Another Free 3D Parametric Modeler

I wonder how many of you heard about a company called ASCON and their parametric solid modeling system called KOMPAS-3D. I recollect the name ASCON from press releases but never really got down to figuring out what they were up to. Apparently, ASCON is a Russian company which released the first version of KOMPAS way back in 1989 (I was 14 years old then). They claim to have an install base of over 30,000 users which includes more than 4,000 corporate customers. They came out with an English version of KOMPAS in 2006 and now have resellers in 25 countries, with NOVEDGE being the only one in the entire North America.

So why am I telling you all this? Well because, I happened to notice that they have recently started offerring a completely free version of their product and have aptly called it KOMPAS-3D LT. They recently issued a press release to that effect but I somehow missed it.

The main difference in the LT version is that you cannot create assemblies. Also a few features like union and subtraction of solids is disabled. But apart from that the software is quite powerful and can give Alibre Design Express (Alibre’s free version of Alibre Design) a run for its money (pun intended).

So if you are a 2D user and want to fiddle around with 3D Parametric modeling you now have another tool to play with.