FREE CAD PROGRAM

Want to design your own teardrop or tiny travel trailer. You can do that in 2D or 3D. We keep our secrets in here!

Postby starleen2 » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:52 am

bve wrote:
CaptainKram wrote:OK...having fun with the SketchUp program, but how do I get a design to Photobucket so I can get it here? :thinking: :oops:


File --> Export --> 2D Graphic... and choose JPEG Image, to get an image to upload to either Photobucket or your album here on the forum.


BTW - you can set the JPEG output quality and size during the export step under advanced settings - that way you don't have huge files that take forvever for someone on dial up to view (as a former dial up person - it sucks)- about 5 inches wide on a medium setting is pretty good.
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Postby toypusher » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:58 am

starleen2 wrote:
bve wrote:
CaptainKram wrote:OK...having fun with the SketchUp program, but how do I get a design to Photobucket so I can get it here? :thinking: :oops:


File --> Export --> 2D Graphic... and choose JPEG Image, to get an image to upload to either Photobucket or your album here on the forum.


BTW - you can set the JPEG output quality and size during the export step under advanced settings - that way you don't have huge files that take forvever for someone on dial up to view (as a former dial up person - it sucks)- about 5 inches wide on a medium setting is pretty good.


800 x 600 and 72 or 96 dpi works about the best for posting here.
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Sketchup Addons

Postby jml79 » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:10 am

I have found some incredible addons for sketchup such as pov-ray and indigo that are free and let you render photorealistic images of your designs, I will post a few of my first renders later when I get on my other pc.
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Postby CaptainKram » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:43 am

Good deal, thanks to you all for the tips. I'm getting better at it. :shock: :) :)

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Postby Ed K. » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:06 pm

IMSI, makers of TurboCAD, has a free CAD program available called DoubleCAD-XT. So far it's gotten good reviews.

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Postby Perttu » Mon Oct 17, 2011 4:43 am

Hi
For 2d I use draftsight
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/

and 3d I use Alibre Design ( personal ) - not free, but really! worth of that 99 dollars.
http://www.alibre.com/

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Postby upnorth » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:25 pm

Perttu wrote:For 2d I use draftsight
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/
Perttu


Draftsight from SolidWorks is a free 2d CAD that works with linux, mac & windows. If you have used autocad, this will be familiar.
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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby Junkboy999 » Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:31 pm

I use Wings 3D. It is a Free program. It is a Solid modeler. You start with a shape like a Square or cylinder,
and manipulate it to the shape you need.

http://www.wings3d.com/


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Software by lease: Not free but high end stuff ?

Postby Westcliffe01 » Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:37 pm

Yesterday I discovered that in conjunction with Local motors https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/marketplace.php?p=design1#compare Siemens is offering their high end Solid edge package on a monthly lease basis for users willing to participate on the Local Motors "Forge" forum. Your ideas might just be the design of your trailer.

The cheapest package is "Design1" which is $19.95/month. If you add print making capability this takes it to $99/month. For working on a project this can be a lot cheaper than buying a cad package.
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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby SSTear » Thu May 12, 2016 2:27 pm

I used to work at Autodesk and I have a lot experience in Autocad through version 2017 and SketchUp through version 2016.

I use Autocad and SketchUp. Both have 30 day trials. So if your pretty fast with cad..... download the 30 day trial and draw away for 30 days. Should be enough time to complete your design. I know you can also use the 30 day trials for other Autodesk products as well like Map 3d and Civil3d which all include the std Autocad functionality. So now you'd have 90 days to design :)
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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby OP827 » Thu Aug 18, 2016 9:19 pm

SSTear wrote:I used to work at Autodesk and I have a lot experience in Autocad through version 2017 and SketchUp through version 2016.

I use Autocad and SketchUp. Both have 30 day trials. So if your pretty fast with cad..... download the 30 day trial and draw away for 30 days. Should be enough time to complete your design. I know you can also use the 30 day trials for other Autodesk products as well like Map 3d and Civil3d which all include the std Autocad functionality. So now you'd have 90 days to design :)


Could you share your experience with sketchup as to how critical it is to have 2016 version in comparison with version 8, which is free. Is there anything that free version 8 cannot do to build a 3D model of a trailer that 2016 version can offer? Thanks!
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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby gDeN » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:47 am

I am a mechanical engineer by trade and use SolidWorks and AutoCAD at work, but too expensive for home use. I have found that between http://www.Onshape.com (3D) and http://www.nanoCAD.com(2D) I can do almost anything I could on the full price versions.

Both are free and easy to use if you are familiar with drafting.

Onshape is web based so it is easy to work on the design anywhere i had access to a computer (or phone). I used this for most of the design to help visualize how it all went together.

nanoCAD is a downloaded app, and shares a lot of the commands with autoCAD so there isn't much learning time. This was used for wire schematics, evaluating profiles and making cutting layouts.
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Re:

Postby gDeN » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:50 am

upnorth wrote:
Perttu wrote:For 2d I use draftsight
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/
Perttu


Draftsight from SolidWorks is a free 2d CAD that works with linux, mac & windows. If you have used autocad, this will be familiar.


No longer free as of 2020. ($100 per year). try nanocad.
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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby tony.latham » Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:00 pm

I used Sketchup 17.3 (free) on this last teardrop and can't imagine doing another one without it.

Dan Lott's got a great Youtube series on how to design a teardrop with Sketchup.

Image

Image

It really helped with the tiniest details.

Image

:thumbsup:

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Re: FREE CAD PROGRAM

Postby Betonhaus » Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:17 pm

cool, I got spoiled by mastercam as I needed to use it for my old job but it's expensive as **** and although there's a free educational edition it refuses to save in any file format but it's own, which is locked so no other program can open it.
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