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posh.de  
#21 Posted : Tuesday, June 22, 2010 3:55:07 AM(UTC)
posh.de

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 2/23/2007(UTC)
Posts: 484
Germany

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Originally Posted by: jol Go to Quoted Post
newsflash : free toyota landcruiser with each ViaCAD seat


*lol*

I was fueling these days by Aral for roughly €80/U$ 100.- and had to face, that it is still buggy after all those years: simply vanishes in a very short time and the undo function does not work at all !!!

Will download and evaluate Shell (similar pricing!) next time, surely bugfree and thus much more durable...


Norbert

P.S.: evaluating CAx systems by comparing the price tag (also feature list) appears, at least to me, not helpful.

P.P.S.: Alibre is MCAD comparable with e.g. Solidworks or Solidedge or Inventor etc., VC/SFX is targeting the CAID area, i.e. a free resp. direct modeling for a creative, conceptual workflow instead of the constraint driven approach of the modelers mentioned above.
victorf57  
#22 Posted : Tuesday, June 22, 2010 5:34:46 AM(UTC)
victorf57

Rank: Member

Joined: 3/24/2007(UTC)
Posts: 58

Jol, Not so much price.
I'm a home user, I bought vicad because it seemed easy to use and yes a super price :)
However with the resent upgrade price, am I better off spending a bit more and going to alibre?
Is alibre a better choice if your exchanging data with SW,PE and others?
I know thre isn't any upgrades included in alibre what you buy is what you get.
Thanks
Victor
jdi000  
#23 Posted : Tuesday, June 22, 2010 6:11:55 AM(UTC)
jdi000

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United States

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Originally Posted by: victorf57 Go to Quoted Post
Jol, Not so much price.
I'm a home user, I bought vicad because it seemed easy to use and yes a super price :)
However with the resent upgrade price, am I better off spending a bit more and going to alibre?
Is alibre a better choice if your exchanging data with SW,PE and others?
I know thre isn't any upgrades included in alibre what you buy is what you get.
Thanks
Victor



HI Victor

IMO I would upgrade to ViaCAD V7! it has many updates and fixes over version 5. If you look close Alibre Personal does not give you sat, step translators in the personal addition, and restrictions on the 2d drafting tools. I think for 50 dollars you will get more features than in any other software. ViaCAD = more Translators, more/eaiser 2d drafting tools, easier modeling solid and surface (big time saver as jol pointed out) and this great user forum:)


Regards

Jason
Windows 11, 10
NickB  
#24 Posted : Tuesday, June 22, 2010 12:15:59 PM(UTC)
NickB

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Joined: 2/19/2007(UTC)
Posts: 501

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I recently downloaded a trial of Alibre Pro ($500 I think), but never got past the first launch for a couple of reasons.

Time.
I have literally thousands of hours invested in Shark, and learning a new CAD system is a major headache that I just don't want to have to deal with. How many hours of learning will it take before I am as productive with the new package as I am with my existing software ?

Feature set.
I was looking at Alibre because I really need a modeler that will do sheetmetal. Sharks bend tools are VERY buggy, and dont give the same results as a real sheetmetal package would. Sheetmetal tools was one of the two reasons that I was interested in Alibre and willing to invest some time into it.

Data interchange.
Alibre advertises their compatibility with SolidWorks. If they had true data interchangeability I would have jumped on the package and invested the time to learn it. Unfortunately what they really offer is files that will open in SolidWorks, but are essentially dumb solids that have no advantages over the STEP files that I currently give to clients. What my clients ask for is true data interchange so they can modify parts without having to re-build them, or go in and identify and dimension every single feature so that they can turn the dumb solid into a smart solid.

OS.
I have a Mac, and can duel boot into Windows 7, but I just prefer the Mac environment. Its not logical, and its counterproductive, but its where I am. If Alibre was cross platform, perhaps I would have been willing to invest more energy into it.

I wanted Alibre to be the tool that replaced Shark, without having to invest $4K in SolidWorks plus another $1K a year to stay current so that I can exchange files with clients. Unfortunately it just did not make it for me.

If I was a hobbyist, and never had to exchange files with people using other formats I would still probably stay with Shark / ViaCAD because I know how to use the tool. A new CAD system inevitably brings a new file format so none of my existing files are usable without being exported from ViaCAD and imported into Alibre which looses all the part history.
Shark FX 9 build 1143
OS X 9.5
3.6 GHz Core i7, 8GB, GTX 760 2GB

matter.cc
zumer  
#25 Posted : Wednesday, June 23, 2010 5:42:12 PM(UTC)
zumer

Rank: Senior Member

Joined: 11/4/2007(UTC)
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The VC upgrade looks expensive compared to the last one, but it brings a lot of improvement and additional capability. The store honoured the most recent discount code that Punch offered me, too. In outright terms the cost is still pocket money.
I bought the previous base version of Alibre (Express) primarily for the 3D pdf capability. IMO, the new Alibre price structuring limits their base version to being an isolated learning tool. It's a backwards step from VC for usefulness.
victorf57  
#26 Posted : Friday, June 25, 2010 4:57:56 PM(UTC)
victorf57

Rank: Member

Joined: 3/24/2007(UTC)
Posts: 58

OK guy's you all convinced me.
I belive you're all on the payroll :)
Jol, when do you think my Toyota landcruiser will be delivered?:)
OK now a question, I have ver7 Installed is there any need to keep ver5
on the machine????
Thanks all
Victor
jol  
#27 Posted : Saturday, June 26, 2010 12:50:46 AM(UTC)
jol

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should be with you any time now
Steve.M  
#28 Posted : Saturday, June 26, 2010 2:10:16 PM(UTC)
Steve.M

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Joined: 6/18/2008(UTC)
Posts: 978

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Hi Victor,

Originally Posted by: victorf57 Go to Quoted Post
I belive you're all on the payroll :)


Na, just many on forum are die hard fans :D


I see you have now upgrade your 2d/3d. For that version, IMHO that is a good move. I do have many complaints about this software, but most are with its surface tools that you will not see.

Take care,

- Steve
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