replacement for solidworks

[daedalus]

Hi,

I currently use solidworks and cosmos under education and student licences, as im a phd student, and i do some teaching. Ive been offered some part time CAD work, but the restrictive licence means i cant use solidworks.

I dont have £6k to blow on solidworks, especially not in order to do part time work. I wish solidworks did a better licencing scheme, would be happy to buy a 30 day commercial licence, that way i could only pay when im doing jobs.

Does anyone know any other cad packages which are:
intuitive to use
natively 3d
comparable to solidworks

that have a more reasonable price tag?

I have also used pro-E wildfire and autodesk inventor before, i cant stand pro-Engineer, and inventor isnt worth the money.

Also side question:

i know solidworks is a subscription licence, but are you forced to buy maintainance? What i mean is if you spend £6k on solidworks can you keep using the version you get indefinately, or do you loose your licence if you cease your maintainance contract?

[joecnc2006]

Originally Posted by daedalus Hi, I currently use solidworks and cosmos under education and student licences, as im a phd student, and i do some teaching. Ive been offered some part time CAD work, but the restrictive licence means i cant use solidworks. I dont have £6k to blow on solidworks, especially not in order to do part time work. I wish solidworks did a better licencing scheme, would be happy to buy a 30 day commercial licence, that way i could only pay when im doing jobs. Does anyone know any other cad packages which are: intuitive to use natively 3d comparable to solidworks that have a more reasonable price tag? I have also used pro-E wildfire and autodesk inventor before, i cant stand pro-Engineer, and inventor isnt worth the money. Also side question: i know solidworks is a subscription licence, but are you forced to buy maintainance? What i mean is if you spend £6k on solidworks can you keep using the version you get indefinately, or do you loose your licence if you cease your maintainance contract?

If it is like autodesk, you do not loose your licence you just loose the privelage of updates and new releases, I am running Civil3d2007, Civil3d2007 companion, LDDT2007, survey 2007, the package is 8,500 per licence, but when the industry calls for it you have to have it, we have 6 of them.

[lakeside]

Bobcad version 20 is on sale for $500-us not a bad price for the package

[motomitch1]

I would go with ONECNC XR 2 for sure.

[daedalus]

motomitch: if you wanna donate me your licence then sure otherwise its a bit out of my reach.

[lakeside]

Originally Posted by daedalus motomitch: if you wanna donate me your licence then sure otherwise its a bit out of my reach.

That the resoan I went with Bobcad you do get 3d solid surface modelling drawing package also a 3d cam side for $500/US thats not bad

[vacpress]

check out alibre.... www.alibre.com

this may be exactly what you want.. udner $1000, similar to solidworks, lots of support, free demo, supposedly a very nice company to deal with...

and they seem really dedicated to improving their product and adding support. i think it is obvious that in the future alibre will be a major competitor to solidworks...

www.alibre.com

[daedalus]

vacpress: thanks, have just installed the trial, and already i can make parts, didnt even have to look at the manual!

lakeside: im going to download a demo of bobcad and try it out, would be nice to have cam thrown in, but i have an edu licence to solidcam at uni, which i use for my personal projects, so its not that important for me.

[lakeside]

It Sound Like Alibre May Be Your Answer If Cam Is Not An Issue You Can Upgrade Your Alibre In The Future If You Need To