Like CAD programs, it offers tools to draw lines and arcs with precision unlike CAD programs, it doesn’t overwhelm the user with a slew of modeling menus and input fields.Ĭurrently, as a product of GPS and laser device developer Trimble, SketchUp still remains free, and can be adapted for mechanical design concepts, but its tight integration with architecture is evident in the preloaded content (like doors and windows). With little to no learning curve, the program is ideal for anyone - even those without an engineering or technical background - who wants to sculpt out different concepts as 3D models. During Google’s ownership (2006-2012), the program grew to become the de facto concept modeler for the architecture industry.
#Moment solidthinking inspire software
When SketchUp debuted as a product of Software in 2000, it aimed to serve a number of industries, including civil engineering, architecture, industrial design and mechanical design. With this approach, you can transform a 2D rough sketch into a 3D model with volume and mass. You may also use the familiar extrusion and projection techniques in the sketching environment. The program lets you use the traditional hand-sketching techniques, but on different working planes in 3D. One sketching program that bridges 2D and 3D is CATIA Natural Sketch from Dassault Systèmes. CorelDRAW and Corel DESIGNER files can be imported into CorelCAD as model space objects with a representation in a layout sheet. The CorelDRAW Technical Suite X7 includes CorelDRAW for vector illustration and page layout projects, Corel DESIGNER for technical illustrations, and the Corel Photo-Paint image editor. With art-centric SketchBook, you cannot export Spline objects therefore, the use of the sketches created in it may be limited to background layers to guide your 3D modeling. With Creo Sketch, you can export Spline curves for further development in Creo Parametric. You can export the sketches as images into CAD programs for further development. Neither Creo Sketch nor SketchBook gives you the ability to draw with dimensions (the way you would typically do in 2D CAD), but that’s not necessarily a drawback if you’re mainly concerned with rough ideas. With digital brushes that reproduce the look of oil, watercolor, pastel and other mediums, Autodesk SketchBook offers a richer environment for artists and can function independently of other 3D design programs. PTC Creo Sketch offers Spline tools in addition to painting tools the product is meant to augment PTC’s other 3D design apps, like PTC Creo Direct or Creo Parametric. When used on a tablet with a stylus, apps like PTC’s Creo Sketch, Autodesk SketchBook and CorelDRAW closely mimic the 2D pen-on-paper workflow, coming closest to a cocktail napkin. Using these time-tested categories as a guide, looking for the right conceptual design tool is a bit easier. If you want function, you could explore simulation,” says Versprille. If you want fit, you may need a parametric modeler. “If your major criteria is form, you would want easy geometry editing. Their priorities most likely will fall into one of the three classic design objectives: form, fit or function. Ken Versprille, executive consultant at CIMdata. “People want to do slightly different things in the concept phase, depending on the kind of product they’re trying to conceptualize,” says Dr. But engineers do not arrive at that stage by the same route. Most mainstream CAD programs are for the detailed design phase, where you meticulously model the outer shape, internal parts and electromechanical components that make up your product. If it doesn’t survive the what-ifs, you tear it to pieces and start again.įinding the cocktail napkin’s digital equal, however, proves much more challenging. Once you have drawn an intelligible schematic or sketch of your concept (not easy to do after the third pint), you can share it, revise it, expand on it and debate it with others. The tiny square invites your spur-of-the-moment bright ideas. T he cheapest conceptual design tool is the cocktail napkin on a bar counter. Straddling 2D sketching and 3D modeling, Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA Natural Sketch offers a way to digitally develop concepts in a workflow that mimics pen and paper drawing.