RE: CAD programs

[Gary]

What are some favorite CAD programs for simple design work? What features do they include?

[Robatoy]

Platform? Budget?

3D?

[Gary]

Platform: Windows XP Home Budget: Less than $200.00

3D: Nice but not necessary Ease of use and intuitive design more important. Entering exact dimensions instead of dragging a line.

[Robatoy]

Take a peek at Google's SketchUp.. it is free, as far as I know. The guys here are pretty happy with TurboCAD. I hear good things about DesignCAD as well.

The learning curve is always steep when starting off with a new program. Any CAD I have ever been exposed to, has always demanded a lot of attention to work-space, paper-space, units, scale, attributes etc. If you are unfamiliar with even the basic things like line- weights, there's a lot to learn. But learning CAD is very rewarding in the long run...and it all doesn't have to be as ominous and bulky as AutoCAD.

[Jimbo]

Home

I second the vote on SketchUp and can confirm that it is free and relatively easy to learn. There is an upgrade to a more professional version if you really need it.

[Swingman]

The most intuitive I've found thus far is AutoSketch9, and I've used TurboCAD and DesignCAD.

I've been using it for about 5 years now (QuickCAD first, which somehow morphed into AutoSketch about a year ago, had been recommended in a magazine comparison of 2D CAD programs suitable for woodworking).

It does what I need for design/measured shop drawings, and until a few weeks ago I had never looked at the documentation.

About $100, IIRC.

A plus for me is that it'll allow me to import and edit my architects AutoCAD drawings.

[Gordon Airporte]

I've tried several times to get SketchUp to work for me and I just can't. I think the problem is that it defaults to treating everything as a skin-deep surface instead of an object with volume.

As bloated as it is, I use CorelDraw 12 for drafting. It lets you enter dimensions for shapes, you can edit the scale so you're talking about everything in the document in real-world size, you can place unprinted guidelines which you can snap to (or not), it understands when a node is moved to sit on a line or another node so you can line shapes up exactly, it makes it very easy/automatic to draw in dimension lines/arrows. I only wish it had more options for dotted lines.

[Steve Hall]

SketchUp works great for furniture! The 3D visualization is so quick and simple it is more practical than the full blown AutoCAD Architectural Desktop I use as an architect.

IMO, if you can't model it in SketchUp, no CAD program will help you.

[CW]

I use Turbocad Pro and Intellicad. Both are probably more program than you need or want to learn. I have other uses for them. Best for the money would prbably be Deltacad. Quick to learn but quite capable. About $40.00.