The program I use for my CAD work is IMSI's TurboCAD V11.2 Professional. This program not only excels in drawing in 2D (two dimensional drawing where "x" represents left and right and "y" represents up and down) but equally excels in 3 D (where a third dimension "z" is thrown in). For examples of 3D CAD drawing, check my main website at: Digital Reality With CAD where you can find numerous examples of "rendered" 3D drawings. Rendered 3D drawings (referred to as models by CAD users) can very closely approximate photo quality imaging. In addition to the actual drawing of the model, the CAD user can skillfully apply colors, textures and lighting effects to the drawn model which can fool the viewer into thinking they are looking at an actual photograph. I'm not claiming my renders are indistinguishable from actual photos but I do think some of them come mightly close.

There are over 250 seperate drawing tools available in TurboCAD and most come into play at some point if several different projects are undertaken. Can TurboCAD draw three dimensional farm maps? Yes, it can represent mountains and valleys along with surface objects such as buildings, trees and other structures. Drawing three dimensional maps is only something I have experimented with on a small scale and doing so on something as large as a 3000 acre farm in the hills is a project I wouldn't care to tackle due to the time required and the cost of doing so for a client.

Below is a screen capture of TurboCAD's desktop along with a small slice of a farm mapping project I am working on. Notice all the little small buttons to the left side of the screen. Many of them are "fly out" buttons where if the mouse cursor is placed on one of them and the right click button is depressed and held, a fly out bar will appear with numerous other drawing tools on it which can be selected. After looking over the drawing screen, scroll on down below for some more interesting bits of information about CAD drawing.
My CAD Drawing Workplace
Look a bit complicated? Well, I suppose actually it is. Most engineers and architects learned Computer Aided Design (Drafting) in college as part of their formal schooling for a future profession in that area. Now you may ask if I am trained as an architect or engineer? My answer is no, I am nothing but a farmer who harbors a profound interest in areas such as this. I started drawing with CAD about 8 years ago and started out with a basic CAD program that had only a few basic drawing tools. Over time I leaned about all I could with that program and then "upgraded" to a more capable program. About three program upgrades later, here I am with TurboCAD V11.2 Professional. I don't claim to be a master CAD drawer, nor probably ever will be. I can, however, draw most anything that comes to mind if given enough time.

One of the main things I have learned over the last few years is that not only do you have to learn to use the program, you have to learn to approach any drawing project with a game plan. By that I mean is that of the several ways an object can be drawn, which is the best and easiest way to do so accurately and in a timely manner? To further clarify, if thought is not given to the "approach" of the drawing task, one can spend twelve hours drawing an obect that could have been drawn in three hours. This is one of the lessons one gets with experience.

Below in the next four screen captures, I have attempted to show what is possible with 3D CAD. Each image is of the same object, only displayed in different ways. Please go to the next page.