There's a Mac version of DraftSight, which is pretty close to a clone of autocad lt.
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Who has the easiest and free CAD program?
- Thread starter thebassbuilder
- Start date
There's a Mac version of DraftSight, which is pretty close to a clone of autocad lt.
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Yeah I ran into the same problem in engineering school. Some profs were cool with it, others would deduct marks because they thought the computer was doing all the work. One guy even predicted CAD (magic machines he called them) would never catch on because, at $1,000,000 per drawing, the economics weren't there! He didn't even have hindsight, let alone foresight!
- Apr 18, 2008
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Good discussion all - I too am considering graduating to something more than just sketching designs right on the MDF...
Interesting - do you outsource the front/back, or are you going for that contemporary "open floor plan" look?
Interesting - do you outsource the front/back, or are you going for that contemporary "open floor plan" look?
I always do a modern design when I can- including my own house. My house has more commercial curtain wall glass than most commercial buildings. ;-)Good discussion all - I too am considering graduating to something more than just sketching designs right on the MDF...
Interesting - do you outsource the front/back, or are you going for that contemporary "open floor plan" look?
Sketchup is another good 3D program, not as inherently accurate as Autocad, but much simpler to create 3D objects. It works well in combination with Autocad and Photoshop, so you can "paint" textures onto objects.
I downloaded the draftsight but i do not see how to upload a PDF so I can sketch from. Can someone tell me how to do this and also how to make the page grid out in a 1 inch scale. I am sure there will be a thousand more questions but I will start with this first.
On the grid part, once you have the grid turned on (F7 toggles on and off) type:
"GRIDUNIT" [ENTER]
"1,1" [ENTER]
Without the quote marks of course.
"GRIDUNIT" [ENTER]
"1,1" [ENTER]
Without the quote marks of course.
I'm giving you what I'm doing in AutoCAD as I don't actually have Draftsight installed here, but the commands above for grid display / spacing should work the same. On the PDF part, I'm not so sure, but AutoCAD has this from the top menu:
"Insert" then "PDF Underlay..."
Guessing there is an equivalent thing in Draftsight but not sure what it's called.
"Insert" then "PDF Underlay..."
Guessing there is an equivalent thing in Draftsight but not sure what it's called.
Well just read this:
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But if you don't have Adobe Illustrator maybe you could do a screenshot of the PDF, then insert the image into your Draftsight drawing?
Or there is a plugin available for Draftsight to handle PDF you can try for free:
PDF Import for DraftSight
Tip of the Day: Inserting vector based PDF files.One of the most requested enhancements for DraftSight is the ability to insert vector based PDF's into a DWG file. Although this isn't possible directly within DraftSight, there is a workaround. If you have Adobe Illustrator, open the PDF in illustrator and export into a DWG file. Open the DWG file in DraftSight, and you now have the PDF in DraftSight converted to Lines, Arcs and Splines!
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But if you don't have Adobe Illustrator maybe you could do a screenshot of the PDF, then insert the image into your Draftsight drawing?
Or there is a plugin available for Draftsight to handle PDF you can try for free:
PDF Import for DraftSight
When I started with computers (besides a dab with a Tandy, RS) it was Win 95, and past command-based. I stayed away from Linux for awhile because it was command-based to get anything done. ACAD was command-based also, for lots of functions- who wants to (learn to) go back 20+ years in computer tech? Even for free, I won't go backwards (altho you can do anything with good command-based knowledge) to be able to use CAD. It would be great if one started with it, and grew with it, tho.
IMSI Turbo-Cad is a very good value for what it can do, and far less expensive than ACAD and SolidWorks.
I've found that often times a command line interface is faster then a GUI once you learn the basic commands.
If you just want a manipulatable 3d image I use Art of Illusion, it is a simple java based 3d modeling program, and can be run on basically any computer,I used it on a net book loaded with Linux, although render times are benefited by a faster computer.
There should be some shareware or even freeware PDFtoDWG converters available. Don't know how good your Google Fu is but a cursory search popped a few up for me including Invalid Link Removed. I can't make any guarantees about their quality or even their safety malware-wise though.
Search around the net a bit. I usually include "review" in my websearch. (As in "pdf to dwg converter conversion review" as that will usually give you an independent account regarding a software's quality and reputability/safety and sometimes will give you list of "Top Picks."
Search around the net a bit. I usually include "review" in my websearch. (As in "pdf to dwg converter conversion review" as that will usually give you an independent account regarding a software's quality and reputability/safety and sometimes will give you list of "Top Picks."
I am also a Drafter by trade and when I have to convert a PDF to DWG i use Aide PDF to DWG converter. Free on the net. It will allow you to convert 20 drawings before you have to pay for it. I believe it was relatively inexpensive at that point.
H
