If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, but get a powerful piece of software that will require an investment in learning how to do basic drawing, I’d totally go with ViaCAD.The question is if I want to spend that much time learning, as opposed to just doing. I believe with the investment of time, and watching the tutorial videos, I’d be able to become proficient in the tool and make some neat things. I found some features in ViaCAD acted in confusing and weird ways, and there was a lot of unfamiliar terminology, but that may be because I’m not a traditional CAD software user (I’m probably more of a “3D modeler”). However, SketchUp still wins for simplicity in creating and editing objects for a first-time, or basic, user. ViaCAD is a powerful piece of software, and totally worth the $99 for the basic version. Note that the full install was 1.5GB, mostly due to the videos. There are video tutorials built-in for just about everything you can do, though not searchable per-specific feature (e.g.: the “boss” tool can be found in “Editing 3D Solids”).While ViaCAD didn’t have any issues installing on my Mac, I can’t say speak to how it installs on a Windows machine I’d be cautious just on past experience with another member of the “family” (one bad apple spoiling the bunch, and all) I’ve had really bad experiences with purchasing Hoyle apps in the past on Windows, including battles with their horrible DRM–for a simple card game–that required many emails to customer support just to get the thing installed. ViaCAD 3D is developed by a company called Punch! Software, which is part of a family of software companies (apparently), including Hoyle, Broderbund, Bicycle (cards), and Encore.I was personally never worried because the version I had still worked and would continue to work as long as my computer lasted. A few months later and it seems that we still have a free SketchUp, there’s even been an update, and there’s no more talk of it going away. However, I want to start by saying that my previous post looking at Bonzai 3D was based on the then-current talk online about SketchUp’s sale to Trimble, and whether or not a free version might continue to exist. I’ll give specific insights here or there, but nothing as narrative as normal. Basically the “tl dr” version, though it’s still kind-of long. I was prepared to write a lengthy piece about this bit of software, but I decided instead to go with a thoughts/pros/cons-type format, and a summary. For $99, ViaCAD has a great price, but does the software have what it takes to make me use it? Always on the lookout for good software to use to easily design things to 3D print, I was excited to see a comment by Yuri in one of my earlier posts pointing me to ViaCAD.
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