3d CAD

[joe]

I am look for recommendations on a inexpensive 3d CAD Program. I've seen a lot of great posts of your chassis renderings. I'm a retired engineer that originally worked in the old 2d mechanical CAD design world. I purchased a 3d architectural CAD program back in 2001 to design my home. I watched several youtube videos of several 3d CADs such as; Design Spark Mechanical (free), Fusion 360, Autodesk Inventor, Solid Works, etc. Any recommendations on an low cost, easy to navigate program would be greatly appreciated.

[eclipse]

Hi Joe! Good question and I think I can add some constructive input here to help you.

The 'calibre' of program that you use will be reflected in the cost, but depending on the complexity of what you wish to achieve it may not be necessary to opt for an 'all-singing-all-dancing' package... so the first question that you have to ask yourself is: what is my expectation, in terms of the parts I want to design and (realistically) my ability/motivation to model them.

I appreciate that the latter is a somewhat 'chicken and egg' question, but it would be useless, for instance, committing to a highly complex and costly program if you were only ever intending to produce simple solid models, as one might expect to produce on a 3-axis machining centre. I say this as, IMO, the more capable the programme is, the more effort is required to learn how to make effective use of it. Google Sketchup is great for simple modelling, but is I believe entirely un-parametric and limited by virtue of it being marketed as an entry-level solution.

At the other end of the spectrum we have DS Catia and Siemens NX, both very expensive and supremely capable when driven by an experienced professionals. (These are used throughout the automotive world, aerospace, F1 etc). They usually need additional PLM systems for the management of parts, and are consequently complete overkill for the home enthusiast, particularly if you don't have any formal training.. but with annual license costs in the tens-of-thousands, I dare say they aren't viable options anyway?

I've used PTC Creo for several years now, as this is the package of choice for the motorcycle industry. It's not without it's quirks, but has the benefit of seamlessly integrating solid and surface modelling capabilities, and can also be used parametrically to make life all the more easy. The major drawback is that you need access to a huge amount of config files and settings if you want to get anywhere near useful output, as (like some of the abovementioned) it is designed for use in large corporations by experienced professionals.

Solidworks seems to be prevalent for smaller companies and those on (relatively) lower budgets, so I would imagine that this would be high on your list, but I've no experience with this one so cannot really comment constructively.

I hope this helps!

-Rob

[srx660]

I, too, have got interested in trying some Cad software. But as a complete idiot in using this software i do not want to spend the money they ask for for the one time i may use it. Even SketchUp is $700. So i am reading about FreeCad software to see if it can do what i want.

www.freecadweb.org/

SRX660

[joe]

I have little experience with 3d CAD, have used 2d CAD since the 80's. The easiest and most intuitive 3d Free CAD I used is "TinkerCAD" it simple compared to others yet fairly complex in terms of results. It's probably one of the best platforms to learn from with little or no CAD experience, good luck!

[DaveJ98092]

My son has a 2 or 3 year old Solid Works program and has tried to school me on it but my brain does not work well with some of it. Capt American sent me a copy of all his drawings in Solid Works 2010 and my son can navigate through them with his program.

[srx660]

Well, i installed freecad 3D software on my computer to try it out. Problems from the get-go. It seems i can't get anything to work and the help files won't load. Tried going to the website and nothing will load from there either. The help forum seems to work but i have not been answered on how to get freecad to work in 24 hours now. I'll try working with it for a while and if i can't get it working, delete it. frustrating when software just plain doesn't work and theres no help at all.

srx660