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Looking for "budget" AutoCAD alternative.


Amaril

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So is most of the stuff you buy in department stores these days.

 

My problem with it is that they don't have prices on thier website. You have to submit a form with your email address and phone number to 'ask for a price'. I don't trust companies that won't put their prices up. I can understand doing that if you are working with metals or other commodities' date=' but this is a software download. Ain't gonna cost any more tomorrow than it did today.[/quote']

 

I backed off of ZWCAD for the same reason.....they aren't gettting my info that easy.

 

I am considering TurboCAD or ARES especially if I go Linux (see link in rkmcswain's post above) for home.

 

TurboCAD has some nice prices as well. http://www.turbocad.com/

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I backed off of ZWCAD for the same reason.....they aren't gettting my info that easy.

 

I am considering TurboCAD or ARES especially if I go Linux (see link in rkmcswain's post above) for home.

 

TurboCAD has some nice prices as well. http://www.turbocad.com/

 

Maybe I just overlooked it, but I didn't see anywhere on Turbocad's site any mention of lisp or vba support. It talked about the .net and ruby scripting language, but I didn't see the other two. Any product I use will need that capability. I have a number of lisps and vba's that make my life very much easier, and I ain't giving them up. They automate drawing curtainwall elevations, batt insulation, making my parts lists...all sorts of stuff. I'm too dang old and stubborn to start learning a new programming language, so anything I wind up with will have to do lisp and vba. In reality, I don't know much about either of those, but I can usually take one that's already written that's close to what I want and massage it to do what I need. Bricscad does lisp and vba, so thats what has me so pumped up about it.

 

It will be a bit of a step backwards to Bricscad in one respect. It doesn't have tool pallets, and I've really gotten used to those. Most of what I use them for though can be simulated with custom toolbars, so I could get by. That's the way I used to do it, so I can go back, especially for the price difference. I can buy 5 seats of the Bricscad version I need for the price of one seat of Autocad and my customers will never know the difference.

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ZWCAD is a Chinese product. Some people might find that objectionable.

 

Another alternative for 2D-only work would be DraftSight.

 

How so/why?

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I am a Bricscad reseller, so not neutral.

It's a great advantage that Bricscad is developed in Belgium.

They speak and write fluent English and French.

They work when we work.

They have a good system for customer care and support.

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So is most of the stuff you buy in department stores these days.

 

My problem with it is that they don't have prices on thier website. You have to submit a form with your email address and phone number to 'ask for a price'. I don't trust companies that won't put their prices up. I can understand doing that if you are working with metals or other commodities' date=' but this is a software download. Ain't gonna cost any more tomorrow than it did today.[/quote']

 

The price is different in different countries, it depends on local economic situation, and the local reseller would give you an exact answer after getting your submit list. Don’t worry; it won’t cost anything for downloading or inquiring .

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Maybe I just overlooked it' date=' but I didn't see anywhere on Turbocad's site any mention of lisp or vba support. It talked about the .net and ruby scripting language, but I didn't see the other two. Any product I use will need that capability. I have a number of lisps and vba's that make my life very much easier, and I ain't giving them up. They automate drawing curtainwall elevations, batt insulation, making my parts lists...all sorts of stuff. I'm too dang old and stubborn to start learning a new programming language, so anything I wind up with will have to do lisp and vba. In reality, I don't know much about either of those, but I can usually take one that's already written that's close to what I want and massage it to do what I need. Bricscad does lisp and vba, so thats what has me so pumped up about it.

 

It will be a bit of a step backwards to Bricscad in one respect. It doesn't have tool pallets, and I've really gotten used to those. Most of what I use them for though can be simulated with custom toolbars, so I could get by. That's the way I used to do it, so I can go back, especially for the price difference. I can buy 5 seats of the Bricscad version I need for the price of one seat of Autocad and my customers will never know the difference.[/quote']

 

Tool palettes is available in ZWCAD, welcome to have a try~ :)

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Maybe I just overlooked it' date=' but I didn't see anywhere on Turbocad's site any mention of lisp or vba support. It talked about the .net and ruby scripting language, but I didn't see the other two. Any product I use will need that capability. I have a number of lisps and vba's that make my life very much easier, and I ain't giving them up. They automate drawing curtainwall elevations, batt insulation, making my parts lists...all sorts of stuff. I'm too dang old and stubborn to start learning a new programming language, so anything I wind up with will have to do lisp and vba. In reality, I don't know much about either of those, but I can usually take one that's already written that's close to what I want and massage it to do what I need. Bricscad does lisp and vba, so thats what has me so pumped up about it.

 

It will be a bit of a step backwards to Bricscad in one respect. It doesn't have tool pallets, and I've really gotten used to those. Most of what I use them for though can be simulated with custom toolbars, so I could get by. That's the way I used to do it, so I can go back, especially for the price difference. I can buy 5 seats of the Bricscad version I need for the price of one seat of Autocad and my customers will never know the difference.[/quote']

 

Check out Intellicad, it has AutoLISP capability. http://intellicadms.com/site/cms-intellicad-products.html

 

I've seen alot of suggestions for turbocad on here, is it worth looking into for cheap/good software then?

 

I am considering it, haven't decided yet. You can buy the Hardcopy at COMPUSA, same price. They have a forum, you may get some responses from those that have switched from AutoCAD. I am desiring to learn .NET anyway so losing some LISP is no concern to me and AutoCAD LT doesn't have LISP.

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It all depends on what you need skipso...If you work entirely in-house, making drawings for your own use and never share those outside your organization, then you can choose any package. If you never need 3d or lisp or vba, there's lots of stuff out there to use that make perfectly good drawings, many of them free. Doublecad XT will run on lightwieght machines, and it's fast. Some of the stuff it does is quirky compared to Autocad, but its all in what you get used to. I've also played around with Draftsight, seems to be a good product. Turbocad has been around for a long time and has a big following. All of them will read dwg files now, though not all of them will edit some of the newer objects. Bricscad for example won't edit an Autocad 2010 hatch, but it will erase it and then you can put a new one in.

 

Most of my customers prefer sending me paper drawings instead of electronic. They are just old fashioned that way, and from what I've seen of the way many of them draw, it's just as well. Its usually quicker for me to redraw the stuff than figure out what they did and how they did it. In that respect, I can use about any package when it comes right down to it. If it will generate a dwg or pdf, I'm good.

 

On the other hand, if the bulk of your business comes from customers that are using Autodesks vertical products like Inventor or the architectual products, you'll need that to get along with them. If you're not doing that, you do have alternatives that are less expensive and that work quite well.

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Cheer Jack, but I guess what I meant (Should have put it better) is if i wanted to do small scale (A4 - A3 sized) "Come to me with a hand drawn sketch walk away with a drawing" would turbocad be ok for that, as I cant afford acad lt at the mo, an thats what i will EVENTUALLY be getting.

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Cheer Jack, but I guess what I meant (Should have put it better) is if i wanted to do small scale (A4 - A3 sized) "Come to me with a hand drawn sketch walk away with a drawing" would turbocad be ok for that, as I cant afford acad lt at the mo, an thats what i will EVENTUALLY be getting.

 

Yeah, any of them will work for you to do that, I would think. they all make dwg and pdf files, so you can give them electronic copies as well as the paper ones. Bricscad will give you 3d capability if you need it for just a few dollars more than some of these other programs that are 2d only. All of them have free trial downloads, play around with them and find the one you like best.

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is your company on subscription? I think the UK subscription license (which is different to the USA one) allows you to install a copy at home and at work provided only one is used at a time.

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DBroada, yes we are on subscription, but they've refused me working from home in before now, so i cant get them to agree to that anyway.

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Although it's a while ago, let's return to the original topic.

What would be an alternative to AutoCad LT.

In this case, provided that the software is intended for personal (non-business) reasons only, what would be wrong with progeCAD Smart 2009?

Right, it does not offer all the "bells and whistles of AutoCad including the ribbon", but to me more appropriate than most other alternatives, as it is an Intellicad clone of AutoCad and best of all it is a "FREE" download from Download.com and other sites.

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