14+ Best CAD Design Software Reviews

Whether its making games, designing furniture or doing architecture, having a vision of what you want to create is always a strong advantage. Most times, what we have to work with is a flat, two-dimensional image that can’t give us as much information as we’d like.

Having a three-dimensional image, though, can go a long way when we go into the design aspect, giving us greater insight as to how it would play out before we actually get down to making it.

You may also want to take a look at our electrical CAD software package list here.

SketchUp Make

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Rating: 4.1/5

Price: Free

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DraftSight

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Rating: 4.2/5

Price: Free

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FreeCAD

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Rating: 4.5/5

Price: Free

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OpenSCAD

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Rating: 4.4/5

Price: Free

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QCAD

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Rating: 4.1/5

Price: Free

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nanoCAD

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Rating: 4.6/5

Price: Free

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AutoCAD

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Rating: 4.3/5

Price: Free

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Draw It Out

With things coming and going, designs tend to change and when you’re working on a construction project or a furniture design, your plans on paper can change drastically. Going three-dimensional is one way to ease the load and help you see problems in the plans before they actually happen.

To help address the issue of three-dimensional creations, CAD software, or Computer-Aided Design software, has been developed to help you out when things get down to the designing and planning.

• Through Unbuilt Walls
  You are able to go through your design in the three-dimensional virtual space as if the design had already been created, giving you an idea of how it would look like if it were made in real life.
• What has Yet to Exist
  Three-dimensional renderings of your designed furniture can help you map out how the actual thing should look and scale up to, allowing you to see how the finished product will look like from different angles.
• Miniature On-Hand
  Having a three-dimensional version of what you are trying to create is one of the best ways to sell your product or plan, allowing you to show what a scaled model of what you’re creating looks like.

Blender

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Rating: 4.0/5

Price: Free

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DraftSight 2D

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Rating: 4.2/5

Price: Free

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IronCAD

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Rating: 4.5/6

Price: Free

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A9CAD

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Rating: 4.1/5

Price: Free

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LibreCAD For Mac

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Rating: 4.6/5

Price: Free

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3DCrafter For Windows

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Rating: 4.0/5

Price: Free

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AutoCAD 360 For Android

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Rating: 4.3/5

Price: Free

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Sculptris – Most Popular Software

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Rating: 4.8/5

Price: Free

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Not Limited to the Lifeless

While mostly used for designing furniture and inanimate objects, CAD software packages are able to be used to render three-dimensional designs for living, breathing things for movies or gaming.

The three-dimensional models created by the CAD software packages can be animated with the use of other software or by the CAD software itself depending on the software package you have. Here are a few uses for those not in the furniture or architectural fields:

• It Lives!
  Three-dimensional models created by the CAD software packages can easily be animated on a three-dimensional virtual field, allowing you to simulate movement or even add collisions.
• Going…Going…Gone!
  Animation with some, if not most, CAD software packages include the ability incorporate physics on impact, letting you send you animations flying depending on what you set up.
• It Has Thumbs!
  Most CAD software packages are able to merge three-dimensional models, allowing them too look like they are attached to one another or even holding each other. With the use of some tweaking on physics aspect as well, giving something opacity, you are able to make one three-dimensional model actually hold something instead of just attaching it!