Viacad Pro V9 on the Cheap!

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    Default Viacad Pro V9 on the Cheap!

    Right now, PunchCad has a promo for $30.00 off using promo code PROV9. Expires: Jan 22, 2014.
    Last month I picked up ViaCad Pro V7 for $45.49 shipped on Amazon (you can probably get it cheaper). The price to upgrade to ViaCad Pro V9 from any previous Pro version is $99.99. Minus the $30.00 promo brings the price down to $69.99. For a total investment of $115.48, I now have great 2D/3D Cad software package!

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    I already have V8 pro....

    Can't seem to find anything to compare V8 to V9.
    They mention 3D printing... (I have a printer)
    So I wonder if I could benefit from it?

    My Build: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cnc_router_table_machines/113711-my_build_-_many_thanks.html


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    I think they were implementing some improvements to the STL export that would benefit 3d printing. I can't think of anything else that would make it any better for that purpose than V8. There are considerably updates throughout the program that are worthwhile including a new approach to how the screen is drawn, supposedly improving the visual smoothness of the 2d geometry. I didn't notice the difference in the beta, but I've got a pretty solid workstation and it may be more apparent with a lower end computer. It appears that there will eventually be a 64 bit Windows version, which in and of itself would be a huge update. I'll be updating if and when that is released.

    Another thing that I don't know if it got put into the final version was a reverse engineering type operation where you could import an STL or mesh file and have it converted to a solid model geometry instead of a mesh. This would also be a huge addition IMHO.



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    I just picked up V7 Pro on fleabay for $34. Is it worth it to buy the upgrade to V9?



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    Registered Michaelofburien's Avatar
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    So for my $34 I got a DVD with V7 Pro on it. Registered just fine and works very nicely so far. So I reiterate, is the $99 worth it for the V9 Pro upgrade from V7 Pro?



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    Sorry can't really answer your question. I never used 7, I started with 8 2d/3d and liked it enough to go pro. I would think/hope there is stability improvements with the latest ver. Also I am expecting the 64 bit ver when released.



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    i am not a fan of coupon gimmickry............. just price the damn thing right and be done with it.
    50OFF still works, got my upgrade to v9 Pro at an acceptable upgrade price

    the upgrade model is kinda sucky imho. it should be you buy, and with that you get free upgrades for 1yr, free updates for life, and a good discount rate for upgrades after the initial 1yr has expired, etc. thus if the vendor pushes 10 upgrade versions in 10 months, we dont have to pay for 10 upgrades, etc.



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    Quote Originally Posted by CNC_Kid View Post
    i am not a fan of coupon gimmickry............. just price the damn thing right and be done with it.
    50OFF still works, got my upgrade to v9 Pro at an acceptable upgrade price

    the upgrade model is kinda sucky imho. it should be you buy, and with that you get free upgrades for 1yr, free updates for life, and a good discount rate for upgrades after the initial 1yr has expired, etc. thus if the vendor pushes 10 upgrade versions in 10 months, we dont have to pay for 10 upgrades, etc.
    I think they only release a new version every several years, so I guess I don't agree that they have a bad upgrade policy at all. If anything, their upgrade policies are very pro-consumer on the whole. First, you can upgrade to Pro at a discount from 2d/3d for less (in total including the 2d/3d purchase) than the full purchase price of Pro, but not just from the current 2d/3d, from any 2d/3d product. You could have got several years worth of use out of a program that you may have bought for less than $50, which may be a version old, yet you can upgrade to the current Pro version for a very reasonable rate. You can upgrade from Pro to a newer version of Pro for $99 (full price, so less on sale), but again that is from ANY version of Pro, so it is not necessary or required that you stay current to take advantage of upgrade pricing. You could go from Pro V6 to Pro V9 for the same price as Pro 8 to Pro 9. Very few companies allow that kind of upgrade, so again I think it's very generous.

    On top of those factors, I think that the software is already extremely competitively priced even without any discounts applied. I would challenge anyone to find a CAD system with the same level of capabilities as Viacad Pro for even the full price. The figure that few actually pay the full price since sales are commonplace and there is no way there is another product that has this level of capability out there for the $150 or so that most pay for it. I guess that I feel like the software is more comparable to software costing closer the the $600-1200 range in practice, and this will be particularly true once the 64 bit version is finally available for PCs. For the price of a $500 piece of CAD software, which is still a very budget end of the spectrum, you can purchase an initial copy of Viacad Pro, then upgrade for another 3-8 times depending on sales. If they release a new version once every 2-3 years, you're looking at a full decade of updates for the same price as just the initial cost of a product which runs $500.

    I guess I find it really hard to complain about the pricing structure of Viacad when it already provides more capability than anything I've personally used for up to 4 times what I've paid for Viacad Pro. There just is no way they could ever make the product any less expensive than it already is. Really, we're talking about a full 3d CAD system with very sophisticated licensed technology for $125 (full) and $50 (upgrade) when purchased on sale. They don't get to use the ACIS kernel for free (as well as other technologies I'm guessing), so keep in mind that these licenses cost them money as well which goes to pay the licensing to other developers. Then you have to figure in a couple years of developing time on each release, which needs to be recovered as well. They do have to make a profit or none of us would have this fantastic product to begin with.



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    mmoe,
    i suspect then, the other stuff is over-priced. if you broke it down $ per feature, $99 from v8 to v9 is a very expensive upgrade. this is same model as what dealers do when you upgrade your navi dvd disc, they charge ~$300 in some cases, and for what, just a fraction of the actual data has changed. but for me, i dont pay for my navi dvd upgrades.

    so, i partially agree with you. thus far ViaCAD is letting me do what i need to do with CAD, hopefully i can learn to wiz through it like Tim does in his videos......



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    Registered Michaelofburien's Avatar
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    Well that went off the rails quickly. But thanks all.



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    Just upgraded from V8 3D to V9 Pro and used 50OFF. ~$65. At that price why not go pro.
    Mike

    Warning: DIY CNC may cause extreme hair loss due to you pulling your hair out.


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    Quote Originally Posted by TOTALLYRC View Post
    Just upgraded from V8 3D to V9 Pro and used 50OFF. ~$65. At that price why not go pro.
    Mike
    True enough. How did you get $50 off?

    Oh 50OFF I get it. I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks all.

    Last edited by Michaelofburien; 03-06-2014 at 11:49 AM.


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