PVC Designer

Scavenger · Post by **Scavenger** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:45 am

I also posted this on iSoaker, and there's an older topic at Soaker Media.
You can use this to make homemade designs.

It's all click-and-drag, there are different pipe sizes and some specialty parts. The down arrow opens a menu to change sizes, and the curved arrow rotates the pipe. Dragging the piece to the trash can destroys it. You can save and load .pvc files (native to this program) or save them as a bitmap (.bmp).
Version 1.0 Download

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Sun May 14, 2006 4:36 pm

Wow, this is amazing! I know for a fact that it can't simulate shots from a homemade, but it could be cool to experiment with--and most importantly, it would give great diagrams to post ideas with. My Paint diagrams have been sub-par recently, as Paint is hard to use and delivers relatively poor results; but this would let you do anything just to grab the picture! It's great!

I can see that this would really only be used by perfectionist plumbers, so what company or individual created this program? I'll install it soon...

Scavenger · Post by **Scavenger** » Sun May 14, 2006 5:10 pm

It doesn't install, it's just a stand-alone executable. I wrote the program using Game Maker.

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:26 pm

Scavenger wrote:It doesn't install, it's just a stand-alone executable. I wrote the program using Game Maker.

Seriously? That's really great--I wonder if one could use a commercial tool such as Fluent to actually model the stream's trajectory. Unfortunately, Fluent is too expensive for use by every homemade builder. Thanks for making such a great product for the rest of us.

SSCBen · Post by **SSCBen** » Sun May 14, 2006 8:54 pm

CFD tools are unnecessary and complicate designing. While it might be good to know how a water gun would operate before you build, you should have a fairly good idea of how it should operate before your design. CFD software, to me, would only make me go "Gee, it does exactly what I felt it would."

There's a few free alternatives to Fluent from what I know anyway, but I haven't had the time to check them out. I doubt most CFD softwares will simulate a stream accurately anyway.

This design tool should help prevent those pesky paint drawings we see so often from occuring. I can't run this program even under Win4Lin, but I'm not the person who really needs it anyway. It would be nice if you could modify it so that a few Nerf things such as solenoid valves, barrels, and such. Nerf people need this program more than we do given that they see crappy paint drawings on a daily basis.

Baghead · Post by **Baghead** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:03 pm

Ben wrote:It would be nice if you could modify it so that a few Nerf things such as solenoid valves, barrels, and such. Nerf people need this program more than we do given that they see crappy paint drawings on a daily basis.

yes, but most who make lame paint drawings never get past the "concept" Phase when it comes to nerf.

-bags

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Sun May 14, 2006 10:00 pm

I am really starting to hate using Paint whenever I want to broadcast a proposal on the forums. Sure, you could use text (though a picture is worth a thousand words) or just not share the idea, but my Paint diagrams are constantly going down in quality. It's just so inaccurate and time-consuming.

Here's a similar link to a page that links to various CFD programs; the directory categories are identical, even in order

, but this is part of the Google Directory. I like this page a little better because Google ranks each link mainly according to popularity, though I only searched for this page after seeing Ben's link. Unfortunately, it doesn't guarantee that all the linked-to programs are freeware, as evidenced by Fluent, the first link, which sells at a substantial premium.

m15399 · Post by **m15399** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:00 am

most who make lame paint drawings never get past the "concept" Phase when it comes to nerf.

Same here. I like to have all my ideas drawn out before I start building, and I always have new ideas, so it takes quite a while before I'm satisfied with my design.

Don't take that as a "count me in!", though. I have built a super soaker homemade and a failed nerf gun (because I was using materials I could find around my house, which meant a rubber band instead of a spring).

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:15 am

I just downloaded the program...and it's very nice indeed. The interface is clean and easy to use. Most such designers use mouse controls to rotate the objects, but this method works well, too. One suggestion/question, though: could you add parts that would help configure CPH and PCgH designs? You could add balloons and LRT of different sizes, to help draw CPHs, and plungers (somehow) for the pumps and in PCgHs. Hose pieces for backpacks, threaded fittings for nozzle selectors, and conical nozzles would be welcome, although those really aren't neccessary. Excellent job--you guys should expect the rest of my diagrams to be from this, and from this only.

DX · Post by DX » Mon May 15, 2006 1:39 am

Don't forget metal ball valves and a tracked pump piece! I will be using this for all my homemade design drawings, but it's kind of hard without the dear metal and tracks.

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Mon May 15, 2006 3:54 am

Yes, I'd like to see Duxburian's amazing tracked-pump diagrams

, but I think having a special part just for a metal ball valve is going over the top. After all, it doesn't look too different from the standard PVC ball valve picture, and everybody should be using metal versions anyway--let's just take it for granted that what's there is metal, okay

?

This doesn't really need to get too complicated, so it's your call, Scavenger. Duxburian and I are really just bouncing off a few ideas.

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:01 am

Hey, this is somewhat strange...I had PVC Designer running in the background for a while (a few hours), but it had crashed at some point. Sure, there are a ton of programs that do this, and this didn't affect any running programs or eat up my RAM, but I just thought you might want to know...

EDIT: I don't know when I'll actually have cause to use the program in the near future. All the initial planning for things like the two-stroke pump, the dual-stage pump, my nonlinear PCgH, and the linear PCgH and CPH designs has been completed. I just need to build those things now, but if I have any more "revolutionary" homemade ideas, then I'll definitely use this. Thanks...

EDIT: PVC Designer didn't close, and I can't seem to kill the process using Windows Task Manager. I'll try Sysinternals' Process Explorer, but I doubt it'll work. More in the afternoon.

joannaardway · Post by **joannaardway** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:10 am

With regards to drawings, I almost always use serif drawplus of one version or another.

It has a large range of shapes on a menu, which can represent X, T or elbow pieces. And it has a vector tool, so I can draw any shape that isn't listed.

With its capacities, I don't really feel the need for another tool, given that I can create any odd component, or a good approximation in only a couple of minutes. As a bonus, it also does animations, so I can port a drawing straight into an animation saving me effort.

Being entirely honest, I'd say that my diagrams were generally among the best on the forums - mostly because of this software.

So, I don't really need a tool for this, but it will be nice to see improved diagrams on the forums - it should be easier to understand them.

I'm going to pin this, so it newcomers will be able to find it and make their intents understandable.

Silence · Post by **Silence** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:15 pm

"Serif Drawplus?" I've never heard of it, but I'll definitely take a look...however, I'm assuming you haven't actually tried this program: it's beauty is in its simplicity. It isn't cluttered with tools for animation or fancy shapes, of which only a few are applicable to homemade blueprints.

DX · Post by DX » Mon May 15, 2006 9:23 pm

After all, it doesn't look too different from the standard PVC ball valve picture, and everybody should be using metal versions anyway--let's just take it for granted that what's there is metal, okay

But most users don't even know metal ball valves like, exist, and still are using the crappy PVC ones.

I like this program, although I think the best way to show what one is building is via a picture. I rarely draw what I'm planning on building, since a picture of a semi-mostly finished gun says a lot more.