Re:Delftship to Google SketchUp

[otaku]

Hi CNZLP,

Have you ever heard of Punch! ViaCAD?

http://www.punchsoftware.com/index.htm

ViaCAD Pro is my tool of choice to work with my DS Free models that i export from 3D Polylines and other DS formats to create sideshell surfaces and solids in VCPro. (I am not sure, but i believe Sketchup is definitely not a CAD tool for more than casual stuff, tho it has some great features. It certainly won’t work for me for what i am doing.)

What i like about VCP as opposed to other CAD apps is that VCP is (for my mind, at least) VERY easy to use. After i created thickened plate, i apply mild steel properties to it to get the various CGs. I have personally found this to be vastly easier and not convoluted like autocad can be when it comes to getting massprops.

ViaCAD 2D/3D is available inexpensively. You can try a trial/demo, then if you like it, purchase it. In my case, i upgraded to Pro from 2D/3D. I think ViaCAD makes an excellent complement to DELFTship. I’d hate to think how extremely difficult my hobby would be if i had not found DELFTship by accident and if i had not found ViaCAD before CompUSA shuttered their bricks-n-morters stores.

(One of my fantasies is that someday there is two-way communication between DELFTship and ViaCAD pro so i don’t have to throw away many lines i create in DSFree. An even bigger fantasy is that ViaCAD would use SQLite as a database engine to contain the geometry, and therefore begin to take feeble steps to make it possible to avoid the astronomical expense of using ShipConstructor (and the attendant cost of needing autocad to use SC…)

Now, if only i could save my pennies so i could buy DS Pro and a number of extensions. Another fantasy is that i would start a company, find a line of credit, and make a living off my drawings… ) [file name=bow_on.jpg size=49261]http://www.delftship.net/delftship/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/bow_on.jpg[/file]

Attachments:

• struct_membs_7.jpg
• bow_on.jpg