kenmo opened this issue on Jun 17, 2010 · 17 posts
pauljs75 posted Mon, 21 June 2010 at 6:56 PM
It's been forever since I messed with that software... I'm sure the box is gathering dust somewhere. Sorry no links though.
I'll offer my opinion on what I remember of it. (It's based on whatever version I bought back in '99 or so, they may have made some improvements since.):
What it's good at: It's good at making 2D drawings for things like floor plans or stamped part cutouts. It's a drafting tool which could be thought of as a more specialized vector drawing program. So in a way it's like InkScape or Illustrator, but with the ability to assign angles, dimensions, and markings useful for technical drawings. Comes with some preset templates like architectural/landscaping markings or gear patterns, which could be a nice touch if that's what you need.
What it sucks at: Doing 3D stuff. It's not AutoCAD. If you want something to "draft" in 3D with, these days you're honestly much better off using Google Sketchup. TurboCad can output to .dwg or such, but these are primarily 2D paths. So they'd need more work with extrusion or building out in another 3D program. (I wonder if that's still the case, I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if it's still like that with the basic version.)
Back when I bought it, I wanted to do 3D stuff on the computer at low cost. The box was a little misleading and back then there weren't all the options and info on the internet that there are today. Once I discovered Bryce 4 and Anim8or, I moved on. Of course since then, I found Wings3D to be much better for the kind of modeling I like doing.
Your friendly neighborhood Wings3D nut.
Also feel free to browse my freebies at ShareCG.
There might be something worth downloading.