Thread: CAD programs compared

Thanks David,

Thats the difference. I paid $89 for mine. Can't justify $1000 for a CAD package.

I bought TC de luxe a couple of months ago for US$129.95 + shipping, and found that it was very powerful for 2D, but lacked a number of features for 3D; recently IMSI offered me an upgrade to TC Pro 10.5, including 2D & 3D training guide books, for US$299.95. This was an offer I couldn't refuse, since TC Pro alone, if bought outright, costs US$749.95. I am hoping to get delivery this week. I have also received the Sketchup book today, and have downloaded a trial version of Sketchup. The two together are reputed to make a powerful combination, so I may end up buying Sketchup as well. Learning both should keep me busy until the weather cools down enough to make shed work comfortable. The Australian IMSI site does not seem to offer the upgrade, so I bought direct from the US.

Rocker

Hi Rocker, forgive me if you already know of it, but incase you don`t I highly recommend the Turbocad users forum for those times that you get stuck, the guys there will fall over themselves to help out.

I hope you enjoy using the pro version.

Regards

David Mullins

David,

Thanks; yes, I am aware of the users' forum and have used it once or twice. One of the frustrating things about TC de luxe is that the disk does not contain many of the training files that are referred to in the training guides. I trust they will all be there on the Pro disk.

Rocker

G'day all,

To add to the subject on design software...I found a site a while back that sells all sorts of software for design purposes...and although the prices are in US dollars I believe they are the lowest prices you will find anywhere :eek
The design program I purchased can be run as 2D or 3D...anyway you can check them out at:
http://www.cybercitysoftware.com/homedesign.html

Cheers to all,

Bill...kando...with a little help from my friends .

Has no one tried DeltaCad? Probably the easiest CAD program to learn. Admittedly, it has limitations, but certainly adequate for woodworking projects. It would be nice if it had 3D capability though.

Aspen

New guy on the block. Glad I found this forum.
I've always been interested in woodworking but never had the time or money to do as much as I wanted to.
I work at a plastic company. I run a Computer Panel saw cutting plastic sheets to size. The saw is a Schelling.
It cuts wood so smooth you don't have to sand the ends(Don't tell my Boss)

And this year we got a AXYZ CNC Router and opened a Fabrication Dept.

I use this Free program I found on the net.
http://home.earthlink.net/~mccallwoo...alm-frame.html

Even though my company uses Ardis cutting optimizer software for sheet layouts, this freebie does a good job of it.

I have many questions and idea's about woodworking, so look for my posts.
Sincerely
plumb bob

I'm with you. Even if you know how to use a CAD program (I use AutoCad) the amount of time taken just draw a 4draw + eccentric details like curved fronts or tapered legs is painstaking.
So I draw in 2d with CorelDraw. -it's like sketching on paper but accurately, and if your doing things with alot of symetry or just stuff that happens to be NOT just square pieces then CorelDRAW way out performs CAD.

erlyrisa,

Does CorelDraw handle Bezier curves? Sketchup doesn't, I know. I decided to stick with TurboCAD rather than Sketchup for that reason (as well as the fact that Sketchup is pretty pricey at US$475). I don't see that tapered legs should be a problem in CAD - they are just a prism, and easily drawn. I am making some progress with TurboCAD Pro, but its 3D features are heavy going, if you have to teach yourself. Fortunately the online user's forum is good for sorting out problems.

TurboCAD suffers from having a highly counter-intuitive snap system - invoking a snap does not automatically disable 'No snaps'; you have to actively turn off 'No Snaps' before another snap will work. But once you realise that this is so, it is easy enough to use the snaps. However, I much prefer the way snaps work in AutoSketch.

Rocker