[dirtbikerxz]

Ngang, think about what gblake said. While I would 100 percent recommend cad, what gblake said is also true. If you don't feel that your guys have the focus and power to learn cad, and even have the slightest inclination that they might get frustrated and quit half way through, don't do it. It will only mess you up.

On the other hand, if you know you have the focus and resources to do it, than forge ahead.

I can't stress this enough, every free second you get before the next build season, practice, practice, and practice. DO NOT wait until the build season to start learning how to cad... it is a huge steep learning curve. My advice is (and what I did, and make new guys do) once you learn the basics, CAD up your bot from this year, before build season next year. Learn how to CAD every component. This way, once you get done, you will almost certainly be ready for any part that you might have to CAD up next year.

We personally use inventor, but for me (since I was the first one on my team to ever cad (no mentors)), it took a long time to learn everything, months. But now that I know, I'm able to teach the next generation and hopefully that will keep going in the future.

Since all the FRC tutorials use Solidworks, you might be compelled to use Solidworks. But I honestly can't say. If you do decide to use Inventor however. You can message me anytime asking for help or advice, and I will be glad to help.