What Cad ?

[FIXIT]

Hi just a quick enquiry i have Rhino 4 although very limited knowledge but learning,

I have the chance to get Solidworks so "should i bother or not" as Ive no experience of it at all and i think I'm getting to old to start learning all over again.

it took me longenough to learn autocad !

Steve

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I can give the best possible recomendation for Solidworks. I have been using it for 10 years in my business. It is absolutely marvelous!!! It is horribly expensive, you need a really big assed computer to run it properly, and the yearly subscription fees are $1800 a year. If you can't pass the cost along to someone else like I do, you'd be a fool to buy it for "home use". BUT---It is truly amazing software, even in its most basic form (as I have). The learning curve is steep, but basically all 3D programs are the same in that you create the profile in a 2D sketch and then "extrude" the solid into the third dimension. There are so many intuitive and automated functions in Solidworks (including drawing creation) that I won't even get into it here. If you want to see some of its capabilities, go check out my website.---Brian

 

[George_Race]

If you are looking for something less complicated than AutoCAD, at a reasonable cost, you may wish to download a trial version of CamBam. it is a complete CAD/CAM program that I find very easy to use and learn. Is great for all the 2.5d stuff you may want to do. Purchase price is also very reasonable.
George

 

[Admiral_dk]

A VERY easy 3D CAD to learn and use is :

http://www.alibre.com/

And it's cheap too. Only known thing that annoys most people, is the placement of measurements on resulting the 2D construction drawings.

I'm VERY happy with my $99 copy and are considering upgrading to the $999 version.

The program is documented with tutorials and videos it took me some 15-20 hours to construct my first simple two stroke IC engine in Alibre and I've been doing a few since and it's getting easier with every item, as I learn more and more features in the program.

 

[FIXIT]

Thanks for the answers chaps i will let you know what i do.

I've downloaded CamBam trial and might look at that later

Brian impressive website,

Thanks again

Steve