A good source for CAD?

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jordangp
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Joined: 12 Jan 2011, 19:28
Location: Staffordshire, UK
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Re: A good source for CAD?

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I've gotta say for free software, Google Sketchup is great. You can see from my thread yoy can create a car on it that looks worthy of expensive software.

Carlos
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Joined: 02 Sep 2006, 19:43
Location: Canada

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Just add the Kerkythea Render SketchUp plugin to complete your studio:

http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/

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jordangp
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Joined: 12 Jan 2011, 19:28
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Re: A good source for CAD?

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That's exactly what I did

Faisal
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Joined: 17 Dec 2010, 19:21

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Solidworks is really easy to learn. CATIA is renowned for automotive modeling so it's great too

Avoid Pro/ENGINEER. I don't know what its developers were thinking when they designed this software

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PlatinumZealot
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Joined: 12 Jun 2008, 03:45

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Is it difficult to use? I used only AutoCad for a while until I learned it's not really a "solid software" then I moved to Solidworks because of its renowned learning curve.

I have tried Google sketchup but it is not very intuitive to me.
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Tozza Mazza
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Joined: 13 Jan 2011, 12:00
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Re: A good source for CAD?

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I found sketchup great for modelling an F1 car. It uses dimensions, which is really what you need, and once you know your way around the program, you can make a highly detailed model, with relative ease. It is probably more time consuming than other programs, but can yield similar results, and I couldn't ask for much more for free ware. Kerkythea 2008 for rendering is a must with sketchup.

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Ciro Pabón
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Joined: 11 May 2005, 00:31

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Excuse me if I hijack the thread for a moment.

First, I want to make clear I'm not a CAD user. I do not like CAD. To me, it is kind of a primitive software, something that resembles more painting than technical drawing, devoid of logic, full of contradicting and overlapping commands. I have a CAD package but I only use it when I have no other choice. Those guys that invented CAD had no idea of topology and it shows.

CAD is probably one of the few software packages that still has as many interfaces as software brands. It will take 100 years for manufacturers to converge, at the pace they seem they are going today. It seems as if they still have not understood 3D logic (me neither! I'm not giving a solution, I'm just complaining).

Every time you change your CAD package you are looking at a solid 1000 pages manual, don't you?And that's not counting the 1.500 pages "For Dummies" version, that is the one you really need to read. CAD is the only software I know that always include lengthy tutorial films... I rest my case. That's, I think, the good thing of Google Sketchup: the tutorials are nice.

This view comes from the fact that I rarely draw anything but maps and my 3D things include coordinate projections and geoid changes, so I cannot speak for the majority of people in the forum.

Ashamedly, I confess I am this kind of lowly life-form that crawls in the floor of some engineering shops known as a "GIS user".

However, I've drawn with many things, from calligraphy pens on parchment to china ink on tracing paper to 3D printers and I have to say that the critical instrument is not the software, it is the pen.

You have to take in account that I may have a very good mind for 3D drawing but my hands are very clumsy. I am not a good drawer.

The one and only subject I did not pass in my life was Drawing 101. I cannot draw a straight line using a ruler and a pencil. My technical drawing teacher once put a note on one of my exams ("Change your career!") that I'll never forget.

Anyway, that was before computers. Now I use a graphic tablet.

I have an Intuos 4. I've used everything here, since the 80's, from old Calcomps, UCLogics and DigiPros to the Genius line in the 2000's. I've had other Intuos and Bamboos and also Graphires from Wacom.

These guys at Wacom charge you more than others (start at 200 U$ or so) but they can make you happy.

The pen has an eraser (you flip it to erase). The pen holder actually works and holds the tips and the tip-exchanger tool, so, at last, I haven't lost them.

The thing has a round control, like the IPod, very intuitive. You can swivel the entire thing 180 degrees (it has extra USB ports) for lefties.

Pen and mouse are cordless and use no batteries, of course.

Oh, baby, I love you!
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Compared with it, drawing anything with other instrument is like... I don't know. I still have my old china ink set and my old rapidograph set. For the old guys in the forum, it's like changing from the former to the later...

If you have to change again to a mouse... well, you feel like drawing with a potato.

A graphic tablet is not totally "natural" (for those who learned to draw with a pencil and not with a computer, of course). I still draw some things by hand, scan them and digitize them using ArcPress (it is in the ArcInfo package, to move from raster to vector: very, very good).

Now I have my sights set on the last Wacom, a Cintiq, but I'm still organizing my apartment, so... sigh.

It's a cross between a tablet and a screen (it's a screen where you can draw with the pen). It's cool and costs about a grand. I don't know if someone knows a cheaper alternative, thanks in advance for any advice.

... dream a little dream of me...
Image

Nobody I know shares my appreciation for graphic tablets, but I thought that maybe in this forum someone could be brave enought to raise from the chair and say "My name is XXX and I am also a graphic tablet user".

(btw, GIS users, do... not... raise. Leave me behind, save yourselves, the CAD mob has no pity, they are totally mad from reading those thick manuals!).
Ciro

Giblet
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Joined: 19 Mar 2007, 01:47
Location: Canada

Re: A good source for CAD?

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For those with Macbooks, I just discovered a utility yesterday that lets you use the large glass trackpad as a drawing tablet. The only etxra thing you need is a capacative stylus which is only $15 at chain stores, or you can order the pen packaged with the software for $35.

It's not as full featured as a Wacom, but it's also dirt cheap. The stylus has a round squishy end and the pen, and the harder you press, the thicker the line will be.

If you you want to try it yourself, you don't even need a stylus, as you can make one out of some rolled up antistatic bag you get electronics in.
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute

MaddMike
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Joined: 04 Oct 2012, 18:32

Re: A good source for CAD?

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good read.

AlpineF1
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Joined: 02 Jul 2012, 13:21
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Re: A good source for CAD?

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In my experience, google sketchup very simple the only one i can use :lol: most of the cars i think use google sketch up as there was a racing series called formula sketch i don't know if you have heard about it but it shut down around 2 weeks ago. Now i think now there is Khamsin virtual race car challenge which again uses google sketch up so if you get good and want to join one of these google sketch up is what i would recommend.
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marcush.
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Joined: 09 Mar 2004, 16:55

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Autodesk Inventor &Alias for design it´s quite expensive to actually buy ..but as long as you are student or unemployed they have a scheme to allow you to use the latest software for free! Comes in handy when applying for a job ..Alias Automotive is the standard in automotive surfacing...

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PlatinumZealot
550
Joined: 12 Jun 2008, 03:45

Re: A good source for CAD?

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Ciro Pabón wrote:Excuse me if I hijack the thread for a moment.

First, I want to make clear I'm not a CAD user. I do not like CAD. To me, it is kind of a primitive software, something that resembles more painting than technical drawing, devoid of logic, full of contradicting and overlapping commands. I have a CAD package but I only use it when I have no other choice. Those guys that invented CAD had no idea of topology and it shows.

CAD is probably one of the few software packages that still has as many interfaces as software brands. It will take 100 years for manufacturers to converge, at the pace they seem they are going today. It seems as if they still have not understood 3D logic (me neither! I'm not giving a solution, I'm just complaining).

Every time you change your CAD package you are looking at a solid 1000 pages manual, don't you?And that's not counting the 1.500 pages "For Dummies" version, that is the one you really need to read. CAD is the only software I know that always include lengthy tutorial films... I rest my case. That's, I think, the good thing of Google Sketchup: the tutorials are nice.

This view comes from the fact that I rarely draw anything but maps and my 3D things include coordinate projections and geoid changes, so I cannot speak for the majority of people in the forum.

Ashamedly, I confess I am this kind of lowly life-form that crawls in the floor of some engineering shops known as a "GIS user".

However, I've drawn with many things, from calligraphy pens on parchment to china ink on tracing paper to 3D printers and I have to say that the critical instrument is not the software, it is the pen.

You have to take in account that I may have a very good mind for 3D drawing but my hands are very clumsy. I am not a good drawer.

The one and only subject I did not pass in my life was Drawing 101. I cannot draw a straight line using a ruler and a pencil. My technical drawing teacher once put a note on one of my exams ("Change your career!") that I'll never forget.

Anyway, that was before computers. Now I use a graphic tablet.

I have an Intuos 4. I've used everything here, since the 80's, from old Calcomps, UCLogics and DigiPros to the Genius line in the 2000's. I've had other Intuos and Bamboos and also Graphires from Wacom.

These guys at Wacom charge you more than others (start at 200 U$ or so) but they can make you happy.

The pen has an eraser (you flip it to erase). The pen holder actually works and holds the tips and the tip-exchanger tool, so, at last, I haven't lost them.

The thing has a round control, like the IPod, very intuitive. You can swivel the entire thing 180 degrees (it has extra USB ports) for lefties.

Pen and mouse are cordless and use no batteries, of course.

Oh, baby, I love you!
Image

Compared with it, drawing anything with other instrument is like... I don't know. I still have my old china ink set and my old rapidograph set. For the old guys in the forum, it's like changing from the former to the later...

If you have to change again to a mouse... well, you feel like drawing with a potato.

A graphic tablet is not totally "natural" (for those who learned to draw with a pencil and not with a computer, of course). I still draw some things by hand, scan them and digitize them using ArcPress (it is in the ArcInfo package, to move from raster to vector: very, very good).

Now I have my sights set on the last Wacom, a Cintiq, but I'm still organizing my apartment, so... sigh.

It's a cross between a tablet and a screen (it's a screen where you can draw with the pen). It's cool and costs about a grand. I don't know if someone knows a cheaper alternative, thanks in advance for any advice.

... dream a little dream of me...
Image

Nobody I know shares my appreciation for graphic tablets, but I thought that maybe in this forum someone could be brave enought to raise from the chair and say "My name is XXX and I am also a graphic tablet user".

(btw, GIS users, do... not... raise. Leave me behind, save yourselves, the CAD mob has no pity, they are totally mad from reading those thick manuals!).
I have the Intuous 4 and I barely use it for my type of CAD, which is mainly mechanical design. I really bout the intuous for Photoshop (I am a decent painter actually). But with my job it seems I am not as inspired about art as I once was, but I really want to start drawing again.

Yes you are right though the pen and paper is the most powerful. I mean with sketches, the first step to any great design is drawing it on paper. I think pen and paper is the most direct way to drop your thoughts.
🖐️✌️☝️👀👌
🟤🟤 Coco puffs are my favourite too! 🟤🟤