magic from Magic CAD/CAM

[Magic]

Hello all,

I'm called magic because I do support for Magic CAD/CAM, who carry inexpensive CAD/CAM software.

If you go to our website http://www.magiccadcam.co.uk, you'll find information on


DesignCAD, which is an easy to learn and use 2D drafting system @ £39.95
DesignCAD 3D MAX, which is a complete 2D drafting and 3D solid modeling software @ £69.95
ContourCAM, which is a 3D CAM plugin for DesignCAD 3D MAX @ £69.95
Magic CAD/CAM Sweet, which consists of DesignCAD 3D MAX and ContourCAM @ £129.95


All this software is ideal for the hobby user as well as for professionals and hold a lot af functions that you'll only find in CAD/CAM software at more than 30 times the price, which is why I have registered here.

Thank you very much.

[Swarfing]

Hi Magic

Did not find info to say what platform this sweet....I mean Suite of software it works on?

[Magic]

Hi Swarfing,


Hi Magic

Did not find info to say what platform this sweet....I mean Suite of software it works on?

Sorry about that.

All the software works on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. ContourCAM, which is actually able to work with DesignCAD 3D MAX back to v. 14, will work on Windows from v. 2000.

[FatFreddie]

Does DesignCAD 3D Max export to STL? I couldn't find any reference in the manual.

Does it take advantage of multiple CPUs?

[Magic]

Hi Freddie,


Does DesignCAD 3D Max export to STL? I couldn't find any reference in the manual.

Does it take advantage of multiple CPUs?

No, it doesn't export to STL. We recommend exporting to vrml and then use AccuTrans 3D to convert to .stl format. You'll find AccuTrans 3D here: www.micromouse.ca (http://www.micromouse.ca/). It's only $20.-.

And no, it's 32 bit software, so it'll install under Program Files (x86) under Windows 7 and 8.

[FatFreddie]

You're cutting yourselves out of a fairly big market (3d printing) by not supporting STL as an output format. Ok you can convert it but it's extra messing about and with 3d printing there tends to be more iterations so it's more of a nuisance.

32 bit software can still be multi threaded (AKA multiple CPU / core support) - it's the memory usage that's limited. Again, no mutli core support is a big minus. With most decent quality PCs coming with 4 cores or more a single threaded program will only be using a quarter of the available processing power (my work PC has 16 cores so running a single threaded program is a bit of a waste).

[Magic]

Hi Freddie,

Thank you for your comments. I agree that STL would be nice, but we don't have it, so we try and help with another solution, and it works.

About the multiple core support, I'm sure you're right, but what matters, is not, how it works, but if it works fast enough. And it does.

DesignCAD and DesignCAD 3D MAX caters to ordinary users, who do not necessarily want to work with their CAD software every day. It works fine on an ordinary computer or a laptop with 2 or 4 GB of RAM. It's easy to learn and easy to work with due to the intuitive interface. You don't have to go on 6 week training courses and spend all your time glued to the screen to use it.

You wouldn't use it to do stress tests on the construction of the Humber Bridge, but you can do some amazing work with it, which you can see at our website, http://magicsystems.com/Magic CADCAM logo mini.jpg (http://www.magiccadcam.co.uk), and the DesignCAD facebook page at http://magicsystems.com/DesignCAD Express 20 logo icon.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/Designcaduk) and the DesignCAD 3D MAX facebook page at http://magicsystems.com/DesignCAD 3D MAX 20 logo icon.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Designcad-3D-MAX/122126544632802).

Also it's extremely affordable compared to the major players in this market. DesignCAD v. 22 is £39.95, and DesignCAD 3D MAX v. 22 is £69.95.

I've had a look around to see, what we're up against pricewise, and I found the following:

AutoCAD LT 2014, which is 2D only and comparable to DesignCAD (2D), costs US$1,200.00

AutoCAD 2014, which is 3D, though Solid Edge and SolidWorks claim that it's not really*), costs US$4,195.00 and you can add about 2/3 of that, if you want animation and visual effects.

SolidWorks Standard, which is the basic one, costs US$3,995.00 and then there's Professional (US$5,490.00) and Premium (US$7,995.00) plus all the add-ins.

Solid Edge Classic, which is the basic version, costs US$5,495.00 and then there's Premium (US$7,895.00) plus add-ins.

*) This is why they don't have proper AutoCAD 3D import/export, which DesignCAD 3D MAX does.

At £39.95 (DesignCAD v. 22) and £69.95 (DesignCAD 3D MAX v. 22) you can do a h**l of a job compared with the above, as I think has been proven by the examples displayed on our website and the facebook pages.

And you can buy 17 NEW DesignCAD v. 22s for the price of an AutoCAD LT 2014 UPGRADE and 28 NEW DesignCAD 3D MAX v. 22s for the price of an AutoCAD 2014 UPGRADE.

However, if you're in technical education, you can get the software from the major players very cheap or even for free. So teachers will usually teach one of these, without considering that their students will need to invest a lot of money and time, if they want to start their own companies.

[cropwell]

Hate the use of 'Sweet', but the bundle price seems good. At the moment I use a very old CorelDraw, AutoCAD R 14 and Lazycam but I am finding frustrations and limitations in the combination. When my Bonds mature next year I will have the cash to do some upgrading, software and ballscrews are on the shopping list.

I am going to download the trial versions when I have a chance to give it my full attention, but in the meantime, I would welcome any comments from members who use or have tried out this software.

Cheers, Rob-T

[Magic]

Hi Rob,

I'm sorry that you don't like Sweets, but the name couldn't be helped, as the mold in this picture was one of the first ContourCAM results we got.

http://www.magicsystems.com/Magic%20CADCAM%20Sweet%20300.jpg

This is also why we talk about Snake programming. It's a way to do 3D CAM without having to draw the object in 3D.

From this:

http://www.magicsystems.com/Basic%20Snake.jpg

You can get this:

http://www.magicsystems.com/Basic%20Snake%203D.jpg