Board programs

[cfljames]

I am curious as to what is used as far as the programs for board layouts that are in the layout section?
Thank you in advance,I need to do some for myself and have not found any that are even remotely useful..

[VelvetGeorge]

Early on it was just Photoshop. My diagrams were not very pleasing aesthetically, but they got the job done.

Now I do everything in 3D CAD. I use AutoCAD Inventor, but most seem to use Solidworks.

It takes a while to build up your library of parts, but once you have them it's pretty easy to create a board assembly.

george

[VelvetGeorge]

Here are some 3D chassis assemblies I was working on a while back. Once the parts are created, you can just snap them into place.
Creating the wires in 3D is a royal pain. I tend to add those in a 2D drawing instead.






george

[JimiJames]

that is badass

[Tazin]

If your doing the kinda things like George is doing then it's crucial to have all the parts in 3d so you can assemble the unit in a virtual atmosphere in order to make sure everything is going to assemble correctly. A CAD program (AutoCad, Solidworks, or alike) works very well for this.