My Top Five CAD Forums – in order of personal preference.
[Edit: Thanks very much to R.K McSwain of Cadpanacea.com who promoted me to update this post on CAD Forums (See the comments!) ]
1. The Autodesk Discussion groups
The Autodesk discussion group CAD Forums are HUGE.
The big advantage is that Autodesk staff ‘Lurk’ the forums and can occasionally be tempted out to answer a particularly interesting question. If you want answers straight from the Horse’s mouth – this is the place to visit.
[Edit: I moved the Autodesk forums from position 2 to position 1 – I am one of the Expert Elites that R.K Mentions in his comments. The EE initiative has worked really well. I’ve never seen the forums so active :) ]
1. CADtutor
A UK Based forum with international support, concentrating on Autocad but slowly growing to cover Inventor and Revit.
The most friendly and helpful bunch I’ve met on the web. This is a very good place for Newbies to ask questions.
You can find me under the Handle ‘Pablo Ferral’ (It seemed like a good idea when I joined up – many years ago!).
3. MCADforums SmackTalk
These CAD Forums are focused on Parametric modellers such as Autodesk Inventor and Solidworks. They were set up by Sean Dotson and have become a very good place for Inventor specific questions.
[Edit: Sadly MCADforums is no more :( … However, It has been replaced by the Solidsmack Talk site, Click on this link to check it out!]
4. The AUGI Forums
A.U.G.I (The ‘Autodesk User group international’) is the official Autodesk endorsed User group for all of the Autodesk products.
There a friendly people from all over the world ready to help you out, although the bulk of people are Northern American. AUGI is also the home of the AUGI Training program and the AUGI CAD Camps.
[Edit: I moved this down from position 3 to position 4 because the AUGI forums that I’ve always follow have become quieter in recent years. Sadly the ATP and the AUGI CAD camps are no more :( ]
5. The Swamp
The Swamp is the place where all the really hard core CAD programming Geeks hang out!
If you are new to AutoLisp, VisualLisp, VB.net, C++ or ObjectARX programming for Autocad – try the Autodesk discussion groups or AUGI programming forums! If you get really stuck – take a wade through the Swamp.
If you want more ideas of where to get help with your CAD problems – check out the CAD Setter Out’s ‘Help’ Page.
Do you know a good CAD forum that is not on my list? Why not leave a comment with a link to your favourite forum.