scottperk
Active Member
Suggested CAD for Airplane Blueprints
I have been wrangling over which CAD program to use for 8 or 10 years and recently I spent
some time reviewing the available offerings for evaluation as to
1. Simple/ Ease of use and learning
2. Powerful/capable enough features to do what I/we need done
3. Compatibility of file types for import and export of image data
4. Support by a user community and company
5. Affordability- has to be paid for out of a hobby budget
6. 2D and 3D capability
7. realistic 3D imagery when wanted could be nice but definitely not needed
I spent some time identifying the available CAD program alternatives and joined
some of the user discussion forums and asked/discussed how suitable or easy to design
certain types of structures etc
What I ultimately decided upon was DesignCad 3D Max normally selling for $99 but
often sold for less during discount promotions etc.
The closest contender was SketchUp which is a near universal program since the basic
form of it is free and it was owned by Google for a while which made it a worldwide standard.
What I determined is that SketchUp is "pretty" and more oriented to presentation and display
than serious 3D design creation and reproduction and it lacks in the ability to do some required
heavy duty CAD functions necessary to create or replicate some components or structures
and especially is limited in the ability to separate and merge major sub-structures.
I really like Sketchup but I have a limited intellectual capacity and I cant afford to learn
"two" systems so I selected the more powerful ( but less pretty) DesignCad 3D program
though it can produce some very pretty looking images .
At their website they have links to some libraries of sample drawings created by
other users. These images are far nicer than I will ever need. For the most part
all I ever will need are black and white line drawings with dimensions and numbers etc.
Here is the link and if anyone has an argument for a more appropriate alternative selection
I would like to hear it now before I spend hundreds of hours using the program in the
years to come.
LINK:
DesignCAD 3d Max - View on www.turbocad.com
https://www.turbocad.com/designcad/
If a sufficient group accepted or adopted this as "the tool" we could create our
own Airplane CAD support group/forum for files/parts and technique sharing etc.
Suggestions, Ideas and comments are encouraged before I marry this b*****tch
Scott
I have been wrangling over which CAD program to use for 8 or 10 years and recently I spent
some time reviewing the available offerings for evaluation as to
1. Simple/ Ease of use and learning
2. Powerful/capable enough features to do what I/we need done
3. Compatibility of file types for import and export of image data
4. Support by a user community and company
5. Affordability- has to be paid for out of a hobby budget
6. 2D and 3D capability
7. realistic 3D imagery when wanted could be nice but definitely not needed
I spent some time identifying the available CAD program alternatives and joined
some of the user discussion forums and asked/discussed how suitable or easy to design
certain types of structures etc
What I ultimately decided upon was DesignCad 3D Max normally selling for $99 but
often sold for less during discount promotions etc.
The closest contender was SketchUp which is a near universal program since the basic
form of it is free and it was owned by Google for a while which made it a worldwide standard.
What I determined is that SketchUp is "pretty" and more oriented to presentation and display
than serious 3D design creation and reproduction and it lacks in the ability to do some required
heavy duty CAD functions necessary to create or replicate some components or structures
and especially is limited in the ability to separate and merge major sub-structures.
I really like Sketchup but I have a limited intellectual capacity and I cant afford to learn
"two" systems so I selected the more powerful ( but less pretty) DesignCad 3D program
though it can produce some very pretty looking images .
At their website they have links to some libraries of sample drawings created by
other users. These images are far nicer than I will ever need. For the most part
all I ever will need are black and white line drawings with dimensions and numbers etc.
Here is the link and if anyone has an argument for a more appropriate alternative selection
I would like to hear it now before I spend hundreds of hours using the program in the
years to come.
LINK:
DesignCAD 3d Max - View on www.turbocad.com
https://www.turbocad.com/designcad/
If a sufficient group accepted or adopted this as "the tool" we could create our
own Airplane CAD support group/forum for files/parts and technique sharing etc.
Suggestions, Ideas and comments are encouraged before I marry this b*****tch
Scott
