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  1. #31
    The knob end is the same size as a £1 coin. If you cut it out of 3mm ali it should work as a shopping trolley key. The rear 'Albert' puts it on your key ring

  2. #32
    I cant see anything you've said that might case offence

  3. #33
    I used to be a longtime DesignCAD user. I actually bought a copy of DesignCAD before I got my first PC, which I bought to learn CAD. The copy of DesignCAD was for Windows 3.1, and was about $180 for a 2D only version. I also purchased their 3D DOS version for about $500. When Windows 98 came out, The 2D and 3D versions merged into somwthing similar to what's available today, although probably much less powerful.

    For the money, DesignCAD has always been a very good product. But I haven't used it in a very long time, so can't really comment on the newer versions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Magic View Post
    And please consider, how much money could be saved, if the public sector used DesignCAD instead of AutoCAD. Did you know that you can buy 17 NEW DesignCAD v. 23s for the price of an AutoCAD LT 2014 UPGRADE and 28 NEW DesignCAD 3D MAX v. 23s for the price of an AutoCAD 2014 UPGRADE.
    Actually, the reason I stopped using DesignCAD was to switch to AutoCAD. AutoCAD was far more powerful than DesignCAD, and gave you far more customization and control over what you're doing. Sure, it costs 20x more, but to me it's well worth it.
    Gerry
    ______________________________________________
    UCCNC 2022 Screenset

    Mach3 2010 Screenset

    JointCAM - CAM for Woodworking Joints

  4. #34
    Gee guys.....
    I would like to know how well the CAD and CAM? features work?

    I have an Autodesk design suite licence that includes AutoCAD and would like to know if Design cad 3D is 100% compatible with AutoCAD in particular solids.

    I think the price is OK. even on a seat by seat basis, Yeah it is a pain, and it is a pity the developers were not a little more accommodating. However the real question we should be asking is does it work?

    I do a fair bit of unpaid not for profit design work using AutoCAD, for people that cannot afford a mainstream commercial CAD product. In Particular "Men's sheds" in Australia.

    I would like to be able to recommend an inexpensive Cad Cam package for them to use. We are developing a CNC Router that uses laser cut steel for the frame, and is fairly easy to assemble. The first one is built and installed. Now other sheds want one.

    Is any forum member (Or outside this forum group) actually using it for CNC?

    Regards
    John

  5. #35
    Hi,
    For the price Design CAD and ContourCam would be worth a punt, but my issue is that the software needs an Internet connection to verify the signature of the install files. This renders it useless to me as I run all my CAD CAM and machining on one computer, which has not even got the windows networking components installed.
    The system is remarkably fast, stable and secure and I don't want any virus upsetting that.

    Cheers,

    Rob

  6. #36
    Hi

    I worked professionally as a senior developer on software used within Solidworks, Unigraphics and SolidEdge. It never ceases to amaze me how people overlook the sheer cost and complexity of developing CADCAM software and expect it for peanuts. Believe me the guts of a solid modelling package are not simple and are expensive to maintain.

    My view that is if this software works and works well then it is extremely cheap and complaints over a simplified licensing system are not justified - I expect to pay £100 for a medium range graphics package, any CADCAM system that works well at this level is easily justified and I would not moan if I had to buy multiple licenses. Having said that I do not like having to rely on the vendor when I want to transfer to a new machine.

    I sympathise with the vendor regards cost and complexity of licensing methods - I do think an optional CD would be nice though even if it was an optional extra, many CNC users will be middle aged and unlike the younger generation who seem comfortable with virtual media older folks may appreciate a hard copy. I am still using Dreamweaver 2004 - as a software guy I just need a php and html editor and it suits my purpose just fine - I recently installed it on a new laptop and found that the software vendor barely supports versions as old as mine and I had to email them to find out how to install on my new machine - they gave me a special code. It would be nice if software as it "aged" became less fussy about who is installing it - I like to take the view that when I buy software I buy it for life regardless of the fate of the vendor - the smaller the vendor the less confidence I have that they will be around in five years hence the desire for easy migration to a new machine without relying on
    the vendors website still being around.

    Jon

  7. #37
    From 1966 to 1999 I worked as a programmer with various fancy titles and I can appreciate the cost and effort involved when developing a major or complicated system. I have no gripe with the cost of CADCAM packages. My problem is that I want something I can load and run without having the overburden of having to be connected to a network. I state that cost (at that price) is no issue, but just bear in mind that there is a lot of free software in CyberWorld and it might not be a bad project for the forum to catalogue and review some of the offerings.

    At the moment I am wondering what is the best way forward for me, to stick with the AutoCAD philosophy based packages or to look for something fresher?

  8. #38
    Hi John

    "if Design cad 3D is 100% compatible with AutoCAD in particular solids"

    In general the answer will be that 100% is not achievable between any two CADCAM systems which use complex geometries ( ie more than simple analytics like planes, cylinders and so on ).

    The reason is complex I will try and explain if asked but the upshot is that if you are using anything more complex than simple geometry then the model you see before you is as much a product of the software as it is by the data that defines when you save it out to file. The raw data is not enough to define the model.

    If you import to a different package you are not merely converting data, you are asking the software to translate as the existing 3D data untreated may not hang together in the second modeller.

    A simple example - one modeller uses a linear resolution of 1.0e-08 defined over a 1000 box ( no units here ) another modeller works to 1.0e-05. That means that a "rip" between two faces which is at its widest point 1.0e-06 will appear as an unitentional slash or "hole" in one modeller but will be safely within tolerance bounds in another. To fix up one modeller will have to try and repair a slash or hole between two faces and this may fail - the other modeller has no such task to complete because it works at a difference tolerance and to within the higher tolerance the faces meet so there is no hole or slash.

    Once you go past facetted ( mesh, triangular ) models or simple analytics then import/export starts to incurr a reliability penalty hence the various software vendors who sell translators - these are not mere converters, they have to repair and replace geometries and topologies to get a model from one system to work in another.

    I have not used Design CAD 3D so I cannot tell you if it can import AutoCad solids say 95% but 100% is doubtful between any two packages that do not share the same base code under the hood so to speak.

    This is probably more detail than you wanted I just thought some users might profit from understanding that 3D models cannot in general be trivially moved from one bit of software to another in the way that we expect graphics files to move from one drawing package to another.

    Jon
    Last edited by jonnie; 03-12-2013 at 12:33 PM.

  9. #39
    Bet you've seen this one John The Shed - Aussie beer advert - YouTube

  10. 3d Max is very nice designing software for Animation.
    Nice to use this soft.

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