CAD Software
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Selecting a CAD Package
Learning to use Computer Aided Design (CAD) software is a worthwhile investment of your time that will speed your progress on future maker projects you undertake. While you can get quite far making parts on a laser cutter using illustration & design software such as [Adobe Illustrator], Corel Draw, or Inkscape, these soon fall short when designing more complex 2D and 2.5D designs and are of course, completely useless when designing 3D parts.
There are many options when choosing a CAD package, so many that making a choice can be overwhelming. The software you would choose to do professional product design work would be very different than what you would select if you were a bicycle frame fabricator or cabinetmaker.
For non-professional makers or even for professionals with small start-up businesses it's hard to beat Autodesk's Fusion 360. This is a full-featured parametric 3D CAD package with integrated CAM. Autodesk has a maker-friendly license agreement that effectively makes the software free for most people.
Suggested CAD Packages
Best Bet
- Autodesk Fusion 360 - Currently the best bet for students and non-profesional makers. Autodesk offers favorable licensing terms for makers and is continuously improving the product. Fusion 360 includes powerful a CAM module giving an all-in-one package.
Other Options
- Vectric Vcarve Pro - If you're only interested in designing 2D or 2.5D work, VCarve is worth a look. It combines CAD and CAM in a single easy-to-use package and is ideal for creating decorative signs. It's expensive to buy outright but we have a makerspace license that allows you to install the software on your computer for free if you only cut parts using machines in our makerspace.
- TinkerCAD - Autodesk's easy-to-use CAD software targeted at kids but useful for many makers.
- DesignSpark Mechanical - Free 3D design software that simplifies creation of solid models. Windows only.
- OpenSCAD - OpenSCAD is free software for creating solid 3D CAD models. It is available for Linux/UNIX, Windows and Mac OS X. OpenSCAD is not an interactive modeller. Instead it is something like a 3D-compiler that reads in a script file that describes the object and renders the 3D model from this script file. This gives you (the designer) full control over the modelling process and enables you to easily change any step in the modelling process or make designs that are defined by configurable parameters.
- FreeCAD A free and open-source (under the LGPLv2+ license) general-purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software with finite-element-method (FEM) support.[1] FreeCAD is intended for mechanical engineering product design but also expands to a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or electrical engineering.
- SolveSpace - a free (GPLv3) parametric 3d CAD tool that runs on multiple platforms. Useful for modeling 3d & 2D parts to output to 3D Printers, Laser Cutters, or to other CAM software for use on a CNC router or mill. Mechanism design with constraint solver to simulate planar or spatial linkages, with pin, ball, or slide joints.
3D CAD Software
Below is a listing of 3D Design Software Packages from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3D_modeling_software)
CAD Software Comparison
A more comprehensive but also more confusing list of all Computer Aided Design Software from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer-aided_design_software)
| Title 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) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABViewer by CADSoftTools | June 5, 2017 / Version 12 | 2D | Linux with Wine | Yes | No | Proprietary | No | en, fr, de, ru and others | No | No | Yes | ACIS SAT]], STL, IGES (.igs), STEP (.stp), OBJ, GTS, TIN, ASE, B3D, GLM, GLX, GLA, LMTS, LWO, NURBS, NMF, OCT, PLY, VRML, MDC, MD2, MD3, MD5, SMD, BSP, WMF, EMF, PDF, CGM, SVG, SVGZ, EPS, PS, Hewlett-Packard HPGL (PLT, HGL, HG, HPG, PLO, HP, HP1, HP2, HP3, HPGL, HPGL2, HPP, GL, GL2, PRN, SPL, RTL, PCL), GED, RLA, RPF, CEL, PIC, CAL, CG4, GP4, GIF, CUT, PAL, DDS, FAX, HDR, IFF, ICO, EXR, IMB, JPG, JPEG, J2K, J2C, JNG, JP2, KOA, PCT, PICT, MNG, PSP, PCD, PSD, PDD, PNG, PPM, PGM, PBM, RAW, G3, BW, RGB, RGBA, SGI, RAS, TIF, TIFF, TGA, VST, ICB, VDA, WIN, BMP, RLE, DIB, WAP, WBMP, WBM, XBM, XPM, PCX | PDF, DWG, DXF, SWF, CGM, DXT, SVG, PLT, STL, OBJ, OBJF, NMF, LMTS, NC, BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, WMF, EMF, SWF | Varies depending on the license type | |
| Advance Design by GRAITEC | June 2017 / Version 2018 | 3D, CAE, FEA | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, fr, ro, pl, cs | Yes | v2.x3 import and export | Yes | CIS/2, SDNF, PSS, DXF, GTC | CIS/2, SDNF, PSS, DXF, GTC | ? | |
| Advance Steel by Autodesk | April 1, 2017 / Version 2018 | 3D, CAE, CAM, steel detailing | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, de, ja, fr, zh-Hant, hu, pl, cs, es, du, ro, ru, it | 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 Autodesk | April 29, 2016 / Version 2017 | 3D, CAE, CAM, concrete detailing | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, de, fr, pl, cs, ro | Yes | v2.x3 import and export | Yes | IFC, DXF, DWG | IFC, DXF, DWG | ? | |
| Alibre Design by Alibre, LLC | 2017, Version 2017.1.2 | 2D/3D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, de, ja, fr, zh-Hant, pl, cs, es, da, pt-BR, sv | No | Yes | Yes | DXF, DWG, STEP, IGES, SAT, 3DM, STL, OBJ, PLY, 3DS, WRL, Inventor, ProE, SolidEdge, CATIA, Parasolid, Solidworks | DXF, DWG, STEP, IGES, SAT, BIP, EMF, PDF, STL, Solidworks, Parasolid | $1,000 - $2,000 | |
| AllyCAD by Knowledge Base | 2016, Version 8.0 | 2D/3D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | No | en | No | Land XML | Yes | DXF, DWG | DXF, DWG | ? | |
| ArchiCAD by Graphisoft | June 14, 2017 / Version 21 | 2D/3D Architecture, BIM | Mac OS X[1] | Yes | No | 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 | Import and export. Import certified. Export certified.[3] | 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 by Autodesk | March 21, 2017 / Release 2018 | 2D/3D, Architecture, Drafting | Only AutoCAD for Mac OS X, No for discipline-specific vertical products, e.g. AutoCAD Architecture[4][5] | Yes | iOS, Android | Proprietary[6] | Yes | pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, pl, ru, zh-Hans, es, zh-Hant[citation needed] | limited for some verticals | for some verticals | Yes | DXF, DWG, DWS, DWT, WMF, SAT, 3DS, FBX, DGN[7] | 3DS (requires 3dsout), DXF, DWG, PDF, DWF, FBX, BMP, DGN[8] | $1,470 per year; $4,410 per 3 years | |
| Inventor by Autodesk | March 21, 2017 / 2018 | 3D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en and others | Yes | Yes | Yes | ACIS SAT, DXF, DWG, IGES, Pro/Engineer, STEP, .dwf, .wire, .catpart, .catproduct, .jt, .x b, .x t, .prt (NX), .asm, .g, .neu, Solidworks, ProE, Catia, .stl | ACIS SAT, DXF, DWG, IGES, STEP, .dwf, .catpart, .catproduct, .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .png, .tiff, .iges, .jt, .pdf, .x b, .x t, .g, .neu, STL (file format), .xgl, .zgl | $1935 per year; $5805 per 3 years | |
| BricsCAD by Bricsys | January 16, 2017V17 (17.1.18)(64-bit, 32-bit) | 2D/3D AEC,Parametric direct modeling,BIM,Mechanical,Sheet metal,Rendering | Mac OS X,Fedora,OpenSuse,Ubuntu | Windows10, 8, 7, Vista | Linux, Mac | Proprietary | Forstudent,faculty,school.Free | en, cs, de, es, fr, hu, it, ja, ko, lt, pl, pt-BR, ru, vi, zh-Hans, zh-Hant | Yes | Yes | Yes | DWG 2.5 to 2013, DXF, ACIS SAT, DAE (COLLADA), BMP, JPEG, PCX, PNG, GIF, TGA, TIF, JP2, J2K, ECW, SIDWith extra Communicator license:STE, STP, STEP, IGS, IGES, CATIA V4/V5, VDA, IAM, IPT, PARASOLID, PAR, PSM, PRT, ASM, PRT, SLDASM, SLDPRT | DWG 2.5 to 2013, DXF, DWF, ACIS SAT, DAE (COLLADA), SLT (3D Printing), PDF, BMP, WMF, EMFWith extra Communicator license:STE, STP, STEP, IGS, IGES, CATIA V4/V5, VDA, 3D PDF | $1020 Platinum,$680 Pro,$550 Classic,$610 Communicator | |
| BRL-CAD by United States Army Research Laboratory | August 16, 2016 / 7.26.0 | 3D design and simulation for military vehicles | All POSIX (BSD/Linux/Unix like OS), Packages for FreeBSD, IRIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris[9][10] | Yes | Yes | BSD licence, LGPL[9] | Free | en[9] | Unknown | No | Yes | DXF, Elysium Neutral Facetted, EUCLID, FASTGEN, IGES, Jack, NASTRAN, Pro/E,[11] STL, TANKILL, Unigraphics, Viewpoint Datalabs Format[12] | DXF, EUCLID, IGES, Jack, STL, TANKILL, VRML, OBJ, X3D[12] | Free | |
| Caddie Professional by Advanced Computer Solutions | 2014, 20 | 2D/3D CAE, Rendering | No | Windows 7 & 8 | Unknown | Proprietary | 70GBP, 106USD, 97EUR | 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 | $106 - $3022 | |
| Cadwork by Cadwork informatik AG | 2019 / 26 | 2D/3D/4D/5D/6D CAE, Rendering, CAM, BIM | HP-UX | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, cs, fr, de, it, ja, pl, pt, ru, zh-Hans, es | Yes | Yes | Yes | DWG, DXF, PDF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, SAT, IFC | DWG, DXF, PDF, JPEG, TIFF, SAT, IFC | $1000 to $20000 | |
| CATIA by Dassault Systèmes | 2018, R2018x | 2D/3D CAE | IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris | Yes | V4 runs on mainframe | Proprietary | 99EUR, 99US$, 89.7GBP | en, fr, de, ja (at release date) | Yes | Yes | Yes | some formats require extra license | some formats require extra license | $9000 to $65000 (depends on modules) | |
| Cobalt by Ashlar-Vellum | March 16, 2016 / v9 | 2D/3D RenderingCAECAM | Mac OS X, 10.6+, fully hyper-threaded ray tracing | 7, 8.1, 10+ (x32 or ×64) | 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, 2D PDF, 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, 2D & 3D PDF, PICT, PNG, PPM, Pro/E, RAW Triangle, Shockwave 3D, STP (STEP), STL, VRML, XBM, XPM | $2,495 buy, or $995/year rent, or $94.95/month rent | |
| Creo by Parametric Technology Corporation | March 29, 2017 / Creo 4.0 (M010) | 2D/3D hybrid | Some[13] | Yes | Unknown | Proprietary | Yes | en, fr, de, es, it, ja, ko, zh-Hant, zh-Hans (at release date)[14] | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Parasolid, STL, SAT, more | STEP, IGES, DXF, DWG, Parasolid, STL, SAT, more | $4,995, $1,500 maintenance | |
| DataCAD by DATACAD LLC | October 2016 / 19 | 2D/3D AEC | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | 49US$ | 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 | |
| DesignSpark Mechanical by RS Components | November 18, 2015, 2.0.1 | 2D/3D hybrid | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, cz, de, es, fr, it, jp, kr, pl, pt, zh-cn, zh-tw | No | No | Yes | ECAD (IDF, IDB, EMN), OBJ, Point curve text files (TXT), SKP, STL, STEP (read-only) | AMF, DXF, OBJ, 3D PDF, SKP, STL, XAML, JPEG, PNG | FREE base package | |
| Digital Project by Gehry Technologies | 2013, Version R5 | 2D/3D/4D AEC | 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] | ? | |
| Drawing Express by Trial Systems Ltd | April 26, 2013, Version 2019 | 2D/3D CAD | No | 2000, XP, Vista & Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) | No | Proprietary | Yes | en | No | Unknown | Yes | DWG, DXF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, GIF | DWG, DXF, PDF, JPEG, BMP | ? | |
| FINE MEP by 4M | 2014, v. 14 | 2D/3D, BIM, MEP Design | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, fr, tr, gr, bg | Yes | Yes(2x3) | Yes | DXF, DWG, IFC, ACIS, BMP, JPG, TGA, GIF | DXF, DWG, IFC, ACIS, Collada, 3DS, PDF, BLD, JPG, BMP, TGA, PNG, TIFF | $1,220, $720 | |
| FreeCAD | March 12, 2019 / 0.18 | 3D | All Unix-like OSes); Packages for FreeBSD, Linux | Yes | With OpenGL as a prerequisite[16] | LGPL | Free | en, af, cn, hr, nl, fi, fr, de, it, no, pt, ru, es, se, ua | Yes | Yes | Yes | IFC, IGES, STEP, BRep, OBJ, DXF, SVG, U3D | IFC, 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 64bit | Unknown | 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 | $1,995 | |
| HiCAD by ISD Group | February 13, 2017 / 2017 | 2D/3D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, de, it, fr, pl, jp (at release date) | Yes | Yes | Yes | IGES, STEP, DXF, DWG, ACIS, ProE, SolidWorks, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid, UniGraphics, Inventor, IFC, PC-Draft, Technovision, Procad, Proren, Babcad, ME10, JT, STL, DSTV, SDNF | IGES, STEP, DXF, DWG, ACIS, ProE, CATIA (V4/V5), Parasolid, IFC, VRML, STL, JT, Gamma-Ray, STL, DSTV, Tops Geo, SDNF | ? | |
| IntelliCAD by IntelliCAD Technology Consortium | June 15, 2014, V 8.0 | 2D/3D AEC | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Proprietary | Unknown | en | Yes | Unknown | Yes | DWG, DXF, DWF, SAT | DWG, DXF, DWF, SVG, PDF, SAT | ? | |
| IRONCAD by IronCAD LLC | November 30, 2016 / 2017 | 2D/3D hybrid | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | From 124US$ | en, jp, ko, de (at release date) | No | No | Yes | DXF, DWG, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, SAT, STL, ProE, Solid Edge, Inventor, Rhino (3dm), Catia | DXF, DWG, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, SAT, STL, u3d, VRML, 3dxml, Catia, PDF | $3,970, $1,295/yr for optional support | |
| LibreCAD | September 23, 2016 / Version 2.1.3 | 2D | Yes | Yes | Yes | GNU GPL | Free | en, fr, it, de, es, ja, zh, fi, cs, pt, lv[18] | No | No | Yes | DWG, DXF | DXF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, BMP[19] | Free,[20] | |
| MicroStation by Bentley Systems | January 17, 2017 / CONNECT Edition (Update 9)[21] | 2D/3D AEC | 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, ru, tu, pl, pt, ko, fi, cs[22] | Yes | Yes(2x3) | Yes | DGN, DGNlib, RDL, DXF, DWG, FBX, OBJ, 3DS, SKP, 3DM, JT, Mapinfo MIF/MID, imodel, RFA, IFC, SHP, TAB, IGES, Parasolid, CGM, STEP, STL, Terrain Land XML, ACIS .SAT, 3DM, STL | Collada, FBX, JT, .kml|Google Earth, LXO, SVG, VRML, VOB, ACIS, OBJ, STL, gbXML, IGES, STEP, SKP[23] | $5,050 | |
| NX by Siemens PLM Software | June 29, 2016, 11.0 | 2D/3D, Parametric | Mac OS X,[24] and RedHat Linux / SUSE Linux.[25] | 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 | Unknown | |
| OpenSCAD | March 10, 2015 / 2015.03-3 | 2D/3D | All POSIX (BSD/Linux/Unix like OS), Packages for Linux, Mac OS X | Yes | Unknown | GNU GPL | Free | en | No | No | Partial[26][27][28] | DXF, STL, OFF | PNG, DXF, STL, OFF | Free | |
| PowerCADD by Engineered Software | August 2010 / v9 | 2D | Mac OS X | No | No | Proprietary | No | en, fr, it, es, ... | No | No | Yes | DWG, DXF, PDF, EPSF, PS, Bitmap, VectorPict, JPG, PNG, TIF, SGI, TGA, Adobe Photoshop, *SHP, *GPX, ASCII Topo Survey (*with WildTools) | DXF, DWG, PDF, EPSF, PS, Bitmap, VectorPict, JPG, PNG, TIF, SGI, TGA, Adobe Photoshop, | $995(PRO)-$1250(expert incl WildTools) | |
| progeCAD by ProgeCAD | May 17, 2017 / 2018 11.0.6.5 | 2D/3D Rendering | Linux Requires Wine; MAC OS Requires Parallels Desktop for Mac | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes Free | en, de, ru, it, cs, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, fr, pl, es, sr, hu | No | No | Yes | DWG, DXF, PDF, DWT, DWF, SAT | DWG, DXF, DWT, PDF, SAT, 3DS, POV, LWO, BMP, EMF, WMF, JPEG, KMZ, SVG, PDF | $690, $399 | |
| QCad by Ribbon Soft | March 12, 2018 / 3.20 | 2D | Includes Mac OS X | Yes | No | GNU GPL | Yes | en | Yes | v2.x3 import and export | Yes | IFC, DXF, DWG | IFC, DXF, DWG | Free,[29] $42 for Commercial | |
| Autodesk Revit | January 27, 2017 / 2017.2 | 2D/3D BIM AEC | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes[30] | pt-BR, en, cs, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, ru, zh-Hans, es | Yes | Import and export. Import certified. Export certified.[3] | Yes | DXF, DWG, SAT, SKP, DGN, JPEG, PNG, TIFF | DWG, DXF, SAT, FBX, IFC, DGN, DWF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVI, PDF | Varies | |
| Rhinoceros 3D by Robert McNeel and Associates | May 22, 2017 / Rhino 5 SR Service Release | 2D/3D CAD | Mac OS X | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, fr, de, it, es, pl, cs, zh, ja, kr | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | DXF, DWG, .3ds, SAT, SketchUp, IGES, STEP, STL, DGN, FBX, OBJ, sldprt | DXF, DWG, .3ds, SAT, SketchUp, IGES, STEP, STL, COLLADA, Parasolid | $995[31] | |
| SALOME | May 22, 2019 / 9.3.0 | CAE | FreeBSD,[32] Linux | Yes | No | LGPL | Free | EN, FR, JA | Unknown | Unknown | No[33] | BREP, IGES, STEP, XAO[34] | IGES, STEP, BREP, STL,[35] MED, UNV, DAT[36], XAO[37] | Free | |
| SketchUp by Trimble | November 14, 2017 / 2018, 18.0.16975 (Windows), 18.0.16976 (Mac) | 3D | Mac OS X | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | EN, FR, IT, DE, ES, PT(BR), JA, KO, ZH(CN), ZH(TW) | Yes | Template:Yes, import and export | Yes | DWG, DXF, DEM, DDF, 3DS, DAE, KMZ, IFC, JPG, PNG, PSD, TIF, TGA, BMP | DAE, KMZ, 3DS, DWG, DXF, FBX, OBJ, WRL, XSI, PDF, EPS, BMP, JPG, TIF, PNG, EPX, | SketchUp Make: FreeSketchUp Pro: $700 | |
| Solid Edge by Siemens PLM Software | June 15, 2016 / ST9 | 3D/2D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | 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 | $5,300, $1,200 Maintenance | |
| SolidWorks by SolidWorks Corp. | August 13, 2018 / 2018 SP4 | 2D/3D hybrid | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | From 129,95US$ | en, es, de, fr (at release date) | Yes | import: ifc2x3, export: ifc4.0 | Yes | DXF, DWG, DXF, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, ACIS (SAT), STL, ProE, Creo, Solid Edge, Siemens NX, Autodesk Inventor, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Rhino (3dm), IDF (emn, brd, bdf, idb, idx), VDA, WRL, Meshfiles (stl,obj,off,ply,ply2), 3MF, CGR, catpart/catproduct, Rhino (3dm), JT, sldxml, IFC | DXF, DWG, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, ACIS (SAT), STL, u3d, VRML, 3dxml, Catia, PDF, IFC, | $3,995, $1,295/yr for optional support | |
| SolveSpace by Jonathan Westhues | December 23, 2016 / v.2.3 | 2D/3D parametric | Mac OS X, Linux | Yes | No | GNU GPL | Free | en | No | No | Export only | 2D as DXF, EPS, PDF, SVG, HPGL, STEP; 3D wireframe as DXF, STEP; triangle mesh as STL, Wavefront OBJ; NURBS surfaces as STEP | Free | ||
| SpaceClaim Engineer by SpaceClaim Corp. | May 9, 2017 / 2017.1 | 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 | [ACIS], Acrobat PDF 3D, Acrobat - PDF 2D, AutoCAD - DWG and DXF, CATIA V5, [IGES], JT Open, Keyshot, Parasolid, POV-Ray, PowerPoint, Rhino, SketchUp, [STEP], STL, VDA-VS, VRML, OBJ, XAML, XPS | ? | |
| Tekla Structures by Tekla | May 23, 2017 / Version 2017 SP2 | 3D/4D/5D CAE, CAM, steel detailing, concrete detailing | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, cs, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, du, fr, de, hu, it, ja, ko, pl, pt, pt-BR, ru, es | Yes | Import and export. Export certified.[3] | Yes | IFC, IFCXML, IFCZIP, DWG, DXF, DGN, PDF, STEP, IGES, CIS/2, ISM, FabTrol KISS, DSTV, Steel Detailing Neutral Format, Eliplan ELI, Primavera P6, Trimble LM80[38] | IFC, IFCXML, IFCZIP, DWG, DXF, DGN, CIS/2, ISM, FabTrol KISS, DSTV, Steel Detailing Neutral Format, Eliplan ELI, Primavera P6, Trimble LM80, HMS[38] | ? | |
| Autodesk Tinkercad | 2019 | 3D modeling, constructive solid geometry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Proprietary | No | Browser default | No | No | Unknown | SVG, STL, OBJ | STL, OBJ | Free | |
| TransMagic | 2014 R11 | 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 | ? | |
| TurboCAD by IMSI/Design, LLC | April 30, 2018 / V2018 (Windows), 2017 Mac V10 (Mac) | 2D/3D | Mac OS X | Yes | No | Proprietary | Up to 85% off standard pricing | en, cs, de, es, ja, fr, pl, zh-Hant | Yes | Yes | Yes | [2] | [3] | $1,495 Pro, $1,695 Pro Platinum[39] | |
| VariCAD by VariCAD | June 27, 2019 / 2019-3.0 | 2D/3D parametric | Linux | Yes | No | Proprietary | Yes | en, de, cs, pt, ja | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | STEP (3D), DWG (2D), DXF (2D)[40], DWB | STEP (3D), STL (3D), IGES (3D), BMP (from 3D), DWG (2D), DXF (2D)[40], DWB | $780 | |
| VisualARQ by Asuni CAD S.A. | May 3, 2017 / 1.9.7 | 2D/3D | No | Yes | No | Proprietary | $95 | en, fr, es, de, it, cs | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3DM, 3DS, AI, DGN, DWG, DXF, EPS, FBX, GDF, IGS/IGES, LWO, OBJ, PDF, PLY, SDLPTR/SDLASM, SKP, STL, STP/STEP, VDA, VRML/VRL, X, ZPR | 3DM, 3DS, ACIS, AI, DGN, X, DWG, DXF, EPS, FBX, GDF, IGS/IGES, IFC, LWO, OBJ, PDF, PLY, POV, RIB, SKP, SDLPTR/SDLASM, STL, STP/STEP, VDA, VRML/VRL, WMF, X_T, XGL, ZPR | $495 |