what is a good CAD program

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eww AutoCrap. Pull yourself outta the 80's and get a solid modeling program like SolidEdge or SolidWorks
 
AutoCAD is awesome for blueprints and such, very useful program, designed my whole office with it, came in very handy. SolidWorks is more for 3D designing. They each have their own benefits, see what fits your budget. If your a college student, maybe take a class in them and you can probably pick up a copy for cheap, that's what i did. I know AutoCAD pretty well, but i'm not too familiar with SolidWorks.
 
Originally posted by epicengr
eww AutoCrap. Pull yourself outta the 80's and get a solid modeling program like SolidEdge or SolidWorks
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He's looking to design a bed and some shelfing, not some complicated mechanical parts. Use the right tools for the right job. Don't get me wrong, SolidWorks is great, and it's based off the SolidEdge engine, but AutoCad can beat anything when it comes to 2D drafting and most basic 3D drafting.
 
Use to work at the computer store in college. If you have a student ID and are actively taking classes in any sort of higher education you qualify for educational discounts. Anyway, there are versions of autocad as low as $350 available at most universities and colleges-
 
AutoCad 2004, but I think it was released in 2003 if that has any bearing.

As far as I know, AutoCAD is the industry standard, well that's what I was told when I was at college 2 or 3 years ago lol.

Intellicad was good, I've tried that a while ago, but I don't design much since I left coll, it's really the odd bash at it just to refresh myself
 
Are you doing 2D or 3D? If 3D isn't essential, you could probably get a good price on AutoCAD R14 Lite. Search ebay or something. The only real features offered in 200X series of AutoCAD have to do with 3D and network compatibility. There are still plenty of outfits that use AutoCAD R13.
 
Originally posted by epicengr
eww AutoCrap. Pull yourself outta the 80's and get a solid modeling program like SolidEdge or SolidWorks
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:rolleyes: Obviously you dont know how to use it. Autodesk is an add on for AutoCad is it is the industry leading application. If AutoCad is so bad then why does every single architecture firm use it?
 
Autodesk is the company, AutoCad is the product, and the add-on you are probably referring to is Autodesk Architectural Desktop, among others.
 
^^ oops haha...yeah I mean Desktop......thats what I get for posting that on my way out the door...
 
Originally posted by epicengr
eww AutoCrap. Pull yourself outta the 80's and get a solid modeling program like SolidEdge or SolidWorks
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i dont know much about solidedge so i went to thier site. im not impressed ive seen the same thing done with AutoCad. ive also seen 3D fly by's done in AutoCad. maybe the version you were using was the light vers which dosent offer all the features.
 
IMO, SolidWorks smokes everything out there. My first experience with it was that I installed the program, and 3 days later I was getting paid to use it. I am completely self-taught using the help index/search tool.

Autocad was good in its day, but you don't see many Model T cars driving around.

SW bridges the gap between the engineering world and the creative world in a way that no other program can match. I consider what I do in SW art, though I am paid as an engineer.

It is intuitive and will allow you do do advanced surfaces or basic geometries with ease, and then go on to create documentation for your work at any level that is required.

SW has weaknesses, but these are easily overcome by the fact that within SW there are always many different paths available to the user to obtain a particular feature. This means that you can develop a style that lets your experience continue to be rewarding, rather than being a tool of a CAD jockie who cranks out features the same way they were tought over and over again.
 
Really, If you are just wanting to do something simple, Sketchup might just do it for ya, and its free. Otherwise I use Vectorworks and AutoCAD most often. Haven't ever worked with solid works, everyone I work with uses either of the programs I mentioned above (I'm in theatre).
 
Soildworks is quite powerful but overkill for what you need. You could actually do it in a simple program like illustrator quite quickly. Autocad is the default choice and works well for what it is.
 
torrey.smith said:
Autocad was good in its day, but you don't see many Model T cars driving around.
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Even though you can use an adjustable wrench to drive nails, it doesn't make it the right tool for a job.

Solidworks and Autocad are two different tools, sometimes one is just better than another for a specific task. Anyone who uses both can tell you that.
 
I'm pretty sure the OP probably graduated from school already.
Don't necropost, it's bad form.
 
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