Apple

looking for a simple to use 2D drawing program for drafting of floor plans and other simple physical scenarios.

for the moment, i'm drawing spec's for control room dimensions, a sound treatment components for my contractor to build. the studio roughs are finished.

to begin; blender is not appropriate for this, and too steep a learning curve google sketch is also a no to my liking.

basically looking for something akin to doing just drafting with ruler and pencil, but without getting the left hand smudge. ezdraw looked good.

autocad? Exactly what you are looking for and not too hard to use.

Now in a mac version http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc ... d=15421056

I'm using ViaCAD http://www.punchcad.com/c-12-consumer-cad.aspx right now to draft up plans for an addition to our house. The 2D-only version is $40 and the 2D/3D version is $99. It's a surprisingly capable package. I have the 2D/3D one.

Punch!CAD also has a higher-end CAD called Shark http://www.punchcad.com/c-19-professional-cad.aspx .

Punch!'s other software site http://www.punchsoftware.com/ has several packages specifically for doing home design. I haven't used any of them so I can't comment on how well they work.

The original AutoSketch was an extremely simple, intuitive 2D Drawing program with a work flow much the same as one might use if working with a pencil and paper. Great for converting coordinate or triangulated measurements into a 2D scale diagram. AutoSketch was around quite a while, the early versions were DOS, and the later versions were an acquired <and significantly less intuitive> competitors product that was assimilated and renamed AutoSketch <around V5 or so>. AutoSketch 3.1 is/was the version I liked. The release of 3.1 was contemporary to Windows 3.1, but I used it without problem at least as far as XP.

i'm cutting basic set designs in illustrator sky (used to it, love vectors and seems like the only adobe product without an id crisis atm). dunno if you have/like it but there's some additional cad stuff via cadtools (don't need 'em, haven't tried 'em)

maria likes sketch up sometimes (but a sculptress is worse than a director, and female brain wiring is eh-oh-um, different!)

most scenographers i work with sometimes use vectorworks spotlight , other times use cool pencils+paper

and oh yes we both like sketchbook (iirc a reincarnation of recondas autosketch for the pc) when it rains and we're out of blank a4 :)

thanks guys. i'll give 'em a shot. hearken though, simplicity carries the day! else, i'll avail myself of the tried and true pencil and paper.

I recently (well, yesterday) started using DraftSight from Dassault (free!) and it really is a compelling alternative to AutoCAD (LT).. A few of the idiosyncrasies that bugged me in ACAD were gone, and it's command-compatible so the transition is easy. Lack of anti-aliasing is a bit of a turn-off but then again, that's a bitch to set-up in ACAD anyway.

I'm with you on Autosketch, recondas - I found it on some floppies my uncle had left-over back when I was about 12 years old and found it supremely intuitive. To my mind, there is no 2D software so far that matches the feel and ease of those white lines on a blue background... I think it's time to go look for those floppies again.. DOSBox here I come!

For simplicity, there's always Xfig: http://www.xfig.org/

BC, thanks but xfig is less than base bone - no bones :) i remember seeing it for the frist time back in the heavy mists of the past. Now; pencil, ruler, and paper for me.

Do you know Inkscape?

http://inkscape.org

inkscape and gimp hang on application launch. sometimes they finally come up, other times, they don't. if it worked it would probably fit the bill. but they don't.

forgot to mention OS X only.

It may not suit your needs quite right, but I use omnigraffle for just about everything. I've used it to design the reconstruction of my house as well as the redesign of our websites.

Http://omnigroup.com

Geof

DraftSight works well, and is free of charge

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/ ... -software/

Lots of options out there.

I don't think anything on the Mac ever really matched the ease-of-use of the old MacDraw. Check out Intaglio for a simple refresh of the oldskool flavor ($89). http://www.purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/
EazyDraw also fits into the MacDraw skool, though its interface is a bit too candy colored for my taste ($95). http://www.eazydraw.com/

Lately, I've been using LineForm for quick and dirty drawings. It uses some quirky interface conventions, but once I bothered to skim through the documentation, I found it very easy to use. ~$80 at http://www.freeverse.com/mac/product/?id=6020

If you like something that feels a bit more like a CAD program, but is very inexpensive, check out CADintosh, around $30 (fully functional demo, too) from the folks who make GraphicConverter - http://lemkesoft.com/content/189/cadintosh.html

MacDraft is a bit more upscale at ~$300-350, but still worth a look, too. I spent a lot of time with an older version a few years back, and I really liked it. http://www.microspot.com/products/macdraft

PS. I also like ratfink's suggestion regarding the Omni Group's stuff, including OmniGraffle. Omni is a longtime Mac developer, and their tools are reliable and sometimes quite innovative. iPad support, too!