First off, I'm a Neandrathal when it comes to computers. But there are times where I want to use CAD rather than a 0.5 pencil and graff paper. I've tried several different CAD programs but haven't found what I want. It needs to work with Windows and be either free or cheap. Today I spent all of $10 but found out it needed a different operating system...go figure. More specifically, I want to see the length of the segment as I'm drafting, not XY coordinates where I have to do all the math........Any ideas would be appreciated, Caveman Keith

quick and free would be google sketchup can set what type of layout you want, feet/inches/meters and track and use the measurements you want. its very basic but handy in a pinch!

yup, Google Sketch Up is the way to go. They have a load of tutorials that can help you understand how the thing works and a forum to ask questions if you need to. Plus it's free.

Here's a link to get you started.

Google SketchUp

Google Sketch Up gets my endorsement too. Not only is it freeware with more tutorials available than you'll ever want to use, it's pretty darned intuitive to use meaning easy, uncountable libraries of things people have drawn and uploaded so you don't need to draw everything, say someone in a spacesuit or whatever, there are also lots of really handy plugins which are compatible apps. to streamline things you may want to draw, the ones I'm referring to specifically are written by a blacksmith for calculating necessary stock scrolls and tapers. I think a cost estimater too.

I used to use AutoCadd but it has so many bells and whistles written by IT geeks instead of draftsmen it's just too unwieldy for normal folk.

Dems my dos kopecs.

Frosty the Lucky.

Free is always good, I was blessed with a boss who was impressed with solidworks. I now have a licenced solid works
on my puter.3D and all. But alas I am like frosty Too many bells whistles. Course his 9 yr old daughter has finished all the tutorials. D___M getting old sucks. Had turbocad and a client loaded autocad 2000 Just can't go on internet with it.
ken.

Google SketchUp....I'm there, thanks guys

I just don't get Google Sketchup. That may be because I actually learned on raytracers like Silver and 3DS Max... more engineering oriented. Circle, radius 3.45. Select Circle. Extrude 5.4. Etc.

I just don't get Google Sketchup. That may be because I actually learned on raytracers like Silver and 3DS Max... more engineering oriented. Circle, radius 3.45. Select Circle. Extrude 5.4. Etc.

I WAS going to post a snappy comeback about needing to download Sketchup to get it but . . .

It's command structure is different than most other cadd programs but then they all are different. I LOVED Generic CADD till Autodesk bought them out as too competitive and trying to remember the commands for AutoCADD is just . . .

Sketchup is pretty intuitive but has it's own quirks. Select circle. place center, specify radius and Z axis dim. for a solid. R3.45",Z97' or Z-97'. You can also just drag it where you want it height wise and change the radius by dragging too to make conic sections or just odd shapes. You can of course do it all with coords but we know that's a real pain.

Frosty the Lucky.

I just don't get Google Sketchup. That may be because I actually learned on raytracers like Silver and 3DS Max... more engineering oriented. Circle, radius 3.45. Select Circle. Extrude 5.4. Etc.

The first time I tried it I didn't get it either. I had to watch the videos and draw something that I wanted to build before started to understand it. The support Q&A forums for it are really good too. My biggest issue right from the start was I couldn't properly dimension objects I was drawing - dragging doesn't cut it when you need precise dimensions. Once I learned how to do that the next big thing was understanding how to get on the right axis, move things, line them up, join them, etc. It's pretty cool once you get the hang of it.

It has it's learning curve and quirks for sure but once you figure out how the ITs who wrote it think the logic is pretty consistent. And yeah, just like blacksmithing or throwing pots you have to DO it for a while to get good at it. Once I figured it out I dumped AutoCadd and scrubbed it from my comp as wasted bandwidth.

Frosty the Lucky.