Is anybody using PTC Pro Engineer Wildfire for their woodworking plans?
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PRo Engineer is too cumbersome. I use Autodesk Inventor which is alot easier to use and faster results.
Ok, I understand that you don't use CAD-Software that often then. It's good that you've got a favourite program but in my opinion Autodesk Inventor is much too antiquated and bound.
Let's not argue about which CAD-software is best, most people on this forum hasn't used more than one or two. Just stick to the CAD-engine that you feel comfortable with using and get the results you need from.
So, if there is anybody out there using ProE Wildfire for woodplans tell us.
WoodMad
WoodMad,
What is your position with the ProE Wildfire organization?
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
I'm a university student in Sweden.
WoodMad
WoodMad, me again....I hear that you're wanting to avoid the "what program's best" convesation and get right to the Wildfire users. I think the title of your thread may be throwing people off, and also may be overlooked by people who do use Wildfire. It has that generic "Which program should I buy?" look to it.
Don't want you to get frustrated with us, LOL.
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" .... :>)
Hi,
I'm from Sweden and I ain't that good at speaking and writing enlish I'm afraid. I hope the readers here at Knots don't get the wrong impression when I try to write or ask...
It wasn't supposed to look like a "Which program should I buy", it was only supposed to be a simple question if any body else besides me uses it.. I'm sorry all!
WoodMad
Hello Woodmad,
I can change the title of this thread for you if you want... Let me know what you would like and I will handle it. -MarkSYSOP[email protected]Have you updated your forum profile lately? Please Do!
Well, now I'm feeling bad. I should be able to help, since I took a year of Swedish in college, but alas, it didn't stick with me! Despite the best efforts of a long, long-time Swedish friend, I'm a dunce with the language thing.
Mark to the rescue. He'll change the title if you want.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" .... :>)
Don't feel that your English needs to be perfect (most Americans speak and write very poorly, too). Besides, how many of us know Swedish? All I know are Hej, Hej do, and stor starke öl, or something like that that gets you another (expensive) beer. At least it worked in Umeå!
BTW, your work in the gallery looked pretty good. Pretty nice place for a University student!
Hi,I'm from Sweden and I ain't that good at speaking and writing enlish
... LOL, LOL.. Me either and my native language.. Don't feel bad!
To my knowledge, there are very, very few using ProE for woodworking. I base that on much time spent on woodworking CAD forums with almost zero mention of ProE. Soildworks, Solidedge, and Inventor (which is nowhere near as antiquated as you state) are all used, and frequently mentioned. Autocad is the most commonly used program, often in combination with a solid modeler or an automating program like Microvellum or Pattern Systems products.
As a teacher (including CAD and CAM), I can get ProE fairly inexpensively, but it is lower down on my priority list because almost noone seems to use it. Not in the wood world. I know many metal/machining shops use it though.
cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Hello,
just to let you know that I now use Sketchup for my woodworking sketches.
This one took me two hours to make.
Very cool program!
Tony
Hi, Tony, thanks for the pic. I think it'd be helpful for future browsers if you could start a new thread specific to Sketchup. Would you mind? I'd be interested to know how long you've been using it and what the learning curve was. What features you like the best, and any that cause some frustration? Thanks!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" .... :>)
Hi forestgirl,
as a self-employed assistant-architect in Belgium,Europe, I use autocad and 3dstudio for more than twenty years now on a professional daily basis, until a few weeks ago I discovered Sketchup on the internet.
With the experience I have I can say Sketchup really is a revelation.
I now sketch my ideas directly on the computer thanks to the simplicity of the program and I can draw anything I want, without going through a lot of help files or tutorials. The program has very powerful features.
I can imagine that even someone without any experience in 3d-modelling, can learn Sketchup in a few days.
The pic I posted earlier was made in a few hours.
Go visit their website and their great forums at http://www.sketchup.com
Have fun modelling in 3d, at last!
Tony
I use Pro/E for my woodworking designs. It is easy to harness it's power for woodworking designs.
Isn't PRO-E a bit steep ($$) for the average home user?Same for AutoCad (Mechanical Desktop)I tried TurboCad and hated it (More complicated that PhotoShop!)Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Mark,
I do not think every one need Pro/E for woodworking designs.
Luckily I have access to Pro/E at work.
Starting wildfire release, it is easy to use as any other software or even more.
Designing in Solid, I can find all problems in the design stage and it saved me lots of $$ in the implementation stage (Even for woodworker like me - not professional).
The designs that one can do in Pro/E is as of the complexity of Mechanical design so I did great things in Pro/E and it pushed my designs to a higher level.
I think I am lucky to be able to do my designs in Pro/E, but I haven't had to pay for Pro/E.
Hope I have answered your question,
Me
photoshop may be a little complicated but when it comes to digital poto editing and the like their is nothing better and after working with it for a while you realize that the reason it is so complicated is that their is so much you can do with it
nothing better and after working with it for a while you realize that the reason it is so complicated is that their is so much you can do with it...Just like a good wife...
NOTHING IS MORE complicated than PhotoShop!
Edited 7/4/2005 2:13 pm ET by Will George
Turbo CAD
Photo Shop is bad but not that bad.
Grits
Grits -Photoshop and CAD software are two completely different animals. Photoshop is a bimap image editor. Most if not all CAD applications are vector graphic programs. Drawing elements in a vector graphics app are defined mathematically while bit mapped images are defined by pixel location, as a rather simplistic way of describing it. Bit mapped images consist of nothing but a string of dots while vector objects consist of all the dots that happen to occur along a mathematically described path.
I understanding. Most ag software uses shape files, which are nothing more than many sets of coordinates, as in latitude and longitude and may have elevation. It is amazing what you can do with it in my business when it is used properly. I can measure a hundred-fifty acre field and be accurate within one-hundredth of an acre. Points are accurate to sub meter; however, in reality, it is accurate within a centimeter or two.
Grits
Grits -Digressing somewhat regarding your ag software, does it employ GPS technology?The reason I asked is that while on vacation in France last Aug. we rented a car that had a GPS system installed. What a marvelous feature. Nothing doing but I had to buy one (portable Magellan system) when we got home.I'm totally amazed at this thing. It shows my location within feet of various landmarks that are displayed on the screen. Locates and maps routes to any address (that I've tried so far) within the entire US.Amazing world we're living in these days. I suppose these GPS things are something the CIA has contrived and actually work on a two way communciation setup so they can track our every whereabouts! (grin)
Dennis
It does use GPS. We use a Trimble. It is accurate and very durable. A little off topic but I will give you an example of precision agriculture. We pull soil samples on a 2.5 acre grid (about 110 yards apart). With GPS we know exactly where the samples are taken. The sample coordinates are stored in the software. The samples are analyzed. From the results we know what nutrients need to be applied throughout the field. The recipe is uploaded to a computer in a tractor that pulls a fertilizer cart. The GPS guides the tractor through the field and tell the cart how much to apply throughout the field. That is a little over simplified but you get the gist. We also do the same thing with lime to control the ph.
I will email you a field map in a pdf if you are interested.
Grits
Woodmad -
I chimed into this discussion (that means joined it) responding to what was essentially an off topic comment by another user. Too often that derails the focus of the discussion which I hadn't really bothered to become familiar with.
So -
No, I don't use Pro-E for woodworking design. I have Inventor but don't, and wouldn't use it either for the same reason I don't really think (opinon here is all) that mechanical design software is that relative to static wood projects.
Mechanical design software is or at least has been light years ahead of architectural/engineering design applications. Autodesk has been trying with several offerings but my personal take on most of them is they're just not ready for prime time. Pro-E is also, again just my opinion, overkill for designing things like cedar chests or even more complex furniture projects.
I guess my question back to you would be, why are you asking?
I'm seeing solid modelling software more and more in the furniture industry, and some parts of the cabinetry industry (store fixtures etc.), and it definitely has it's place for the manufacturer (maybe not so for a designer, but I'm interested in building stuff). See some or a lot of Solidworks, SolidEdge, and Inventor....and there are some that European ones made specifically for wood that haven't trickled down to my part of Canada yet. Never come across a Pro-E company yet here.
Inventor is on my backburner, but I have to get better at it.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
solid modelling .. YEP..LOTS of stuff out there.. Search LINUX solid modelling ...NO I have never got a virus downloading any freebe software for LINUX... BUT then again.. Make SURE ya have a good Virus checker...EDIT:: I did however get a Virus downloading some MS stuff...
Edited 11/4/2005 12:36 pm by WillGeorge
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