Customer Reviews

Turbocad Deluxe V14 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I ordered TurboCAD Deluxe V14 (for Windows) because my family and I needed a good drawing program that could calculate things like area and angle and that didn't cost the earth. I had used AutoCAD about 10 years ago and knew that it had those capabilities, but I was reluctant to pay the hundreds of dollars required for just AutoCAD LT. Fortunately, TurboCAD Deluxe 14 does all that I need and more, and for a very reasonable price.

TurboCAD Deluxe 14 has a very smooth and quick installation. As with most programs this size, the user is allowed to choose a minimum (2-D tools only), standard, full, or custom install. A full install includes a software development kit for more custom applications.

Also available with the installation is a separate building materials scheduler for architects and builders who want to quickly produce a quote for a project. This program is included on the TurboCAD Deluxe 14 CD.

There are two more CDs that come with the package. One is a very comprehensive TurboCAD tutorial, which starts from the very basics (how to set your screen for 1024x768 resolution), and goes through all the standard CAD drawing features (layers, snaps, grids, dimensioning, etc.) and into more advanced topics like custom templates. The other CD is a library of common CAD symbols.

TurboCAD Deluxe 14 itself is very nice to use. The interface is about as configurable as you can imagine, with standard toolbars that can be moved all around the screen, docked at the sides, minimized, or whatever else you want, and the ability to create custom toolbars. All the standard CAD tools are available, such as layers, multiple types of snaps, dimensions and standard units, different types of lines and line thicknesses, creation of standard polygons, different ways of drawing circles and arcs, etc. Symbols for all these tools are pretty intuitive. I haven't tried the 3-D modeling options yet, but I'm expecting they will be as easy to use as the 2-D tools.

IMSI, the company which makes TurboCAD, offers additional add-ons and plug-ins, as well as a user's forum and a blog on current issues.

All in all, I am quite happy with this program, and I look forward to exploring its possibilities.

I learned CAD via AutoCADR9 and got disgusted with AutoDesk by ACADR13.
TurboCAD was a pleasant substitute. The major drawback was a steep learning curve to get acquainted with TCAD, as its formalism is very different from ACAD.

Installation is typical, with a registration step required within thirty days on insertion onto your hard drive. One note for CAD beginners: Get as big a monitor that will fit in your workspace. The typical engineering CAD interface is very cluttered. You could configure your interface to eliminate all the tablet features, but you'll bring them back as you go through your drafting tasks, anyway. The actual drawing area is quite small on smallish (15 to 17 inch) monitors. Be advised.

With TCAD12, came online tutorials, which answered many questions, like how he heck do I do whatever in TCAD? TCAD12 was also the first version to supply an excellent rendering engine, and TCAD14 sports enhanced
rendering and textures. Your TCAD14 package will have a CD-based tutorial, but go to the website for more helpful lessons.

TCAD14 will open and edit, layer for layer, any AutoDesk format DXF/DWG file. However, some TCAD-edited files may not display properly in ACAD.

If you are new to CAD, the supplied documentation and online tutorials will get you started in engineering drafting. You must spend a lot of time learning these new skills; CAD proficiency has no shortcuts. If you came from an AutoDesk background, be prepared for a lot of frustration; you will have to unlearn many ACAD tricks.

However, consider how much money you have saved by avoiding AutoDesk.

To me the main criteria of any software product is how intuitive it is. This product falls in the top category. I was up and running fast and producing drawings. I am now assimulating the finer points to be more productive.

As a hobbyist who is interested in home design and construction I have been using CAD software since the days of DOS.

For many years I had used QuickCAD from Autodesk, the makers of AutoCAD but when I moved to Vista (probably a mistake) I was forced to find an alternative CAD program as Autodesk apparently no longer offers low end drafting software.

I first tried ViaCAD from Punch and found that it was simply not to my liking. Kudos to Punch for promptly honoring their 90 day money back guarantee.

So I ordered TurboCAD with fairly low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Kudos here also to Amazon. Somehow I accidentally ordered two copies. When I contacted Amazon, they said simply refuse shipment on the second order and we'll issue a refund. I did and they did.

With any drafting software, it takes a while to get a sense of what you are trying to accomplish and how to best go about it. I had a bit of difficulty switching from the QuickCAD paradigm to TurboCAD's but I'm happy that I made the switch.

The one frustration I have with TurboCAD Deluxe us that many of the features found in TurboCAD Pro are not available. Two that I have found missing that cause frustration are the inability to import an image and the inability to modify a line style or a cross hatch style.

IMSI does give you several line and crosshatch styles but I find that I need more dense (closer together dashes etc) styles to accurately represent my ideas.

In general, the ability to snap to a variety of objects or positions on objects is very good as is the ability to modify objects by trimming, etc.

I've yet to learn how to position construction lines accurately and I miss the ability to trim to the extent of a non-adjoining line.

I would like to see IMSI re-think their choice of what is and is not available in Turbo Cad Deluxe, or to offer Turbo-CAD pro at a more reasonable price for non-commercial use, but all in all I think that TurboCAD provides one heck of a lot for a very reasonable price.

Highly recommended if you don't mind a fairly steep learning curve (as with any decent CAD pakage).

I am probably under using the product. I just needed a tool for making simple mechanical drawings for the projects I do. For that, I have found it is very easy and straight forward to use. I did a sample drawing (an orthographic), dimensioned it, and printed it in about 10 minutes of trial and error poking around. While doing this, I noticed no ill mannered behavior. Seems to work completely as advertised. Ran the program on both XP-SP3 and Vista SP1.

-Jim

I am a retired engineer who used an AutoCad program when I was doing engineering consulting back in the late 1980's. I successfully completed a fairly complicated design project using it. I am now retired. I recently came up with an idea that required making some drawings. I discovered and purchased TurboCAD Deluxe V14 to help in developing my idea. I have been sadly disappointed. While it promised to have far greater capabilities than my earlier AutoCad it is far too complicated to use without extensive training, but my main complaint is the fact that it is unstable. Some examples: Originally the "offset" function worked fine but later stopped working. This was blamed on Vista and sure enough a Vista update corrected it for awhile. The "create block" function has only worked once. Now the"trim" function has quit. While I tend to believe Vista may be the root of the problems I also think TurboCAD bears some of the responsibility.

I have used a cheaper and easier to use CAD program for years. I needed to load it on a new laptop and found that it been scratched. I needed to purchase a new CAD program and found Trubo CAD 14. Don't be fooled ... this is a hard program to learn. But it does so much more than what I was used to using. It comes with a pretty good tutorial CD (several hours). After watching about a third of the tutorial CD I was able to draw, in detail, plans for a new backyard BBQ bar area for my contractor and it came out pretty good if I do say so myself. If you need a CAD program and have the time and mind to learn this program ... you'll love it!!!

When I worked as a building and structures supervisor, I had use of AutoCad program costing $1200. I have since retired and missed the hands on design and developement at my computer. TurboCad has reconnected my creativity with all the bells and whistles as AutoCad had,
for $15. Can't beat it!

Respectfully
Scott swager

If you can't afford AutoCAD, this is the software for you. It does all I need and it's very affordable!

I ordered this particular version because my computer did not have a dvd drive, and it wasn't necessary . I have had two earlier versions of turbocad over the past 12 or 15 years. I use it mostly for personal cad work and some light home design. This program has many nice features and I was surprised that it was even easier to use than the old versions.