[nzlug] Architectural CAD

[Glenn Ramsey]

David Harrison wrote:
> > 
> >  > On 9/03/2007, at 11:23 AM, Vik Olliver wrote:
> 
>> > On Fri, 2007-03-09 at 11:17 +1300, Olwen Williams wrote:
>>> >> The two most used programs for architects are probably Archicad and
>>> >> Autocad.  Both are very expensive.  Archicad is specifically designed
>>> >> for architecture and has NZ addons for our type of building.  There
>>> >> are tutorials available.  Archicad also does not run on Linux as far
>>> >> as I know, but there is a Mac version as well as the Windows version.
>> >
>> > An architect near me is using Qcad at least some of the time.
> 
> Open source CAD software is very thin on the ground and what is there  
> is not nearly as capable as commercial software.
> QCad is certainly the best I alternative I have seen (http:// 
> www.qcad.org/qcad.html) but even here it is only providing 1980's  
> level functionality.

There is also Varkon <www.varkon.org>. It's main strengths are that it 
is 3D, fully parametric, has complex surface modelling capability and it 
can easily programmed. The UI is also designed to be to customized.

Straight out the box it's probably not that useful for architectural 
applications but with some customisation of the UI it might be. There is 
also a Windows version.

Glenn