Advanced CAD Class

In order to take Advanced CAD you must have completed our first CAD class in good standing. Also, there is an application that comes out around February or March every year in which you speak about your reasons to take the course and do a short independent CAD exercise. The purpose of Advanced CAD is to choose a career driven specialty area and develop a professional level portfolio to use when applying for college, internships, and a job.

If you make it into the course, during the first week you choose a specialty. The specialty areas each focus on a different Autodesk CAD program built for the industry that is chosen. All students should have knowledge of AutoCAD usage and probably have experienced one or two others in regular CAD or Principles of Engineering. The programs are Revit, Inventor Professional, and 3DS Max. Let's look at those specialty areas.

Green Architecture and Design Specialization – Autodesk Revit with Enscape 3D

This branch will feature projects in designing and analyzing structures with the purpose of them being environmentally friendly. Solar panels, geothermal wells, wind turbines, bike racks, etc. are all aspects of this. The structures will vary and include homes, public buildings, and building complexes. BIM (Building Information Management) is a required piece of knowledge for a student going into studying this material. Revit and some of its plugins will be used to design and analyze the structures. AutoCAD may be used to supplement, as well as others with approval. Some projects will be driven by public grant contests, scholarship pieces, etc.

Anyone interested in Architecture, Civil Engineering, or Structural Engineering would be choosing this branch of the class. Combining Green Design techniques with those fields is required in modern times and anyone with experience in this design work will carry valuable portfolio pieces with them. Sustainable design is a very lucrative area of this type of work because much of the current workforce is under-skilled in this field.

Biomedical Engineering or Biotechnology – Autodesk Inventor Professional

This branch will feature projects designing artificial pieces that assist humans in living their lives. Examples include prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, or ocular implants. We will be using real MRI data to build “plates” to be used for skull reconstruction and other bone “replacements” via modeling and then 3D printing. Some projects will be driven by public grant contests, scholarship pieces, etc.

Biomedical engineering is a blend of Engineering (mechanical, electrical) and Medicine. For those interested in Engineering but are fascinated by the medical field (or vice versa), this class will help you further your understanding of modern technology used for surgical or assistive purposes. Building several portfolio pieces in this area of design will be valuable to your college application and scholarship process. The instructor is alive today due to these advancements, ask about it!

3D Modeling for Media with Animation – Autodesk 3DS Max / Blender

This branch will feature projects in 3D modeling for videogames, VR, television, and CGI movies. The modeling will include characters, structures, and effects. Rendered animation or interactive animation will also be a component of your design projects. Examples include characters from games like Fallout, movies like Shrek, or animated TV shows like Star Wars Rebels. You will explore different modeling techniques in 3DS Max primarily

This field of 3D modeling for media blends art and technology. You may wish to explore other programs while in the course such as Maya, Rhino, or Blender. I hope to also incorporate your skills learned in our TV Studio class and possibly do some green screen work.

Unlike the first CAD class, in Advanced CAD there are very few demonstrations that come from the instructor's thoughts. This is due to the students working on their OWN INDEPENDENT TRACK of projects in one of the programs above. If the tracks do not fit the student, then they and the instructor can craft a new track that still uses one of the main CAD software experiences. One popular deviation is Automotive design. During the course of the year students regularly conference with the instructor, whom grades them based on progress that is positive and timely, based on their status during the previous conference. Grades are NOT from completed projects because projects will vary wildly in scale for each student. During project design, the students are required to maintain a LIVE design document that is shared with the instructor. This is where communication takes place in between conferences and notes are added during conferences. The contents of this LIVE document will evolve into being a narrative of the student's work complete with pictures and other media into an online portfolio where the students can speak to their design process with precision because of the documentation.

There is NO homework other than the students desires to research for their projects and prepare resources. There are no exams and no required certifications, however students are encouraged strongly to take more User level Certiport exams in their field (Revit, Inventor, Max) and urged to consider taking the Professional tier exam for a greatly reduced fee due to a special coupon our students are granted access to when they are active in Staten Island Tech.

Make no mistake, this is an elective class meant for students to learn CAD to a degree typically deeper than that of a working professional. Expectations are high and history speaks loudly for those who take the course. An amazing career awaits your appetite for design. For more information contact Mr. Buro or visit www.sitechcad.com. Please view student work examples and other sources of material throughout the CAD website.