AutoCAD LT 2011 v TurboCAD Professional Platinum v17
AutoCAD LT 2011 |
TurboCAD Professional Platinum v17 |
| Cost on Amazon
Without subscription £1,296.99 With Subscription £1,527.99 |
Sold Direct £995
Technical and practical support is free. No need to upgrade every year. Upgrade path always open. |
The Bottom Line – What Features |
The Bottom Line – What Features |
| 2D Only
Single use Commands, have to reselect No Architectural Command Structure No 3D No rendering Capabilities Only works with DWG and DXF No Scheduling |
Full 2D and 3D
Continuous use commands, no need to reselect Full Architectural Command Structure. Parametric doors, windows, roofs, stairs etc Full high quality photorealistic rendering Works with 29 file formats, including DWG, DXF, (all versions), saves as PDF Scheduling for Doors and Windows |
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| All Drawings created in TurboCAD Professional | |
Hi Paul, I went to college and was using Cinema 4D, do you think this will give a good heads up with turbo cad. I have started to build bespoke hand built kitchens (Real wood!!) and Bathrooms and need to be able to help my clients see my ideas. I have a G5 Mac, what version do you suggest I get, is it worth getting a basic version and then upgrading, when I am more proficient? My clients are quite up market so the professional look is a must.
Many Thanks George
George,
I don’t know Cinema 4D, but there really is no contest between AutoCAD LT and TurboCAD. AutoCAD LT is a dog and best avoided. Essentially you have two choices, as long as your Mac has intel.
Firstly stick with Mac software. The top of the range on our site is £300 and a 2D training guide CD to get you going is £35. Direct via me I can do the two for £280. It works with DWG and DXF so there should not be any compatibility problems and we sell quite a lot of it. You can download a trial version from our site and there are training videos on youtube.
The second path is the PC software under Parallels on the Mac. I have found that to be a bit programmatic, although nothing I couldn’t solve. I only found out the snags five weeks after I’d loaded TC under Parallels and then the Parallels support team refused to talk to me, emails were not as clear and as comprehensive as they could have been. Same old problem – once they have your money, it’s lip service to support.
As an overall, the PC version is more powerful and if you can’t afford the latest Professional, then buy last year’s and just stay a year behind, you save a lot of money that way.
Paul
01962 835 081 ex 1
I thnk you are better off with a more advanced prototyping tool like Autodesk Inventor. You will also be able to pull out renderings and animation to show your customers and non technical people can see how the design comes together. As for LT its a different product and not in the same league as other products working in 3D.
Dave,
Of course you’re right, Inventor is an excellent product. The snag is its cost. TurboCAD Professional Platinum is less than £1,000 and Inventor, once you’ve bought all the extras you need and the ‘support’, is more like £6,000. An Animation plug in for TurboCAD is £120 and it has all the renderings that you could want, plus others are easy to import.
You are also correct and very kind and polite to say that LT is a different product. I’ve heard plenty of people put it rather stronger.
The point with TurboCAD is that it is an inexpensive CAD system that punches far above its weight in terms of its price and for the majority of companies using a CAD system it does everything they need.
Paul