Newish eBook: Ralph Grabowski's Command Reference for AutoCAD 2013

  This book was formerly known as The Illustrated AutoCAD Quick Reference 2013 and Beyond, a paper book printed by Cengage Delmar publishing company. They had added the "and Beyond," because to save money they wanted me to update the book every third year, instead of every year.

The publishing company decided last month, however, to shut down its CAD book division entirely as book sales plummeted due to the abundance of free YouTube instructional videos, they tell me. I received from them the copyright on the books I wrote for them for the past 22 years. 

I'm calling this ebook the "Rough eBook Edition," because I essentially output the 1,106 pages to a PDF file, added a new cover, created a new title, and fixed the errors that were in the original print edition.

Ralph Grabowski's Command Reference for AutoCAD 2013, Rough eBook Edition offers you

• All commands in alphabetical order, all their options, and all the ways to invoke the commands 
• Every dialog box illustrated
• One thousand tips 
• Commands and system variables not documented by Autodesk 
• History of commands discontinued by Autodesk 
• System variable reference
• Quick references of shortcut keystrokes, buttons, cursor icons, and other user interface elements (see figure below)

Now, being 1,106 pages the ebook weighs in at a hefty 17MB, and so I will be sending you a download link through Dropbox.

Pricing and Ordering

Cengage Delmar charged $60 for the print book; I'm pricing the ebook edition at $29.95. You can order this PDF ebook through Paypal or by mailing a cheque.

To order through PayPal, please follow these steps:

1. Go to the ebook's Web page at www.upfrontezine.com/cr13
2. Click the PayPal button, and then following the instructions.

Should you prefer to pay by cheque (in US$, Euros, British Pounds, or CDN$), then please mail it to the my address:

Command Reference for AutoCAD 2013
34486 Donlyn Avenue
Abbotsford BC
V2S 4W7 Canada

Thank you!

Ralph Grabowski, author

 

PS: This is what two of the quick reference pages look like:

www.upfrontezine.com/ebooks

 

Comments

[Patrick S Doell]

I just purchased your Command Reference ebook. I have a couple of your older printed books that stay on my desk for reference. One of your books that I have is "Using AutoCAD 2005 Advanced". I wish I could find something simular for version 2013. Your 2005 Advanced book helped me alot when I moved from working mostly in 2D to working with large 3D models. I have purchased some newer books and also have a copy of your "Using Auto 2011" book but they really don't touch on some of the more advanced tools that I use in the software. I have tried looking at some of the youtube tutorials but I don't ever seem to be able to find something that is covering what I need. They really don't seem to substitute for a good reference book, and I don't have access to youtube during working hours and don't have access to AutoCAD when I'm at home.

[Ralph Grabowski]

The publisher of these books -- "AutoCAD Illustrated Quick Reference" and "Using AutoCAD" -- went into bankruptcy protection two years ago, and when it emerged, it cancelled its entire line of CAD books, saying it could no longer make money in that market.