What program do you use for drawing?

zaph1 said:
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
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I'm right there with you brother, :D
I work in steel, not paper.

Del

www.ealyknives.com
 
I use auto cad for designing machinery and a pencil and paper for when I want to sketch a knife.
 
"
"What program do you use for drawing?"

I use 2 programs, Strathmore 300 series sketch 11"x 14" and Dixon Ticondaroga #2
 
Photoshop CS5 and a Wacom.


Does anyone recognize what program drew this sketch I got somewhere and kept for a long time?

If it were simple I would Love to use a program that could crank out images like this without photoshop level effort.

1ondia.jpg
 
zaph1 said:
Pure Imagination. Paper is for wimps. You think Da Vinci ever had to sketch it out first?
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Yes, as a mater of fact much we know about his inventions and ideas comes from those drawings

I am a paper and pensil guy. I can't free hand draw at all, but, with drafting tools I am fine. for this kind of stuff.
 
I'm with Del and Zaph....I have tired many times, and with many different things, from paper & pencil to multiple different softwares......it just doesn't work for me.

There are times that I will ask a client to "sketch" what they want, but that is only to ensure that the picture in our minds match. I've always viewed it like this: If I draw a knife out, and them try to make the knife to the drawing, I've ended my creativity when the I put down the pencil. After that I'm only making parts.
The way I do it is to see a picture in my mind...then reverse engineer that image, through the required steps, and then if nothing seems too "undoable", I'll start building the knife. More often than not things pop up during the process that will force me to make minor changes along the way....that's the part I enjoy most...being presented with those "little" challenges, and overcoming them. I do the same thing when I'm forging a blade or building damascus.
Personally, I like the fact that I can make two knives of the same "model", and each will be an "individual"...although those differences may be very slight.

All that being said, there is a place for drawings and patterns. Folders is one example. It's also not a bad idea for newer makers to draw things out until they gain the comprehension of flow and proportion as it relates to a knife.
 
I use pencil and paper with french curves and straight edge, and other templates to draw specific sized circles and/or arcs.

Then they're scanned, converted to a GIF file, and cleaned up (using MS Paint) so I end up with a simple line drawing.

I really have to learn to use Adobe Illustrator since I think a vector graphics format would be real helpful, and I already own the program.

I sometimes design by cutting knife outlines in tag-board/cardboard and tweaking shape and size with scissors.

- Lonepine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
Have found nothing better or faster than the old pencil & paper. It has worked well for several hundred years, still works really well for me. I have used several programs to prepare engineering/assembly drawings, and found that that is all they are good for. Shading the drawings by hand will convey the exact "form" of all components. This is important if the original design is not used until several years after it's conception. It would be a challange to keep all the details of several designs in ones brain. Paper is necessary. Learning to draw is not very difficult, just takes a little commitment and time.
Wolfgang
 

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I'm a graphic artist and was formerly a CNC programmer so I use Corel Draw X5, Illustrator CS3, AutoCAD and the free 2D version of Solid Edge. I also used SolidWorks to do some of the CNC stuff.
 
I use pencils, pens and paper. The only thing I use a computer for when it comes to my designs is scanning them so that I have a backup in case anything happens to my drawings.
 
Hello,

It's great that I stumbled on to this thread. I am starting a small business that promotes adventure travel in ( for starters) Michigan and Canada. I want to have some custom knives made, but I have no clue how to really describe what I want--but I do have some photos. Can anyone recommend someone who can put all of my ideas together using a computer program or a pencil and a sheet of paper?? I will of course pay this person for taking on this project.

If so, shoot me an email at emanuelbuttigieg@aol.com

Thanks,
-Emanuel
 
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