Welcome

- [Jeanne] Hi, my name is Jeanne Aarhus. Again, let me welcome you to the other side of CAD. At this point, I hope you're feeling a little more comfortable using the MicroStation environment. If you have already completed the exercises in the introductory course, then you are ready to move on to the intermediate topics provided in this course. The exercises in this course continue to cover more of the MicroStation differences from the AutoCAD perspective. And you will discover more of what makes them different, yet similar.

For this course I'm focusing on the current releases of both CAD applications, MicroStation V8i, and AutoCAD release 2018. First and foremost, remember, that no two CAD applications are exactly alike. As this technology progresses, and the Windows environment influences just about every aspect of our life, MicroStation and AutoCAD are becoming more and more similar. However, I can't lie, they are still very different in many ways, especially in the design and usage. My goal is to help you make this transition as seamlessly as possible.

During this course we will learn the differences and understand the limitations, and hopefully use your AutoCAD knowledge and content in MicroStation. So relax and let's continue this adventure. One of the first barriers for AutoCAD users is the language barrier. I have delivered a document with exercise files located here that compares the AutoCAD to MicroStation commands. This should help you to learn this new language. And throughout this course, I will continue to compare the two CAD applications so that you can use your current AutoCAD knowledge to simplify this entire process.

I also provide AutoCAD command comparisons throughout the course to highlight important information related specifically to the AutoCAD user to help them become more productive using MicroStation. These comparisons will fly in at appropriate times and fly back out when I need you to concentrate on the screen activity. I know many of these command comparisons are longer than I give you time to read. But not everyone will want to read all this information. So if you do want to read all the information for each command comparison, just pause the video to read as needed and proceed through the videos at your own pace.

Tips are also provided throughout the course to provide information and reminders that will keep you on track and help you through the process of completing the exercises. So let's get started with this course using MicroStation V8i. As an AutoCAD user myself, I can assure you that MicroStation offers many tools that you will recognize and even offer some I like better than AutoCAD.