

Full disclosure:  I did help in the production of the 2010 and 2011 editions of the mentioned books, and was compensated for my efforts.

[ntellery]

Don't forget the help menu which has a tutorial running through ACA. It got a major overhaul a few years back and actually became 'helpful' and is well worth looking at.

After books there is heaps of great info via blogs.

Archidigm has been an absolute gem with lots of free tips and with a small price for content gives you heaps of extra learning.  http://www.archidigm.com/  His free development guide is excellant resource.  http://www.archidigm.com/classroom/adt_4_development_guide/adt_5_dg_cover.htm

David's blog has heaps of great info.  http://architects-desktop.blogspot.com.au/  esp. on schedules.

CADCLIPs left behind some video's for ACA for free. http://adt.blogspot.com.au/

type ' autocad architecture ' into youtube and you till get heaps of great lessons.

On your Q's.  There is still a lot of users of ACA / ADT out there but Adesk and resellers are pushing Revit. My local industry is using ArchiCAD over Revit. The interactivety with other users of vanilla autocad makes some stick with an autocad based product. ACA has not changed much except in interface over the last 10 releases and so older books will teach you most of what you need to know.  Blog articles have been great at bringing you up to speed with the latest tools as the same tools have moved from toolbars to palletes to the ribbon but they are still much the same tools.  ie. the ADT(200)4 dev guide above is still very usefull in understanding ACA.

Good luck.