I use a traditional style 2d cad for technical drawing, and have learned Solidworks and other parametric programs to see what the fuss was about. I design a lot of stuff that I make in my shop, and I use Sketchup. Is it just to draw a plan of something for your own use, to show to somebody, to send to a 3D printer or cam shop, or are you just looking for a tool to help you design. That said, a lot depends on what your goal is. There's tons of threads here on cad, you should search and read, be prepared to spend some time! You don't just design stuff with it, you design better stuff faster. You might look at Fusion 360 or Onshape as they both have kind of hobby versions for little money. If you design machinery like I do the price is very quickly recouped, but again not cheap. I now have SolidWorks Pro 2016 at $6,000 and I like it a lot. I used SolidEdge at 4,000 for about eight years too. Unfortunately Visual Cadd is $495, worth every penny but not cheap.įor 3D I started on Rhino and still have Version 3, but Rhino isn't a drafting program, but is incredible to work with and costs about $750 discounted. AutoCad has just slowed me down so much it is sickening. I was incredibly fast using that program. I think it is hands down the fastest 2D package on the planet. If I had to go back to 2D only for myself I'd be real inclined to go back to Visual Cadd. I currently have the latest version Autocad LT and while I have used it at my job for 15 years I still think it sucks. Lots of people will tell you how great something is and you'll find you hate. The problem with software is that it is very personal. Unfortunately that drawing should be the communication to the guy doing the actual machining, and that communication breaks down if the drawing is not properly thought out. Dimensions? Just start firing away until it looks good. How many views are required? Who cares, just add more because it's easy. Just bang out a couple views and toss on some dimensions and call it a day. With 3D systems it sometimes seems like the drawing is an afterthought, where a ton of work is put into the model and the drawing is a byproduct at the end of the process. Things like scaling, dimensions, annotations, views. With a 2D system you still need to learn good drafting practices to make a proper drawing. I don't like the programs that I see in some colleges now that take the trainees directly into the 3D programs. I went directly to AutoCAD, and love using it. I can sketch decently, but I don't have the experience doing formal drawings. I never learned drafting with a table and pencil. I had a co-worker who could always tell when I was using AutoCAD instead of Inventor because there was a big smile on my face. Inventor is great once you figure out some tricks, but I am really happy when I am using AutoCAD. Through work I have access to Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |