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Buying CAD Software
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Buying CAD Software
Buying CAD software for your daily use, choosing from the myriad options in the market, is an important decision. Whether you are an individual user and you are evaluating for your team the choice needs to be a carefully considered decision. The decision not only impacts you and your organization financially, but it will also impact your productivity & your capability to communicate with vendors and customers. Through this article we will help you identify the key parameters you must evaluate to make an informed choice and answer “Where can I buy CAD software”.To get more news about buy cad software online, you can visit shine news official website.
The Learning Curve
Every software product will be in some way different from the one & another, but what you are using to, impacting the speed at which you will be able to adapt. Many CAD users will have used some software, New staff joining your company might be familiar with the use of industry-leading software such as AutoCAD. What you need to evaluate is how quickly, you and your team, can become productive on the software you are considering. This will make down to how similar is the organization of the menu, how similar the commands are and even how similar are the commands named to what you are used before. An interface you are familiar with will reduce the learning curve and get you and your team up and be running quickly. This criterion is often missed while considering new software and adds hidden costs during implementation.
Ease of Use
The software must be easy to use and friendly. Look for modern user interfaces such as the Ribbon interface. In addition, the software must be easily configurable to make often-used commands easily accessible. Good CAD products offer customization through tool palettes. The facility of Command-Line allows you to pull up the appropriate menu or dialogue box instantly. This also allows you to import existing designs into the current drawing space. The best programs also have a setup manager that lets you change the settings on your document and easily access frequently used command strings to save you even more time.Light Weight
The software must be able to run with acceptable speed on the hardware you normally use. Many CAD products require large RAM and fast CPUs to give you the performance you need. Using such products may require you to upgrade your computer systems for you and your team. This would be an additional costFile Compatibility
You will need to use and share the designs/drawings you have created with colleagues, customers, and vendors. The software you use must be able to handle as many industry-standard file formats as possible both for input and output. DWG (a file format used in 2D and 3D drawings), DXF (Drawing Interchange Format), DWF (Design Web Format) and DGN (used for large-scale projects and similar to DWG) are the most important formats that must be supported. For 3D printing, an STL export feature is handy. For printing or emailing read-only files, look for PDF and various image file formats for easy transfer. Reading PDF drawings into the software is also useful. The software must be capable of reading old versions of DWG, DXF, etc. You may get files that have been created long ago or created on systems that do not support new versions.Availability at Work, at Home and on the Go
What would it take to have access all the time? Let us say you use a Desktop at work and a laptop at home and while on the go. What if you have to use CAD while at home? Do you need another license? What if this is the case with your team? Do you need twice the number of licenses or is there an easy way to transfer licenses. Obviously, while you are working at home you are not using the license on your computer at work. Your license requirement can easily balloon if the software does not support easy do it yourself license transfer.Performance & Reliability
The software must perform reliably and not crash while you are creating your most complex work. During evaluation load the software with your most complex drawing and work with it. Notice the performance in Zoom, PAN, and other often used operations. Modify the drawing, save and restore. Look out for performance bottlenecks and any crashes, especially those where you lost your work.Evaluate the Company
Consider the source of technology and how often the software is released. Buying software is not a one-time interaction with the vendor. The vendor must support you and release upgraded and bug fixed software periodically. Evaluate the vendor’s capability to repair the bugs you might come across. Large CAD vendors like AutoDesk will have substantial development teams. There are vendors who add value and base their products on the IntelliCAD consortium’s product. With such vendors, you are assured of periodic releases with new features and bug fixes.Evaluate the Support
How responsive is the vendor to your queries during your evaluation or use? The vendor should have email support with guaranteed turnaround time. Evaluate the responses you get to your queries. Do they help you sort out the issue? How many emails does it take to get a problem solved? Can the vendor do a remote session to solve a complex issue? Evaluate the online resources available for training yourself or getting a ‘How to …’ question answered. Look for video tutorials, FAQ’s and forums are convenient sources for additional help. Many of the vendors have video tutorials and PDF manuals you can download.Is it Customizable?
There will be repetitive tasks that you want to execute quickly. If you are planning to use the software for considerable time evaluate whether it is possible to customize the software. Depending on the domain in which you use the software there will be a group of repetitive tasks that you use often. You should be able to bundle all the commands into a single custom command using programming. Many CAD software will support LISP, Diesel, SDS, and DCL. Additionally, some CAD products implement the Application Programming Interface (API). An example is ARX of AutoCAD and IRX of IntelliCAD. Using the API, programs can be written to automate complex tasks to improve the productivity of your team.