Paint and AutoCAD

[wastewater]

We had (I express the HAD) a IT guy that stated in front of our drafting department and many higher ups in the company that we only use a very little bit of AutoCAD and that what we do could be done in microsoft paint. As I stated he is gone but we still have a hard time proving that we use a lot of what AutoCAD offers to our higher ups which control a lot of what goes on in the company. (ie raises) Anyways does anyone know of a check sheet or something we could get that showes all of what AutoCAD generic offers so we could sit down as a department and come up with some kind of document that shows what we use and were and why and what we don't use. It would also be nice to have something of the same for AutoCAD Mechanical so we can show what we would use and what we wouldn't. Hope there is something out there. We are on AutoCAD 2008 only because we talked them in to a subscription. Hope you all are having fun and keep on Painting.

[SLW210]

Only something an IT guy could come up with. http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif

Did you look at the Autodesk site?

What exactly do you do?

[wastewater]

We do aeration and mixing equipment for Wastewater treatment plants. I looked on AutoCADs web site but I couldn't find anything. Yea he also stated that he could save the company 15 million dollars by getting rid of half the uneeded programs and people in the company. Not soon after that the company got rid of him. So I think we saved our 15 million dollars.

[chulse]

I feel for you :)

[PS_Port]

Just buy a packet of crayons....
Tell the company you dont need computers at all...
You'll save squillions...:lol:

As chulse said - I feel your pain

Do you do diagramatic drawings, or do you require precision...(construction)
Do you deal with consultants.....dwg format is pretty universal.
Maybe a little more info. about you work.

[Strix]

chalk - that's the way to go - chalk and blackboards - solve the problem of the cost of all that paper too :thumbsup:

ffs - if anybody wants justification, let them take AutoCAD away for a week and see how you get on with your clients and contractors... oh, and see how much time the simplest diagram takes

are you using LT or full blown AutoCAD btw?

as PS Port says, what is it you're actually producing, and who are you communicating those drawings with?

(and for the record - Word has more functionality than sodding Paint - so you can get rid of Paint too...
or build the thing first and photograph it - save any faffing at all :roll: )

[Alan Cullen]

It's a good thing Council no longer accept crayon sketches. That's all the justification you need for acad. :lol:

Strix, you can't chuck paint away. It's the only clipart programme that can reduce the size of your FAQ images without a loss of definition. :twisted:

[Strix]

wastewater isn't on the FAQ team :?

[f700es]

We had (I express the HAD) a IT guy that stated in front of our drafting department and many higher ups in the company that we only use a very little bit of AutoCAD and that what we do could be done in microsoft paint. As I stated he is gone but we still have a hard time proving that we use a lot of what AutoCAD offers to our higher ups which control a lot of what goes on in the company. (ie raises) Anyways does anyone know of a check sheet or something we could get that showes all of what AutoCAD generic offers so we could sit down as a department and come up with some kind of document that shows what we use and were and why and what we don't use. It would also be nice to have something of the same for AutoCAD Mechanical so we can show what we would use and what we wouldn't. Hope there is something out there. We are on AutoCAD 2008 only because we talked them in to a subscription. Hope you all are having fun and keep on Painting.

Excuse my "French" but what a dumb-ass!
Well can you post some Paint examples of your companies work?
MS Paint!!! I just can't get over this. Paint, no layer support, bad file format (.bmp), no scripting for plugins, the list can go on forever! He he wanted to use MS Paint he could have at least grabbed Paint.net which is basically a light-weight PhotoShop clone.
AutoCAD can draw almost anything! If MS Paint can do it AutoCAD can do it better. Except maybe icons. About the only thing MS Paint is good for and better products can be found for free as well.
I feel your pain Wastewater :(

[Alan Cullen]

Yeah, Sean,
Makes you wonder what ********'s future holds for him? :lol: :twisted: :twisted:

[CADken]

what's the IT guys salary, cut him off now, save the salary, buy AutoCAD...

your company should be slapped for even considering MS Paint.

[f700es]

Yeah, Sean,
Makes you wonder what ********'s future holds for him? :lol: :twisted: :twisted:

Well, he's probably not much of an IT person either. I would almost put money on him being a Linux man!

(Linux speak)
"OMG we ams can run Linux and give the finger to M$!"
"Linux is am free! We will save millions!!!11!!11!!"

[wastewater]

wow so much support!! Thanks I am glad I am not the only one that thinks this way.

Here are some examples of what we do.

Example 1 is for our sales department to sell our product to the client.

Example 2 is what we use to build a parts list and to get final approval from the client that every thing will fit.

Example 3 is what we use for the shop to build that clients equipment.

we also do 3d drawings for marketing for new products that we have coming out.

As you can see we are fabricat to fit company most of our stuff is made differnt for each client.

Thanks for the support. If anyone wants to try to draw those examples up in paint have fun.

[SLW210]

If anyone wants to try to draw those examples up in paint have fun.

There you go, just tell them that when they ask you why you need AutoCAD. :thumbsup:

[f700es]

Oh yeah no question about being better with CAD.
1. You can draw to scale and have scaled drawings to give clients
2. Revisions will be easy as compared to a raster paint program.
3. You can built up a template as to help new designs start faster.
4. Your 3D work can be shown with the 2D for better presentations to clients.
list goes on and on

Good luck :)

[rustysilo]

Any person who thinks MS Paint could be used for cadd drawings should not be in an IT position. It is good your company dumped the weight of that guy. He obviously was not very experienced.

By the look of your examples your company doesn't necessarily need an Autodesk product. There are several less expensive options they could go with if they want to "save" money.

For free or cheap they can get a vector based program like Intellicad (http://www.intellicad.org/), Qcad (http://www.qcad.org/), Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/), or OpenOffice/Draw (http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html).

For 3D modeling and such they might consider something like BRL-CAD (http://brlcad.org/), Blender (http://www.blender.org/), or perhaps even Google Sketchup (http://www.sketchup.com/).

If you would really want to make it hard and do cadd drawings in a raster program get the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/).

[SLW210]

I guess if it really came down to it you could get out the old drafting (draughting?) board and T-Square, maybe Alan could part with some of his old draughting (drafting?) equipment for you. :D

Then scan them into Paint. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/sealx/icons_smilies/face-laugh.png

[f700es]

Any person who thinks MS Paint could be used for cadd drawings should not be in an IT position. It is good your company dumped the weight of that guy. He obviously was not very experienced.

By the look of your examples your company doesn't necessarily need an Autodesk product. There are several less expensive options they could go with if they want to "save" money.

For free or cheap they can get a vector based program like Intellicad (http://www.intellicad.org/), Qcad (http://www.qcad.org/), Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/), or OpenOffice/Draw (http://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html).

For 3D modeling and such they might consider something like BRL-CAD (http://brlcad.org/), Blender (http://www.blender.org/), or perhaps even Google Sketchup (http://www.sketchup.com/).

If you would really want to make it hard and do cadd drawings in a raster program get the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/).


I was going to suggest maybe a combination of AutoCAD LT and SketchUp. Use LT for you layouts and 2D work and then use SU for the 3D bits. Using both would come way under the $4,000 price tag for AutoCAD. What $800-$900 for LT and $500 for SU Pro (yes, the Pro version of SU, this way they would get dwg exporting). Yes, intellicad is an option but I just don't feel as productive when I have played with it as the way I feel when using a true AutoCAD version, maybe just me. Good sugestions on the opensouce alternatives though ;) :thumbsup:

If one needs to make dxf/dwg files on the cheap there is always A9CAD from A9Tech
A9CAD (http://www.a9tech.com/products/a9cad/)
It's basic CAD but it works. Their $30 Pro version might be worth a try as well.

[SLW210]

You could just tell your "higher ups" to call the clients and tell them that from now on all drawing work will be done in Paint, because it is free.

[rustysilo]

:D hehehe. Yeah, and then sit back and wait for the customer backlash.

[dumfatnhappy]

as a customer/consultant of your aeration/wastewater equipment I can tell you you'd hear the crickets if you turn the water (ok air) off. We rely on shop drawings to insure constructability for starters...not to mention cut sheets at the very least if not .dwg's of the equipment we specify, etc, etc... what part of the country are you in btw?

[CADken]

if our company is that worried about buying AutoCAD, why not sub-contract the work and have someone Freelance everything?