In the past I have used a free Cad programme call Draft Sight, which was free. It was great, almost the same as Autocad, but it is unfortunately no longer free. I think an annual Autocad subscription is about £1200. Are there any cheap alternatives available to purchase outright without an annual subscription?
Look into Autodesk's LT Suite. It is a bundle of AutoCAD LT and Revit LT. Heck, you can just get AutoCAD LT if that's all you need but Revit is pretty sweet. Anyways, the bundle's monthly rate is a little over a dollar a day.
What about midasCAD? I just saw a sponsored ad here on archinect, I think it said something like "FREE CAD REALLY!" before I switched my Adblocker back on...
Autocad LT is around $400 USD annually. It's not free but it is professional grade. I've been using it for 25 years and should probably upgrade to BIM but it works for me. From what I've heard, Draftsight is basically a clone so you should have a short learning curve.
oh and also does NURBS modeling, solid modeling, subdivision modeling, is compatible with all top rending engines, offers thousands of free plug-ins, offers thousands more free plug-ins for grasshopper, reads all common 2D and 3D file formats, has an open API, etc, etc, etc...
NanoCAD is almost exactly the same as autoCAD and is completely free. Its missing some of the higher functionality, but if you're trying to draw some lines on different layers and you're used to autoCAD its great.
Is there any cheap 2D CAD software available out there?
In the past I have used a free Cad programme call Draft Sight, which was free. It was great, almost the same as Autocad, but it is unfortunately no longer free. I think an annual Autocad subscription is about £1200. Are there any cheap alternatives available to purchase outright without an annual subscription?
2mm graphite and velum.
AutoPAD - Automatic Pencil Assisted Design
Look into Autodesk's LT Suite. It is a bundle of AutoCAD LT and Revit LT. Heck, you can just get AutoCAD LT if that's all you need but Revit is pretty sweet. Anyways, the bundle's monthly rate is a little over a dollar a day.
£300/year is a lot more attractive than £1200 per year :-)
What about midasCAD? I just saw a sponsored ad here on archinect, I think it said something like "FREE CAD REALLY!" before I switched my Adblocker back on...
TIL that there are adds on this site.
Was updating my browser and plugins...the ads are done quite well even!
Autocad LT is around $400 USD annually. It's not free but it is professional grade. I've been using it for 25 years and should probably upgrade to BIM but it works for me. From what I've heard, Draftsight is basically a clone so you should have a short learning curve.
Rhino is under $1000, and it isn't annual so you own it forever. If you teach or are a student it is $200.
Has all the functionality of 2D cad with a straightforward interface that is still command-line based.
oh and also does NURBS modeling, solid modeling, subdivision modeling, is compatible with all top rending engines, offers thousands of free plug-ins, offers thousands more free plug-ins for grasshopper, reads all common 2D and 3D file formats, has an open API, etc, etc, etc...
NanoCAD is almost exactly the same as autoCAD and is completely free. Its missing some of the higher functionality, but if you're trying to draw some lines on different layers and you're used to autoCAD its great.
I just checked, Nanocad is subscription @ $180/year.
I use DraftSight, personally.
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Draft Sight standard £79/year. Sounds like that is the cheapest Autocad style software available.
I like Draft Sight too, I need to check what they now charge.
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