How do all , wondering what is the best cad program for the firm . At the moment we are working from standard plans & the back of paper napkins….
we need something that shows the structural lines and such, also it needs to be able to help with material lists….(new requirements here in Ireland ….everything is being regulated to the nth degree )
Thanks in advance
Troll without a bridge
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Replies
I'm not sure that any design program will do your structural work for you with out an accessory beam checker or struc clac.
But it sounds like you would do well with the one I use, Softplan, out of Ontario Canada.
It is very thorough for residential work, builds a materials list, is customizable, but doesn't require you to think like a nerd to run it.
You should also search other discussions here at BT on CAD and drawing.
http://softplan.com/
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Thanks for the link and input piffin , will give it a looksee , we have a structural engineer on the books as well so the calcs can be done seperately ( was just looking for a one time all in one cad prog if such a thing existed) its all becoming regulated with quality control and just want to keep up with the big boys.
Regards
troll
One thought about all-in-one programs.
There is an electrical control industry Cad program called PromisE. It is a mixed bag but here are a few critical thoughts on Cad.
1st you don't want to draw everything from scratch (generally) In the above example of the kitchen It would be nice to have "blocks" of data that you can cut and paste into a custom drawing.
2nd you want to stick with your industry. If everyone is using PromisE, AutoCAD, Cadkey, etc. Then staying on the same path is important. The same is important cause if you get your "stuff" together and grow the business you don't want to be training everyone. It would be nice to steal a few cad operators as well, or shall we say pick them up off of the open market.
3rd Your customer base will be the strongest dictator of which program to use. Consult with the project managers, contractors, and customers. Conversions are pretty critical. At least it is in the electrical industry.
Now as for the PromisE,
This program is a bit brainstorm (brilliance) and pitfall. It illustrates both. Inherant in this product is the ability / requirement to make a panel layout, a Schematic and a BOM in a locked in logic system. The first release was a perpetual motion progrom. You couldn't print unless you had agreement in all three areas. Fine on a 20 I/O system but get into 800 to 3500 I/O control systems and you find a nightmarish problem. Noone has a mind able to keep all of this stuff straight in one interation. The good news the program is now fixed for print capability in the intrim stages. It does now point out inconsistancies between the documents.
The second rub with the program was the blocks. Or lack of them more precisely. In electrical there are blocks that show a grouping of 10 terminal blocks in scale, PLC devices, Contactors, and virtually all devices that come into and out of a panel. These blocks are in a library that you can cut and paste from to put together a drawing that will be the layout for the control panel. As it is a 2 door enclosure still takes 8 hours to draw it up even with the paste from library function. Draw it from scratch and your front end time spent building the library is a tremendous time sink.
Finally you have to pick a winner. Whatever program you use needs to be around 3 years from now. PromisE is and will be around for the electrical industry, however proprietary home built software is getting to be a problem. In the case of database programs the programmer is your life link. Using a big brand is less of a risk in my opinion. Plus the data is generally convertable if the brand is big enough to have the market demand compatability.
No, it isn't an easy choice, but it is far more important than pretty renderings. If nothing else do this. Find a program that lets you move things in an IGES format (International Graphics Exchange Standard) It'll save your bacon later if/when you decide to bail.
Just points to ponder.
It's also great for sales when you can do a 3D presentation. Here's one I worked up last night.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
... hope no one comes in the back door with a couple armloads of groceries and does a header over the open dishwasher <ggg> ...
That's one of the problems with old houses, they've got anywhere from three to five doors leading into the kitchen, wasting space and dictating where to put stuff..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius