Doublecad - use with Sketchup.

[Chris Knight]

For a variety of purposes, it's useful to have proper dimensioned drawings from SU and that is expensive if you buy the Pro edition for Layout to get them. Some folk also say they are Autocad users and find SU hard to get on with.

Both these concerns can be addressed to a fair degree by using Doublecad - it's FREE from here. It is a powerful AutoCAD LT work-alike program - but better (according to the manufacturer).

You can see a neat video of it handling a SU import here. Once in Doublecad, you can then use Autocad-like commands to manipulate your file, save it etc.

It's a Windows program but runs OK in a VM such as Parallels for us Mac folk.

I have only fired it up once so have no real experience with it but it seems to work as advertised.

 

[xy mosian]

Thanks Chris. I have previously used another free CAD program, A9CAD, which I find does everything I want. However DoubleCad does indeed open Sketchup files and will save them as DWG files, which A9CAD will not. Thanks again.

xy

 

[Steve Maskery]

Chris, what an extraordinarily good find!

I'm used to SUs foibles now, but there are some thing I miss from a "proper" CAD program, like hatching and easy perpendicularity.

In the 1980s I worked for a company called PAFEC. It was at the cutting edge of design technology. The original challenge was to produce a CAD program that could be sold in the marketplace for under 100K. Now a program like this is available for free!

The test I like to use is to draw a tangent to two circles. We could do that in 1987, but some programs fail even today. How do you do it in SU? It's not easy. This does it without even blinking.

What an excellent addition to my armoury!

Thanks Chris, this is one of the better things that has happened recently!
S

 

[Chris Knight]

Steve,
Glad you like it. There is a plugin for SU that can helps with tangents - see here

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtop ... 80#p160780

It's a bit flaky for me but works reasonably well

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, good but not perfect. The problem here is that SU doesn't really do circles. So when you want a common tangent, it works out the tangent point properly. But in SU circles are really duodecatetragons (or should that be duododecagons - no, I prefer the former, there are more syllables ) so the tangent doesn't actually touch the circle at all, So no intersection for surfaces etc.

Much as I like SU, I think that their decision in the original spec not to support true circles was a mistake.

S

 

[JonnyD]

Thanks Chris.

Just downloaded it and first impressions are good i am used to autocad and trying to get on with sketchup and could immediately use doublecad. My old student copy of autocad doesnt work with the new windows operating systems and this will be most usefull.

thanks again

Jon

 

[xy mosian]

Chris. I have just tried some 'serious' work, tracing a scaled image to a drawing. I am finding the cursor action a little flighty, could be me, I'll get used to it. What I am really after is a quick to use manual of sorts. I find the help files slow going. Have you a favorite guide/manual that you use as a quick reference? Otherwise fine so far.

xy

 

[oddsocks]

I've just registered for doublecad but the email tells me to go to http://downloads.imsidesign.com/DoubleC ... XT-1.1.zip which gives a 404 page not found - was this the link others used?

Dave

 

[Steve Maskery]

Dave
That's the right link and it was working the other day and appears not to be now. Send me your email address and I'll send you the zip file. Your email contains the serial nos, yes?
S

 

[oddsocks]

Dave
That's the right link and it was working the other day and appears not to be now. Send me your email address and I'll send you the zip file. Your email contains the serial nos, yes?
S

PM sent (in fact i think it went twice!). Thanks

 

[Steve Maskery]

Nope, no PM here.
Try steve AT workshopessentials.com
S

 

[Chris Knight]

Chris. I have just tried some 'serious' work, tracing a scaled image to a drawing. I am finding the cursor action a little flighty, could be me, I'll get used to it. What I am really after is a quick to use manual of sorts. I find the help files slow going. Have you a favorite guide/manual that you use as a quick reference? Otherwise fine so far.

xy

xy,
I am sorry but I have no manual for it - I just tried the thing to be sure it would do the imports from Sketchup.

 

[xy mosian]

Thanks Chris. Jump In both Feet job then. If I come across any useful guides/help are you interested?

xy

 

[Chris Knight]

xy,
Thanks but I won't be using it often enough to worry about. It's also similar enough to Turbocad that I should be OK in any case

Have you already seen these on the Doublecad site?

http://www.doublecad.com/Support/Learni ... fault.aspx

 

[Steve Maskery]

For anyone else having difficulty with the link, you can download it here
for the next 2.5 days. You'll still have to get your serial number from Doublecad, though, this is just the file.
S

 

[xy mosian]

Sorry chris. No excuse, yes I saw the links just didn't read them.

xy

 

[oddsocks]

I've received an (unsolicited) email saying they have resolved the 404 error so any new registrations should be able to download from the link the provide with the licence keys.


Dave