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CAD on a Budget
January 1, 2004 By: Ron LaFonGreat Tools at a Fantastic Price.
Not every firm or individual needs or can afford a major design application, regardless of whether the economy is booming or depressed. Justifying the cost of an AutoCAD license can often be difficult, particularly if your needs are modest. Fortunately there are alternatives that are not only less expensive, but also quite capable.
 Review Summary |
It should come as no surprise, but somehow it always does, just how capable and sophisticated the low-cost CAD applications on the market are. You expect that applications that cost several thousand dollars, such as AutoCAD, would offer a broad and extensive range of features that are applicable to a wide range of disciplines. The old saying "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. There's a tendency to think that CAD applications that cost in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, of dollars can't possibly be all that good. Mistake. Big mistake.
It really is possible to get a high percentage of the functionality of such design behemoths as AutoCAD for a small percentage of the cost, with the bonus of file-level compatibility. Whether the software is AutoCAD or Microsoft Word, chances are that you use only a fraction of its functionality. Granted that many of those unused commands are essential or extremely useful to many other users, but not all will miss their absence.
When an application such as AutoCAD dominates the 2D design market as thoroughly as it does, rather than stifle the industry, it often benefits the typical CAD user. Compatibility is one area where this is evident-most low- to mid-priced CAD applications offer a fairly high degree of file-level compatibility with the DWG and DXF file formats.
For firms with a large investment of time, information, and money tied up in drawing files, AutoCAD compatibility becomes an important consideration in protecting that investment. Aside from file formats, the use of components such as linetype and hatch patterns based on ANSI or ISO standards in these low-cost alternatives also assures a level of cross-application compatibility.
Among the feature sets found in these low-cost applications are unexpected niceties such as rendering and modeling capabilities that should prove useful for a broad range of projects. These programs may not include more sophisticated 3D tools, the ability to handle huge and complex drawings, or extensive programmability, but many users won't find these low-cost alternatives lacking. Some offer tools that in certain areas go beyond the capabilities of out-of-the-box AutoCAD. User-level support for these low-cost applications via newsgroups and forums often offers a good reason to consider them.
Fewer applications are reviewed here compared with last year for several reasons. Autodesk, for example, hasn't released new versions of QuickCAD (v8) and AutoSketch (v8) since our last roundup (January 2003, p. 29, so they weren't eligible this time around. QuickCAD and AutoSketch continue to be among the best low-cost training tools for those just getting into CAD, and both run well on fairly modest systems.
Several applications cost just above our price limit ($600), and small price increases pushed several more above that barrier, including SmartSketch, PowerCAD, and AutoCAD LT. As a result, we are considering a mid-range CAD roundup later this year to reflect the changing dynamics of the low to intermediate-priced CAD scene.
Among the entries in this roundup is one program that had seemed to drop from the face of the earth: Generic CADD, now called General CADD. Despite the reduced number of inexpensive CAD applications surveyed here, the field continues to grow. This is good news for those of us who seek quality CAD alternatives at a reasonable price. Sometimes you do get a lot more than what you pay for.
ConceptDraw V Professional
Computer Systems Odessa of the Ukraine ConceptDraw V Professional from Computer Systems Odessa, a flowcharting and diagramming application that runs on Windows and Macintosh systems, includes templates to help you get started. |
Price: $349
Computer Systems Odessa of the Ukraine contributed ConceptDraw V Professional for this review, a major upgrade of its flowcharting and diagramming application for both Windows and the Macintosh OS X. Though a standard version of ConceptDraw is available, we review the Professional version here. Both Windows and Macintosh versions create files that are fully compatible with each other, as well as with ConceptDraw MINDMAP, a program for mind-mapping and brainstorming, and ConceptDraw Presenter, software for presentations and slide shows.
The nature of this software, with its intelligent objects and adeptness at technical drawings, diagrams, and charts leads to comparisons with Microsoft Visio. Indeed, ConceptDraw V Professional offers a degree of compatibility with Visio, including the ability to import XML for Visio files (VDX).
ConceptDraw V is completely redesigned to accomplish charting tasks for business and technical users. The new version features ConceptDraw Basic, a built-in scripting language that is compatible with VBA (Visual BASIC for Applications). It enables developers to create customized visualization solutions based on the ConceptDraw drawing engine. You can easily create and save intelligent objects for subsequent use. More than a hundred libraries contain predrawn shapes that you can drag and drop into any combination of drawings, diagrams, and charts. Import and export capabilities let you exchange documents with applications such as PowerPoint, AutoCAD, and Microsoft Visio.
The software supports organizational charts, process flow diagrams, network diagrams, site plans, multiple-page documents with unlimited layers, and WYSIWYG text and graphics. Solution-oriented wizards and templates help you produce final projects.
Computer Systems Odessa ConceptDraw V Professional costs $349, and an academic version is available for $199. Cross-grade and competitive upgrades are $99.
General CADD Pro v2.1.04
General CADD Products If you thought Generic CADD had disappeared, you were wrong. Now known as General CADD, it runs on a variety of Windows versions and has a New Commands menu. |
Price: $499
After Autodesk purchased Generic CADD and stopped software production in November 1996 and technical support on May 1, 1997, I never expected to review Generic CADD again.
An old favorite of many has returned in the guise of General CADD Pro v2.1, a contemporary Generic CADD that adds a variety of new features while retaining the original interface and two-letter command structure popularized by the original.
Perhaps the most apparent change is its move to Windows.
General CADD Pro runs on Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/2000/XP with 128MB or more of RAM. It supports Windows pointing devices, printers, and TrueType fonts, and support for digitizing devices such as tablets is scheduled for the next release. General CADD Pro uses a hardware dongle, which is available in USB and parallel port versions.
Although Generic CADD disappeared for a while, the installed user base never really did, so General CADD Products retain file compatibility with older GCD files and incorporate support for the AutoCAD 2002 versions of the DWG and DXF file formats. The program now supports 1,024 layers and is compatible with linetype patterns for GCD, DWG, and ISO files.
The software includes more than fifty new features, including a text editor and a new macro language. Don't worry, General CADD supports older MCR macro files and Generic CADD menus.
You can access most of the new features through a pull-down menu called New Commands. The company plans to support 3D and other features in a future release. A demo version is available from the General CADD Web site.
Long-time Generic CADD users will find themselves very much at home with the interface, which has been ported to Windows essentially unchanged. New users may find the interface a bit unusual but highly usable.
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