MegaCad vs AutoCad - thejudge

[Romanowski]

Gregg

the company I work for owns a subsidirary in Germany

The german manager's main function is design

he sends over dxf files which obviously can open in AutoCad

however the translation isn't seamless when it comes to modifiing the drawings

before they are sent out to the outsourced american machining company

long story short he (our german office) sent over a PO for a MegaCad program http://www.megatech.de/en/ for 8 freaking K Euros ($9k)

if him using megacad is causing some hiccups for us converting and modifying in Autocad, is there any reason we should't be on the same platform (AutoCad)?

besides all of this Autocad 2006 only costs $3k

[The Judge]

Megacad has made some significant improvements in the past few years and has always been touted as simple and easy to learn. Originally it was designed for as a CAD/CAM design tool for the manufacturing industry and that is still their primary customer base.

In the late 1990’s, the Megacad development team integrated the Spatial 3D ACIS Modeler into their own software in order to allow the program to perform more complicated calculations such as rounding of variable radii along 3D contours and combined surface and volume modeling. This innovation has allowed them to compete in the global market where their software has become more accepted, particularly in Europe.

Certainly if your company is using the software for 2D drawings as in those that are prepared for buildings, AutoCAD is a far superior product. However, if the software is being used on the manufacturing side, which I suspect is the case, Autodesk makes a specialized line of AutoCAD products for this field.

This is not really my area of expertise as the 3D modeling that I am familiar with is for building for which we use an Autodesk product called Revit Structure. The following text is an excerpt form Autodesk’s website’s manufacturing section:

Engineering tools like Autodesk® Inventor™ allow engineers to design, visualize, and test a complete machine before the first prototype is ever produced. Autodesk Inventor, provides the ability to create virtual prototypes to simulate the entire range of motion for each component. Integrated performance and strength analysis allow for design optimization and reduction of development costs and time.

Functional design, a new design paradigm that allows the functional requirements of a design to drive the creation of 3D models, enables engineers to focus on a design’s functional requirements before committing to the model geometry. This improves the design process by reusing more standard parts and components—reducing the cost and complexity to manufacture products.

Machines that move require both electrical and mechanical functionality. Autodesk Inventor works seamlessly with other Autodesk engineering applications, like AutoCAD® Electrical for the creation of control system designs that can be directly imported, and AutoCAD® Mechanical—the purpose built 2D mechanical design solution that allows detailers to work with native Autodesk Inventor models. And, Autodesk Inventor includes the technology for integrated 2D and 3D mechanical and electrical design that industrial machines require, such as electrical control systems, cable and wire harnesses.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7029578

I really do not know much about the compatibility issues between Megacad and AutoCAD.

I hope this helps.

[Romanowski]

thanks man

2d drawings is all we need, and although both autocad and megacad offer 3d modeling, it isnt necessary