I really want to make building instructions for my robots and prototype robots with a CAD software. What software should I get?
PS what does CAD stand for?
Thanks!
If you can get a Student Version for a reasonable price, of a well known application (e.g. Autocad) then do it… The skills you learn will be valuable later.
Your Welcome.
I would recommend an application such as Autodesk Inventor or Solid Works.
If you are a student, you can buy a one-year license of SolidWorks 2007/08 Educational Version with full COSMOS FEA for $90, or a two-year license for $140. If you don’t want/need COSMOS, you can buy a two-year Solidworks license for only $90. See solidworks.com/students for more info.
Or if you have a .edu email address, you can register at students.autodesk.com to download a one-year license of the latest version of Autodesk Inventor for free.
I personally prefer SolidWorks, but they are both very similar in functionality.
1 Like
I use Google Sketchup. It’s not quite up to Solidworks level, but it’s free:D
I use google sketchup too! I just decided that I should get a CAD software that is compatible with the vex parts download thing at vexcad.com. Plus the grafics ar a little off in sketchup. they look a little distorted.
Thanks for your help! I’ll try out Autodesk student!
WAIT! Do I have to be a certain age or do I have to be some kind of robotics or engineering student? Or do I just have to be a kid?
Thanks!
well, pick one ?
CAD- Computer-Aided Design
CAD- C’est A Dire (French: That Is to Say)
CAD- Cable Air Dryer
CAD- Cabling Diagram
CAD- Cadaveric Donor
CAD- Cadillac
CAD- California Academic Decathlon
CAD- California Association of the Deaf
CAD- Call Acceptance Delay (ITU-T)
CAD- Call Denial
CAD- Calling Area Database
CAD- Canadian Association of the Deaf
CAD- Canadian Dollar
CAD- Capability Analysis Document (US DoD)
CAD- Capital Adequacy Directive
CAD- Carol Ann Duffy (British poet)
CAD- Cartridge Actuated Device(s)
CAD- Cartridge Actuating Device
CAD- Cash Against Delivery
CAD- Cash Against Documents
CAD- Cash Available for Distribution
CAD- Catholic Anti-Discrimination (Northern Ireland)
CAD- Center for Advanced Diagnostics
CAD- Central Accounting Division
CAD- Central Appraisal District
CAD- Characterization and Assessment Division (EPA)
CAD- Charles Allem Designs, Inc.
CAD- Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
CAD- Children Against Discrimination
CAD- Cisco Agent Desktop (Cisco)
CAD- Coherent Amplitude Detector
CAD- Cold Air Damming (meteorology)
CAD- collective address designator (US DoD)
CAD- Collective Address Directory
CAD- Collider-Accelerator Department
CAD- Collisionally Activated Dissociation (mass spectrometry)
CAD- Colorado Association of the Deaf
CAD- Combined Approach Document
CAD- Combined Arms Division
CAD- Commercial Affairs Department (Singapore)
CAD- Community Action Duluth
CAD- Comparison Attitude Data
CAD- Complaint Adjudication Division
CAD- Complex Application Domain
CAD- Component Advanced Development
CAD- Computer Aided Disaster
CAD- Computer-Aided Detection
CAD- Computer-Aided Diagnosis (medical)
CAD- Computer-Aided Dispatch
CAD- Computer-Aided Drafting
CAD- Computer-Aided Drawing
CAD- Computer-Assisted Design
CAD- Computer-Assisted Device
CAD- Computer-Assisted Drafting
CAD- Computer-Automated Design
CAD- Concept Advanced Development
CAD- Condemned At Depot
CAD- Confined Aquatic Disposal
CAD- Congenital Abduction Deficiency
CAD- Connecticut Association of the Deaf
CAD- Consolidated Acquisition Directive
CAD- Consumer Advocate Division
CAD- Consumer Affairs Division
CAD- Contact Allergic Dermatitis
CAD- Containment Atmosphere Dilution
CAD- Contract Appeals Division
CAD- Contract Award Date
CAD- Control Alt Delete (website)
CAD- Control and Debug
CAD- Control And Display
CAD- Control Authority Domain
CAD- ConversiĂłn AnalĂłgico-Digital (Spanish)
CAD- Coronary Artery Disease
CAD- Coronary Artery Dissection
CAD- Coronary Atherothrombotic Disease
CAD- Corporate Account Delinquency
CAD- Corrective Action Design
CAD- Cost Analysis Division
CAD- County Appraisal District
CAD- Course Administrative Data
CAD- Crank Angle Degree
CAD- Ctrl Alt Del
CAD- Ctrl Alt Del (gaming webcomic)
CAD- Current Account Deficit
CAD- Custom Application Development
CAD- Customer Avalized Draft
CAD- Cycling Addicted Dudes
CAD- Card Accepting Device
CAD- Certified Application Developer
^Not really helpful.
For the Autodesk website all you need is a .edu email address. So you would need to be old enough for your school to give you one. Otherwise you can be as old or young as you want to be on the internet;).
Ask one of your teachers to sign up for Autodesk and then invite you. My principal did it for me and I got Inventor, VIZ, Revit, and a few more I can’t remember
Thanks! I might try it! I also heard that vexplorer has solidworks. I really want the kit, but is the solidworks that comes with vexplorer worth it? Or even though I might get the kit, should I still sign up for Autodesk?
Thanks a lot!
If you can get the vexplorer kit for a good deal, it is really great. (I still remember when amazon.com had them for $60) Do note however that the vexplorer only comes with a 150 day license.
Thanks! I’ll do some more research on vexplorer to see what I can get it for.
For 3D modeling Solidworks is your best option in my opinion. It is easy to use, inexpensive, and very efficient.
Technic-R-C
As I was looking at the Vexplorer product page, I noticed that under the slidworks student design system( or something like that), it said “Xp compatible only”. My computer runs on vista. does anyone think it would be possible to run the software succesfuly on Vista?
Thanks!
I just noticed that the solidworks that comes with vexplorer is only XP compatible. Does anyone know if I can succesfuly run it on Vista?
Thanks!
Sorry about the short posts, i’m on vacation and the only wifi I can find is only 2 bars, so long posts don’t get sent.
I’m not positive, but there might be a way to fool the system into telling the program that it is an XP operating system. I’ll try and find the book I read about it in, buy it might not work on Vista. (book’s a bit outdated)
would it work in linux wine? if so, you could just duel boot.
I just installed the SolidWorks 2007 (from my college) on Vista Ultimate a few days ago. It works just fine.
If you come across any problems, just Run as Administrator in XP SP2 Compatibility Mode, as that normally fixes most problems with Vista.
I doubt it. SolidWorks, or any advanced CAD application for that matter, are very graphics intensive and would most likely not work very well under [Dar]wine. It’s much better to just boot natively into Windows when working with SolidWorks or Inventor. (Although PRO-Engineer is available for UNIX and a few Linux distros in addition to Windows; the only trade off is that PRO-E is not a very intuitive program to learn).