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2D CAD Software Suggestions - "reasonable" with permanent license?

H

Huskerz

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Location
Midwest
We need a 2D CAD software on occasion - had free Draftsight for a few years but didn't really use it enough and now it has gone to a subscription service. We have a vector based sign software that will create simple DXF files for us. Just tired of muddling through with that to create files for laser/waterjet/plasma cutting. It just doesn't have the basic drawing utilities and dimensioning that we would like. Can anyone here recommend a good 2D CAD program to look at please? Don't mind paying up to $500 or so for something if it is a perpetual license. Prefer not to go subscription model if possible as we just don't use it enough. Unless it's overwhelmingly suggested to go back to Draftsight? I've heard LibreCad, NanoCAD, SolveSpace, FreeCad mentioned but don't know anything about them? Thanks
 
Slightly out of budget, Rhinoceros (McNeel Associates) is the most convenient 2D drafting program I've ever used, despite being 3D modeling software. License is perpetual.

Since you are interested primarily in cutting, CorelDRAW (now part of Corel Graphics Suite) is a big player in sign making and niche cutting. It makes a perfectly reasonable DXF file, and there are quite a few 3rd party plugins to cut directly from CorelDRAW. Full-featured vector drawing application. While they would like to sign you up for a subscription, if you choose the right license option, you can get a perpetual license.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies - I will check out BricsCad and Rhino. I am familiar with Corel, and I don't believe it has the ease/functionality for drawing/dimensioning that we are looking for? We are not cutting in house, just preparing files to send out but I feel like we'd like more of a drafting program than "sign software"?. Perhaps it would be smart to look at Rhino more as we could grow into 3D if necesasary? If many users said it was the best choice, the $995 for it wouldn't be the end of the world :)
 
Well Gregor.

This is the 2nd time I've tried to download SE-2D, and it's the 2nd time I've gotten the descriptive message saying that they are "unable to approve my license request" ....
Nothing about why and what to do, but ...

I did download the SE viewer though a while back, so not sure what's up

Unfortunately, we are unable to approve your license request at this time. If you are still interested in receiving access to our software then please contact an IT administrator at your company or educational institution.
Click to expand...
 
SeymourDumore said:
Well Gregor.

This is the 2nd time I've tried to download SE-2D, and it's the 2nd time I've gotten the descriptive message saying that they are "unable to approve my license request" ....
Nothing about why and what to do, but ...

I did download the SE viewer though a while back, so not sure what's up
Click to expand...

I genuinely have no idea what's up with that....

We have a couple of guys using it here for the fab shop / profiling.

I very rarely use it as I work pretty much exclusively in 3D, but I have the 2021 version installed on my computer, 99% sure I downloaded it from the page I linked (that's the first hit in google), 100% certain I am not eligible for educational use! Didn't even notice that page was supposedly for education until I started googling this.

I wonder if they've tightened the licensing eligibility recently?
 
Has anyone here used Intellicad lately? I had a Dos version years ago for flowcharts IIRC. It's still alive and touted as an autocad alternative. Seems there are several sites selling several versions of it, all at $199.
 
I don't use it for 2D, but I'll second the recommendation for Rhino. It's a very versatile and well made tool to keep around. I picked it up just for it's surfacing tools and it quickly became my go to for all of my conceptual design modeling, CAM programming (with a plugin) and direct model edits.
 
Corel has cad software in addition to their drawing suite. It's $699 for a perpetual license with an available demo. Anyone familiar with draftsight will find the 2d of corelcad an easy transition.
 
Thanks for the added recommendations and ideas. So many choices :) Is there a choice that would be best to grow with? I don't know that I'll ever get into 3d/modeling. But if it's an easy jump with Rhino maybe that's a good choice? For now, I want to do basic 2D drawings, but wouldn't mind learning something that I could expand into 3D if the need came about? Not having to learn something entirely new from scratch would be great (assuming there is some crossover from 2D/3D if sticking with same brand?)
 
Huskerz said:
Thanks for the added recommendations and ideas. So many choices :) Is there a choice that would be best to grow with? I don't know that I'll ever get into 3d/modeling. But if it's an easy jump with Rhino maybe that's a good choice? For now, I want to do basic 2D drawings, but wouldn't mind learning something that I could expand into 3D if the need came about? Not having to learn something entirely new from scratch would be great (assuming there is some crossover from 2D/3D if sticking with same brand?)
Click to expand...

It really depends on what you think you'll need to grow into. Do you deal with many similar parts/drawings where a parametric CAD would benefit you? Do any of your parts go into larger assemblies? Do you have any parts that would be faster to create a 3D model to generate 2D drawings?
 
If you are going with free/cheap, may as well try FreeCad or some other similar crap. No offense, but in the world of cad/cam you get what you pay for. That said, if you don't know the difference, knock yourself out, might be fine for what you want to do. :cool:
 
SolidEdge is true, industrial-grade 2D CAD, and they give it away for free because they hope you will upgrade later to the 3D version.

So at least with SE, going from 2D to 3D is seamless, (except of course for the 3D learning curve, and the cost of the 3D software).

ToolCat
 
People fail to realize that one of the stalwart CAD systems back in the day was CadKey. Better by far than A-Cad. It still exists in the form of Kubotech. Same awesome Cadkey that I knew and loved. 2D cad if you just want that but also full solids and surfacing. Last I checked it was about 599$ for a permanent license. I still have an older seat at home.
Also, another great CAD program is Alibre. This came out in the early 2000's from a couple of Pro-E defectors. I also have a seat of this at home and it is the closest thing to A360 but without the bullshit subscription. Permanent license for under 200$.
I have no connections other than a user and purchaser.

Paul
 
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