Solid Works & Turbo Cad

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I'm getting a demonstration copy of Turbo Cad and may be looking at Solid Works too.

I have abandoned my effort at a DOS box running the CADKEY I'm so comfy with. It simply will not run on anything but DOS and the interfaces like the mouse and graphics drivers on the new boards don't interface well with it.


I've poked at the free google software and I don't like it.
I hate Auto Cad. I have Release 13 and it's a horrid beast of a system
I never managed to get it to perform even the simplest of things.


Any one used Solid Works or Turbo Cad?
Whatchya think?

[Stephen Musial]

I've used all three as well as some others and like AutoCAD the best (sorry) -- I use it every day at work. I hated SolidWorks with a passion and didn't care much for TurboCAD.

Sketchup is probably my next favorite and it has some nice add-ons for photo realistic renderings.

I've never used MicroStation so I don't know anything about that.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I have always been a big fan of wire frame drawing.
It has some of the feel of the drafting board that I like.
In CADKEY I could choose three-D or not as I pleased because I built the third dimension when I wanted it.

[Mike Svoma]

I'm getting a demonstration copy of Turbo Cad and may be looking at Solid Works too.

I have abandoned my effort at a DOS box running the CADKEY I'm so comfy with. It simply will not run on anything but DOS and the interfaces like the mouse and graphics drivers on the new boards don't interface well with it.


I've poked at the free google software and I don't like it.
I hate Auto Cad. I have Release 13 and it's a horrid beast of a system
I never managed to get it to perform even the simplest of things.


Any one used Solid Works or Turbo Cad?
Whatchya think?

I have used Autocad since 1996 and Solidworks since 1997. Both are good. It depends on what you plan to use them for. For 2d drawings Autocad would be okay, will run on an older system, and is cheaper. However, if you want to do 3d, Solidworks is awesome. It does require a computer with more horsepower than Autocad, but it is well worth it. The price of a seat of the basic Solidworks is around $3900, I think. I am not sure if there is a student version out there or not. I get mine from my employer, so not a problem with price.

Either way, the choice of a cad program becomes a personal chaoice that is governed by the learning curve, the patience of the user, and the economic constraints of the individual.

Just my $.02 worth.

Mike Svoma (Certified Solidworks Professional)

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

YAh it took me a rather long time to become expert at CADKEY, and that was me doing it for a living full time.

I am not looking forward to it.

[Thomas Bank]

Personally, I use SketchUp for most of my design work and then export to AutoCAD for final construction drawings. Before you write off SketchUp, have you gone through many of the videos? I find a lot of people that say they don't "get" SketchUp never bothered with the videos and don't really understand how it works.

Likewise, AutoCAD has improved greatly from V13 - which was an absolutely horrid version of the program. We had held off and stayed with V12 as long as we could, upgraded to V13, and pretty much upgraded to V14 the day it came out to get rid of V13. Since then, things have improved in leaps and bounds. I'd recommend taking a look at V2007 - which introduced some pretty good changes.

MicroStation is pretty similar to AutoCAD. They each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Take a look at DoubleCAD - by the folks that make TurboCAD. Like SketchUp, there is a Pro and a free version. I've been impressed with what I've seen there.

Personally, I'm seriously thinking of going to VectorWorks. AutoCAD doesn't hold a candle to it and it goes beyond current generation of CAD products - AutoCAD, MicroStation, etc - in many ways.

[Brian Holvenstot]

Have you looked at the newer Windows version of Cadkey? Cadkey is pretty powerful on a windows machine, I used to design mountain bike helmets in it. I am just suggesting this because CAD software is expensive and has a steep learning curve. It may be pretty similar to what you are used to, and sometimes that is the best direction unless you are planning on taking advantage of other features in Solidworks. I use Solidworks, Alias Studio tools, and Rhino3D for my job, and each of them find there way into my woodworking when they become useful.

What are you using the CAD software for specifically? A lot of the time I also find my self just doing 2D drawings in Adobe Illustrator, which is more powerful with the CADtools plugin from Hotdoor.

[Leo Voisine]

Solid works is the best. Not at all easy to learn but is really GREAT to have on a resume.

Sketchup looks nice and I have not tried it.

I am an AutoCad user since V10, V11, V13 windows, mechanical desktop and a little 3D stuff.

Cadkey and 2D Autocad are about the same.

2D cad like Cadkey and Autocad - and so completely different than Solidworks that there is NO comparison that Can be made.

Sketchup sounds to me like a low end home hobby use package.

Solidworks is a full blown professional design and modeling software that is used in an industrial environment. You really need professional training in order to be able to use it.

Pricing - will be reflective of the package.

[Ryan Stagg]

Sketchup sounds to me like a low end home hobby use package.

Solidworks is a full blown professional design and modeling software that is used in an industrial environment. You really need professional training in order to be able to use it.

It's really not - it's a professional-grade concept modeler, and happens to work really well for woodworking applications. After all, even the most complex woodworking assemblies pale in comparison to the kinds of things typically modeled in SolidWorks.

SW is actually just a medium-end MCAD package. Its big brother, Catia, is the 800lb gorilla of the MCAD market, with peers like ProE and NX - packages that run in the 10s of thousands of dollars if not
$100k+. I don't think it's completely unreasonable for someone to learn Solidworks, but unnecessary in lieu of nice packages like Sketchup. SW and its competitors really shine when you need to specify geometry that will be used for analysis and automated machining - not really a consideration for your average woodworker. It's the wrong kind of hammer for the job.

Don't get me started on AutoCAD - the Windows Vista of the CAD world.

With the openness interface in Sketchup, you can add tools like b-spline curvature functionality, which makes it immensely powerful, and Driving Dimensions (a plugin) offers parametric modeling, and a promise of geometric constraints in the future. These functions might be of use to a high-end sketchup user, but the base-included features are more than enough to design furniture, IMHO.

In other words, for modeling mortise and tenon joints and plywood carcasses, Sketchup for free is pretty hard to beat. And it has been adopted pretty widely in the architectural space, from what I understand. Give it another chance, Cliff, or let us know what about it troubled you.

[Leo Voisine]

Oops,

The low end stuff about sketchup - uh - just came out wrong.

From what I have seen based on many posts - it is ideal for the stuff a small business would do with it. Also ideal for the home woodworker. For that matter a woodwoking business.

No - I would not recommend solidworks for a woodworker either. Yer right - it's the wrong hammer.

I have also used Unigraphics - but I like Solid works better. Still I am comparing UG from 1999 to SW 2008

ME - SW - I have and I need to get better at it - for work purposes.

Other wise - trust me - Sketch up would be solidly in my vocabulary.

Ohhh - and Acad - is in the past - but I still like it for 2D layouts - simple, but only cause I have used it fer 20 plus years.

[Brian Holvenstot]

Cadkey is just as powerful as Solidworks, if not more so. It has been a while since CADkey or Autocad were just 2D programs. The thing about Cadkey is it is difficult to learn if you are used to windows and using a mouse to point and drag. Even though the newer models are built to run in windows, it still has a very DOS like feel compared to the windows flow of Solidworks, because it uses a lot of Command line input.

I've logged over 5000 professional hours between Cadkey, Vellum Colbalt, Alias Studiotools, Solidworks, Pro-E, and Rhino 3D. I design motorcycle helmets and we build most things in Alias and Rhino because of surface modeling, but for more mechanical parts I use Solidworks. Solidworks is difficult to learn if you come from another program, because it uses a completely different workflow. But after you get the idea behind the sketch planes, the sky is the limit.

If I was doing it as a business or career path, I could justify spending the money on Solidworks, but as a hobby, Sketch-up has all of the same function from a woodworking standpoint (probably better considering it is open source) and it is free (at least the basic version)

[Thomas Bank]

The low end stuff about sketchup - uh - just came out wrong.

From what I have seen based on many posts - it is ideal for the stuff a small business would do with it. Also ideal for the home woodworker. For that matter a woodwoking business.

I think that with the free version and the connection to Google, a lot of people dismiss SketchUp without trying it.

As an architect, all of my design work starts in SketchUp. It is the easiest, most flexible program that I've found for working through conceptual design and into design development.

And, as Ryan states, when you start adding onto SU you can really take things to the next level with rendering and even animation.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Cadkey is [...]It has been a while since CADkey or Autocad were just 2D programs. The thing about Cadkey is it is [..] it still has a very DOS like [..]

So that all made me crazy. You are talking about CadKey like the company is still in business.

And I know that I searched and searched and found nothing - nada - zip.

But because of your post I did a GOOGLE search and VIOLA it appears that the company "Kubotek" has bought the rights and has released a Windows compatible version.

How very interesting.