I'm at blank sheet stage. I need to conceptualise a design, I need to be able to present the concepts, I need to subsequently detail the design and then create planning drawings, detail drawings and BOM from the design.
First question: Can one bit of software do all these jobs, or is it best to split the tasks?
Second question: which software?
This is all generic, it will apply to any project. In my case, a few specifics:
I've looked at SketchUp and it appears to be less than robust. What worries me is that with so many assumed constraints, while it is quick to sketch, it easily makes incorrect assumptions and gives me faces where I want solids. When it goes bad, there seems to be little over-riding control.
I'm currently looking at FreeCAD, which has a far more robust methodology of constraint. It still leaves some things in the lap of the gods, however, leaving me feeling that half way through designing a roof I'm going to find I cannot place an origin and set planes at the strange angles I need. It is also tricky finding out how to drive it: like many open-source projects, it runs ahead of its documentation leaving users scratching around YouTube tutorials looking for answers.
I'm a little unwilling to go the whole hog with AUTOCAD, its horrendously expensive.
I'm nervous of the 'house-designer' type offerings, believing that with their pre-defined structures, again, I'll come unstuck designing something like a roof.
Trouble is, it's really hard seeing how software works in advance, and the learning curve to get into any of them to find out is steep. I'm OK once I've go into the ethos of a particular package, but I suffer terribly from frustration before then.
Can anyone offer an advice?
Louise