Simple CAD?

Purely a hobbyist, making radio controlled boats both electric and yachts, I have been trying to find a simple CAD system which does not cost the earth
(even free!!!!).
The main use would be to develope hull lines so that I could have a "Look See" before construction.
Any advice or hints?
JB
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Cheap? IntelliCAD Simple.......how simple is simple?
MichaelB www.michaelbulatovich.com
----- Original Message -----
Newsgroups: alt.cad.autocad Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:56 AM Subject: Simple CAD?

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Simple enough to let me perform the functions of hull design. I am computer literate and a retired engineer so some degree of difficulty is not a problem as long as there is not too much gobble de gook Any input welcome
JB

yachts,
earth
"Look
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I'm not trying to confuse things for you, but there are applications out there that will model shapes like boat hulls much better than AutoCAD. I draw (usually) orthogonal buildings so I have zero experience in this. You have been directed to one such application, but as you point out, it's not to be had for pocket change.
I'm not sure what you hope to get by drafting your designs with CAD. If you can draw on paper, I'd stick with that for your purposes. Any CAD package is going to take some time to learn. Why spend all that time learning CAD when you could be building models, which I take it you like to do. (I thought old boat designers built physical models, and developed sections from them.)
--


MichaelB
www.michaelbulatovich.com
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I used to do that . Now I build the whole thing in 3d before I ever start on the physical model. Virtually eliminates those "now that I look at it, I sould have done things a bit differently" moments.

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HiHo; You might take a look at "Rhino" from www.mcneel.com It's a great program for hull design.

I
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$895 is not buttons - will have to stick to my drawing board and cardboard mock-ups at that price. Pensioners can't splash cash even though the product looks good I may try the trial version if they have one. Thanks
JB

yachts,
earth
"Look
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Don't try the trial version of Rhinoceros; it will hook you so hard that you won't feel bad about buying the full version.
Seriously, I don't know anything about Intellicad or some of the other choices that have been mentioned. But among the few CAD packages to which I have access, Rhino does curves and surfaces better than any other.
I deal with boatyards all over the world. Most of the ones that use CAD, use AutoCAD, in 2D. But a few of them use Rhinoceros, to model real boats in real 3D.
One other thing. I can't quite put my finger on why, but AutoCAD's display presentation is somehow easier to interact with than Rhino's at low resolutions, so once you buy Rhino, you'll be looking for a large, high resolution display, too.
-Mike-
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Intellicad would probably be your best bet. It's not free... but it can be had for about a tenth of price of Autocad. The one I would suggest is from Bricscad. You can down load a free 30 day trial copy from them at...
http://www.bricscad.com/home.jsp?site=1
... I don't know of any free cad packages.
Take care, TimB

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--
Phil Davis
247PalmBeachRE.com
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I
If you know how to, and are willing, to repartition your hard drive and can spare 2.5 to 3 gigabytes you can get a Linux suite (I'd recommend Mandrake 10) and that comes with a CAD programme.
The Mandrake 10 installation package is available on ebay (www.ebay.com) or you may find it on a google search.
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I have had a look at this option but it would probably mean wiping my hard drive and restarting to do the conversion properly. As it may or may not be suitable, I will not endeavour to attempt installation Many thanks JB

yachts,
earth
"Look
can
or
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Hi JB,
I don't have an experiance in this area either. Just for fun try playing around with SILO. http://nevercenter.com/index.php/Downloads/504 I've found that it is the most intuitive modeling program around and it is very cheap. The shapes that it makes just seem to be naturaly flowing and beautiful.
Best of luck Zac.

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Hi JB,
I have not tried it but found http://www.andycad.com/Download.html there is a free version and a 'pro' version for $30.
you probably get what you pay for but who knows, maybe its all you need.
good luck
Brian

I
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Many thanks for the link - I have had a look at this one - too simplistic for my purpose JB

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"Look
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