New book for AutoCAD MEP 2010

[tobysmith]

Are you looking for additional resources to learn AutoCAD MEP?

Paul Aubin (author of several books for Autodesk products) has just created a new book titled, “Mastering AutoCAD MEP 2010”. Paul wrote this book in conjunction with current and former Autodesk employees. Here’s the link for the book on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-AutoCAD-2010-Paul-Aubin/dp/1439057664/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259710063&sr=8-1

Product Description
MASTERING AUTOCAD® MEP 2010 is the ideal book to provide readers with the skills needed to create construction documents with AutoCAD MEP that are reflective of industry standards and expectations. This book focuses on the rationale and practicality of the AutoCAD MEP process and emphasizes the process of creating projects in MEP, rather than a series of independent commands and tools. Tools are introduced together in a focused process, with a strong emphasis on "why" as well as "how". Both the book and the exercises will provide readers with a clear sense of the value of the tools and a clear indication of each tool's potential. MASTERING AUTOCAD 2010 MEP is a resource designed to shorten readers' learning curve, raise their comfort level and, most importantly, give them real life tested practical advice on using the software to create mechanical, electrical and plumbing designs and calculations.
If you’re at Autodesk University this year, Paul and the rest of the authors are also presenting an “Ask the Experts” session.

Regards,

Toby Smith, PE, LEED AP
AutoCAD MEP Product Manager

[jsd1]

Do you know when it will be released?

[Kayrondad]

there was an error on the pages that slowed the release.....should be soon, prob. beginning of year from what i understand.

[tobysmith]

You may try the Delmar Cengage Learning site: http://academic.cengage.com/cengage/instructor.do?disciplinenumber=233&product_isbn=9781439057667&courseid=&codeid=&subTab=Overview&mainTab=&mailFlag=true&topicName=Search%20Results&filter=Book&type=keyword_all&keyword_all=MEP&pageno=1

They had the book available for purchase and shipping this week at our Autodesk University conference this week in Las Vegas.

Toby

[Anonymous]

wrote
> the rest of the authors

One of whom is Martin Schmid, frequent contributor to this group, I notice.

[alan.skipper]

Release date just in time for 2011 then!

[ElSid1]

Did I miss the online video for the "Ask the Expert Session"?
Also, I just ordered the book online through Barnes and Noble. Everyone gets member pricing for a while ... ergo $60 with shipping. Ships out on 12/30/09

[Kayrondad]

the book is only $48.20 including shipping via Amazon.com.....

[ElSid1]

RATS ... forgot to check Amazon. Wife has gift card to boot!
Amazon can deliver before x-mas (apparently)
BN shipps 12/30/09 ... Time to cancel BN order!

[jcleghorn]

Just when I thought of cancelling my pre-order, the book shipped yesterday from Amazon.

[Martin__Schmid]

Guilty as charged 🙂

[Martin__Schmid]

Yeah, who knew it took so long to write a book?!

[ElSid1]

You may not have wanted to admit that. Now we all know whom to ask questions too :). Looking forward to the book. Hope it explains the setup and how to modify portions. That has been my achilles heel.

[alan.skipper]

I have just taken delivery of "Mastering AutoCAD 2010 (Just in time for 2011) MEP": At this point I must add that I am one of many U.K. customers and I haven't started on the book yet.

I have however opened the book and the first thing that happened was that pages fell out as I turned them; which leaves me wondering what type of glue was used for the binding.

Secondly I note that the exercises use imperial measurements with no metric alternative. Now I do realise and except the U.S. uses the imperial system; however the rest of the world uses imperial. It would have been nice to have metric alternatives like many of the other books "Mastering AutoCAD 2010" for instance.

I shall now attempt to work through the exercises on the CD (after I've stuck the pages back in); I'm assuming that there is no point in me converting the units to metric as the files on the CD will all have been created using feet and inches.

On the whole disappointing at this stage; I hope I haven't wasted my money again.

Regards

Skipper

[Paul_F_Aubin]

Hi Skipper:

Paul Aubin here. Thanks for buying the book. I am sorry to hear about the issue with the pages. I am certain that you just got a bad copy as none of the ones I have seen have had this problem. If you want to drop me a line personally with your contact information, I will have the publisher send you a replacement right away. You can visit my web page at www.paulaubin.com click the contact link and send me an email.

As for metric, my appologies for not including metric in this edition. I do include metric in many of my other titles. we are considering expanding and including metric for future editions, but I have no established timeframe for this as of yet. I will say that while it might not be ideal for you to work through the exercises in imperial units, none of the content in the book is strickly dependent on units. So I think you will find that other than the discomfort of knowing you are working in the imperial system, you will still be able to learn the tools and concepts of using AutoCAD MEP with the book quite well.

Please feel free to send any additional comments you have either here on the forum or to me directly via my site. Thanks again and I hope you find the rest of your experiences with the book enjoyable.

[ElSid1]

You could use the tutorials that are downloadable from Autocad website. They are all in metric. Problem I've had is with set up, hope this book answers those questions.

[gregg.stanley]

Gregg Stanley here, sorry to hear about the Quality issues you have with the printed copy. I do want to point out that the book have many pages dedicated to teaching you to understand the application and why it works in a certain way. We also provide notes and tips throughout the book to further explain the feature being discussed. Even without running the step by step tuturials with the dataset I hope you find the book explains how AME works and more importantly why.

Gregg Stanley [Autodesk]

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

Hi, the book looks very interesting (apart from the Imperial units)

I'm looking for a comprehensive guide to the following topics:

1. display manager
2. style manager
3. schedules
4. project navigator
5. content creation
6. customisation / productivity

Although I'm MEP myself, would I be better served with this book or with the corresponding Architecture book? Or what?

I've seen a contents list for the MEP book, with some very promising headings, but can't see if a topic is 5 pages or 50.

[gregg.stanley]

Thank you for the question and as expected the answer is not that cut and dry since many of these topics are intertwined throughout the book.

The items listed:

1. display manager
2. style manager
3. schedules
4. project navigator
5. content creation
6. customisation / productivity

Display Manager has a complete chapter that covers how it works and why as well as being covered in discipline specific chapters. I think I wrote a comprehensive chapter and feel that I covered the how and why of the Display system.

Style Manager is a generic topic, what are you looking for? we cover the styles stored in Style Manager with explanations and tips throughout the book. If you can be more specific, i can also. 🙂

Schedules are a ACA feature using Property sets, we do have information in the book, but not as extensive as you may want to MEP.

Project Navigator is used throughout the book and is covered.

Content Creation is covered in several chapters, Style Based, Block Based and Parametric based content creation is covered. We explain the whys in with the how.

Customization / Productivity, the book covers best practices and we really tried to explain why you want to do something not just these are the steps that are needed. These notes, tips and tricks are throughout the book. Darryl, Martin, Paul and I really tried to add insight whenever possible.

Overall, the book has been well received and we hope provides the information that you all have been looking for about AutoCAD MEP. Even with 700 pages, we did not cover 100% of the book, but we hope that we covered the most important information.

We are beginning to plan the update and welcome and comments or requests to be added to the updated addition.

I hope this answers your questions, if you need more information, let us know.

Would it be beneficial if we posted additional content so you could use the Imperial version? (Catalog parts, templates, etc)

Thank you

Gregg Stanley [Autodesk]

[Paul_F_Aubin]

Paul here again.

So to add to Gregg's very complete answer, let me offer the following:

1. display manager - This is Chapter 11 in Mastering MEP and Chapter 2 in Mastering Architecture. For MEP, I think Gregg's chapter in MEP is a better fit. For a more generic overview, look to the Architecture book.

2. style manager - As Gregg said, we don't dedicate a chapter to this, but cover it in several places wherever we talk about styles. In the Architecture book, it is also covered in chapter 2 as its own topic (about 10 - 15 pages) and then throughout as appropriate.

3. schedules - Martin covered this in Chapter 14 along with annotation and other related topics. There is also a dedicated chapter in ACA for this as well, chatper 15. The examples in ACA are architectural only, but overall the concepts apply to both. Here again, the MEP book covers the specifics for MEP such as classification usage for schedules.

4. project navigator - Chapter 3 in MEP, Chapter 5 in ACA and then throughout both books. The dataset for most chapters is conduccted in project navigator. Chapter 3 in the MEP book covers many scenarios of using PN in MEP firms including what to do when the Architect is not in PN or is outside the firm.

5. content creation - As Gregg mentioned, we have 3 whole chapters for this. Chatper 8, 9 and 10.

6. customisation / productivity - Most chapters begin with necessary setup and configuration. For example, Darryl went extenisively into setup issues for HVAC in the first half of Chapter 4. Each of us talked about relavant setup and customization where appropriate. However, this is all done "inline" with other lessons. In otherwords, you won't find a "customization" chapter, rather, customization and setup is covered in nearly every chapter.

In general, if you use MEP, the MEP book is the way to go. The Architecture book would provide a nice supplement, but if you only have budget for one book, get the MEP book first.

you can learn more about each book here:
MEP
http://www.paulaubin.com/mastering_autocad_mep_2010.php
ACA
http://www.paulaubin.com/mastering_autocad_arch_2010.php

Hope that helps.

Thanks!