PDA

View Full Version : Seeking design program with real world scaling



Matthewexeter
November 13th, 2012, 02:02 PM
Hello, I apologize for my noob style question.
I am seeking a design program that is not too difficult to pick up. That also has real world scaling, such as inches and centimeters etc.
I intend to use it for garden design, it does not matter if it was designed for that purpose.
I have no cad experience so something with plenty of tutorials, or that is not to complex to use would suffice.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I do not like to use wine or pay for things as for now I am poor.
Thanks

GreatDanton
November 13th, 2012, 02:09 PM
Are you looking for 2D drawing program or 3D?

coldraven
November 13th, 2012, 03:02 PM
I have Sketchup running in a virtual install of Windows XP. It does real world dimensions, metric or imperial.
I think it used to run in wine but you say that you don't want it, it's a shame because Sketchup would be ideal for garden design.

GreatDanton
November 13th, 2012, 06:41 PM
You can run Google Sketchup in Wine and it's working 100%. I have tested it and everything works out of the box.

However if you are looking for 2D drawing program I would go with Draft Sight (http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/free-cad-software/) which is free and very similar to AutoCad.

Regards.

Matthewexeter
November 15th, 2012, 01:31 PM
Well I will look at sketchup, I have just installed wine for something else.
I am having some teething problems though, I may come back to this thread soon. Thankyou for your replies

coldraven
November 15th, 2012, 05:03 PM
Re: Sketchup
If you go to the 3D warehouse you can see many examples like this one:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=372ef30f6f31fecf92d0d40a0358302a&prevstart=0
Click on the 3D button and you can rotate the image.

Try out the tutorials - start by downloading the model from here:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a00309dbdab49ffb545172f70efed474&prevstart=0

Matthewexeter
November 15th, 2012, 06:42 PM
I tried installing sketchup under wine.
It came up with an error saying I require at least windows service pack two, where would I find this, or is it wiser to open another newbie thread as its more wine specific?

Hylas de Niall
November 15th, 2012, 07:02 PM
Why not just use inkscape?

ofnuts
November 18th, 2012, 05:09 PM
When my only tool is Gimp, all my problems look like bitmap images...

So, I once did the floor map of an apartment in Gimp, with layers for all the furniture, and used the required print definition so that I could measure things directly on the picture (Gimp gave me cm which I converted to meters...).

aliddell
November 18th, 2012, 05:50 PM
Why not just use inkscape?

Seconded. Inkscape is hands down the best vector graphics program for Linux. IIRC, it has real-world measurements, too.

Matthewexeter
November 19th, 2012, 12:18 PM
it seems inkscape is already installed on my system, perfect!!!
I will have a look at that, thanks

Moose
November 22nd, 2012, 02:12 AM
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say you haven't used photoshop or gimp have you?

Matthewexeter
November 22nd, 2012, 10:36 AM
No, I am completely naive to any kind of art or design software