Free CAD software
I’ve seen the topics here a couple of times over the years about free CAD software. The latest results I could find were from at least 6 years ago, so I figured it was time to bring it up again. 🙂
I’m going to be creating a site plan for my backyard, partially due to a mother-in-law house my Mom is building in our backyard. Having a surveyor background means that I need to create an elaborate site plan. 😉
I would preferably like to find something that addresses my overall familiarity with AutoCAD/IntelliCAD and allows me to use surveying units. I’m a little rusty with CAD but I’m sure it would come back quickly, especially if I can find something that is somewhat familiar. Part of me wants to buy a Carlson Survey license, but that would definitely be overkill. LOL 😀
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks!
- 20 Replies
I started out with AutoSketch. It was easy to learn and free. I think it’s still available. It’s not a rival of Carlson or AutoCad 3D but I drew alot of site maps and Survey Plat’s using it.
ESRI ArcMap pro (the more recent version) or desktop (the older version) are almost free for personal use. They can be licensed for personal use for $100 per year. They have the full capabilities of the high-price licenses used by those doing work for hire. There are no watermarks indicating a low-price version or anything like that.
The big difference between these products and the free GIS products like QGIS is that these products are pretty good at drawing new shapes, using concepts familiar to surveyors. The free GIS, in my very limited experience, is OK for producing maps that present existing shapes and data in various ways, but not so good at creating new shapes.
I’ve only used AutoDesk products during brief demonstrations; I don’t think the experience of working with ESRI will be similar to AutoDesk.
My professional CAD background is designing integrated circuits. I could spend months working within a 1 mm by 1 mm area.
TraversePC will do all that you need and offers a wide variety of licensing.
https://traverse-pc.com/traverse-pc-land-surveying-software-products/tpc-desktop-personal-edition/
Download a demo version of Carlson. It’s a full working version for something like 30 days
Download a demo version of Carlson. It’s a full working version for something like 30 days
30 days…that’s not nearly enough time for an elaborate site plan like is needed here. Lol ????
T. Nelson – SAM, LLC@squirl get a free demo of Carlson then a free demo of Microsurvey for a total of 60 days.
I want to build an ADU (official name for granny flat). I did exactly what Wendell wants to do??made a site plan. Mine includes all underground utilities because I surveyed them when they went in the ground.
I’ve seen the topics here a couple of times over the years about free CAD software. The latest results I could find were from at least 6 years ago, so I figured it was time to bring it up again. 🙂
I’m going to be creating a site plan for my backyard, partially due to a mother-in-law house my Mom is building in our backyard. Having a surveyor background means that I need to create an elaborate site plan. 😉
I would preferably like to find something that addresses my overall familiarity with AutoCAD/IntelliCAD and allows me to use surveying units. I’m a little rusty with CAD but I’m sure it would come back quickly, especially if I can find something that is somewhat familiar. Part of me wants to buy a Carlson Survey license, but that would definitely be overkill. LOL 😀
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks!
YouTuber ??How to ADU? interviews an Oregon ADU contractor in this video:
What about that sitecomp soft? Cogo up the points and put some lines on it seems simple enough.
I think cogo for the maths and hand drawn for the final would be more fun than CAD.
All you need is a piece of paper, straight edge, ruler; maybe even a protractor. KISS…
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!Actually, that is true. If you want to make a few sketches on paper I will help with the drafting.
Or you can contact Carlson. I believe they introduced a lease version during COVID to help with those working from home.
@dougie Maybe the zoning board has gotten used to being able to work virtually, and would prefer a PDF.
I’ve seen the topics here a couple of times over the years about free CAD software. The latest results I could find were from at least 6 years ago, so I figured it was time to bring it up again. 🙂
I’m going to be creating a site plan for my backyard, partially due to a mother-in-law house my Mom is building in our backyard. Having a surveyor background means that I need to create an elaborate site plan. 😉
I would preferably like to find something that addresses my overall familiarity with AutoCAD/IntelliCAD and allows me to use surveying units. I’m a little rusty with CAD but I’m sure it would come back quickly, especially if I can find something that is somewhat familiar. Part of me wants to buy a Carlson Survey license, but that would definitely be overkill. LOL 😀
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks!
There’s always this
https://librecad.org
LibreCADIt’s 2D. I haven’t looked at it, but from reading about it a few years ago it seemed decent.
Maybe…
Kinko’s or virtually any other copy store; can scan anything to a PDF.
The Architect I mentioned a few weeks ago, that did all his drafting by hand, was a wiz with Adobe (I’m guessing), his plans were full of color photos and detailed detail sheets. I got a PDF file from him…
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!Here is an Engineers design done in pencil, that I just received last week. It is like stepping back in time 30 years, but we can build it from the few measurements provided in the PDF. Along with a few assumptions, plus scaling & digitizing.
@dougie
Didi that for a friend up in AK, his engineer was the senior engineer that I worked with at the DOT and he was expecting that I would have done a CAD drawing using the States computer and software, the State frowns on using they’re stuff for personal things, didn’t know if this would have been OK, since I was doing it for free, but I wasn’t about to risk it, I’m pretty sure that engineer was not using his personal computer for the site plan.
@richard-germiller I volunteer for a large national charity, and have faced the personal use vs. volunteer-work use of licensed software dilemma. I own the computer. I pay for the internet. The charity provides Microsoft Office 365. It would be hopelessly confusing, and maybe impossible, to install another copy of Office on the same computer. So is it OK to write personal documents in Word, or call a personal Teams meeting? My “boss” said it’s OK.
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I’ll be digging in a little more this weekend. 🙂
Your friendly, virtual neighborhood WebmasterLibreCAD isn’t bad, but it had a few quirks. I had better luck with QCAD. It’s free and open source…but there are a few features I needed and I so bought the “QCAD Professional” version that cost me about $40, not bad. QCAD just worked better than LibreCAD. QCAD was more polished and seemed to have a better development and support staff.
Though eventually I ended up buying Carlson Survey on sale from one of the usual Carlson dealers.
I could never justify spending thousands of dollars per year on just a CAD program. I think that your basic CAD program (meaning AutoCAD and it’s fundamental features) isn’t something that should cost so much. I looked at the various ‘clones’ out there and had mixed success.
A comparison is if Microsoft started charging $2,000 per year just for MS Word: The program has seen little to none development over the years (and even added a few annoying features that most people hate). You’d be able to find another word processer quite easily. I think basic CAD is generic enough to offer the same option… and it does with the only (but big) caveat being that the competition is flawed in it’s own way(s).
One way to get “free” CAD for an extended amount of time is to do a bunch of free trials in succession. You could do AutoCAD LT for 30 days, thereafter, do AutoCAD (full) for 30 days (I think). You could then do something like iCAD or BricsCAD. Then GstarCAD (the most similar one to AutoCAD). If your drawing is relatively simply is should open in the different programs just fine. The tradeoff here is that saving money costs time. It all depends on what’s more important.
Autodesk does allow for month-to-month payments (I think… I know they used to for sure). You could also do a 30 day free trial then 1 or 2 months then shut it off.
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