dolanosa

sharp,

I think he means demo. In a case like this, demo and trial mean the same. And yes, he had to pay for it after 45 days.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Why did he have to pay for it? When my Deltacad time limit runs out, I uninstall it, and re-install it. I've done this four times already without a hitch. Just save your symbols files before uninstalling. There's probably a preferences file, too, that you could save and re-use.

dolanosa

sorry...he "should" pay for it. I'm all for the "If I like it, I'll buy it school of thought. Of course this is limited by the cost of the app. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. There's just too many companies out there watching where their software goes to.

B

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

dolanosa, I see your point, and I'm definitely not suggesting anything unethical like using Limewire. But when a company goes to all the trouble to compile a demo and advertise it on their site, that's different IMO.

rahtware

God I like that cat avitar!

I must have been unclear in my last post. I paid for version 10.2 of TurboCAD, not DeltaCAD. I was just asking if there was a "free" version that I wasn't finding.

As to uninstalling and reloading a "Demo (trial, sorry about that mistake)" version... I couldn't do that. I look at as the same as borrowing something and not giving it back. I think I'm a bit older then most of the posters on this thread and I grew up in a time when being a man meant having strong moral values. I am not judging anyone else as we are all different, but if I were to do that my mind would equate it with stealing.

Again, please don't think I am saying that anyone is wrong in doing multiple downloads, If the software designer left that door open it is his problem, I just can't do it myself.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

rahtware, IMSI, or, Spatial Technology, Inc. made the Turbocad Learning Edition 4.1 free, no strings attached. I had to jump through some hoops and click a few times to get to the download, but it's out there. Google "free turbocad LE" and you'll find it.

You got me to thinking about my use of Deltacad. To make a long story short, I am now using a paid-in-full registered version.

I used to work with people who had no issues with running pirated (illegal) software, but I always drew the line when it came to that. Software programmers are some of the savviest people out there when it comes to protecting their intellectual property. The folks at Deltacad certainly made a conscious decision when they didn't lock the demo from being reinstalled. You can't know how to code a cad application and not know how to lock it. That would be like knowing how to build an automobile engine, but not knowing how to start it.

I've learned Deltacad well enough over the last few months that it makes no sense for me to switch to another product. I like it enough to continue using it for my hobby purposes, so you're right, I needed to go ahead and buy it. I did.

The other side of that coin is that I have probably encouraged a number of people to use Deltacad through my advocating it here. Who knows, maybe they got - or will get - additional sales because of me. I may be young by your standards (44) but I've never seen an instance where things didn't all equal out in the end.

BTW, anyone who wishes can have any plans I've drawn just by asking.

I appreciate your candor. If you have any questions about using Deltacad, I'd like to try and help.

rahtware

Rainedave

Man I hope that nobody thought I was pointing the finger at them... I try to only judge my actions, not others. I am not a saint, but try to accept others exately as they are, because we are all valuable individuals and should be treated so.

I goofed it up again. I bought a copy of TurboCAD v10.2. I downloaded the DeltaCAD demo, but couldn't find the "Free" (permanent) version of DC that I thought everyone was talking about. Hope that clears it up.

Thanks for the offer of help with DC. BTW, is DC able to extract (I think that is the term). What I would like to be able to do is draw up the basic structure of a plane and have the computer draw the ribs based on my 3 view.

dolanosa

Please, please, puhlease let me know if you find an app that can draw ribs, formers and the like based on 3-views, especially if it's either cheap or free. When I was a moldmaker/CAD-CAM guy a few years back, all I had to do was to make a solids object and cut it up to make the sections, ie: formers or ribs. Those apps costs an arm, a leg AND a thumb. You still had to design in 3D. This was in the early to mid 1990's. In fact, to get NURBS in EZ-CAM, it was another several thousand clams.

In any case, I'm using a freeware version of IntelliCAD 2000. I just like it because it actually uses AutoCAD commands pretty well. Needless to say, it's the older version of AutoCAD and you can't do heavy dutt LISP or even advanced surfaces. Still, it has all the things you NEED in a CAD app to make airplanes like ours as well as some other things like 3D, much like AutoCAD 14, DWG and DXF compatibility (up to ACAD 14 I think). If anyone wants a copy, (it's really free but CADopia doesn't support this version anymore) I can provide it for you to check out and if you want it, please feel free to keep it.

I just checked intellicad.com and the new version is awesome! It has solids, 3D, photorealistic rendering, etc, etc. Maybe I'll have to save up to actually buy the new copy!

B

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

rahtware, I don't know of an "automatic" way to generate ribs in DC. What I do is decide on the number of ribs, divide the span by that number and use the parallel line tool to make all my ribs based on that spacing.

I do know that Turbocad LE has an "Array Copy" tool that will spit out a given number of parallel lines bewteen to points. That's probably closer to what you're after. Just search for array copy in the TC help index.

dolanosa, I use Profili to generate wings. Winfoil will do it. And there's a truly free app listed in the back of MA or MAN called Wingmaker 2006 that will generate ribs, too. With all of these you have to actually lay out the profiles. I really wanted to get that free copy of Intellicad. I was disappointed that Cadopia stopped providing it. How big is the .exe file? Do you have server space to upload it to, because all of my email services have limits on attachment size. I have Fedora Core 5 (Redhat) sitting on a hard drive with Apache all configured. I really need to get it up and running so I can post large files.

dolanosa

rainedave,
Oh, with WINGS! Ok, yeah. The apps you mentioned will do that. I was actually thinking about the fuse and other parts of the plane. Heh. I used XFOIL for that a while back but I had also used SNACK (demo) which seemed to be quite easy and provided analytical data as well. I might buy Profili or Wingmaker when I finish my CNC router by the middle of winter. *fingers crossed*

I know what you mean about computers. I also have a Linux box (Ubuntu) with apache Tomcat sitting at work to test our security system through a router outside the DMZ as a honeypot so I can see what's going on in the outside world that's hitting our IP. I just have to configure it along with the real test machine...WINXP no SP1 also as a honeypot.

Anyway, back to CAD. if you want ICAD 2K, just PM me or something. I can split the file and all you have to do is to use the good old DOS COPY /B command. Remember that command? D05 rawks!

Butch

rahtware

I guess I was thinking of how easy it is to generate ribs in Profili, and thought it should be that easy with a CAD program to do the same with fuselage formers (calling them ribs was wrong on my part).

sharpshooter223

i dont know what deltaCAD you other guys have, but i downloaded the demo and it doesnt have any time limit on it.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

sharpshooter243, I don't think the warning pops up until the 35th day, or something. It looks and behaves exactly like the licenced version. When there around ten days left in the trial peroid a notice pops up when you launch the program. It's not like Winzip which always bugs you to "Buy Now!" Anyway, I went ahead and bought DC. I've gotten fluent enough with it that I might as well stick with it. It does everything I need for R/C airplanes (I'm not an engineer by trade).

BMatthews

Or they changed the demo version. Sharpshooter, how long have you been running the demo now?

I've seen over the past couple of years here that we CAD users tend to learn one CAD and then stick with it. We'll only recognise a new CAD as OK if it closely replicates the environment of the one we are used to. And in the end the one that lets you generate your plans IS the easy one to use regardless of how good or bad it is in reality.

For my part I can draw faster in TurboCAD than I can sketch if there's enven one ruler drawn line to be used. Only little art doodles are quicker with pen and paper. Everything else gets done in CAD. But it takes a while until you reach that point. No doubt about that.

rahtware

I haven't tried it yet, but I read in the TurboCAD "3D training guide" where the program will fill in a shape based on the formers that are drawn... In other words, it looks like, if I were to draw up the formers and place them where they go, TC will fill in the shape to show what the finished plane (part) would look like.... I have yet to find where it can render a solid from a 3view...

dolanosa

please let us know. It seems "backwards" to me, like RPN in calculators but please do check that out. In 3D CAD, you can do that with several functions like when you make 4 bounding curves, plines, or arcs and the surface will be made from them.

oh yeah, thanks for mentioning the my avatar. I stole that from a site called kittenwar and I looked for the losingest cats. I'm not really into cats but that buy makes me smile.

Butch

lawsonaero

so it's lofting from one profile to the next? this could be a good way to go from scaled sections to 3d solid and then cut it where you want formers to get formers. I would hesitate to say that simply lofting between each section will be all that you have to do to get an accurate solid for any plane.

-b