Good evening. I am looking for recommendations of a simple software to slap some boards together on a screen. Looking to design simple things like, stairs, decks, maybe even a small shed, etc. Sketch up is highly recommended, but I'm looking for something that that is open source, and hopefully has an easy learning curve. Any recommendations? Thanks.
Your best bet is blender, hands down. It used to suffer from GIMP-tier UI but it's pretty decent now.
Like any large piece of software there's a bit of a learning curve, but just start with stacking rectangles and watch some tutorials
Per you and other's recommendations I'll give it a shot.
Not what I'm looking for in regards to carpentry design but still nice to know about for interior layouts.
I'll take a look again at sketchup it:s been years since I used it. Don't really like the web based subscription thing, so I look at getting the older desktop version.
Thanks for the recommendation.
if "freeware" doesnt imply FOSS id agree with
on sketchup being very convenient software. as long as you get the - iirc still available, 2017 version you can use it for free without an internet connection being required. it displays a naggy message upon startup, but thats about it. no idea how much it actually spies on my windows machine.
there might be some issues with downloading models from their 3d-warehouse, but ive yet to encounter anything that isnt resolved by using the - most of the times - provided "collada" files, whatever.sometimes the 3d-warehouse comes in handy when im trying to frick around with interior design and just want to check if some ikea piece of furniture would work for me, though it does necessitate using a trimble account.
its a proprietary previously owned by google piece of basedkaf fuark shit, but as long as you do not yet plan on doing animations or calculating stresses, its pretty intuitive. but the plugins really help with a lot of models
i wish i would get paid for this fricking post
>Your best bet is blender, hands down.
>Blender is overkill for this kind of thing, and doesn't have the drafting/markup tools.
Blender is a really bad idea if you want an easy learning curve and do technical design. Blender is one of the hardest software packets to learn and has one of the worst gui and nav style out there.
>freecad
This is your best bet.
Especially in that case freecad knowledge will translate the best. There already are tools for a lot of things. You can do sheet metal design (or other bendable materials you want to laser cut) there's an addon for automatic interlocking parts so you can do lasercut boxes, you can do everything 2D really easily, you can do technical drawings from your design relatively easily, you can generate Gcode (not sure if for a laser though but that's not too much of a change if not). There were some tools in the past for stick framing but i think they're not maintained anymore. The architecture workbench can do a lot of stuff like construct walls from a 2D drawing, roofs, trusses, beams, windows etc. but i'm not sure how easy the workflow is. Never worked with arch other than trying it out. There's also some BIM stuff going on.
I don't think it's worth to put effort into learning librecad when freecad does the same and much more.
One of the best features i have ever seen in any software is the nav style selection. You can change to many different nav styles in like two seconds. Even to blender style if you for some reason enjoy that. It's especially great if you're really used to something already and your muscle memory would frick you otherwise like a lathe with a right hand cross slide lead screw.
That said it's not es easy as sketchup (at least since i last used it years ago) but there are many youtube tutorials around.
>we want the Internet Explorer 6 audience
OP is not making aircraft parts; for basic woodwork Sketchup or Blender is perfect. With the FOSS requirement that leaves just Blender.
They have fixed the UI up a bit, and while it definitely is overkill it still runs smoothly, and I'm sure there's plugins for woodwork stuff.
Personally I use Sketchup for my work because I don't really care about free software, and the Viewer app they provide is simple enough for my construction-minded friend to use in the field on his phone.
Sweet Home 3D
adobe illustrator
i'm trying a few, and honestly i have used blender before, and i found blender easier, the only issue i have between blender and other cad based programs is that blender has no real size specifications. you can theoretically just create your own version of a scale to work with, or slap a *NTS tag to it.
What do you mean it has no size specifications? I have used Blender for scaling prints for my resin printer.
SketchUp. The web version is fine for simple projects.
Blender is overkill for this kind of thing, and doesn't have the drafting/markup tools.
You might find installers for the old 2017 Make version of Sketchup from Trimble online, it was the free version. They don't officially let you download it anymore, but if you get an installer, it will still work, and access the 3d workshop and plugins and everything.
This, get the older version of sketchup, it’s a trillion times better
What is your problem with pirating software? It's so stupid easy these days.
>trusting cracking groups to not wrap viruses into their l33t w4r3z
You must be new to the Internet.
>What is a virus scanner
I've pirated heavily for years and have never gotten a virus. Just don't run suspicious shit, no matter how much you want it and it's the only torrent you can find.
>trusting virus scanners
>thinking viruses make their presence known
Frick, you're dumb.
You better throw your entire computer out then anon. All processors are compromised at the hardware level. Also you never know if that copy of windows is genuine or not. Could have a Sooper sekrit virus inserted somewhere along the line
>Trusting processors you didn't build yourself
>Trusting RAM you didn't build yourself
>Trusting motherboards you didn't build yourself
>Trusting an OS you didn't compile from source after checking every line of code
>Trusting any software at all you didn't compile from source after checking every line of code
NGMI
I'm talking about viruses rolled into software cracked by groups whose particular talents are easily transferable to the creation of viruses designed to circumvent virus scanner heuristics.
>Trusting processors you didn't build yourself
>Trusting RAM you didn't build yourself
>Trusting motherboards you didn't build yourself
These attack vectors only apply to state-level actors. Try again.
>Trusting an OS you didn't compile from source after checking every line of code
>Trusting any software at all you didn't compile from source after checking every line of code
Thankfully, any sufficiently large or important piece of open source software, including entire operating systems, have sleepless autistic giganerds in their communities who personally audit every commit for sneaky shit. Vulnerabilities get discovered and fixed much faster than they would under a corporate bureaucracy, because nobody is afraid of losing their jobs for speaking up about vulnerabilities, or for spending work hours looking for vulnerabilities when they're supposed to be grinding away at more features or attending diversity seminars or whatever it is office slaves do these days.
In short, you are out of scope and you know nothing. You'd be doing the world a favor by feeding your fingers to a bandsaw.
>Thankfully, any sufficiently large or important piece of open source software, including entire operating systems, have sleepless autistic giganerds in their communities who personally audit every commit for sneaky shit
>he thinks people actually check this shit
LOL. Just like that university that got banned from adding any commits after adding some malicious ones that went completely unnoticed for multiple fricking months?
>Assuming others are checking it so you don't have to
You're the biggest fricking moron I've ever encountered. Lmao.
lmao thanks for contributing to the zombie network anon
>muh undetectable viruz
how do you know they exist if they're undetectable, anyway?
That's the whole point. You don't know, but it's there. The point is to avoid doing anything that would allow a virus to compromise you in the first place, and that includes not installing software from skeezy sources. It's bad enough you're trusting the software you're pirating, but it's downright moronic to trust either the group that cracked it or the random person who prepared the torrent you downloaded. Cracking groups have to circumvent very complicated DRM these days. Getting around a virus scanner's heuristics would be very easy for anyone with those skills.
>that university
That was an isolated incident. By your own admission, not only was punitive action taken, but it was detected in months. As opposed to years, or *forever*, which is your typical response time for proprietary software vulnerabilities. Thanks for your help.
>Assuming others are checking it so you don't have to
Pretending that they aren't checking doesn't mean they aren't checking. Considering it's true more than 99% of the time, the presumption of vigilance is more than good enough for most people. More scrutiny (or less technology) would certainly be prudent in a handful of situations, not gonna deny that.
Anon, how autistic are you?
What if I just don't care about viruses at all? Chinks have stolen my credit card before and I just called my bank and got a new one. It's not a big deal really.
freecad
Chief Architect will generate framing layouts in plan and 3D views for you, however it's pretty expensive software. There are of course ways around that.
Note: if you're going to steal the software don't install the demo first
The crack didn't work no matter how many times I tried because I had already used the free version, even cleaning the registry and installing with no internet didn't let it work
I can't be bothered to look, but I ut there used to be a "house designer" version of Chief that you could get for 60 bucks. It was reasonably full featured. Wsxyw
I’m using librecad mostly for production (to-scale for shop/cnc/laser cutter) drawings, also kind of old school and make 3d drawings as 3 2d views. For complex 3d prototyping I use solidworks, it’s not free but I don’t think anything open source can match it unless it’s for specialist stuff like for framing and architecture.
Blender is more modelling-oriented, SW is more manufacturing (and metals, but it doesn’t get in the way) oriented. Librecad is just open source free autocad and the thousands of autocad tutorials on YouTube translate pretty well to it
For drafts I just use rotring
Thanks for the info. I'm also hoping to do some metal working in the near future. Being able to put some designs together for the laser table would be bad ass. (The aim is to turn my old truck into a rock crawler which entails axle swaps, exo cage, etc.)
For 2D sketching on laser or plasma cutters, fusion 360 is pretty good, as long as you can get passed the always online DRM shit. For personal use I pirated a copy of inventor 2019(it shares the same 2D sketch tools as fusion) and use it on the non-networked computer that runs the table. Hasn't given me any issues at all.
Laser or plasma cut paths are really easy to do with librecad. It has less features than most alternatives but it’s tiny, foss, and easier to learn than most. There are many g code generators that take a dxf file (dxf2gcode is a foss one, UI is a bit flimsy but it’s surprisingly well designed for cutting or 2d routing applications).
I unironically paid for a license for sheetcam. It's lifetime and was like $120 or some shit. It's been awhile.
Where can I get a copy of sketchup non online versions from like 2017
simply run `top` to check if you have a viruse.
common virus md watchdogd and X
You want Revit
Not OP, I ended up buying fusion 360, and drafting things in there. It isn't meant for drafting houses.
Before I even did this, I drew drafts out in aseprite, and made it so that 1 pixel = 1inch, with 12x12 grid block overlay. It's good for quick and dirty floor layouts. This can then all be layered, with plumbing, electrical, etc.