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Comment by Erich Friend on April 28, 2013 at 4:39pm

'nanoCAD' is a free 2D cad program does almost everything AutoCAD LT does. - www.nanocad.com

Top Systems has T-Flex which is a 2D and 3D cad program, 30 day free trial for the fully licensed versions, and a free version for students. - www.tflex.com

Ascon Group offers 'Kompas', a 3D cad program that offers a free student version, an inexpensive student Pro version (~$150), and a full Pro version. Very powerful solids modeling. They have an extensive tutorials section that can be insightful regardless of which CAD program you are using. You can use a trial version for 30 days free. - www.ascon.net

Comment by Erich Friend on April 26, 2013 at 11:58am

A few recent contenders in the CAD marketplace to look at:

Dassault Systems 'DraftSight' - www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/free-cad-software (This is free, not just a 30-day come-on)

Bricsys 'BricsCAD' - www.bricsys.com (this has a free 30 day trial, and is reasonably priced if you decide to buy it. It is nice in that the license is good for two machines so you can keep one on your desktop and another on your laptop)

DoubleCAD XT - www.doublecad.com (This company was recently purchased by the folks at ISMI Design which publishes TurboCAD, which is a popular alternative to AutoCAD)

Allplan - www.nemetschek-allplan.eu (A fully integrated CAD program that does Bill-of-Materials (BOM), Building Integrated Management (BIM), and other handy things. Their Section plane cutting tool for 3D objects is amazing. You can get a 30 day free trial and student discounts)

There are many good products out there that can be useful, so try to get familiar with the general operations in a cad work environment rather than focus on the product specific mechanics. Understanding the drawing file structure can be very powerful - blocks, attributes, Xrefs, parametric modelling can make your life easier if you let them.

As someone that uses cad files created by others, I find that is is always best to set entities to have line types, colors, and line weights 'by layer' rather than forced values, this allows those using your blocks to integrate them without having to explode them and rebuild them.

Get a program that allows you to share and collaborate with others - this requires a common file exchange format that is widely universal. The .dwg and .dxf formats initiated by AutoDesk / AutoCAD are fairly universal, but check to see that this is possible. ASIC 3D files are also a common exchange means.

Above all, remember that CAD is just a 400HP pencil. If you can't create, this won't help - you'll just make a mess digitally.

Comment by John Kaes on June 28, 2010 at 11:12am

opps meant solidedge.

Comment by John Kaes on June 28, 2010 at 11:11am

All of you paying for a 2d cad program should be trying solidworks (free) 2 d program. I've used autocad and this is far superior. It's only free because they are trying to sell the 3 d version. If you are doing machinery and need a good 3d solid moderer that accurate (sketch up isn't) try alibre for a 100 dollars.

Comment by John Kaes on June 28, 2010 at 11:11am

All of you paying for a 2d cad program should be trying solidworks (free) 2 d program. I've used autocad and this is far superior. It's only free because they are trying to sell the 3 d version. If you are doing machinery and need a good 3d solid moderer that accurate (sketch up isn't) try alibre for a 100 dollars.

Comment by Patrick Reading on December 14, 2009 at 1:36pm

Just to add a little bit to this conversation. You can get a free lighting plugin for SU to add a little lighting to your models. It's called IDX-Renditioner. Here is a pic of my Chicago set design with a little lighting.

Comment by Rick Reid on November 19, 2009 at 8:42am

Ken, Keep in mind that in CADD items can be duplicated and mirrored at the drop of mouse. Therefore a library object of a platform can be almost any number of platforms of any size. Rectangles are easy.

What you'll want most is your odd-balls; stairs, triangles, fireplaces, furniture...

Comment by Christien Fontaine on November 10, 2009 at 9:08am

Ken, CRAZY your idea isn't..... Yes it will take awhile to build your inventory within the program but once it is done, it is drop and drag.... Let me know what programs you are running and I'll be glad to send you some stuff i've built up over the years. Also, since you are doing it, try drawing your venue, it really helps to understand your space.

Comment by Ken M Hupp on November 9, 2009 at 8:00pm

What I am hoping to do is build(draw) my Studio Flats, Hollywood Walls, and platform inventories into the software and then design my sets around them I know it sounds crazy

Comment by Rick Reid on November 9, 2009 at 2:56pm

Ken, Conventional wisdom is that Sketchup is better for 3D and seeing what the design will look like. Visio and traditional CADD are better for construction drawings. So are you designing the set and showing it, or are you telling someone else how to build it?

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