Mac Designing Programs ???

[Stifler69]

Ok i love designing spud guns and playing around with the designs,
but, don't get me wrong i cant stand drawing them over and over again !!!
its just sooo messy and hard keeping them (the paper) altogether...

Does anyone out there have a Mac or Know anyone with a Mac and know of any programs that let u make 3D design models ???

Cheers for any help
Stifler69

[SpudFarm]

a tip: google "3D software for mac" or something. i did it and found hundreds of programs i don't care to link to.

do it

[SpudFarm]

http://sketchup.google.com/download/

double post but the edit would not work.

[Stifler69]

thanks so much mate, I've looked around but most of them were duds so thanks again

[SpudFarm]

no problem

[pizlo]

Beat me too it Farm, but yeah I have a mac and use scetchup its nice. Post your designs sometime.

[dudeman508]

I saw a program at best buy that was for making 3d models of projects. It was designed construction and any other projects people might be doing but i cant remember the name

[mark.f]

It's called Windows. (Just kidding, please disregard that).

SketchUp was neat, but it would kind of be laborious to work on a 3d model of a spudgun when you really only need a few 2d drawings to fully describe it. Thus: Paint or Photoshop. (You can even scale the drawings fairly accurately using the attributes section of Paint, or in Photoshop *somehow*.

On the subject of drafting, I find it much easier to do on paper than on a computer. Keeping them organized is simple: find the ones that are crap or that you will never build, and throw them away. Apart from that, manilla folders are fine too.

What grade are you in in school? I took Basic Technical Drafting in my Senior year and it was by far the most useful class ever for designing things. We didn't get to do AutoCAD, but I didn't really feel the need (unless I'm building something I want to run finite element analysis on). You could take the class as early as Freshman year at my school, so that might be something you enjoy.

Oh... and build yourself a nice drafting desk. I'm still using the 1-1/2" birch desktop in my room and it's starting to get grooves and marks in it where I draft (despite the multiple coatings of polyurethane). I believe I posted, somewhere on Theopia, a thread about making a better desk, but I'll summarize it here:

Get a 2'x2' piece of 3/4" birch or oak ply, a straight edge such as a level, and some formica or another countertop coating (thanks jrrdw for that suggestion). Lay the edge on each side of the wood and mark the high spots. Carefully sand them down and reapply the edge until each edge of the wood is true. Apply the formica, and rehone the edges with the straight edge. TADAH! Drafting board. McMaster-Carr sells drafting tools as well.

[sandman]

personally i use blender, i believe it is mac compatable, but it has a high learning curve, and it is more modeling than drafting, but it will do what you want