RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted March 15, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2012 I did a search here and couldn't find my answers and it appears my post within my Terrier thread hasn't been noticed, so I have a few questions about ViaCAD: 1. Is it any good? 2. Is it worth getting the Pro version for the extra 3D tools? 3. Can it save/export files that are compatible with SolidWorks? TIA Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 1/ Yes 2/ It depends what you want to do. 3/ Yes http://www.csi-concepts.com/Demo/misc/PunchCADFeatureCompare.pdf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted March 15, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2012 2/ It depends what you want to do. I'm looking for a suitable CAD program to do the design work for my RTR Terrier in, I was going to use DoubleCAD but it looks like ViaCAD might be a better choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 That's not what I meant. ViaCad has a good set of 3D primitives and the tools to manipulate them. It also has a basic set of tools for producing and manipulating surfaces. ViaCad Pro has extended surface tools which are more useful if you are going to be producing organic shapes. But the choices are really about the 'style' of drawing you are comfortable with, either building models from 3D primitives or from 2D surfaces. If you think you are going to need 3D-2D conversions for producing works drawings then you will be looking at Shark LT at the minimum. ViaCad is not good in this area. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted March 15, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2012 In an ideal world I'd probably like to be able to do both. Looking at the comparison pdf, and going by what you've said, I think it will be enough for now to get ViaCAD 2D/3D then upgrade later should I need to. Is it possible to upgrade from ViaCAD to Shark? It doesn't seem so from their website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted March 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2012 You might want the Pro version if you want to use Boolean operators for "cutting out" any shapes. Certainly for 3D modelling in Blender (for Shapeways) it is very helpful to be able to do Boolean operations in some circumstances eg cutting out windows. Cheers, Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted March 15, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2012 I've opted for the 2D/3D version for now, as it's on offer on Amazon's US site at just $56, which once postage was added came out to £45. What tax, if any, I'll have to pay on its arrival in the UK I'll have to wait and see. It wasn't directly in stock so I've a bit of a wait unfortunately with delivery expected sometime in the second half of April. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Most 3D CAD tools are not interoperable like office tools, so I would answer number 3 as 'kind of' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.