What is Reddit's opinion of
BricsCAD?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
37 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Free for 30 days only AFAICT: https://www.bricsys.com/common/download.jsp
Not seeing a free license option at: https://help.bricsys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006554494-License-Options
Is there some hidden page with a free download which doesn't time out?
Any of the popular distros will work. Eventually you'll develop preferences for a particular distro but it's not that important to start out with as long as the distribution is well supported. You'll need to dual-boot to use AutoCAD since they don't offer a Linux native client, although you could look into BricsCAD as a cross-platform alternative.
AutoDesk are another long-time culprit, threatening several kinds of legal action to any whose software produces compatible files. I know of one or two who switched to BricsCAD but I'm not sure if their AutoLisp implementation is perfect. i think newer versions of AutoCAD can optionally use Microsoft proprietary COM/DCOM which would be a nightmare to support on any other OS. You have to be strategic when working your way out of these corners.
Any organization that "must use" only a certain brand of anything is actively creating for themselves a legacy situation that's going to cost them plenty. That's how organizations end up paying many millions of dollars for mainframe leases and legacy software that doesn't fundamentally perform any function you can't do with the computer sitting on your desk.
Everyone should be able to do their work without needing to rely on one piece of software. If something were to happen to Linux, we have BSD and IllumOS. If LibreOffice and OpenOffice are no longer options, we have Calligra Suite and at least two commercial office suites. If Chromium is problematic there's Firefox and several less well known browsers. I can edit my text-based file formats with any text editor I choose, and my choice varies over time and by task.
Not mentioned in the sidebar but working it's way up: BricsCAD. You can use it for all your mentioned engineering disciplines + there are specialised apps available in the BricsCAD "app store": https://www.bricsys.com/common/applications/?utm_source=store&utm_medium=apps&utm_campaign=store
I don't know if this helps or not. Since people have been recommending cleaning up drawings in autocad first maybe look at bricscad. It's kind of an autocad clone but with decent direct 3d modeling and the Shape product is free and tries to give it a more Sketchup like interface. Personally I think it's better than either autocad or sketchup.
It may give a more sketchup like interface to help clean up autocad drawings.
To clarify, Bricscad Shape is 100% free forever and is targeted specifically at conceptual architectural models, like the dream house.
The download & installation does include a 30 day trial of the entire Bricscad package. Naturally, they hope you'll be intrigued and purchase a license at one of the other levels. After the 30 days, though, the free Shape license is still active.
Try BricsCAD Shape. Lots of stock parts, can import 3rd-party items, includes 3D modeling.
Budget = free.
ETA Whoops -- forgot to add that it can export to STL.
Instead of AutoCAD
... try Bricscad; it is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and has professional support from the vendor.
- https://www.bricsys.com/en-intl/bricscad/compare/ comparison with autocad
- https://www.bricsys.com/common/download.jsp trial available for Windows and Linux so you can try it out before switching to Linux
Side note: I’ve not used Bricscad before and my only AutoCAD experience was in college making basic things like wine glasses and flywheels. I learned about Briscad in this thread https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/autocad-support-for-linux-becoming-a-major-management-decision/m-p/7218672/highlight/true#M888057
You could take a look at BricsCAD (BIM). It enables you to design like SketchUp (pull/push), put in in your BIM data and make detailed 2D sections. Everything is done in .DWG, so you will learn it very quickly, and they have perpetual licenses for a good price. They also have a free trial for 30 days, tutorial movies and ebooks so you can get started very quickly :) It's like an AutoCAD on steroids and with a customer centric mindset :p
ArchiCAD en Revit are also very good but I think, for what you do, it's overkill and expensive.
I use two proprietary CAD products on Linux;
BricsCAD which is very very good, though the Linux version lags behind Windows a little; I suspect the Linux version is a completely separate branch from Windows version.
VariCAD very powerful, but the GUI is a mess of icons, I've tried asking them to update their UX paradigm before, but no-go. Still an excellent product though.
Both of these are compatible with DXF and DWG format, both a fairly cheap compared to other offerings too. Personally I prefer BricsCAD, which has a brilliant renderer (third party). Oh and both have student deals, BricsCAD is free while VariCAD is $100usd
A year ago I would have recommended AutoCAD (been a user since the 90's) but for the OP's purposes it is impossible to go past BricsCAD. The same, or more, functionality than AutoCAD and is 75% cheaper!
https://www.bricsys.com/en_INTL/
I am operations manager (and design draftsman) for a consulting engineering firm, we transitioned some users from AutoCAD to BricsCAD with minimal disruption and plan to move more across next year. The 3D capabilities are equal-to or better than AutoCAD. The command system and user environment is extremely similar so AutoCAD-BricsCAD transition downtime is minimal.
Yes, actually you need at least BricsCAD version Pro to run it. When you download the 30day trial (and register) you automatically get to use BricsCAD Platinum. There's no demo video available at the moment. BIM Module page: https://www.bricsys.com/common/applications/application.jsp?app=70&apploc=1123
I tried BricsCad demo a while back and was really impressed. It models more like Sketchup, and has some elements of Microstation, and Acad interface.
The workflow is quite different , but other than that I hope to make the jump from Reivt soon.
Grab a copy of Bricscad Shape. It's genuinely free, built around an industrial-strength 3D CAD modeling engine, and is designed to do just the sort of thing you're looking for.
BricsCAD Shape. Free and should do what you're looking for. Runs on Mac OSX 10.13 or higher.
Note that Shape and the other license levels are all part of the same installation. There's a 30 day trial version of everything; after the trial period you can run Shape (free perpetual license).
Try BricsCAD's Shape. It's free and targeted at architectural visualization. They want you to buy the full-up BIM version, of course, but Shape ought to do what you're looking for.
Get a copy of BricsCAD Shape. It's free, made to make building models, and can export to STL. It's more or less their version of "BIM lite."
Plus, I'm pretty sure that the current download of Shape is the full version of BricsCAD for 30 days, so you get to play with all of the goodies.
> I also want AutoCAD and Revit at home
Maybe BricsCAD? https://www.bricsys.com/estore/
To summarise:
Classic = AutoCAD LT
Pro = AutoCAD
Platinum = no direct comparison
Mechanical = AutoDesk Inventor
BIM = Revit
Ultimate = Kinda AutoDesk Arch, Eng & Construction Collection
The GUI is largely the same as AutoCAD. The system resources for BricsCAD are waaaaaaay less than any AutoDesk product, it's written far better than AutoDesk. BricsCAD is happy to run on a 1GHz processor with 1GB RAM and <2GB HDD space. No requirement for GPU.
The owners of buildings which are sufficiently interesting or well known as to be viable for sale of reproductions to the general public have almost certainly secured the legal rights to commercial use of all representations of said structures. td;dr: have a lawyer on staff.
With that out of the way, take a look at BricsCAD Shape. It is made to produce conceptual models of buildings (not full BIM), it's free, and it can export to STL.
BricsCAD BIM should but it's expensive (especially for shits and grins).
BricsCAD Shape might import it and it's free. Or, draw it up again in Shape. That shouldn't take too long if you have dimensioned drawings/PDFs to reference.
BricsCAD Shape. 100% free, reads/writes DWG, 3D modeler, has library of doors/windows/etc. It's not fully BIM-ified (they obviously prefer that you buy the full version for that) but for presentations it ought to be just the thing.
Bricscad Shape is free and great for architectural visualization. Full 3D modeler and a generous library of shapes for windows, furniture, etc.
Shape saves to DWG format but in and of itself it won't do plans and elevations. They want you to buy the full version of Bricscad for that. However, you should be able to import the DWG files into a less expensive alternative like CMS Intellicad PE Plus. CMS offers a free 30-day trial license and the full perpetual license is less than $300.
CMS Intellicad, permanent full commercial license about US$300 for their 3D modeling package (ACIS solids) or BricsCAD, permanent licenses somewhat more expensive but the package has more bells and whistles. You can download each as fully working but time limited packages.
CMS Intellicad is based on the Intellicad Technology Consortium's codebase. I used if for years before switching to BricsCAD because ... who the hell remembers (I guess I are old). BricsCAD also used to be based on Intellicad but they rewrote the kernel to move the code in-house (and passed an audit by Intellicad that the code was clean).
Try BricsCAD's Shape. Free, lots of tools, comes with multiple insertable objects (windows, doors, etc.), saves to DWG, exports to STL. Did I mention it's free?
CMS Intellicad is probably the best bang for the buck. Perpetual license for the PE+ version (includes solid modeling (ACIS)) is only about US$280. Their codebase is licensed from the Intellicad consortium.
A little farther up the price line is BricsCAD. Perpetual and annual licenses available. Own codebase; they were Intellicad-based but they did an in-house rewrite.
Both are pretty Autocad compatible, dwg format, LISP, etc. Both offer demo versions.
You cannot buy second hand Autodesk products legally since 2008: see Vernor v. Autodesk
Another option is to buy an Autocad clone instead. Bricscad's features and performance is about on par with autocad, and you can still buy it. Other "clones" exist as well, you can find a cheaper suitable alternative if your client doesn't need all of the features of Autocad.
Bricsys Shape is a free pro-grade app -https://www.bricsys.com/en-intl/shape/
And BrisCAD is well worth the cost, I've used it extensively, and it has some very powerful features.
Varicad is workable but the UX/UI is bloody awful with masses of archaic little blob icon buttons.
You could try downloading a trial version of a software. Something like BricsCAD and it's communicator (needed for the stp export) would do. (There is no need to use a credit card). https://www.bricsys.com/
You cannot buy second hand Autodesk products legally since 2008, see Vernor v. Autodesk, so only subscription. If you need a single user license you can buy an Autocad clone, Bricscad is the best currently. If you only need 2d, you can try librecad which is absolutely free and has a very similar ui.
Try Bricscad Shape. It's a free architectural app that ought to be able to handle this easily.
Disclaimer. Long-time Bricscad customer with a full commercial license, so I haven't fiddled much with Shape. Watch the tutorials.
DraftSight is a good deal. I have it on a second PC but I'll admit to not using it much. To change the behavior of the selection box, try modifying the click with Shift or Ctr. For the PDF, can't you drop it onto its own layer and then lock the layer?
For 2D work, take a look at BricsCAD classic. It's more than you're looking for but it is a perpetual license and the mandatory "All-In Maintenance" includes a free upgrade to the next version (versions usually drop in mid- to late-October each year and the All-In cost is optional after the first year).
I've been using BricsCAD for years and am quite happy with the product and support.
He (You) haven't seen the new autodesk pricing model eh? Lol... It's worse. Far Worse. Now its all rental software. Can't purchase permanent licenses anymore.
Maybe check out Bricsys Cad. I heard it was a good replacement with a permanent license.
Yeah, aside from the mechanical stuff they added in Reach like (as you mentioned) the angle-snapping and degree movement, Halo 3's Forge was far superior. They lost the heart of Forge in Reach, with simple but yet interesting shapes (like, the staircase in Foundry was just a wedge no more complicated than this but it was interesting to look at). And then you had all these moveable objects like the concrete barricades, blast shields, wooden palettes that you could use to make trapdoors, etc... interesting things. Reach was great in the sense that you could make lots of structures easily, and they gave you all the movement glitches like geomerging and ghostmerging as features, but... it was boring. It has no heart. An infested zombie-defense fortress in the Foundry felt gritty and apocalyptic. The same thing in Reach... not the same, no character.
But I digress.
BricsCAD runs on Mac and has a Sheet Metal add-on They have a 30 day trial to convince yourself :) You will probably also need the communicator module to handle the STP files
https://www.bricsys.com/en_EU/sheetmetal/ https://www.bricsys.com/en_EU/communicator/
If you're looking for a BIM software that's free, go for the BricsCAD BIM Module. BricsCAD is great for anything architectural and it does 3D modeling as well. You can download it here (there's also a 30day free BricsCAD trial if available) https://www.bricsys.com/common/applications/application.jsp?app=70