CAD Program

[Bill Glaze]

Jerry:
Many thanks for your reply.  I was disappointed about AutoCad in that it 
was great for topograph maps, and great for drafting, (after all, that's 
what it calls itself) yet wouldn't do this simple wire drawing 
requirement of mine.  I'm keeping your communication and will be looking 
into your link when I get a moment.  Actually, I'm pretty interested.  
It's common knowledge that the B-777 was designed without a single paper 
drawing, .(or so the legend goes; don't see how) but I doubt that Boeing 
was using a $3500 Cadd program, either.  I've heard of programs where 
the program developer had a software engineer set up a desk in the 
client's office for on-site help of the most immediate kind.  Wish I 
could afford to have someone do that for me!

Bill Glaze

Jerry Budd wrote:

> Bill,
>
> I don't know first hand because I've never tried it but considering 
> who all is using it I can't imagine it wouldn't.  Ashlar has a much 
> higher end product called Cobalt that does all of what Graphite does 
> plus the high end solid modelling functions, but it's way more $$$ 
> (nearly $4k).  On the other hand it compares favorably with ProE which 
> is ~$20k.
>
> All of the Ashlar products are available for a fully functional two 
> week trial via download here:
>
> http://www.ashlar.com/demo/index.shtml
>
> You might consider downloading Graphite, importing your old CAD file 
> from AutoCad and trying it.
>
> I think the important thing to consider is this.  There are a lot of 
> CAD programs available out there with a lot of capability that are 
> downright CHEAP (some are shareware/free).  Most of them are quite 
> difficult to use and require a significant learning curve to be able 
> to do anything of value at all.  I have found it better to pay a 
> little bit of $ to have a CAD tool that has almost no learning curve 
> at all as I frequently go months at a time without using the 
> software.  When I go back to use it after a layoff it only takes a few 
> minutes (I mean single digit here) to be back up and working. It's 
> that easy.
>
> I currently use an old version of Ashlar DrawingBoard on my Mac that I 
> bought 8 or 9 years ago (still runs fine on OS 10.3.8 under Classic).  
> I downloaded the trial version of Graphite for OS X last night and it 
> has the same intuitive interface.  The main reason I'm thinking of 
> upgrading is to pick up the ability to import/export a much greater 
> variety of file formats than what DrawingBoard handles. Being full OS 
> X native is a plus also.  BTW - FWIW, all of the Ashlar products are 
> offered for both Windoz and Mac.
>
> Thx, Jerry
>
>
>> Jerry:
>> Can you take intermediate cuts with it, and it will come up with an 
>> inference of the station?  that was my main complaint with Autocad 
>> Bill Glaze
>>
>> Jerry Budd wrote:
>>
>>> Ashlar Graphite, far and away the easiest CAD program out there 
>>> (important for CAD neophytes like me), it's a direct descendant of 
>>> Ashlar Vellum.  The learning curve with it is about a half hour 
>>> long. Once you use it you won't want to touch anything else.
>>>
>>> It's also fully capable, Scaled Composites used it to design 
>>> SpaceShipOne and White Knight.
>>>
>>> It is a little pricey but there are several upgrade discounts 
>>> available, depending on what software you currently own, where you 
>>> work, etc.
>>>
>>> http://www.ashlar.com/products/graphite.html
>>>
>

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