Please Help How do I get 3D Auto Cad
genecoder
| Posted in Project Plans/CAD Software on
Hi, if some one could let me know how I could get a good auto cad for free to design furniture I would very much greatly appreciate it. Any help would be greatly apreciated.
Thank you
Replies
Gee, I don't know where you'd get AutoCAD for free unless it was an illegal bootleg copy. If you don't need AutoCAD, you could try SketchUP. there's a free version of it available at sketchup.com.
AutoCad is the brand name of the Autodesk CAD program and is available in either a 2D version (AutoCad LT), or a 3D version. Both are beaucoup spendy and have a pretty steep learning curve.
A couple of other 3D CAD programs are TurboCad, and Alibre. Not as expensive as AutoCad, but not cheap, either.
You're best bet for "free" CAD software is probably Sketchup. There's a free version available and it seems to be really popular.
I would definetly download the free Sketchup and consult with Dave Richards here-a very generous man with his time and expertise!
My experience with AutoCad 3D (several years ago) was a painful one! Unless you buy add-ons you cannot really do 3D, and the learning curve was very steep. Sketchup is a very different approach to drafting, but once you get the hang of it (I'm still working at it, but my problem is lack of time spent learning) you will see that is easier to use, and for furniture design light years ahead of AutoCad.
I drafted for a civil engineer/surveyor, and AutoCad 2D with a civil eng. add on sufficed.
Hope this helps!
Pete
I wished that we could get it for free where I teach. Autodesk is proud of their software. Everyone else gives us their software for free.
I am currently an Instructor at a local community college and teach all of the CAD programs, Microstation, Solidworks, Inventor, and all of the Cad programs.
Bootleg copies are not a good choice, however, as a registered student, AutoCAD has free download software that runs for 1 year but does attach the Educational Copy note on to all printed drawings. It is supposed to limited to educational purposes.
All of the programs have similar types of educational arrangements. This would allow you to see if you really want to take the time to learn some of these more complicated programs.
My personal preference would be to use one of the parametric based software packages like SolidWorks, Inventor, SolidEdge, or even ProE
Have you guys thought of an open source 3d modeling software called Blender ?
you can find it at http://www.blender.org
It is completely free and very very powerfull.
I am not sure if you can pump out plan drawings, but for developing an idea it is fabulous...Christian
How much does your college pay for Autodesk software? When I was at University of Nebraska it was about $4000 for a single lab of 30 students. Where I am now I was told it was about the same for the lab. All of the estimating, project management, and scheduling software we use is free from the companies we deal with and it is the same software the companies use. Even ProE is much less to the students than Autodesk productsI am not sure how one could use ProE for construction purposes are you?The problem I had a few years ago when downloading the free CAD software from Autodesk was the way it slowed down my computer so bad. The Autodesk CAD software I have now has never affected the speed of my computer.
Edited 11/12/2008 8:24 pm by gb93433
It's true that the software is expensive for the classroom, the college actually buys the Academic package that includes 25 seats for all of the AutoCAD software, but that isn't the system I was referring to.
As a student of any college you can get free AutoCAD software that will run for a year and it is the full blown versions of the CAD programs.
You mentioned that it slowed your machine down, that sounds like either a shortage of memory or a slow processor, maybe both. If you get on the Autodesk web site it will give you the recommended hardware requirements. Don't forget the video board, especially if you plan to do any 3D work.
I have 2GB of RAM and the downloads did not seem to be anything like the version you can buy when you get it on a CD. They seemed to slow down my computer a lot and conflicts all over the place. When I removed the software it ended the conflicts and slowness.
If you download them from the Autodesk site, the software is exactly the same, with the exception of the "Educational Use Only", at the moment it looks like they want you to download the AutoCAD Civil version. This is AutoCAD with the Civil icons included.
By the way, if you were ever to decide to buy AutoCAD, always buy either the Architectural, Civil, or Electrical versions. All of these include Basic AutoCAD with the additional appropriate icons.
You didn't say what operating system you were using but it should be Windows XP, or one of the higher end versions of Vista.
Hope this helps
you can get a student version of autocad for free, it doesnt have all the bells and whistles but is very functional
As an Architect, i've used Autocad for many years and find it very powerful, but not very intuitive. It is very expensive. Do not buy AutocadLT, as it is not as powerful as Autocad or other less expensive programs.
If you intend to use a cad program for furniture, cabs, etc., I would highly recommend Sketchup. You can do a lot with it, from design to end of a project. Besides it's fun to use and there are plenty of on-line resouces by which to learn and progress without much of a cost, except your time.
Good Luck.
In fact the new versions of AutoCAD LT are not in any way shape or form 3d. It used to be that AutoCAD LT was a watered down older version of AutoCAD but as of the last version or two (I forget what version it started with) AutoCAD LT became the same as the current version of AutoCAD but minus anything and everything that had to do with 3d. So if you are looking for 3D AutoCAD stay far far away from LT.
Doug M.
(Architectural Designer and CAD Manager)
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