CAD stands for computer-aided design. Computer-aided design is done by computer or workstation. We use CAD to help us modify, create, optimize, and analyze a design. It Is A Software That We Used To Enhance The Quality And Productivity Of The Given Design Or Created Design. We also use CAD for the improvement of design with that we can also create manufacturing data.
So it is quite useful software. All the designs that are made from CAD are quite useful and with the help of CAD software, we can protect our designs, products, and inventions as well. We can use computer-aided design (CAD) software for both two-dimensional (2D) models in which we can make curves and figures as well as three-dimensional (3D) models in which we can make surfaces and solids.
Uses of CAD
CAD is used in various industries such as shipbuilding, aerospace industries, automobile industries, architectural industries, and many more. CAD is used for various effects in movies and animations as well.
The main purpose of CAD is to streamline as well as optimize the workflow of the designer. It aims to enhance the productive quality of a product. The output of the CAD software comes out as electronic files which make them easy to use for the manufacturing process.
CAD is used to make almost every design. From making a tiny piece of any electronic item to making large dams and airplanes etc. CAD is there for us. Though CAD software, because of its high and frequent use has become expensive, but you don’t have to worry. We are here in the article to help you out with this problem.
In this article, we are listing the top 15 free CAD (computer-aided design) software. These are free software that you can use and they are as good as paid once. So let’s check them out.
1. FreeCAD:-
When we talk about free CAD software, the first name that comes to our mind is freeCAD.
FreeCAD is very popular among students, beginners, and professionals. It is a very multipurpose software. Both the programmers and any educator can use this software. Though it is a free tool, it is still as useful as paid ones. It is very smooth working software and gives the best quality designs. This has a white range of features. It is a parametric 3D design model and this is one of its best key features.
You can constrain and manipulate the parameters of your models with this help you can modify your designs. Another important feature is that free CAD organizes its features and tools into work benches. So for different tasks, you can use different tools and they are easy to find.
Free CAD allows you to sketch or create 2D designs. You can create and draw lines, shapes, etc. It allows 3D designs as well. So from complex shapes to fill and more you can create with the help of the software. It helps you in creating realistic images of any design. The visual representation of any design is amazing. It uses a Python module that enhances the software functionality. So overall, it’s a very good software that you should use.
2. Sketchup:-
Sketchup is an amazing computer-aided design software full stop that is available for you. There are many industries that use this software, for instance, mostly all the industries related to design, engineering gaming, architecture, etc. So it is pretty good software. Though you have searched about it and found out that it is a paid CAD software, the interesting thing about this is that it allows a free tier for students as well as personal users. But another thing that you should know is that it is free only on its web platform.
You can use this in making a design three-dimensional (3D) close. After that your project you can also save in dwg format. Another important feature of this software is its library of models. It has assemblies of models and 3D warehouses that can help us in making our knowledge large. Moreover, SketchUp is also available as an app named Sketchup Pro.
It provides a trial (free bracket close for 30 days. So you can examine the app before buying the membership. The software is very useful for both beginners and professionals. It does not limit to the web and therefore you can use advanced tools without any limitations. It is one of the best free CAD software.
3. Tinkercad:-
Flex imagine that you are at somebody else’s house and you are busy with them and you don’t have your PC or anything. Now you are called and asked to design a simple model in 3D. But you got to know that your friend doesn’t have any CD software installed on his or her computer. So, what you can do is download Tinkercad CAD software to use for making any 3D design at any point. It is an online solution to make any 3D design or digital design.
The most interesting part of using this software is that you don’t have to be experienced for it you can be a beginner and still you can use this software. It is free-to-use software. It is a very simple software that anyone can use. A good internet connection is needed, that’s it. It is an Autodesk part and offers all file formats and integration offered by this software. The lectures on the software are really fun and interesting.
With the help of them, you can learn many things. For instance, you can learn how to design a 3D model. With that, you can also learn how to make any blocks, etc. So there are many tutorials as well that will make you a better designer. This software offers you a gallery in which you can see and examine what other users are designing. It is a wonderful online platform where you can start learning how to use CAD. It is a really good free CAD software.
4. Librecad:-
Another important CAD software is librecad. But the only difference between this software and other software is that it offers only a two-dimensional (2D) model. It is a free CAD software that can be used by both beginners as well as professionals. You can use the software for commercial use as well as personal use. It has a gallery named BRL – CAD in which you will find many videos from other CAD programs. This software is very customizable. You can make many 2D designs, circuit boards, and even figures of mathematics.
DWG and DWF both file formats are supported by the software. And it is very easy to import your projects. It doesn’t just offer this, it has many other features as well. For example, you can even download your design in PDF and many other formats. It is a very easy to you software and if you are a learner you must try this.
5. Openscad
OpenCad is another free computer-aided design software. It is also open-source software. It is used for making three-dimensional software. The most interesting part of this software is that it is script-based CAD software. This means that you can use programming language rather than graphical representation to define any designed (3D) close that you have made. The texture description is seriously very helpful in the professional field.
This software proves primitive shapes for instance polygons, cylinders, lines, cubes, etc that can be for combining and constructing many different designs and shapes. The software also allows you to transport your design into various file formats such as STL and others. With the help of it, you can manipulate and control your designs to a very good extent. It is useful for various purposes and it is very popular among engineers, programmers, etc. This gives you a document related to parameters that should be in mind while making your designs. It is the best 3D modeling software that we can use.
6. Fusion 360-
It is another computer-aided design (CAD bracket close software by Autodesk. This is free CAD software for students, hobbyist creators, professionals, etc. It is one of the best software to use for students. It is an amazing source of learning & plays an important role in that field. You can learn all about 3D designing, stimulation, modeling designing, etc. Everything that you need accommodate in one place for you people.
You can do anything for instance making a 3D design to collaborate through the cloud and whatnot. It also allows you to unify different projects, design elements, and more. It is a really powerful tool for CAD. You can stimulate as well as analyze your designs. The software allows you to create realistic images of your designs. It is useful widely in different industries.
7. Autocad:-
As the name suggests it’s the easiest computer edit design (CAD) software to use. It is the easiest software as well as powerful CAD software. This is also premium software which means you need to pay for it but with the help of a student licence, you can get the computer Aided design software for free. It is also part of Autodesk. As a student and as a learner you will greatly satisfy by the software. It is very useful for students.
Users can create multiple and complex designs. It is an amazing software to use. The vast range of documentation is also available that will make you learn quickly with all the advanced and basic features of the software. You must try this. It also supports many file formats for the import and export of any design. It is a good free 3D design platform.
8. Onshape:-
On Shape is one of the widely used computer-aided design- CAD software in the modern age. This software is a cloud-based design platform. It is an open-source platform where only from the browser you can create any design both in three dimensional that is solid and complex as well as two dimensional that is surface model.
Don’t worry you will not lose your design as it bases on cloud, so all your actions will be automatically save to the cloud so you don’t have to worry about losing your data. It will help you in creating very detailed and structured models. This software will also allow you to import DW, dwg, etc files. Though it is expensive software, but it is free for students, educators, and even those whose habits lie on it. It is one of the best CAD software.
9. Vectory:-
Vectory is a user-friendly computer-aided design (CAD) software. It is a web-based software & allows you to create three-dimensional designs and models. It offers a vast variety of tools and features for designing purposes. You can create any design and model. It also allows you to import designs in multiple file formats.
The most important feature of the software is that it offers collaboration work as well. Multiple people can together work on a project and work as a team. Users can also share their models or designs with other people. So this way it serves as the best software for both learning and CAD. It is an online platform and free to use. This has more than 60 formats and the designs can export in different file formats. It is really to use the software.
10. Draftsight:-
Draft site is a feature-rich computer-aided design CAD software. It is a tool to design two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. This software is very easy to learn. It allows you to create an editor design. Moreover, you can view and review all the designs. It is a really powerful tool and therefore most professionals, architects, etc use this. You can make and create almost all types of designs and that is to be with so much precision. DRAFTSIGHT allows cloud sharing and storage sharing which means you can share designs with your friends or anyone else.
11. Blender:-
Blender is an amazing and powerful computer-aided design CAD software. It is open-source software. This is widely famous for its features of creating 3D models, animation, movies, visual effects, games, and more. It allows all users to import and export videos in many formats. The most interesting feature is that it allows keyboard shortcuts for excellent and convenient use of this CAD.
It offers realistic rendering. It also allows users to edit and transform the design. Users can also customize the keyboard keys as shortcuts. Users can also export the design in an image form. It is a user-friendly software. Blender blends our experience of designing with joy.
12. Brl-CAD:-
VRL stands for the ballistic research laboratory. It is an excellent computer-aided design CAD software. It is open-source software useful for a wide range of people for analyzing the model as well as curating them. BRL-CAD emphasizes more on solid models, i,e three-dimensional models. This software can handle extremely complex models. It offers a white range of analyses supported by the software. It provided a very stable performance.
13. Solid Edge Community Edition:-
The solid edge community edition is a professional computer-aided design area software. It particularly designs for students, educators, and creators who want to learn and use CAD. The solid edge community edition is a free version of solid h software. Its main feature is to promote CAD and learning as well as innovation. Solid Edge community edition offers a vast collection of tools and features. Users can create models and later can edit them. It can install on your computer. Solid Edge community edition also offers imports and exports models in different formats, especially for collaboration.
14. Z brushcoremini:-
ZBRUSHCOREMINI is another computer-aided design software. It focuses on three-dimensional modeling. Pixlogic made this. This software offers both 2 brush navigation and standard-level navigation. You can also enhance productivity by using plug-ins. Moreover, on the official site, you will be getting design-oriented features. The most interesting feature is the GOZ button, which allows users to transfer most designs etc. It is one of the free and good software that we can use as a beginner. One should use this software if you have interest in learning more about CAD.
15. 3D Builder:-
3D Builder is a free computer-aided design cab. It can be useful by many pieces and other Microsoft platforms. One of the interesting features of this app is that users can download others’ designs and users can make changes and later can print them. It also provides a touchscreen interface. Moreover, since it is an app it allows users to scan the object and then the object converts into 3D files through the camera. It has multiple graphics. So as a beginner, you must try this app.
Conclusion
To conclude there are a lot of amazing CAD (computer-aided design) software. All these 15 software are easy to use and very user-friendly. I guess now you have pretty much knowledge about CAD. Whether you are a manufacturer, producer, businessman, etc CAD will be there to help you out. We understand that it is not easy but with the help of all these software that are above mentioned you can learn easily. So let us know which of them you are using next.
Punit