Punch ViaCAD Pro V10

[Bill George]

I need a 3D modeling / design program a few times a year for my 3D printer projects. The one I have been using is AutoCAD / Autodesk Fusion 360. SketchUp is not for me and FreeCAD I guess is fine but the learning curve.

Fusion 360 gets the job done, but since its Web based for those of us who have medium speed DSL and nothing else its a pain to use. Then the constant once per month upgrades and the fact you really find It hard to save on a local hard drive. Frankly I would rather have a PC based program with Documentation 400 plus pages like ViaCAD Pro. Autodesk has chosen Not to have any documentation at all, preferring those with questions to find a related online video take 5 or 10 minutes or so to watch. Or log on to the Forum, search that and Ask a question of the Users.
A big time waster.

Unlike Fusion 360 from Autodesk, ViaCAD has hired people to write some pretty good documentation that is also searchable allowing you to find your answer in perhaps a minute or so. I am in the middle of the 14 Day Trial and so far after only 1 day I find it easy to learn because of the available documentation.

Anyone else using ViaCAD Pro V10?

[Steven Taitinger]

I forgot about that program. I have gotten more comfortable with F360 but it is obviously pretty limited and frustrating if you know how to use a real 3D CAD package. I think I might do a demo myself... You might also want to look at Rhino3D or BricsCad. OnShape is pretty nice but totally web based.

[Bill George]

I grew up so to speak with ACAD products, learned it in 1992 or so. Rhino is very popular but steep learning curve. FreeCAD nice but nothing like ACAD same with SketchUp which lots of people learned on and love. I have been using the trial version of the ViaCAD Pro V10 and so far its surprising me as how well its done, but the big, big plus is the wonderful documentation. I will give it few more days but I am thinking of purchasing it.

[John Meikrantz]

I have ViaCAD Pro v9, and really found it to be very easy to use, and powerful enough for my needs. It also runs natively on a Mac, which was a plus at the time. I use it for designs for CNC, laser, and 3d printing. The author is pretty responsive on changes and bug fixes as well.

[Doug Griffith]

Last I checked Punch and Ashlar are based on the same kernel. Ashlar runs native on a Mac and imports into Solidworks quite well. I'd look into Ashlar products as well as Punch.

[Bill George]

Last I checked Punch and Ashlar are based on the same kernel. Ashlar runs native on a Mac and imports into Solidworks quite well. I'd look into Ashlar products as well as Punch.

Big difference in the price point between the two.