Computer Aided Design (CAD)

[VetLegion]

Do you work with those programs?

I have just installed ArchiCAD for my brother (he needs it for his studies) and this program is impresive... there is huge amount of stuff it can do for you.

I also have some old version of AutoCAD, but it is much more complex so I didnt figure out what it can do.

but still, CAD programs are excellent!

When you draw a house in 2d and he renders it in 3d. Awsome

I have also seen on my university, they use CATIA on higher years, but I have no expirience with it.



My question is, do you work with CAD programs (doesn't matter in which area), what are your expiriences with them, which are the best .. etc


Oh, and are there any free ones I could download and try out? (though I dont need them professionaly, I would like to play with it some)

These programs cost a fortune btw

[LDiCesare]

they use CATIA on higher years, but I have no expirience with it.

I earn a living programming CATIA .
Indeed, it is very expensive...
The programs are very varied. Those you would use are probably mostly 2D with 3D possibilites, because otherwise it starts costing a lot.
There is a good CAD e_zine, called upfrontezine, you can look for it (I only have a link at work, not here, so I can't give the url). You can probably find out a lot about CAD programs there, mostly 2D and architecture based.

I can't really recommend programs, though, because I am professionnally biased.
Autocad, Solidworks, are good software, though.

[HazieDaVampire]

CADs not a program, you get programs that are involved in CAD, i use them all the time at school, make complez models without touching a chizzle! So sweet!

[Urban Ranger]

I use DataCAD on occasion which is very good for architectural drawings.

[Zopperoni]

I have both SolidWorks 2000 and AutoCAD 2000 here at home, but I have more experience with SolidWorks.

I think SW2000 is better, because of its great "ease" (it's still not extremely easy, but for 3D-modeling it's easier than AutoCAD) and functionality (3D-rendering, animations, universal export format).

[VetLegion]

LdiCesare, thanks I ll look up that e-zine.


Zopperoni, what do you use SolidWorks for? Is it engeneering sotware or something else?

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Zopperoni, what do you use SolidWorks for? Is it engeneering sotware or something else?

It's technically oriented yes, but I use it for all sorts of things, also for designing bottles, simple abstract stuff et cetera.

Here's the official SW-site: http://www.solidworks.com/

[Caligastia]

My wife does CAD for Liz Claiborne. She uses Eu4ria (euphoria?). If you have any questions I will ask her for you.

[axi]

Even more impressive are the combo programs that are used for design, since they usually include:
- an object design tool (CAD)
- a manufacturing process planning tool (CAM/CAPP)
- a static/dynamic/thermal/acoustic simulation tool (FEM)
- optimisation tools
- many other stuff

See I-Deas and ProEngineer f.e.

The amazing thing about them is the level of integration of so many complicated stuff and the ease and speed with which an engineer can work with them. And of course for their steep learning curve.

Btw, their libraries are enormous. Libraries are everything in design tools.

[VetLegion]

Caligastia, thanks I m just generally browsing

Yeah I guess finite element analysis and other stuff are extremely valuable.

Too bad these programs have a steep learning curve, I thought of getting one and playing with it, but I dont have the patience to learn how it works for 6 months prior. I want something quick and easy

Me and a friend got interested in silencing our PC's for example. Cooling is the problem.. quite interesting problem but computational flow dynamics tools are quite expensive

[LDiCesare]

Originally posted by axi
Even more impressive are the combo programs that are used for design, since they usually include:
- an object design tool (CAD)
- a manufacturing process planning tool (CAM/CAPP)
- a static/dynamic/thermal/acoustic simulation tool (FEM)
- optimisation tools
- many other stuff

See I-Deas and ProEngineer f.e.

The amazing thing about them is the level of integration of so many complicated stuff and the ease and speed with which an engineer can work with them. And of course for their steep learning curve.

Btw, their libraries are enormous. Libraries are everything in design tools.

I-Deas and Pro-E!
CATIA is also such a suite. The biggest portfolio of applications, actually. Even more if you count not only those made by Dassault Systemes but also those made by partners. I cannot help it, but you have products inside the CAD suite like:
product and assembly design, electrical design (wire routing, electrical harness design...), manufacturing tools (including numeric command), drawing (both generated from 3D and interactive), solid modelling, shape modelling, sheetmetal design (with variants again), mold design, rule-based and optimization programs...
Then you can add a layer of product management on top (revisions of products, management of rights to change products, versionning, configuration management...).

And you end up having HUGE programs. I dare not count the number of lines of code we have in CATIA.

[axi]

How many hundrends of thousands of Euros does this program cost?

[November Adam]

I do architectural drafting with Autocad. Have used it from version 12-2002. It is an excellent program, that only gets better.

[Urban Ranger]

NA,

Have you used DataCAD? It is far superior to AutoCAD when it comes to architectural drawings.

[November Adam]

nope, I was taught on AutoCadd at school, and every office I've worked in uses AutoCadd. I'll be the first to admit it is difficult to make the initial switch to another program if you have a fair bit of experience with one.

Who make DataCad? In which ways is it superior?