- List of computer-aided design editors
-
This page compares computer-aided design (CAD) software that engineers and architects use to create drawings for the fields of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) in terms of aspects that can be directly compared. It does not judge power, ease of use, or other user-experience aspects.
CAD refers to a specific type of drawing and modeling software application that:
- Is designed for creating technical drawings for distribution electronically and on paper
- Uses the accuracy inherent in a floating point, as opposed to fixed-point drawing database
For all-purpose 3D programs, see Comparison of 3D computer graphics software.
This comparison only includes software that has achieved notability on wikipedia It does not include software not out of beta development or software that has not been updated in the last two years.
Application and developer Latest release date and version 2D/3D or Specialty fields Runs on Unix-like systems? Runs on Windows? Other platforms? License Academic version? User Interface Language(s) Support for Building Information Modelling? Support for Industry Foundation Classes? Support for AutoCAD DXF? Imports Exports Price
(USD)Advance Design by GRAITEC 2010, Version 2011 2D/3D No Yes No Proprietary Yes en, fr, ro, pl Yes v2.x3 import and export Yes CIS/2, SDNF, PSS, DXF, GTC CIS/2, SDNF, PSS, DXF, GTC ? Advance Steel by GRAITEC 2010, Version 2011 2D/3D No Yes No Proprietary Yes en, de, ja, fr, zh-Hant, hu, pl, cs, es, du, ro Yes v2.x3 import and export Yes IFC, CIS/2, PSS, SDNF, KISS, DSTV, DXF, DWG IFC, CIS/2, PSS, SDNF, KISS, DSTV, DXF, DWG ? Advance Concrete by GRAITEC 2010, Version 2011 2D/3D No Yes No Proprietary Yes en, de, fr, pl, cs, ro Yes v2.x3 import and export Yes IFC, DXF, DWG IFC, DXF, DWG ? ArchiCAD by Graphisoft May 2010, Release 14 2D/3D Architecture, BIM Mac OS X[1] Yes Unknown Proprietary Free en, de, es, fr, it, pt, ru, ja, pl, cs, hu, nl, fi, sv, no, da, tr, el, zh-Hans, ko, zh-Hant[2] Yes Yes Yes 3D Studio, ACIS SAT, BMP, DGN, DWF, DWG, DXF, EMF, EPS, GIF, HPGL/PLT, IFC/IFCXML, JP2, JPEG, PDF, PICT, PNG, PSD, QTIF, SketchUp, TGA/Targa, TIF/TIFF, WMF 3D Studio, Artlantis/ATL, AVI, BMP, DGN, DWF, DWG, DXF, EMF, EPS, EPX - Piranesi, FACT - ElectricImage, GIF, HPGL/PLT, IFC/IFCXML, JP2, JPEG, MOV, LP - Lightscape, OBJ, PDF, PICT, PNG, PSD, QTIF, SGI, SketchUp, TGA/Targa, TIF/TIFF, U3D, WRL, WMF $4,250 AutoCAD Architecture by Autodesk March 22, 2011, Release 2012 2D/3D AEC Only AutoCAD for Mac OS X, No for discipline-specific vertical products, e.g. AutoCAD Architecture[3][4] Yes Unknown Proprietary[5] Yes pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, pl, ru, zh-Hans, es, zh-Hant[citation needed] Yes v2.x3 import and export, certified Yes DXF, DWG (TrueDWG), DWS, DWT, WMF, SAT, 3DS, FBX, DGN[6] 3DS (requires 3dsout), DXF, DWG (TrueDWG), PDF, DWF, FBX, BMP, DGN [7] $4,995 (MSRP) Autodesk Inventor by Autodesk March 2009, 2010 3D No Yes No Proprietary Yes en Yes Yes Yes ACIS SAT, DXF, DWG (DWG), IGES, Pro/Engineer, STEP, .dwf, .wire, .catpart, .catproduct, .jt, .x b, .x t, .prt (Siemens NX) , .asm, .g, .neu, Solidworks, ACIS SAT, DXF, DWG (TrueDWG), IGES, STEP, .dwf, .catpart, .catproduct, .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .png, .tiff, .iges, .jt, .pdf, .x b, .x t, .g, .neu, STL (file format), .xgl, .zgl $7995 Bricscad by Bricsys October 2010, V11 2D/3D AEC,
Parametric modeling,
RenderingFedora
OpenSuse
Ubuntu2000
XP
Vista
7No Proprietary Unknown en, bg, cs, de, es, fr, hu, it, ja, ko, pl, pt-BR, ru, vi, zh-Hans, zh-Hant Unknown Unknown Yes DWG 2.5 to 2010, DXF,
BMP, JPEG, PCX, PNG, GIF, TGA, TIF, JP2, J2K, ECW, SIDDWG 2.5 to 2010, DXF, DWF,
PDF,
BMP, WMF, EMFStarting from $395 BRL-CAD by United States Army Research Laboratory February 9, 2011, 7.18.2 3D design and simulation for military vehicles All POSIX (BSD/Linux/Unix like OS), Packages for FreeBSD, IRIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris[8][9] Yes Unknown BSD licence, LGPL[8] Free en[8] Unknown No Yes DXF, Elysium Neutral Facetted, EUCLID, FASTGEN, IGES, Jack, NASTRAN, Pro/E,[10] STL, TANKILL, Unigraphics, Viewpoint Datalabs Format[11] DXF, EUCLID, IGES, Jack, STL, TANKILL, VRML, OBJ, X3D[11] Free Caddie Professional by Advanced Computer Solutions September 1, 2009, 16 2D/3D CAE, Rendering No XP Vista & Windows 7 Unknown Proprietary 70GBP en Unknown Unknown Yes DWG, DXF, DRW, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, GIF, ECW, JPEG2000, ASCII, XLS DWG, DXF, DRW, DWF, WMF, PDF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, GIF ? CATIA by Dassault Systèmes 2011, V6 2D/3D CAE IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris Yes V4 runs on mainframe Proprietary 99EUR, 99US$, 89.7GBP en, fr, de, ja (at release date) Yes Unknown Unknown some formats require extra license some formats require extra license Starts at around $15,000 Cobalt by Ashlar-Vellum December 11, 2009,[12] v8 SP2r3 2D/3D Rendering
CAE
CAMMac OS X XP/Vista/7 No Proprietary Yes en, bre, fr, de, it, pt, ru, sl, sv No No Yes 3DS, ACIS SAT, AI, ASCII Text, BMP, CATIA v4, CGM, CCAD, CO (native), Drawing board, DWG/DXF, Facet, GIF, Grid Surface, IGS (IGES), JPEG, Parasolid XT, PICT, PNG, PPM, Pro/E, Rhino 3DM, Spline, STP (STEP), VRML, XBM, XPM ACIS SAT, AI, ASCII Text, BMP, CATIA v4, CGM, CO (native), Drawing board, DWG/DXF, EPS, Facet, GIF, Grid Surface, IGS (IGES), JPEG, Parasolid XT, PDF, PICT, PNG, PPM, Pro/E, RAW Triangle, Shockwave 3D, STP (STEP), STL, VRML, XBM, XPM US$2,995 permanent
OR
US$1,995/yr rental
OR
US$119.95/mo
rentalCoCreate by Parametric Technology Corporation April 2010, Creo Elements Direct 17.0 2D/3D MCAD No[13] Yes No Proprietary Yes en, fr, de, es, it, ja (at release date)[14] Unknown Unknown Yes STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Pro/ENGINEER, SAT, more STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Pro/ENGINEER, STL, SAT, more ? DataCAD by DATACAD LLC June 2009, 13 2D/3D AEC No Yes No Proprietary 49US$ en, pt, cs, et, fi, fr, de, hu, he, it, ru, es, and others No No Yes DWG, DXF, SketchUp, TXT, WMF, EMF, o2c, ACO, 3DS, STL, BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, Targa, PNG, PCX, PCD, and others DWG, DXF, DWF, SketchUp, TXT, WMF, EMF, o2c, ACO, 3DS, STL, BMP, JPEG, TIFF, Targa, PNG, PCX, EPS, PCD, PRN, PDF, VRML, RAY, and others $1,295 First, $495 Additional, $395 Upgrade DDS-CAD Architect & Construction by DDS Building Innovation 6.5 2D/3D AEC No Yes No Proprietary Unknown en, no, sv Yes Yes Yes IFC, DWG, DXF, 3DS, CFI, VEC and others IFC, DWG, DXF, CFI, VEC and others ? Digital Project by Gehry Technologies Unknown 2D/3D/4D AEC, BIM No 32bit and 64bit No Proprietary Unknown en Yes Yes(2X3)[15] Yes(2D + 3D) SDNF, DWG, DXF, IFC, IGES, HSF, 3DXML[15] SDNF, DWG, DXF, IFC, IGES, HSF, 3DXML[15] ? DraftSight by Dassault Systèmes Beta I (OS X)
V11.2 (Windows)2D Detailing / Drafting Linux; MAC OS X (10.5.8 or above) NT, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7 No Proprietary Free en, it, ru, es, fr, de, ja, pt, cs, pl, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, ko No No Yes DWG, DXF, BMP, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF/TIFF DWG, DXF, JPEG, PNG, TIF/TIFF, PDF, WMF, SVG, STL, SLD Free (Standalone license requires registration) Drawing Express by Trial Systems Ltd 1994, Version 2018 2D/3D CAD No 2000, XP, Vista & Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) Mac OSX (By use of Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion or Bootcamp) Proprietary Yes en No Unknown Yes DWG, DXF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, GIF DWG, DXF, PDF, JPEG, BMP ? Application and developer Latest version + date 2D/3D or Specialty fields Runs on POSIX style systems? Runs on Windows? Other platforms? License Academic version? User Interface Language(s) Support for Building Information Modelling? Support for Industry Foundation Classes? Support for AutoCAD DXF? Imports Exports Price
(USD)FreeCAD by Juergen Riegel 2011, 0.11 3D All POSIX (BSD/Linux/Unix like OS), Packages for FreeBSD, IRIX, Linux, Solaris Yes Yes [16] GNU GPL Free en, de (at release date) Unknown Unknown Yes IGES, STEP, BRep, OBJ, DXF, SVG, U3D IGES, STEP, BRep,[17] OBJ, DXF, SVG, U3D Free form•Z by AutoDesSys, Inc June 23, 2008, 6.6 2D/3D AEC Rendering Mac OS X XP, Vista
32bit and 64bitUnknown Proprietary Unknown en, fr, de, el, it, ja, ko, es Yes Unknown Yes ACIS SAT, Art·Lantis, BMP, DAE, DEM Data, DWG, DXF, EPS, FACT, GIF, HPGL, IGES, Illustrator, JPEG, Keyhole Markup Language, Lightwave, Lightscape, OBJ, PDF, PICT, Piranesi, PNG, QTVR, RIB, SGI, SketchUp, STEP, STL, TGA, TIFF, ZPR ACIS SAT, Artlantis, BMP, DAE, DEM Data, DWG, DXF, EPS, FACT, GIF, HPGL, IGES, Illustrator, JPEG, Keyhole Markup Language, Lightwave, Lightscape, OBJ, PDF, PICT, Piranesi, PNG, QTVR, RIB, SGI, STEP, STL, TGA, TIFF, ZPR $1,995 HiCAD by ISD Group 2010 SP2 3D/2D No Yes No Proprietary Unknown en, de, it (at release date) No No Yes IGES, STEP, DXF, DWG, ACIS , ProE, SolidWorks, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid, UniGraphics, Inventor IGES, STEP, DXF, DWG, ACIS , ProE, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid ? IntelliCAD by IntelliCAD Technology Consortium Jun 10, 2011. V 7.0 2D/3D AEC Unknown Yes Unknown Proprietary Unknown en Yes Unknown Yes DWG, DXF, DWF, SAT DWG, DXF, DWF, SVG, PDF, SAT ? MicroStation by Bentley Systems November 6, 2008, v8i 2D/3D AEC, BIM Dropped
(last was V 5.7 of 1997/1998)Yes Dropped
(last was V 5.7 of 1997/1998)Proprietary Yes en, fr, it, de, es, ja, zh, fi, cs[18] Yes Yes(2x3) Yes DGN, DXF, DWG, SketchUP, Rhino, PDF, Revit, IFC, gbXML, IGES, STEP DGN, DXF, DWG, U3D, PDF, gbXML, IGES, STEP, SketchUP[19] $5050 NX by Siemens PLM Software June 1, 2010, 7.5 2D/3D Mac OS X,[20] and Novell SUSE Linux.[21] Yes Unknown Proprietary Unknown en, fr, it, de, es, ja, zh, fi, cs Unknown Unknown Yes JT, Parasolid, STEP, DWG, DXF, ProE, SolidWorks, I-deas, CATIA (V4/V5), STL, IGES JT, Parasolid, STEP, DWG, DXF, ProE, SolidWorks, I-deas, CATIA (V4/V5), STL, IGES ? Pro/ENGINEER by Parametric Technology Corporation January 16, 2008, 5.0 2D/3D hybrid Some[13] Yes Unknown Proprietary 149,95US$ en, fr, de, es, it, ja, ko, zh-Hant, zh-Hans (at release date)[22] Unknown Unknown Yes STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Parasolid, STL, SAT, more STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Parasolid, STL, SAT, more $4995 + $1500 maintenance (2009) Progecad by progeSOFT August 6, 2009, 9.0.26 2D/3D Rendering Linux Requires Wine; MAC OS Requires Parallels Desktop for Mac XP, Vista 32bit and 64bit Unknown Proprietary Unknown en, de, ru, it, cs, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, fr, pl, es, sr No No Yes DXF, DWG, DWT, SAT DWG, DXF, DWT, SAT, BMP, EMF, WMF, JPEG, KMZ, PDF, SVG ? Revit Architecture by Autodesk ? 2D/3D BIM AEC No Yes Unknown Proprietary 204,95US$ perpetual license pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, ru, zh-Hans, es Yes Yes[23] Yes DXF, DWG, SAT, SKP, DGN, JPEG, PNG, TIFF DWG, DXF, SAT, FBX, IFC, DGN, DWF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVI, PDF $5,495 Revit Structure by Autodesk ? 2D/3D BIM AEC No Yes Unknown Proprietary Unknown pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, ru, zh-Hans, es Yes Yes Yes DXF, DWG, DWF, SAT, SKP, DGN, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, Bentley Systems RAM Structural System DWG, DXF, SAT, FBX, IFC, DGN, DWF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVI, PDF $5,495 Revit MEP by Autodesk 2D/3D BIM AEC No Yes Unknown Proprietary Unknown pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, ru, zh-Hans, es Yes Yes Yes DXF, DWG, SAT, SKP, DGN, JPEG, PNG, TIFF DWG, DXF, SAT, FBX, IFC, DGN, DWF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVI, PDF ? SALOME December 2010 December 2010, 5.1.5 CAE FreeBSD,[24] Linux Yes No LGPL Free EN, FR Unknown Unknown Unknown BREP, IGES, STEP Unknown ? Solid Edge by Siemens PLM Software August 12, 2008, 1.0 3D/2D No Yes No Proprietary Template:Yes/Free en, es, ru, fr, ko (at release date) Unknown No Yes IGES, STEP, DXF, JT, ACIS (SAT), ProE, SolidWorks, NX, SDRC, Microstation, Inventor, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid, Autocad, STL, XML, MDS IGES, STEP, STL, PDF, EMS, JT, XGL, XML, DXF, Parasolid, CATIA (V4/V5), ACIS (SAT), Microstation, Autocad $5300 +$1200 Maintenance (2009) Solidworks by SolidWorks Corp. October 15, 2010, 2011 sp0.0 2D/3D hybrid No Yes No Proprietary From 129,95US$ en, es, de (at release date) Yes Unknown Yes DXF, DWG, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, ACIS, STL, ProE, Solid Edge, IGES, STEP, ACIS, STL, ProE, Solid Edge, u3d, VRML, 3dxml, Catia, PDF $3995 + $1295/yr for optional support SpaceClaim Engineer by SpaceClaim Corp. 2D/3D hybrid No Yes No Proprietary Unknown en Unknown Unknown Yes DXF, DWG, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, ACIS, STL, ProE, Solid Edge, VRML, OBJ, STL, NX, CATIA, Solidworks, Rhinoceros Unknown Unknown TransMagic R8 sp5 File translator No XP/Vista/7 No Proprietary No en, de No No Yes CATIA V4, CATIA V5, Autodesk Inventor, Pro/E, SolidWorks, Unigraphics, ACIS (.sat, .sab, .asf, .asat, .asab), JT, Parasolid, IGES, STEP (.stp), HOOPS Meta File, HOOPS Streaming File (.hsf), PLY, STL, OBJ, Large file support CATIA V4, CATIA V5, ACIS (.sat, .sab, .asf, .asat, .asab), JT, Parasolid (.x_t, .x_b, .xmt_txt, .xmb_txt), IGES, STEP (.stp), HOOPS Meta File, HOOPS Streaming File (.hsf), NGRAIN, PLY, STL, HTML, OBJ, Enhanced Metafile, PDF, Postscript, TIFF, BMP, Large file support Unknown TurboCAD by IMSI/Design, LLC 2011. v18 (Windows), v5 (Mac) 2D/3D Mac OS X Yes No Proprietary Up to 85% off standard pricing en, cs, others? Unknown Unknown Yes 'see PDF of compatible file formats' 'see PDF of compatible file formats' 1295US$ VariCAD by VariCAD November 10, 2011, 2012 2D 3D Linux Yes No Proprietary Yes eng, ger,[25] cze[26] pt, ja, zh-Hans Unknown Unknown 2d only STEP (3D), DWG (2D), DXF (2D) [27] STEP (3D), STL (3D), IGES (3D), BMP (from 3D), DWG (2D), DXF (2D)[27] $650 VectorWorks by Nemetschek September 15, 2010, 2011 2D/3D Mac OS X Yes Dropped
was previously MiniCAD for Mac OS (1985–2001)Proprietary Free for students en, pt-BR, fr, es, nl, de, it, ja Yes Yes Yes DWG, DXF, PDF, EPSF, 3DS, IGES, SAT, Parasolid X_T, Sketchup, IFC, SHP, JPEG, BMP, PNG, PSD, SGI, TIFF, TGA DWG, DXF, PDF, EPSF, 3DS, IGES, SAT, Parasolid X_T, STL, IFC, KML, SHP, JPEG, BMP, PNG, PSD, SGI, TIFF, TGA $1495
fundamentals
profession specific packages available:
architect
landmark
spotlight
designer
Cinema 4D-RenderworksZWCAD by ZWCAD Software Co., Ltd. 2D/3D No Yes[28] unknown Proprietary Unknown eng, cze, fra, ger, hun, ita, jpn, kor, pol, rus, chs, spa, cht[29] unknown unknown Yes DXF, DWG DXF, DWG $800 See also
- Building analysis software
- 3D data acquisition and object reconstruction
- Comparison of CAD, CAM and CAE file viewers
- List of CAx companies
- CAD/CAM in the footwear industry
References
- ^ http://www.graphisoft.com/support/archicad/system_requirements/
- ^ http://www.archicadwiki.com/ArchiCAD%20Bittorrent%20Downloads
- ^ http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=15435044
- ^ http://usa.autodesk.com/autocad-architecture/system-requirements
- ^ Autodesk - Licensing, Registration & Activation
- ^ http://docs.autodesk.com/ARCHDESK/2011/ENU/filesAUG/WS1a9193826455f5ffa23ce210c4a30acaf-5c52.htm
- ^ http://docs.autodesk.com/ARCHDESK/2011/ENU/filesAUG/WS1a9193826455f5ffa23ce210c4a30acaf-5a5d.htm
- ^ a b c BRL-CAD 'Summary' page on SourceForge
- ^ BRL-CAD 'Download' page
- ^ Import is only possible by using proprietary Pro/E program
- ^ a b Anderson, John R.; Edwards, Eric W. (May 2004), "Converting Geometry Between BRL-CAD and Other Formats" (PDF), BRL-CAD Tutorial Series, Aberdeen Proving Ground: United States Army Research Laboratory, http://brlcad.org/w/images/6/66/Converting_Geometry.pdf, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Ashlar-Vellum: New Features in Cobalt v8
- ^ a b See Platform Support - Parametric Technology Corporation and PTC customer support
- ^ Parametric Technology Corporation. "CoCreate Language Support". http://www.ptc.com/products/cocreate/language-support. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ a b c Gehry Technologies Wiki, 'What are the formats supported by Digital Project ?'
- ^ http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/free-cad/index.php?title=FAQ#What_is_the_easiest_way_to_install_FreeCAD_on_my_system.3F
- ^ free-cad Feature List
- ^ Bentley Systems. "MicroStation, a CAD platform for integration - Available Languages". http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/MicroStation/Available-Languages.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ Bentley Systems. "MicroStation from Bentley". http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/microstation%20product%20line/. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ "Siemens PLM Software Announces Availability of NX for Mac OS X". Siemens PLM Software. 2009-06-11. http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/newsroom/press/press_release.cfm?Component=82370&ComponentTemplate=822. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ^ "UGS Ships NX 4 and Delivers Industry’s First Complete Digital Product Development Solution on Linux". 2009-04-04. http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/newsroom/press/press_release.cfm?Component=25399&ComponentTemplate=822. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
- ^ Parametric Technology Corporation. "Pro/ENGINEER Language Support". http://www.ptc.com/products/proengineer/language-support. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
- ^ 'BIM and the U.S. GSA (1-2-3 Revit Tutorial'
- ^ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/cad/salome/
- ^ VariCAD. "VariCAD German website". http://www.varicad.de/de/home/. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- ^ VariCAD. "VariCAD Czech website". http://www.varicad.cz/cz/home/. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ a b VariCAD - CAD system description
- ^ http://classic.zwcad.org/cad-software-support/cad-faqs2.html
- ^ http://www.zwcad.org/others.php?act=about
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