Thanksgiving is a time for.....
Projects...
I'm going to start building the deck pictured here.
Boring technical-type stuff.....
After dicking around with the dedicated deck design software mentioned previously, I decided to hunt down a real-deal-Holyfield CAD package that fit within my budget of "significantly less than the national debt". I eventually found a few that were free.
I'm going to start building the deck pictured here.
Boring technical-type stuff.....
After dicking around with the dedicated deck design software mentioned previously, I decided to hunt down a real-deal-Holyfield CAD package that fit within my budget of "significantly less than the national debt". I eventually found a few that were free.
- Alibre's Design Express: The free version contains Ad-ware, and I wasn't really ready to step to that. (Good thing I messed up my email address when I downloaded it).
- Medusa4: is a 2-D drafting package and 3D parametric modeler offered free of charge. Their 2-D interface is pretty straightforward if a bit awkward, but the 3D is completely unweildy. I'm used to working directly in 3D and the Medusa software just doesn't allow for that.
- CYCAS: Now we're talking. At first, I had some trouble with the interface, but once I got used to it, the design process went rather quickly. The free version of CYCAS limits you to a single layer, which makes it difficult to get too complex on the models (Imagine working in Photoshop with only one layer). This deck is about as complex as I could get and it's not really finished since I couldn't model the screens that will go between posts. The next step up is the $68 version which allows for up to 1000 layers and output up to A3 size. Well worth it, I'd say. For rendering output, it integrates with POV-Ray, a freeware ray-tracer from way back (the early 90s for you younguns). The below render is rather crappy, but I'm ok with it since I don't really need a photrealistic rendering for my purposes, and I don't have time to learn POV-Ray to get that level of output.