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submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I'm in need of a CAD program with an easy aproach for someone with zero experience on this type of software.

3D printing is not a concern

I intend to draw the blueprints for my house. The building is old, no blueprints exist for it, and I intend to make renovations to it, so having blueprints to work on to plan the renovations will be a huge help.

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[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

FreeCAD is great for 3D CAD models but not that great for CAD drawings

[-] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago

If you only need 2D, there is LibreCAD.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

I think everyone's got the CAD/3D programs covered, so a slightly "out there" answer:

If you're just doing 2D blueprints for yourself, do you actually just need a 2D vector program for doing a scale drawing with measurements?

I've done a lot of floorplans / layouts/ site maps etc using Inkscape, for instance.

It depends on exactly what you're wanting out the other end - so you may be lacking a lot of the features in a full CAD program, but the learning curve is comparatively so shallow that you might have a working plan by the end of the day, rather than the end of the month.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

That could be an option. I need/want to put blueprints on digital format to facilitate editing in order to plan renovations. I could do all the work by hand on paper but it would be an hassle every time a change or idea needed to be tried out on the floor plan.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

It's not perfect, but for that stuff, I'd use SweetHome3D.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Don't know about its current state but this helped me a lot with moving out to a new place, years ago. The version how I remember wouldn't be so helpful with renovations I think. Still can be used as placeholder though.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Onshape has a free tier, though all the cad files you make in it are publically available. That being said, it's easy to use and, since it's browser based, completely comparable with linux

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

For all the obvious reasons, I'd like to keep my house blueprints off the public domain.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

A native GNOME solution. Wasn't expecting that one.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Wow, this looks nice!

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

Qcad is a good one for drawing blueprints

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Sketchup 2022 works flawlessly. Arch

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Toyed a bit with Sketchup before Google got their claws on it. Abandoned it after it happened.

I think it became a browser based solution at some point?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Pro is still the same desktop app

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Not in the mood to pay for a solution that a FOSS program may cover as well, considering it won't be used for professional purposes.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

If you want to do accurate calculations, wall thickness, exact angles, window sizes etc., I would recommend FreeCAD, especially the draft workbench and possibly the BIM workbench if you want to go 3D afterwards.

Tutorial FreeCAD draft workbench (2D): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODEeqtepOwA

Tutorial FreeCAD BIM workbench (3D) as a follow-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZHyUBfdgJA

If you are more looking for a rough planning where you can test furniture placements, floor designs and see fast results, I recommend The Sims 4 (no joke!). The base game is free (also available on Steam) and it's quite easy and intuitive to move stuff around, change a wall, place decorations etc.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Unusual solution but I can see it working! Most definetely.

But I do require some degree of accuracy on what I intend to do, so FreeCAD is lining up be the best solution, taking from the answer I'm getting.

The house is old and drawing an as much as humanly possible accurate blueprint would be a plus. And I do have some very weird angles in it.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I currently switch a lot between FreeCAD and Sims. When I brainstorm with my girlfriend we either use a simple drawing programm or Sims. Then, once we aligned on an idea, I use FreeCAD to bring in accuracy. Quite often then the original ideas don't work out because of wall thickness, window placement etc.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I don't think the creators of the Sims designed the game with that in mind but if works, it is not stupid.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

What are you running FreeCAD on? I have tried it on 4-5 different systems and it has ran like shit on all of them. Like I don't expect it to be perfect but it took 30-90 seconds to even respond when I try to do something. That's completely unusable. I finished an entire (fairly simple) design I was working on in Fusion360 before I could even get 2 rectangles sketched out in FreeCad. I'd love to get it working because it's one of my bigger hangups getting rid of windows.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

So far I used SweetHome3D, Onshape and Qelectrotech (for electrical) for the renovation of my house.

However if you are planning to do some heavy renovations in your house I would advise you to get an architect to do a proper blueprint of your house and a blueprint of what your house would look like after renovation.

It's not necessary, it might feel like it's extra money up front that you don't use directly for renovation but in a big project you save so much in the long term. This is what we did and there is so many (expensive) mistakes that we avoided because we had an expert eye at the beginning of the project.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I understand your concern and advice.

My house was built using a logic that only the outter walls, which are stone on the ground floor and cement block on the top floor, are load bearing.

These will not be touched, besides removing and replacing old mortars.

On the inside, all the walls are for show, made of wood I want to reclaim and a couple that were built in clay bricks but that have no load bearing capability nor structural role.

Drawing the blueprints as the house exists today will serve to have a birds eye view of the house to work on, even with professionals, if the need arises in the future.

This sort of house is not considered interesting for professionals in my area; the structure is too simple and can not accomodate that many changes. And because I'm not rebuilding but just renewing, no projects, licenses or consultancy is required. This makes this kind of job not very appealing.

And thank you for reminding me that electrical and water plants are a thing, aswell.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I’m in need of a CAD program with an easy aproach for someone with zero experience on this type of software.

If you have zero experience with CAD, but some experience with programming languages or things like LaTeX, JSON, XML, HTML, etc., I'd suggest giving OpenSCAD a try. While it is definitely for more advanced users, it managed to instantly click with me, in contrast to FreeCAD and others I just couldn't get into (or rather back into, since my AutoCAD lessons back in school >20 years ago). That it allowed me to work work on CAD drawings in Emacs helped too...

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

openscad is kind of a bad choice for architectural drawings.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Look at QCad. They have a paid ($40), and a free version that is fully functional and open source. It's the most autocad-like app out there, so learning that has the advantage of learning the UI of autocad too.

LibreCad that others suggested was forked from Qcad about 15 years ago and hasn't moved much in terms of features. While QCad has. So in my opinion, it's the best solution.

Then there's Freecad, but that's more about 3D cad, and it's more complicated overall.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

For what you are doing SketchUp might be the best tool. Its easy to work with and good with architectural stuff.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

SketchUp was intended for this purpose and is so incredibly easy to get started with.
Unless something has changed, it definitely is for sketching only, as it lacks a lot of advanced functionality found in other CAD programs.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Bricskcad (paid native solution for Linux easy find on torrent) kompas 3d v21 russian development with russian interface works under wine easy to pirate too,freecad,librecad

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I did something similar recently, old house, wanted floor plans for renovation / idea generation.

Initially I started with FreeCAD and used the BIM functionaly, worked well, but a few bugs at time.

I've done a few smaller scale models of some rooms recently in [Bonsai](https://bonsaibim.org/(formerly BlenderBIM), and found the process a little more pleasent. This could be due to my previous blender experience and the hotkeys being more on my bones.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I respect Blender very much but I'm also aware it requires a very deep dive to manage to use at minimum. So, as much as I can, I'll avoid it.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

requires a very deep dive

On the contrary, in my opinion it was very intuitive. AI is also more helpful than with freecad when I ask it "how to do _ in blender/freecad?"

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I think you'd be surprised, the on ramp I would say is easier than FreeCAD.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

FreeCAD is the most common solid FOSS modeler. I do not think any solid modeling system is that simple. They tend to need training and continuous use. That was my experience with SolidWorks and NX anyway.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

FreeCAD is pretty capable but it's openly 3D focused and doesn't make for a great 2D only solution. However, for some simple work with remodeling, it might be fine.

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Learning and using it don't are barriers.

I could draw the blueprints by hand, on paper, but doing it in a digital format will make it easier to edit, review, etc.

I'll check FreeCAD.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

If you want 2D drafting like solution, look at Librecad. It seems quite good. It is 2D only.

Freecad is 3D solid modeling but there is a 2D component.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

for 2d your best bet would be qcad (free) and draftsight (paid). some distros have qcad in their repositories.

a little more sophisticated would be freecad with its bim workbench and blender with the bonsaibim addon. both of them let you draw in 3d and print floor plans off of those model.

for a quick mockup you can try sweethome3d.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

As a professional 35 year draftsman, I would recommend you buy an 11x17 gridded notepad, a pencil, an eraser, and then make numerous sketches. Do an plan view of each floor to create the general arrangement and the room-to-room relationships. Sections will be required at each elevation to show heights. Then sketch each room on its own sheet. Here you can supply more detail, using matchlines, etc. In this manner, you don't have to bear the burden of drafting and accuracy until you are behind the screen. You can just sketch the idea, and provide the numerics. Sketches need not be pretty or to scale or made by someone with any drafting talent at all. Use placeholders. A square with 'TLT' in it is just fine for a toilet. Later, the sketches can be redrawn in cad via a scaled floorplan and your placeholders detailed as required. This is generally how I would proceed when I had to draw up large steel furnaces in which the OEM drawings were lost.

With that in mind, Id suggest paying cash to someone else that has cad software and knows it. This is not a large or even complex project. They can take your sketches and recreate them into a 2d drawing set assuming you did your sketches right. While it will be a great accuracy check, I recommend this just so you don't have to run CAD on Linux, an endeavor that is sure to cost you that cash in time and frustration alone. It's just not suited for the heavy throughputs of CAD.

Consider this. If your choice of tools does not matter, you could replace your screwdriver with a butter knife for this renovation. As well you could use a rock in place of a hammer or some eco-friendly hemp string in lieu of your tape measure. If the choice of operating system, the base for all software to run on, is a negligible detail you may as well remove your foundation while you are at it. It's just going to crack and leak in 200 years or so.

If you don't know any starving draftsman or doing it yourself is an additional goal, then at least go buy a cheapie beater windows laptop and get a mainstream cad software, even if it's free. You'll be needing something mainstream to get good search results as you learn to run it.

And please, if this comes off as rude, I assure you that it's borne from my first hand experience. CAD drafting is not difficult, but it is tricky. There will be many moments where things can get off the tracks without you realizing it. It's disheartening to say the least when you realize that many minutes, hours or days ago you punched a bad number, misread something, phone rang and you got distracted, etc. And then when that happens, you have to know how to fix it since some of the drawing is right and some is now wrong, and a wrong drawing isn't necessarily worth the paper it's printed on. A good cad guy will avoid most of these traps for you entirely.

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this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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