Deidre Calarco Robert Darvas Associates

Truss plan for automobile museum, designed by Irina Astrakhan.

I've been using Macs since starting college in 1987. Although I'd liked the Commodores, IBMs, and Apple IIs I'd used before then, I was really impressed by the usefulness of the Mac. It wasn't always reminding you that it was a computer. It felt natural to use as a tool for writing and drawing, not just as a number cruncher.

The first computer drafting I did was in MacDraw Pro and Canvas. Although I could create drawings that looked good, neither had the precision of a true CAD program.

A few years ago, I took a job with Robert Darvas Associates, a structural engineering firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. RDA had been using PowerDraw/CADD for almost ten years. I found it easy to learn and fun to use. It has the precision and efficiency of a good drafting program, and the flexibility of an illustration program. Every year, it gets better, as Engineered Software and Alfred Scott (the author of Wildtools) incorporate users' ideas and suggestions into the software.

At RDA, we produce structural engineering construction drawings, along with some occasional legal graphics and technical illustrations. Most of the people in the company have architectural backgrounds, and the projects we're hired to do tend to be complex. Each engineer is a generalist, designing every aspect of every project that he or she works on. As a result, our drawings are sometimes more detailed and realistic than the output of an average engineering firm. PowerCADD allows us to create the type of drawings we want to, with a minimal drafting staff and in a realistic time frame. As an example, the truss drawing above took about five hours to draw.

Since we work as consultants, compatibility with AutoCAD and Microstation is very important to us. PowerCADD's add-on DWG translator and built-in DXF translator allow us to have PowerCADD's advantages, and still easily exchange CAD data with other firms.

In addition, the combination of PowerCADD, Macintosh computers, PowerPlot print drivers, and an HP plotter is extremely dependable and low-maintenance. I'm the network administrator as well as the head draftsperson, and I don't need to spend much time taking care of the computers, even after a system or software upgrade.

Dee Calarco

Dee Calarco

Deidre Calarco is head draftsperson/network administrator of Robert Darvas Associates, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Telephone: (734) 761-8713. Fax: (734) 761-5236 email: RDA Dee@AOL.com

For more information on Robert Darvas Associates, please visit the Robert Darvas website.

More drawings by Dee Calarco

Fire escape stair design for hotel, design by Steve Rudner.

Canopy design for hospital, design by Nat Stanton and Steve Rudner.

Isometric detail drawn with WildTools 3D

Another detail produced with WildTools 3D

Axonometric illustrations of a construction problem drawn with WildTools 3D (Steve Rudner)