Practical and affordable
Updated November 26, 2020
Practical and affordable
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Paid
Overall Satisfaction with DraftSight
As an freelance engineer, I use it as a 2D tool for product development, primarily to produce 2D sketches of designs being developed or analyzed. Some sketches are exported to Abaqus/CAE in dxf format for FEA. Other sketches are dimensioned and sent to design departments as dwg for detailed design drawings. I usually don't make detailed drawings, but if I must I use DraftSight.
I also use DraftSight often to open drawings in dwg format made by others, to review them or to move parts of them to sketches as described before.
I also use DraftSight often to open drawings in dwg format made by others, to review them or to move parts of them to sketches as described before.
- Low cost
- Easy to use
- Ability to import and export dwg and dxf
- Ability to paste lists of coordinates from measurements or FEA output
- Unable to create 2D regions with holes, which I often need for section properties
- Unable to produce principal axes as a result of mass properties
- Unable to import or export iges format
- HomeByMe and G-code Generator keep popping up every time I start DS. I don't use them and can't figure out how to get rid of them.
- Instantaneous ROI, I go from not being able to do some basic things to being able with a fairly low investment.
The most similar would be AutoCAD. I used it before finding out about DraftSight. For my purposes it has slightly inferior funcionality at a much lower cost, so I can live with the limitations (mainly with regions and mass properties).
I put Inventor and SOLIDWORKS here because of the parametric capabilities. Before upgrading to DraftSight Premium, I would consider AutoCAD LT, which has better price and 3D capability, at least at part level. But I really don't need 3D that much. I do all that basic stuff in Abaqus/CAE and complex 3D is done by others, so DS Premium might still have an edge.
I put Inventor and SOLIDWORKS here because of the parametric capabilities. Before upgrading to DraftSight Premium, I would consider AutoCAD LT, which has better price and 3D capability, at least at part level. But I really don't need 3D that much. I do all that basic stuff in Abaqus/CAE and complex 3D is done by others, so DS Premium might still have an edge.