BricsCad Platinum is one of the most decent alternatives to AutoCAD, oriented towards a wide audience through the rich range of uses and an affordable price.
BricsCad Platinum targets more industries than AutoCAD, but doesn’t embed the support that the latter provides for the education field. Which one is the better choice is a matter of both taste and purpose, as a comparison process reveals minor differences in functionality.
BricsCad is brought in three different flavors: the Classic edition provides 2D CAD design, while the Pro version includes the features of the Classic, with the added benefits of 3D direct modelling.
The Platinum edition, however, is the most feature-rich of the suite, as it encases assembly editing, as well as 3D constraints on top of BricsCad Pro.
BricsCad features support for all the major CAD formats, including DWG, DWF, DXF, ECW and BMP, but lacks the 3DS compatibility that Autocad sports. However, it can perform 3D direct modelling and has support for Building Information Modelling (BIM).
Assembly modelling is another top feature, organizing DWG models in hierarchical structures, therefore allowing you to compose an assembly of components seamlessly. It can also generate associative 2D and 3D drawing views from source 3D models.
BricsCad Platinum offers full control over scaling, therefore the printed models will reflect the real-world dimensions of the drawing more accurately.
In more recent releases, the application received Chapoo compatibility, allowing you to upload files to the cloud and share them with your colleagues and collaborators. Moreover, the Communicator module (which is optional) allows for the easy exchange between all the major CAD formats.
All in all, BricsCad Platinum comes across as a rich and powerful CAD solution, which architects and engineers can make use of to turn their ideas into reality at less cost than AutoCAD.
System Requirements:
OS:Windows 7/8/10 or higher (64 bits) / Windows Server 2008 R2 / Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 or later
Processor:1 GHz processor or faster, or compatible processor.
RAM: Next to the memory required by the operating system, BricsCAD requires 256 MB (1 Gb or more recommended).
Hard Drive:250 MB for program files + 1 GB free space.
Display:1024 x 768 XGA with true color (minimum)
Supported GPU (**): see below for more information on supported chipsets for GPU acceleration for non-wireframe render modes such as realistic rendering. Please note that non-wireframe render modes and all other features of BricsCAD can still be used without hardware acceleration.