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SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

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Re: SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

#11
post #8

I love how specific yet comprehensive this package is. The manual appears to be lovingly crafted and from what I can tell, well written [1]. I don't know how many people are specifically looking to draw CAD diagrams of steam locomotives, but I absolutely love that this was someone's itch to scratch and they put so much time into this. [1] https://github.com/oskardolch/SteamCAD/blob/master/SteamCAD....

I had a coworker with an autistic son who would obsess over trains. He probably would love this.

Re: SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

#12
post #11
post #8

I love how specific yet comprehensive this package is. The manual appears to be lovingly crafted and from what I can tell, well written [1]. I don't know how many people are specifically looking to draw CAD diagrams of steam locomotives, but I absolutely love that this was someone's itch to scratch and they put so much time into this. [1] https://github.com/oskardolch/SteamCAD/blob/master/SteamCAD....

I had a coworker with an autistic son who would obsess over trains. He probably would love this.

It looks like a general purpose 2D CAD though. I don't see anything specific to trains. Looks Interesting nonetheless.

Re: SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

#13
post #11
post #8

I love how specific yet comprehensive this package is. The manual appears to be lovingly crafted and from what I can tell, well written [1]. I don't know how many people are specifically looking to draw CAD diagrams of steam locomotives, but I absolutely love that this was someone's itch to scratch and they put so much time into this. [1] https://github.com/oskardolch/SteamCAD/blob/master/SteamCAD....

I had a coworker with an autistic son who would obsess over trains. He probably would love this.

If you have the contact info of said previous coworker, I would encourage you to contact them and tell them about this software. Small things like that can mean the world to people sometimes :)

Re: SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

#16

Is this the most British software ever?

May I submit signaling simulators?

There are a number of options out there... SimSig (https://www.simsig.co.uk/) covers modern, fully electronic systems, and Blockpost (https://blockpostsoftware.co.uk/) covers old-school mechanical lever-frame and bell operations.

Re: SteamCAD – 2D CAD designed to draw steam locomotives

#19
post #12
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a coworker with an autistic son who would obsess over trains. He probably would love this.

It looks like a general purpose 2D CAD though. I don't see anything specific to trains. Looks Interesting nonetheless.

In some sense, I agree with you -- there is nothing about this package that is necessarily specific to trains.

However, this seems more like an art program than a CAD program. All it does is draw and manipulate straight and curved lines. It doesn't keep track of any relationships or properties of the lines, and it doesn't know anything about areas defined by the lines. SteamCAD seems like a poor program for developing and exploring designs, but a good program for presenting designs in a particular style.

I found this in the manual (page 23):

"SteamCAD is focused on the presentation output, not for creating an asset for manufacturing. So each SteamCAD work should be more artistic work than engineering drawing."

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