What program do you use for drawing?

What's wrong with Google sketchup?

If you object to the lack of exportable files, there are many "plugins" that will allow output to a plethora of file extensions.
 
+1 on the pencil and paper. I have a long interest in art and sketching so I draw quite frequently anyways. I don't like graph paper as I find my self trying to hard to stay within certain dimensions. All my designs start as free hand and if I like it I massage it to round numbers. I have used various CAD programs and find it can be difficult to get some curves to look right. Sometimes incorporating science into the ART of design can leave some things to be desired. I use some different drawing exercises to start my designs unless I have specific inspiration already in mind. #2 or HB grade pencils I find to hard. I usually use 4F or softer. To transfer my drawing to card stock for a template I just lay it over the original and rub over the lines and it leaves a light transfer, I then just go over it to darken.


just my ¢.02

-Xander
 
First I like to sketch it with pencil & paper, then I scan it into the computer to clean it up. For that, I like Adobe Illustrator. It lets me see just how the knife should look when I do a "full render" (I basically just fill everything in with some gradients).

It's easy to tweak the design to get just what I want. I can then create a line only version that I can use as a template to stick directly to the steel I'm working with.

Another cool option is the vector file can be saved as DXF for CAD if I want to get it cut with waterjet.

Here's an example.
exampleknife.jpg
 
Paper and pencil ---> flat bed scanner ---> Pro/ENGINEER with ISDX.
 
Pure Imagination. Paper is for wimps. You think Da Vinci ever had to sketch it out first? Um, well, anyway, I suck at drawing and the best I can do is a good mental picture. You'd be amazed just how detailed of a drawing you can do in your mind. I don't mean images, I mean actual detailed, architectural style drawings. I can imagine a perfect circle, I just can't draw one, even with the help of a computer, hehe.

Seriously though, when I re-did the EERF grinder, I did it in CadStd lite. It's a small, free CAD program. Not as fancy as a lot of others, but it's free. You can get it from http://www.cadstd.com
 
Pencil & Paper > Scan > Raster to Vector software > Omax Waterjet Software> Then machine it on our waterjet

Nice job with Adobe Illustrator image clw3
 
I'll do a little with pencil and paper, but mostly use AutoCAD. Makes it nice and easy to cut and paste different geometric aspects between different knife designs.
 
Photoshop CS4 and wife. I sketch something or send her a picture, she draws it in Photoshop, we tweak it together until we're both happy. I love my wife.
 
I just use my mind. I guess that is why my knives look the way they do!!

Sometimes the knives dictate what they look like.
 
This is an excellent topic. When I first started playing with the idea of knifemaking, I modeled things in a 3D CAD package I have access to at work (Autodesk Inventor :barf:). I quickly realized that I cannot model things nearly as elegantly as I can sketch them. I had simply switched to sketching things by hand, photocopying, resizing, tracing, etc. as necessary to get to where I wanted to go. I hadn't given it much thought since I am not yet to a point where I want to scale beyond doing pieces one at a time.

Eventually, I'd like to do slip joints in small batches and utilize waterjetting to take some time out of the profiling part of the process (i.e. the bandsaw I have access to sucks for cutting 0.040" 410 SS). How I could convert my sketches to a format useable by a waterjet house is something that has been lingering in the back of my mind. Now I know where to begin looking, though I doubt that Inventor can do it directly.

What raster to vector packages are the best bang-for-the-buck?
 
Every design starts with a paper and pencil sketch.

A friend then helps me put the design into AutoCAD, and I tweak it a bit. If I'm just making one, I'll just print it off and tape it to a piece of steel. For large batches, I send the file to the water jet cutter.
 
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