http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/download-draftsight/

These are the folks that make Catia & SolidWorks.

It looks like a promising package and it's cross-platform.

g.

Hello Gene,

I use this program. Quite decent 2D software. Definitely can be used as a free alternative of the AutoCAD (it is close to the AutoCAD2002 what was the best version imho). It is user friendly and fast. On the other side this is no good for 3D design, it is for 2D only. Therefore I don`t use it for designing, only to edit old AutoCad files.

my 2 cents

MM

Uh, yeah. It's a *CAD* program, not a *modeling* program.

g.

I can see a great use for this program in 2D CNC. I use DesignCad (from the makers of TurboCad) but this one seems to have a better layer function (which I have been wanting). Thanks for posting this Gene!

David

You're quite welcome. I've spent a bit of time working with it and every text AutoCAD command I've entered (pedit, radus, etc) has worked as expected. I think that this package is going to do a great deal of damage to the likes of AutoCAD Lite & the IMSI 2D products. When you throw in the fact that it's also available for MacOS and Linux - both of which have been lacking a best of breed CAD package (maybe Linux more so than Macintosh), you've got a real Juggernaut on your hands.

I need to spend some time learning the ins and outs of Google SketchUp. My friend Wayne makes that sucker sing - it's really impressive to watch. He'll work out a design in SketchUp, then flip over to AutoCAD to make up the flat pattern drawings. We feed it to VCarve Pro 6, and tada! Instant parts. Inventor is still good for doing fit checks though - at least that's all I use it for now days. If it had AutoCAD style construction lines, I'd be a lot more interested in using it.

g.

Speaking of V-Carve Pro 6, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they gave me a free upgrade to v.6 from v5.5. That is good customer service.

Back on topic;

Unfortunatly I do not know Autocad commands as DesignCad (IMSI) uses completely different commands. But I will find those that I use the most and make myself a cheat sheet

I have a copy of AutoCad thru the Student Evaluation Program but have not spent any time learning it. I really should as I will not be eligible to use it much longer.

I have some new switch panels to make up this weekend for my rollout simpit and look forward to giving this program a spin.

David

I've had to use the free ProgeCAD version as a temporary replacement for AutoCAD and it was fine for the job we wanted it to do, but I only spend maybe 5% of my work time in an AutoCAD environment. About 8-9 years ago I was doing a lot of 3D work in AutoCAD, creating and assembling vacuum piping and components. I was at home flipping between UCS and WCS, extruding and subtracting shapes and enjoying the work. But for the last 8 years I'm using mostly ProEngineer (2000i^2/2001/Wildfire) for the work I do.

Draftsight sounds good.

I switch between CAD and ProDesktop (students version of ProEngineer) for all our stuff.Our main websites down but here is a screeni:)

Hey, thanks for the link Gene. I just installed it and it looks to be pretty good.
Amazing what you can get for free nowadays really!