Know of a simple drawing software program?

[tonyclifton]

I'm looking for a cheap, simple program to turn my design sketches into something a bit easier to show someone. I currently use Visio but you can't get a 3-D effect very easy when drawing things like square posts, or when trying to draw flat surfaces at an angle.

AutoCad is out of my league as would be any other major engineering drawing package. Just wondering if anybody had the same basic needs and found something they like.

Thanks!

[usmcpop]

Are you looking for sketching or more of a real design package? A few come to mind:

TurboCAD or DesignCAD are cheap. The previous versions are available for $25-$50. http://www.imsisoft.com/all_products.asp

Autodesk Autosketch
IntelliCAD
Alibre Design http://www.alibre.com/xpress/ (there's a free one)
Sketchup http://www.sketchup.com/

Then there's 3dstudio max. You may find an older version for a good price.

Let us know what you find.

[kcir]

There is ProgeCad that is the right price. It is FREE!

At ProgeCad

[diesel]

Sometimes it's just faster to do it "old school like". T-square, triangle and scale. My wife and I are designing a house and the learning curve on all the software we bought is too steep to justify spending that much time.

We bought 2 complete drafting sets for less than $30. I have done quite a bit of drafting in the past so there was no learning curve there. It just took a couple of hours to get my wife drawing and I think she really enjoys doing it. Between the two of us we can whip out a set of basic floor plans with elevations in 2 evenings. I can't recommend the turbo cad I bought a couple of months ago because its still in the plastic and the other software I don't even remember the name of. Just thought I'd throw in a couple of penny's in support of alternative methods.
d.

[AV8OR]

Autodesk Autosketch
IntelliCAD
Alibre Design http://www.alibre.com/xpress/ (there's a free one)
Sketchup http://www.sketchup.com/

usmcpop,

I run a Mac there isn't as much CAD software out there for us as Windows but Sketchup will run on a Mac. It isn't cheap but have you used Sketchup and if so what are you thoughts on it?

Thanks

[boilerman]

http://www.engineering.com/content/D...&Submit=Search

free ware from engineering .com

[BadDog]

It's not "cheap", but personally, I don't think you can beat SolidWorks for good ballance of ease-of-use/power. There are some things about 3D drawings that are simply "not easy", but SW (to me) has made it about as easy as it gets without crippling it.

That said, for simple projects like a welding table, or simple cross member, I often still do it in Visio with a typical mechanical drafing 3 view sketch (can't remember the technical term - top, bottom, side). That way I can calculate/stack-up the measurements one time, tweak it as needed, print it, and make it. But when scale to check clearances and relationships along with the ability to look at things from different perspectives/angles is important, SW is it... For instance, my post about 6 or 7 months ago with my 4 link stuff. Here is a page with some of my SW sketches...

Anyway, if you can find a shop that is upgrading, you can sometimes get the old out-dated copies for free or cheap. That's how I got mine. It's the 2003 version but works just fine for me...

[BadDog]

Just to provide some insight into what it's like to use SW, here is a "tutorial" type thread that another user provided that helped me get started with it...

OFN Thread

And another as I learned...

[dwwright]

Are you looking for sketching or more of a real design package? A few come to mind:

TurboCAD or DesignCAD are cheap. The previous versions are available for $25-$50. http://www.imsisoft.com/all_products.asp

Autodesk Autosketch
IntelliCAD
Alibre Design http://www.alibre.com/xpress/ (there's a free one)
Sketchup http://www.sketchup.com/

Then there's 3dstudio max. You may find an older version for a good price.

Let us know what you find.

I just ordered version 9.2 of turbo cad deluxe from dirtcheapsoftware.com for $12.95.

Darren

[jer29_11_13]

Sometimes it's just faster to do it "old school like". T-square, triangle and scale. My wife and I are designing a house and the learning curve on all the software we bought is too steep to justify spending that much time.

I couldn't agree more, I have been using PC based cad packages since '84 for both electronic design, pcb layout and mechanicals and home design. The use of cad is not fast but if you anticipate lots of changes or creating modules that will be used over and over in other designs than cad is the way to go.

I often just grab a quadrilled pad and free draw a design. If you need to have nice graphical presentations for clients than cad is the way to go.

D. - I wouldn't design a home without cad, granted it takes some time but in the long run it will be much easier to play "what ifs" on your layout or room sizes with the cad design, this is where the real time savings and usefulness of cad comes into play!

Hope this helps !

[G Austin]

I just ordered version 9.2 of turbo cad deluxe from dirtcheapsoftware.com for $12.95.

Darren

I went from a 2D Program called Quickcad to TCad 10.2 about 10 mos ago. Other than the learning curve, 3d was the way to go. You draw a 3D object, then any other view is already done. I was able to upgrade to V11 for $99.00.

Here is a boathouse I designed and also a GTAW weld animation I did with Turbocad . http://www.weldinginspectionsvcs.com...cadSamples.htm

Another page has some views from the model space and the printed output. The latest verion allows a camra centered in a n object to be rotated 360 degress as a quicktime video.
http://www.weldinginspectionsvcs.com...sign/ramp2.htm

IMSI's customer support is VERY poor however they have an excellent user forum on their website. The program can be buggy at some times and frequent saving of work is required.

[bobad]

I second ProgeCad. Works great.

ALso, there are free versions of IntelliCAD out there. It's a very good clone of AutoCAD 10. Same commands, keys, etc.

[usmcpop]

I haven't used Sketchup. I use Visio a lot just because I have it and it's pretty easy to use. I think it was better before Microsoft bought them out.

I have a copy of Autodesk Inventor 6, but I only tried playing with it once. It looks like a fairly steep learning curve. Our FIRST robotics team gets a free copy every year, but no one has ever really used it.