Thanks to all who replied. I'll admit I have been getting a little discouraged… I’m a graphic artist taking classes in a technical architectural drafting program. And all I want to do is take some blueprints and make pretty pictures.
I'm pretty quick at learning the 3d stuff, (I've dabbled in more than half a dozen different 3d programs over the years) and I want to learn more about creating photo-realistic imagery. Some of my work can be seen on my website portfolio at:
www.dragon3d.net
I enjoy drafting, both by hand and in AutoCAD but I definitely don't want to make a career out of it. My impression of architectural visualization is that the drafting comes in handy for modeling the building in 3d but that you aren't expected to make construction documents from the drawings.
-Alison