Alibre Design

Exceptional value for money

주석: As a user of SolidWorks at work, I wanted a system that I could use at home with similar capabilities; SolidWorks did not offer a suitable license for this purpose. I discovered Alibre around 2013 and was surprised to find that it closely matched the performance of SolidWorks at an affordable cost, and even more surprised to find that it ran well on my home computer. I used it for parallel work to my day job, for exporting Alibre models into SolidWorks, and for other work on my own account. When I retired in 2019 and set up a small home business, I added a CAM add-in and used Alibre to model products and generate toolpaths for their production on a small CNC machine in my garage; it has paid for itself many times over.

장점:

Having used SolidWorks at work since 2000, I have found Alibre to be capable of virtually the same performance at home at a small fraction of the cost. - In addition, it runs well on my basic home desktop PC, and it can import SW native files (though without retaining the feature tree). For someone who is comfortable working in SolidWorks, ProE, etc, Alibre is very much the same at lower cost. - The Alibre license is permanent, unlike other CAD systems. You can subscribe to maintenance support, but if you decide to let that lapse your system license is still good - you lose the maintenance but still can continue to use the software. - Alibre's customer service has also been consistently very good, every question receives careful attention and an immediate helpful response.

단점:

This is not really Alibre's fault, but the discontinuation of a CAM add-in called AlibreCAM 2020 (as I understand, this was not actually an Alibre product but made by MecSoft) around 2021 was unfortunate - it was excellent and seamless in Alibre and critical to my work. In order to retain this discontinued product, I have not updated my system to the most recent version of Alibre.

Alibre Design Expert

주석: I am now going on my 3rd year using this software. The technical support is fast and responsive. Each year I receive updates, and many times, during periods of travel between states, my floating license was very convenient, allowing me to set up my workstation on location. Great product, great company.

장점:

This is quality CAD software at a very affordable price. I have used Solidworks, AutoCAD, ProEngeer. I have been able to do virtually everything I did with those packages at a fraction of the cost. Best investment for a small engineering consulting company.

단점:

I have no complaints. I am a happy camper with this product. I

Alibre Design is the best solids program on the market

주석: I was delighted in discovering how easy it was to create special client drawings and layouts. The ability to create a child parts list connected to the assembly drawings that can be manually edited is unmatched and very powerful. The ability to compute weights of assemblies that easily flow into a top assembly is excellent.

장점:

For a solids program with engineering precision, high caliber design, it hits the Sweet Spot of capability, functionality, cost, and ease of use.

단점:

That it only runs on a PC. Most of my day today computing occurs on a MacOS system and it forces me to have a separate windows computer networked with all documents saved to my Mac. It is how I have operated my successful engineering business for nearly 20 years.

Flakey as Hell

장점:

The price was very attractive and learning curve seemed easy. Youtube video gave examples of how to do things.

단점:

Program is 'flakey' as hell. Designed several parts to be either purchased or 3D printed. Right now, I can't open a previous design without the program just terminating. Can't get to my design files to edit them. I guess you get what you pay for...

Great low budget CAD software

주석: very good software for 3D printing and many other CAD functions

장점:

no annual fee and ease of use. The tutorials are very helpful

단점:

cost of maintenance upgrades and the moving of the license from my desktop to my laptop requires that you release the software which you can't do remotely.

Ease of use

주석: There are a few 2D sketching functions I'd like, but have always found a way to do what I needed.

장점:

I moved from TurboCAD 2D and had a very little Solidworks experience, the switch was very easy, Alibre is intuitive, after a couple of easily available tutorials I was making useful 3D models and drawings.

단점:

That I haven't had the time to learn all of Alibre's functions.

Powerful easy to use CAD with flexible licensing

장점:

Powerful and easy to use software / not subscription based.

단점:

N/A - my experience has been entirely positive.

Long term User

주석: It has enabled entry into world of 3D engineering design

장점:

ease of use and lack of temperamental issues

단점:

Has difficulty handling medium to large sketches

Using Alibre to design models

주석: I use Alibre to design and build models of engines. Before Alibre, i used to do design in 2-dimensional drawings. With Alibre my method of design has changed. I build a logical representation of the completed model; I can move the parts of the model logically in the CAD representation and check tolerances. I can measure distances in the design that allows me to design the adjacent part so it fits properly. At this point, I’d be lost without Alibre.

장점:

You own the product; it’s a one time purchase. You can pay annual maintenance to get the updates and have support if you have a question that isn’t answered on the user forum but it is not mandatory. I’m a hobbyist, so I don’t use the product every day. For me it’s affordable.

단점:

When you get into complex designs with hundreds of parts and multiple sub assemblies that stack together to make a final assembly; often you loose the flexibility of the sub-assemblies; i.e.- parts that move when viewing the sub-assembly won’t move in the final assembly.

Alibre Design review

주석: very good - I use it primarily for 3D printing of custom fixturing for industrial measurement sensors, and it works very well for that.

장점:

functionality and flexibility - easy to build complex assemblies

단점:

learning curve can be a little steep - sometimes confusing. That said. the included and online help is excellent.

I wish I had switched to Alibre years earlier than I did

주석: I have designed parts for motor sport applications as well as 'in house' commercial products and even a self build house project. I love Alibre.

장점:

The online tutorials make self tuition very easy. Having switched from a very old and uncommon 2D design package which had no functional similarity to Alibre I needed and utilised all of the tutorials. I praise thier clarity

단점:

There is nothing I don't like. Its a pleasure every time I have an excuse to have something to design.

Alibre Design

주석: Absolutely love it.

장점:

Love the cost for deployment and ease of use. Feature rich. Really is a hidden gem in the 3D modeling world. More people need to see how well it works. I use it for everything from generating models for rendering in Keyshot for customers to review to large assembly models/drawings for manufacturing.

단점:

I don't have anything that really bugs me about the software, small refinements are really all that is needed.

A Perfect 3d Cad for everyone

장점:

I like the simplicity of how to draw a 2d sketches and the parametrization of every measure, also with information on execel. Also I like a lot the script engine to manage repetitive task.

단점:

I think Alibre need a good pdm to manage better a project with many files, but I know in the next versio there'll be something about that

Great affordable software

장점:

Alibre is a very powerful 3D drafting software that handles simple to complex parts and assemblies well. Performs like a much more costly piece of software.

단점:

The 2D drafting is a little lacking, but workable. Creating a drawing is easy, but customizing it can be clunky.

Best 3D design tool for MEMS and NanoTech

장점:

Solid models for complex MEMS devices, using Alibre design, is efficient and accurate. Solid models exported as STEP files import flawlessly into COMSOL, which I use for modeling device physics.

단점:

Integration of global parameter sets with parts and assemblies could be more streamlined. Changes to global parameters are not applied to open models unless the model window is closed and reopened.

Alibre Design: Great partner for the one man band

주석: Communication with both suppliers and end users of our products has improved immensely. Alibre Design is a wizz for producing 3D printer files quickly and for making big and small changes to designs very rapidly.

장점:

Excellent on-line tutorials a great help when starting out. Moving over from an antiquated 2D draughting package was nowhere near as painful as anticipated. I love the way I can insert 3D shaded views into manufacturing drawings. I do not get any calls from suppliers unable to interpret our drawings. It is so quick to use I will produce workshop sketches in Alibre rather than use a notepad and pencil. I'm proud of the drawings I present to customers. Although I do keep the software updated yearly, it is very comforting to know that if I'm forced to stop paying, Alibre Design will not stop working, thus your licensing model works very well and is fair.

단점:

Nothing really, but there are lots of features I've yet to explore. Some operations slow down, like if there are a lot of holes being edited for example. It is probably due to the spec of the hardware rather than the software.

Alibre- best value and best performing 3D CAD/CAE tool I know

주석: I use other expensive tools that came before Alibre with various features.....but frankly the Alibre team have reproduced and improved the features of other tools.The design environment is clean. It NEVER crashes and I have built seriously massive 3D models that worked fine where other tools would have choked.

장점:

As an electrical Engineer more than 10 years ago I invested in Alibre because I wanted to learn 3D CAD\CAE , 3D printing and CNC CAM. Alibre has taught me so much and has widened my capabilities beyond my wildest imagination. Well done, professional easy to Learn training videos got me started.....and the experience has augmented my inventive imagination like no other tool I have learned.

단점:

I really cannot think of anything at this time. Any shortcomings over time have been fixed or improved.

Good software, good experience, good price, good communication.

주석: For us, everything starts with the solid model. We can't meaningfully do anything, from costs to processes, without modeling first. Alibre gets the job done.

장점:

Alibre is a reasonably full featured 3D modelling system that equals most of the functionality of much more expensive and well known modellers at a much more approachable price, particularly for small and medium businesses or private individuals. Note that I said it equals MOST of the functionality--Alibre does not have CFD or FEA packages as many of the Cadillac systems do. On the occasions wherein we need those operations, Alibre does a fine job of exporting common CAD file formats that will import into CFD or FEA software without issue. With that said, Alibre covers all of the other bases for parametric modeling in a reasonably easy to learn environment that is fairly efficient and has a good workflow.

단점:

I mean, you can get down in the weeds and nitpick anything to death pretty easily. I have had my share of requested changes filed with the Alibre devs, but overall Alibre has be steadily improving for years. Overall, Alibre does a great job.

Perhaps it will work for a hobbyists.

장점:

The Cons out-weigh the pros. The one pro being low cost. If decision were mine, I would be using Solid Works.

단점:

Under utilization of computer power and graphics cards. For all intents and purposes no ability whatsoever to manage project files, creating an impossible mess on your hard drive that you can't fix because it will break all of your assemblies and require hours of re-locating files in their new locations.

Review title goes here

주석: Moderately painless, with occasional "throw the monitor out of the window" moments.

장점:

It's reasonably easy to learn, it must be because I taught myself to use it with zero tuition and only minor levels of profanity.

단점:

It glitches occasionally, mainly when drawing a geometry line where many already exist, suddenly making all the geometry look like a toddler crawled through the middle of it. It also has issues where, in an assembly, it substitutes one item for another and the only solution is to completely redraw the offending item. Also I can't puzzle out the sheetmetal function, mainly because it's easier to just draw a solid and flatten it out than to sort through the menus for bend allowances.

Excellent product

주석: We have found quite a few uses for the product. We have modelled control cabinets, 3d pdf and present to our customer. It works excellent in this respect. It is great for laying out a panel, or in house machined part. You can model the physical design with confidence. It also works excellent for collaboration with customers. It is also very favorable with 3d printing.

장점:

It was difficult at first. We initially purchased in 2004. Performance has improved dramatically since it inception. The geomagic move almost drove us away. After geomagic, it appears that Alibre found its home as a good player in the 3d modelling and cad realm.

단점:

I still have a few issues with sketching, not really as intuitive as I would like. It has also improved quite well. Works fine on MACOS using parallels.

Alibre is an Exceptional Product

주석: I create complex environmental testing machines and fixtures for a variety of industries (auto, medical, instrumental, etc) as well as developing products for consumers. Alibre accomplishes those tasks with ease and enjoyment.

장점:

Very easy and intuitive to use. Seamless design process from concept to completed drawings.

단점:

At one point Alibre Expert came bundled with M-files, Engineering Toolbox, Structural Analysis Software, and a few other helpful items. Sadly, those products are no longer included or supported. I continue to use M-files and could not function easily without it. However, I have not been able to upgrade or get support for it.

Best Software for the Money

장점:

So many things to like it would be difficult to list them all. I've used various other parametric modeling software over the last 40 years, and for the industries I work with, Alibreprovides me wtih all the tools I need to run a successful design business.

단점:

That's even more difficult for me to answer that what do I like the most. There is nothing in this design software that makes me cringe, even a little.

How we use this product to increase productivity

주석: The Alibre experience has been great. I have used this product since its inception.

장점:

Ease of use, good learning curve, great support

단점:

We love the product, I have not had any issues that have not been addressed

Great Software!

주석: Very good, have been using since 2011 with various upgrades over the years.

장점:

Powerful, accurate 3D modeling, ability to create drawings and have them be linked to design changes.

단점:

Trouble sometimes adding fillets and chamfers to 3D designs