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c/drafterslilykellylilykelly24d ago

CAD or hand drafting which one actually saves more time in the long run?

I been drafting for about 8 years now and I swear I go back and forth on this all the time. Started out doing everything by hand on the board like my dad taught me. Took me 3 days to do a full set of plans for a small house back then. Then I switched to AutoCAD around 2016 and I could crank out the same set in like 8 hours. But I notice when I do hand sketches first I dont redo stuff as much later. The computer makes it easy to move things around but that also means I second guess myself more. What about you guys do you rough it out on paper first or just jump straight into the software? Im trying to figure out if my process needs a shake up.
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max_ross
max_ross24d ago
And that whole "second guess yourself more" thing is the real killer, because the undo button makes it way too easy to chase perfect instead of just getting it down. I've found that doing a rough hand layout first forces me to commit to decisions before I start clicking around.
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taylor.amy
taylor.amy24d ago
Oh man, you just described my exact workflow. I cannot tell you how many times I've redrawn something in CAD just because the undo button was right there taunting me. What finally clicked for me was doing a quick 30 minute hand sketch on graph paper before I even open the software. That rough layout forces me to commit to the big decisions like room sizes and door placements without getting distracted by line weights or hatch patterns. Then when I do jump into CAD, I'm just executing instead of second guessing every move. Have you tried giving yourself a hard deadline for the hand sketch part?
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the_nina
the_nina20d ago
Wait, only 30 minutes for the whole hand sketch? That is insane.
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