His Idaho days also saw Wilson designing fuel rods for use in nuclear submarines, but a yearning for city life and independence drew him to Minneapolis where he set up shop as an independent designer. He submitted his first feature to an upstart CAD publication in 1991. His article on fonts that ran in the September issue of CADENCE turned into a four-part series. And that became the mark of John Wilson. He soon earned the reputation as a writer who was a master of his material, and one who preferred covering subjects comprehensively.

When AutoCAD with Release 10 introduced 3D capabilities, Wilson went to work mastering them in short order. By Release 11, he had proposed a series of articles on how to plumb AutoCAD's 3D depths. The June 1993 issue of CADENCE debuted Wilson's 3D tips for AutoCAD, and he hasn't missed turning in a column since.

With the current tome, I'll go on record saying that Wilson has written the book on AutoCAD and 3D. This book has everything you could possibly want to know about how to take advantage of AutoCAD's 3D features, including the latest changes introduced with AutoCAD 2000. Wilson jokingly says that the b ook probably even sports a thing or two about 3D that you'd rather not know. But that's a mark of his infectious self-deprecating humor. You do want to know everything you can about AutoCAD's 3D capabilities, if it's your software of choice. And John Wilson takes you through each 3D feature step-by-step in his usual dear, concise and insightful manner.

If you're an architect, Wilson will show you how to render simple models for your client proposals. And for those of you who belong to the MCAD discipline, Wilson can show you how to achieve about 80 percent of all the solid modeling capabilities you'll ever need for modeling parts and machinery. And you'll find using AutoCAD in this way to be easier in many cases than working with a parametric modeler.

Today John Wilson continues his very successful independent one-person business designing waste-water treatment facilities and working on other environmental projects. A team of one is a bit smaller than one of 8,000, and water treatment doesn't necessarily have the adrenalineboosting affect of fuel-rod experiments, but Wilson nevertheless sees a challenge in continually working to hone his design skills. In his columns, as in this book, he generously shares insights into 3D gained over years and years of perfecting his craft.

We at CADENCE find him to be one of our top columnists and authors. And we're sure you'll find him to be without parallel in helping you mine the 3D riches of AutoCAD.