What can ViaCAD do better than FreeCAD. I did the think the answer would be "shedloads". But reading through the comments on different subjects I am not so sure. I am not in the position to pay $199 for a programme that isn't that much better than FreeCAD. Am I wrong?
For those of you who haven't tried FreeCAD, it could annoy the socks of you, until you realize that is completely free and maintained by a group of volunteers. If I can upload some images they show a half scale model of a 1930 Austin Seven engine block I drew in FreeCAD.

Edited by user Friday, October 16, 2020 7:50:40 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I think it's mainly down to workflow. FreeCAD forces you to do things in a particular order or you quickly encounter its sharp edges. Some of the nuances are annoyingly subtle, the classic example being bodies created in part vs part design.

Via/Shark feels much more flexible and low stress to me (caveat being that I'm not a pro, I'm just using it to conceptualise/plan out household projects for now). I can quickly rough something out and then add fidelity and details as needed. The downside of that flexibility is that some of the model management features are less automatic, for example you end up doing your own layer management. And the entity tree, while being theoretically quite powerful, isn't as nice to use as FreeCAD's feature tree IMO.

In terms of feature differences, FreeCAD has FEM which is actually pretty decent. It also has raytracing, but ViaCAD gives you quick and easy photo rendering when you need it. ViaCAD also has a few more import/export options, especially once you get to Shark/Shark Pro, but that's probably not important for most hobbyists. A big plus for FreeCAD is its scriptability. Having an always-on Python console is really nice.

Personally I find FreeCAD to be quite intimidating for day to day tasks. I know it can do a lot of things, but I feel like if step off a well-trodden path then my model is going to explode. Admittedly the newer versions are getting better in this regard, and 0.20 looks to be quite promising if the topographical naming fixes make it in.

I have high hopes for FreeCAD (especially now that the Fusion 360 honeymoon is over) but generally find myself reaching for Shark first.

Edited by user Saturday, October 17, 2020 11:26:48 PM(UTC)  | Reason: grammer

VC 2D3D doesn't have ACIS anymore, it's not a solid modeller. No blending, shelling, physics, or even STEP or IGES exchange, so downgraded recently for professional capacity IMO, but it does now have constraints, which is weirdly at odds with that.

Thanks for the replies. I am still undecided about ViaCAD. I have watched a youtuber called Myfordboy using it for his 3D printing. It is tempting. I have found version 9 for sale on ebay, but I am not a fan of ebay and am reluctant to buy from it. Would version 12 produce models like the ones above? Lee.

I have never done the kind of drawings leeA7 is doing so forgive me if I am ignorant here, but according to the punchcad website comparison chart, ViaCad 2d/3d does have ACIS kernel, and it can do shelling and blending, and it does have the IGES and STEP translator.

The ViaCAD 2d is the only one that does not have those abilities.

https://www.punchcad.com/product-line-comparison

https://www.punchcad.com/punch-viacad-2d-3d-v12

Here it mentions only ViaCad pro as having some of the features. No mention here of Acis.

Hit the compare tab towards the bottom.

Edited by user Sunday, October 25, 2020 6:02:08 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

That said, I am glad you said something about it because now I am realizing the non-pro version may not do what I want.

I tried freecad a little bit, but it was too difficult for me to navigate. ViaCad is easy most of the time. I believe Murray must be correct concerning the version you are looking at.

It confused me because that link I first shared does say that non Pro has Acis. On my computer, I had to hover my mouse over the feature list. Only then can you scroll down to see everything.

But I believe that feature list must not be updated. The other link is most likely the correct list.

Personally, I would highly recommend ViaCad. It is fun and easy to use and has a lot of nice features if you ever have some spare time to try it in the future. Some features are behind the times, other features are ahead of the times.

You can email them for a free trial. You might want to contact punchcad and double check the capabilities before you purchased. Also you might should check if a used version can be reinstalled on your computer. I am not sure that it can.

Update. I have now bought, and am using, ViaCAD version 10, not pro. It doesn't have a constraints system, I like constraints! And it has a different way of working to what I am used to. But I will get used to it. I have installed it on my windows 7 computer and they get along very nicely.