Best CAD, CAM and CNC Machining Softwares in 2020(Free & Paid) A Computer Numerical Control (CNC) software enables to create programs to run a machine tool. Each part of the machine requires its own CNC program. AutoCAD, the heavy hitter of the CAD industry, offers a free, fully functional version for download to students and faculty.The only limitation on the software is a watermark on any plots you generate, designating that the file was created with a non-professional version.
Open-source and free CAD software can prove a valuable resource to those looking for an alternative to paid CAD Softwares like AutoCAD.
CAD—computer-aided design or computer-aided drafting is a technology to create real-world objects on your computer screen to understand them deeply. For example, if you want to build something new and creative such as a new home, car, bridge etc. you want to see it before going to implement its design in the real world. You want to see how it looks and works.
CAD technology has been widely used in various fields of engineering design. The development and application of CAD systems have caused profound changes in traditional product design methods and production models, resulting in huge social and economic benefits.
At present, CAD technology research hotspots include computer-aided conceptual design, computer-supported collaborative design, massive information storage, management and retrieval, design method research and related issues, and support for innovative design. It is foreseeable that technology will have a new leap and will also cause a design change
CAD technology has been constantly developing and exploring. The application of CAD technology has played a role in improving enterprise design efficiency, optimizing design schemes, reducing the labour intensity of technicians, shortening design cycles, and strengthening design standardization. More and more people realize that CAD is huge productivity. CAD technology has been widely used in machinery, electronics, aerospace, chemical, construction and other industries. Design methods such as parallel design, collaborative design, intelligent design, virtual design, agile design, and full lifecycle design represent the development direction of modern product design patterns. With the further development of artificial intelligence, multimedia, virtual reality, information and other technologies, CAD technology is bound to develop in the direction of integration, intelligence and synergy. Enterprise CAD and CIMS technology must take a step-by-step approach with e-commerce as the goal. From the inside of the enterprise, realize integrated, intelligent and networked management, use e-commerce to cross the boundaries of enterprises, and realize the agile supply chain between customers, enterprises and suppliers in the true sense.
List of Best Free and Opensource CAD Software
List of Best Free and Opensource CAD Software
Here are some free CAD software including opensource perfect to start with designing and 3D modelling for beginners and professionals…
Archimedes
Archimedes is a free and open-source CAD software (Computer-Aided Design). Blender is the free and open-source 3D creation suite that supports rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing, and game creation.
Blender
Blender is the free and open-source CAD software comes with 3D creation suite supports modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing, and game creation. See: How to download and install Blender in Ubuntu
Download: https://www.blender.org/
SketchUp: 3D modelling for everyone
SketchUp is an online, free 3D modelling software that can use for drawing lines and shapes. Push and pull surfaces to turn them into 3D forms. Stretch, copy, rotate and paint to make anything you like.
Website Link: https://www.sketchup.com/
LibreCAD
LibreCAD is a free Open Source 2D CAD application for Windows, Apple, and Linux. It is a fork of QCAD and the interface of LibraCAD is look like AutoCAD. SO, if you are familiar with AutoCAD then you can easily operate LibraCAD. It supports 2D only, so if you want an open-source CAD software for creating a site plan or something flat then using it make more sense.
Website Link: http://librecad.org/cms/home.html
OpenSCAD: 3D CAD Modeller
OpenSCAD is another free CAD software that is worth to mention and available for Linux/UNIX, MS Windows and Mac OS X. OpenSCAD provides two main modelling techniques: First there is constructive solid geometry (aka CSG) and second there is an extrusion of 2D outlines. Besides DXF files OpenSCAD can read and create 3D models in the STL and OFF file formats.
Website Link: http://www.openscad.org
FreeCAD
It is another popular open-source parametric 3D CAD modeller for CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE and PLM. It can be used by a variety of peoples such as architecture or other engineering specialities. FreeCAD is based on a powerful geometry kernel called OpenCasCade and offers the same UI on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux platforms. It can read and writes many open file formats such as STEP, IGES, STL, SVG, DXF, OBJ, IFC, DAE and many others.
Website Link: https://www.freecadweb.org/
QCAD – 2D CAD
QCAD is a free, open-source application for computer-aided drafting (CAD). It is a 2D designing software to draw 2D drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schematics and diagrams. QCAD works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Website Link: http://www.qcad.org/en/
BRL-CAD
Ccleaner para macbook. BRL-CAD is a cross-platform Open source CAD software. It is a solid geometry and modelling system includes an interactive geometry editor, ray-tracing for rendering & geometric analyses, network distributed framebuffer support, image & signal processing tools.
Website Link: http://brlcad.org/
Onshape: Full-Cloud CAD
Onshape is free CAD platform that provides free enterprise-grade CAD functionality. It also gives unlimited storage for public projects.
Website Link: https://www.onshape.com
Note: Not free anymore…
VPython-wx
VPython is allowed you to write Python programs that generate navigable real-time 3D animations. It is based on the cross-platform library wxPython.
Website Link: http://vpython.org/
Sweet Home 3D
The Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application which helps you in designing the house design. You can also see the 3D view of, how your furniture looks like in your newly designed house.
Website Link: http://www.sweethome3d.com/
Wings 3D
Wings 3D is open source and completely free for use in both personal and commercial projects. Wings 3D offers a wide range of modelling tools, a customizable interface, support for lights and materials, and a built-in AutoUV mapping facility. But there is no support in Wings for animation.
Website Link: http://www.wings3d.com/
OpenPLM
OpenPLM is an open-source PLM ( Product Lifecycle Management) software. It is business software that unifies all the company’s development activities and structures data around the product. This Open-source CAD Software can help engineer, technician, and all peoples to manage Office, CAD, ECAD, Source code, FEA in them collaborating together. OpenPLM features a full web and user-friendly interface.
Website Link: http://www.openplm.org/trac
ImplicitCAD
It is a powerful, open-Source programmatic CAD software that allows you to solve your designing problems using the power of math, using coding.
Website Link:http://www.implicitcad.org/
3DCrafter
It is a real-time 3D modelling and animation tool that can use to create an animated scene by using a simple drag and drop approach. Your animation can be stepped through a frame at a time, viewed in real-time, or recorded to a Video (AVI) file so that you can distribute your creation.
Website link: http://amabilis.com/products/
nanoCAD
nanoCAD Plus is a professional grade CAD tool. It comes in various free and pro versions according to ones need. It supports .dwg file format and the interface of this CAD software is easy to use with powerful drafting and design. If you want some command-line tool, SNAP and OSNAP then you have to move to the pro version.
Website Link: http://nanocad.com/
Tinkercad- Free online CAD
Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. It helps teachers, kids, hobbyists, and designers to imagine, design, and converting their imagination on a computer screen.
Fusion 360 free 3D CAD/CAM
It is a free CAD product from AutoDesk for Students and educators.
Also Read:
So, these are few best and free opensource CAD software available online and can be easily downloaded from the link provided after each CAD software. If you have any suggestion or know any CAD application or program which is free or open source then please let us know using the comment section. We will review and glad to include that in this list. Till then thanks for reading and have fun!!
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In the field of drafting and 3D design, few names are as well-known as AutoCAD. First launched by AutoDesk in the 1980s, AutoCAD was considered THE standard software platform for drafting for decades. Until today, there are still so many AutoCAD users that the standard AutoCAD output file – the DWG – can be found everywhere.
However, not all people have the budget to buy the AutoCAD software platform, which costs more than $1000. For users, who just want to view DWG files, a free DWG viewer software could be really useful. If you’re one of these people, then read on as we look at the best alternative DWG viewers. Best of all, they’re all free!
What are DWG files?
DWG (from drawing) is the native file format for 2D and 3D drawing created in AutoCAD, as well as in other CAD packages such as BricsCAD and IntelliCAD. It is a proprietary binary file format. Since it contains vector image data, the drawings in each DWG file can be scaled while still preserving resolution. Each DWG files contains metadata that describes the contents of the file. Its interchange file format is DXF, which is an ASCII version of the contents of a DWG file.
The top 8 best free DWG viewers
1. AutoDesk DWG TrueView (with Design Review)
DWG TrueView is the official free DWG viewer software from AutoDesk which can be downloaded from their website. Aside from being able to view DWG drawings, DWG TrueView was for the conversion of DWG and DXF files into 3D DWF for quick markup and publishing.
Since the software is built on the same architecture as AutoCAD, you are assured of drawing fidelity and integrity, even when you switch from one format to another. This is very useful if you need to collaborate with other users who are using different versions of AutoCAD.
DWG TrueView is made even better with Design Review, a free add-on also developed by AutoDesk. Design Review allows you to make length, area, and angle measurements on the design, as well as add annotations and comments. Again, these are great tools for collaboration. With the add-on feature, you can pretty much do everything you want with your DWG file short of editing it.
2. LibreCAD
LibreCAD is an open source platform for viewing, editing, and converting DWG files. Being an open source software, it’s completely free with all functions included. However, its biggest limitation is that it can only display 2D views, which helps keep the size of the software quite small. It can also display isometric views but lacks any sort of 3D navigation.
Aside from the lack of 3D viewing, you can do just about anything with LibreCAD. You can add basic lines and polygons, take measurements, and export your files into other formats. It’s also quite easy to learn, and the interface is user-friendly, features that are unusual in open source software platforms.
The main limitation of the open source nature of LibreCAD is that some of its versions can be unstable. Before updating to another version, you need to read up on update notes and feedback from other users to make sure that you are updating to a functional build. As a free software platform, LibreCAD certainly gets the job done – just don’t expect anything fancy.
3. FreeCAD
FreeCAD is certainly one of the most feature-rich free DWG viewers out there. Calling it a DWG viewer might even be a disservice to FreeCAD, as it can be considered a full 3D parametric modeling software. Best of all, FreeCAD is open source, so everything is completely free.
With FreeCAD, you don’t have to begin with an existing DWG file and simply make edits. You can use FreeCAD to come up with your very own 2D sketches and model them in 3D space. From these models, you can take measurements, adjust dimensions, and extract various design details. The program has a steeper learning curve compared to LibreCAD, but it’s not so overwhelming to be inaccessible. Still, we wouldn’t classify FreeCAD as beginner friendly.
Being another open source software, FreeCAD can be prone to bugs, especially when new builds are released. Although it’s one of the most feature-rich free CAD software platforms, it still doesn’t compare to the full range of functions of AutoCAD, but perhaps that’s an unfair comparison.
4. ShareCAD
Instead of a software that needs to be installed, ShareCAD provides an online browser-based platform for viewing of CAD drawings. It supports the proprietary DWG, DWF, and DXF file formats plus a host of other formats for 3D drawings, raster, and vector images, and even archives. The service does not require any downloads or registration, but the file you need to view will have to be uploaded to their server. The file size is also limited to only 50 MB.
The features of ShareCAD are quite limited but are enough for a quick inspection of 3D drawings. You can view individual layers, zoom in on features, or change the background color for easier viewing. You can also print out the drawings. If you’d like to share your drawings with other contacts, ShareCAD can generate a link that you can share.
5. Autodesk A360
A360, an official AutoDesk release, is quite different from the other entries in the list. Instead of desktop software, A360 is a mobile app compatible with both Android and iOS. It can view both DWF and DWG files, as well as 50 other CAD file formats. With the ability to make annotations, take measurements, and navigate components, A360 is surprisingly powerful for a mobile app.
The intention of A360 is to allow engineers and project managers to view CAD files anywhere in the world using just their mobile devices. This is a great tool for collaboration and can be very useful during project execution. Of course, the quality of the experience when viewing project files will vary based on the specs of the mobile device being used. If your smartphone or tablet has a low-specs GPU, then merely opening a DWG file can be very slow.
The A360 mobile platform does not allow for editing of files. Although this seems hardly surprising, there are already mobile platforms being developed that have functions that the A360 does not offer. Autodesk seems like they have a bit of catching up to do, but the A360 is a perfectly serviceable mobile app for now.
6. OnShape
OnShape is an entirely cloud-based 3D CAD software that has been designed especially for collaborative work. Since everything is cloud-based, there is nothing to install and you can access the platform from any workstation – even on your phone or tablet. It has a friendly learning curve, and anyone who has had any experience with standard CAD software can get the hang of it quickly.
OnShape is capable of just about anything you could want from CAD software. You can create and edit models, take measurements, extract design details, and export to a variety of file formats. Where OnShape truly shines is in its collaborative platform. OnShape allows multiple users to simultaneously a single master file. Everyone shares the same workspace and works with the same dataset, eliminating the need to keep track of different versions of the same file.
The drawback is that OnShape isn’t actually free – they now charge for an annual subscription, and the price depends on the package you want. However, they still offer a free trial. This is something you can take advantage of, although you can probably only use it for a limited time.
7. Autodesk Fusion360
Another free DWG viewer from Autodesk, Fusio360 is an all-in-one platform designed for industrial designers, mechanical engineers, students, and educators. It’s a very simple software with basic functions, making it an excellent option for coming up with quick 3D models, simulations, and analysis. Everything is cloud-based, so the platform is quick even without advanced hardware.
Fusion360 is ideal for simple design jobs with assembly and parametric design features. If you’re going for complex models, then you’ll probably have to look elsewhere. However, there’s no reason that Fusion360 can develop more complex functions in future versions.
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Models made in Fusion360 can be exported as STL files, which is one of the default file formats used by 3D printers. This makes Fusion360 one an especially suitable design software for rapid prototyping. Moreover, the software is quite easy to learn even for relative beginners.
The downside of Fusion360 is that it’s only free for a 30-day trial. After the trial period, you’ll have to fork out around $60 per month for a subscription. We still recommend trying it out – you might like it so much that you end up paying full price.
8. IrfanView
IrfanView is described as a free, fast, and compact “graphic viewer.” It can open just about any graphic or design file format. Although it’s more well-known as an all-around image viewer, it’s also capable of opening CAD files in DWG or DWF formats. You’ll need to install the BabaCAD4Image plug-in, but don’t worry – the plug-in is also free.
Best Free Cad Software 2018
Granted, there’s not much else you can do with IrfanView aside from rotating your models, adjust its brightness, modify its color, and a bunch of other cosmetic changes. After all, it’s not a dedicated CAD software. IrfanView is still a nice software that you can keep installed in your system. It hardly takes any disk space and could be useful when you encounter a tricky image file format.
Final thoughts
Best Free Cad Software Reviews
3D and 2D models made from AutoCAD have remained the standard file formats in the fields of drafting, engineering, and industrial design for the past few decades. Frankly, we can’t imagine a future where DWG files aren’t the standard way that people share and collaborate on 3D designs. This can be challenging for professionals and small firms that can’t afford a full AutoCAD platform.
The free DWG viewers we have listed here offer a partial solution to this problem. None of them come quite close to the functionality of the original AutoCAD, but they are, at least, good enough to view DWG files. Some of them offer limited measurement and editing features. Most importantly, they are free. If you work in any field that requires sharing and viewing of DWG files, it would be a good idea to have one or two of these installed in your workstation.
Warning; 3D printers should never be left unattended. They can pose a firesafety hazard.