The Mastering book series is designed with specific users in mind. In the case of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012, we expect you’ll have some knowledge of AutoCAD in general and some basic engineering knowledge as well. A basic understanding of AutoCAD Civil 3D will be helpful, although there are explanations and examples to please everyone. We expect this book should appeal to a large number of AutoCAD Civil 3D users, but we envision a few primary users:
Beginning Users Looking to Make the Move to Using AutoCAD Civil 3D These people understand AutoCAD and some basics of engineering, but they are looking to learn AutoCAD Civil 3D on their own, broadening their skill set to make themselves more valuable in their firms and in the market.
AutoCAD Civil 3D Users Looking for a Desktop Reference With the digitization of the official help files, many users still long for a book they can flip open and keep beside them as they work. These people should be able to jump to the information they need for the task at hand, such as further information about a confusing dialog or troublesome design issue.
Users Looking to Prepare for the Autodesk Certification Exams This book focuses on the elements you need to pass the Associate and Professional exams with flying colors, and includes margin icons to note topics of interest. Just look for the icon.
Classroom Instructors Looking for Better Materials This book was written with real data from real design firms. We’ve worked hard to make many of the examples match the real-world problems we have run into as engineers. This book also goes into greater depth than many basic texts, allowing short classes to review the basics and leave the in-depth material for self-discovery, while longer classes can cover the full material presented.
This book can be used front-to-back as a self-teaching or instructor-based instruction manual. Each chapter has a number of exercises and most (but not all) build on the previous exercise. You can also skip to almost any exercise in any chapter and jump right in. We’ve created a large number of drawing files that you can download from www.sybex.com/go/masteringcivil3d2012 to make choosing your exercises a simple task.