On Friday 24 January 2003 10:53 am, Lyvim Xaphir wrote: > On Thu, 2003-01-23 at 16:11, Carroll Grigsby wrote: > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > > only promising candidate that I found was Varicad > > (http://www.varicad.com/en/main.php). > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > > -- cmg > > So, do you suggest putting Varicad to the sword or do you think that > there is some hope for it? I *was* kinda thinking about checking it > out, but I'm not so sure anymore... > > LX
LX: I installed the latest demo version today from the Commercial Applications CD2 in 9.0 PowerPack. First off, this demo looks a lot more impressive than the earlier one. I tried some simple stuff with it. It was slow going, but that was mostly because Varicad is _not_ an AutoCAD clone. It has a different interface, different terminology, different everything. I plan to give it some more time over the weekend, and we'll see what happens. Here's my take so far: 1. While $399 for the software, $99 for a one year upgrade subscription, and $99 for a printed manuals (w/CD-ROM) isn't a lot of money in the context of 3D design and drafting packages, it's far more than I'm willing to pay just to satisfy my curiosity. 2. As installed, Varicad is strongly Eurocentric, but there does seem to be support for ANSI standards. (No flames, please. I'm talking about presentation here 3rd angle vs 1st angle, formatting and presentation of dimensions, hatching conventions, etc. Metric vs inch is off-topic.) 3. Varicad is 3D-based, and that's A Very Good Thing. In other words, the design process starts by building a solid model from which the 2D drawings are derived later. That is a critical feature for designing complex parts such as molded plastic components, castings, and sheet metal bits, but the productivity gain comes at the price of a very steep learning curve. 4. Varicad doesn't do a lot of things: buildings, architectural design, kitchen remodels, plant layouts, mapping, piping, etc., but it does do mechanical design, and that's fine with me. 5. Minor glitch: Doing solids requires a minimum of a 16mb video card with OpenGL support, and my Matrox G200 Millennium isn't up to that. Seems OK with the 2D stuff. (FWIW, I can do AutoCAD solids on this rig. Don't ask.) 6. I couldn't find any reference to a mailing list or forum at their website. Not good. -- cmg
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