# Free CAD software



## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

A friend of mine is lobbying his employer to become the principle designer of the new kitchen layout at their restaurant. He told her that he feels eminently qualified to assume that responsibility because he has drawn up a lot of nice restaurant blueprints previously, as recently as 1986.

So how do we bring my friend into this century, nee, into the last two decades of the previous century, without him spending any money? He probably has Windows Vista or 7 and has been able to add software programs to his computers by himself for over a decade. 

When I searched for "free" CAD software, the first few listings were either for a free trial before purchase or required extensive pre-registration, which I fear may drag some spyware into his computer. If there is no was to avoid preregistering, I suppose he could use any old workstation computer and a Yahoo address to keep himself isolated from his CAD software benefactor.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Learning CAD software is a major undertaking and if there's only one project, I'd skip it. The benefit of CAD is largely derived from re-use of designs and if you're not likely to re-use anything, putting it in CAD is simply inviting a new complication for the sake of complication. Pencils haven't stopped working yet and, as far as I know, are still considered "green".

Learning free software is even more complex as there typically aren't organized classes or tutorials offered.

If your bound and determined to make this about dragging your friend into the 21st century without obvious up-front costs, look at Google SketchUp.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

Where is the safest place to get it from? This site's URL is formatted like I'd expect the real McCoy to be: http://sketchup.google.com/download/


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Trial version limitations:
Print, export, save, and virtual tours are disabled.

Print Scrn works great 

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/trial.html


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I just rediscovered Microsoft Paint. I think that a decade or so ago, when I actually played with computers, I either used it or something on my Radio Shack Deskmate that did the same things

The only thing my friend would need that Paint doesn't do or have, unless I just haven't found it, it to be able to denote and or measure discrete lengths. Is there a way to integrate any form of linear measure into Paint drawings?


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

AntAltMike said:


> ...The only thing my friend would need that Paint doesn't do or have, unless I just haven't found it, it to be able to denote and or measure discrete lengths. Is there a way to integrate any form of linear measure into Paint drawings?


Found it. Click "View" tab, and then choose to show or hide ruler, grid and status bar.

That'e enough to take care of my cheapskate friend's needs.

Meanwhile, another friend advised me to look here: http://download.cnet.com/windows/cad-software/


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Because MSPaint is entirely bitmap based, it is the wrong tool for the job of doing structured drawing. You can doodle things to scale, but if you find any reason to modify the drawing (ie moving a wall or fixture), you pretty much have to erase it and start over as if you were using pencil.

I can't stress enough the importance of using a tool that is more powerful than using a drafting set and a scanner. Anyone familiar with CAD will see through the ruse when the file comes in BMP or some other bitmap format.


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## lost4now (Apr 21, 2010)

A lot of non-cadd people like Visio, I don't. I don't know of any free cad programs. I use AutoCad, MicroStation, and I have used Solidworks. None free and I would think difficult to learn without help.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

There are a number of free offerings on Sourceforge as well.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/brlcad/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/librecad/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rattlecad/


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

lost4now said:


> A lot of non-cadd people like Visio, I don't. I don't know of any free cad programs. I use AutoCad, MicroStation, and I have used Solidworks. None free and I would think difficult to learn without help.


I like Visio for flow charts and organization charts. If you're into stamp collecting, you can also create your own album pages easily with the program.

MS Paint for serious CAD work? I don't think so...


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Marlin Guy said:


> There are a number of free offerings on Sourceforge as well.


Only one of these (LibreCAD) might be useful for architectural drawings. RattleCAD seems to be dedicated to bicycle design.

CAD means different things to different people. The key is finding a program that allows you to tweak vectors rather than pixels.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

harsh said:


> Only one of these (LibreCAD) might be useful for architectural drawings. RattleCAD seems to be dedicated to bicycle design.
> 
> CAD means different things to different people. The key is finding a program that allows you to tweak vectors rather than pixels.


Yeah. I didn't download them and try them out. I figured whoever was interested would follow the links and then engage their own brain. ANY of them would likely be better than MS Paint.


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