Re: 3D CAD

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:52:03 GMT, John Stevenson
<john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:15:06 -0000, "Steve"
<steve.withnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've been using TurboCAD (TC) for years now. It has very good 3D modelling
and photorealistic rendering. The following link from the IMSI (makers of
TurboCAD) User-forum shows a helicopter modelled entirely in TC V14 Delux.
http://forums.imsisoft.com/forums/Attachment.cfm?CFApp=200&Attachment_ID=63012
They do two basic versions: Pro and Delux, the Pro has all the bells and
whistles you could want, and the Delux is simply their name for the
standard version.
V15 has just been released and is rather expensive. The best value is V11
Pro - a friend got one for about £20 on eBay about a month ago. Avoid V12
like the plague, it was a real dog. There wasn't a V13 and V14 is still
expensive. I still use V11 Pro.
According to the TC User-forum, TC's 3D facilities exceed those of
Autocad. Since I have no personal experience of Autocad I can't comment.

--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com


I have a copy of TC V14 - not really that impressed by it. It is a 2D
drawing package with some 3D capability. There are too many things it
won't do in 3D for me, such has shelling solids, drilled holes etc, which
should be standard. The helicopter is really neat, but I don't need
rendered images for engineering drawings.


Regards

Steve

I feel a lot of thought has to go into what you want to do .
Some of these 3D packages have impressive demo's and examples but have
you ever wondered just how long these took.

Now if you want impressive 3D render parts then fine but as Steve says
if you are just needing working drawings it can be time wasting both
in time and the steep learning curve.

My son drives Solid Edge for a living and he's not bad at it.

Yesterday he spent nearly a whole day drawing a rotating tool turret,
looks nice but if that was my job one hour in 2D CAD would have me
working DXF's for the CNC to handle.

I get the usual "Well it can spot mistakes and see if everything fits"
Bollocks to that, it's that simple that if it didn't fit you would be
considered eligible to hold a plate on your lap.

Now if you are dealing with customers or the great unwashed then this
is another point to bear in mind but my drawings are for me, full
stop.
Any excess of time comes off the bottom line and I pay for it.

You have to read into the above the points that affect you.
Regards,

John Stevenson
Small CNC Support.


OK - I'll now go off at a bit of a tangent.

I've managed up until now without CAD. I've never felt that I've
needed it. However there are some projects that would be better with a
drawing to help with planning and it seems that I can't put it off any
longer.
Any suggestions as to an easy to learn and cheap 2D CAD package?

Thanks

Charles
.

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