I’m looking for an easy to use drawing program. I was using Autodesk “The Home Series Kitchen” program. But I got a new printer and it has a USB connection and the program is so old it does not print to a USB port. I don’t want anything fancy. I usually design my own projects and just want something that will draw. The Kitchen program was easy to use, drew true 90 angels, and was all I needed. I don’t want to build a house or make fancy engineering drawings.
Anybody have anything?
Joe
Replies
Does the old program have an export function or "save as" options (under File)?? You might be able to export the drawing to a photo program, or "save as" a jpeg file, then print.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
The program saves the drawing as a .DWG file. I can't find any other program to open these files
Joe
Joe,
First, get a free trial copy of DeltaCad (from their website) and try it out. It's not expensive and the learning curve is very shallow. There's a very useful tutorial under the help menu and if you follow it through, drawing the objects they show, you'll know all there is to do any drafting job at all.
Second, in your old program, export everything in DXF form so the drawings can be imported to DeltaCad or other programs.
Third, on the drawing screen of the old program try this: Highlight (or select) all objects and press "Control C", then open any other graphic program you may have and press "Control V". If it works you'll get a copy you can print. It usually is a lo-res image (bit map), though, not the raster drawing you originally made.
Ultimately, the best option is to get another drafting (CAD) program and import the DXF files. They'll be just as you drew them and editable, too.
Regards,
Don
I looked at the Delta Cad web site. I'll download the trial program later today and give it a try.
I've tried to load the drawings from the old program into other cad programs but they don't recognize the files. They're saved in DWG format and I can't open them with anything else.
Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try.
Joe
....and there's no Save As or Export function to change that? Darn.
Folks here are going to have a tendency to shuffle you off in the CAD direction, which I gather you really don't want to do. Can't blame you! I know what type of program you're talking about with the simple kitchen thing, but have no actual experience with anything recent. I'd suggest a few options if you don't get any personal reviews here:
Go to a place like tucows.com and search for kitchen design, then see which programs allow you to download trial versions.
Do a Google search on kitchen design software, then see which programs allow you to download trial versions.
Buy DesignCad Version 14 if you can find it, about $20, and use it to open drawings from your old program, then print them.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 4/6/2005 12:37 pm ET by forestgirl
There is an article in Fine Woodworking a few months back that reviewed both 2D and 3D programs. Their pick was DesignCad 3D Max Version 14. Now I think it is Version 15. You can google this to find the website, they offer a free trial. Retail is around $89.00.
Robert
Joe:
First off, DWG files can be read by many CAD programs i believe. Any autocad programe can definately read them. I think that DWG is autocad's native file format and DFX is more of a standard format that everyone can read. Make sure you can't save it as a DFX filetype. warning...i'm doing this from memory but i *think* DFX is correct.
What version of windows are you using? It's kind of odd that you can't print from this older version of Autocad.
Lastly, if you want to email me a file i could try and read it and convert it to a DFX file for you...if you buy something else adn want to inport it (and they don't read DWG files directly). BTW if you've got any friends that are surveyors or architects, they could do this too. Oh...i saw a review on a new release of your software http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue160/128_The_Home_Series_Rel.php but i don't see if on autodesk's web site.
[hang on...let me check amazon]
no luck.
Joe,
Bob is right about the export files (though he has the letters transposed), they are Drawing (or Drafting) eXchange Files, or simply DXF. I think if you examine your program you have the choice to save them as DXF so they can be sent to others and they can read them.
The big difference between drawing programs is the way they are drawn and the file types they are saved in. Bitmap programs save files as .BMP, and raster drawing programs like Corel save them as .CDR, but can be saved as other file types including .DWG, .DXF, WMF (windows metafile) and many others. Besides the 'save as' option there are export options that will allow saving to even mores file types including those that can be used on web pages and in illustrations or used by large format plotters. Corel can even export to Adobe and Macintosh files. I frequently use Corel to make .PDFs too, which are Portable Document Files commonly used to disseminate information like plans on the Internet.
If you want to draw your work out in detail and in scale and be able to edit details later, you need a drafting (CAD or CADD) program. On the other hand. if you just want to illustrate the work without editable details, almost any drawing program will work, including Microsoft Paint, which is bundled into most PCs.
For me, I find drafting programs serve the purpose better.
Regards,
DonI'm not the man I used to be, but then I never was!
.DWG is AutoCad's file format, which has been revised a great many times through the years. All AutoCad products will read their own and older versions of .DWG. Other software companies have attempted to reverse engineer the .DWG format, with varying degrees of success, and use it as an industry standard.
This ended up not working too well whenever AutoCad released a newer version of .DWG. So, to make things easier for exchanging files, AutoDesk came up with the .DXF format, specifically to be used as an exchange format. They release the .DXF specification, while .DWG is proprietary. The same drawing takes up a little more disk space in .DXF than in .DWG, maybe half again as much. You may lose a few of the newest bells and whistles going to .DXF, but with other companies' attempts to do .DWG, you may not get anything usable.
-- J.S.
Being a bit older, I am currently using a drafting board and doing the usuall three view 45 degree projection drawings we were taught in high school. But I would like to move over to CAD at some point. I like the three projection approach simplicity and dont need 3D renderings. Which CAD or mechanical drawing software does this?
Any CAD program will do anything you can do on paper with a tee square and a pencil. There is absolutely no difference. If you can draw a plan manually, you'll have very little trouble adapting to a CAD program.
I learned to do manual drawing in High School back in the 40's and then took a refresher course in the 50's. I wouldn't even try it today, because of the advantages of having my drawings on my computer.
Regards,
DonI'm not the man I used to be, but then I never was!
2D with a little perspective support is what you're looking for, and that's exactly what you get with AutoCad LT.
Most important, don't cheap out on CAD software. No matter how much you pay for it, the price is peanuts compared with the time you'll put into learning and using it.
I made the mistake of starting with a cheap program called TurboCad. I even beta tested their versions 6 and 7, not that they ever fixed any bugs. Then I upgraded to AutoCad LT, which is so much easier to use for the basic functions that occupy 98+% of your time. You have to un-learn your old program to learn a new one, so starting with an amateur program puts you below zero on the learning curve when you get something better.
-- J.S.
http://www.softwareforresellers.com/tude10wfl3dd.html
Good deal for $30. Turbocad 10 as well as a basic kitchen layout modeler. You've got the easy one and the option of CAD if you want to monkey with it.
Just a suggestion, good luck.
Thanks for the info but I already ordered Delta Cad 5.0. It was $39.95 from them. I don't do kitchens anymore and was more interested in a program that I felt comfortable with doing more detailed drawings. I downloaded the trial version and found it very easy to learn. I can imagine there are many good CAD programs out there but I felt that Delta Cad was what I was looking for. The old program that I have and doesn't work with my new printer is like a dinasaous compared to Delta Cad.
Joe
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled