Sketchup

[Chris333]

Does anyone here use autoCAD for 3D work?

I found all my 3D toolbars in autoCAD, but I just don't know what to do with them.

[wazzou]

Does anyone here use autoCAD for 3D work?

I found all my 3D toolbars in autoCAD, but I just don't know what to do with them.

Design awesome stuff and make it available to the masses.   

[timwatson]

Chris I started using TinkerCAD.com and I really love it. Super simple and it's very intuitive. There have only been a few models that I haven't been able to work with and those were very complex. So if you're just starting in 3d modeling and plan to make simple shapes  TinkerCad is fun to use. They also have very helpful tutorials.

Does anyone here use autoCAD for 3D work?

I found all my 3D toolbars in autoCAD, but I just don't know what to do with them.

[Chris333]

I just tried TinkerCAD and it is very slow. It only works online. Just dragging around an object is slow and glitchy.

[timwatson]

Try using chrome it's using some advanced browser tricks.

[Iain]

Chris, for 3D work you need to use polylines.  If you can't click on one segment and have every part of the line be selected, then you don't have a joined polyline.  I bet this is your problem.

[Chris333]

I have since ordered autocad2005 for dummies (with the 3d section) to replace my autocad2005LT for dummies I currently have. The LT version doesn't mention 3d at all.

[jimmo]

I just tried TinkerCAD and it is very slow. It only works online. Just dragging around an object is slow and glitchy.

Chris I recently started using TinkerCad on a Mac Mini with Firefox as a browser and it zips along effortlessly.

With zero prior experience on CAD, I am making models faster than I ever could by hand. A big boost for me was that I already had most of my projects drawn in a vectored program such as Illustrator. So importing parts from my drawings as .svg files into TCAD as flat objects to extrude or use as shapes made the process go much smoother.

The big difference between this and "real" CAD programs is this one is designed specifically for the technically challenged (like myself) to make 3D models that can be printed using a service such as Shapeways or any service of your choosing.

The serious CAD guys don't consider this a real CAD program but the fact of the matter is that I'm making real models with it--and having a blast.

[Chris333]

I don't know if autocad is easy or hard, but it's what I know how to use. I tried Tinkercad using Chrome and it felt like I was playing quebert while trying to move a box around. Maybe simple programs are too hard for me 

From what I've seen on youtube with autocad once you have the 3 views drawn it is pretty easy to transfer all 3 images into one model.

[pjm20]

I find AutoCAD much easier because it was designed for drawing stuff in 3D, for Sketchup it seems 3D was just a nifty add on. Sketchup is really only good for doing what it is called, sketching. Its great for a quick drawing of something, and the real drawing should be done in AutoCAD.

[unittrain]

For autocrat 3d you need to like previously mentioned use polylines and if the drawing is not a polyline you have to use the polyline command select one line of say a square then choose join and choose the rest of the sides then use extruded to create the 3rd dimension also Windows etc can be made with the subtract command etc etc not too hard once you get used to it.

[Chris333]

Can't I just select the whole drawing, go into properties, and change all the lines to poly lines?  Either way even if I have to re-draw everything that is still faster then learning a new program. Waiting for the book to arrive 

[gary60s]

I find AutoCAD much easier because it was designed for drawing stuff in 3D, for Sketchup it seems 3D was just a nifty add on. Sketchup is really only good for doing what it is called, sketching. Its great for a quick drawing of something, and the real drawing should be done in AutoCAD.

As a former AutoCAD user, I found the 3d drawing too difficult. Sketch up was so much easier to do 3d drawings in, and it produces excellent assembly drawings. Also, quality templates for cutting out scratch structure parts are easy when turned into PDF's with "cutepdfwriter".

[SSW7771]

Does anyone here use autoCAD for 3D work?

I found all my 3D toolbars in autoCAD, but I just don't know what to do with them.

Chris, I use AutoCAD 2005 for all my 3D work. But I basically grew up using AutoCAD so it was what I am used to. I have not tried sketchup so I can not make any comparisons.

[jimmo]

I find AutoCAD much easier because it was designed for drawing stuff in 3D, for Sketchup it seems 3D was just a nifty add on. Sketchup is really only good for doing what it is called, sketching. Its great for a quick drawing of something, and the real drawing should be done in AutoCAD.

This is typical of some of the attitudes that I have been encountering from "real" CAD users. Assuming that because a program is called "SketchUp" it can't possibly be used for anything serious in modeling and that 3D was a nifty add-on? SketchUp was designed to be a 3D modeling program for those of us not educated in the more advanced CAD systems.

Obviously you guys who are able to use AutoCAD or any of the other more advanced programs are way ahead of us 3D model neophytes. But the fact that we can now build models without a couple of 3" thick user manuals and/or night school classes is pretty damn awesome.