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| CAD alternative? Does this Idea have a future? | |||
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| Posted by: casper911ca ® 04/05/2006, 20:20:56 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
I am only experienced with AutoCAD. However, our Engineering program here at UCI uses solid works. I looked through my roommates book to SolidWorks, I and I was disappointed not to see anything resembeling a command line, a very fast and effecient feature of AutoCAD that very much increases productivity versus using GUI's and mouse clicks. I am not an experienced programmer, but anyone with experience with the PYTHON programming language might be interested in this. There is FREE and OPEN SCOURCE 3D modeling program called Blender (www.blender3d.org). I found its user interface very fluid, fast and easy to pick up. And ,YES, it makes use of hot keys for many features, which once learned, increase productivity immensely. The PROBLEM lies in the fact that this program is more of an artistic tool, therefore there are no absolute coordinates, dimentioning tools or 2D features. BUT, this is where the open source part comes in. Contributors are constantly and consistently turning out PlugIns for Blender, and Blender itself has been evolving very very quickly. In capabilities, it is almost capable of matching quality and features of Professional programs such as MAYA and, from personal experience, the program, I find, even better then Autodesk's 3DMAX. I do believe that it would be possible to build off Blender's foundations, an absolute coordinate, 2D modeling, and dimentioning system. I do realize that as engineers, you guy/gals appreciate the more professionalism of an expensive and commercial product such as AutoCAD, PROE and SolidWorks, but I believe that since this program is indeed open source, it could perhaps pass up the other commercial products in features and capability if the Engineering world is willing to take this on. A powerful and fast tool like CAD could much better if it were in the hands of the Engineers that actually use it. P.S. Blender was originally created in the Linux environment, but because of the fact that its is open source, it has been ported to both Windows and Macintosh work environments, making this a very UNIVERSAL program. If any one decides to read this, please respond |
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| Re: CAD alternative? Does this Idea have a future? -- casper911ca | Post Reply | Top of thread | Forum |
| Posted by: MetalDrgn ® 04/06/2006, 22:29:00 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
Not a bad idea, but it's been done. Look at Rhino 3d. command prompt and fully customizable hotkeys. Also the makers of solidworks have a much higher end program called CATIA that has a command prompt and a vastly larger array of tools and utilities to create anything you need, but of course at a high price. That's why I mentioned rhino3d... |
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Posted by: randykimball ®  04/05/2006, 20:46:38 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
I too WAS a command line CAD user.
With mouse clicks I can develop a solid model much faster than ever possible by a command line... There are so many wizards in the modern solid modeling CAD system. Plus, modern CAD systems, track materials, material properties, revisions, automatically up-date part numbers while keeping links, and work assemblies with constraints that would take forever to master by command line.. No longer do you have to know the size as you type a line into a command line. You drag it on the screen then decide what size the model is... this way you can instantly change the shape and size with a mouse click and a few key strokes... EVEN AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED the model.. this way you can truely think the model through evolutions of development in moments.. we don't just CAD we develop in a real world of fit and function complete with stress and strains, and interference data. We tumble the assembly from any angle and zoom in to see if it fits and slide, rotate, and drive parts that slide, rotate, and drive other parts... in minutes from scratch. NO thank you to a command line .. good bye forever. The worst suggestion of your lifetime may be the catalyst to the grandest idea of the century, never let suggestions go unsaid nor fail to listen to them. Modified by randykimball at Wed, Apr 05, 2006, 20:48:47 |
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| Posted by: casper911ca ® 04/05/2006, 22:44:43 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
Well at the moment, this is the way Blender works, there is NO command line, just hot keys, and since it an artistic tool at the moment, no sizes are required. If you want a sphere, hit space, select shere and pull it to the size you desire. If you want to resize something, select the object and hit "s" (scale) and resize it using the mouse, if you want to move it hit "g" (grab) and move it, if you want to strech it along an axis, hit "s" and use the middle mouse button to toggle though your axis. If you want to rotate an object, hit "r", and rotate it. If you want go from veiw point to view point, its as easy as hitting "1" (x-axis view), "3"(y-axis view), "7"(z-axis view) on the numpad. or you can simply spin around my holding the MMB and moving the mouse around,. Want to zoom, use the scroll on your mouse (wich also functions as the MMB when pressed down). And of course it does beautiful renderings. But if you dont want a command line (which it does not have), it's open source, that your choice! The main idea Im presenting is an open source and free CAD program based off a very strong 3D modeling software. your comments are much appreciated, thank you. Modified by casper911ca at Wed, Apr 05, 2006, 22:47:39 |
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| Posted by: Kelly_Bramble ® Administrator, Administrator 04/05/2006, 20:52:34 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
Back in the mid-1980's, I was working with CADAM. This software package operated on a mainframe computer, had a keypad for the most popular menus, and the operator could use the commend line. I'll take a smart point and click menu any day over a command line. Not to mention remembering the right text, typos, and having to take my second hand off the mouse, command lines just are not as efficient. |
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