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2D CAD - Which One?


Brian

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I'm just moving onto a new laptop and I'm interested in what people are using for 2D CAD.

 

Over the years I've played with most of the packages out there but I've never really settled on one package. I've promised myself that I'm not going to pollute the new laptop with loads of different packages and just stick to one. So, what are you guys using for 2D CAD? It doesn't need to be free; just 'not expensive'.

 

AutoCAD and AutoCAD are too expensive. Even at $380/year LT is too much.

 

I have a paid-for copy of TurboCAD but over the years it's suffered from feature creep and now has way too many tools, 99% of which never get used.

 

I have a paid-for copy of DesignCAD but the last time I tried to use it on some (admittedly large) venue plans it fell over.

 

I used to use FastCAD but it seems to be a legacy product with no recent work done on it.

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I'm going through the same sort of exercise, although I've never been an established user of any system. Following lots of mentions on here I've downloaded draftsight, on the grounds that there is a free version, and it can work with autocad files, which I do get sent from time to time. Worth a look?
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another vote for Draftsight from me. the free version is good for most things I need to do, and the paid for version is very inexpensive compared to others. Also, a recommendation in this area from David Ripley is worth listening to.

 

I'm not a fan of sketchup for proper technical drawings - I play with it occasionally, but I've not used it for work. Been on the receiving end of designers drawings which don't quite work... and (probably an operator-based defect), I have trouble making things to the size I want, and if playing in 3D, I seem to turn things inside out on a regular basis, so I've never persevered.

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I use TurboCAD as work is kind enough to buy me a license for TurboCAD Pro Platinum. For simple stuff I use Visio. If cost is an issue then TurboCAD LTE is probably what you need as that starts at £129 and apparently uses all of the same commands as AutoCAD LT

 

It's quite a learning curve to move to most other CAD programs if you have only used Sketchup as the concepts of operation are so different..

 

I too have been on the receiving on of some sketchup files that just don't work. Strange scale changes when importing the sketchup file in to other programs or when sketchup does the export to DWG......

 

Sketchup used to be free from personal and commercial use now you appear to have to buy a license for everything unless you can get onto their education program.

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I've used QCAD for many years now. It's doubtless not as powerful as many of the other options but it's been fine for my fairly simple requirements. It's free / open source now although when I first found it, I did have to pay for it...

I've had a look at Draftsight recently but obviously need to read the manual a bit as I really didn't get very far at all!

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I too have been on the receiving on of some sketchup files that just don't work. Strange scale changes when importing the sketchup file in to other programs or when sketchup does the export to DWG......

 

Sketchup used to be free from personal and commercial use now you appear to have to buy a license for everything unless you can get onto their education program.

 

One of the selling points of Sketchup early on was it`s ability to convert file formats, it can create some very odd side effects if your not disciplined creating the drawing, if your building models for visualisation it is great and the 3D Warehouse has all the high poly parts off the shelf. 2D drawing without odd artifacts is harder.

 

Sketchup Make is now the free download.

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Hi Brian

 

As noted before I recommend DraftSight to non AutoCAD users who want to create drawings

 

DraftSight 2018 is the current version and the free version will do pretty much everything you want. More, useful features are available if you go to the paid version. This is common across all of the AutoCAD clones

 

The useful feature that the free versions tend not to have is the ability to add any Blocks to any other drawings. Blocks are the reusable drawings you may have or downloaded such as lantern symbols, rostra, furniture etc. This in AutoCAD parlance is the DesignCenter and it's usually called Design something or other in the other programmes.

 

The other potential issue is the file format, dwg. This is proprietary to Autodesk and so only their products use it natively. Everyone else has a version of dwg created by the Open Design Alliance. This means that there may be issues in exchanging drawings with AutoCAD users and vice versa. There is also a problem knowing which version of dwg you are getting. The current Autodesk release is 2018 but the file name still just uses.dwg, so you don't know if you can try. The clones and everyone else take a while to catch up with the changes in their versions of it.

 

Unfortnately, what the problem might be isn't consistent but I've never had an issue with DraftSight

 

I had a quick look at NanoCAD which is very similar. A lot of the clones use the IntelliCAD engine so are pretty interchangable; ProgeCAD, DoubleCAD, and so on. The free NanoCAD version is 3 releases behind the current paid for version and looks quite old as well

 

TurboCAD and Vectorworks work quite differently from those mentioned so far and of course the dwg issue is worse for them. Vectorworks in particular seems to have problems making dwgs that aren't enormous

 

Regarding training I have ported the first two parts of my AutoCAD course over to DraftSight. I posted someting about it here a while ago but no replies. Again if anyone is interested...

 

Lastly the ABTT Course includes the free Educational version, which although it has an electronic stamp on it, is the full version of AutoCAD, Windows or Mac

 

Some Links:

 

DraftSight 2018

 

ABTT AutoCAD course

 

If you have further questions, I'll try and answer them, either here or directly; David's email

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Thanks everyone. I've installed Draftsight on my laptop and am having a play whilst waiting for our cue.

 

When I get back home next week I've got got a few decent sized venue plans to throw at it and see if it breaks.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I have draftsight sat on my lap top but the main use l put it to is to convert dwg's back to a format that I can use on my old version of stardraw lighting package from 2007! It is by far the most straight forward drawing package I have come across if you are not cad proficent. I must admit it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep it working with newer versions of windows but then I'm an ageing lazy ludite.
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