I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks


Learn to correctly draw mechanical drawings and then you will know.

You do not do brain surgery before going to medical school.

WOW you're so smart and man did you answer his question..................

lame loser.............. you couldn't help, but just needed to throw your
two cents in huh?


"Leon" wrote in message
. net...

"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks


Learn to correctly draw mechanical drawings and then you will know.

You do not do brain surgery before going to medical school.

"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks


Give TurboCad a try. Steep learning curve. You can download a demo.

I am in the process of learning how to use it. Practice, practice
practice...
--
Stoutman
http://home.triad.rr.com/brianmeliss...ing_frames.htm
(Featuring a NEW look)

On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:32:49 GMT, "19.60.9.44.84"
wrote:

lame loser.............. you couldn't help, but just needed to throw your
two cents in huh?

You added nothing yourself. You could have pointed him to the many
references in this newsgroup if he didn't have to wade through all the
crap to find them. A Google newsgroup search might help though, and
will avoid the forever discussions on which program is best.

To the OP: Any drafting program, 2D or 3D, will do if you learn how
to use it.
Better: Build some samples representative of the type and quality, and
take photos to be able to present a portfolio. They should give any
customer a heads-up on whatot expect. Get the order and a
down-payment and go for it.

"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks


Leon is right, if you already know how to create a drawing, then you can
setup to a CAD program. I use Autodesk's AutoSketch. Easy to learn and
use, no 3D modeling.

Dave



Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
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Speak for yourself asswipe. All the time you've been in this newsgroup,
you have yet to contribute one damned thing to woodworking knowledge.

I don't have to asswipe!


"Guess who" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:32:49 GMT, "19.60.9.44.84"
wrote:

lame loser.............. you couldn't help, but just needed to throw your
two cents in huh?

You added nothing yourself. You could have pointed him to the many
references in this newsgroup if he didn't have to wade through all the
crap to find them. A Google newsgroup search might help though, and
will avoid the forever discussions on which program is best.

To the OP: Any drafting program, 2D or 3D, will do if you learn how
to use it.
Better: Build some samples representative of the type and quality, and
take photos to be able to present a portfolio. They should give any
customer a heads-up on whatot expect. Get the order and a
down-payment and go for it.

Speak for yourself asswipe. All the time you've been in this newsgroup,
you have yet to contribute one damned thing to woodworking knowledge.

He's not in the group. He is just a sucking leach.

Leach - Yeah, I could anticipate your brainless response but I have other
things to do.

Bye

BWAHAHAAAAA like you do huh Battleasshole!




wrote in message
ups.com...
Speak for yourself asswipe. All the time you've been in this newsgroup,
you have yet to contribute one damned thing to woodworking knowledge.

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 00:48:19 GMT, "H.M.F.I.C.*1369" Zednikgives
great wrote:

I don't have to asswipe!

Still in the Virginia gutter.

In article .com,
"nheffley" wrote:

I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

Hi:* Are you asking about drawing programs, as opposed to drafting
programs? I used to use Macromedia Freehand, and now use Adobe
InDesign.* I like InDesign better because of the "library" feature that
allows you to draw a standard "building block", be it a 36" sink base
with arch top doors, then a 18" drawer stack or whatever building block
suits the work you do, then put the "building blocks" in the library and
pull them out at will to apply to whatever drawing your working on.* I
can put together a kitchen or bathroom pretty quickly that way, add some
fill colors and print it out.* These programs aren't exactly cheap and I
use a Mac, but I would bet you could find that feature on a less
expensive Windows program.**I find CAD programs to be clunky and slow,
(of course if I used them more that might not be the case).* And I*don't
have any employees so there's no need to have any*mechanical
specifics*illustrated
My customers are mainly interested in drawings that give them a good
idea of what the room will look like.
Anyway that's what works for me.
Dean

I agree. A drafting course is the easiest and fastest way there. Learn from
professionals how to correctly lay out a plan and everything you draw will
be much more useful. Contrary to popular belief, CAD software will not help.

"Leon" wrote in message
. net...

"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks


Learn to correctly draw mechanical drawings and then you will know.

You do not do brain surgery before going to medical school.

If you already have Visio, then I would give that a try. It does
everything I need. However, it is a little pricey for this purpose.
There was an article in Fine Woodworking recently that reviewed several
different packages.

Mark

"H.M.F.I.C.*1369" Zednikgives great wrote:

I don't have to asswipe!

No, but decent sanitation would argue that you should.
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

I also use Macromedia Freehand its great and easy to use. The Education
version is cheap.
Here is a drawing of a new cabinet im making
http://www.connoraston.com/files/music.pdf
I do the drawing full size as you can see it means I can easily measure
pieces and mark down their sizes even if I scale or distort items on the
drawing
Also just delivered a new bed to a client last week and thanks for all you
help with the tennons.
http://www.connoraston.com/gallery.asp

Leon wrote:

Learn to correctly draw mechanical drawings and then you will know.

You do not do brain surgery before going to medical school.


At the time I had no idea of its importance, but one of the most
valuable classes I ever had as a kid was a course in simple mechanical
drawing when I was 13 years old. I can't even begin to imagine how I
could ever build anything beyond a pencil box without the basics of
top, front and side. Such a simple thing but the knowledge ended up
being absolutely invaluable.

I was lucky I suppose... I had a keen interest in mechanical drawing.
When I was in my late teens I cobbled together a drawing board, bought
a T-square and some triangles and would draw up anything and
everything.

Several years ago I discovered DeltaCad and it was like a gift from
the Gods. I could put away my T-square and mechanical pencils and draw
my little heart out. I do the exact same thing I did with the hand
drawing tools... only now I use a mouse.

Drawing is like woodworking... you don't start out with a bunch of
power tools to learn basics... you start with hand tools. You first
LEARN basic woodworking by hand, then you graduate to power equipment
to make those tasks easier. Drawing is much the same. Without a basic
knowledge of drafting, all software in the world isn't going to help
you.

Joe Barta

On 4 Jan 2006 15:24:23 -0800, "nheffley" wrote:

I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

I'm guessing you're looking for cheap and simple to use too.

DesignCAD is best IMHO, some prefer TurboCAD. Both of these let you
work with 2D drawings of things, then generate a somewhat 3D rendering
to show to a customer. Good for furniture. There's a FWW multi-product
review a while back.

For timber framing then you might want to step up to AutoCAD, but this
gets expensive. This is _very_ expensive because you're often going to
need AutoCAD, not even AutoCAD LT.

"nheffley" wrote:

I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

You've seen virtual unanimity in the responses saying how important
the basics of drawing are, and you can draw your own conclusion about
the worth of the lone dissenting opiniong.

If your goal is visualizing a project and/or presenting it to clients,
I'd strongly suggest you look at www.sketchup.com. A little pricey for
my hobby budget, but appears to be a great tool. And their demo is the
"right" way to demo a product--no crippled functionality or limit on
calendar time. Just a limit on usage of 8 hours. You go through the
tutorials and do a lot of designing in that time. I don't know if
sketchup would also be useful in preparing working drawings.

Another approach is 3D parametric solid modeling. Very different from
traditional 3D CAD, but can create 2D views and working drawings.
This family of products is designed for mechanical design, but I have
found it helpful for woodworking. One free product is at
http://www.alibre.com/xpress/. Has a limit on number of "parts" in a
model and is missing a few other features of the full-blown product,
but you can still do a lot with it--the "parts" in a model just refer
to sections of the model that can be easily moved around in relation
to each other. A piece of furniture could easily be modeled as a
single part. There is also a link on that page to user forums. Quite a
few woodworkers are using that, although I suspect not nearly as many
as sketchup.
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

"Guess who" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:32:49 GMT, "19.60.9.44.84"
wrote:

lame loser.............. you couldn't help, but just needed to throw your
two cents in huh?

You added nothing yourself. You could have pointed him to the many
references in this newsgroup if he didn't have to wade through all the
crap to find them. A Google newsgroup search might help though, and
will avoid the forever discussions on which program is best.


If Stinky knew his rear from a hole in the ground he would realize that I
gave good advise. But since he knows nothing about what he butts into he
totally missed the point as usual.

nheffley wrote:
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

If nothing else, I assume you can at least free-hand an ortho.

If you want a super-cheap solution, or a meantime solution while you
shop around, use Excel. No, it isn't a dead-on AutoCAD solution
(doesn't snap to grid very well), and yes, it is a time-consuming pain,
and yes, it doesn't have as much detail as a CAD program, but you can
actually scale the drawings, and include measurement calcs next to the
drawing. I use Excel for all my drawings, but I'm not commercial, and
I'm a cheap-ass.

Or you can go with a true AutoCAD type of solution, as mentioned in the
other posts. Those are great fun to work with, but with all of them
there will be a (steep) learning curve, and you may need to take a
class to fully exercise the program, depending on your computer-ese
level.


- Saul

Rhino3D is a very handy 3D modelling program. I have a copy at work and use
it for rendering ww projects all the time. You can snap to fractions like
1/16" and draw all your parts really quickly and easily. It has good boolean
operators for hacking out rabbets and mortices. You can shade the parts and
apply woodgrain bump maps, as well as all sorts of ambient lighting effects.
If you've ever used AutoCad, it will be very easy to get started, and if you
haven't it won't be much harder.
Price? Dunno, I bought it years ago.


--
Bob

Travel and Astronomy Photos
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bomo




"nheffley" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to know what kind of software to get that I can draw out
my woodworking projects to go with proposals to my customers so they
can see what to expect. Thanks

The alexy entity posted thusly:

If your goal is visualizing a project and/or presenting it to clients,
I'd strongly suggest you look at www.sketchup.com. A little pricey for
my hobby budget, but appears to be a great tool. And their demo is the
"right" way to demo a product--no crippled functionality or limit on
calendar time. Just a limit on usage of 8 hours. You go through the
tutorials and do a lot of designing in that time. I don't know if
sketchup would also be useful in preparing working drawings.

I downloaded Sketchup (on dialup, unfortunately), and spent an hour or
so doing one of the tutorials. After having read so many positive
opinions on its ease of use, I must say I was surprised to find it (to
me) totally unintuitive. Many of the operations resulted in completely
unexpected screen displays, and I found many of the instructions (move
the pointer up slowly until you gabble gabble something about the
"blue edge" gabble gabble) to be incomprehensible.

I'll probably play with it some more, if for no other reason than to
recoup my time investment, but it looks a lot like I will go with
something else, like DeltaCAD, or even stick with my old friend
CorelDraw.

For that kind of user interface, I would have expected a shareware fee
of under $40.

Larry
---
There are 10 kinds of people --
those who understand binary, and those who don't.
-- Uncle Phil

I agree with your assessment of Sketchup. The tutorials make it look
easy. I started by trying to design a picnic table, which I thought
was pretty easy, but I found it very difficult to position the offsets
correctly. It seems more geared toward buildings.

Mark