Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
(OP)
Hello everyone,
I use SW at work, and they own the license. Needless to say, I can not afford to have one for my house (where I would also enjoy 3D CAD, either to work a little at home, or for pet projects of my own). I refuse to go the torrent/pirating route, as appealing as it is, it just plain and simple goes against my values. So, I am stuck with a small selection of affordable 3D CAD programs. One brought to my attention is ALIBRE (99 bucks for bare bones personal license), another is VIACAD pro v6(200 bucks for pro). I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with "other than SW or ProE" CAD software, and how it panned out, or compared. I do not expect to get the full SW experience from a 200 dollar program, but to have a majority of the modeling abilities would be great. Thanks in advance!
I use SW at work, and they own the license. Needless to say, I can not afford to have one for my house (where I would also enjoy 3D CAD, either to work a little at home, or for pet projects of my own). I refuse to go the torrent/pirating route, as appealing as it is, it just plain and simple goes against my values. So, I am stuck with a small selection of affordable 3D CAD programs. One brought to my attention is ALIBRE (99 bucks for bare bones personal license), another is VIACAD pro v6(200 bucks for pro). I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with "other than SW or ProE" CAD software, and how it panned out, or compared. I do not expect to get the full SW experience from a 200 dollar program, but to have a majority of the modeling abilities would be great. Thanks in advance!






RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Certified SolidWorks Associate
SW2009 X64 SP 1.0
Dell Precision T5400
Nvidia Quadro FX 5600
Xeon 2.5GHz Quad Core, 4GB RAM
XP Pro X64 SP2.0
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
For what I do it's a good buy.
H
www.tynevalleyplastics.co.uk
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
If you have single site installs of SolidWorks at work, then you can just install a second copy of it for home use (no home user license needed). The main restriction is that only one copy is in use at a time. This is easiest for you, but not as easy for your employer since they will not be able to easily deactive your license if they wish too.
If you are working from home, both options are fine (but of course you'll only have access to one or the other depending on the licenses at work).
A third option is to check out a license from work to use at home. This a bit more cumbersome on a day to day basis, but there are no issues with potentially miss using a license. This would also require a network license at work.
Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
&
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
-Kirby
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
I am running Qcad at home under Linux. It is available for Windows.
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
http://sketchup.google.com/
have not tried it yet, but another engineer recommended it.
www.MaguffinMicrowave.com
Maguffin Microwave wireless design consulting
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
2D and some 3D and there is a free trial download available.
bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.
Where would we be without sat-nav?
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
&
RE: Anyone use any "cheap" 3D CAD programs for home with success?
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog