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Thread ID: 126491 2012-08-31 05:48:00 Cheap CAD program Brucem (8688) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1298071 2012-08-31 05:48:00 I would like to get a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program. I was using Imagineer Technical with Win98, but it won't work in XP, I got an error message about a missing ordinal. I could update Imagineer, but at last check it would cost about $1200! Is there a shareware program out there that will work reliably? Brucem (8688)
1298072 2012-08-31 05:50:00 Google Sketchup? stratex5 (16685)
1298073 2012-08-31 06:10:00 Alibre does a free trial and purchase is not too expensive! Hopper (14491)
1298074 2012-08-31 06:30:00 Freecad is free. So is Draftsight. Blender is also free. I think it can do CAD Speedy Gonzales (78)
1298075 2012-08-31 06:33:00 Ashampoo 3D CAD might be worth checking out. See here (www.ashampoo.com). They keep offering it to me by email advertising but as I do not have a use for it I have not taken up their offer.

I was in Pak n Save this afternoon and I noticed that one of the Australian Computer magazines has a DVD offering free Ashampoo programmes (not the latest versions). I am not sure if 3D CAD was included or not.
Bobh (5192)
1298076 2012-08-31 06:59:00 VectorEngineer may be worth looking at, cheap and cheerful, the free version is even more cheap and cheerful.

http://www.vectorengineer.com/
Terry Porritt (14)
1298077 2012-08-31 08:54:00 Freecad works similar to commercial apps, Blender is much harder to learn gary67 (56)
1298078 2012-08-31 09:10:00 Depends entirely on what your using it for. Sketchup is good, the pro version gives you layout as well which is good if its more architectural stuff. hueybot3000 (3646)
1298079 2012-08-31 12:50:00 Blender is for 3D modeling in more of an artistic sense. Difficult to use it for engineering CAD work as it is not designed for such use.

Not impossible though, and if you're a masochist you might quite prefer it for CAD!
Agent_24 (57)
1298080 2012-08-31 21:03:00 VectorEngineer may be worth looking at, cheap and cheerful, the free version is even more cheap and cheerful.

http://www.vectorengineer.com/

It seems pretty reasonable at first glance, a bit of a nuisance that it eschews .dwg files though. The isometric ability is a welcome surprise.

And on a different note re 3DCAD, nothing from Ashampoo has ever remained on my hard drive for very long, it might as well be designed by Susanne Paul.
R2x1 (4628)
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