fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Has anybody tried this $80 AutoCAD program?
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112
May be geared towards landscape/architects/remodelers though.
Dave

Laird SS

Autodesk seems to concentrate more on architectural products than general mechanical stuff. That was one reason that the last company I worked for before retirement dropped AutoCAD and went to a solidmodeling program (SolidWorks). Along those lines, have you thought of/tried Sketchup from Google? It's free and does 3D solidmodeling?

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

I have used Sketchup and it's pretty fun to play with. I use AutoCAD 14 a lot
and very soon switching to AutoCAD LT 2011 for work. I do not do any 3D stuff, but
I keep making some pretty lame attempts at it!
I was just wondering if anyone had tried it. It's a free download to try it out, so I thought
maybe someone had given it a test drive.

I see now it's limited to printing at letter and ledger sizes...
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...12&id=15010606
So this is probably not a good, cheap CAD program for drawing working plans.

Dave

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

I would consider looking at Solidworks Draftsight for 2D cad work. It's free. Beta version at the moment. Opens all autocad drawings and dxf.

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/

Jim

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

Ditto, it's aimed towards Autocad users and is a very good program. Fully configurable with hotkeys, shortcuts, conversation bar, etc.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Same here, I think R-14 was very last version to be able to use a common older ink pen plotter (now obtainable for free). Had two plotters conected in to computer. One in ink the other an inkjet.

Most of our plans are flat, then rolled up into a tube for mailing. Did an awfull lot of multi-acre projects using R-14 over the years. They have been shaken but not fallen down over past 20-30 years now. 3D may be handy onna design basis, but not if you then need to make up a plan. Conversion is not too easy then. Have to go back to old flat plan ways.

Wm.

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

I have an old copy of R14 I use. No problems with it.

Jim

dreadnaut

My Feedback: (5)

I gave up on Autodesk's super budget products after wasting 90 bucks on Autosketch back in the '90's. Autocad has pretty much abandoned the manufacturing and aerospace industries for architecture. Sketchup from Google works ok, and so does Turbocad. Solidworks, Pro-E and Inventor are even better, but pricy.

I have been doing 3d in ACAD since v10. It got easier in v12. I do all my designs in 3d because it allows me to insure parts fit better. Extracting 2d from it is so clunky that I can do it faster by tracing the model in a viewport in paperspace. Extracting a 3d model to a flat plan in Solidworks and inventor is nearly seamless, and I am in the process of switching over.