PowerCadd learning

[Yodarick]

It was 50 years ago this fall that I first sat down at a drawing board and began my carrier as an architectural technician and 24 yrs ago when I first used Power Draw on a Mac Ci with a 12' monitor. A lot has change in these years but one thing that has not is that I continue to learn in my 70th year.

I had been aware of the "edit group" tool in PC but I had not realized how down right useful it is. This year it has change the way I work in PC and made me that more efficient.

It started by creating key commands "control G" to edit the group and "control option G" to un-edit. BTW I live by key commands and use an old full size keyboard. What I really like is it isolates the group so that it is all I am seeing on my screen but some might say what if I need to line something up or reference to something that is not in the group, I copy and paste whatever I need insert it into the group then delete it before exiting. This all gives me much more control over the elements in my drawings, I never draw anything twice, so copy, paste, scale, flip whatever the group. Instead of selecting and sometimes deleting various elements in a drawing when working on something else everything is grouped as required. Also with the key commands I can go in and out of the group fast, the trick with key commands is to have them all left handed while the right hand is on the mouse.

There is one other essential tool, Fence Cut using it in the Snapshot mode. A quick and easy way to take a reference from one sheet to another ie: take a snap shot of a plan wall with window and door openings, paste it to the elevation sheet > group > (scale and rotate as required) > align as required and there are your reference points. I will also change the colour and line weights to make is easier to see.

I am blessed to have a very talented client for whom I do all his construction documentation drawings, he has told me that I am not allowed to retire which is fine with me. PowerCadd is an amazing tool if one take the time to learn, the problem is most people will not devote the time, the same applies to my other tool SketchUp. There are two young fellows working for my client, they come from AutoCadd back grounds and want to use it because "everyone else does" that is like saying I am only going to use a Windows computer because they have most of the market. The truth is they are unwilling to learn new and what I consider to be much more efficient ways of working, read the manuals, watch the Youtube videos etc. embrace life long learning it's a trip that never ends, it is an investment that I continue to make in myself.

I want to use the best tools available for what I do, the latest iMac, PowerCadd and SketchUp (which I can seamlessly go back and forth between via .dwg).

I look forward to PowerCadd's new growth and future.