Looking for a CAD program with some specific capabilities.

[aptivaboy]

Hi all,

I'm an intermediate CAD user currently using Alibre Design. I really like it for its ease of use, but it cannot do certain things. I would like a CAD program that can do certain things the Alibre cannot, like adding weld lines, surface plating (like on warship hulls), extruding cuts and surfaces to curved surfaces like airfoils and hulls again, and so on. I can make basic hulls in Alibre, but the program cannot do the sort of detailing and surfacing to really make 3-D printing of these parts and models worthwhile.

Any ideas? I have 2-3 hundred hundred dollars to spend, potentially. I'm not averse to doing the bulk of the work in Alibre and then exporting to another program to do the surfacing, so a surfacing or detailing plug in or other standalone program would be fine.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Bob

[rtwpsom2]

For $200-300, I have no idea, but SolidWorks does all those things and I can't say I ever actually paid for it...

[AllianceModelWorks]

solidwork/solidedge are good for the inorganic contour, surfaces, curvatures. From my personal experience though, autodesk programs are just as good, and slightly more friendly when you need other programs to help out.

for the weldbeads you'd need something dedicated to organic sculpting, zbrush probably best option right now.

legit copies are expansive, there are always other ways.

[Patman]

If you are a sutdent or teacher, you can get an academic license of Rhino for u$ 195 or a commercial one for 995u$. They are no difference between versions.
As for another NURBS CAD, Autodesk Alias design, academic versions are free, but commercial licenses are more expensive.
NURBS CAD systems are not 100% parametric as Solidworks but you can do both; accurate double curvature surfaces and complex intersections that most solid modelers can�t and also more mechanical shapes.
In addition to that Alias and Rhino are compatible with any solid package able to import IGES files, so you can model hulls in Rhino and export it to SW for the engineering.
Below are a couple of Guppy sails I�m doing in Alias.

Saludos

Patricio

[MatthewB]

A quick shout out for Smith Micro's ViaCAD.

It isn't quite AutoCAD, Alias, or Solidworks, but it is a very decent program, and it too can import a variety of file formats from other programs.

I am just now transitioning to it from Maya for doing solid-line/Hard-edge surfaces. I plan to do a few WWII ships for which there are no current kits. And so far it seems to have everything I need.

One other point.

Autodesk's RIVET has a naval architecture package that can be purchased, and then building ships is just a matter of point-click for most things (and then adjusting parameters). But it can be daunting to get fine detailed parts, and it can be expensive to maintain.

MB