About the Author

Ralph Grabowski has been reporting on the computer-aided design software industry since 1985, and has written or updated 240 241 books and e-books about CAD.

In his early teens, he discovered model railroading, along with a fondness for writing. When as a teenager he declared to his parents that he wanted to become a writer, they suggested instead that he take his love of trains to the University of British Columbia, where he received his B.A.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering, specializing in transportation engineering.

While working as a traffic planer at an engineering firm, he bought one of the early personal computers and learned how to take it apart (and put it back together again) and how to program it with a variety of programming languages. In 1985, he came across a demo version of AutoCAD v1.4, and a month later landed the job of technical editor at CADalyst, the first independent magazine in the CAD industry. There, he developed standardized benchmark tests for hardware like plotters and graphics boards. During this time, he met Bill Fane, this book’s technical editor, at a Vancouver AutoCAD Users’ Society meeting. At that meeting, Bill explained object snaps so clearly that Ralph hired him to write regularly for the magazine.

After five years, Grabowski learned all there was to know about running a publication, and so he branched off as a freelance writer, landing book contracts with quite a few publishers, writing regular columns with several magazines, and helping launch three CAD magazines. In 1995, he started upFront.eZine, the first independent email newsletter for CAD users — and he is still publishing it, 1,100 issues later. He taught civil engineering at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and has produced a couple of hundred training videos.

In his spare time, he hikes, travels, renovates his home, reads non-fiction, volunteers at local help agencies, and entertains his grandchildren.