Have you used TurboCAD, and in particular the 3D? How good is the 3D? For example, can it do a Les Paul styled carve top?
I've found that things like Sketch up are terribly limited.
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Farewell Draftsight. We hardly knew you.
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
Have you used TurboCAD, and in particular the 3D? How good is the 3D? For example, can it do a Les Paul styled carve top?
I've found that things like Sketch up are terribly limited.
Progecad is what I’ve used at work. All the functionality of the big boys without the high cost and you own it not rent it.
I used it a long time ago, and i never used the 3d functionality. Sketchup is good for a lot of things, but making complex 3d shapes like a carved top guitar is not one of them.
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No love for On-Shape here? Rhino also has a great 3d package for more organic and abstract surfacing techniques.
I use QCAD for 2D drafting. QCAD - 2D CAD for Windows, Linux and Mac
It's quite easy to use, doesn't overload you with options you don't need, and is cheap; 33€ for unlimited license use and 1 year of updates.
It's quite easy to use, doesn't overload you with options you don't need, and is cheap; 33€ for unlimited license use and 1 year of updates.
This is very true. I have two engineering degrees, and with each one came more and more math (which I love). It's important though, that he doesn't love math so much that he wants that to be his life. My experience is that unless you get into an ultra technical field or research position, you won't use even 5% of the math you learned about in school. I have been in both types of jobs.
But as far as the question goes about using 3D printing - my experience is the cheap ones you can buy for personal use that print ABS or Polycarb are going to be good for proof of concept type stuff and not much else, unless you're cool with lower tolerances and seems in your parts. They might be better now than when I used them extensively 5-8 years ago, but that's where we were at at the time. General Electric had nicer, bigger units and parts still routinely came off looking somewhat dubious.
Shame about DraftSight - that was a cool little program.
Good luck with that. I’ve been in IT for over 30 years. And the direction the software industry is ultimately going to go over to is what’s being referred to as “software as a service.” Which means software subscriptions rather than outright sales. Especially in the graphics and design world where pirated and cracked software was especially widespread.
Like you, I prefer to purchase the right to use software outright. But selling hardcopy with a license to use it only really started with the personal computer era back in the mid-80s. Prior to that, all the software running on mainframes and minicomputers (including the operating system itself) was leased. When the personal computer world broke ranks and started “selling” software, it sent a shockwave throughout the entire computer industry. And many in the industry predicted it was an unsustainable business model because it relied on trust in the honesty of the end user. That plus the customer’s continued support (i.e. gratitude expressed by buying future version upgrades as they came out) of your product.
And in those two respects they were proven right. Selling software isn’t a sustainable business model. Especially now that the Internet has made a joke out of any attempt to enforce the legal use of any software product that doesn’t periodically “phone home” via a online connection to revalidate its security token.
Unless you’re doing your computing over in the FOSS/Linux/BSD world, the days having your own personal copy of executable code running on a machine that’s fully under your personal control are rapidly coming to an end. Best get used to it
He LOVES math. He does quadratic equations and stuff like that in his head (I dont even know what they are!). He took a practice ACT test a few weeks back and got a 30 on the math portion. Same on the science part. His previous math and STEM scores were 24. He actually took the ACT as a 7th grader and scored higher than I did as a junior in HS, which wasnt hard because I'm just a bass player...
There is a local university that has a space sciences program that I would love for him to look into. It has a lot of mechanical engineering type work in it.
BnB
Sad to hear this. I had stopped using it a few years back as I have AutoCAD installed on my work PC available to me, but knowing there was a free alternative was nice.
He LOVES math. He does quadratic equations and stuff like that in his head (I dont even know what they are!). He took a practice ACT test a few weeks back and got a 30 on the math portion. Same on the science part. His previous math and STEM scores were 24. He actually took the ACT as a 7th grader and scored higher than I did as a junior in HS, which wasnt hard because I'm just a bass player...
There is a local university that has a space sciences program that I would love for him to look into. It has a lot of mechanical engineering type work in it.
BnB
That's fantastic, it sounds like he's cut out for it then! If I can offer any advice at all, success in an engineering program really requires good study habits. Good study habits = good grades and a better understanding. I lacked that going into my program (I still lack it in 4th year) and it makes things harder.
Thanks. I'll pass that along to him. He's pretty smart, and school has always come easily to him. Never brings home any work because he always gets it done so fast. I keep telling him college wont be like that. He will have to work there.
What kind of engineering program are you in?
BnB
That was my experience in high school - first year of college/uni won't be too bad but once you're into your upper years there's always lots of work to be done. I'm in Electrical Engg. myself
I was also one of those kids that never had any trouble getting above a 4.0 in high school, and college was sort of a kick in the nards for me, especially the later years. If I had one piece of advice it's to work to really understand nature, not just memorize crap to get good grades. Too many engineering students just try and memorize formulas, and then when it comes time, they don't actually have any understanding of where they came from and completely lack physical intuition about their field.
But we're veering way out from Draftsight, which is already quite the niche topic for TalkBass!
But we're veering way out from Draftsight, which is already quite the niche topic for TalkBass!
or come over to the FOSS/Linux/BSD world
Did that about six or seven years ago for all my own machines. All the PCs plus the three servers in my house are running either Linux or BSD. Only way to go IMO.
I love it. I grew up on C4D, the sworn enemy of Max
I joined a makerspace and we use Fusion for everything. I've done all my current guitar design with it and use it for the CNC and 3D printers.
I love how complete it is, and the parametric features are awesome. On a finished project I can go back and modify the original sketch and it will update all the way to the gcode. And it's still free if you make under $100k a year with it.
