Autodesks free CAD offering (currently Beta version)....
http://www.123dapp.com/
Its basically Inventor Fusion made free. I suspect more powerful than sketchup, constraint based but no history based tree making it a powerful but
very innovative way of modelling - a lot of it being pretty much 'push pull' manipulation which you can then start to constrain once you are
happy with how it looks.
Also allows assembly modelling, but no drafting facility (but will export to ACAD, STEP, SAT files all of which can be used for CNC).
[Edited on 23/5/11 by FASTdan]
[Edited on 23/5/11 by FASTdan]
giving it a go....
Pah... one of the few downsides to having a Mac!
And, one of the downsides of being thick.....
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Pah... one of the few downsides to having a Mac!
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Pah... one of the few downsides to having a Mac!
quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Pah... one of the few downsides to having a Mac!
only one? I always though 'having a MAC' was a downside in itself....
You do realise that you can get any CAD for free? CATIA, SolidWorks, NX etc etc etc.
Well not free but for the price of a blank CD.
Playing around with it now - it's a rubbish beta release tbh and it's really really clunky BUT once they get it working properly it has the
potential to seriously kick Sketchup into touch (for one thing it's got a proper extrude tool which is one huge thing about sketchup that really
p*sses me off!!). All it needs is a '3D Warehouse' as good as Sketchups and it could be a great thing.
Be interesting to see what happens with it though in terms of it staying free because it's bound to hit sales of Inventor especially.........
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
Playing around with it now - it's a rubbish beta release tbh and it's really really clunky BUT once they get it working properly it has the potential to seriously kick Sketchup into touch (for one thing it's got a proper extrude tool which is one huge thing about sketchup that really p*sses me off!!). All it needs is a '3D Warehouse' as good as Sketchups and it could be a great thing.
Be interesting to see what happens with it though in terms of it staying free because it's bound to hit sales of Inventor especially.........
No that's not what Autodesk are saying BUT I strongly suspect there will be a free version and a Pro (paid for) version eventually.
I can certainly see the potential in it to be a much more serious tool than sketchup BUT the cool thing about Sketchup are all the plugins which this
doesn't seem to support........ yet....... 
As far as I know it will remain free.
It wont impact inventor, its a different environment and different modelling technique. Inventor Fusion is the 'subscription' version of the
same software designed to run alongside inventor and simulation products as part of a 'suite'.
Its quite interesting what autodesk are doing with their 'suite' of products concept.
And I challenge anyone to get a 'free' copy of inventor. Solid works yes, pro E yes, but I have yet to come across a hooky copy of IV. Plus
more than the fact its free, its an intuitive point and shoot software without the heavy back end.
going to give it a shot. it says graphics card unreadable though, so i imagine it won't run well/at all
Edit, right, its cocked up my computer. its coming off lol.
[Edited on 23/5/11 by blakep82]
quote:
Originally posted by FASTdan
As far as I know it will remain free.
It wont impact inventor, its a different environment and different modelling technique. Inventor Fusion is the 'subscription' version of the same software designed to run alongside inventor and simulation products as part of a 'suite'.
Its quite interesting what autodesk are doing with their 'suite' of products concept.
And I challenge anyone to get a 'free' copy of inventor. Solid works yes, pro E yes, but I have yet to come across a hooky copy of IV. Plus more than the fact its free, its an intuitive point and shoot software without the heavy back end.
2D, but free for Windows, OSX and Linux
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/download-draftsight/
Inventor is no harder to come by than any other CAD program............. Adobe products are a challenge nowadays but even then.......... so I've heard anyway
quote:
Originally posted by Neville Jones
quote:
Originally posted by FASTdan
As far as I know it will remain free.
It wont impact inventor, its a different environment and different modelling technique. Inventor Fusion is the 'subscription' version of the same software designed to run alongside inventor and simulation products as part of a 'suite'.
Its quite interesting what autodesk are doing with their 'suite' of products concept.
And I challenge anyone to get a 'free' copy of inventor. Solid works yes, pro E yes, but I have yet to come across a hooky copy of IV. Plus more than the fact its free, its an intuitive point and shoot software without the heavy back end.
I've got one sitting in my desk drawer, sent by Autodesk UK themselves 'for evaluation purposes'. All you need is one of those 'public' licences and the keygen, and you're away. Fill in the info on the Autodesk website, and see what turns up?
Cheers,
Nev.
Just download the free 30 day trial from the Autodesk site and then have a look round the slightly dodgy parts of the internet for the means to turn
it into the full program - haven't looked for 2012 codes yet but if they aren't there yet they will be along shortly 
Providing trial downloads of the complete program makes it a bit too easy tbh and I've long suspected it's actually a covert part of
Autodesks promotional policy............... not that I'm condoning the use of any software without a valid license obviously!