Does anyone out there use Auotocad LT 2000 for furniture/kitchen presentation drawings, eg isometric or even perspective drawing. I would be very greatful for anyones help or advice.
john.
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I use the full Autocad package (like LT but with more features).....what kind of help do you need?
I have autocad 2000 on disk. Would this be better than LT? Ime ok at producing working drawings, but i find customers find it difficult to visualize the finished product from these drawings.
Can you use your 2d working drawing to produce an isometric or perspective view and how can you add woodgrain, or is this a whole new world. Ultimately What I would like to do is produce a 3d view of a piece of furniture or a kitchen to be able to look at this from different angles.
john
John,
I use Auto Cad 2005. I am not familiar with the 2000 version. The main difference between the lite version of 2005 and the full version is the 3D, the lite version does not have 3D capabilities. I don't know if that is also the case with 2000 but I would suspect it is. In Auto Cad 2005 you can take a regular 2D drawing and put it in an isometric view, typically the only real benefit in doing that is so that you can work in 3D. In 2005 you can add all kinds of colors and grains and styles in your rendering, but I would guess that you would not have that feature available in a 2 dimensional drawing.
Auto Cad is by far the greatest program out there. It gives you more flexibility and options that anything. It is a little harder to learn but the possibilities are endless.
Hope this helps.
Michael
If you have the full 2000, I think your time would be better spent learning that than on LT. There aren't that many changes between versions, and if you end up moving to the current full Acad package (Acad 2006), you'll be okay.....just have to learn a few new things.
Despite some of the later comments, ACAD is a better 3d package than it gets credit for, and I draw mostly in 3d now. Only use 2d for quick sketches ....if I want to do multiple views, it's just easier to start in 3d, and it isn't as hard to learn as people believe. Or, I'll do the standard 3 2d views, and just quickly block in sonme 3d solids to get a sense of the mass/volume and proportions.
I start my students into 3d after Christmas when they are in year one (semester 1 is 2d and learning the commands), and they are usually up to speed pretty quickly. A class, or a mentor, is the best way to learn, but a book can be a big help.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
JR -
Just my humble yet closely held opinion: LT is a drafting package and that's about all. It provides little in the way of 3D modeling other than surfaces, no solids modeling capability that I know of. OK, so it's been a few years since I saw the (then) latest version of Acad LT but I doubt that Autodesk's marketing mindset has changed much since then - if you want full 3D capabilities, bring money.
There are a lot better and far less expensive 3D CAD applications available than what Autodesk would like you to believe. I personally wouldn't waste my time trying to do 3D presentation drawings with LT.
Thanks for your advice dennis i will have a look around for a more suitable program.
jp
JR-There's a lot of discussion about TurboCAD here on the forum - I've never used it so can't speak to it's capabilities or ease of use but it seems well received. Full blown AutoCAD is totally and irresponsibly overpriced! Period. One program that gets little press is Intellicad. It got it's start as an AutoCAD knock-off produced by a little company here in WA state. Autodesk bought the company and proceeded to squash it. The code was then purchased by IntelliCAD which in turn was sold or acquired by Cadopia: http://www.cadopia.com/. You can download an eval copy from this web site. I'm not familiar with their current eval policy but in the past, eval meant you could launch the program for like 1000 times then had to register it. It's a full blown CAD program with 3D solids modeling capabilities similar or perhaps identical to AutoCAD. I see on their web site that in 2002 they licensed the ACIS solids modeling kernel, the same technology used in AutoCAD. It's still not true NURBS modeling but is sufficient for the kind of 3D work we in woodworking would probably ever need.I would urge you to at least download the eval copy and take it for a test spin. I'm not associated with this company, I just like to see the underdog get a little bit more exposure.
Website says trial is good for 30 days
I, too, use AutoCAD LT 2000 and have been using it, and prior versions of it, for projects ranging from fine furniture design to house plans. I have many years invested in getting proficient in it and I think it is just great for plan and elevation drawings (2D drafting). It could be used for isometrics, but I think I would be better off putting my energy into learning 3-D instead. Enhancing such skills is a major commitment.
As DennisS says, AutoCAD LT was not intended for much more than plain old drafting. Sometimes I think Autodesk intends it to be an "Adobe-Reader-like-tool" for its full AutoCAD offering. Most software goes down in price over time, but Autodesk has about doubled the price of AutoCAD LT since I first purchased it. AutoCAD LT 2000 now is too old to be upgraded directly. Autodesk will make you pay the full price for a current version.
I have been considering moving up to the current version of AutoCAD (not LT), but , since I only use it for my hobbies, I don't want to part with the money. I don't want to steal this thread away from its intention of finding out how to use AutoCAD LT 2000 for presentations, but I would appreciate some recommendations on how to get from AutoCAD Lt to 3-D without breaking the bank.
Irv
You could sign up as a part-time student at a local college.....big discounts to students. Can't remember the name of the company, but there is a company that sells to educators and students......www.studica.com is a similar Canadian company.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Irv -First, I don't have Acad LT to determine if what I'm suggesting will work so keep that in mind.If you want really REALLY powerful 3D modeling capabilities and if you're proficient with LT already, download a trial version of a program called Rhinoceros (http://www.mcneel.com). With it you can model anything you can imagine! Curves, compound surfaces, you name it. It supports the AutoCAD .dwg drawing format both for import an export. It supports the ACIS (Spatial Tech. file format for solids modeling) .sat file format as well.This last is where you'll have to experiment. I know that the earlier versions of LT did not support true solids modeling. But they were capable of displaying them anyway as proxy objects. You could model your designs in Rhino then export them as .sat files that might be importable into LT. (One way to know is to use the File/Import/ option and see if the .sat file format is listed. If not, please disregard the above) (grin)In any event, Rhino goes for under $1000, or used to about four years ago. With regard to 3D modeling power, you can't get much more bang for your buck. Frank Ghery, a rather forward thinking architect of our time uses it for some of his fantastic work.
Hi,
I agree with all above, I design machinery components for the electronics industry. Most of it is pretty simple and I use AutoCAD LT, mostly 2D. I don't think it is the best package for what you want to do, even if it is possible to use it.
David C
I would just like to thank everyone for their advice on acad LT etc I will have a look at the other programs.
john
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