Free AutoCAD 2012

[DroopyPawn]

I just downloaded AutoCAD 2012 for free!

Autodesk Education Community

I figured that for free, I would take a look at the $4k program.

I created an account as a teacher and went to the download page. As far as I can tell, it's the full program. There was a list of about 20 programs I could download for free. I just got the main AutoCAD 2012 program for now. Maybe later I'll get some of the other stuff too.

[Al_The_Man]

Most likely you will find it will time out some time in the future.
Some Educational versions of S/W can last up to 1 year.
Al.

[DroopyPawn]

I'm pretty sure it's a perpetual license. Either way, it's a pretty good deal.

Still, I find that, at this point, I still like eMachineshop's free software better for drawing my parts. It's just simple. If I want to draw/move a line, arc, or whatever, I just grab it and move it. The pieces snaps to special points like endpoints and midpoints of other pieces. If I don't like where it snapped to, I can directly enter the coordinates or length or diameter. And with the click of a single button, I can get a 3D view of my part.

AutoCAD just seems so complicated.

[DroopyPawn]

It took me less than five minutes to create this in eMachineshop. I'm not even sure I could do it in AutoCAD.

[DroopyPawn]

Looks like the academic license is for 3 years. Guess I can get the newest version at that time.

[ger21]

If I want to draw/move a line, arc, or whatever, I just grab it and move it. The pieces snaps to special points like endpoints and midpoints of other pieces. If I don't like where it snapped to, I can directly enter the coordinates or length or diameter. And with the click of a single button, I can get a 3D view of my part.

You can do all that in AutoCAD.
F3 to turn on snaps, Shift+Right Click to choose different snaps, or access the snap settings.

Select a line, and right click and choose move from the menu, or type M and enter to move.

AutoCAD just seems so complicated.

That's because it's so powerful. The downside is that it can take years to master. But someone that knows what they're doing can teach you a lot of what you need to be proficient in a few hours.

[endurocnc]

If you are not very good with acad turn your grips on & it works like most windows program. Grab the grip & move it, you also can right click on the grip & get more commands.

[DroopyPawn]

How do you turn on grips?

I'm going to see an AutoCAD guru (wife's uncle) today for a free lesson.

[ger21]

Grips should be on by default. Type GRIPS, and enter 1 to turn them on, 0 to turn them off.

[russell2]

Try starting with the tutorial here:
Autodesk - Training - Tutorial 1: Getting Started with the Basics in AutoCAD 2011

Russell.

[jeff 888]

Most the licenses on there are one year but you can renew it for a few years then you have to upgrade versions. They are EDU copies so you have can not use them for industrial purposes and the drawings will have water marks on them. I have been a member of the site for the past 6 years or so. (Or at least that is how it is for students)

[SPEEDRE]

I downloaded this free Auto Cad software but, as I tried to open it I got a window that stated, my graphics card was not supported. I don't know what my card is but it's good enough for SolidWorks and Sketch Up. Are there emulators for this or other solutions to graphic card support?