Re: 3D Pipe Design Software

I would take a look at two options

Unfortunately, real improvements to AutoCAD come in the form of the advanced packages,Land Desktop, Architectural, Electrical, Building systems, etc. Add about #3,000 to the cost of AutoCAD.I have been a subscriber to Autodesk's subscription since version 14. AutoCAD, the subscription cost me about $350US per year for upgrades. I crossgraded  to Inventor about 8 months ago, for about $1300. For me, that was a worthwhile investment, Inventor is far more powerful for 3d mechanical design and I was able to stay in the same family. Dont expect to see everything out there in the way of models, however. Expect to have to create these or import what you may have as a .sat file or similar, these work but are dumb models.

Here's a big catch, not backwards compatible. ie r8 will open in r7. Also, they will hook you for about $1200 on a yearly subscription in order to stay concurrent. Since v7, I believe they are just about ready to come out with V9 upgrading to v8 would have cost me another $2,000.

They have a Pro version, that has piping modules added to, add another $2500. Got the picture? For me, this has all wound being too much. Frankly, they must be drunk with the pricing. Autodesk has regretfully, priced me out of the market. I am just not in the world of spending $2,000 a year to stay concurrent, while at the same time I recognize the importance of doing so. Just me, but hold on to your wallet.

The folks I buy from were offering the latest R8 std, with AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD for about $2000, but you have to buy a year subscription $1400 for the following year. This offer is extended to 2000i, which is a pretty good deal. http://www.incat.com. When you are done looking at these, you will probably still come out ahead versus Solidworks or others. Most of these start out at least $4,000. They do have a loyal following of AutoCAD bashers.

The 2nd is, look at ISMI's TurboCAD. It goes for about $800, It is very powerful, loaded with file translators and more powerful than AutoCAD in many respects, such as nurbs and modelling. You can expect to see in upgrades what you never see in AutoCAD, helpful software improvements. expect to pay about $200/year for upgrades. There are CNC modules available at resonable pricing. http://www.turbocad.com.

I am intent on sticking with TurboCAD as my mainstream software program and letting my past investments into Inventor and AutoCAD simply slide into oblivion for reasons stated above. TurboCAD offers a more reasonable path for me to follow from a cost standpoint.

By the way, these numbers are rough

Hope this helps

Mike Waugh

• In PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com, sthompson@s... wrote:
  > I work for a small consulting design firm. We specialize in water
  > and wastewater treatment plant design, specifically microfiltration
  > and reverse osmosis systems. Currently, we (the 2 piping designers)
  > do all our plant design drawings in 2D, AutoCAD 2000i. Our plant
  > designs use Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel, PVC, CPVC, and FRP
  > piping. We need a software program that is compatible with
  AutoCAD,
  > and need the ability to share 2D files with other design firms. I
  am
  > seeking information from users of 3D software programs, who can
  tell
  > us what they like and don't like about the software they use.
  Thanks!