Last night I received a manual from Jonathan Pickup at Archoncad which is written in his latest improved format which he calls his "vectorworkout" series.


The subject matter is BIM (building information modelling), which is a 21st century method of designing in CAD. Early CAD was basically a digital pencil
that approximated drawing boards and parallel rules that I used when first learning design skills. I've written before about why BIM is the only approach to
design that I consider viable in current times and I won't expound on it now.

This manual is far and away the best training tool and guide that I've seen to date. It came as a download from an FTP site and is viewed as a PDF.
What you see is a column on the left that has all of the topics that an architectural designer could want and a screen on the right that plays movies of those topics.
The manual works as a step by step tutorial, a technical reference library, or a collection of skillbuilding exercises. It's easy to use and I found it difficult to stop watching.
For the majority of design that I do (specialty residential) this manual can easily be the "one" essential tool for using Vectorworks Architect - though I plan to keep all of the others.
As soon as I upload this review, I will be going back and reviewing "drawing 2D details" in the BIM manual, as I'm constantly amazed at how much there is for me to learn.
As I keep working with this manual, I'll blog further findings and I'm also just installing VW 2010 and so will review that. Here is the youtube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEhOJqTSV2Y