Quote Originally Posted by saxonhawthorn View Post
By the way, surveying the CAD scene there seems to be plenty of 2D and 2.5D software around at sensible prices, but there doesn't seem to be so much 3D. How important / useful is 3D? Do people here use it? If you do, could you live without it?

3D requires an extra axis or two and the maths gets complicated once you stray beyond tube cutting.

OTOH you can do a lot of 3D with a 2.5D machine, if you can figure out how to turn the part over without losing position and avoid overhangs.