Autodesk Tinkercad vs. DraftSight vs. National Instruments LabVIEW

I have found that Autodesk Tinkercad is best for creating simple 3D models for printing. I use it to add text or modifications to 3D models of artifacts for my museum, including labels and support structures for artifacts to stand on. I also use it to create promotional materials, like 3D models of artifacts with our logo on them, which we can print and pass out at events. I would not use Autodesk Tinkercad for more complex 3D modeling or editing 3D models. It's really designed for basic creation and modification, and in those areas it is extremely useful!

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2D design work

3D design work

Large area (500m²+) analysis and assessment

From product design, including production drawings to lay out of large (10m x 1m footprint) layouts DraftSight is a cost effective solution providing all appropriate interfaces for BIM.

The level of detail during rendering (while it can be slow) is good for visualization and for use in installation and training materials

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LabView is a great tool to connect your sensors to your data aquisition hardware. It makes it really easy to set-up a data acquisition routine that meets your individual requirements. I, as an engine researcher, find it very well suited for engine experimentation. For any other programming needs, i.e. not data acquisition, I would not recommend using LabView because of its graphical programming architecture. The architecture makes it a great tool for Data Aquisition but puts at a disadvantage when it comes to other computational tasks, e.g. making a thermodynamic engine model. For those applications having text-based programming is better suited

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• Tinkercad is a great baseline CAD program. This program is easy to implement and train people in.
• After on a short period of time my students are able to create complex forms using Tinkercads pre-generated shapes and holes.
• The Tinkercad provided projects aid in pushing the learning experience even further and reinforce the ideas that I train on and help my students explore the program before designing their own complex sculptural forms.

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• You can easily bring in a dwg format drawing into the programme and it will display the information just as well as AutoCAD.
• The programme supports shortcut features or one-click buttons for the most commonly used operations.
• Script files can be used which is a bonus.

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• Being a graphical programming language, it is a little easier for a layperson to understand than text based programming languages.
• The program has very good debugging features.
• Support is good.
• There are a variety of tutorials which make it easier to do something that you aren't sure about.

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• The tutorials could be more easily readable and easier for younger students
• Sometimes confusing how to use the mouse tools vs on an iPad
• Less professional, not often used in career fields

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• The text search and replace is very crude and barely works. Needs a major revamping.
• The layout tabs are very clunky and hard to use. Needs to be fixed.
• DraftSight will fix a problem in one version, mess it up in another version, then fix it again later on. And so forth, and so forth, and so forth. Very poor software update control.

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• improve the management of pc resources to use the minimum amount of resources
• add a utility for zooming in the block diagram window
• Improve management of complementary applications, such as real time module or dsc

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It has given us, a small startup, the ability to compete effectively with far larger competitors by evening the playing field at a low cost.

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Easy if you know how to use CAD software. But is not very difficult to learn using DraftSight if this is your first CAD software. As soon as you get in to it the work flow will save you a lot of time and its simple interface is very nice.

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Other than a bug created by a VAR tech support that didn't get resolved until I installed the next version, DraftSight has worked fine.

In general it's very quick to load drawings...now it depends a lot on the file we're opening or working on.

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Technical support seems to be overseas with broken English and difficulty to read English. I asked for a trial license to try the fix but it was declined. Ask pratiksha.dahotre and gayatri.keskar for details. In summary, they released a broken version, I helped to fix by providing feedback and error logs. They claimed it is fixed but I can't test it.

Based on some knowledge of AutoCad, using Draftsight took a short time before I felt comfortable using it.

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Take time to get used to where commands are and how the interface can be customized to suit your needs and work style. The keyboard commands are very helpful and can make work more efficient if time is taken to learn them.

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Tinkercad is free and easy to use. It's a great place for people to start learning about 3D Design before they invest time and money in professional-level tools.

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While SketchUp is free, DraftSights cost is minimal and its abilities are much greater. It is so much easier to layout and modifies a system design. Since DraftSight is compatible with all versions of CAD, it makes it easy to collaborate with customers on their specific system design. We spend less time and see greater sales on our projects.

We chose LabVIEW over MATLAB due to the integration with hardware and the graphical programming interface. Also, the ability to use LabVIEW with FPGAs and real-time processors without having to make large changes to the code base or swapping to a separate programming environment was a big benefit since we don't know what hardware will be suitable for each customer application.

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It's a typical contract for cad software. It was inexpensive at the time I started. But now the more useful features are on the more premium (priced) version.

As a startup, we really appreciate scalable software or tools, and because we use it for diverse types of projects, flexibility is key.

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Quite responsive when I have an issue, and with little to no delay in responding. They are professional and know the software so have been able to solve all of the issues that I have had with both using the software and also with making revisions as required. Non-technical issues like invoices have also been resolved quickly.

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• I should definitely say that Tinkercad has no negative impact on my business.
• It shortened my 3d design process for my many simple projects.
• Tinkercad is a free tool, no investment needed.
• I suggest it to my customers who don't know 3d design, but desperately needs a 3d file for their projects.

• Draftsight has been very cost effective, it was free a few years ago then £79 a year, which it still is if you have the standard version. Now the minium level is Profession edition at £159+ VAT per year. Which is still very good value for money, just more that what we currently pay with the standard licences we have.

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• We use NI's data acquisition hardware as well which has made it possible to get whatever experimental data we need to get for our studies.
• LabView has made it possible for us to post-process and tailor the raw data to our specific needs.
• With a responsive customer support team, NI allows us to expand our data acquisition and post-processing capabilities to carry out the kind of research projects that we would want.

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