Cadalyst - January 2008 - (Page 19)

cadlabsreview What We Requested It will come as no surprise that product costs, along with just about everything else, have continued to escalate, but Cadalyst still was able to keep the $800 upper price limit for budget CAD applications for this 2008 review the same as it was last year. We invited several vendors to submit applications and reviewed only those that had been updated significantly since last January. Some vendors did not respond, and others hadn’t updated their applications. Despite these factors, Cadalyst received even more applications to review than last year. Obviously, there is a lot of interest in economical CAD applications, as this category of design software continues to grow steadily. Users now get even more for their money, because the increased competition has kept prices low while the applications themselves have become more capable. This group of applications have greater diversification, with budget CAD moving into slightly more specialized areas. For example, this roundup includes a solid modeler as well as applications geared toward AEC users. This move toward specialization is a product of both customer demand and the need for products to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market. What hasn’t changed is the fact that everyone likes a good deal. The low-cost CAD applications covered in this article are all moderately priced (one even is free), yet they offer surprisingly rich feature sets and some useful capabilities that haven’t yet made their way into high-priced applications. If you need a design application but can’t justify making your budget stretch to include the perseat licensing fees of major applications such as AutoCAD, you’ll find a remarkable amount of depth and flexibility in the products reviewed here. You get a significant amount of the functionality at a small fraction of the cost of the major design applications — definitely a good deal for all con- cerned. Depending upon your needs, one of these capable applications may be all you need to get your job done. Alibre Design Xpress Plus Alibre 877.525.4273 www.alibre.com Price: $249; $349 with Alibre PhotoRender Alibre Design Xpress Plus is targeted toward 3D CAD beginners or users who require an entry-level application that offers much of the functionality of professional-level software. With its user-friendly interface and standardized workflow, Alibre Design Xpress Plus is easy to understand and approachable. Unlike most entry-level programs, Design Xpress Plus offers a remarkably rich set of features. Users with experience designing in 3D will find much to like, but those moving from 2D to 3D really will find this software an easy way to make the transition. Design Xpress Plus offers sophisticated parametric solid modeling capabilities, feature creation tools, assemblies, and the ability to create 2D drawings automatically. In Alibre Design Xpress Plus, designs can have as many as 30 unique parts per assembly. It provides access to advanced modeling tools such as design Booleans, lofts, sweeps, and shelling. Part-modeling capabilities include intelligent sketching with automatic constraint capture and feature-based modeling with parametric history, mirroring, and pattern creation. Users even can check for interference or access measurement tools and the physical property calculator. The recommended hardware for running Alibre Design Xpress Plus is a system with an Intel Pentium or equivalent processor running at 800 MHz or faster, 512 MB of RAM, a 16- or 32-bit color DirectX 9.0c graphics card that has at least 64 MB of onboard RAM, and a monitor capable of at least a 1,024 Alibre Design Xpress Plus is for 3D CAD beginners or users who want an entry-level application that offers much of the functionality of professional software. x 768 resolution display — although 1,280 x 1,024 is recommended. You’ll also need 200 MB of hard disk space, 800 MB of virtual memory space, a CDROM drive for installation, and a mouse or other pointing device. If you expect to be working on a design with more than 500 parts, you should use a system with a 2 GHz or faster Intel Pentium or equivalent processor, 1,024 MB of RAM or more, and virtual memory of 1,000 MB. If you plan on using Alibre Design Xpress Plus with Microsoft Windows Vista, you’ll need a 1 GHz or faster Pentium or equivalent processor (2 GHz or faster with more than 500 parts), 1,024 MB of RAM, and a 32-bit color video card with at least 128 MB of onboard RAM. I evaluated Alibre Design Xpress Plus on a system with Windows XP with 2 GB of RAM and found it to be both nimble and responsive, even when working with larger models. Alibre Design Xpress Plus is priced at $249; with Alibre PhotoRender, the price only rises to $349. These prices are remarkably good for an application as capable and well designed as this one. For the additional $100 cost, Alibre PhotoRender adds such features as texture mapping, ray tracing, transparency, and refraction capabilities that enable visualization of the design. Alibre PhotoRender is included at no charge in Alibre Design Professional and Expert versions of the software. Tutorials are integrated into the product and are updated via the Internet when new versions are available; printed tutorials are available as well. In www.cadalyst.com | cadalyst | January 2008 19 http://www.alibre.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - January 2008

Cadalyst - January 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Chasing the Dolphins CAD that Won’t Break the Bank AliasStudio 2008 — Design and Visualization Software VectorWorks 2008 — CAD/BIM Authoring Software Dell Precision M4300 — Mobile Workstation What’s in Store for 2008? Low- or No-Cost CAD Goliath Reinvented Doin’ the DEED Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes The Return of Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - January 2008

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