[cnc2k]

Link

I don't know if this is real, but i gave it a try.

Enjoy
CNC2k

[poba]

Hi

If this offer its for real act now as the number of registrations will reach 100000 in some few days

www.x-cad.net

[poba]

Look at the Alibre link:

http://www.alibre.com/xpress/

pera

[bcromwell]

Well hell, Some how another product spitting ads out at me all day defeats the "free" part of this give away!!


Earlier this summer X-CAD burst onto the scene with its amazing offer to give away free seats of its 3D design software to the first 100,000 people who registered before August 1st. But no one knew who X-CAD was. It's been quite the mystery. Well, the cat is out of the bag! X-CAD is changing its name to Alibre Design Xpress. That's right, the company behind X-CAD is Alibre, the makers of Alibre Design, a parametric 3D solid modeling application with integrated online collaboration. Now that you know who is behind X-CAD is, it's time to see what the product does.

Alibre Design Xpress is 3D solid modeling software for the masses. It is better than low-cost, it's free! That's right, free. How do they do that? When you run Alibre Design Xpress some of your screen will be dedicated to ads that are served up by Google. They aren't huge and obtrusive but they might be somewhat distracting. After all, you're trying to model stuff, not shop. It's probably a reasonable trade off for the free capabilities. Alibre Design Xpress is a subset or scaled-down version of Alibre's standard software Alibre Design. As such, it has certain things turned off. This means there will be many things you cannot do. For instance, hollows or shells are disabled and you'll be limited in how many components you can have in an assembly. It also requires you to have an internet connection to use; that can be somewhat restricting if you are on the road a lot. But don't panic. Alibre Design Xpress has a multi-stepped upgrade path that will take care of the problem. For a mere $49, you can eliminate the ads and work offline. You can also upgrade to the full Alibre Design software. Standalone, the standard verion of Alibre Design software costs less than a grand so it's pretty inexpensive for 3D solid modeling software. They also have Alibre Design Professional and Alibre Design Expert. You can visit their web site for details on those packages.

Installation is pretty straightforward, but don't forget your internet connection. You'll need that to run Alibre Design Xpress. One of the nice things about this is that you never have to worry about compatibility. You are always assured that you will be running the current version. That can be a relief for those who have had bad experiences dealing with vendors who have the same software but have not upgraded it for a while. Alibre Design Xpress is simple and easy to use. It is very similar to other 3D solid modelers on the market, so similar in fact that you should be up and running in no time. The familiar interface and work flow will mean instant productivity. I like the simple way you can dimension your sketches in this fully parametric modeler.

Assembly modeling is fairly straightforward as well. You can bring in previously modeled parts or create them within the context of the assembly. As I mentioned before, you are limited in the number of components you can have in Alibre Design Xpress, but once they are in your assembly you can assign constraints like mate, align, orient, tangencies and offsets and so on.

Last, but certainly not least, you can create 2D drawings using Alibre Design Xpress. The drawings are fully associative to the models so when you make a change to one, the other will update. It's very simple. You can generate all the normal orthographic views, although you have to upgrade to create more advanced views like details, sections, and auxiliary views. You can even explode the assembly and show how it goes together. There are balloon callouts, multiple fonts, layers, and so much more. What more could you ask from something that costs nothing?

When you get to the place where you need more sophisticated capabilities, the other products in the Alibre Design family will be standing in the wings. You'll be able to bring your Alibre Design Xpress models right into Alibre Design. Alibre Design removes any limitations on part modeling, assemblies or 2D drawing as well as providing full online collaboration. Alibre Design Professional adds built-in check-in/check-out, integrated sheet metal, photorealistic rendering, a part library and bundled finite element analysis and CAM software. So when you are ready to grow, so is Alibre Design Xpress.

If you want to check it out for yourself, you still have a few days in which to register. Of course, if you're nice, I'm sure the nice people at Alibre could be talked into giving you a nice deal on their free software, even after August 1st.

[duluthboat]

I just received this I hope its not old news.

Hi Gary,
Thanks to your participation in the X-CAD 100,000 Seat Giveaway we have reached the goal of 100,000 registrations early!
Some of you may not have heard, we announced on Wednesday that Alibre is the company behind X-CAD and X-CAD is Alibre Design Xpress, the newest member of the Alibre Design product family.
As of August 1, Alibre Design Xpress will be available to all for free. But, as one of the first 100,000 to register, you're getting a little more.
For you Alibre Design Xpress will include all the features listed on the new Alibre Design Xpress site, plus:
• Advanced part modeling, which includes features like shelling, 3D sketch, reference surfaces, etc. View the Alibre Design brochure on our web site for the full part modeling feature set.
• Create and edit assemblies with up to 25 unique parts. You can open an assembly with more parts in read-only mode.
• Create 2D drawings with standard orthographic views. All drawings are fully associative: you change the model and the drawing updates.
• 3D import/export of all the standard formats Alibre Design supports, including STEP, SAT (ACIS), and IGES. DXF and DWG are supported in 2D, and STL is supported for export.
All free versions of Alibre Design Xpress require an Internet connection and will display a banner of Google ads through a built-in web page. No third-party adware is installed on your system. If your Internet connection is lost we have taken steps to ensure that you can save your work. The Internet connection requirement can be turned off for a small fee.
On August 1, you will receive instructions on how to download the software. We had hoped to release it to you sooner, but given the nature of software development, we are in the final stages of quality testing. At this time we expect all to be ready for the August 1 release.
This is truly the best offer for parametric 3D CAD software available anywhere. When you get the download instructions, please complete the steps to download and install Alibre Design Xpress right away. The special offer you get as one of the first 100,000 expires on August 31, don't delay.
If you are no longer interested in Alibre Design Xpress and would like to be removed from all future email communications and eligibility for the extra features offered to the first 100,000 registrants, you may Unsubscribe here.
This isn't the end, there will be additional valuable incentives for engaging with us over time, so I encourage you to stay opted in to our email communications and