Cad Assistance Please

J L

J L

Joined
Apr 27, 2020
Messages
37
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58

Location
San Francisco Bay Area
OK, I am a novice in this area. I have scanned general plans of naval ships and saved them as jpg. Now which program, AutoDesk or Corel, will import the jpg's and allow me to scale them to my preferred scale. Also between the two, AutoDesk and Corel, which would be the best, in other words, the easiest?
 
like all software there is a learning curve. so it is hard to say which is easier it depends on your back round and experience with drawing software.

what is your end goal here to just scale the plans?
 
Hello Dave,
Some experience, not much with AutoCad, with winter approaching I will have the time to learn, however I have heard from a few others that Corel is easier. Thus a simple question that has a complicated answer. As to the end goal, after scaling the plans, 1/200 scale, I will print them, cut them out, glue them to polystyrene, cut he polystyrene and build the ship.
 
sorry i can not answer which software is easier, for me personally AutoCad would be easier because i have years of working with AutoCad.

you did say you have scanned naval plans so why not just scale up the JPEG files you have?

it is difficult to suggest what you should do because i can not see what plans you have or what you want to do with them other than scale them up.

post the JPEG files you have so i can take a look at them
 
Hi Dave,
The scans are of the standard general plan book printed by the Navy. I have scaled them up using Photoshop , I am looking for something with more accuracy.
 
AutoDesk is a professional program (not the best) and CorelDraw is more for generic use, so I am sure that CD has a less steep learning curve. It has its limitations but it is not likely that you will hit them.
János
 
Hello Janos,
You say CorelDraw, does it have the ability to import jpg's and then scale them? I was thinking more along the lines of Corel Cad, are they the same program, or, am I confused? Which is a natural state of affairs for me.;)
 
Hi,
I haven't used CD for a long while so I wouldn't know the features of the latest version. I assume CorelCad is a different animal, sounds like a more-pro version of CD. I think the best solution would be to give a call to CD support and you can find it out.
János
 
If you go with freecad , which is free no yearly renewal or reinstription , open source and up todate...check the youtube videos, I believe you will find your answers , this I have started to do the youtube videos are really helpful... have increased my knowledge considerable.
 
Hello J L, you might be interested about another method to get plans for building models which I have used many times for years.

When searching something to build for next project, I am searching from internet, for example blueprints ( https://www.the-blueprints.com/search/Mercer/ ), if I could find there the item I am interested of. This time the famous racing car Mercer Raceabout. The file could be of any format, .jpg, .png, etc.
Then I am printing this on paper in whatever size it will print. After that a little calculation.

For example I know that the wheelbase of real Mercer was 108". This equals 2743 millimetres. I want to build the model in 1/6 scale. So the wheelbase of the model must be 2743 mm divided by 6, which means appr. 457 mm.

The car wheelbase which was printed on paper is 275 mm. To get it in the scale I want, it must be enlarged by factor 457/275 which equals appr. 1.66.
Now I go to a photocopying company with my printed drawing and ask them to enlarge it by 166%. With their big printers it takes about one minute to have the drawing in the size I want. The cost for this was about 6$.
Of course the enlarged drawing has lines wider than they would be when "properly" handled, but when I measure lines "middle to middle" there is not much error.

Below is a picture of the two Mercer drawings. On top is the drawing directly printed from downloaded .jpg file, and below the one enlarged by 166%, which is ready to be used to build the model:

20201112_121551_001.jpg
 
I personally use IMSI TurboCad Platinum. Now, with Corel, I am not sure if their program plays well with saving files to another format like dwf or dxf. I will say this and this is my opinion. I would invest in AutoCad and learn it and become well in it. It is the industrial standard. I do not use it only because my work office changed over to TurboCAD. Also with good known programs like AutoCAD, I am sure the support and tutorials are abounding with info. You need to learn it to trace plans and other things, then move into 3D. The other options are Solid Works and Rhinoceros CAD. Rhinoceros has a 30 day trial, but in 30 days you can barely scratch the surface of what it can do. This is after all my opinion.
 
Ok. So it’s been many years since I investigated the cost of autocad. $1690 for a years subscription is pretty costly. No way I could afford that on a personal basis.
The company I work for paid a one time purchase cost of about $1400 for Turbocad Platinum and the program is not a yearly subscription. Sorry. I did not realize they have gone up in price that much.
 
Hello Donnie, As with everything else in life, the stuff we want always go up in price! That is why I am looking at Corel, sometimes I receive emails for special offers. And now I am in the 'should-a - could-a - would-a' funk. Oh well I know better now.
 
Due to the cost of Autocad I have just moved to CoralCAD - many of its features and logic will be familiar to Autocad users, the use of the command line (F2) is a must though as much functionality is not available easily through the menus. As ever with Coral - help is limited. I use both 2D and 3D functionality for CNC lathe, CNC mill and 3d printer (you need a CAM program for this and and I use MACH3 as the machine controller as Post Processors are readily available for MACH3).
 
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