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Drafting Software Programs
Welcome!
Drafting software
reviews and information about the latest CAD (computer drafting and
design) programs can be found on this site.
Whether you are
interested in drawing your own scaled floor plans for your home, deck,
shed, or any structure, you will find recommendations for drafting
software that is easy to use. You will not need any special training
in order to use these programs, as most are fairly simple to use. It
is always best to go through all the training tutorials or help
documentation that comes with each program to get up and running as
quickly as possible.
Let's get
started with the most popular drafting programs that are priced from least
expensive and upwards:
DesignCAD Max V19: Attractively priced at $35, and aimed
at the DIY'er that is just starting out with CAD, DesignCAD is
surprisingly versatile and fairly straight forward to get underway with.
It may not be the best CAD program if you are interested in creating
renderings that resemble photos, but it will get the job done as far as
creating simple and accurate plans and a variety of drawings. One
setback that seems to make the product a bit weak is its lack of help
documentation included with the software. Although visiting
DesignCAD's website will enable you to download the reference manual.
TurboCAD 17 Deluxe
2D/3D: Priced to sell at $75, TurboCAD is an affordable 2D and 3D drafting
program that comes with a house creation wizard, detailing tools and has
the ability to render photo-realistic drawings. This CAD program can
also read AutoCAD drawing files, which is great if you are working with an
architect or contractor that has plans to share in this format. It
also comes with a library of commonly used blueprint symbols to save time
when creating your drawings.
Chief Architect Home Designer Suite 10:
For around $100, Chief Architect is a
reasonably priced drafting program that enables you to create 2
dimensional and 3D designs for your home. It is easy to use and
comes with a variety of pre-made symbols to be used on your plans.
As you make changes to your house plan, there is a built in feature that
allows you to automatically regenerate a roof according to your revisions.
This is a good beginner package for designing a house and can also be used
to draw up a deck or landscape your property.
AutoCAD LT:
At just under $1000, this is probably the best 2 dimensional drafting program
that you will come by. AutoCAD LT (light) is the little sister to the full
blown AutoCAD program that is used by the majority of engineering, architectural
and construction firms. Although many firms do in fact use the lighter
version. Regular AutoCAD costs thousands of dollars, but when you buy
AutoCAD LT, it comes at a fraction of the price and does much of what its big
brother CAD program does. It does have 3D capabilities, but is limited to
that of its bigger relative.
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