Mike James

There are several questions that have been posted here, and by email to me, asking questions like, "How do you get model data into CAD?", "How do you get plans printed from CAD?", and more general questions on the benefits of 3D, as related to RC design and building.

With that in mind, I've produced a pretty good start on a CAD tutorial, on my (non-commercial) web site below. Just go to the "Design & Building" page and you'll see the link, or go there directly by clicking here. http://www.nextcraft.com/cad_tutorial.html

This is a work in progress, so if you have questions or comments, feel free to email me, and I'll try to cover all of them. It's impossible to write an all-inclusive tutorial, since everybody's software is different, but I think you'll find some good general guidlines there.

I hope this helps take some of the mystery out of the CAD/Design process.

Mike James

Hi everybody,

I've just added a chronological "CAD Gallery" to my web site, using the King Air B200 that Paul Reese and I are collaborating on as the working example. This combination gallery/tutorial will take you through the entire design and building process, from research to building and flying the model.

The gallery is at http://www.nextcraft.com/cad_gallery01.html

I hope this helps all those people who have asked for information on using CAD to design and refine an RC model. (It's working for us!)

For those of you who haven't seen NextCraft™ in a while, it's been through a complete makeover, and I think you'll find that everything is more logically ordered, and loads faster.

F86_SABRE

Hi Mike,

Needless to say you are a master of CAD design.

Of course I presume that what you are showing there are solids.
Are solids a progression of wire frames? I mean is the former dependent of first having to make a wire frame of the whole plane?

Also, how difficult is it to arrive at that level to start making a solid of saying a drawing.

As you might have gathered by now my cad design is limited however I wish to progress further as it is very interesting aspect of our hobby...to really see the plane done before you actually start doing it.

Again Mike, keep up to good work!


regards

Reuben Saliba
Malta (europe)

Mike James

Hi Reuben,

Thank you for taking a look, and for your very kind words.

Most people define "solids" as models that simply have no "holes" or "leaks" in the geometry. As you probably know, they're not "solid" as per the real-life definition of the interior being filled.

This can be tricky, since all CAD software has it's quirks. What may appear as a good "solid" in your own CAD program may not appear so when exported to another program. Sometimes, after building a model that looks correct, you have to go in very close, and fix polygons on an individual basis, if you want to insure that it has no "leaks". Viewpoint Digital, for example, who publishes my "Avanti" model, ( http://www.viewpoint.com ) has a very stringent "Quality Assurance Profile" that all models must pass, in order to be published by them, and that's exactly what it is.... No leaks in the geometry, no double-sided polygons, and no two polygons sharing the same edge. It can be a pain, but is required, to be sure that the model will translate into all the different formats they offer.

My"Avanti" model originally had 160,000 polygons...a lot of editing.

But...
Most models on my site that are not published do not have to adhere to this set of standards. I'm only concerned that they are dimensionally correct, and will produce good drawings eventually. So you can be quite productive, and get a lot of use from the CAD process, without all the headaches associated with publishing them for other people's use.

In the case of my software, the choice between a wireframe or solid display is simply a mouse click. The model is unchanged...Only the display is different. I like to use both, depending on what I'm working on at the moment, but the solid models are obviously more attractive to show to RCers.

Have fun with it! It can help you in the visualization stage of your project, and doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Happy flying!

F86_SABRE

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the explanation.....its sounds quite easy when you know what you have to do

Of course the name of the game is to know how to use the software and more important is practise.

I will be following your updates as I have always done before.

Now where did I put my 3 view drawings

Thanks once again Mike and keep up the good work!

Regards

Reuben

MikeS

My Feedback: (37)

What a wonderful example of the 3d method. I have been teaching myself autocad to use traced 3-views to develop a 2d plan. The 3d method you describe is great, and very understandable. Thanks for the effort. I certainly learned some things in a quick scan and I've bookmarked your site for study. It is people like you who are willing to share experience and hard earned knowledge that makes this entire net experience great.
Thanks,
Mike

Mike James

Thanks a lot, Mike!

I feel the same way. Many people have shared information with me here on RC Universe, and it remains a great place to get facts and opinions.

I'm improving (mostly by deleting "junk" and reorganizing) the CAD "tutorial" stuff almost constantly now, so thanks for taking a look.