Creative Woodturner - does anyone use this software?

[PAC]

I've just found this design software on the net. Looks very interesting and very easy to use. Does anyone have experience of this software?

Here's a link to the site: http://www.creative-woodturner.com/index.php

 

[TEP]

Mornin' Paul. Far too expensive IMO, you can buy a lot of nice timber for £60. A pencil and scribble pad is a lot cheaper. :roll:

Try a search in the Woodturning section for 'Creative Turning Software' there has been a few discussions on this.

 

[PAC]

Mornin' Paul. Far too expensive IMO, you can buy a lot of nice timber for £60. A pencil and scribble pad is a lot cheaper. :roll:

Mornin' Tam. I agree, it is a bit expensive but you can buy it for £40 if you download it from the web. I kind of like its simplicity and speed of use, especially when it comes to converting your diagram into dimensions. A tweak here and there could play havoc with a pencil drawing and I can rarely achieve perfect symmetry when drawing freehand. I guess I could sketch onto graph paper but it would be a lot easier to use the software.

 

[big soft moose]

I rarely draw anything except may be a concept sketch before i start turning - i keep an idea in my head and work to that but i couldnt be doing with constantly comparing my work to a computer produced diagram.

I concur with tep - there are a lot better uses for 40,50, 60 quid especially when you are starting out ( I would say wood, books about turning, new gouges/tools, or maybe a little pillar drill and 50mm forstner bit should all take priority if money is limited)

 

[user 5053]

I won't be investing in this software. Pencil and paper for me and yes you can achieve perfect symmetry with practice. Computer design is so soulless and lacking in feeling hence the bland insipid nature of much modern design.
British design, whether it be motor vehicles, household goods or graphics peaked in the 50's and 60's when people went through art collages and schools learning how to draw. Where are the design classics of today?

 

[PAC]

I won't be investing in this software. Pencil and paper for me and yes you can achieve perfect symmetry with practice. Computer design is so soulless and lacking in feeling hence the bland insipid nature of much modern design.
British design, whether it be motor vehicles, household goods or graphics peaked in the 50's and 60's when people went through art collages and schools learning how to draw. Where are the design classics of today?

Interesting view! I like to think that the computer is just a fancy pencil. Just another method for transfering a design from our imaginations to paper. Sure, it's not as romantic as scribbling a classic design on a piece of paper but it doesn't necessarily mean that classic designs are unachievable. My world is full of classic designs from the last 10 years - my wife's Nokia, my Canon 40D DSLR (and L class lenses), my Dell desktop and that Eurofighter flying overhead (...and my CCL lathe) are all very impressive... and all designed on a PC.

Right...now I've got that off my chest I'm going to sit down and watch some classic, Oscar winning animation - Finding Nemo. :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

I won't be investing in this software. Pencil and paper for me and yes you can achieve perfect symmetry with practice. Computer design is so soulless and lacking in feeling hence the bland insipid nature of much modern design.
British design, whether it be motor vehicles, household goods or graphics peaked in the 50's and 60's when people went through art collages and schools learning how to draw. Where are the design classics of today?

Interesting view! I like to think that the computer is just a fancy pencil. Just another method for transfering a design from our imaginations to paper. Sure, it's not as romantic as scribbling a classic design on a piece of paper but it doesn't necessarily mean that classic designs are unachievable. My world is full of classic designs from the last 10 years - my wife's Nokia, my Canon 40D DSLR (and L class lenses), my Dell desktop and that Eurofighter flying overhead (...and my CCL lathe) are all very impressive... and all designed on a PC.

Right...now I've got that off my chest I'm going to sit down and watch some classic, Oscar winning animation - Finding Nemo. :lol:

I agree - tho techincally your ccl lathe is a chinese rip off of a design originally conceived in the states in the 50s and therefore almost certainly originally designed by a draughtsman with pen and paper

on the original question another problem that occurs to me is that you cant keep a pc in the workshop (dust and computers dont mix well) this means you will constantly be backwards and forwards into the house , which risks both losing your creative flow, and possibly more importantly the wrath of swimbo if you trail dust and shavings into the living area !

 

[PAC]

on the original question another problem that occurs to me is that you cant keep a pc in the workshop (dust and computers dont mix well) this means you will constantly be backwards and forwards into the house , which risks both losing your creative flow, and possibly more importantly the wrath of swimbo if you trail dust and shavings into the living area !

Good point, well made! :lol:

BTW, interesting to hear that all 'swimbos' seem to be cast from the same mould.

On a more serious note... Keith Rowley (Foundation Course fame) would be happy to create a profile template for his turnings, so why not create a paper version, via the pc and printer, and take that into the workshop?

 

[big soft moose]

actually i dont live with my swimbo at the mo so i couldnt say (wedding is in march)

on the keith rowley angle - yep if that works for you go for it - but if you make design changes mid way through because you have buggered something up or uncovered a fault in the timber etc then you will have to stop everything and go see the pc

those who work with a notebook can stay in the workshop

while people like me who just make it up as we go along dont even have to stop the lathe.

 

[Anonymous]

... people like me who just make it up as we go along dont even have to stop the lathe.

Good one :!:

...everyone has their own preference as we've seen from earlier postings but it's much more rewarding (imho) to take a lump of wood and simply discover what's inside :wink:

 

[CHJ]

.....but it's much more rewarding (imho) to take a lump of wood and simply discover what's inside :wink:

Could not agree more, having spent my working life living within the constraints of precis design, even for a period trying to find a way of convincing a computer (Hi end CAD) that a guy wielding a pencil did make an airplane that flew quite happily, the pleasure as a hobbyist that I get from turning with little or no constraint on form is everything.

 

[Jenx]

I'd go with that !

'Mount it & start hacking away' :wink:

It wont be my first BOX that became a Shallow Bowl that rapidly turned into a platter !

 

[PAC]

It wont be my first BOX that became a Shallow Bowl that rapidly turned into a platter !

Sounds like you need some software! Have you seen Creative Woodturner? :lol:

 

[tekno.mage]

I find one of the joys of woodturning is that is *doesn't* require a computer

Aside from that - the software mentioned is PC only and I'm a Mac user.

tekno.mage