DRAWING SOFTWARE

[UPLANDBOY]

There is a full featured drafting 2-D drawing program available for free. it only requires an annual registration. It is very similar to AutoCAD in function. To obtain it go to www. draftsight.com and follow the download instructions.

Dave

[SteveM]

Do you know how it compares to Sketchup?

[UPLANDBOY]

I have never use SKETCHUP and I am not familiar with it. AutoCAD is a high end professional drafting program. Draftsight is equal to AutoCAD. 2-D AutoCAD costs over $800.00. Draftsight is FREE.

Regards
Dave

[joecrouse]

autocad lt can be had fairly cheap.

[BillParker]

any of em work on LINUX?

[Mfezi]

Yes, draftsight is available for Linux also. As stated by Dave, it is a very good 2D CAD and free. I use it for a lot of things where 3D CAD would have been overkill, including drawing model aircraft plans.

[joecrouse]

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/ ... -software/ was mentioned over at The Tinkers Guild Forum (Hosted by Doc Nickel and The White Board a Vaguely paintball related comic strip)

[slopemeno]

Hey- is it telling when two of my hobbies meet? I'm a regular over on the M. Carter Brown vintage paintball website, and also know who Dock Nickel is.

[joecrouse]

For those not in the know...

http://www.the-whiteboard.com/

Start at the beginning...

[rubble]

Sorry to jump in here but it seems this is a thread what might help me.i would really like to get parts laser cut particully wing ribs.
I can draw the parts full size on paper and would really like to get these images on files for cutting.
I have no idea how to go about this only that a 2d software programme is needed.
i have looked high and low fo r a basic howto on whats involved with no luck.
Any pointers here guys?

[David Lewis]

If you draw the ribs on paper first, you scan the paper drawing and insert the scanned image into your CAD drawing window. Then you trace over the image shapes using the line command. It is usually easier, however, just to draw the ribs using a CAD program in the first place.

[EddieRich]

I have always used InkScape to do 2D drawing of shapes.
It's primarily designed for SVG ( scaleable vector graphics),
but you can also save files as DXF.

[kittyfritters]

All of my plans are drawn using Inkscape on a PC running SUSE Linux. The scalable vector graphics format makes it very convenient to change the scale of a drawing. Guillow has been using Corel Draw in house. Most drawing and drafting software can translate files back and forth between several formats so it's simply a matter of agreeing on a format if you share files with someone else.

I prefer to draw using my Linux box since running the same version of the software on Linux is 4 times faster than an identical PC running Windows 7. I do have a Windows 7 machine, also with Inkscape, out in the shop because my laser cutter does not have drivers for Linux. I am looking into 3-D CAD software because I am considering getting a 3-D printer to do prototypes of plastic parts, and the more advanced laser cutters also have limited 3-D capability.

[David Lewis]

For 3D (wireframe) I use AutoCAD R14. It has a function (DVIEW) that lets you view and rotate the model in perspective. I run AutoCAD under Windows 2000, XP or Vista.