But hurry up ! Till 17 december 2013! (normal price 249 $)
http://mysmithmicro.com/marcom/eblasts/punch/20131207/index-web.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=1246666&hq_l=1&hq_v=2b46626b42

Is it Worth to buy it if I have Moi and Modo license? I do not need rendering features, only CAD modeling/ creating object for 3d printing and Modo rendering. I thought about buying it but I cant see advantages that soft over Moi. Could you clarify me that?

Not useful for you if you don't need to Print or draw cotations! (measures)
And no need Symbols
And if you have no need of a complet history active modification, surfaces analysing, roof maker...!

Complete description: http://www.punchcad.com/p-20-punch-viacad-pro-v8.aspx

Scroll and find the "Horizontal" menus

Thanks for the Heads-Up Frenchy!
I finally took the plunge and I think it will compliment MoI nicely for me, even if it doesn't do G2/G3 Fillets.

It's also interesting that the next version will support Polygon Modelling with Subdivision Surfaces, something I use a lot in other software but sometimes it would be nice to have precise CAD-like tools when dealing with them.
Here's a blog entry about the Version 9 Beta:
http://blog.punchcad.com/index.php/849/849
I guess the fact that version 9 will be out soon is part of the reason for the sale ;-)
Still a good value IMO.

Thanks and cheers,

Tom

Seems it makes G2 cuvature
See Tab "Complex modeling"
http://www.punchcad.com/p-20-punch-viacad-pro-v8.aspx

But now you have it so you can explore it :)
Does it has Fillets ? I have seen Blending, does it the same?

Subdivision in V9 will be really handy for those more organic shapes you need to create in some models. I didn't know about the C key for toggling the workplane, a handy tip.

There have been a lot of users requesting dimensions and annotations in MoI.
It also has variable radius fillets
and zebra analysis

Why wait, buy ViaCAD to complement MoI !

Have some caution with this one.
I bought it and downloaded it ... the first time it did not download completely and next try it did but after it installed and put an icon on my desktop it refused to open on my desktop ... so I installed it on my laptop. It would not open there, either. I uninstalled it and downloaded again .... same story.
Both computers are running on Windows 8.1 so maybe that is the problem.
I am now trying to get a refund from the online company who sells this.
cheers,
eric

Hi eric, looks like you may be able to solve the ViaCAD Windows 8.1 problem with these steps:
http://support.encore.com/technicalsupport/kb.aspx?kb_id=1852&product_id=2776

- Michael

Eric.

This may be worth a try before you go down the refund route.

"Delete the wininet.dll located in the

.../Punch! Software/ViaCAD Pro/exe folder
.../Punch! Software/Shark FX/exe folder"

I had an issue when Windows 8.1 was released and the above instructions did the trick.

 

Martin.


**EDIT**

Ah, beaten again by Michael.

Love the editing options, such as dragging of faces to change thickness. It's something that's also present in Autodesk's 123D Design, and I'd love to see such modification options in MoI. I recall that you're planning to implement that in a future MoI version, don't you, Michael? Would be great.

How can the upcoming version of ViaCAD offer sub-D modeling? Is it a hybrid poly / NURBS editor, or will it offer something like Rhino's T-Splines? That would also be very welcome in MoI as far as I'm concerned, coming from a sub-D modeling background.

Just for the sake of interest.
Here's a few links to some demos of the upcoming mesh to nurbs feature http://www.csi-concepts.com/Demo/videos/PowerPackMeshToAnalytic.mp4
http://www.csi-concepts.com/Demo/videos/PowerPackMeshCloseHoles.mp4

Martin

Yep but it's Shark the big brother of ViaCad! ;)

Thanks for this information ...

I got further but now it tells me that I have an invalid serial number.

I will keep pursuing this.

cheers,
eric

It is installed!

The serial number error was because copy and paste inserted a blank space prior to the serial number so it failed to work.

All is well and I look forward to using this software for dimensions and some other architectural stuff that MoI will not currently do for me.

cheers,
eric

Make sure the serial number matches the computer it was generated from i.e. laptop vs desktop. I think they're unique per install as well, so you must use the fresh one that is e-mailed to you after you install/reinstall.


Martin.

Thanks Martin

It is up and working and I must say that the tutorials make this look like a pretty impressive piece of software for an amazingly low price.

It seems that it may well work beautifully with MoI depending on the translations between programs.

cheers,
eric

Hi Metin,

> I recall that you're planning to implement that in a future MoI version, don't you, Michael? Would be great.

Yup, it's one of the hundreds of things on my "todo" list!

- Michael

:D I feel guilty.

@Frenchy: Yeah, it does G2 for Blends and stuff, but not for filleting.

I get some graphics glitches on Windows 8 Pro x64 with a GeForce GTX 660 TI and latest drivers. Refresh issues with 2D stuff mostly.
The version 6 demo was pretty much unusable on my system because those glitches covered the whole screen. V8 is way better, but still not perfect and the screen refresh can get slow with 4 views.
I hope I can find a solution - somehow I wasn't able to log into their forum yet.

But for the price it's pretty amazing as an addition to MoI and has some cool tricks, although I like MoIs workflow a lot more in most areas - some thinking in ViaCAD is a bit more convoluted.

Cheers,

Tom