The majority of companies these days are looking to find savings in their operational costs. Being forced to look at alternatives to common practice may for some bring unexpected benefits. It’s the law of unforeseen circumstances.

So for all of you paying year in year out sky high prices for your CAD software, why not drop your preconceptions about less expensive software and give it a chance. Every week I demo TurboCAD to companies who are either just starting up in the CAD world, or who are appalled at the price that Auto Desk want to upgrade. I can say with total confidence that nineteen out of twenty of these demonstrations result in a sale.

Paying more does not necessarily give you more of what you need. It may just give you a load of stuff that you don’t need, which will simply get in your way, resulting in tasks taking longer than they should.

TurboCAD is not the world’s top selling CAD package in retail for nothing. You can design a home extension in 2D with AutoCAD LT for about £1,000 or you can Buy TurboCAD 2D Designer for £30, it’ll do the same job and will deal with far more file formats enabling easy file compatibility which you will not get with AutoCAD LT.

On the engineering side, the list of companies that I sell into that had previously been using either Inventor of Solid Works grows every week.

As well as these above, landscape gardeners, kitchen and bathroom designers, door and window manufacturers, archeologists, surveyors, boat builders…the list of professionals using the package just goes on and on.

And the icing on the cake is that there is no annual licensing fee, no fee for either practical or technical support and a free training day, or training books, come with every professional sale.

Have a look around this website for some more ideas

Paul Tracey

Don Cheke is launching the 2009 TurboCAD Challenge on the 1st June entitled ‘Designing the Universe’. So anyone out there with a drawing worth shouting about or has the time to put something a bit special together by the end of the month check out the link below.

There is a selection of prizes and it’s always interesting to look at the work of others and try and work out just how they achieved some of their results.

I just wish I had the time to try my hand myself, although I’m sure my efforts would be humiliated by the likes of Richard Brehm. There is a new link to Richard’s site under my ‘Professionals’ section, the images can only be described as very impressive, have a look.

Please follow the link to submit your work Designing the Universe.

Paul The Cad

Decipher UK Ltd are a national impartial grant broker who work nationally with the grant schemes to help companies in the Engineering, Manufacturing, construction & high tech sector’s access the EU grants which may be available to them; companies have already had TurboCAD training under the grant schemes. There is no charge for the service and they complete all the paperwork and applications for you.

If you would like to check eligibility or make an application please contact lhindle@decipheruk.com or epaganini@decipheruk.com or call 0844 5040077

Please go to our Training page to see any dates that we have coming up.

I visited the Avanquest warehouse recently and found a few copies of all sorts of packages that I can sell off for cost plus packaging. For the Mac versions I have a few 2D v2 that have come back from a shop, nothing wrong with them apart from a slightly squashed box, £20 each.
For the PC, I have quite a few training CDs written for v12, but would be a good start for use with any package, these I can give away with any purchase of TurboCAD.
TurboCAD Professional v11, Autodesk Inventor Plug-In, £10
TurboCAD Professional 12, just the disk, £50.
A TurboCAD Deluxe 12, £10
And a pile of Constraint Manager Training CDs free to anyone buying any professional version.

And completely off the CAD subject, I also came across a few versions of a remarkable piece of astronomy software called Starry Night. I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy and this package really brings the universe to life. I’ve got everything from one called Sky Explorer, which is a starter, for £20 up to the Pro Plus which retails at £180, but can let go for £60 and Pro that retails for £98, which I can post out for £45 – but I only have about a dozen. If you go to www.avanquest.co.uk, you can find more info on Starry Night

Animation Lab is a plug-in for TurboCAD that does exactly what you’d expect. It comes in a DVD box with the manual as a printable PDF file on the disk.

I’ve played around with it and easily managed to make boxes fly around, a bit out of control, but it looks like it would not be too difficult to get the hang of it. Unfortunatly there are no video tutorials as yet.

It describes the movements of the objects as the ‘scenario’ i.e. the sequence of events going on in your drawing. In order to create a scenario for your drawing, you need to define which elements of the drawing will be changed, how these changes will take place and at which moment in time.

You need to enter in the list of actors, i.e. the moving parts, each element of the drawing which is going to change according to the scenario. You can define the ‘part’ of an actor – a set of commands that describe its behavior on each step of the scenario.

The actor’s ‘part’ is stored in the TurboCAD object, and it stays with the object when it is modified or copied, as well as when the drawing is saved in a TCW file.

Examples of drawings done using Animation Lab can be found by clicking here.

I have added a new section under Training called New CAD Training, this section is for Don Cheke to explain what are included on his tutorials that we will soon be selling on the Avanquest website. Please feel free to take a look through and soon you will be able to buy the proper tutorials. 

Thanks, 

Paul The CAD

As well as helping TurboCAD users solve practical drawing problems, I’m sometimes asked if I know trusted CAD Professionals that can undertake special jobs, either as one-offs, or as a resource that companies can use on a regular basis when they’ve got more work on than they can manage. These can range from simple Drafting Projects in 2D in either the areas of architecture or engineering to more complicated modelling in 3D.

Others, who have migrated from Solid Works or AutoCAD to TurboCAD may just need some initial help. Often all they need is someone to go and work with them on a project for a day or two. Swapping between DWG and DXF formats sometimes can be problematic, especially as so many CAD professionals seem to waver from the true path.

I have a small trusted team of TurboCAD Professionals that I refer these requests to, but I’m always open to expand the group and very interested to know more experts in specialist fields, especially you are north of Birmingham, in Ireland or Scotland.

I’d also like to meet a professional using TurboCAD Mac in whatever field.

So if you are a TurboCAD professional with an expertise in any area, I’d like to hear from you and see your work. 

For all you lot fed up paying increasingly high prices and annual top up fees for AutoCAD why not give another package a chance?
 
The professional version of TurboCAD supports 29 different file formats, including four DWG and DXF so you can still save your drawing as a DWG in any flavor and send it to your client or colleague in whatever version of AutoCAD they are running. I can’t see one advantage that LT has over it, unless you count all your mates paying their fees to run a piece of software that takes twice as long to draw simple 2D plans and can not deal with 3D realizations. For many surveyors working on simple 2D planning applications and the like, they can even use the Deluxe version that can be picked up from the likes of PC World for about £80.
 
Some companies are now selecting to cherry pick software applications to maximize tool applications. Years ago when I was in publishing I used Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro for images and both Illustrator and Freehand when drawing. The ‘sister’ packages all had advantages and disadvantages over each other and it was easy to jump between the two while working on the same image. While it’s not quite so simple with CAD, there is certainly no need to use expensive packages to perform operations where a far less expensive one will do perfectly well and often faster. As long as there are no compatibility issues, using a range of packages can only benefit the designer.
 
Ongoing hidden expenses such as subscription fees often add little value and are simply intended to keep you locked in and paying up. There really is no need for the vast majority of designers to keep shelling out for a pricy annual upgrade. Thousands of designers in all fields are out there using ten year old TurboCAD systems for their work – and they still get support when they need it.
 
So, all you AutoCAD users, broaden your horizons and see what is out there, you just might save yourself a lot of time and money.
 
 
Paul The CAD

• The Variable Constraint System provides variational sketching functionality within AutoCAD. It enables geometric or dimensional constraints to be applied that control relationships between drawn objects. Those relationships may be parametrically driven and include values, variables, or mathematical formulas in relation to other variables.

IDX Variable Constraint System incorporates the D-Cubed™ 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager from Siemens PLM Software. This is the same core engine typically available in much more expensive parametric modeling programs including Autodesk® Inventor®; CATIA and SolidWorks® by Dassault Systems; or Solid Edge by Siemens PLM Software.

• Control Your Drawing.  Parametrically-driven and geometrically constrained drawings create a truly precise environment. Provides real precision design, not simply drawing tools.
   
• Parametrically-driven dimensions — Use variable dimensions to drive geometries, or change geometries and see all associated dimensions recalculated automatically.
   
• Calculator palette — Manage all key dimensions in a simple table.  These dimension variables can be values such as length, radius, or angle. Also, they may be expressed formulaically.
   
• Formulaic variables — Manage variables in the calculator palette with powerful relationships, whether A1 = 2*A2, or complex equations including algebraic, trigonometric, and even integral equations.  For example, dimension B2 = B1* ((1+sqrt(5))/2) and your variables B1 and B2 will be in the golden ratio, scaling automatically based on the value of B1. This could continue with B2 representing another side of a golden rectangle, or could be used as a driving dimension of an arc radius.  Use expressive names for variables such as Radius, GadgetHeight, and GadgetWidth.
   
• Associative geometric positioning — Ensure that all geometries are in precise relation to one another so that a spline is tangent to an elliptical arc, or the radius of a fillet is in direct proportion to an arm length, and is concentric to a punched hole… 
   
• Be More Creative. Variational sketching allows for quick revisions and what-if changes.  You save enough time drafting changes that you will have more time for design creativity.
   
• Variational sketching — Conceptually, a constrained object has bi-directional associations between the dimensions, geometries, and positional relationships.  Drawings can be completely modified simply by changing one or two values or relationships.
   
• Constrained relationships — Just as a spreadsheet allows for what-if analysis by changing an assumption, a fully constrained drawing provides what-if design analysis driven by a parameter.
   
• Auto-constraints accelerates learning —  Draw with this feature turned on and the application applies basic geometric constraints, quickly showing the power of associative geometric relationships.
   
• Works with the AutoCAD user interface —  The Variable Constraint System toolbar and variable dimension palette are integrated naturally within AutoCAD allowing you to get up to speed right away, and focus on design.
   
• Great Value.  Enjoy a rapid ROI through immediate productivity gains.  No new platform licenses, expensive training, or porting files and causing a risk from major platform changes.
   
• Uses the D-Cubed™ 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager (2D DCM) from Siemens PLM Software — This is the same trusted engine used by far more expensive design platforms such as Autodesk® Inventor®, AutoCAD Mechanical®, and AutoCAD Architecture; by Dassault Systems for CATIA and SolidWorks®; by Siemens PLM Software for Solid Edge; by think3® for thinkdesign; and by IMSI/Design for TurboCAD® Pro.
   
• The fastest ROI — Because it is an addition to the AutoCAD you already know, there is much less to learn and you will be productive immediately in your chosen CAD platform.
   
• Like a selective upgrade — If you don’t need all the features of more expensive platforms, this is like purchasing only the features you need.

Create entire part families from a single sketch — Design the first part fully-constrained, then create the rest of the part family by changing driving dimensions to automatically draw new parts.

Paul The CAD

There are a few extras that IMSI have produced of late that either help out specific TurboCAD users, such as furniture makers, or greatly improve other products with IMSI technology.

One of these is the IDX Renditioner. It is a plug-in for Google SketchUp that provides high-quality photorealistic rendering – fast and easily. Renditioner works directly within SketchUp and lets you control the materials, advanced lighting components, environments, background images. Renditioner is “one button” easy with 3 render options of Preview, Standard and Presentation. It is simple enough for novices and yet powerful enough for professionals. Powerful features are optimized in a jargon free interface. Simplicity paired with speed and working directly in SketchUp, means you can achieve design visualization objectives more quickly. Renditioner offers 16 megapixel renderings for large-scale printing and powerful presentation of your designs.

It’s available for Windows XP or Vista on the PC, and OS/X 10.4 or 10.5 on the Mac and runs on either PowerPC or Intel-based Mac computers.  As an extra it obviously requires you to already have SketchUp, but will be fine on the free version as well as the Pro version 6.4x or later.  Like all photorealistic rendering, IDX Renditioner uses a system’s RAM and CPU power extensively, and is not recommended on systems with less than 1 GB RAM, with 2 GB recommended.  Being fully multithreading, dual core, quad core, or dual quad core machines will each improve system performance dramatically.

SketchUp is a nice piece of kit, but with the edition of Renditioner it jumps from good to professional, equally of use to.