Drafting Program

C

Chubbleton

Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Messages
29
Hello! For my senior project in High school, I have chosen to design two or three knives (depending on how long this takes). I wish to do all of this on the computer; and thus, I am looking for a freeware program that would be good for drafting a knife (is this the right term?).

I am fairly computer literate, so I do not want the most simplistic thing out there. So, if any of you have used a CAD-esque program to draft out your knives, please do tell!

Thanks very much for the help!

Mike
 
Are you in a drafting class? Because IMHO I think that drafts that are done by hand are easier to do and look nicer.
 
From seeing what some of the guys are designing with Photoshop I would agree with Dan. PS has enough capability to render a nice looking knife, and can be looked at from several angles if you know how to use it to lay it out that way.

I have found no freeware programs as yet that will do anything like a good commercial piece of software. I have looked on several platforms and operating systems for something free with good capability and found nothing yet. Considering I have Macs, PCs with windows and Linux, and a Sun machine at home the search has been extensive.

Good Luck! Try Photoshop....

Doc
 
About using photoshop, is it possible to find a cheap (really cheap) copy around? I might be able to pull off some student discount...

Regardless, thanks for the feedback!
I'll probably be in to ask more questions soon!

Mike
 
Have you thought about hooking up with a local maker to help you make a knife instead of just drawing one? I'm sure you can find someone on here within driving distance that would be willing to help you out.
 
Have a look in a local "Half Price Books" store. They sell an older version of TurboCAD(?) for $20. It is a proper mechanical CAD program (like AutoCAD) that one would have used to make mechanical or architectural drawings in a professional setting. It would likely have useful features like automatic dimensioning that the graphic manipulation programs like PhotoShop are not likely to have. One of the woodworking magazines, that I saw at Home Depot recently, did a survey of CAD programs appropriate for small shops and I think that TurboCAD was rated pretty highly.
 
PSO is right, and as I recall the newest version of turbocad is in the $300 range IIRC.

Might be another option, but then again you may want both. You can never have too much software.....

Doc
 
I dont know how user-freindly this program is but try it out is free. I've used programs by autodesk in college and this program seems like it has some power :D :D minos
 
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