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parajba

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
515
269
I need to draw and compare different bike frames. Ideally i need to overlap them using a different colour. I could use the old pen and paper but I was wondering if there was a software (freeware?) that allows me to do something similar. A bike frame is essentially a very simple structure with known dimensions and angles...I have all measures from the manufactures.

Thanks!
 
If you are a student you can get Autocad for Mac from their website for free. It is pro software and ideal for what you seem to want. You can replicate lines with single clicks and overlay shapes for different graphic design requirements. You can also export straight into illustrator if you want or keep in autocad and change line colour, thickness etc.

If you aren't a student then it would probably be something like Sketchup although I haven't used it myself.

If you can get Autocad.
 
There's Cadintosh X in the Mac App Store, its seems cheap enough and may offer enough features to accomplish what you're looking to do. I've never used it or any other CAD software as I cannot even draw a straight line with a rule ;)
 
Cadintosh is by the same makers of Graphic Converter. The interface can sometimes seem a little dated, like GC, but pretty powerful and inexpensive.

You could also try some of the vector drawing programs. Intaglio, for instance, has some dimensioning tools so that you can draw basic CAD stuff.
 
If 2D is all you care about then I recommend using DraftSight. It's free and is a really good CAD software package, it might do some 3D stuff but I use SolidWorks for that.
 
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