Travel Technology - 11 year old is interested in CAD software - recomendations?

My kid wants to learn more about CAD design. Is there a free program download that is easy enough for a kid to use and learn from? He's smarter than your average 11 year old so I am looking for something that had some usefulness.

I'll ask a colleague who's in that field, but having met your son - I can't believe he's 11 already! Cheers.

Im not sure about free versions but a very basic and cheap cad program is DeltaCad.

Another beginners package to consider is (the free) Google Sketchup:

http://sketchup.google.com/

alibre cad is another option which some of the CAD/CAM folks I know use.

What is Jr. looking to do with CAD software? Model parts? Houses? Freeways? Coffee cups? Circuit boards? Computers? Is it a general knowledge that he wants to gain? Particular field he is looking into? Need more details!! :D


There are many CAD packages out there. And no, I will not even begin to say I am an expert on any of this. I am a mech design engineer and familiar with some packages that have *lite* versions, but can't say they would be free (most likely not). Sadly (for even me) the software we use (ProEngineer, Solidworks, AutoCad) is not cheap ($5k+++ per license... unless, of course, you go to China and pick up a ripped version for $2 - I don't advise that).

Again, Let me know what his goals are - I can search around to see if there is anything that might help you out. And if there are other questions he has, perhaps I can help to answer them.


My kid wants to learn more about CAD design. Is there a free program download that is easy enough for a kid to use and learn from? He's smarter than your average 11 year old so I am looking for something that had some usefulness.

.... I'll bet he wants to model planes... :D

I downloaded Google SketchUp (thanks Scott) and he has been playing with it for almost an hour now. The fact that their website is promoting a design contest for the under-15 crowd is appealing to him too. ^

I have no idea what he wants to design but I have a feeling there will be some saved files for me to peek at tomorrow.

I downloaded Google SketchUp (thanks Scott) and he has been playing with it for almost an hour now. The fact that their website is promoting a design contest for the under-15 crowd is appealing to him too. ^

I have no idea what he wants to design but I have a feeling there will be some saved files for me to peek at tomorrow.

Along with my regular job, I've done 3D models of my car, wedding cake, house and other things. He'll have a great time with it. It's great he's starting early. :)

I would say that Sketch-up is one of the best freebies out there. I designed my backyard fairly easily.

If he is interested in learning, I would surely recommend the online tutorials. They will teach him the basics and cut out a lot of the mistakes that you can learn by teaching yourself.

What about some of the lego design software (that way you can actually build it afterward too!). I know when I was 11 I loved my legos and if I had half of the new stuff that they have out today, including some of the computer modeling tools, I would be in heaven.

Depending on what he's looking for and why, you might send him over to the MIT Media Lab site: http://www.media.mit.edu/research/demos-downloads
Two examples:
"Scratch is a new programming language designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design."
"Processing is an open-source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain."

Yeah, he may only be 11, but if his reading skills, independence and curiosity are up to it, one of these may spark his interest. (One of my kids taught himself to program in C from a 2-inch thick guidebook/resource for programmers at about the same age 15 years ago, so I never sell curious kids short!) CalTech and CMU may offer similar resources.

In addition to the brand names mentioned in Post #6, I'll add Bentley MicroStation to the list, Probably a few $K to buy retail.

Here's an idea: Look around for part-time/evening classes at a local community college, courses titled 'Using CAD' or 'CAD Design', or something like that. Sometimes large engineering firms even offer night classes like this to entice people to become cad designers. The point being, sign up for a course and they almost always offer student pricing on some main stream CAD package used in the class. The CAD software vendors want people trained on their products, just like Microsoft entices students to buy Office at very reduced student prices.

Another beginners package to consider is (the free) Google Sketchup:

http://sketchup.google.com/

A big ^^^ on that. I've been using it for years, since long before Google bought it. Great piece of software.

Drawing this one took a fraction of the time in Sketchup that it would have in Autocad.
http://stonecarver.com/fp/91-M-drawing.jpg

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What about some of the lego design software (that way you can actually build it afterward too!). I know when I was 11 I loved my legos and if I had half of the new stuff that they have out today, including some of the computer modeling tools, I would be in heaven.

Cool... Lego has design software...?!

Great thread BTW !!!

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)



Cool... Lego has design software...?!

Great thread BTW !!!

Yes, I use it to program my NXT robot controller :D

Another recommendation here for Google Sketchup. Professional 3D results with a logical and not too complex learning curve. For good tutorials (even if a little expensive, but consider what you saved with the free software) look for the books produced by Bonnie Roskes (www.3dvinci.net).

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)



Cool... Lego has design software...?!

Great thread BTW !!!

http://ldd.lego.com/

My kid wants to learn more about CAD design. Is there a free program download that is easy enough for a kid to use and learn from? He's smarter than your average 11 year old so I am looking for something that had some usefulness.It sounds like you don't have to worry about accidentally becoming a grandparent for at least another 10 years or so! :D

My kid wants to learn more about CAD design.

Good for him!

When he gets proficient in SolidWorks I might have some work for him, LOL.