Drafting Program?

[Al Launier]

I've enjoyed using Home Designer from Chief Architect Software. They have several flavors, depending on how deep you need to go.

Another user of Chief Architect for designing houses. I have CA 10 (Professional Full Version) a much older version since I stopped working on houses quite a few years ago, plus previous issues back to Ver. 5. I used these to deign over 100 houses. This software is object oriented, rather than textual oriented which makes is much easier & faster to use.

However, if you are looking to just develop conceptual house design & hand it off to an architect to have construction drawings developed, then you could accomplish this with their basic software, Home Designer,(https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Archite...CKB3EEAAWVQMYG) as suggested above. This basic version is easy to use, has a lot of potential to develop many different design concepts. I started with this version & got hooked early on - it's a good alternative for developing design concepts. If you are competent with taking these concepts to a more detailed level, you could build a house with it, but could also run into problems with the local building inspector who usually prefer detailed construction dwgs. elaborating upon the other aspects of constructione: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.

However neither the pro or basic versions is suitable for woodworking projects. I think you would be better of with

[Bill Adamsen]

I used to use almost exclusively Illustrator (top) for measured drawings in full-scale. Still do, but more recently picked up Sketchup and Fusion 360 for 3-d models which has proven very useful.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Aaron,

I took drafting in HS for several semesters and worked as a draftsman. It's hard to break old habits! I have a friend, Dave Richards, a fellow Creeker, who is a Sketchup expert/trainer. I was embarrassed to admit I couldn't use Sketchup. So in the new year, I said I was going to learn Sketchup. I need a new sled for my table saw.

About 2 weeks ago, I made my first Sketchup drawing:


cross cut sled v4.jpg


Then my wife commissioned some new end tables and here's what we agreed upon. The back portion of the top tips up to reveal a sunken area with a surge protector with 4 ac outlets and 4 USB charing jacks. Taking time to learn Sketchup is worthwhile! Having a friend like Dave Richards to provide assistance really, really helps!

endtable 8b.jpg

It's important to inform you that my wife allowed me to purchase a higher level of Cutlist and a Sketchup extension which together produces cutlists, material lists and costs of projects. The two software programs were the new tools for the new project.

Sketchup.....take time to learn it!

[William Adams]

Not drafting per se, but Strata made their Mac app Design 3D freely available in the Apple Mac App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stra...50013743?mt=12

More information at: https://www.strata.com/design-3d-se/

[Warren Wilson]

+1 on Sketchup.

I imagine all 3-D programs of this sort have a fairly rigorous learning curve. Sketchup has a big community and some useful Youtubes, like http://sketchupforwoodworkers.com/

It runs fine on my old Mac. And it's entirely free, so if you don't like it, you have not lost anything except a few afternoons of playing with it.

[William Adams]

SketchUp is free as in beer, so long as one adheres to the license for the free versions --- the new free versions since Google sold it have a prohibition in their license as I understand it, on using the program to make things for sale --- in order to do that you have to purchase a commercial version and pay an annual fee --- YMMV, this is not legal advice, but you should read, and adhere to the software license.

[Wayne Collier]

Aaron,

You might want to look at EazyDraw. It works well for 2D and is fairly easy to learn. I use it for floor plans and woodworking project design. As mentioned in other posts, a 3D view would be handy (particularly when I need input from my wife on a project), but it is functional and does the job for my needs. The dimensioning capability is very handy. I had years of old CorelDraw/AppleDraw files that I could no longer open after one of the Mac OS upgrades, EazyDraw imports them with no problem. I used Visio in the PC world back in the 90s and would compare EazyDraw to it.

Wayne

[Warren Wilson]

William: You prompted me to read the licence agreement for Sketchup Make, and I could not find the restriction you are referring to about "making things for sale." I'll give you the link here, but I am concerned that I not violate the agreement -- if I have missed something, please let me know.

http://www.sketchup.com/license/b/sketchup-make

[Dave Richards]

William: You prompted me to read the licence agreement for Sketchup Make, and I could not find the restriction you are referring to about "making things for sale." I'll give you the link here, but I am concerned that I not violate the agreement -- if I have missed something, please let me know.

http://www.sketchup.com/license/b/sketchup-make

Warren, see the first paragraph of Section 1. USE OF THE PRODUCTS; CONTENT IN THE PRODUCTS

Trimble Navigation Limited and/or its affiliates ("Trimble") gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive license to use the executable version of the Software for non-commercial use only. Non-commercial use means: you may not sell, rent, lease or lend the output of the Software or the Services. If you are a for-profit organization of any kind, or an employee of a for-profit organization using the Software or Services in that capacity, you are engaged in commercial activity; therefore, in order to use the Software and Services, you must purchase a SketchUp Pro license.

It is entirely reasonable to expect that if you are using SketchUp to make money, you should purchase a pro license.

[Bob Lang]

I would add that SketchUp Pro is a bargain compared to other available software and that the people who pay for SketchUp Pro provide the income that supports all the users of SketchUp Make.

Bob Lang

[Warren Wilson]

Thanks, gentlemen: I did read that paragraph and interpreted the "output of the Software" to be the design rather than the object created using that design. I can see your interpretation of the sentence, though.