CAD program for basic car design?
Discussion
) for doing some basic car design and modeling?300bhp/ton said:
basic car design and modeling?
Theres no such thing! What is it you wish to do? Create 'renders' and styling, surface modelling and pretty pictures?
Or create manufacturing data?
Also, do you have any experience of it? To what level of detail are we talking?
Sketchup is a pretty good bit of software if you wanted to play 'building blocks' as it were?
As above Solidworks would be great though for proper engineering design if you could get hold of a licence...
AnthT said:
MS paint is just for porn
It depends on what you want to do and what experience you have CAD
I would start with google sketchup, if that diesnt meet your needs, move to something more complicated
Im a professional CAD user, experienced with AutoCAD, Catia, Revit Etc etc. My point was that if you want something good you need to pay for it.It depends on what you want to do and what experience you have CAD
I would start with google sketchup, if that diesnt meet your needs, move to something more complicated
Cheers, going to have a play around with Google Sketch first. Yes have used MS Paint.... and I understand you have to pay for stuff as a rule if yo want it to be good. But often there is a middle ground between the pro and s
te programs. Even if its a Shareware or limited function trial variant.
Even more so in this day and age of open source apps and Linux OS's.
As for the use. Well I have a car idea I'd like to mock up and try and achieve something better (and more accurate dimension wise) than I could with MS Paint. However I'm not a business so don't have money to waste or throw away on a pass time.
Not overly experienced CAD user, but we all have to learn and start out somewhere. Being a software tester I've had fairly broad and varied application usage though.
Thanks for the info and suggestions so far
te programs. Even if its a Shareware or limited function trial variant.Even more so in this day and age of open source apps and Linux OS's.
As for the use. Well I have a car idea I'd like to mock up and try and achieve something better (and more accurate dimension wise) than I could with MS Paint. However I'm not a business so don't have money to waste or throw away on a pass time.
Not overly experienced CAD user, but we all have to learn and start out somewhere. Being a software tester I've had fairly broad and varied application usage though.
Thanks for the info and suggestions so far
300bhp/ton said:
Cheers, going to have a play around with Google Sketch first. Yes have used MS Paint.... and I understand you have to pay for stuff as a rule if yo want it to be good. But often there is a middle ground between the pro and ste programs. Even if its a Shareware or limited function trial variant.
Even more so in this day and age of open source apps and Linux OS's.
As for the use. Well I have a car idea I'd like to mock up and try and achieve something better (and more accurate dimension wise) than I could with MS Paint. However I'm not a business so don't have money to waste or throw away on a pass time.
Not overly experienced CAD user, but we all have to learn and start out somewhere. Being a software tester I've had fairly broad and varied application usage though.
Thanks for the info and suggestions so far
If your a student you can get any version of AutoCAD for nowt iircte programs. Even if its a Shareware or limited function trial variant.Even more so in this day and age of open source apps and Linux OS's.
As for the use. Well I have a car idea I'd like to mock up and try and achieve something better (and more accurate dimension wise) than I could with MS Paint. However I'm not a business so don't have money to waste or throw away on a pass time.
Not overly experienced CAD user, but we all have to learn and start out somewhere. Being a software tester I've had fairly broad and varied application usage though.
Thanks for the info and suggestions so far
Google sketchup is next to worthless for mechanical engineering design. It's little better than a a toy, and it's intended primarily for architectural design (it's a very good toy, mind you, and we do use it professionally for 3D architectural presentation work).
At 'serious amateur/light professional' level (eg. for your example of a kit car manufacturer), I'd argue that it then depends whether you want to produce pretty pictures, or drawings you can actually build from.
If you want to do a wonderful 3D model, accurate down to the last nut and bold and fully rendered, you're better off with Solidworks or Catia because they are essentially 3D packages with 2D orthographic functionality bolted on.
If you want to produce engineering drawings, I'd argue that AutoCAD is better (once you've learnt it - I admit it's a bit of an animal), because it's an immensely powerful 2D drafting package with (increasingly effective) 3D capabilities bolted on.
People will be incredibly partisan, though, depending on which package they're most familiar with (and I must admit I was brought up on AutoCAD and know it inside out, so it's by far the most effective tool for me).
Becoming fluent in any form of 'professional' CAD is quite a task though, so don't underestimate it.
Also try not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. I see many guys on the forums who have spent an immense amount of time and effort creating lovely 3D models of their ideas, when perhaps it would have been more productive to spend the time knocking up a few quick sketches of key details and arrangements, then getting on with actually building the thing. Never forget that design drawings are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
There are ways to obtain either AutoCAD or Solidworks free of charge, of course, but we're not allowed to mention them on PistonHeads.
At 'serious amateur/light professional' level (eg. for your example of a kit car manufacturer), I'd argue that it then depends whether you want to produce pretty pictures, or drawings you can actually build from.
If you want to do a wonderful 3D model, accurate down to the last nut and bold and fully rendered, you're better off with Solidworks or Catia because they are essentially 3D packages with 2D orthographic functionality bolted on.
If you want to produce engineering drawings, I'd argue that AutoCAD is better (once you've learnt it - I admit it's a bit of an animal), because it's an immensely powerful 2D drafting package with (increasingly effective) 3D capabilities bolted on.
People will be incredibly partisan, though, depending on which package they're most familiar with (and I must admit I was brought up on AutoCAD and know it inside out, so it's by far the most effective tool for me).
Becoming fluent in any form of 'professional' CAD is quite a task though, so don't underestimate it.
Also try not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. I see many guys on the forums who have spent an immense amount of time and effort creating lovely 3D models of their ideas, when perhaps it would have been more productive to spend the time knocking up a few quick sketches of key details and arrangements, then getting on with actually building the thing. Never forget that design drawings are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
There are ways to obtain either AutoCAD or Solidworks free of charge, of course, but we're not allowed to mention them on PistonHeads.
Odie said:
Im a professional CAD user, experienced with AutoCAD, Catia, Revit Etc etc. My point was that if you want something good you need to pay for it.
Me too, 20 years in automotive/aerospace using CATIA As for self learning, avoid the high end systems like CATIA
If sketchup is not good enough, then autocad has a much bigger user base and plenty of online lessons/docs
Try Alibre:
https://www.alibre.com/products/hobby/
They were using it when I came to my current employer and it's quite good - more than enough for what you want. I wanted to push things on a bit further so introduced Solidworks. However, for home use, Alibre is well worth looking at. I remember the official user forums are very helpful too.
https://www.alibre.com/products/hobby/
They were using it when I came to my current employer and it's quite good - more than enough for what you want. I wanted to push things on a bit further so introduced Solidworks. However, for home use, Alibre is well worth looking at. I remember the official user forums are very helpful too.
Sam_68 said:
Google sketchup is next to worthless for mechanical engineering design. It's little better than a a toy, and it's intended primarily for architectural design (it's a very good toy, mind you, and we do use it professionally for 3D architectural presentation work).
At 'serious amateur/light professional' level (eg. for your example of a kit car manufacturer), I'd argue that it then depends whether you want to produce pretty pictures, or drawings you can actually build from.
If you want to do a wonderful 3D model, accurate down to the last nut and bold and fully rendered, you're better off with Solidworks or Catia because they are essentially 3D packages with 2D orthographic functionality bolted on.
If you want to produce engineering drawings, I'd argue that AutoCAD is better (once you've learnt it - I admit it's a bit of an animal), because it's an immensely powerful 2D drafting package with (increasingly effective) 3D capabilities bolted on.
People will be incredibly partisan, though, depending on which package they're most familiar with (and I must admit I was brought up on AutoCAD and know it inside out, so it's by far the most effective tool for me).
Becoming fluent in any form of 'professional' CAD is quite a task though, so don't underestimate it.
Also try not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. I see many guys on the forums who have spent an immense amount of time and effort creating lovely 3D models of their ideas, when perhaps it would have been more productive to spend the time knocking up a few quick sketches of key details and arrangements, then getting on with actually building the thing. Never forget that design drawings are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
There are ways to obtain either AutoCAD or Solidworks free of charge, of course, but we're not allowed to mention them on PistonHeads.
Cheers. Mostly pretty pics to begin with. But maybe something a little more useful in time. But only rough dimensions and perspectives rather than mm perfect with loads of low level detail.At 'serious amateur/light professional' level (eg. for your example of a kit car manufacturer), I'd argue that it then depends whether you want to produce pretty pictures, or drawings you can actually build from.
If you want to do a wonderful 3D model, accurate down to the last nut and bold and fully rendered, you're better off with Solidworks or Catia because they are essentially 3D packages with 2D orthographic functionality bolted on.
If you want to produce engineering drawings, I'd argue that AutoCAD is better (once you've learnt it - I admit it's a bit of an animal), because it's an immensely powerful 2D drafting package with (increasingly effective) 3D capabilities bolted on.
People will be incredibly partisan, though, depending on which package they're most familiar with (and I must admit I was brought up on AutoCAD and know it inside out, so it's by far the most effective tool for me).
Becoming fluent in any form of 'professional' CAD is quite a task though, so don't underestimate it.
Also try not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. I see many guys on the forums who have spent an immense amount of time and effort creating lovely 3D models of their ideas, when perhaps it would have been more productive to spend the time knocking up a few quick sketches of key details and arrangements, then getting on with actually building the thing. Never forget that design drawings are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
There are ways to obtain either AutoCAD or Solidworks free of charge, of course, but we're not allowed to mention them on PistonHeads.
AutoCAD, think the last time I used that was on an Acorn!
Suspect its moved on a bit since then 
200bhp said:
Try Alibre:
https://www.alibre.com/products/hobby/
They were using it when I came to my current employer and it's quite good - more than enough for what you want. I wanted to push things on a bit further so introduced Solidworks. However, for home use, Alibre is well worth looking at. I remember the official user forums are very helpful too.
Cheers. will take a closer look when I get home.https://www.alibre.com/products/hobby/
They were using it when I came to my current employer and it's quite good - more than enough for what you want. I wanted to push things on a bit further so introduced Solidworks. However, for home use, Alibre is well worth looking at. I remember the official user forums are very helpful too.
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