Computers can never do this

[mwh]

Hi,

I took drafting courses in high school and junior college in the late 60s.

One day, in drafting class in junior college, our instructor told us that computers would never be able to do what we were doing.

Well, in a way I guess he was right. Computers can't use T-squares and they still need a draftsman operating the tools behind the screen.

Anyway, I'm in my first week of trying out the trial version of DoubleCAD. Seems like a pretty decent program so far, although I've had a couple of glitches, which were probably more or less my own fault. 

[Michael_1138]

When I started university I imagined that a CAD program was the be all end all to my problems with technical drafting. Haha. Well I love to work with the computer, but to me all CAD programs are nothing more than glorified drawing boards, making our lifes a lot easier the most time, but when they make our lifes hard, they can transform them into full and utter misery. Pen and paper, you immediately get a result. But its a muuuuch longer way from your brain to your hands that controls your input device and then brings your thoughts into the world of drawing, and then it sometimes feels like an even longer way until you have a printed result.

Nonetheless, love DoubleCad and Turbocad.

[mwh]

... CAD programs are nothing more than glorified drawing boards, making our lifes a lot easier the most time, but when they make our lifes hard, they can transform them into full and utter misery. Pen and paper, you immediately get a result. But its a muuuuch longer way from your brain to your hands that controls your input device and then brings your thoughts into the world of drawing, and then it sometimes feels like an even longer way until you have a printed result.

Nonetheless, love DoubleCad and Turbocad.

Well, I must say that I'd much rather work with a CAD program than with paper, pencil, sanding blocks, those dust bag things, T-squares, plastic angles, compass, scale, and all the rest of the stuff we were using back then.

With a CAD program, it's much easier to 'erase' and/or start over with a clean 'sheet'.

But you're right, when a CAD program doesn't do what we expect or doesn't do what we think it should, it can definitely make life harder. And sometimes it's not as easy finding the needed tool as it was in the old days.

I've tried out a LOT of free CAD programs over the last few years. (Trying out free software is sort of a hobby ... or addiction ... of mine.) Some of the free CAD programs out there are not too bad, but some of them are just not ready for prime time at all, in my opinion.

My 30-day trial period of DoubleCAD Pro expired a few days ago so I've been able to check out the free version to make a comparison. I must say that DoubleCAD free is the best free CAD software I've tried so far. And it's also got one of the best manuals, even though it's not totally up to date. A CAD program with this many features absolutely MUST have a good, comprehensive manual as far as I'm concerned.

So the developers of this great CAD software deserve a hearty round of applause. 

[Marek]

Hi
What only can be done  on  computer, I do it. Unfortunately we can not  use only one computer program. In addition to drawing programs such as DCAD , we are using using different computational programs and from them bring data to DCAD. Of course,  there  is no substitute for human brain( at least for now  ). Calculations made ​​in computer programs, must be checked and verified by a human. Mistakes can be shocking. Each  software developer   specifies in the software license agreement that he is not responsible for the effects of  use  the program. But if program uses  someone  who has experience with pen and paper, he can keep control of at least an order of magnitude calculations. In turn, it should be noted that CAD programs are increasingly powerful and able to gather and associate data from different industries for example such as technology BIM (Building Information Modeling). This enables us to better control the whole project, especially large ones. We would have to mention the various kinds of simulations, modeling and so on.  I remember that when years ago appeared  computer design and CAD programs, there were some people who could not accept that. Those who remained, couldn't  imagine working without different CAD softwares.

[mwh]

Well, if I was a professional draftsman, I could work with pencil and paper because that's how I was originally trained. But I'd much rather use a CAD program because it's a lot more fun.

The only drawback for a hobbyist like me is that the average home printer can't handle large sheets of paper, but of course, this is not the fault of the CAD software.

Anyway, keep up the good work on this great piece of software.