AutoCad Purchase

[Benton]

Need some advice. Trying to find the most economical route to purchasing autocad? I notice that the MEP is pretty expensive, any suggestions?

 

[tkb]

What do you plan on doing with AutoCAD?
Do you realy need MEP?

I haven't seen the need for it yet.
If you don't need 3D you can go for LT for about $1,000

 

[Benton]

Just basic design for commercial and maybe some residential. I don't need the 3D.

 

[cadpoint]

Your probably going to be ok with LT.

I would certainly do some reading up on the differences! It truely is a Lite version.

You should at least do some light reading on file transfering; IE if your supplied with existing drawings from older versions of ACAD. Sometimes people attach fonts and blocks libraries, (you name it), etc. to the a file which might error in Lite. That is they will not transfer.

If your only creating drawings, go for it.

 

[tkb]

LT sounds right for you.
The fonts that error would be from drawings that you may get from others.
LT will substitute the default font.

Have you ever used a cad program.
You have to realize that you draw every line.
You can save blocks for future insertion.

Just to edit drawings from others or to create drawings for construction, LT should be just fine and a good place to start before you decide to spend the big bucks for full blown AutoCad or MEP.

 

[Benton]

LT sounds right for you.
The fonts that error would be from drawings that you may get from others.
LT will substitute the default font.

Have you ever used a cad program.
You have to realize that you draw every line.
You can save blocks for future insertion.

Just to edit drawings from others or to create drawings for construction, LT should be just fine and a good place to start before you decide to spend the big bucks for full blown AutoCad or MEP.

I've never worked with it before and I agree with you as far as starting with LT. I was thinking of taking a course, any thoughts?

 

[tkb]

I've never worked with it before and I agree with you as far as starting with LT. I was thinking of taking a course, any thoughts?

I never took a course, I taught myself with AutoCad 12 for DOS.
I found that the best way to learn was to have a project in mind and do some experimenting.

I am sure there are courses somewhere near you at a community college.
There are also tutorials and books.

 

[hmspe]

I'd suggest you look at Bricscad from www.bricsys.com. It's good enough that my staff uses it instead of Autocad. $505 for the pro version, $395 for the classic version. We have not had any problems with compatibility with Autocad. All of our custom LISP files run fine. They have a free time limited demo.

From my experience Autocad LT is not adequate for serious work since it has very little capability for customization. The lisp routines we use are partly written in-house and partly purchased. They cut our design time about in half.

 

[zbang]

There's also TurboCAD and DoubleCad (and many more out there). You probably don't need 'autocad', just a cad package.

 

[ZinskI/E]

If you're up for a little exploration, QCad is a decent drafting program. It's completely free, just have to run Linux to use it.

 

[hmspe]

There's also TurboCAD and DoubleCad (and many more out there). You probably don't need 'autocad', just a cad package.

That depends on what the OP plans to do with the cad program. If it is strictly for use in their office any program will do. If they need to share files with others they need a program that is compatible with what the client uses. I have owned several of the alternatives and most did not work all that when sharing files with Autocad when I tested them. They may have improved. An example -- when I last tested it, one of the other programs mentioned in the thread worked more like a word processor than a cad program for text. Word processors work with point sizes. Compare 12 point Times New Roman with 12 point Microsoft Himalaya in a Word processor. The character heights are very different. Autocad sizes text like in hand drafting where 1/4" high text is really 1/4" tall. If programs don't handle text the same way a drawing may look very different in the two programs.

In any case, be sure to test for compatibility if you need to share files.

 

[tkb]

If you are doing residential then one of those other toy cad programs might work for you, but if you are working commercial and sharing files with other contractors, engineers or customers then AutoCAD is what you need to be compatible in the real world.

 

[zbang]

I've found that most/all of the 'real' alternatives (not the $19.95 ones) make it a point to be compatible, that's the only way they can retain commercial users. For instance, I haven't had an autocad drawing so far that doublecad wouldn't open. The bigger problems are usually version compatibility (when one company is using acad2010 and the other has autocad2004), or when one uses some extension that the other doesn't have.

OTOH, the only way to be truly compatible is to have the same thing. If you an afford it, that's great.

 

[mivey]

I'd suggest you look at Bricscad from www.bricsys.com. It's good enough that my staff uses it instead of Autocad. $505 for the pro version, $395 for the classic version. We have not had any problems with compatibility with Autocad. All of our custom LISP files run fine. They have a free time limited demo.

That is going to be my next CAD purchase

There's also TurboCAD and DoubleCad (and many more out there). You probably don't need 'autocad', just a cad package.

I have had AutoCAD and TurboCAD. TurboCAD was great in that it was much cheaper but I hate not having LISP. I like the way I can customize AutoCAD and the way it operates but hate the expense.

Bricscad will be my next experiment as I was just about ready to go back to AutoCAD from TurboCAD.

 

[Ragin Cajun]

I have used Auto Cad since 1988. The ability to use LISP, block insertion, interface with other professionals, and customization features are ABSOLUTELY critical. I could not work without those features.

RC

 

[mivey]

I have used Auto Cad since 1988. The ability to use LISP, block insertion, interface with other professionals, and customization features are ABSOLUTELY critical. I could not work without those features.

RC

I have been using AutoCAD it since about 1985 (version 2.1). I too find the customizing critical. I tried TurboCAD because it worked with my FloorPlan software. It also said it would transfer between AutoCAD and it does somewhat. They kept promising a software developer kit for customizing but I've found that to be weak.

Supposedly BricsCAD is pretty seamless but time will tell.

 

[straynote6]

Keep it simple

Keep it simple

If all you want to do is create drawings quickly, try EZ Schematics

 

[GeorgeB]

I have been using AutoCAD it since about 1985 (version 2.1). I too find the customizing critical.

Supposedly BricsCAD is pretty seamless but time will tell.

While we are talking the old days, I used 1.4 which ran on a CP/M system with an 8086 coprocessor.

The menu customization is what kept me there ... there were about 35 or 40 co-workers who used it and we had a tremendous (for us) symbols library and menu. None of the clones worked similarly ... but then, newer versions didn't either. I still use LT2002 because the work to redo in 2004 was not worth it. I own 2004 (as an upgrade) and consider it a waste of money ... FOR MY USE.

 

[weressl]

That depends on what the OP plans to do with the cad program. If it is strictly for use in their office any program will do. If they need to share files with others they need a program that is compatible with what the client uses. I have owned several of the alternatives and most did not work all that when sharing files with Autocad when I tested them. They may have improved. An example -- when I last tested it, one of the other programs mentioned in the thread worked more like a word processor than a cad program for text. Word processors work with point sizes. Compare 12 point Times New Roman with 12 point Microsoft Himalaya in a Word processor. The character heights are very different. Autocad sizes text like in hand drafting where 1/4" high text is really 1/4" tall. If programs don't handle text the same way a drawing may look very different in the two programs.

In any case, be sure to test for compatibility if you need to share files.

*.dxf (Drawing eXchange Format) transfer between CAD systems assures a higher compatibility than the exporting features that attempt to do way too much and loaded with a lot of info your average electrical drawing could care less about. Most of the Vendor stuff is available in that format. So if you need the architectural, Civil, Plumbing backgrounds just aske them to suply it in that format. ALL CAD programs have DXF export feature.

 

[ggunn]

I've never worked with it before and I agree with you as far as starting with LT. I was thinking of taking a course, any thoughts?

I recommend http://www.lynda.com. It's a subscription service, and for $37.50/mo you can take all the courses you want with downloadable example files. That's how I got my start in AutoCAD. I started off trying to work with AutoDesk's online tutorials, and they were (IMO) terrible.