I thought some folks (especially the mcad minded out there?) may be interested in this;

http://www.geuz.org/gmsh/

(I hope I haven't already posted this link- apologies Tim, if I have).

Considering that Shark is going down the MCAD road (Brilliant news btw :) ), another thing that engineers are seldom often seen without is somesort of FEA/FEM application. Since Shark can also output IGES, and gmsh can import it, this software could be of some use to you folks out there? Gmsh looks very powerful. It's free and it's multiplatform (unlike some other FEA applications/ manufacturers I could mention)- so being multiplatform, it works of course on Mac OS X.

If you don't ever plan to use FEA, it's just worth looking at some of those ultra-cool meshed aeroplanes and stuff in the gallery section of the gmsh site. Awesome stuff! :cool:

US citizens only? That's disgusting.

I've found many other CAD companies to be like that. It's a very rightwing reaction imo. I'm currently completing a BSc honours in Computer Aided Product Design. There are students on my course who are from Iran. They are some of the kindest, gentlest people I have met. Many of them are from the Zaroastrian religion and NOT Islam. Personally I don't very much care for religion, but these companies continue to adopt these values, how are we ever going to expect those people to rise up against their oppressors?

Of course this attitude also discriminates against Europeans. I am British and Britain (rather stupidly) marched into Iraq with America- yet we British are not allowed to download this software either. Many will argue that this is a copyright issue, I don't. I think it is a front. Punch software have been a little like this too. Apparently Punch only send manuals (ViaCAD) to their US customers. I wrote to them asking why I didn't get a manual, and their answer was that they don't have the means to send it. What?! You don't have envelopes and stamps in the US? Come on! I find that very hard to believe!

I must say though, that like all software companies who adopt this kind of ignorant attitude, it will be their downfall too eventually. Wise-up guys! ;)

Right. Good. Got that off my chest. :D

I did use Ansys last year, but it was very hard to use and crashed a lot. I think all FEM/FEA is difficult to use, but so is a lot of CAD. Like anything like this, it's a language that needs to be learnt.

ttrw,

giulioandrea is partially correct. I think that it is restricted to U.S. citizens as it was developed with public money, but I suspect as well that it is due to being a useful tool for developing airborne weapon systems.

BTW. Most of the software that I have does not come with printed manuals, and some do not even come with PDF's. These few rely on help files exclusively.

There are always third parties to create the necessary training materials, though for CU I have to admit that I have never come across any. An opportunity for someone, I would say.

http://www.lulu.com/

A good place for print on demand manuals, among other things.