Learning Eagle Cadsoft? Your methods & resources

Hi all,
I'm new to Eagle software and am keen on getting opinions & recommendations about the quickest & most cost-effective (preferably free) way to get a decent enough understanding of the program in order to make proper PCBs for my projects.
I've had lots of results via the Cadsoft website & Google which is pretty much why I'm here asking. Running my studio & being with my family (all three sons under 6 yrs.), I have a somewhat limited amount of time to get the results I want. I'm fully willing to put in the time, I just don't want to waste time on the wrong alternative.
I've managed to create my schematics and have watched the RCP Electronics tutorial on YouTube, but I'm still not certain that my layouts are 100% and I'm somewhat confused by the error check messages.
I'm currently using the free version from the Cadsoft site under Mac/Lion.

Thanks in advance for your time!

I found the walk-throughs on www.instructables.com to be very helpful...

Ptownkid said:

I found the walk-throughs on www.instructables.com to be very helpful...

Click to expand...

I second Ptown on this.  I found this sight most helpful
when I started learning this program 3 years ago.
It helps make the steep learning curve not so steep.
I learn something new every time I use Eagle its
a never ending process.  Best of luck.

GARY

Sandersonic said:

I've managed to create my schematics and have watched the RCP Electronics tutorial on YouTube, but I'm still not certain that my layouts are 100% and I'm somewhat confused by the error check messages.

Click to expand...

Can you post one of theses ERC messages and tell us what you find confusing?

I also learned from the tutorials on YouTube, but I'm currently reading Al Williams' Build You Own Printed Circuit Board.  It is primarily a book on Eagle supplemented with some information on etching.  So if you're looking for a way to increase your knowledge of CadSoft Eagle, I would recommend that.

Wow! I never received notification of replies to this thread so please excuse my late response!

In the meantime, I've sorted out all the errors I was getting. They were due to a grid-spacing error I'd made which kept saying nothing was connected. I've now learned (via another thread on this site) that grid-spacing should almost always be at the default 0.1 inch.

I've got as far as the running CAM and now have a new question: I've watched the RPC Electronics tutorial 11 about creating Gerber files, but it was done in an earlier version. When I click the CAM icon (when I'm in the Board window) there's no "File" option for opening the SFE-Special.cam file he specifies. So, I tried opening it from the Control Panel, but it opens as a new job and doesn't seem to "see" my board.
I've tried a few other things, but I can't get it to work. One message I keep getting is "No filename specified!". I've clicked the "File" button for every script listed in the CAM window and specified a name & folder location, yet it still gives the same warning. I've saved, quit & restarted, tried putting a file name in the "Prompt" and "Section" fields (desperate shotgunning here) and I still don't know what I'm doing wrong.

System:
Mac OS 10.7.3
Eagle 6.1.0 light

Once again, thanks for your earlier suggestions & any help with this current issue would be well appreciated!

Don't know if you've seen this but I go to it every time I need to export gerbers.

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~fredm/courses/91.548-spr03/eagle-gerber-output.shtml

I'm running Eagle 5.10 and this has worked every time

-Casey

Thanks for the tip Casey!

One odd thing however:
When I open the job in the CAM processor, I have to manually select the destination folder for each file by first clicking on the respective script tabs at the top of the CAM window, and then clicking the "File" button and choosing the destination folder. Might be helpful for others to know this should they choose to keep their projects someplace other than the default location.

A quick Google search yielded the following freeware Gerber file viewers:

PC/Windows: http://gc-prevue.com/

Mac: http://www.mccad.com/FREE_GerberViewer.html
(that last one is also available in PC version)

If there are more common programs which can open the files, I'd love to know!

Thanks!
Regards,
Frank

UPDATE!: The Mac program listed above will only open files under a certain size in "Lite" mode (and was thus useless to me even though I was only trying to open a file for a 500-series board). Otherwise, you'll need to cough up $195 for the full version. So I've found and am going to try this:
http://pages.swcp.com/~jchavez/gerber2pdf.html

I'll report back!

Found this as well, but only as part of a package for $25:

http://www.douglas.com/software/utilities/gerberviewer.html

Here is a free online program

http://circuitpeople.com/

-Casey

Wow! Thanks for that!!
-Frank