AutoCad & Revit Live Course Instructions
Teachers Details
Equipment Needed
Before your training session you will need the following equipment:
- A mouse with a scroll button
- High-speed internet connection. (We don’t recommend mobile internet unless it has unlimited data)
- Headset with microphone: The inbuilt microphone on your computer is not ideal. An external headset is preferred.
- An external device to back up your work.
How to Join Class
You will find your courses on your dashboard.
Click on ‘class’ button to join your class.
You will have to set your timezone
10 mins before your class join button will be orange and you can join.
Software Details
You will need to have either AutoCad / Revit functioning on your computer so that you can practice during lessons and do assignments. Please use the link below provided as its a free student version, do not download the 30-day free trial.
AutoCad and Revit Download Instructions:
Before you download:
- You will need to make an account with Autodesk.com
- You will need a student letter to download the software, please use this form to generate a student letter.
- Check your computer has the correct specs needed. An i5 processor minimum is needed as well as a graphics card. For more specific specs check here.
- Do not download the 30-day trial as you will have to uninstall the trial once your 30 days expire and reinstall the student version as per these instructions.
- MAC users:
- Use Chrome to download AutoCad NOT Safari.
- While AutoCad is available in both PC and Mac platforms since the interface on a Mac is different and the locations for the icons are located in different places, we don’t recommend learning on a Mac as the teacher uses a PC. We do give some cheat sheets to help you but it will take extra time until you are familiar with the differences. (Once you know AutoCad, you’ll be able to use your MAC)
- Revit is not available in MAC version so if you are a MAC user, you can try to install a virtual PC environment and see if you can install Revit there. Your computer technician may have to help you with this.
Instructions to download:
- AutoCad can be downloaded via this link. The product looks like this
- Please choose 2024 from the versions available to download under the AutoCad drop down options
- Revit can be downloaded via this link. For Revit Self-Paced, please download version Revit 2024
- The school location is in the UK
- The name of the school is Design Alive Manchester UK (or Design Alive) is listed under University/ Post Secondary school (institution type)
- You MUST choose the correct institution type or you won’t find Design Alive on the list and we do not know how you can correct it if you choose the wrong institution type
- Please use UK for school address (as opposed to USA) UK address 97 Singleton Road Salford M7 4LX UK, (if UK address doesn’t work) US address for Design Alive: 18 Village in the Woods Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387
- Course expiry is 1 year from the date you download.
- The area of expertise is architecture.
- Only select the current month of start date and NOT a future month or you will get an error message We’re experiencing some problems accessing your Autodesk account. Please try again later.
Common Autodesk software download Issues
- Autocad shuts down and a tab pops up saying that the product license is no longer available. This is likely due to a filter such as Techloq, especially if installed after Autocad was installed). Please contact Techloq to allow all Autodesk software fully.
- If you are experiencing general problems with Autodesk, please go to Autodesk support for more help. They don”t know about any potential filter issues
- For help to renew your subscription, please view this.
- A known error caused by Techloq filter is that when Autodesk ask you to select a school from a dropdown list, no schools show up, please contact your filter if this is the case.
- If you do not have a filter and Design Alive does not appear, you can try selecting any school and on a subsequent page it may allow you to add design alive and upload proof.
- If once you have downloaded AutoCad and it’s asking you for a serial number it is likely your filter is blocking the program recognising you have a student version. You will need to be in touch with your filter company to add Autodesk to the approved lists. Techloq and NativUSA have known issues and removing the filter whilst installing the program is advisable.
- If you are experiencing other error messages then you may want to try to download through the virtual agent https://ava.autodesk.com/ who will give you an alternative link to download the software.
- Autodesk does not have any phone support at all and their chat support is not always very helpful. If you experience issues with your download, we suggest you first contact Design Alive as we are VERY familiar with alot of known errors and should be able to assist you, please complete the form below and include a screenshot of your error and we will do our best to help you.
- Some AutoCad error messages and solutions are provided here.
Course Instructions
- The course has been structured in such a way so we can cover as much ground as possible. It is an intense course so please ensure you have allowed adequate time in your schedule for this course.
- Most lessons build on previous material and content so ensure you attend each session.
- Classes are approximately 2-2.5hrs.
- Log in on time
- If you miss a class you are required to catch up via recording link (posted on the site) before the next class.
- In case of planned absence please inform your tutor prior to the class that you will not be attending.
- The course is fast paced so if you feel you are falling behind please liaise with your teachers as soon as possible so they can help you get back on track.
Homework Assignments
- Towards the end of most classes, homework will be assigned and can be downloaded from the designalive.info website in your course.
- Homework counts towards your final grade.
- Unless otherwise stated the homework assignment is due the next (week) class.
- It is in the student’s best interest to complete the homework assignment before the next class and to thoroughly review all material taught in the past class.
- You may email your teacher with short questions between sessions if you absolutely cannot wait until the next class to receive an answer. The teacher will either respond via email or address the question in the next class if she feels it can wait.
- If you have not managed to do your homework it is still worthwhile attending the next class so as not to fall further behind.
- A few weeks into the course the smaller homework’s will be replaced by larger continuous project work where you will be expected to complete various stages of the project each week in the build-up to a final presentation according to the deadlines as per your calendar.
- The teachers will devote some of the class time to review your project progress and give critique to enable you to correct and improve your work.
- Your grades and comments can be viewed online by checking the grade option in the left side menu under my profile unless the teacher prefers to email you your comments.
Filter/Whitelist Info
Design Alive recommends the following filters as students have been very happy with these filter companies and the support they provide.
- Techloq
- Gentech
- Nativ USA
- Netfree filter has also be approved for Design Alive but please note that having a filter which blocks skin content may be frustrating at some point
Before you begin the course please ensure that all the following sites below are unblocked: You can copy the list and send it to your filtering company.
- designaliveschool.webex.com
- webex.com
- designalive.com
- school.designalive.com
- for cisco webex- exclude multiple EXE
- You will need the cisco webex app working.
- autodesk.com (for Autocad students)
For more information regarding filter issues and troubleshooting please use this link
Tutor Assistance
Design Alive offers tutor assistance if you need extra help and support with the AutoCad and Revit program. On the top of each course page there is this link to book a tutor.
Once you have been linked up with one tutor, you should please remain with that tutor so she can keep track of the hours used.
Tutoring is not unlimited, we offer a maximum of 5 hours and thereafter you can carry on privately. If you need additional tutoring outside Design Alive then the charge is $30-40 per hr paid directly to the tutor.
Please Note: If you book a tutoring slot and you do not show up, you lose 1 hr of your free tutoring allowance.
AUTOCAD TUTORS:
- Yitty Gluck: yg419319@gmail.com – (UK based/Isrl)
- Miri Lichtman: mirilichtman@gmail.com (USA based)
- Chavie Kain – chavikain7@gmail.com (USA Based)
- Soroh Reitze Lieberman – sorohreitze@gmail.com (Isrl based)
REVIT TUTORS:
- Esther Steinfeld: esthersteinfeld4@gmail.com (USA)
Computer Specs
Here is the link to the AutoCad and Revit specs from the Autodesk website.
Design Alive does not offer assistance with buying a computer suitable for the course, but below are suggested computer specs and details of a computer technician who can help you. Please be aware that you will need a high-end computer for (Revit) rendering.
Please refer to these computer specs that are appropriate for all of our courses ranging from Interior to the very robust 3D modeling applications (Autocad & Revit)
- An i7 or i9 CPU
- At least 16GB of RAM & 256GB of storage
- A 64-bit operating system
- A dedicated (internal) graphics card (ex. NVIDIA) – not integrated!
- Besides being more expensive, we do not recommend Apple especially because our instructors use a PC (and Revit is not supported on Macs.)
- While a 17 inch laptop is easier to see what you are designing, it would be too heavy to carry when visiting clients. Instead; we suggest a standard 15.6 inch screen and when working from home, you can opt for a secondary & larger 27” monitor (about $200).
- An (external) SSD drive to safely hold your projects and ensure that your computer does not get overloaded
Design Alive has partnered with B&H for all computer and technical requirements and queries. They are a well-known and established company and are up-to-date with current specs and performance. Our contact is Baruch Berman and he can be contacted at Boruchb@bhphoto.com. Mention Design Alive when you speak to him.
PLEASE NOTE: Do not call the company directly but email Baruch for a call back:
Here is a link to the type of computers he currently recommends although feel free to do your own research for comparison. (If this link becomes invalid then please let us know) It’s also worth checking the Dell outlet for deals.