TurboCAD Deluxe 11.2

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TurboCAD Deluxe 11.2

Postby Esteban » Mon May 28, 2007 2:40 am

Would TurboCAD Deluxe 11.2 be a good CAD program to use to design a teardrop? It's an older version that's $39.95 from http://www.cadandgraphics.com/tu11pr.html

Andrew's Grumman II profile looks good to me. I'd like to brainstorm variations of it on a computer. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=15080

BTW, I'm a CAD newbie.

The web store above sells TurboCAD Deluxe 12 for $59.95 and TurboCAD Deluxe 14 for $99.95. If either one of them is significantly better I'd consider using one of them.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.
Steve - SLO, CA
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Postby angib » Mon May 28, 2007 11:27 am

To start learning CAD, v11.2 Deluxe would be fine. v12 and v14 offer some benefits, but you need to be a regular user before you'd need them. It's likely that you might want to go Professional (for 3D modelling) before you'd want to go to v12 or v14 - and not having gone to v12 would make the transition to Professional much cheaper!

I've used TurboCad since maybe v4, so I'm biased: but I've played around with some other PC/Mac CAD software and none of the affordable ones seem hugely different in either ability or difficulty of use.

That said, don't think that CAD is something to pick up in a week. Any CAD software will take as much learning as, say, Photoshop if you knew little about digital photos. I think more than one person here has found it to be more trouble than it's worth.

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Postby mrainey » Mon May 28, 2007 5:47 pm

TurboCad Designer 12 is free after two rebates. I don't know anything about its capabilities compared to the regular TurboCad program.

http://shop.outpost.com/product/4898750
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Postby Podunkfla » Mon May 28, 2007 6:12 pm

angib wrote:To start learning CAD, v11.2 Deluxe would be fine. v12 and v14 offer some benefits, but you need to be a regular user before you'd need them. It's likely that you might want to go Professional (for 3D modelling) before you'd want to go to v12 or v14 - and not having gone to v12 would make the transition to Professional much cheaper!

I've used TurboCad since maybe v4, so I'm biased: but I've played around with some other PC/Mac CAD software and none of the affordable ones seem hugely different in either ability or difficulty of use.

That said, don't think that CAD is something to pick up in a week. Any CAD software will take as much learning as, say, Photoshop if you knew little about digital photos. I think more than one person here has found it to be more trouble than it's worth.

Andrew


Yep... I will be the first to vouch that there is a significant learning curve with Turbo Cad (and any CAD program for that matter)... I am still on the uphill slope bigtime. But, I am learning it. If you could spend some time with someone who is proficient with it and/or take a night course at your local Vo-tech it would be invaluable, I think. Go for it if you have the time. :thumbsup:
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Postby mikeschn » Mon May 28, 2007 6:29 pm

Turbocad, or any CAD package that uses either the parasolid modeling kernel, the ACIS modeling kernel or the Granite modeling kernel is a piece of cake. Training can be accomplished in a day or two. And the person should be up to speed before the end of the week.

Opps, wrong speech.

Yea, what they say, learning CAD is a steep uphill climb. And even switching between CAD systems can be a royal pain...

I've heard lots good said about SketchUP, though I've not played with it myself. Judging by the results here on the forum, I would say sketchup has potential.

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The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten, so build your teardrop with the best materials...
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Postby Esteban » Mon May 28, 2007 8:05 pm

Thanks for the feedback. I primarily want to use software to customize the design of a teardrop. It'd be helpful to brainstorm variations of a design before committing to sparks and sawdust. I want to enjoy using my First Teardrop for a long time.

In the top of the CAD secrets forum free CAD programs are suggested. TurboCAD 11 for about forty bucks isn't much of a hole in my wallet...if it'll help.

TurboCAD 14 Deluxe, for a hundred bucks, would be a stretch..that I might be able to justify. Down the road I may build a house again. So learning to use CAD would be handy. TurboCAD 14 Pro, for 700 bucks, costs much more than I'm willing to spend to help with a teardrop.

What I'd like to do, now, using CAD software is to import teardrop designs, like Andrew's Grumman II, and customize them to suit my needs. If I'm not starting a design from scratch, instead import and customize a plan, does that make using/learning CAD easier for that purpose?

If teardrop designs like Andrew's Grumman II can be imported into Google SketchUp 6 (free version) for customization that might do well enough for my needs.
Steve - SLO, CA
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Postby Tear Les » Mon May 28, 2007 10:06 pm

Hi Steve,

I'm not an expert at CAD buy any stretch of the imagination but I have been using DeltaCAD from Midnight Software in Seattle for several years now; it either works well or I've gotten so used to it I like it (they bill it as "the world's easiest CAD program"). I particularly like the $39.95 price tag although you can get the demo for free. I'm not beating the drum for these guys; for all I know it's a teribble program but I didn't have any CAD experience when I started at all so I have nothing to compare it to. I did do old-fashioned mechanical drawing before that and somehow I managed to use that experience to make the program do what I wanted it to.

I did download Andrew's Grumman2 .dxf file into DeltaCAD and it works fine (that's the design I'm getting ready to build). I've been trying to redo the design in Sketchup but so far it's getting the better of me. I think I think too linearly and not so much with complete shapes but I'm trying. :?

When I try to open a file in Sketchup (the free version) the only option I see is to grab .skp files.
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