CAD, BIM & 3D

The free version of the Russion KOMPAS-3D MCAD software can be found at http://www.ascon.ru/english/download.php . Assembly modeling is not possible with this version and commercial use is not allowed.

On http://www.solidedge.com/free2d you can download a free 2D version of Solid Edge. This is not based on IntelliCAD and inherits some of the additional "intelligence" of the Solid Edge 3D MCAD software. Support is not free and the company probably assumes it can lead users to evaluate and grow up to Solid Edge 3D. Only for Windows XP and you need to use Internet Explorer to download it. (read in upFront.eZine NEWS #486)

At http://www.plasticbugs.com you can download the GIMPshop, which is a modified version of the GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. The GIMPshop version is meant to be more familiar to Photoshop users and is available, free and with sources, for all major platforms: Windows, MacOSX, Linux and even Solaris. If you don't have the budget for Photoshop or even the smaller, but very usable Photoshop Elements, you can try to see if this program fits your needs.

At http://sfx.realviz.com/Autodesk you can download a free tracking plugin for 3ds max or Maya. MMTrack by RealVIZ is temporarily available (untill august 1, 2007) and allows tracking of video footage directly inside the 3d animation software.

At http://www.graphisoft.com/community/education/downloads you can register and download the free student version of the newly released ArchiCAD 10 (for PC and Mac). It is identical to the commercial version, but the files and prints are watermarked. And you can only use it for learning purposes.

At http://moi3d.com you can download a free beta version of an upcoming 3D CAD modeling application, by a former Rhino programmer. It has a very pleasing, almost artistic interface and seems to work fine. The software is a beta-version, with an expiration date, but it will be able to save the files you create in the OpenNURBS format. It has been called "SketchUp for MCAD" in the upFront.eZine newsletter.

At http://www.powershape-e.com you can get a full, free CAD design application from DELCAM. What is the catch? You can model and save at will, but to export the file into a common CAD format, you need to pay for the conversion. So as long as you want to learn and can afford to stay inside this application, it stays free.