DesignCAD 3D MAX v.21 review

[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.

[John McNamara]

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

[cropwell]

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

[jonnie]

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