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Old 03-19-2010, 08:42 AM
Charley Davidson Charley Davidson is offline
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Default Cad type drawings?

I've seen some really cool 3D drawing (models) on here and am envious of those who can do them. Is there a rather inexpensive program with the learning curve similar to the roads in Florida that I could learn to do those types of drawings?
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Old 03-19-2010, 08:59 AM
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tdoty tdoty is offline
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I couldn't tell you if Alibre still offers a free version (Xpress) or not. Alibre.com should have any information you might want about that. RodDoc, Richard Crees, uses Blender. Blender is available freely (it's open-source, GNU software) from http://www.blender.org.

Tim D.
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Old 03-19-2010, 09:22 AM
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jhunter jhunter is offline
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Default Alibre

I bought Alibre a couple of years ago and have had some success using it although I have not put in the time I really need to get good with it. It's pretty straight forward. It has some quirks but for the money it is a pretty good value and they work will work with you on monthly payments with no interest.

As soon as I finish my Bronco, that is going to be my next "project", to build a virtual car, then build it in the real world.
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Old 03-19-2010, 09:24 AM
cwilliamrose cwilliamrose is offline
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You can, or at least used to be able to, get a free version of Alibre called "Xpress". Looking at their site just now I did't see the free version but Cnet has it for download. You could also just install the trial version which times out after 30 days (I think). The lowest level for purchase is about $100.

I have Xpress installed at home. I use for projects at home where I would normally use Solidworks. I only have a very old version of SWx on my desktop at home so I loaded Alibre Xpress on our laptop.

As far as the learning curve goes, Alibre is different enough from SWx that it drives me crazy sometimes. I've been using SWx for 11 years and it seems much easier to use for that reason. But SWx is also an expensive program to purchase. For free or for $100, Alibre is a pretty good deal. If you have no CAD experience, it may be frustrating to start with a 3D modeler because there's a lot to learn. If you try Alibre, download whatever tutorials they have, that should help get you started. Alibre has a forum you could use to get questions answered. If there are Alibre users on this forum (not me), they may be able to help as well. I'd be glad to help if I knew that program as well as I do SWx.
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Old 03-21-2010, 12:50 PM
gamnoparts gamnoparts is offline
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Default Sketch-Up

Google has a program called sketch-up that is pretty intuitive and has a free version. There are some things you cannot do w/o buying the pay version, but you can at least play around w/ the modeling to get used to it and see if it's something you have any interest in.

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/
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