What software are people using and any suggestions. I was looking at Bend Tech dosnt look to bad and easy to use also not to expensive.
It depends what your trying to achieve and what file format you ultimately want to create.
Obviously autoCad is the daddy but if you want to make simple 3d stl files then 123d is free and easy to use. Learn to use it properly and you can
make anything.
Your computer will make a big difference too. Bigger ram and bigger processor will allow more intricate designs
Autocad student is a potential option. I emailed them detailing exactly what I was doing, no commercial gain, own project, for educating myself ie
trying to learn the software and their rep had no problem with using the student licence.
Jon
Thanks I might give that a try
If it's 2d you want then draftsight is as good as autocad and free.
If it's 3d depends on what you want out of it
Give us a clue and I'm sure the good folks on here can point you in the right direction.
For 3D, I'd suggest Solidworks, if it's engineering stuff, or Rhino if it's surface modelling (bodywork)... but both cost, unless you
can get student licences.
Full AutoCAD (not Draftsight or AutoCAD LT) has 3D capablility, and it's powerful, but very clumsy... you can tell that it's been bolted on,
piecemeal, to what started out as a 2D program. And it takes a lot of time to learn.
On the other hand, Solidworks is the opposite - it's a nice, intuitive 3D interface, but it's actually pretty crap for producing traditional
orthographic engineering drawings.
Sketchup is free, and surprisingly good for 3D stuff, but absolutely hopeless for any form of engineering or orthographic drawings.
I mainly use AutoCAD (though I have the others, and use them where appropriate), but I wouldn't pretend that it's easy to learn.
CATIA is the other dominant 3D program in engineering, but probably overkill for amateur, 'Locost' stuff!
Autodesk Fusion 360 is free for non-commercial/hobbyist use, I'm trying to learn it now in the little spare time I have - it seems pretty
powerful.
There's plenty of youtube tutorials on it and this guy did a series where he designed and built an Australian Formula Vee using it:
Linky
quote:
Originally posted by tweek
Autodesk Fusion 360 is free for non-commercial/hobbyist use, I'm trying to learn it now in the little spare time I have - it seems pretty powerful.
There's plenty of youtube tutorials on it and this guy did a series where he designed and built an Australian Formula Vee using it: Linky
If I remember correctly, there is only one installer. You sign up and select your license type during the install.
Linky