Hi to all,


I have been using cubify Design for a few weeks now and I must say this is by far the best CAD system I have ever used. No wonder because it is also known as Alibre or Geomagic Design. It is limited in its functionality compared to the bigger brothers but not so watered down as to be unuseable.
The interface is practically identical to much larger packages like SolidWorks. It is pefectly parametric and you can change all aspects of a design after the first test print. A boon if you need precise holes or press fits where you have to add or subtract to the dimensions of the original drawing due to the nature of the FDM process.
You always start with a precisely dimensioned 2d sketch and then proceed thru the usual extrude, loft or sweep steps to make it to the third dimension. The help functions for 2d sketches are very elaborate without getting in your way. This is often a problem with other programs. My test for a CAD program is always the mirror and the array functions. If those are endlessly complicated or dont work I throw the program in the bin.
I had a few problems at first with the interface but after watching some of the beginners tutorials on YT I had the hang of it very quickly. Cubify, alibre and some Solid works tutorials can be of help with this program. There even is a tutorial in Schwyzerdütsch", the Swiss dialect...
The interface can be customized, if you dont like the Ribbon look of the program, you can set up any kind of toolset or menu bars you need. Same goes for drawing windows and colors.
In the "Design Explorer" window you can name every step of the creation of the model, and I greatly recommend to use this feature as much as possible. After a week who knows what "extrusion 14" was? This is much like the history tree of 3ds Max. But its easier to use.
Another great advantage is that the footprint is quite small. You dont need a fancy schmancy computer or graphics card. My copy runs on an old Toshiba laptop under Vista and I had no trouble at all with the graphics performance.
You can also make an assembly of the different parts you have drawn and continue to work on the design. Even animated movements or collision tests are possible, but not as elaborate as the big versions of the program.
The import for DXF or other flat drawings is a little tedious at first but after a while one gets used to it.
Export is stl only but thats enough for me , if I want some other format I process thru Meshlab. Even without going into the details of the stl export the quality is good for 3d printing. Fillets and rounded parts have good resolution without getting too many polygons.
The 2d drawing output is also pretty good.
The program ran with great stability and I only had one or two hang ups, mostly due to the fact that the computer went into sleep mode after a pause.
I have used Rhino in conjunction with it and it imports NURBS surfaces quite well in the native 3dm format. It also has an analyzing or healing function that might help in cleaning up problematic models on import.
The uses one makes of a 3d printer are largely limited by your CAD or modelling skills, and mine soared really since I use this program.
I give it my thumbs up!


Albert