Great, thanks!
I've only been using this program for 2 weeks (actually first time I attempted doing 3d CAD design). That itself says wonders on how easy it is to use this program (so far).
I am in the midst of convincing my company (
www.dpcweb.com) that this program has potential before we opt to purchasing a few licenses (if it gets good reviews).
This is a prototype fluid mixing system with paristalic pumps. All parts, including the frame and such, are exact dimensions to 100th of an inch (which works well with AC3D). This helps us see how much room we have for positioning components, and I can easily pick a pump (or bottle) as a group (ctrl-left click in 3d view) and just move it somewhere else. Our guys here in Mech.Eng department take minutes to do the same with their 3D rendering.
AC3D does it in seconds, and for the price, this thing is a steal.
I am continuing to add more parts to this model and, if things go well, I plan to do a write up using AC3D as the test bed for conceptualizing the design. I will take photos of the final product for comparison, will be nice.
There will be a few dozen tubes that I must design, and they will take time. The bad part there is, if a pump or bottle is moved, the tube will have to be redrawn again. But, I plan to save the tubes for the last step.
