Simpler the Better -what do you use?

Hi Martin,

thanks for the link to the trial version. I did the download (sloooowly!) and installed it. As to be expected, the difficulties came up very fast. Apart from the fact that it seems that I don't see the whole window on my (19") screen (at the right I see something like X=,y= z=, but not more), I see a lot of tools mentioned in the tutorial which I cannot find. Even on your videos it is not always clear how you achieved the result. But I think we should not start a ViaCad tutorial here, or should we?

If I cannot get over the first big hurdles, then maybe I have to ask some questions by PM.

But I admit that the general handling of this program is to my liking.

Except, maybe, that I managed to delete all tools and don't know how to restore them... )

Greetings, Hansrudolf

...here comes another video 

Edited By blowlamp on 22/10/2010 14:26:30

Hi Martin,

just want to tell you that I could solve my initial troubles; well maybe not all, but at least I got the tools icons back! A case of a bad human interface: Who would suspect that a menu item "Tools" serves to toggle the visibility of the tools! Maybe a bit of professional bias here; I worked as programmer and know that the design of a intelligible h.i. is very important. Many books have been written about that.

But I digress. I already could draw a simple part and had a look into some of the tutorials. Unfortunately at the moment I have not much time to play with the program. Was trying today to change the templates for the drawing sheet; with mixed success. I miss a "edit text" function!. But the layout of the drawing is really good; although it is 'the other way round' to what we use here (3rd versus 1st angle I think).

I hope I can make enough tests before the test period terminates!

Greetings, Hansrudolf

My first experience with CAD was with Dragon at work in about1980. then Turbocad at home. Followed by Choice Cad, with 1Meg of memory. This was replaced with Truecad that worked inside Windows. Then to Autocad in further education to gain a City &Guilds certificate .Purchased a copy oF Autocad Lt 2002 for hobby work. However it refuses to work now after 11 years. despite reloading the disc. Now trying Deltacad that seems to meet my needs. I find Cad useful to develop ideas further than I could with pencil on the drawing board.

regards Hush

Back at the end of last century a PC mag gave out a CD of an out of date version of TurboCad that had features still not on the freebies now. It was very easy to draw machine dials and clock faces. Still using a quickie paper clock in the workshop.
I too like free Draftsight but when I was trying CAD a couple of years ago I recall having to have another CAD program too to be able to convert files to all formats I required. Therefore I suggest checking more than one freebie to get extra tools.

It seems that Alibre Free isn't available any more and it's now called Geomagic Design. The older downloads I found on the internet seem to require an obsolete version of DirectX so won't install on W7. They also seem to have changed the commercial angle so that you now get a 30 day trial and at the end you have to sh*t or get off the pot ie buy one of the 3 feature levels.

The basic version ("Cubify", wow) which is $200 in N America has very restricted (zero) import/export and no sheet metal design although it allows you to automatically generate 2D drawings and sections from your parts and assemblies. One of the benefits of the "parametric" design is that you can edit one of the parts or drawings and the change is reflected in all the other associated parts and drawings. These associative changes are available in all 3 options, as are the drawings option. Options 2 and 3 are something like $1400 and $2400. Hmm.

I have to say that apart from a few infuriating issues and some patchy support information, it's pretty good. I like the way you can make assemblies from the parts you have created (using simple constraints) and rapidly create mechanisms that you can actuate with your mouse. Handy for checking some stuff.

I'll have to see if the thing stops entirely when the trial period is up or whether I have some basic functionality left. I may choose to cough up my $200 - next time I actually need to use it, that is.

Merry

I share files with a mate who has Vector Works, I Use AutoCAD, Files exported from Vector works to DXF are not very compatible with AutoCAD (Autodesk being the originator of the DXF text file format). Yes I can read them with ACAD but circles and arcs are broken up into tiny segments by Vector Works. and Layers are messed up. It is very frustrating having to redraw the objects. We both work in 3D using solids for modelling. He has tried many export settings but they all appear to break up the lines.

Regards
John

Did you know that if you are a student, or an unemployed or retired engineer, you can get all the Autocad products completely free? Have a look on their website. The only downside is that printouts are watermarked to say that the drawing was created by a non-professional version - not a problem for home use.

Personally, having started with Autocad version 1.4 and worked with all the versions up to 2000, I now prefer Draftsight which is a totally free clone of Autocad of about 2000. I find the latest versions of Autocad just to heavyweight for home use.

Russell.

1. My bold addition to quote above - this may not be quite clear, Cubify Design does not include 2D section generation capability - though with some imagination and thought this can be worked around at the expense of extra time spent. Note also that there is an even more basic version of the software (sold through the Cubify 3d printer people) called Cubify Invent, this one has no 2D drawing or assembly capability - just 3D parts.

2. The software will stop entirely when the trial period expires.

Cubify Design, and Geomagic Design are available with local support in the UK from Mintronics.

Since the majority of the comments on here are concerned with cost versus facilities, I'll repeat what I wrote in answer to another thread. I bought a copy of TotalCAD 2D/3D while in a Maplins store in the UK. Cost well under a tenner and performs very well. It can be purchased direct from Focus Media. Recently bought version 14 of TurboCAD off eBay. Also under £10. Could be dodgy copy, I guess, but it came with a proper code and activated OK with IMSI. Mind you, only had a brief play with it so far and it looks like it's easier to knit fog than learn the basics. Maybe I'm a tad impatient, I'll have to give it a serious go, now that winter is approaching and the nights are drawing (pun intended) in.

John