Same old question - what version of Icad is the best buy?

[smf]

Hi all.
I'm impressed with BricsCAD v6, which I have tried for a week. Now my
bosses want to buy Icad for all workstations.
Cadopia bundles with Rhino, and that looks good (and cheap). At the
same time Cadopia can handle ACIS solids, and that's unnecessary if you
get Rhino.

Bricscad's got a fine rep, with support and bugfixes. Seems stable to
me. Also, hatches made in Autocad works fine in Bricscads version.

Maybe someone of you guys have tried more versions than I have, I would
appreciate any comments on this old subject. Or if all is said, please
point me to a thread with info.

Bye for now / Sven

[jg]

Post by smf
Hi all.
I'm impressed with BricsCAD v6, which I have tried for a week. Now my
bosses want to buy Icad for all workstations.
Cadopia bundles with Rhino, and that looks good (and cheap). At the
same time Cadopia can handle ACIS solids, and that's unnecessary if you
get Rhino.
Bricscad's got a fine rep, with support and bugfixes. Seems stable to
me. Also, hatches made in Autocad works fine in Bricscads version.
Maybe someone of you guys have tried more versions than I have, I would
appreciate any comments on this old subject. Or if all is said, please
point me to a thread with info.

By version you mean which supplier? I have used CMS, Cadopia and finally
Bricscad which I am most pleased with. I looked at articles about Rhino when
it came out and was a fairly expensive prog, seems it has come down but
still Cadopia's deal could be a real bargain. I don't use that side of the
software enough to know what's good or bad.
BUT, just today I swapped V6 for V5 (both Bricscad) - they're both good but
overall V5 has practically no "issues" while V6 has a (minor) few like
fading snaps, trims and selections and then one small, old lisp (which just
draws a line & circle representing damper in a ductwork spigot block)
started crashing it. I don't need that, I had almost come to take stability
for granted.

[smf]

You're right - I should've written supplier not version. I downloaded
Cadopias trial, which is the standard edition called V5. Didn't use it
for long before it froze up on me. And the hatches from Acad didn't
work. Since a lot of my consultants like to use hatches that about
settles it for me. Bricscad seems to be the best for us.

Rhino is a cool program for making 3d renderings of buildings and
anything else. We have used a trial for a while, and I think it's worth
buying. Another one seems to be Sketchup, which is extremely fast for
orthogonal buildings (no Gehry). It is said to be compatible with the
other stuff I'm using, exports to 3ds which can be turned to dwg in
Rhino and...

Anyone besides me miss paper / pencil once in a while?

Thanks for answering, jg.

[jg]

Post by smf
You're right - I should've written supplier not version. I downloaded
Cadopias trial, which is the standard edition called V5. Didn't use it
for long before it froze up on me. And the hatches from Acad didn't
work. Since a lot of my consultants like to use hatches that about
settles it for me. Bricscad seems to be the best for us.
Rhino is a cool program for making 3d renderings of buildings and
anything else. We have used a trial for a while, and I think it's worth
buying. Another one seems to be Sketchup, which is extremely fast for
orthogonal buildings (no Gehry). It is said to be compatible with the
other stuff I'm using, exports to 3ds which can be turned to dwg in
Rhino and...
Anyone besides me miss paper / pencil once in a while?

Not really, the bit of sketching I occasionally do is plenty to satisfy my
hand which always was a bit shakey.
I had some crashes with B'cad V5 while Object Properties toolbar was on the
screen, when I dumped it V5 became very stable. It's OK in B'cad V6. I
believe many of my instability troubles in the past have originated with
anti-virus software... almost every brand available. Now I leave it off, be
careful & scan occasionally.

[smf]

I use a free anti virus program from antivir.de or something like that.
Works really well with other programs. Norton messed up my old
computer. But I don't know, sometimes it seems that the built-in
firewall in XP does most of the work.

The thing with choosing Icad vendor is a bit risky since my bosses
expects me to deliver a solution that will work for everyone in the
office. And letting those guys loose will be a dramatic test that the
Icad consortium should pay me for.

The vendors charge the same sum in both Euros and Dollars, which is a
bit weasly since the Euro is worth more.

[jg]

Post by smf
I use a free anti virus program from antivir.de or something like that.
Works really well with other programs. Norton messed up my old
computer. But I don't know, sometimes it seems that the built-in
firewall in XP does most of the work.
The thing with choosing Icad vendor is a bit risky since my bosses
expects me to deliver a solution that will work for everyone in the
office. And letting those guys loose will be a dramatic test that the
Icad consortium should pay me for.
The vendors charge the same sum in both Euros and Dollars, which is a
bit weasly since the Euro is worth more.

Your bosses will have to decide if they want to spend the price of say
Autocad or Microstation for possibly a little more functionality and
stability, or support your best efforts to provide a workable alternative
and back yours and others' judgement. One day Acad might be the one which
has to prove its compatability, I have had some Acad drawings which are pigs
in Icad (though not lately... maybe compatability is improving) but most
have no trouble at all. If you get the blame for it not being absolutely
equivalent to Acad (I like Icad better in many ways), then don't do it. As
you say no one is paying you for the "risk".

[aaaa]

Post by smf
You're right - I should've written supplier not version. I downloaded
Cadopias trial, which is the standard edition called V5. Didn't use it
for long before it froze up on me. And the hatches from Acad didn't
work. Since a lot of my consultants like to use hatches that about
settles it for me. Bricscad seems to be the best for us.
Rhino is a cool program for making 3d renderings of buildings and
anything else. We have used a trial for a while, and I think it's worth
buying. Another one seems to be Sketchup, which is extremely fast for
orthogonal buildings (no Gehry). It is said to be compatible with the
other stuff I'm using, exports to 3ds which can be turned to dwg in
Rhino and...
Anyone besides me miss paper / pencil once in a while?
Thanks for answering, jg.

I'm using Intellicad by progesoft (progecad).
I've used progecad LT for a few months and then I've bought a prof version.
There was some problem but now is very stable.
I've tried bricscad too (not cadopia yet) but there aren't a lot of stuff
like property form like autocad and Block manager.

Bye