I have had a crazy couple of months slogging through some big projects and trying to make some big changes in my personal and professional lives, so I haven’t been “sharpening my saw” as much as I should be.

So today I went to check out the current and upcoming AUGI (Autodesk Users Group International) ATP (AUGI Training Program) classes.

I never knew about these classes until about a year ago, and boy was I upset that I had missed them before! Think of all of those days when I was struggling to learn Land Desktop on my own, or really needed an AutoCAD skills upgrade and could never find “that perfect book” to help me… but the “Help” menu wasn’t specific enough. Or real enough.

AUGI is free to join- just go to http://www.augi.com/ and follow the instructions on how to join.

Every time I get asked “How Can I Learn More About…” I always recommend checking out the AUGI ATP. More timely, more specific and more human that any book out there.

Then follow the links to Education and AUGI ATP.

These classes are FREE! Here is how it works- during the month that the class is “live” there is an instructor that meters out tutorials, data files and lessons. S/he is available to answer your questions and get the class moving in the right direction. Even if you don’t have time to participate actively in the class, you can just download the lesson documents (usually .pdfs) and skim through.

If you miss the “live” class, you can download the archived class materials. I usually go through every few months and download anything even remotely interesting. Then I put the .pdfs in an ATP folder that I reach for whenever I have a few minutes, or need to learn something special. Most recently, I dug in for all of the ATP files I had on Sheet Sets. They really helped me prepare.

It is easy as Civil 3D people to bury our heads in Civil 3D and forget that we are working in an AutoCAD environment. ATP are a great way to brush up on AutoCAD skills, Map skills, as well as learn Civil 3D tasks.

You get access to some “celebrity” instructors, too! Melanie Perry, Danny Counts, and Melanie Santer (amoungst MANY others) have been known to teach AUGI ATP.

Here are some upcoming ATP you will want to check out:

ATP156 From the Inside Looking Out

Tackling common problems when working with files created by other companies.

Instructor: Melanie Perry

ATP157 Think 3D with AutoCAD

An open invitation for taking a safe dive into 3D uncharted water. I wish to invite those who are still sitting on the bank of 2D and happily…. unhappy with the depth of 3D water. Open for

Instructor: Mohmed Zuber Shaikh

ATP162 Using the Display Manager to camouflages your drawings.

By understanding how the Display Manager works. It will help you to camouflage your drawings in many appearances…

Instructor: Brad Crouse

ATP168 AutoCAD 103 – From Surviving to Excelling at AutoCAD

This course will teach you some of the tools you don’t usually learn in school, help you avoid the common mistakes most people make, and get you up to speed and working like a pro faster than you thought possible.

Instructor: Kenneth Leary

ATP164 First Step in AutoLISP Programming

“I don’t do repetitive design & drawing. My projects are always unique”. Many people think that way and keeping themselves away from programming.

Level: Beginner Instructor: Mohmed Zuber Shaikh

ATP169 – AutoCAD Basics

When the class is complete the students will have a good enough understanding of AutoCAD and should be able to set up sheets, draw, dimension, modify, edit, and print.

Michelle De Groot

ATP170 – Implementing Dynamic Blocks

This course will focus on how to create multi-purpose blocks that will help to condense and simplify your cad libraries.

Instructor: CHRIS NIBBE

Some Materials to download from the Archived ATP:

ATP119 Points and Surface Styles, Properties, and Labels in Civil 3D

ATP080 Just When You Thought You Knew Everything About AutoCAD – Productivity Features in AutoCAD 2006

ATP064 Focused VBA: Lesson 1 – Intro to VBA. Beginning Concepts and the Development Environment.

ATP069 Focused VBA: Lesson 2 Beginning VBA Concepts Continued

ATP074 Focused VBA: Lesson 3 – Logic, Debugging and Error Handling

ATP076 Dynamic Blocks and Block Enhancements

ATP077 Going 3D in AutoCAD

ATP066 Introductory Layouts and Paper Space

ATP068 Ten Steps to Make Sheets Happen

So add AUGI to your feeds, to your daily routine and to your arsenal of Civil 3D, Map and AutoCAD learning tools.