YDS and CAD courses

[urisvan]

hello,
I will finish naval architecture but i am unable to use CAD effectively.
For that reason i want to attend a CAD course.
Do you suggest YDS CAD course? The news and students' projects are old. If you enter their ste you will see that they didn't updated their site for a long time. This worried me a little bit. However, the content of the course looks good. What do you know about this school and the course? Is it a prestijious course?
http://www.macnaughtongroup.com/cadcourse.htm

Or would you recommend another one.

regards
Ulas

[Scott Carter]

Hi Ulas,
I'm curious, what Naval Architecture school are you able to get through without the use of CAD? I really assumed that CAD was the standard worldwide.
I would recommend that you try some online tutorials first (there are lots of free ones to choose from, just Google it), then get an idea if CAD is something that comes easily to you. It's not complicated, you just have to get used to the terminology and your CAD program menu structure (though many of them are modeled after the industry standard AutoCAD).
Good luck,
Scott

p.s. There are ways of getting trial versions of just about any CAD program, including AutoCAD. That's the way I would go first.

[DavidJ]

I agree with Mr.Carter. Try to get your hands on some trial software and tutorials. If you have an engineering mindset and understand how to read drawings you will pick it up pretty quickly. After that if you get a job at a design firm you will pick up the cad pretty quick.

Almost every community college in North America offers cad courses. Those would be a good option.

I'm also surprised that you wouldn't learn CAD while doing any engineering program let alone Naval Architecture.

[pamarine]

Aside from the surprise at it not being covered in your school, most firms will be able to provide you training via their CAD Reseller. This would be better than a generic course as it would teach you how to best use the specific package you would be using for work.

[Michael Chudy]

Rhino is the only CAD program that MacNaughton teaches. It may not be the best application for you. Many offices use other programs, such as Autocad, Solidworks, Catia, etc. At Moose Island Design we are very happy with Rhino as our primary 3D and 2D Cad program. But it is not yet the standard in the industry. You may be well advised to get a grounding in AutoCad. From there you can branch out to other programs that a potential employer prefers. As much as I hate to say it, AutoCad is still the primary program in use in the industry. From my experience, good employers are most interested in what you know, not what Cad program you can use. Cad is something that anyone can learn in a very short time. Boat design knowledge is much harder to come by.
Michael