On 8/22/2012 2:43 AM, Marcus Bowman wrote: > I would be interested to know if there are any really good free 3D packages > for Mac, PC or Linux. Something as capable as Inventor or SolidWorks. Marcus:
I started creating a list of my own last spring. I got interrupted by family health problems before I could assess all of these. The following is my running list. I make no claim that it is complete nor than any entry is better or more suitable than another nor that any entry could possibly be of interest to anyone besides me. Because you asked about 3D modelers, I deleted the 2D drafting entries such as community QCAD, LibreCAD, DraftSight, Solid Edge 2D Drafting. Note that I include commercial software if the license allows me to use it for free. Feel free to ignore those entries. I have been a paid-up customer of AlibreDesign since before I retired, so it's not like I won't pay real money for software. It's a bit like taxes; I don't want to pay more than I have to for what I want to do. Note that not all of these are serious contenders for a CAD/CAM environment (BRL-CAD, for example, may well have Cow Power but it is constipated---I can't get any useful data file out of it; the Open Cascade project is not itself a CAD system but is the 3D CAD engine and file translator for many). Some are meshed surface modellers only and better suited for additive machining (e.g., 3D printing) than subtractive (e.g., milling). Some aren't far enough along yet to. I have a companion spreadsheet I'm working on that compares input/import and save/export file options of different packages (it includes tools not show here) from which I can develop start-to-finish work flows. My goal is a wizard that allows me to enter what I have (e.g., a design model given to me in some format) and what I want to do with what I have (e.g., create G-Code) so it can recommend a tool chain. This is not ready for prime time. Note that some of the products which I've loaded only on Win7 likely can be made to work on Linux using Wine. I just haven't bothered to try. Some may even have Linux versions in the works that I've overlooked. My intent is to update the LinuxCNC wiki with my results, along with some examples, if I can just get the time to complete what I started. If anyone has other candidates for the list I'd be happy to hear about them. ---start list--- Open Source or at least free-to-use 3D CAD modelers 1. BRL-CAD 7.20.2 <- loaded on Win7/Linux 10.04LTS 2. Open Cascade Project 3. FreeCAD 0.12.5284 <- loaded on Win7, Linux 10.04LTS 4. HeeksCAD/HeeksCNC <- no development in last year, mostly 5. SketchUp8 <- loaded on Win7, Linux 10.04 6. Autodesk 123D --- web-based 7. gCAD3D 1.80 <- loaded on Win7 8. Salome 6.4.0 <- loaded on Win7 9. Blender 2.62 <- loaded on Win7 10. VisualCAD2012 <- loaded on Win7 11. OpenSCAD (2011.06/.12) <-loaded on Win7, Linux 10.04 12. Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express 4.0 <- loaded on Win7 Open Source or at least free-to-use CAM 1. VisualMILL2012 (plugin to VisualCAD2012) 2. NGCGUI (LinuxCNC) 3. PyCAM 4. OpenSCAM (early alpha) <- loaded on Win7, Linux 10.04 ---end list--- As an aside, I had no problem getting a license key for DraftSight but it's been long enough ago that I don't remember what I had to do. Good luck. Regards, Kent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
