Yacht Design Quesitons

[Parker]

"I would fix the typo in the title but the EDIT feature won't let me edit the title"

I have been doing some research on at home yacht design distance learning programs and I am most likely going to be signing up wtih YDS. I don't have the financial means to commit to Westlawn's program. Being able to pay for each lesson individually with no long term commitment through YDS is going to really make it possible for me to do this.

I have read the archives but there doesn't seem to be too much information from YDS students. Are there any YDS students that could give a short post on their experience with YDS? I know that Westlawn is much more known in the industry but what about the quality level of education that YDS provides. Is it on par with Westlawn?

With respect to manual drafting vs CAD I am thinking about learning CAD right from the start. I don't have any drafting equipment and would rather invest that money into learning CAD. I have downloaded a trial version of Rhino and have done the tutorials that are included in the software. There where only 3, learning the basic commands, drawing a "flashlight" and a "rubber duck". My only CAD experience is in Autocad. I can all ready tell that I am going to really enjoy using Rhino.

The tutorials seemed very basic/limiting. Does anyone know of other free rhino tutorials that I can do? Right now I am just trying to build a basic foundation of knowledge in Rhino.

I have also purchased and am starting to read the first four books recommended by YDS for lessons 1 and 2.

I am hoping with some basic yacht design and CAD knowledge I will be able to complete the YDS rhino yacht design CAD course and then start in on the YDS lessons using CAD from the start.

It seems that most people recommend learning how to manual draft first then transition into CAD. Is it really that much better to do it this way? What do you guys think of trying to learn and use CAD right from the start?

Any help, opinions, guidance etc... on how to go about learning yacht design would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Raggi_Thor]

My feeling is that it's important to train your sketching ability with paper and pencil, make a rough outline with some hydrostatic estimates, and then do the detailed work in Rhino.

Here is a Rhino tutorial I like:
http://www.rhinocentre.nl/pdf_bestan...Rhinoceros.pdf

[chandler]

Raggi
Are you still in involved with YDS? Are you still happy with it?

[Raggi_Thor]

Well, I have been to busy to submit anything :|
But the materials I received looks OK.

[nbehr]

Yacht design is something I want to get into myself and was questioning the reputation of the distance programs out there. Is the distance thing the way to go? And what is YDS?

Thanks,
Nate

[Ike]

http://www.macnaughtongroup.com/school.htm Yacht Design School