Development of geometry

Mishal

Hi Guys

This is not directly a Mecway query however I felt this forum may have the best answer.

With regards to the development of geometry what opensource packages are good to use?

I have used FreeCad previously, however I am not a huge fan. It lacks the mid-surfacing functionality and the measuring tools are really poor.

Note that the development of geometry on my side would be for FEA purposes in Mecway and not to develop drawings and so forth.

Kind regards
Mishal Mohanlal

Sergio

I just trying (suffering) FreeCAD also, but you can take a look at Alibre, they have a basic CAD package for about usd 120 that... has less features than FreeCAD but at least a civilizated interface. You can try also Onshape or Fusion360.

prop_design

I don't know of any good open source CAD software. However, for low cost CAD software, I really like MoI3D. It's not too expensive. Like Sergio said, Alibre is really good if you need parametric CAD. MoI is strictly a NURBS modeler. So if you need to make any changes, you have to start over. With Alibre, you can just change some dimensions and the geometry will update. From what I have seen on the Alibre forum, people aren't very happy with the low cost option, called Atom. So you will probably have to spend a fair amount to get a higher end option. But it's possible Atom might work for you. I haven't used Alibre in over a decade though, so I can't vouch for it. However, if you search for CAD software, MoI and Alibre are the best low cost options available. At least that I know of.

I tried TurboCAD a very long time ago. It's not good. From what I can tell on forums; TurboCAD, ViaCAD, and SharkCAD are not very good. They are low cost though. They are now owned by the same company. So they might merge to some extent. However, I doubt it matters. They all pretty much stink.

Sergio

Have tried SharkCAD and ViaCAD years ago, they are not better than the Alibre basic package. These days have a project where I need to model tubular frames, did the first one with FreeCAD, and start to try Alibre, but they lack some basic feature as 3D sketching (to take as basis for the sweeps) and booleans operations, both available on FreeCAD.

Surely the intermediate Alibre package is the best solution for low price CAD modeling.

prop_design

there is this; https://www.salome-platform.org/

i've never used it and don't really know anything about it. however, it is open source. the website says it can be used to make cad models for simulation. perhaps others know if it is a viable option or not.

for open source fea there is; ccx and z88

for open source cfd there is; openfoam and su2

i don't know much about any of them. other than using ccx via mecway. i had tried the su2edu program when it was being developed. it's since been dropped. however, it couldn't do what i needed. so basically, i'm very happy with mecway and haven't used much else in a long time.

for cad i made the mistake of choosing rhino v5 over moi v2. i wish i had picked moi instead. i'm waiting for moi v4 to come out, so that i can switch to it. both are very similar but rhino is riddled with bugs that make your life a living hell. moi doesn't have as many features, but the features it does have work. the developer is awesome, like victor is here. so the combo of moi and mecway is great if you need to keep expenses low and appreciate being able to gripe to the dev.

Mishal

Thanks guys, appreciate the replies