ProgeCAD Smart - Autocad alternative
-
If you only need a 2d cad app and you don't have AutoCAD, ProgeCAD Smart by IntelliCAD is free, and pretty much identical to AutoCAD for 2d work. Free version is for non-commercial use only.
http://www.progecad.com/compra/index.asp?left=prodotti/eng_progecad2008smart&abspage=1&lang=eng
-
I don't think that is 'open source' Jon. I think that Intellicad started life as being 'open alliance' meaning that it shared file parity with autocad and others.
None the less it is a good program and a good substitute for acad -
@cb2 said:
I don't think that is 'open source' Jon. I think that Intellicad started life as being 'open alliance' meaning that it shared file parity with autocad and others.
None the less it is a good program and a good substitute for acadThat is my understanding as well. I've used various IntelliCAD products on Linux, but they have been proprietary and not open source.
I've been recommending this since you posted it, Jon, to my graduate architecture students who cannot afford student licenses to AutoCAD or one of the other major professional CAD programs. So far no one has complained, but it is possible they haven't really put it through its paces yet. I'm curious to know if anyone else has had issues with it, especially if they are students.
-
I stand corrected about the open source thing. I've edited the post.
ProgeCAD Smart does not support 3d surfaces or solids so it is probably fairer to say that it is equivalent to AutoCAD LT.
Progecad Smart certainly doesn't feel like a different program once you've set up your own drawing template and got everything just how you want it. In some areas though it does vary to autocad and sometimes I haven't been able to find the ProgeCAD equivalent to something I was used to in AutoCAD but generally for day to day stuff it is a good substitute. It seems to recognise all the autocad keyboard shortcuts. The crosshairs and pick box don't seem to be resizeable like they are in Autocad which is a bit annoying but that's my only main complaint. On the upside there are more hatch patterns than AutoCAD. -
@lewiswadsworth said:
@cb2 said:
I've been recommending this since you posted it, Jon, to my graduate architecture students who cannot afford student licenses to AutoCAD or one of the other major professional CAD programs. So far no one has complained, but it is possible they haven't really put it through its paces yet. I'm curious to know if anyone else has had issues with it, especially if they are students.
Lewis, why would your student have to "buy" student copies of AutoCAD? AutoDesk gives it away to students.
http://students5.autodesk.com/
All they have to do is register and they can get free educational copies of most of AutoDesk's software. I have not tried it since I am not a student but might be worth a look for them.
As for ProgeCAD I have tried it and it seems to work as advertised. It seems to feel like a version or 2 back as compared to the newer releases but it works. -
Apparently, Glenn, it's not as easy as that...I have to assume that they have tried and there is some problem, or they wouldn't ask for alternatives. However, in a design studio I don't specify or require particular pieces of software, or use of a computer at all, so in the end it's up to them.
-
@lewiswadsworth said:
Apparently, Glenn, it's not as easy as that...I have to assume that they have tried and there is some problem, or they wouldn't ask for alternatives. However, in a design studio I don't specify or require particular pieces of software, or use of a computer at all, so in the end it's up to them.
Well I haven't tried so I cannot say how hard or easy it is. I was pointed to this site a while back on the CADTutor forums. I do understand that it is simply an option of theirs as to what if any software they use. Just pointing to maybe a helpful link, that's all.
Cheers
-
ProgeCad Smart seems to work well...but before anybody thinks this is too good to be true, it IS for non-commercial use......and a watermark on printed output says exactly that!!
-
One of my students told me that is the problem, as well, with the "free" AutoCAD, although I don't know how obnoxious it is.
-
Progecad smart prints with a tiny bit of text on the border that says "Private Use Only". Totally inobtrusive. I mentioned Progecad smart here with students and hobbyists in mind. Incidentally (before I get a nasty letter from ProgeCAD) I do not use ProgeCad commercially, when needed, I have access to AutoCad via a company I do work for.
-
@lewiswadsworth said:
One of my students told me that is the problem, as well, with the "free" AutoCAD, although I don't know how obnoxious it is.
Quite an irritant . One of the interior designers in one of our project was using a student version . So every time I brought in some geometry from their drawings it used to corrupt our drawings with this tag . There is a nifty little program that helped us out in getting rid of the tag but a headache all the same .
-
"There is a nifty little program that helped us out in getting rid of the tag but a headache all the same"
Hi,
slightly off-topic but picking up on the above post...From within AutoCAD, it is possible to get rid of the student's watermark, there's no need for other software: save the student-produced DWG-file as a DXF, close and re-open it (AutoCAD does not 'Export' as DXF, it's an option in "Save as...").
ASFAIK, this has worked over the years. I believe that Autodesk has not 'implemented' the means to store the watermark within the DXF file-format, for the time-being-or-until-they-read-this-post
Cheers,
- Diego -
-
Good catch, Diego.
(Diego is my boss, incidentally, at the school where I teach.)
-
progeCAD Professional is available as educational for free.
With Educational licenses the schools are allowed to install unlimited sites for classroos and also teacher and students can use on their household PCs
http://www.progesoft.com/icad/richiesta_cd_icad.asp?type=Scuola&lang=eng -
Ive been having a play with ProgeCad Smart....with the intention of probably buying the pro version.
One useful function for me is being able to export as a PDF [A1 format] for sending to my plot shop.
This is a big step up from mucking around with plotter drivers and something that still, I believe, isn't supported in ACAD LT [correct me if Im wrong]
Generally, though, I'm finding the UI very comfortable and not too different from my old ACAD LT2000
And just a note to Jon above: the crosshairs are editable but cant find how to resize the pickbox...which is annoying but am getting used to the smallish box.
In the end......I'm very inclined to pay $400AUD for something approaching full ACAD specs. rather than around $1800AUD for ACAD LT!
Im happy to put up with a few glitches and bugs, and pocket the $1400!! -
Hi Stu
I agree, I'd rather give my money to ProgeCad than AutoDesk! ProgeCAD proves that a robust cad program can be produced and sold cheaply. I'm not bothered by the pickbox either, these days I tend to spend as little time in cad as possible anyway because I draw just about everything in SU. I pull off 2d dwg's from the model and then really just use cad for annotating and layouts.
Thanks for the cosshairs, I'll check that out.
-
Dear Jon,
Could not resist saying "Good morning". You were up early this morning.
I have been following this thread quite closely as I use AutoCAD and Inventor. I am also about to try out SpaceClaim too. Just need a few more hours in the day.
Going back to the thread and using SU for 2D drawing. I don't see why a simple 2D drawing mode cannot be added to SU. The mode would:
- Switch to and lock the parallel projection camera mode
- Disable rotate but leave pan and zoom
- Create a drawing plane in the X-Y plane, the area defined by the user
- Disable all the 3D tools
- Disable the making of faces function (or be able to toggle it on or off)
- Etc
There could be a 2D drawing toolbar which is enabled and disabled when entering/leaving the mode. The 3D toolbars could similarly be enabled/disabled, perhaps changing colour or becoming faint to indicate availability.
Just a few thoughts at 06:57.
Regards,
Bob -
Hi Bob!
@unknownuser said:
I don't see why a simple 2D drawing mode cannot be added to SU.
I kind of do this in SU now, everthing I model has 2 layers, a 2d layer with plan geometry and a 3d layer with 3d geometry. Once you get into it is a very efficient way of working.
@unknownuser said:
- Disable the making of faces function (or be able to toggle it on or off)
That would be very useful!
-
The ITC (IntellicAD Technology Consortium) was Open Source when it was first formed. They gave away the software for free and you could compile it and use it. The idea was co-operative development but the only people who co-operated were the Developers the ITC paid. So a decision was made to make it "quasi open source" (thats the words the Chairman at the time used, I swear) whereby only the members who paid could play. Even with that impediment the ITC is a unique organization with one goal in mind, Software Development. Where Autodesk spends your hard earned money on lawsuits against competitors, executive salaries, and mass amounts of marketing, the ITC does no marketing, has volunteer officers, and the only reason they have a legal budget is to protect their trademarks. I am very familar with the non-profit, I was the sole employee for several years at the early part of the millenium.
I have to say it is nice reading positive things about progeCAD IntelliCAD. I have been representing it now ever since I left the ITC and have been very pleased with its usage. There was a time in the not so distant past that those who tried IntelliCAD came away with a metallic taste in their mouths due to the poor experience. The folks at the ITC have worked extremely hard to rid itself of the poor performance and reliability while trying to overcome users perception of those first couple of years. I think it is paying off.
"And just a note to Jon above: the crosshairs are editable but cant find how to resize the pickbox...which is annoying but am getting used to the smallish box."
How would you set the pickbox size in AutoCAD assuming you did not have a dialog box? I was trained to use AutoCAD on version 1.03 so I learned to use it with the keyboard. If you asked me how to find something on those little pictures up and the top I wouldn't know where I was but perhaps that, and the programming I did for years inside AutoCAD allows me to know you can type setvar at the command line. Tell progeCAD "pickbox" as the variable to set, then set the size you want!
"ProgeCAD Smart does not support 3d surfaces or solids so it is probably fairer to say that it is equivalent to AutoCAD LT."
But the big brother of progeCAD Smart! does. progeCAD Professional is less than $400 USD and if you are a student, your teacher, professor, the school can get progeCAD Professional free to all your computer labs and the students can have a copy at home, for free. We have supplied over 300 schools since the program has been active including large universities to junior high schools. Have your teacher go here: http://www.progesoft.us/index.pl/Free%20for%20Schools and request Free for Schools...
While some of the IntelliCAD members have use Wine to run the software on Linux, we have have taken a different direction. We saw that virtualization is a way to have your cake and eat it too. We have run progeCAD on both the Mac (http://www.icadsales.com/index.pl/Mac%20Users) and on Linux (http://www.icadsales.com/index.pl/Linux%20Users) using virtual machines and quite frankly it isn't much different than a PC running progeCAD standalone with Windows, except you are right on the Mac or Linux desktop and have access to all those OS capabilities and applications.
One of the things that isnt quite there yet for the iCAD crowd is the third party market. Of course AutoCAD doesnt really have one either since they either bought out or crushed the independent developers so they could move into their markets. Does anyone remember what it used to be like with the 100s of developers creating applications to run on AutoCAD. Now those were the days. We have a few progeCAD add-ons such as an [url=http://www.icadsales.com/index.pl?id=4434:3hdzp994]Architectural app[/url:3hdzp994] and a [url=http://www.icadsales.com/index.pl/IntelliCAD%20Products/IntelliCAD%20Civil%20Survey:3hdzp994]Civil Survey (cogo, dtm, road design)[/url:3hdzp994] package. We will be adding a CAM add-on soon and are on the lookout for other products which run under progeCAD. If anyone sees any send a shout out!
"There is a nifty little program that helped us out in getting rid of the tag but a headache all the same"
Shame Shame. I hope you donated to the charity progeSOFT requested when you downloaded and install progeCAD Smart!. They dont require it but I suppose if you are going to reverse engineer the drawings to remove the watermark you should at least help out the cause.
I like the idea that progeCAD Smart! is Charityware, if you download and use it they ask that you donate to a worthly cause. A great company, great software, and a great price. -
@unknownuser said:
One of my students told me that is the problem, as well, with the "free" AutoCAD, although I don't know how obnoxious it is.
We are using Acad and Revit here at my school and No tag, No watermarks at all with Autodesk education versions or students versions, at least since 2007. But I will definitively look into ProgeCad because the trend to use free or open source programs is growing each day (Open Office, Google SketchUp, Wings, Gimp, Xnview, InkScape, Kerkythea, and so on).
Advertisement