Managing Autocad in the Design Firm: A Manual for Architects and Interior Designers

Effective management - not technical wizardry - is the key to maximizing the benefits of AutoCAD. In Managing AutoCAD in the Design Firm, Karen Vagts, a trained interior designer with a graduate degree in management, guides you through a careful examination of the issues involved in successfully implementing AutoCAD in your design practice. Managing AutoCAD in the Design Firm focuses on the relationship between CAD and the specific standards and procedures that architects, interior designers, and other members of the architecture/design community apply in their normal practice includes a user-friendly, comprehensive discussion of configuring and customizing AutoCAD for design offices and guidelines for incorporating AutoCAD into the design process; presents a detailed analysis of the specific uses of AutoCAD in architecture and interior design, including: ADA compliance, area takeoffs, government work, historic preservation, international projects, desktop publishing with AutoCAD, and 3-D modeling; provides hard-to-find information on the impact of AutoCAD on crucial management issues like project scheduling, design fees, marketing, liability, copyright protection, and personnel policies; formulates guidelines for AutoCAD administration and the management of AutoCAD data; and includes a valuable glossary and an extensive guide to AutoCAD resources. Managing AutoCAD in the Design Firm provides you with a practical general framework for incorporating AutoCAD, or any CAD program, productively and profitably into the overall design process.

This is an essential reference for architects, interior designers, project managers, and other members of the architecture/interior design community who use AutoCAD to produce design and construction drawings, specifications, and related documents. Karen A. Vagts demonstrates, step-by-step, how to incorporate AutoCAD effectively and profitably into the overall design process.