CAD Forums > CAD General

I Wan't to play around with an "AutoCAD Clone". Which one should I pick?

<< < (2/4) > >>

Rustabout:
Thanks for the replies!

I recall BricsCAD being the best alternative. What deterred me from their offering is the price increase. Additionally, as we've seen, these companies aren't always shy about changing licensing rules on us. A "perpetual license" isn't as attractive as it used to be (unless a bunch of people organize a class action and are successful hehe).

AutoCAD opened the door for competition. But either nobody stepped up. Or they increased their price a bit too much.

It's definitely hard to live without dynamic blocks once you get used to them. I also wonder if the programs will be a bit "crashy" when importing AutoCAD dynamic blocks.

CAB:
Parametric Blocks are another form of a dynamic block.https://blog.bricsys.com/dynamic-blocks-vs-2d-parametric-blocks/

Rustabout:
I feel like "Dynamic" Is defining "Actions" combined with "Parameters", while "Parametric" is more the constraint parameters.

In AutoCAD, I find that constraints and constraint parameters are less stable than using the actions, especially during block creation. I use actions whenever I can get away with em. And they are quicker and easier. I can, however, make almost any block with either actions or constraints exclusively (some exceptions of course). I only recently learned that actions could be "scaled"; previously I had to use constrain parameters if I wanted something to "stretch" by a factor. I can create dynamic blocks much faster using the actions too, along with being more stable. Is it worth paying extra $100's of dollars for each year? Probably not, especially since BricsCAD says you can import blocks made in AutoCAD into BricsCAD. One could utilize the monthly subscription and just spend one month per year making/editing blocks. Then back to BricsCAD.

Learnt a ton... but only so much time in a day. I'm still scared to commit to something 100%. If I do maybe I ought to post my review/experience.

MickD:
BricsCAD is by far the best AutoCAD alternative hands down.
While the price has increased over the last few years it's still way cheaper than AutoCAD and has much more native .DWG capabilities and is a lot faster and more stable.
For example, the Platinum version of BricsCAD incorporates (more or less) the AutoCAD verticals such as Revit and Inventor but also includes Sheetmetal, Civil and BIM, the BIG difference is that these features are all native .DWG.....think about that for a moment ;)

lamarn:
switch to BricsCAD+1

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page