DesignCAD 3D MAX v.21 review

[jcb121]

This sounds like a cash grab to me.

Though John, is this worth complaining about? Is the software actually any good in your opinion?
....apart from the license issue.

[irving2008]

You're missing my point... The days of 1 PC = 1 licence are long gone, that was true when PCs were very expensive but these days most users work seamlessly across multiple devices, but only on one at a time. It's a licence to use, not a licence to install.

Accept it's your right to licence as you see fit but you're going to alienate a large part of your target user base, which I would argue is the small business, intermittent user, hobby market. You might think you're targeting the Autocad market but for organisations that buy those products price isn't the only factor (in fact in my considerable experience as an IT consultant it's often a long way down the list as price per seat is always negotiable).

I would argue that the software product market is moving towards a free but perfectly usable version (typically lacking high end features such as file import, parametric objects, etc.), a 'pro' version with these features and then a chargeable support model for larger users.

[Magic]

Hi Irving,

Accept it's your right to licence as you see fit but you're going to alienate a large part of your target user base, which I would argue is the small business, intermittent user, hobby market. You might think you're targeting the Autocad market but for organisations that buy those products price isn't the only factor (in fact in my considerable experience as an IT consultant it's often a long way down the list as price per seat is always negotiable).

DesignCAD is an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use CAD package, and you can't say that it's targeted at a specific user base in terms of size or whether they are intermittent or home users. You can do just about anything with it, and you don't have to be an expert to use it.

My experience with IT-consultants and internal IT-departments is that they must justify their existence and make life as easy for themselves as possible. This means that they can only recommend something that's expensive (and then they get points for knocking the price a bit), and IT-departments usually recommend, what they already got even for jobs that only require drawing a few lines and a circle. So quite often you have to invest not only the £10,000 for the software, but you also have to hire an expert to actually draw the lines and the circle.

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.

If price is so far down the list, I'm wondering, why it's so far the first and only issue that you have.

I think that an honest price policy is naming the price and the conditions.

Others let you buy a family size software package, i.e. you have to have x number of users. Could argue that you actually pay for two, three or four users, but I won't.

[JAZZCNC]

Your wasting your time boys the Man's not listening.!! . . . . Any company that doesn't listen to it's User base doesn't respect it's Users so isn't worth investing time or money into, how much time/money is irrelevant.!!

[Magic]

Hi Jazz,

Your wasting your time boys the Man's not listening.!! . . . . Any company that doesn't listen to it's User base doesn't respect it's Users so isn't worth investing time or money into, how much time/money is irrelevant.!!

I don't think any of the above people are of our user base.

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Jazz,



I don't think any of the above people are of our user base.

NO EXACTLY but they could have been and lots more besides who certainly won't after reading your unyielding and quite arrogant replays.!

Forums are very powerful business tools in skilled hands, they can also be quite destructive to business and reputation in un-skilled hands and you Sir need to hone your skills.!!

[John S]

Hi Jazz,



I don't think any of the above people are of our user base.

Sorry ????????????

I paid good coin of the realm for the copy I had / have ?

And OK so it was a goblet and not a glass, still a useless tutorial unless you are aiming the software at glass blowers.

[irving2008]

Ok, I'm out...

You don't know me and I don't know you, but I've always worked to save my clients money and time and as part of that TCO is key, price isn't the only factor. I have integrity and professionalism as an IT Consultant and I object to your generalisation, but I'm not going to get into debate. You've set out your stall, the market will vote with its feet... and its not about price, its about attitude and recognition of the way people want to work.

Incidentally, and I'm making no comparisons about functionality because its not at the same level (yet), I'm using a package, Inard CAD Pro, on my Android tablet which costs £6 and does 95% of what I need and is by far and away the easiest 2D CAD package I've ever used. More to the point the author and I have had some really constructive discussions about functionality and he's been really responsive about adding new features.

And for a few lines & a circle Powerpoint or Visio will suffice and is usually already present on many office PCs so your assertion is disingenuous to say the least. In fact I've rarely needed a true CAD package for most small jobs.

Hi Irving,

My experience with IT-consultants and internal IT-departments is that they must justify their existence and make life as easy for themselves as possible. This means that they can only recommend something that's expensive (and then they get points for knocking the price a bit), and IT-departments usually recommend, what they already got even for jobs that only require drawing a few lines and a circle. So quite often you have to invest not only the £10,000 for the software, but you also have to hire an expert to actually draw the lines and the circle.

[Magic]

Hi Irving,

I should love to discuss functionality, which is actually, why I enrolled in this forum, but so far all I've had are moans about pricing, licensing and the fact that we don't do a printed manual.

[Ger21]

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.

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.