Linux CAD
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:56 pm
If you don't run Linux or ever plan to this thread won't be very helpful to you unless you want some free CAD programs that work on Linux (both I describe can run on Windows, though it'll probably take some tweaking). Alibre Xpress is a good free 3D CAD program for Windows.
Recently I've been looking for a good free 3D CAD program for Linux. I was ready to hunker down some money for a more fully featured CAD program until I ran across GraphiteOne. The free version is a little old but still plenty adequate for what I want to do. I barely know anything about how to operate it but it should be more than adequate for what I want to do, and if it's not, I can modify the source code to do that I want (it's somewhat-free software).
For kicks I've attached a screenshot so you can get an idea of what it the program is like. The object shown is an air cylinder I bought off McMaster-Carr. GraphiteOne can import and export a good amount of file formats so I had no problem importing this.
I stopped for a while on BRL-CAD but there's a few reasons why I didn't like BRL-CAD. While it is a fully developed and workable CAD system, it's interface is rather poor and it's too complicated for my purposes. The main difference is that it uses constructive solid geometry (CSG) rather than the boundary representation (Brep) that most CAD systems use. Basically, you make objects by making combinations, differences, and taking what's common between basic 3D shapes. There's a few reasons why BRL-CAD uses that but none of them really apply to me, so there is no advantage to CSG for me.
Recently I've been looking for a good free 3D CAD program for Linux. I was ready to hunker down some money for a more fully featured CAD program until I ran across GraphiteOne. The free version is a little old but still plenty adequate for what I want to do. I barely know anything about how to operate it but it should be more than adequate for what I want to do, and if it's not, I can modify the source code to do that I want (it's somewhat-free software).
For kicks I've attached a screenshot so you can get an idea of what it the program is like. The object shown is an air cylinder I bought off McMaster-Carr. GraphiteOne can import and export a good amount of file formats so I had no problem importing this.
I stopped for a while on BRL-CAD but there's a few reasons why I didn't like BRL-CAD. While it is a fully developed and workable CAD system, it's interface is rather poor and it's too complicated for my purposes. The main difference is that it uses constructive solid geometry (CSG) rather than the boundary representation (Brep) that most CAD systems use. Basically, you make objects by making combinations, differences, and taking what's common between basic 3D shapes. There's a few reasons why BRL-CAD uses that but none of them really apply to me, so there is no advantage to CSG for me.