Good software for sharing plan ideas?

[e34 brian]

Hi all.
I'd like to start some threads about cool ideas and projects I'm into, but it doesn't sound like a great plan to scan the back of bar napkins and post them. I'm talking simple stuff like shelves, workbenches, etc. Time to get into the 21st century, I need to go digital, at least to share here.

Have you guys found a good, simple, hopefully free, software to build your plans with?

Cheers

 

[Erro]

I'm interested in this too... Thanks!

 

[MushCreek]

A lot of people (including me) use Sketch-Up. It's free, and good enough that I designed my whole house with it. You can do plan views and 3D, if you have the patience to work with it. There's also a lot of 'canned' objects available for free download, such as cars, furniture, etc., that other people have drawn and offer for others to use.

 

[maxGarage]

I've probably spent 50-100 hours in front of Sketch-Up doing designs for my last patio project or for the garage. It will fight you at first, but once you learn your style of working and the tricks, it's amazing.

 

[Playwme]

Yep, sketch up. Second to none.

It's easy to use, packed with features, and free. Watch the tutorial videos, there's a lot of handy little tricks that make the process really fast and simple. If you can think of a feature that would be good to have, do a Google search. Sketch up probably already has that feature, you just need to know where to find it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Sketch Up !

Some companies (Pella ?) actually have 3D models of their products available on their web sites.