What do you CAD with?

[Andy L]

Which program do you use to CAD your robot with??

If you choose other please post

[technoL]

Parts that get sent to the shop have to be done in Pro/E, though we have access to Inventor at school. So...both.

Do teams actually use Sketch Up to CAD their robot? I've used the program before and it seems like it would be tedious to model intricate designs. Houses, buildings, and structures, fine. But robots?

[=Martin=Taylor=]

You should add Pro/E to that list. I’ve heard it’s one of the best CAD systems. Many of the pros (lol pun) use it. (Think teams 233, 254, 968…)

We use Inventor because we can get it for free, even though most of our mentors only know solid works

And of course, we all make use of the old pencil and paper

[Tapoore]

Inventor = hot

[basicxman]

you'll probably find that most teams use inventor because FRC and now FTC teams get it for free through FIRSTbase

[Andy A.]

I use Inventor both at work and at home. I am forcing my self to use Solidworks where possible though, as I need to get comfortable with it.

To be honest I've never really bothered with CAD in FIRST. The time always seemed better spent making parts, since it's all napkin based design for me anyways.

-Andy A.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by technoL

Do teams actually use Sketch Up to CAD their robot? I've used the program before and it seems like it would be tedious to model intricate designs. Houses, buildings, and structures, fine. But robots?

that was more of a joke because the other day I was playing around in sketchup and actually got a mediocre looking design out of it.

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by Andy L

that was more of a joke because the other day I was playing around in sketchup and actually got a mediocre looking design out of it.

i tried sketchup i cant stand it!!! i use either blender or inventor, although now that im getting good at inventor (see my site andrewshomepage.50webs.com under 'My CADs' i prefer inventor

[Molten]

I chose other because I use both Inventor and AutoCAD. That way I get the best of both.

[Mike Schreiber]

We use inventor because we have it, but if we got UniGraphics I'm 100% positive we'd use it instead, I've worked in catea, UG, SE, and inventor and I don't see too much problem working in any of them, really we only use inventor cause it's free

[Coco the Monkey]

I work as an Architectural Draftsman for the University of Maryland and I find myself using a variety of plotting and design programs, mainly Architectural Desktop and Vanilla CAD. Along with the Adobe products suite you can make some pretty nice presentation models. I have used Inventor for specific projects when a 3d representation has been requested though. It all depends on the projects.

[Elgin Clock]

SolidWorks by training & choice ftw!

CAD Drafter by profession, and SolidWorks is def. my CAD software of choice.

The old reliable(?) AutoCAD 14 comes in handy once in a while and is quicker for making drawings where I work, but SolidWorks is the standard now.

Inventor??
Never touched it except to help the team last year for a couple days and found the gear chain software the most useful part of that.

We currently use only SolidWorks on the team as well, since most kids (who know CAD) know that.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Solidworks for me. I used it for work a few summers ago, and it's definitely my favorite of the programs I've used (AutoCAD, Inventor, UG, and Solidworks). My team uses Solidworks pretty much exclusively, as well.

[rholokleolke]

For quick throwing out ideas we use pencil and paper or a dry erase board. However, if someone doesn't understand what someone is suggesting I will do a quick blender representation of it. I know its not really to scale or that accurate but for something quick that gets the point across it works.

[artdutra04]

I used Inventor exclusively for about a year or two.

Then I tried Solidworks once, and about five minutes later I decided I liked it much better. It really was that quick.

I'm still learning PRO/Engineer, so I'll hold off judgment until I feel a lot more comfortable using it.