If Forrest is interested in SolidW he should like Alibre because it is also a 3D parametric history based modeler! Can you still get a year free trial of it? I remember later it would cost $1500 for the license! Has Autocad ever gotten into parametric modeling? They should have from the beginning, after all Ivan Sutherland certainly made waves in 1963 with his MIT doctoral project Sketchpad which the AutoCAD programmers must have failed to learn about! PTC (PArametric Technology Corporation) later did ~6 years after Autocad's birth... On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 3:38 PM, VictorF wrote: > alibre design starts at $99.00 > Viacad starts at ~$100. > victor > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "M. Adam Davis" > To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." > Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 2:22 PM > Subject: Re: [TECH] Drawing tool (aka CAD) for doing product drawings and > schematics. > > > Have you considered google sketchup? It's free for the regular > version, and does shading, etc. > > Perhaps not ideal, but it's easy enough to work with, and may meet your > needs. > > -Adam > > On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 4:51 PM, Forrest W Christian > wrote: > > I'm again trying to get to the point of being able to produce some > > decent product drawings for manuals and the like.... > > > > I'd really like to be able to import/use the 2D/3D cad drawings > > available from most of my suppliers in either .dwg, .dxf or .pdf to > > produce a 'real' line or possibly 3d-shaded drawings of the products, > > and then be able to show wiring options. > > > > Of course, I'd love to just buy a copy of soldworks, but I have a hard > > time justifying the estimated $4K price tag for the product. So I'm > > looking for something not nearly as expensive. I'm ok with spending > > money on the right tool for the job, assuming it will really work for > > me. I've downloaded and tried several, but they all seem to come with > > their own set of issues, and not nearly enough functionality and/or ease > > of use to make them worthwhile. > > > > So, my question is, what tools should I be looking at to do these type > > of product diagrams? > > > > -forrest > > > > > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > View/change your membership options at > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > -- > http://chiphacker.com/ - EE Q&A site > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- Tobias Gogolin Tel. Movistar (646) 124 32 82 Tel. Telcel (646) 160 58 99 skype: moontogo messenger: usertogo@hotmail.com Blog: http://zeitgeistensenada.blogspot.com/ You develop Sustainable Ranch Technology at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SURA-TECH an Open Source Electric Motor/Alternator at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Performance_Axial_Flux and an Open Source Motor Controller at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoBox -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist