Learning CAD

[Luke_Uk_Baggy]

Hi All,

Just wandering if anyone works in CAD (Computer Aided Design) or has experience with it.

I fancied learning it, and I have pretty much 0 knowledge on the subject, except basic / generic knowledge and the usual technical knowledge of computing.

I would be looking to draw pretty much everything 2D (at least for the majority of the work until im very competent with it) and it would all have to be measured and to relevant scales I would pick / choose / set.

Tbh I dont want to spend any money on it at first, so I was looking for free programs / trial versions to try out, or programs recommended by you guys, that dont cost the earth, to get me started.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kage]

I wish I could help, but I'm more into polygon modeling which isn't accurate enough for CAD use at all

 

[root]

If you only want to do 2d and don't want to spend much money then search for TurboCAD LE (Learning Edition).

It's free (for learning and non commercial) but is several editions behind the latest, it's generally good enough for drawing plans of something that you want to make (and would be good enough to draw plans for someone to make something for you).

(it has Orthagonal and Isometric projection grids and works in both metric and imperial measurements, lets you use custom paper sizes etc).

 

[JogaBonito1502]

My dad is pretty much an expert with CATIA v5. I obviously don't recommend you start with this as the software is $100,000+ for the full license and $500 for the student license. He's shown me some things to me about it. I'm going to enroll in a course this summer to get some "official experience" with it. It's really easy to be honest. It's just a lot of features in the program and it takes a while to get to know what each of them do.

edit: To answer the question, you should definitely invest in the student version of CATIA if you get into it. Overall, it will be hard to find a GOOD program that is also free.