Did You Hear the New AutoCAD News Regarding Maintenance and Subscription?

March 14, 2017 by Jeffrey Suffet Leave a Comment

BricsCAD: Plan BCAD — BricsCAD: Plan B-CAD

Hello

By now, many of you may have seen the latest news from Autodesk: It’s just too much money for them to manage two subscription systems.

They have decided to move all users to a Subscription Only model and are compelling companies and individual customers to move to the higher cost Subscription Model by raising the pricing on the Annual Subscriptions. If you own perpetual licenses then your Annual Maintenance will increase to a point where you are paying more for the maintenance than you would pay for the subscription. That said, if you move to subscription ‘Voluntarily” then they will cut you a deal for giving up the assets/licenses you previously paid for at a premium.

Check out the Autodesk FAQ on the topic. Or for an in-depth discussion on Cost, please take a look at this here.

And with that I would love to introduce you to PLAN “B-CAD”!

Bricsys® is a global provider of DWG design software brought to market under the BricsCAD® brand. Bricsys is focused on providing an industrial strength CAD software platform at a compelling price to customers in the AEC, GIS, Civil Engineering, Process and Power, and Mechanical CAD markets. Based on the Open Design Alliance Teigha® Platform (OpenDWG), BricsCAD is a full-fledged 2D & 3D CAD software program that offers professionals one of the most advanced and intuitive drawing and modeling solutions on the market. Add in its low price point and BricsCAD is beyond any other AutoCAD^® alternative and AutoCAD^® itself. Available in two main editions and open to third-party developers (with a fully implemented AP including LISP and .NET Managed Code), BricsCAD is the CAD solution you have been searching for to replace your AutoCAD^® seats that now require the Desktop Subscription Licensing mandated by Autodesk!

It’s Plan “B-CAD” – Flexible 2D & 3D CAD software with Native .dwg Support plus it adds many time saving tools over AutoCAD^®.

With BricsCAD you get more for less.

Click Here To Download your Trial Copy today!

Thank you

Jeffrey Suffet

What’s New in BricsCAD V17

December 20, 2016 by Jeffrey Suffet Leave a Comment

Hello,

Nothing screams the holiday season quite like building snowmen, making snow angels, and learning more about the newest features and enhancements to the fastest growing Low-Cost CAD Software BricsCAD V17. So although it’s been said many times, many ways, let us dig into what’s new in BricsCAD V17.

New Features:

3D Drawing Compare: Compare two drawing files using intuitive color coding with the new 3D compare feature. You can compare your model with a client’s or a vendor’s to instantly report on the differences between their 3D solids and surfaces.

3D Twist: Create engineering objects like drills or augers by twisting 3D solids, surfaces, and regions around an axis by an angle that you specify.

Animations: You have the ability to create movies to show collaborators and clients your designs by rendering different views from a point or along a path that you have created. You also have the option to specify the frame rate, resolution, overall duration, visual style and the movie file format.

Dimension Style Families: If the need arises to make subtle modifications to just paths of a dimension style or to create derivative styles from a single parent dimension style, you can do so utilizing the new Dimension Style Families. You also have the ability to make linear and angular dimensions look different from one another.

Dockable Panels: Save screen space by docking panels together on the same side of the screen. The panels will occupy the same space with each panel now getting its own tab.

Layers and Content Browser: Layer names and their settings are now always available to you while drawing and editing through the layer panel. The content browser dockable panel displays .dwg and .dxf content in a tree like view of the folders you specify.

New Improvements:

Getting Started: The new “Getting Started” screen allows you to choose between different user files and work-spaces, open existing drawings, start new drawings, and access education tutorials with greater ease.

Intelligent Quad Cursor: Atop BricsCAD’s unique quad cursor, there is a new information field that reports data about entities over which the cursor is currently hovering. It also gains a new tab layout designed to give users faster access to groups within the quad.

Match Perspective: Define how a background photograph and a digital model are related and obtain a view in which your model is rotated and scaled to fit within a background image.

Material Map: You can now control and adjust how rendering textures are wrapped around shapes by changing their mapping or alignment. This control allows you to wrap around boxy and spherical shapes as well.

Thicken: The improved “Thicken” command allows you to create tube-like objects not only on surfaces, but now also on wire objects such as lines, circles and curves.

If you are in need of a last minute stocking stuffer, look no further than BricsCAD V17. Feel free to CONTACT US or give us a CALL if you would like more information. For a 30 Day Evaluation Click Here!

Talk to you soon,

Joey Cacchione

BricsCAD V17 Released – What’s New Video

November 10, 2016 by Jeffrey Suffet Leave a Comment

It’s time to take a look BricsCAD. BricsCAD V17 Released. A mature, robust and rock-solid DWG-based CAD Platform. Built on the Open DWG Standard, BricsCAD is priced to make your CAD investment a productivity tool not an expense to weigh down your overall company profits.

BricsCAD – It’s Time for Plan B-CAD. Download your Evaluation Version Here!

BricsCAD – It’s Time for Plan B-CAD

October 28, 2016 by Jeffrey Suffet Leave a Comment

All DWG-based CAD Departments are now feeling the AutoDesk Subscription Pain and the larger your organization, the more Pain you feel!

It’s time to take a look BricsCAD. Now at V16 with V17 coming out this quarter, BricsCAD is a mature, robust and rock-solid DWG-based CAD Platform. Built on the Open DWG Standard, BricsCAD is priced to make your CAD investment a productivity tool not an expense to weigh down your overall company profits.

BricsCAD is a full-fledged 2D & 3D CAD software program.
BricsCAD reads and writes native DWG files.
BricsCAD has complete LISP compatibility so your tools stay with you.
BricsCAD has a complete API that is compatible with the AutoCAD® API
BricsCAD comes in a perpetual license that is priced right!
BricsCAD has a very small footprint – an installer that is less than 300MB.

BricsCAD – It’s Time for Plan B-CAD. Start out slowly…

Try it out on your next 2D project and I’m certain you will get rid of all your AutoCAD LT Subscriptions!

Download your Evaluation Version Here!

Top Five Reasons for Purchasing Low-Cost CAD Software

May 19, 2016 by Jeffrey Suffet Leave a Comment

Top Five Reasons for Purchasing Low-Cost CAD Software Every once in a while I read something that makes me turn my head. Last week it was an article written by a major CAD Magazine – and re-posted multiple time on the various Autodesk websites – espousing the virtues of AutoCAD® (and LT) and rejecting low cost alternatives. I understand the “why” it was written. I just disagree with the thought process. In my opinion, Autodesk is on the forefront of innovation. I may not like their pricing strategies but it’s hard to argue that they do not invest those dollars into making new and exciting products. The question companies and ultimately the people that work for them have to ask is whether those investments are beneficial to them? Are the dollars being invested back into AutoCAD® (and LT) or are they funding different areas of development with those extra dollars? On one hand Autodesk wants us to purchase AutoCAD® and AutoCAD LT® as if it were a commodity – just order it online like a a printer cartridge – and on the other hand they want a premium price for the product.

The crux of the article was 5 reasons to not move away from AutoCAD® because it “makes better sense technically, organizationally, and financially than the competitor alternatives…”

I was wondering if the author ever had to make payroll…or did any contracting work…or had to make a project come in under budget…or or or…

Anyhow, I have some alternative ideas regarding the authors 5 points as follows:

Top Five Reasons for Purchasing Low-Cost CAD Software

Point 1: “Does the CAD software have a consistent command vocabulary?”

AutoCAD® does have the lion’s share of the marketplace with millions of seats and that makes their Command Vocabulary the “defacto” standard. That said, the low-cost CAD alternatives in the marketplace know this when they enter market. Whether it’s BricsCAD® or another low cost alternative, they know the barrier to entry is that users must feel familiar. In fact, they need to be so comfortable that “change” becomes a non-issue!

Having been in the software industry for quite some time, I can tell you that change is tough. Personally, I hate it. Learning a new piece of software takes time and energy. However, CAD software is a commodity. The time it takes to learn BricsCAD® for 2D drafting is non-existent because it is a drop-in replacement.

The following are the “Additional diagnostic questions” posed by the author that were not explored but implied:

“How much will that extra support time cost your organization?”

As an owner of many AutoCAD® licenses, I can tell you with much certainty that the main support mechanism for AutoCAD Support is as follows:

Public User Forums
YouTube Videos
Service Pack 1 of any new version

In my opinion, Companies like Bricsys realized that Autodesk has all but abandoned support of AutoCAD® and AutoCAD LT® for everyone except those who hold very large seat counts. That’s why they offer an Annual Maintenance Subscription that still offers SUPPORT direct and through their dealer channel! In the past, Annual Maintenance was called UMS – Update, Maintenance and Support. Most companies have reduced this to Updates (new versions) and Maintenance (service packs).

“How much time could you save if all your users utilized the industry standard AutoCAD® command vocabulary?”

Take BricsCAD® for a test drive. You will quickly realize this is not an issue. If something is missing or you want an exact translation to the AutoCAD functionality then the BricsCAD® for AutoCAD® Users is a an excellent source of information and updated yearly!

Point 2: “Does the software support high productivity work methods?”

Autodesk invested countless dollars in the early years to produce an outstanding product. The Sheet Set Manager, Custom User Interface (CUI) Files, Tool Palettes, Content Explorer and Dynamic Blocks are all performance and productivity improvements on basic CAD.

Most of the features are an exact duplicate or enhanced for additional performance improvements. Don’t misunderstand, BricsCAD® is not an exact CAD duplicate – but it comes pretty close! For example, they have yet to fully implemented dynamic blocks but they can read and edit them. But, they have implemented most of the AutoCAD® productivity enhancements over generic CAD as well as additional productivity enhancements not included in AutoCAD® (or LT).

Take a look here for a detailed comparison of features and take a look here for an in-depth review of features.

All said and done, the cost saving will be huge and the learning curves will be minimal as your users will be up and running in no time leveraging the same drawing practices and cad standards you have always used in the past!

The following are the “Additional diagnostic questions” posed by the author that were not explored but implied:

“What would it cost to create workaround methods for these commonly used techniques in another program?”

This question caught me off guard as (over-the-years) we continually have to implement “workarounds” until AutoCAD Service Pack 1 is released. I’ll leave it at that!

“How much would it cost to deploy those solutions?”

Minimal or less than the new desktop subscription licensing being implemented by Autodesk.

“What would it cost to train users to utilize them?”

Take BricsCAD® for a test drive. You will quickly realize this is not an issue. If something is missing or you want an exact translation to the AutoCAD functionality then the BricsCAD® for AutoCAD Users is a an excellent source of information and updated yearly!

“And, finally, how much productivity would you leave on the table so you could use a “free” CAD program?”

Take BricsCAD® for a test drive and see the productivity enhancements Bricsys packed into the product!

Point 3: “Does the software support TrustedDWG™ compliance and file interoperability?”

TrustedDWG™ compliance is not the only solution to a DWG file format. OpenDWG provides a well established and native DWG functionality. Used by software developers worldwide, OpenDWG provides the seamless functionality to read and write DWG files. BricsCAD® implements the OpenDWG functionality…just install the trial and open your AutoCAD® DWG’s. It becomes evident very quickly that there are no issues.

Further, BricsCAD Communicator® adds Import/Export capabilities not even found in AutoCAD®!

The following are the “Additional diagnostic questions” posed by the author:

It is highly unlikely that Autodesk will go out of business or stop supporting AutoCAD LT® next year – can you say that about your low cost/free program?

BricsCAD has been in business since 2003 and is thriving! The OpenDWG Alliance goes back even further to 1998 and is supported by well known companies such as Siemens, Bently, Intergraph, Tekla, Oracle and many others. I’m confident that BricsCAD® and the OpenDWG Alliance will be in business next year!

Point 4: “Does the software support broad import, export and overlay options?”

Take a look at our comparison page. BricsCAD® has more options. More Import/Export/Overlay functionality out of the box. Add in BricsCAD Communicator and the two products do not even compete.

The following are the “Additional diagnostic questions” posed by the author:

What would the absence of these options mean in your typical project workflows?

What could you do if you had more?

How much time might you spend finding the right drivers and conversion utilities to deal with these types of shortcomings in another program?

What could you do if you had more?

Are you willing to live with limited abilities just so you can use a “free” program?

Exactly my point!

Point 5: What does low-cost software ‘actually’ cost?

When you make up numbers on the back of an envelope, it’s hard to argue so I will not even try. The reality is no software is bug-free. Just look at the Autodesk Forums. The rule of thumb in the industry is do not move to a new version of AutoCAD® until Service Pack 1 is released. This is the reality.

At 1680/year/user for AutoCAD® in the subscription only universe of Autodesk, can you not afford to look at BricsCAD®?

At $870 for BricsCAD® Professional License including first year Updates, Maintenance and Support, you owe it to yourself and your company to at least take a look. Volume Discounts are available!

Summary

I’ve seen lots of companies go out of business because they don’t innovate and try new avenues. Change is tough. Maybe BricsCAD is a viable low-cost CAD solution…and maybe it’s not. We should never put our head in the sand given an opportunity to learn something new that could help us be more successful!