I use ViaCAD2D/3Dv8 also and there is a learning curve but not a really hard one to be honest and the forum gives a lot of good support for questions and learning. As far as CAM side of things I currently use CamBam and BobCAD v21 & v23. I am looking to upgrade to DeskProto for a couple of reasons. ViaCAD for the amount of money you spend is extremely hard to beat tools wise. There is a few free CAD programs out there (one from AutoCAD and a few others) most are usable but really don't offer the modeling ability that you get with ViaCAD or other software. I also strongly suggest against getting software that claims to be both CAD/CAM together as most of the ones I have used don't do hat it says on the tin. Just my two cents is all.

Michael