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Looking for Start to Completion Tutorials

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beefy

Senior Member
Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some Alibre tutorials where you are taken from the very beginning of the part through to the very end. I have purchased the Alibre training CD but as good as the tutorials are, they tend to show you individual tasks. When I look at a part of any complexity I am often left wondering how they did this or that. Where was it started, how were other features added, etc, etc.

As a relative beginner with limited time to sit down and work out the order of construction in a complex part, it will be a real jump start to see how knowledgeable users have built their parts. I know how effective this is from a couple of part making tutorials I have veiwed. These tutorials started off with 2D drawings and showed you how to build the parts. It really is a great way to quickly catapult you from the Alibre tutorial videos to serious part making. However, much to my surprise I'm finding it pretty hard to find any other tutorials like these. Tried all sorts of searches in Google but mainly get just little tutorials on individual tasks.

Thanks,

Keith.
 
B

beefy

Senior Member
Thanks for the reply and the links,

The tutorials from Carr Designs are the ones I already have and after viewing them felt like this is the final step in the learning process. They left me hungry for more like them but like I say I can't seem to find any more.

Done lots of Googling using all sorts of terms - tutorials, models, files, .prt, examples, etc, etc (with Alibre in the search too) but like I say the best I can come up with is mini tutorials on mainly individual tasks.

Since my original post I've had a look at the sample files from the training DVD and studied the Design Explorer to see the order of sketches and features. Like I say I'm still a relative beginner and found looking at example parts and the Design Explorer is almost like a tutorial.

So went hunting for Alibre part files and again found very little. There were plenty of JPG picture files but the actual Alibre .prt files seem hard to come across. I tried looking for Solidworks part files and they are everywhere but unfortunatley when imported into Alibre there's no design history.

Anybody know some good links for Alibre part files or have any they are willing to submit.
Thanks, Keith.
 
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wathavy4

Alibre Super User
I suggest you to start with what you want to make.
I cannot tell you what you should make because I don't know which field of work you are in.
But, unless you specify what it is, the only thing I can tell you is to point out the material you get from anywhere and ask for a help how to re-create them.

Everyone of us here are awaiting for someone to ask with those 'How do you make this dumb solid using Alibre's standard method?'

And I guess you don't want to gulp them at once, but one by one.

This place has been my best one to learn things, even today. :D
 
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beefy

Senior Member
Hi Toshi,

Unfortunately, if I use your suggested method of learning Alibre it may take me a long time. By the same token it would seem I shouldn't learn any of the videos from the training DVD until I know what I want to make and then only pick out the videos that will be appropriate.

I am not trying to learn everything there is to know about Alibre all at once. I am actually having problems finding any teaching materials outside of the built in tutorials and the training DVD I purchased. Like I said my learning instantly advanced having viewed the tutorials from Carr Designs and studying the example parts from the Alibre Training DVD. Alibre themself suggest going through the example parts on the training DVD to learn how parts are put together, yet your suggestion seems to be don't study any parts until you know what you want to make. What is the downside to gaining whatever knowledge you can so you learn the software in advance and may be more than ready to make a part when you need to, as opposed to then asking people how do I do this. It's also quite interesting seeing how any part is made even if at this time you may not need to know how to build something similar or use the same construction techniques in a totally different part. It also feeds the imagination regarding any part design.
 
NateLiquidGravity

NateLiquidGravity

Alibre Super User
My best advice for anyone who wants to learn how to use any Parametric 3D CAD is to take a training course at your local technical college for Alibre or Inventor or Solidworks. That way you will have a book to follow and instructors and others right there for help. Don't get caught up in what features or what icon or what anything are different between them but rather learn the concepts of parametric 3d CAD. Alternatively many of the tutorials for any of these 3 could be followed in Alibre as long as you can think on your own. They are all very similar.

Another alternative is to download any of the Alibre models found in the forums and move around the dog bone >---< and edit sketches and features.
 
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beefy

Senior Member
NateLiqGrav,

Thanks for the advice, that makes good sense. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to stick to a college schedule. I run my own busines (which works to others schedules, not mine), am working on starting up a totally different one to try and get me out of my existing business, and have a toddler and baby and no family here to help us. In my existing business I very often have maintenance issues at a moments notice which are taken care of after working hours. If I could slot it in I'd certainly take your advice and do the college thing.

So I'm left with bits of time here and there to learn Alibre at very irregular intervals.
 
DavidJ

DavidJ

Administrator
Staff member
http://www.Learn3dCad.com - already mentioned in the links above - would seem to be a good fit for you. It gives detailed step by step instructions and there are part files available to download for the exercises.

There's a few chapters available free on line, as are all the part files - the full book isn't unreasonably priced (the PDF download is even cheaper).
 
NateLiquidGravity

NateLiquidGravity

Alibre Super User
True it depends on your schedule. Depending on what your area offers though you may be able to get a single night class that runs only a few hours a week. I know a few people who have taken them.
 
Hop

Hop

Senior Member
beefy said:
I am looking for some Alibre tutorials where you are taken from the very beginning of the part through to the very end. ...
Click to expand...

Some of us here (not me yet) are working on the creation of tutorials such as you request. Alibre has one for sale ($49.95) on their web site under Training: Alibre Exercise Manual. At one time they also had a link to a web page where you could download the first few pages of the manual for free, just to see if you really needed to get that basic (I did).

If you are really having as hard a time as I did making the mind bending adustment to Alibre Design parametric solid modeling, I would definitely recommend paying fifty bucks for the password that unlocks the PDF download. Print the PDF file out in color (take it to Kinko's if you don't have a color printer). Put the pages in a 3-ring binder. Hold the bound pages in your lap as you sit in front of your monitor. Follow the instructions to the letter, step-by-step, mouse-click-by-mouse-click.

If you don't understand the "why" of any particular step, pause, pull out the Alibre User Manual and look up that particual operation or function. It's okay to press on without full understanding, because you can always go back and repeat the exercise manual contents as often as necessary. Eventually it will all become crystal clear and seem like second nature to you.

There is just one thing that is extremely important: Practice. Practice. Practice.

I would recommend setting aside at least four uninterrupted hours per day until you "get it". Good luck!

Hop
 
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