QCad and Google SketchUp

[ttrw]

It seems that SketchUp and QCad were made for one another (thanks to the dxf format). Anyone using Windows or Mac OS X, who is wanting to make '3D' visualisations of drawings made in QCad, should look no further than the freeware version of SketchUp, which is still capable of importing DWG/DXF files (except of course it can't export them).

I found these 3 highly informative tutorials using a dxf drawing as a basis for producing a 3D model. Apologies to all those who have already used SketchUp and seen these, but I'm sure all those new at '2D to 3D' will find these highly useful (well I for one, still find these tutorials highly useful!).

1. Import and Preparations

2. Creating walls

3. Doors and Windows

Although the above tutorials are aimed at architectural visualisation, they can be easily adapted to accommodate mechanical engineering too.

[LuisC-SM]

I wonder if there is something similar (free) for linux?

Cheers

Luis

[ttrw]

Not much free I'm afraid, but there is VariCAD, which is also Linux based. VariCAD is cheap and you can assemble models a bit like Sketchup or Solidworks.

Ah- also Blender. Blender is free- and works more like Autodesk Maya. As an engineering application I'm not sure about Blender, but Blender can most definitely be used for architectural work

ARCAD looks quite interesting too- but it's very expensive. Don't forget that Pro/Engineer has a build for Linux too.

FWIW, Sketchup, like QCad, is also portable- which means it can be used on 'locked-down' PC's such as public ones.

I hope that helps.

[LuisC-SM]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Yes, I've tried VariCAD, and I like it very much, the only problem I have with VariCAD is not the cost itself is also that it's not available in my language (Spanish) and the problem is for the people who works for me.. (just guess.. they hardly speak spanish ).. so the same for the rest of them ...
Blender is the alternative I should take, I guess, but to be honest I have not tried it yet. I know a lot of things blender can make, but the only problem I see is the time I need to learn and the time I need to teach my people... I saw Sketchup and it was really intuitive and also in my language, the only problem is that it does not work with WINE in Mandriva, openSuSE and Ubuntu
I really hope Google ports it to Linux soon or at least like they did with picassa and googleearth, .. that are not really ported to linux, instead, they fix WINE to work with them..
I also hope QCad has 3D in a near future, for me is an excelent everyday tool that I use with no single issue.

Kind Regards

Luis

[kasper]

To the use of sketchup I can give you both a little hint wich works fine [almost perfect] at ubuntu hardy heron.

I installed SketchUp with wine emulator. Just install wine by using add/remove software. Then install the windows .exe for google sketchup

Then it won't work properly, an open gl problem appears.

Go to: http://www.howtodude.net/howto/view.article.php/430

and follow the instructions!

Personally I'm still a beginner in linux but it works out fine, have fun!

regards, Kasper

[LuisC-SM]

@Kasper

Thanks for the input.

The truth is that the method described "kind of works" in ubuntu but not in suse or mandriva.

I tried it already and I think the only way to have completely working on linux is by running it with any virtual appliance (such as VBox or VMWare), however, thanks for the intention to be helpful (In fact, you were very helpful for ubuntu users).

Kind Regards

Luis

[JLBourgeois]

In Mandriva, Mesa packages witch give the OpenGL fonctions are installed by default. There is no need to install OpenGL software from Windows.

The only thing to do is to modify the key indicated in the post of Kasper and Sketchup runs.

If the drawing area remains black this means your graphic card is not compatible with the software and most of time there are no solutions to that concern.

[LuisC-SM]

Hi.

Thanks for your comments.

Just FYI, mesa gets installed only when you want to run compiz-fusion (not by default), at least in Mandy 2008.1. However, you are completely right!... it's "working" at least I can use it but I cantt import dxf files which I think is the main reason I wanted to use sketchUp6

The black screen I used to get before (although I never mentioned it here) was when trying to get google-earth pro, but I think that is already fixed since today I moved to Wine 1.1.4 in openSuSE 11 (I was using Wine 1-RC3 before). Also SketchUp6 is "working" in OS11 but I have more problems than Mandy, I can't use "Save as..." 'cause it breaks the app, I cannot import any DXF file, after making a big model .. it breaks... so for me it's useless here. (this is my main OS BTW).

Ubuntu Hardy... "works", but I can't import DXF files, although it's more stable than Mandy and openSuse, probabily is the way it installs Opengl95.exe, I only get the files extracted in the directory where the were executed.

The only thing to do is to modify the key indicated in the post of Kasper and Sketchup runs.

which key? sorry but I did not get the idea

Kind Regards

Luis

PS. BTW, I was about to modify my previous post but your post was very interesting and decided to write my news here

[dankegel]

The howto link posted earlier is out of date.
Sketchup doesn't require nearly as much futzing with recent wine.
See http://wiki.winehq.org/GoogleSketchup for more info.

wine-1.1.11, which comes out this Friday, fixes two problems
that were rather vexing: a crash on startup, and a problem using
ruby scripts. You still have to change a registry entry for some
graphics cards, though.

If you have any problems with Sketchup on wine-1.1.11 or later,
please report them via that wiki page so the Wine developers
can try to fix them.

[vieira]

I use Blender + QCad for 3D architectural jobs. You can get 2D views at QCad from your Blender 3D model.
Take a look at "http://www.praticus.com/qcad".

[ttrw]

I thought you should know about this, if you haven't already;

In the next release of Google SketchUp, our free modeler, we've decided to remove the dwg/dxf importers. We know how important these importers are to our professional customers, especially those who depend on CAD products in their daily work. And for that reason we'll focus our attention on supporting them in Google SketchUp Pro, where we really understand all the nuances of your workflow and where we can provide professional support to troubleshoot your issues.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's definitely bad for all those who work on shoestring budgets (like myself), but then again, I really dislike the DXF/DWG standard, as it is a "closed file format".

You can still download a dxf importer plug-in, but apparently this too will be dropped by the time SU8 arrives.

More here; http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/

[ggsalas]

I use Blender + QCad for 3D architectural jobs. You can get 2D views at QCad from your Blender 3D model.
Take a look at "http://www.praticus.com/qcad".

Thanks!