When I first learned, years ago, that the AIA had come up with a system for Auto-CAD layers, I thought it was super nerdy of them. However, having bounced around to a few different firms, I subsequently find it incredibly helpful and logical. The AIA, or NCS, format is thorough but concise. In an effort to start establishing my own CAD standards, be they layers or titles blocks or symbols, etc., I am starting to look into this a bit more. So far, I have found a number of free PDF downloads that kind of give you a taste of this organizational nerdiness (you can find the PDF's at this NCS website). I think the comprehensive list of layers and such may be a part of the license package that costs upwards of $400. I think for my personal purposes, I can get away with creating the few layers and standards that I need by myself.
As a side note, I started looking into CAD standards because I'd like to start getting into projects on my own. I have some small projects that don't really require a lot of drafting, but I'd like to get more actual work, which of course involves drafting. Analyzing my options for CAD software, it would seem that my MacBook Pro is too old (in spite of its upgrades) to accept any current CAD or BIM software. And even if it could, that would cost somewhere around $2,000 - $4,000. But since I can't install the current software (they don't sell older software, they only let you buy the current stuff), I'd have to buy a new computer which would also probably cost $1,000 - $2,000. So to do some small drafting gig on the side, I would have an immediate initial bullet to bite of somewhere between $3,000 - $6,000. Um, for that pocket piece I could get new living room and dining room furniture!
However, I remembered that I still have AutoCAD 2006 from school on my old desktop computer, which I booted up today and am tickled to say that it runs swimmingly. I'm going to play around with it the next few weeks and see if it will suffice for my purposes.
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