An alternative to SolidWorks

For those of you who, like me are unhappy with the change that Dassault has made to the agreement with EAA and with the 3DExperience approach to SolidWorks, I would like to suggest an alternative. I would like to recommend SharkCAD or ViaCAD Pro from Punch Software. (disclaimer: although I do NOT receive any compensation, the creator of SharkCAD and ViaCAD is a personal friend of mine who I used to work with back in Advanced Design at General Dynamics, Ft Worth before it was purchased by Lockheed).

As I understand it, SharkCAD is the current version of the CAD software that was used by Burt Rutan for the Voyager aircraft. The version used by Rutan at that time was known as Vellum. When used with the "AeroPack" which is an add-on from DAR Corporation (an entity founded by Dr Jan Roskam, my former professor) it results in a very capable CAD package which is quite good for aircraft design. NOTE: there is a bug in AeroPack dealing with polyconic control splines that CAN be worked around.

SharkCAD and ViaCAD Pro are not cheap, but they are very capable and are one-time purchases and you don't have to pay a license fee every year.

Personally, I find the user interface to be much more intuitive than other CAD software, but that may just be because I learned it first.

There is a very interesting origin back story to SharkCAD and ViaCAD which goes back to the early days of CAD use in the preliminary design process at General Dynamics, but this is not the place to tell that story now.

I believe that there is a free 30 day trial:

https://www.punchcad.com/punch-sharkcad-pro-v12

https://www.darcorp.com/sharkcad-aeropack/

Good luck with your design pursuits!
Gary James
Mini-IMP Aircraft Co.
www.mini-imp.com