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Design software?

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Thunderforge:
I’ve started a new job which involves designing furniture which is then built in wood by guys in a workshop. I’m trying to optimise the process and produce cutting lists for them. Currently we use Autocad Lt, which has ‘dynamic blocks’ so I can stretch the design and auto edits the parts.
BUT I’m sure there must be an easier program for the task, and I wondered if anyone has done anything similar and had any recommendations?

I can use Blender to a certain degree but that doesn’t give me the text, and I could rig up a text based cutting list in Excel, but it doesn’t include the visual. There’s gotta be some other software designed for this very purpose, right?

wierd:
You need to stay with industrial design software.

This is due to industrial software being volumetric solid based, and Blender and pals being tessellated mesh based.   EG, you can be sure that your material is exactly 1.5 inches wide in the industrial design software, while you cannot be sure of that with Blender and pals.

Personally, I use Dassault Systemes CATIA.  It has "Parameter based design" features, where you can use what are essentially some global variables to define how a part's geometry is derived, so that you can easily adjust the finished product with a few value changes.   It requires you to design with that featureset in mind though.  If your company is already using AutoCad, their tooling is likely already pipelined for that product's output, and you should stick with that software. 

Vector:

--- Quote from: Thunderforge on September 02, 2021, 04:10:29 pm ---I can use Blender to a certain degree but that doesn’t give me the text, and I could rig up a text based cutting list in Excel, but it doesn’t include the visual. There’s gotta be some other software designed for this very purpose, right?

--- End quote ---

To the best of my knowledge Autocad IS that software. Like, it's the industry standard.

wierd:
Dassault catia, and Unigraphics are also leading packages.

delphonso:
A quick glance at open-source software shows LibreCAD, OpenSCAD, and FreeCAD. wierd, have you used any of those before?

It might be worth installing and trying those out - no clue if they are high quality, but they're all free.

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