Google SketchUp 8

Draw easily in 3D with help of this program.

SketchUp is a 3D modeling tool operating on real world units. Thanks to Google, the software is available in a free and paid (professional) version and is available for down-load from the company web site.   The main difference between the versions is that SketchUp Pro also comes with an additional program called Layout used for printing and presentations.  There are some other minor differences between the tool sets and such, Layout is the main difference though.

SketchUp is basically a 3D wire frame modeler as opposed to a solid modeler; the difference is important. That means when a 3D rectangular object is drawn in SketchUp it is a hollow box and not a solid cube. The reason this is important is because the world is not typically made up of hollow forms, solids tend to dominate.

The facets of "objects" can be colored or have bitmaps applied to give a more realistic surface texture look. This operation also includes transparent effects such as glass. SketchUp is NOT a photo-realistic modeler but it can present a close enough approximation to get an idea across quite well.

It is actually quite simple to draw boxes, cylinders, and other basic objects and extrude (Push/Pull) them into the desired direction / dimension. Part of the operating interface is a series of cues that tell the user which plane the operation is taking place in. Due to the 3D nature and viewpoint, it is quite easy to think the cursor is being moved in the desired direction when it is actually not; that is where the cues come into play.

Along with these direction cues, snap points are "inferred" rather than commanded; these behave somewhat like "running snaps" other CAD programs use. All this makes for a fairly seamless operation once the user has gotten used to it but it does require paying attention to the cues and especially the snap points in order for the operation to be successful.

If there are lots of competing snap points to select from, it may take some twiddling with the orbit, pan, and cursor in order to obtain the desired snap; you might even need to toggle "x-ray" mode on.

In a program such as this, true ease of use is not wholly defined by how easily items can be drawn. It is mostly defined by how easily existing objects can be manipulated or edited. I found that it is actually easier to edit items in SketchUp than in some 2D drawing software in many cases.   This is especially true of "grouped" (and component) geometry's.

While it may seem like 3D would be the answer to all the perception issues when compared to 2D drawing tools, this is not actually the case. Quite often, there seems to be something in the way of what you want to see at any given time. To gain the desired view standard Zoom and Pan commands are available but because this is a 3D program, an Orbit tool is added and is used quite extensively.

The user interface is very intuitive up to a point. Compared to many CAD programs, SketchUp uses a simplified interface.  The interface is good for the most often used tools but I don't believe the interface is as logically organized as many other CAD packages, but it does work.

When separate objects are pushed together their surfaces become glued together. In some cases, this is exactly what one would desire to happen, in others not. Specifically, when drawings are created with a "sub-assembly" mindset this is not desirable. One needs to "group" and "component" any geometry's considered to be a "part" in order to keep these merges from happening.

In previous versions of this software I have made note of an "integrity" issue.  That is, drawing geometry's may jump layers or when overlapped grouped objects are all "exploded", the result may create new unintended geometry's.  To date I have not observed this behavior in this version of the product.

Like any good program, SketchUp allows Components or pre-drawn elements to be placed into the drawing. These can include both 3D and 2D items such as people, vehicles, trees, etc including Components you make up yourself.  SketchUp also works with the Ruby scripting language with allows the functionality of the program to be extended or to allow complex or tedious operations to be turned into a parametric macro.

The export functionality is a bit lame, unless you want a bitmap.   Printing a PDF produce a raster (bitmap), most drawing programs would save this as vector.  The free version of the software used to work with CAD files such as DXF, version 8 has disabled those functions.  There is purported to be a DXF importer plug in that will work with SU8 free but I have not tried it.