DraftSight, free 2D CAD
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I know, another free CAD program....but this one ticks all the boxes for me.
Put together by Dassault, the SolidWorks people it is free to use after a 30 day trial upon registration [registration can be a bit glitchy].
A very nice UI and VERY similar, from my experience, to ACAD LT.
I've tried a few others including DoubleCAD, and prefer it to ProgeCAD which I was happy to buy but was put off by the UI.
Stu
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Glad to hear it works for you, Stu. What does it cost?
So what are you using it for? Do you integrate it into SU at all?
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Have you tried this http://nanocad.com/ ?
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It's free, except the free version which doesn't cost anything.
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@utiler said:
Glad to hear it works for you, Stu. What does it cost?
So what are you using it for? Do you integrate it into SU at all?
Hi Andrew...long time.....
Using it for 2D landscape design drafting...no integration with SU apart from DWG export...but I'm fine with that.
I think your first question is answered below
And SRX...yes had a look at NanoCAD....was not impressed with the UI....I like nice icons...shallow I know...but if you have to hit them a zillion times a day its better if they appeal, visually.....and more importantly, are clear.
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@stu said:
@utiler said:
And SRX...yes had a look at NanoCAD....was not impressed with the UI....I like nice icons...shallow I know...but if you have to hit them a zillion times a day its better if they appeal, visually.....and more importantly, are clear.
If you don't like or use Autocad user interface than ok, because nanocad is the same, and that is its main advantage!
I don't even know what icons look like in Autocad, because I use only shortcuts for almost 15 years. Can not imagine clicking on icons in cad software...You are right - it is so slow. -
Yeah Stu, thought you'd crawled under a rock and disappeared....
I had a look at DoubleCAD a while back to find a program that would help me bridge the gap between SU and reasonable DWG export files. Was ok but for some reason [it was a while ago i tested it] I couldn't make the decision to dive into it.
Sounds like Draftsight is the way to go for 2D work; look very intuitve.
@SRX - no, haven't tried nanoCAD; hadn't heard of it but I'll give it a look.
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We are using DS too. W just use it for older projects that were developed in CAD or for cleaning up Sketchup Exports and exchanging drawings with engineers. It's also very good to prepare dwg exports to subit to city hall, creating dwf files wich are mandatory here in Portugal. For everything else Sketchup+Layout are the best... except probably BIM wich I found too awkard to use when I tried it before.
Best regards,
JQL
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I tried several AutoCad alternatives, as I know these three (nanocad, doublecad, draftsight) are the best available, and I'd say are all enough gui-friendly for who comes from AC Lite. Though, I think DS has something more in terms of core engine as I noticed it manage very well models with a lot of entities, while the others becomes noticeable slow even when panning the view.
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Saurus I've tried NanoCad (for the simple stuff i described) and it seems good. However there isn't and offset through point or is there?
Best regards,
JQL
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@jql said:
Saurus I've tried NanoCad (for the simple stuff i described) and it seems good. However there isn't and offset through point or is there?
Best regards,
JQL
I'm no expert in NanoCad. I personally use AutocadLT. It doesn't have offset trough point. I simply do offset by picking distance from point to line. NanoCad is our secondary choice, on other comp., just not to buy another license. If I knew about it earlier I wouldn't buy AutoCad in the first place.
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