Draftsight blog

DraftSight can’t give you courage, but here’s what it can promise…

May 15, 2012 by Darren Architecture, Construction, Spotlight on the DraftSight Community 0

As evidenced above, a splendid profile photo from his Facebook page, Hans Haveel Van Laethem is a sports pilot with an appetite for daring stunts.

He has yet to draw anything in DraftSight while dangling in the clouds, but loves to spring our free 2D CAD program into action whenever he’s grounded.

Hans works as a site manager for a residential construction company in Belgium that builds new houses and apartments and specializes in renovating old ones so they look brand new.

He’s the liaison between the architect and the construction crew, making sure that everything dreamed out on paper is feasible within the budget.

Hans' DraftSight sketch of pre-fabricated concrete beams for his construction crew.

Hans says he especially appreciates DraftSight’s portability.

“DraftSight is so easy to use and allows me to draw a fast sketch of how I see things, print them out and hand them over to my builders on the site,” he says. “It’s perfect for taking details from architectural or technical drawings and transforming them into understandable drawings.”

(How do YOU use DraftSight? Drop us a line at draftsight.news@gmail.com)

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Spaghetti Suspension: Barilla applauds engineer’s pasta bridges

May 11, 2012 by Darren Education 0

You remember the fun story about DraftSight enthusiast Richard Williams, a.k.a. “Corporal Willy,” and his pasta bridge project in the Nevada schools?

Well, the Barilla pasta company was so tickled by this engineer’s passion for education that they just sent him a complimentary case of Barilla Fettuccine!

Corporal Willy made the above photo with Photoshop to celebrate his continued leverage of noodles to teach kids about the world of civil engineering. There aren’t THAT many boxes in a case.

If your life depended on getting across this pasta bridge, wouldn't YOU prefer Fettuccine over Angel Hair or plain Spaghetti?

The Corporal, a retired U.S. Marine and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) electrician, is a dedicated volunteer in the Las Vegas public schools – a system that has been devastated by a series of massive budget cuts. He’s been an enthusiastic advocate of teachers adopting DraftSight, our free professional-grade 2D CAD tool, to get kids excited about design.

“The doorbell rang while I was in the shower and my wife received a gift from the Barilla company,” says Williams. “Can you imagine what I can build with this much Fettuccine?”

Barilla naturally gets plenty of inquiries about recipes and coupons, but it isn’t often that they hear about such an innovative application of their products.

“Ciao Richard,” the company wrote. “We were inspired by your passion and creative efforts to overcome the budget challenge in your teaching community so that you could continue to teach students about engineering. Encouraging kids to be creative and solve problems is a value that will live with them for a lifetime.

Although it is a small token of our gratitude for what you continue to support and accomplish, we hope that this case of Barilla Fettuccine will help some of your students build unbreakable bridges.”

“Wait till you see what comes next,” says Williams. “Bon Appetite!”

We can’t wait, Corporal!

And thanks, Barilla, for supporting this inspiring idea that can be replicated in other schools, too.

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What happens when you tie a kite to a boat?

May 10, 2012 by Darren Engineering 0

When SkySails CEO Stephan Wrage was boy in Germany, he loved to fly kites. And as kids’ minds tend to wander into the whimsical world of “What if…,” he wondered what would happen if he tied a giant kite to a real boat. Would the wind be strong enough to tow it?

Wrage, who grew up to study industrial engineering at the Technical University of Dresden, held on to that fantasy.

Based in Hamburg, his SkySails company is now a world pioneer in creating wind propulsion systems for ships. The sails, which they call “kites,” look a bit like parachutes and they tap into the high-energy potential of high-altitude winds.

SkySails reduces fuel costs for cargo ships, consequentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company designs its kites with SolidWorks, the 3D CAD cousin of DraftSight, which also plays a vital role.

SkySails uses DraftSight, a free professional-grade 2D CAD tool from Dassault Systèmes, to import manufacturing drawings of new cargo ships.

DraftSight is used by the company to import manufacturing drawings from various cargo ship companies to check if the wind sail components will fit properly.

Estimated fuel savings are between 10-15 percent.

We recently caught up with some of the brains behind SkySails at SolidWorks World. Take a look for yourself at what could become the future of commerce!

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Breaking News: You can now take your 2D CAD designs on the go with your iPad!

May 1, 2012 by Darren DraftSight Tips 0

This just in from our CAD cousins over at SolidWorks…

You’re constantly on the go, and the process of making sure you and your customers can understand and see what’s happening with a project hasn’t always been easy–up until now. In an effort to give you what you need, when/where you need it, we’re happy to announce the availability of eDrawings for iPad, an application that lets you bring your 2D and 3D files to a customer’s site, or to a sales meeting, and share the design concepts quickly and easily.

eDrawings® for iPad allows you to view and review native eDrawings® files, DraftSight® files, SolidWorks® parts, assemblies and drawings files, making it easy for engineers and non-engineers to interpret and understand 2D and 3D design using multi-touch gestures.

You can download eDrawings® for iPad today from the Apple store , and you can learn more about the features and functionality on the SolidWorks website.

How will you use eDrawings® for iPad? What files are you most looking forward to sharing? We welcome your thoughts below!

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Engineers and electricians used to be recruited by comic books

April 29, 2012 by Darren Engineering 0

How did you hear about your first engineering job?

Perhaps you saw a listing at your vocational high school or college career center, found a job listing on-line or responded to an opening you saw on LinkedIn, Facebook or other social media?

Chances are you didn’t get hired as a result of reading comic books.

I just stumbled across this career recruitment advertisement in an early 1970s comic book. Comics have a long history of being embraced by the military, which often involves long periods of downtime. This comic pitch for the Cleveland Institute of Electronics mentions they have been approved for training under the G.I. Bill.

(Click image to enlarge cartoon)

The more times change, the more they stay the same. Here, the allure of the latest technologies comes with the promise of higher pay and “a real future” all while training at home in your spare time.

How quaint that you used to have to mail away for educational materials instead of downloading eBooks (like our free DraftSight Master Series Flipbook with useful tips, tricks and tutorials for professional CAD users).

We hope you’re not dealing with a sarcastic beancounter boss like the one in the cartoon!

Oh, and it looks like the comic book recruitment campaign may have been successful. The Cleveland Institute of Electronics is still around, pushing its motto of “A school of thousands — A class of one since 1934.”

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Spotlight on Luxembourg: DraftSight makes buying a home less stressful

April 25, 2012 by Darren Architecture, Design 0

As any homeowner knows, even doing a basic kitchen renovation or building a garage can be extremely stressful.

Will construction costs stay within our budget? Will the project stick to its timetable? Will the builder meet our expectations?

So, we were very pleased to get this unsolicited testimonial from Luxembourg’s Jorg Willekens, who is buying a new energy-efficient row house (what they call a “maison mitoyenne” in French) in the village of Capellen.

Jorg, who has no experience using CAD, wanted to review the architectural plans. His construction company sent him the DWG file, which he was able to open and read with no problems thanks to DraftSight.

“Am I glad your software exists! My construction company of my house sent me DWG files, as if everyone just has CAD lying around on their computer…. Thanks!”

Oh, you’re very welcome, Jorg. We believe that you shouldn’t have to buy a pricey software license just to take a look at a file.

But DraftSight is also the ideal program for anyone who wants to learn 2D CAD. Check out our full-slate of free Webinars aimed at beginners and CAD users at all levels.

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Skimboarding design and how 2D CAD can give you an adrenaline rush!

April 24, 2012 by Darren Design, Engineering, Hobbies, Tell Us Your Story! 1

Let’s face it, when Mountain Dew does their thrill-seeker commercials featuring skateboarders, motocross riders, water skiers, snowboarders and rock climbers, it is highly unlikely they’ll be showing footage of a CAD user in action.

Unless you are doing your CAD drawings while using a treadmill desk, it’s also unlikely that your heart is pounding very rapidly during the design process.

But of course, what happens when you step away from the computer is up to you.

Toronto’s Paul Sesto and his 13-year-old son Alex have been designing skimboards with DraftSight, the professional-grade free 2D CAD product from Dassault Systèmes.

Skimboarding is like a combination of skateboarding and surfing, but it’s done from the water’s edge so you don’t need large waves to do tricks. The sport started in Southern California in the 1920s by lifeguards who wanted a quicker way to travel across the beaches. Today, it is a global phenomenon, with international competitions in United States, Mexico and Portugal.

The shoreline sport is particularly popular on beaches where it is considered too dangerous to surf — such as Brazil’s popular Boa Viagem beach in the city of Recife, which has historically been plagued by shark attacks. Read More

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Design Challenge: Can you create a comfortable house out of a garbage Dumpster?

April 23, 2012 by Darren Architecture, Design 0

So before garbage Dumpsters become grimy, smelly receptacles of stuff we never hope to see again, they start out as pristine metal containers that you could eat from.

Designer and artist Greg Lincoln Kloehn, a direct descendent of the world’s most famous rail splitter and log cabin guy (Abraham Lincoln), put a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, roof deck and even a bar into an ordinary trash bin.

Would you want to live in one? The mortgage payments must be affordable!

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Boost your CAD skills up a notch at our free “Dimensioning a Drawing” webinar on April 25

April 19, 2012 by Darren Tutorials and Training 0

Join DraftSight training guru Mark Lyons, of “The Lyons’ Share” webinar series, as he goes into the fundamentals of dimensioning drawings.

There’s a warm seat waiting for you! Click here to register.

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This is how engineers are born!

April 11, 2012 by Darren Education, Engineering 0

How do engineers — or entrepreneurs — get their start?

They let their imaginations run wild…

… and usually there is an adult mentor to encourage them to dream.

This story about a 9-year-old boy and his cardboard box arcade goes WAY beyond the cute lemonade stand snapshot.

I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but the mechanism in which a winning player receives his or her prize tickets is extremely clever!

Imagine what this kid could do with a free professional-grade 2D CAD program:

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

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