Getting back to the point. If your stepson is looking for a CAD system and he wants to do auto design, tell him to take physics, mechanical drawing/drafting, and get good grades and go to college and get an engineering degree. As an engineer (and Mac user), the systems that you learn in high school will not be viable by the time that you get into industry (industry was still on "Big Iron" systems like Anvil and drafting boards when I was in high school). When I was in high school, AutoDesk was still a baby and ClarisCAD was a great product. When I learned AutoCAD in college, it didn't have menus and you had to type the commands just like DOS. I've seen the advent of 3D and am still amazed with what it can do. I'm still glad that I started on a drafting board. I have seen the advent of real CAD and seen it mature. I'll be surprised if they aren't using the stereo-scopic glasses and manipulating stuff by hand in another 10 years.
So, if you really want to spring for a CAD system right now, remember that this software is not cheap and has a BIG learning curve. If you have a reasonable Windows system, you may be able to find the academic version of Pro/E. The only thing that you need to look out for is that a 3D system will use more resources that a 2D system. Get a machine with an AGP video. Shared video will run unbearably slow. Get lots of RAM, 512MB min, and a big drive. 3D files aren't small. A decent machine for 3D will set you back $1000-1500. 2D will run on anything with 256MB of ram. But just like anything else, more RAM and a faster processor are always better. One other thing, most of the 3D programs use OpenGL so you will need to read the system requirements. Get the recommended configuration, minimum will be bad.
Any other questions, let me know.
Brian
On Thursday, November 13, 2003, at 08:57 PM, w miro wrote:
This is a bit OT but I don't want to have to buy the Windows product for what my stepson is looking for--
He's interested in auto design. At the High School they use a Windows program called Autodesk. Since almost no software companies advertise in your everyday Mac catalogues anymore, I was wondering if anyone knows of a program that would do this that is also more oriented toward car design (more than most cad programs).
It seems like a such LONG time ago since I bought my $3,130 Quadra and was just overwhelmed by all the software advertised in MacWarehouse! Now it's all the same companies-- just newer printers, digital cameras, scanners, hard drives, memory, cords, media, Adobe, and oh yes, MS Office!
Titillating!
-Bill M
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