Cad?

[reyjusuf]

Hi! What's the best CAD program for ubuntu? I've looked at several and My choices are: qcad and freeCAD. Anyone have a suggestion?

[ad_267]

If you're prepared to pay money or wait a bit there are better options out there.

Bricsys Bricscad is good and is pretty similar to Autocad.
http://www.bricsys.com/

Varicad is really good if you want 3D. http://www.varicad.com/en/home/

DraftSight is a free 2D CAD application from the developers of SolidWorks which is available for Windows and Mac now and a Linux version is under development, although they haven't given any indication of when it's expected to be available except that it will be "soon".
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight

There's also ARES Commander which I haven't tried but they have a trial version
http://new.graebert.com/index.php?op...id=105&lang=en

[reyjusuf]

Bricsys looks good. going to download the free trial. thanks.

[TeoBigusGeekus]

Just... dual boot mate..

[rlhorn]

I have also been looking for CAD for Linux. Right now I am dual booting so I can use Solidworks 2005 and AutoCAD 2007. Yeah I know, they are old, but they do what I need to get done.

This looks promising, http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsig...ad-draftsight/

Back to the Question at hand. If I remember correctly, AutoCAD R13 had a Unix version/install included. If you could possibly come across a disk of AutoCAD R13, that might be a start.

[bigseb]

CAD on Linux is, in my opinion, a waste of time. VariCAD comes closest to the big players on Windows but unfortunately just falls short.

If you have experience in, say, Solidworks or Solidegde, I recommend you give these guys a go:

http://www.alibre.com/

It is a parametric solid-modellor with 2D drawing extraction... the full shebang. They are on par with Solidworks in terms of functionality but only cost $600 for the Pro version. I do all my design work on Alibre. I know it's Windows but if you're running a business this should definitely be given a chance.

Here are some shots of what I'm currently busy with; a 4-cavity lunch box mould. The entire assembly is approximately 550 parts. It is all done on Alibre and rendered with Keyshot (incl with Alibre).

Lunch_box_01.png

Lunch_box_02.png

Lunch_box_03.png

Lunch_box_04.png

Lunch_box_05.png

[Gemnoc]

There's also ARES Commander which I haven't tried but they have a trial version
http://new.graebert.com/index.php?op...id=105&lang=en

ARES and DraftSight are actually the same thing (almost).

Dassault Systèmes struck a deal with Graebert to licence the ARES engine under the name DraftSight. There are slight differences but for the regular user they are about the same. I don't know if DraftSight does 3D solids, but ARES comes in two versions, ARES which is 2D (think AutoCAD LT) and ARES Commander Edition which has ACIS 3D modeling.

They are on par with Solidworks in terms of functionality

Hummm, a bit optimistic there I believe. Alibre is NOT on par with SolidWorks, for that to be true Alibre would have to have all the gazillion features SolidWorks has, which is not the case. For example you can't do surfacing in Alibre.

Still, it looks like an amazing package for the price.

@ reyjusuf

Have you looked at HeeksCAD? It's not as complete as FreeCAD, but it's a lot of fun. It has some form of limited direct editing that is very cool (anyone following CAD trends know direct editing has been all the rage since SpaceClaim came out.)

[bigseb]

Hummm, a bit optimistic there I believe. Alibre is NOT on par with SolidWorks, for that to be true Alibre would have to have all the gazillion features SolidWorks has, which is not the case. For example you can't do surfacing in Alibre.

Actually you can, though only with the Expert version (and that has ALL the bells and whistles SolidWorks does).

I have the Pro version and even with that I have been able to all that I could with SolidWorks.

[Gemnoc]

Ok, surfacing is now available through a third-party software, Moment of Inspiration (which is a very cool product by itself, I played with it in Windows; it's a shame it doesn't work in Wine). But is it parametric?

I understand your enthousiasm for Alibre, that software package is an amazing deal for the price (I've watched it since before the price cut and even then it seemed like a pretty nice deal). But, again: it cannot have ALL the bells and whistles Solidworks has! For you to say that makes me doubt you've ever been aware of all of SW's features. When SW was first marketed, it was compared to Pro|E as having 90% of the features of Pro|E. I think Pro|E still has the edge features-wise. So to pretend a CAD package selling for 10% of the other has everything the other has seems preposterous.

(And just to be clear, I am not a SW fanatic, I prefer Solid Edge, which by the way even if pretty on par with SW, does not have all the bells and whistles SW has either.)

[bigseb]

The Expert much on par with SW now. I used SolidWorks (and Rhino) for years before I switched to Alibre. I don't have Expert version, I have the Pro version which is one down and its been almost three years since I last looked at SolidWorks so I can't accurately compare the products, fair enough. But I can do everything on Alibre that I used to do in SolidWorks ie it fulfills all my needs and that's all that matters in my opinion.

SolidWorks is a good package but its not the be all and end all. Alibre is a good package too and in the end its down to personal choice. If you interested in seeing some of my designs see here: http://grabcad.com/sebastian.finke (I hope this doesn't violate any rules, Admin). All you see there is done using Alibre Design Pro 2011. SolidWorks couldn't have done it any better.