3D cad courses - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2012, 11:40:52 pm
content: I want to learn 3D cad. I do not want to do it from home. I want to get out the house and go on a course. I was wondering if people have been on courses at local colleges, etc and have comments about them.I live in Birmingham, England and it would be great to know if anyone has been on courses local to me but any general comments about such courses would be great.ThanksTrev

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 26, 2012, 11:46:57 pm
content: Which package are you using ? We use solid edge at work represented in the UK by prion cutting edge, can't say I think a lot of them though.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2012, 11:49:45 pm
content: I do not use any package. I only have EasyPC for my PCB stuff. I want to learn cad and 3d but not idea about packages, etc.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 02:25:19 am
content: 3d package for mechanical draughting? or 3d package for 3d hollywood animation or fancy product rendering?

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:03:05 am
content: Mechanical drawing. I want to draw enclosures up for cnc machining, etc. Maybe design case work for mouldings. That kind of stuff.

author: ptricks
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:26:19 am
content: You need to pick up the phone and call your local colleges and schools to see what is available.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:37:54 am
content: Thanks. I have sent a few emails out. Waiting for responses. I am looking to get some comments from people who have maybe done courses or who learnt a different way. Wondering if the courses were any good, etc.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:44:55 am
content: You can do what you want with Solid Edge, but I note that they are so protective of their software that there is no support, forums or anything on the net other than what prion cutting edge (their UK reseller) offer and their own mailing list. You can easily get it online if you want to trial run it and you can get a legit trial run for 45 days from prion. I've not used other packages so can't compare.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:51:30 am
content: Well lets take it from a different angle. I want to learn 3D cad to draw up boxes enclosures and parts for cnc milling. I want the skills to be useful for me. So I need to learn a decent package. Isn't Solid Works like £6000 to buy?Are all the industry standard packages really really expensive?Is solid works really good despite having no forum support? Are there other options out there that are not too expensive and recognised in the industry?

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:54:15 am
content: Are you confusing solid works and solid edge ? I've no idea how much they are, I think edge is the lesser version but that is hearsay (from people telling me not to use certain parts of edge and then I go to edit their work only to find they did !)

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 11:59:54 am
content: Hi Simon, I am getting confused. Thanks. I do not really know what the standard packages are for mechanical 3D cad. Dont suppoed they all have agreed on a standard file format have they?

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 12:07:20 pm
content: nope they all have their own, there are a number of formats you can use to transfer models from one to the other, at work we use the *.step format, Solid edge also claim to be the only ones that do true synchronous modelling versus tranditional/ordered, the advantage of syncronous is that you can change earlier features in your model and it not crash later ones that rely on them as the model is not "history based" but relies on relationships between faces etc, I personally stay away from it though as i'm a beginner and i think a grounding in traditional (ordered) modelling is best first, it may work quite well for things like moldings though but you can come up with some really odd things if you don't know what your doing.A step file will be a lot like a synchronous model though as it will have no construction history. You can still add ordered/traditional features to a step model but changing the initial model you get given (often used as a format to send and receive between companies) will have to be done with synchronous.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 03:09:40 pm
content: i'm not sure if any school out there will teach you a free or cheap package, but your country maybe different i'm not sure. tiptop (wannabe) school will choose tiptop dollar package such as AutoCAD (you can learn but you can not buy) you can google for free 3D package like GoogleSketchUp et al and learn for yourself. if what you want is just to design a simple quadrilateral enclosure, i dont think you need to attend a school for that. i believe GoogleSketchUp wont hurt and i've seen people do more complicated stuff with it, but i'm not sure if it can produce "production cnc approved" file. YMMV.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 04:22:52 pm
content: Look at alibre and rhino. Those are cheap but very powerful 3d packages. I use rhino a lot as it can read and write any common 3d format out there.

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 04:32:33 pm
content: I use Alibre Pro. It's very easy to learn and the user forums are VERY helpful. It's reasonably affordable as you can start off with the personal edition and then upgrade to the pro and expert versions as and when you can afford it. The UK reseller (mintronics)often has special offers available. Alibre also works very well with Altium designer.I've been able to start things really quickly with Alibre even without doing the tutorials.David.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 08:03:04 pm
content: Thanks for the links.I am wondering if maybe I just need to find a decent/cheap package and then find a decent set of tutorials. That way I just have to sit down and get on with it. I am not going to be buying software costing £1000s so it is most likely the courses at local colleges are not going to be appropriate.So, does anyone know of a really good set of tutorials for a cad package that isnt expensive?

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 08:09:06 pm
content: In what sort of context are you doing this ? hobby ? small business ? larger company ?One thing to whatch for is "maintenance contracts", companies love to sell these over straight licences because it keeps you locked in more, you never buy a straight licences but lease the software for as many "seats" as needed. This does have the advantage of having some support by an official representative of the program "maker" and means you automatically get each new version but I don't knowhow the price compares.

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 10:52:20 pm
content: FreeCad might be what you needhttp://free-cad.sourceforge.net/Give it a try.David.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2012, 03:32:06 pm
content: Freecad looks interesting. Thanks

author: bitwelder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2012, 06:25:38 pm
content: As somebody mentioned an open sourced CAD, I would add to the list also OpenSCAD (http://www.openscad.org),which is different from 'typical' CADs as you don't draw objects, but describe them using language.