When I first started researching Microstation, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but now I have a certain respect for their work. I have to admire the strategy of Microstation as a whole. For the rest of this article, I’m going to focus on some of Microstation’s USPs that I found absolutely jaw-dropping. Microstation hits all the same necessary tools like AutoCAD, so there’s no point in recapping their similarities. Microstation has several very cool tools that solve many common frustrations the average draftsman faces. Since Microstation and AutoCAD are so similar, let’s focus for the rest of this article on the USPs of Microstation one-by-one.ĪutoCAD vs Inventor | Head-to-Head Comparison (2021)ĪutoCAD Vs Fusion 360 | Head-to-Head Battle (2021) The USPs of MicrostationĪs far as I can tell, Microstation’s goal is to focus on doing certain things better than AutoCAD. Still, maybe they can steal a portion of dedicated AutoCAD users by solving specific things that AutoCAD users find frustrating. Microstation will probably never overcome AutoCAD’s dominance of the CAD market. However, as luck would have it, I stumbled upon a few presentations for several of Microstation’s USPs (Unique Sales Propositions). There are so many similarities between AutoCAD and Microstation that I initially couldn’t see how I would be able to write up a useful comparison article. It was initially a challenge for me to try to wrap my mind around this competitor program because I have such an ingrained bias towards AutoCAD.Īfter all, I’ve used AutoCAD for over 15 years and have always been satisfied with it. Before you know it, you may find your skillset obsolete as technology quickly changes.Īs I said before, I had never so much as heard of Microstation. I encourage drafters to learn more than one program and be open to adapting as CAD technology. Inventor specializes in product development and manufacture, Maya specializes in 3D animation for entertainment, Revit is a specialized BIM for designing and structurally analyzing buildings.įor many, AutoCAD is still the fallback drafting program because many people only need the more basic features AutoCAD provides. There’s a slew of other specialized drafting and modeling programs for all different types of industries. AutoCAD was one of the first programs of its kind to take a commanding lead. With these tools, you can draft absolutely anything. There are a few essential tools for creating 3D shapes rotating around an axis, push-pull of a surface, combining forms, etc.ĪutoCAD can perform all the bread-and-butter 3D drafting methods to create extremely complex 3D shapes. Still, that’s what 2D drafting is in AutoCAD.ģD modeling is a whole new world (cue the Aladdin Soundtrack), but AutoCAD can handle 3D modeling. There’s plenty of tools like geometry, dimension tools, polylines, array functions, rotation functions, and many other functions that make this process go efficiently and smoothly.
You draw lines, circles, arcs, triangles, etc., add some words, and voila! Now, that may be an over-simplified rendition of drafting, but that is how CAD works. It’s one of the first CAD programs that ever hit the market, and it still holds firm as one of the most widely used drafting programs in the world. AutoCAD is an all-purpose drafting platform for 2D and 3D drawings.
So this is why CAD is such an essential part of society. Someone has to design it and draft it (sometimes the designer and drafter is the same person, hence “CADD,” but you already know how I feel about that extra “D,” so moving on…). Houses need floor pans, utilities need schematics, products need precisely modeled parts, etc. So anyway, what is CAD? Everything built or manufactured in the world (which is probably 99% of everything around you right now) was designed and drafted so that it can be made to exact specifications. It just seems to me like we’re splitting hairs with that extra “D.” Some people think we should be more inclusive by replacing CAD with CADD (Computer-Aided Drafting & Design). So what is AutoCAD? CAD, of course, stands for Computer-Aided Drafting.
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