Welcome to Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2006. This book is a journey toward eventual mastery of this software. Should you choose to take this journey, the experiences you'll have will steadily build valuable skills and teach you new ways of thinking about designing architecture with a computer.

This book is for architects, designers, builders, developers, and all those who wish to design and document architecture using Architectural Desktop (ADT). Chances are if you are reading this Introduction, you will eventually work with ADT every day. ADT is an incredibly complex and powerful software: it can be intimidating setting off on this journey, knowing how much you'll have to assimilate to achieve mastery. But rest assured that to achieve stunning success with ADT, all you'll need is the desire to learn, the persistence to reach your goals, and time to practice.

This book focuses on first understanding how ADT works, then creating conceptual models, developing designs, producing construction documents, and communicating your designs to others. Because Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2006 is focused on practical uses of the software, this book doesn't describe every single tool and feature that's available. You will find illuminating discussions and step-by-step tutorials covering everything you'll need to digitally design and document architecture.