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im not sure to which header this thread should be so i put under this one,,, im just courious to which program is easyer to learn and work with as far as doing up programs for the shop bot would it be autocad 2002 or coral draw 11?

Paul

[Brady Watson]

Paul,
I would lean towards CorelDraw as being easier to master. 2002 is a very robust program and can be overwhelming for a lot of people (myself included).

I suppose it all depends on what you are planning to design with the software.

-Brady

[artisan]

I second Brady's opinion....I use both programs. Autocad....in the long range, is a Very useful program that is one of the best 2D programs available and extremely accurate....once you've put in the considerable time to learn the interface and the various drawing constraints that make it so. Coreldraw is much more creative and very nearly as accurate as Autocad. I do 90% of my 2D work in Corel and convert it to DXF files before taking it to a machining software. There are also several good books...the "Wow!" series in particular, ...that will show you particular effects and how to get them. Maybe the biggest advantage to learning Corel, is that it doubles as excellent presentation software when creating files for clients to view, which can then be converted exactly to cutting files....D

[gerald_d]

Paul, it depends on your field of application.....

If you are talkings graphics and signs then Coreldraw

If you are building boats, then AutoCad (which is capable of 3D, Darrel)

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my purpose is taking a template and probing it and then cutting it which invalves multi depth cutting and possible tool changes and i looked at it in autocad and its like trying to read a book that is writen in french to that is but trying to get a little info if its easyer to learn the coral vrs autocad for my purpose.
Paul

[artisan]

There are inexpensive legal versions (8,9,10) of Corel for sale on Ebay all the time. Coreldraw is on version 12 now, but I still use version 9 on one computer and it's more than capable. You'll want to get a visual book if you don't understand vectors well. You can assign different colors to different layers and then assign individual "Z" values for each color. Gerald's advice is solid also....if you're going to be doing lot's of complcated parts, rather than graphical work, then either Autocad, Turbocad or Corel Designer will be better choices.
If you are importing "point clouds" or "meshes" however, you will soon need to bite the bullet and move to a more complex 3D software such as Turbocadcam, Artcam....or 3DS Max or Form Z for 3D manipulation of your files.
The probe is useful, but slow. It is far quicker, cleaner and ultimately more useful to create your parts in software first I think. I can create, cut, adjust and cut again, many times faster than the probe can give me data....which must be cleaned up usually...taking even more time....D

[artisan]

Paul....if you're looking over some of the programs mentioned above and trying to decide, I need to mention "Rhino 3D"....absolutely one of the better programs for manipulating 3D files and probably the best for the money. I don't know how I forgot it. Happy Hunting....D