Howdy-diddly-doody!

[demonspawn]

Hi all, just joined and thought I'd pop in here and say hello.

HELLO! *Waves*

Now, a chance for me to babble on a bit about me own self.

I hail from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

I'm into graphics as a hobby, although I do mechanical design for a living. I have the good fortune to use photoshop at work from time to time which got me into using it at home.

I started off using GIMP, but now I have PS CS3 I ain't going back to it... Except for the tutorials I'm writing to help a few friends out on one of the forums I frequent. Basically I started off trying my hand at a siggy or two and then got interested in creating artwork... I got interested but noticed that I was bereft of any talent whatsoever in this field But that doesn't stop me trying.

Anyway enough of that. I'll bugger off now

[iDesign]

Why hello there =) Welcome to tS, I hope you like it here.

[xcessive]

Hello, welcome to tS!

[Anecdote]

Welcome to tS, this is the place to learn and develop your skills.

[`elli]

Diddly doodly diddly doo, neighbor-oo! Welcome to tS! :D

[Blind]

Welcome to Ts bud.
Hope you enjoy yourself here.

[yilduz]

Welcome to tS.

You say you do mechanical design for a living? I went to school for it, but didn't finish and found more interest in networking and programming. What exactly do you do? One of my favorite things about mechanical design was using the really cool software like Catia, Inventor, Solidworks, etc...

[demonspawn]

Thanks for the welcome guys

Yilduz,

I currently use Inventor 2008 and was largely self-taught as I have, more-or-less, insinuated myself into the role of designer. I started off as a bog-standard shop-floor worker then due to past experience got myself a job as Installation manager. During times when my work was on the ebb, I sat in the office just trying to design brackets for the installations I was working on, following the basic tutorials which are part of the package. My manager was suitably impressed and encouraged me to persue the self teaching. It is only recently that I have actually been sent on an official training course... Not bad really as I only had to wait 18 months.

I also have to work with Solid Edge (Not to be confused with Solidworks) and AutoCAD... Which I hate with a passion!!!

[Sayf Udeen Ismael]

Hello demonspawn.
I like your signature.

[demonspawn]

It's not so much a signature, more a scarily accurate description of me

[yilduz]

Apr 20, 2009 3:06:17 GMT -5 demonspawn said:

Thanks for the welcome guys

Yilduz,

I currently use Inventor 2008 and was largely self-taught as I have, more-or-less, insinuated myself into the role of designer. I started off as a bog-standard shop-floor worker then due to past experience got myself a job as Installation manager. During times when my work was on the ebb, I sat in the office just trying to design brackets for the installations I was working on, following the basic tutorials which are part of the package. My manager was suitably impressed and encouraged me to persue the self teaching. It is only recently that I have actually been sent on an official training course... Not bad really as I only had to wait 18 months.

I also have to work with Solid Edge (Not to be confused with Solidworks) and AutoCAD... Which I hate with a passion!!!

That's cool. I've actually heard of a lot of people getting mechanical design, or even engineering, jobs in a similar way, without really going to college for it.

I've never used (or even heard of) Solid Edge, but I've used AutoCAD a lot. Why do you hate AutoCAD? It's not that bad, I've used quite a few programs that are far worse.

[demonspawn]

Well, it's not quite that I didn't go to college for it. I did a 5 year apprenticeship in electrical and mechanical engineering then worked as a time-served Fitter for 8 years... It was that background which got me the job. The 'Hands-on' experience and knowledge of the procedures in fabrication. But, I have noticed that it doesn't matter how good at design you are if you haven't got a basic grasp of engineering.

For example I used to work at a Testing Station for the development of High Voltage equipment and it is surprising how many designers don't realise you need to put things together using tools, as they sometimes forgot to allow for the extra space.

As to why I hate AutoCAD... I just think that with the abundance of 3D design software out there like Inventor and Solidworks, it should be rendered obsolete. It is just far too complicated. Why use something where you have to construct the 'wire frame' when you can create the solid model in half the time or quicker.


Jeez I can't half waffle on when I get started

[yilduz]

Apr 20, 2009 14:02:15 GMT -5 demonspawn said:

Well, it's not quite that I didn't go to college for it. I did a 5 year apprenticeship in electrical and mechanical engineering then worked as a time-served Fitter for 8 years... It was that background which got me the job. The 'Hands-on' experience and knowledge of the procedures in fabrication. But, I have noticed that it doesn't matter how good at design you are if you haven't got a basic grasp of engineering.

For example I used to work at a Testing Station for the development of High Voltage equipment and it is surprising how many designers don't realise you need to put things together using tools, as they sometimes forgot to allow for the extra space.

As to why I hate AutoCAD... I just think that with the abundance of 3D design software out there like Inventor and Solidworks, it should be rendered obsolete. It is just far too complicated. Why use something where you have to construct the 'wire frame' when you can create the solid model in half the time or quicker.


Jeez I can't half waffle on when I get started

Well, it seems you have quite a lot of experience, that's really cool. All I have is a couple of certificates from a tech school.
It's not anything I'll likely be pursuing, though, so I guess my lack of experience doesn't matter much.

I can understand what you mean about AutoCAD. Although I never hated it, I always much preferred to use the other programs. They were always so much more fun, and because my instructors at the tech school and college were a bit older, they had little-to-no experience with any of them. I was usually very good at everything they were trying to teach us. I always had a very good understanding of what we did, I learn fast, and I always managed to meet or exceed my instructors expectations in much less time than it took most of my classmates. For all the reasons listed in this paragraph, I often finished my work very quickly and got to play around with the programs like Inventor, Catia, Solidworks, etc (which were never a part of our coursework at the time). My instructors were trying to learn the programs at the same time as me, and I always found it amusing that they'd come to me and ask me questions about them.

As far as what you mentioned about people being great at design, but not having a great grasp of engineering - I'm the opposite. That's the main reason I'm not following that career path anymore. I've done everything I could to try to improve my design skills, but I guess I just don't have "it." In high school, the tech school, and college, I've taken a ridiculous number of drafting/design classes, art classes, etc, (and even practiced a lot on my own) and I always manage to grasp basic concepts and skills, but it's always too basic. I'm great on the technical side, but not on the design side. I think that's why I started leaning more towards coding. It's the structure, the technical side of a website/program/whatever, but I don't worry about design as much.

[Rubber Ducky]

Hi demonspawn! Welcome

[[T]wlžTïd]

hey man welcom to TS!