Be aware that Turbocad for the Mac is not Turbocad at all. IMSI bought the
program and put their name on it. It is no where near the program the PC
version is.

"Robatoy" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Apr 7, 6:09 pm, "Rick M"
wrote:


TurboCad Professional will allow you to design in 3D and then render in
hidden line, draft and quality rendering. You choose your materials,
choose
the finish (ie reflectivity, % opacity), choose the light source(s), and
so
on. TurboCad has gotten a bit more expensive over the years, but the
features make it worthwhile if you need to perform 2D and 3D operations.

Not sure, but I think you can get a 30-day trial of turbocad to try ...
you'll have to check the web site.

I was looking at TCPro some time ago. There are mac versions which I
will try.
Vectorworks and Strata are second nature to me as I have been with
those two companies since their beginning.
I tend to create models the same way as I build them RT which make
them a bit bulky.
My 5 piece door symbols, for instance, are parametric. As I stretch
them to a certain dimension, the rail and stile widths stay
constrained. I put a lot of time into the learning curve(s)
The rendering engine is simple. Slap on some paint, hang a couple of
bulbs and flip a switch....

Building models is very therapeutic for me. The hardware is becoming
affordable so that models can become more true to the real world. I am
working on a model of a Gibson Les Paul and I can finally entertain
the idea that I can create a helix for a wound string without breaking
the RAM bank at render time.

The CNC thing is still on the horizon as well. Right now I am dealing
with 2 86-year old parents and Angela is finishing up another batch of
credits towards her being able to hang her own shingle. All that will
come to a head in the next couple of years. Meanwhile, I am doing my
part to stay sane. *EG*

Life has become a lot easier now that I know that the answer is 42.

always good to hear from you

r