Best power to ease-of-use CAD program that is real cheap or free ?

[Scott Perkins47]

This question has been asked for the last 25 years but it bears
repeating on a regular basis due to the advance in technology.
The first personal use CAD programs appeared on the PC-AT
in about 1985 and we have come a long long way.
In some cases where 3D is not needed there have been super
easy to use 2D programs but I am afraid they have all died
due to lack of market interest in the face of all the whiz bang
3D development and a gigantic company acting as competition
and giving away their product for the past six years ( Google).

It would sure be nice to hear 1st hand the opinions about current products in the marketplace catering on the consumer level more so than the professional level.

Thanks

[Matt Meiser]

Easy 3D modeling for the amateur level IS the advance in technology. I can draw an item and get a much better idea what it will look like when its done, and I can understand multiple views in a 2D drawing. With 3D I can look at it from different angles. I can experiment with color. I can even draw the space it will go in and get an idea if it looks right there. My "customers"--my wife and my mom don't understand 2D drawings at all but when I walked my wife and my mom through their 3D kitchen designs they knew exactly what I was doing.

I have a license for Autodesk QuickCad from 10 years ago. It still works on Windows 7, but I can't remember the last time I used it. I'm not sure if I even have it installed on either of my machines.

[Stephen Cherry]

I asked this question a while back and Dan Hintz recommended Doublecad, which I have installed. It is free in its limited version, and pretty good. The problem I have with these programs is that if you don't use one regularly, you forget how it works.

[Christopher Clark]

I have used many versions Autocad at work over the years. But for my at home work, I'm very happy using the free version of Sketchup. There are plenty of pre-built models on the web. That's a real time saver.
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[Jay Hart]

Another vote for the free Sketchup. In my opinion it's a full featured software that is intuitive enough so that the learning curve is relatively short.

[Matt Day]

So you're basically wondering if there are any new alternatives to Sketchup? If there are they would have to be really really good because I'm very happy with SU.

[Myk Rian]

I think all the models on the web for SU make it the number one choice.
There are models for everything from door knobs to buildings, and even entire cities.

[Dave Richards]

In addition to the large number of available SketchUp components of various types there's also the fact that SketchUp, due to its popularity has the largest base of skilled users so it is much easier to find assistance when you need it. And SketchUp beats any 2D CAD application hands down for allowing the users to make both illustrations to communicate with the client as well as full blown plans once the final design is arrived at.




Chair design by Michael Fortune

[Peter Quinn]

Sorry, but sketchup kicked all their butts a few years back and they mostly haven't bothered even getting up to fight back. And really, at this point, why bother. I'd rather use sketchup for design than autocad frankly, its quicker and less cumbersome. Maybe at some point the models get so complex that a real cad program becomes neccessary, but not for most wood working IME.

['Jacques Malan']

I sometimes use Draftsight.

Useful for reading all sorts of legacy .dxf and .dwg drawings.

[William Adams]

Sketchup Make 2013 is only free for non-commercial use.

[Art Mann]

I have very little use for a 2-D drafting program since I began using Sketchup on a regular basis. I do appreciate the link to Draftsight. I plan to download and try it for those rare occasions when I need a simple 2-D drafting program.

[Dave Richards]

Sketchup Make 2013 is only free for non-commercial use.

That's true but it seems only fair if it's being used to make money that the authors should get some support. Besides, there are a number of features in the pro version that are useful including CAD import/export options, LayOut and technical support. If you were to buy SketchUp 2013 Pro now going forward I believe you'd get a free update to SketchUp 2014 when it is released (probably in the spring). And if you're really dead set against buying the pro version you can still get SketchUp 8. The free version of 8 doesn't have the non-commercial use limitation.

[Ernie Miller]

I use DeltaCad and Sketchup, and I wouldn't be without either of them. DeltaCad is a 2d cad program that is quite easy to learn and very inexpensive at about $40. I use SketchUp for designing cases (I build harpsichords) and it's great for checking proportions and general joinery. However, the plans get quite complex and crowded and are better handled by a CAD program. The added complexity tends to slow SketchUp down to a crawl. As I need to have full sized plans printed, I need ouput in .dxf, .dwg, or .pdf formats. SketchUp (at least the free versions) cannot do this. In short, I find both programs indispensable.

[Dave Richards]

FWIW, I frequently make full size plans from Sketchup models and have no problems with that. I do use LayOut though which is part of the Pro package. I did a full size plan of the Michael Fortune chair using nothing but SketchUp and LayOut. Well, I used Excel and Word for the Cutlist.