Design engineers require specialized software, tools, and apps to research and develop ideas for new products and their associated systems. You need to be able to create blueprints and schematics for structures, systems, machines, and equipment and work collaboratively with other engineers, drafters, and team members, and you need to be able to work productively and efficiently. That’s why design engineers’ software, tools, and apps need to streamline your design and development processes rather than hinder them.
Sketch Mirror is a companion app for Sketch on the Mac and was built to let you preview designs from the Mac on your iOS devices over Wi-Fi. You can swipe on your device to switch between pages and artboards in your document and zoom to inspect individual pixels. These include: fully-offline desktop apps, more platforms, built-in version control, a built-in design assets marketplace, full collaborative editing, image effects, plugins, clickable mockups, built-in feedback and annotation tools, and offline desktop apps. Popular design and prototyping tool Figma is today announcing support for the macOS-based UI animation software Principle.The integration will allow Figma designs to be imported into Principle. The world’s first in-app design store. Find everything from interactive design systems to icons and UI elements in the Framer X Store. Get a head start on your next project or publish your own components for the community. Macaw’s design environment is powered by a real-time layout engine called Stream, which allows elements to be manipulated in a manner similar to image editors like Adobe’s Photoshop.
We at Pannam recognize all of the challenges and demands design engineers face, so we have compiled a list of the top engineering design tools, software, and apps in the hopes of making your job a little easier. Our top engineering design picks cover mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering design needs and include CAD programs, simulation tools, modeling tools, digital prototyping software, engineering calculation and conversion tools, pocket reference, and other solutions specifically for design engineering.
Please note, we have listed our top engineering design software, tools, and apps here, in no particular order.
1. Autodesk Product Design Suite @autodesk
Autodesk is best known for its 3D design and engineering software and services. We like Autodesk Product Design Suite because it is a comprehensive 3D product design solution that offers everything design engineers need, from simulation, to collaboration, to visualization, to digital prototyping tools. Complete your entire engineering process with Autodesk Product Design Suite.
Key Features:
Use 2D AutoCAD drawings as a base for inventor layouts
Quickly and easily make product design changes
Integrate electrical and mechanical design
Get to market faster by reducing rework and reusing design data
Reduce manufacturing costs by creating accurate design documentation and evaluating product manufacturability
Cost: FREE trial available for 30 days
Product Design Suit Premium: $2,310 annual desktop subscription with basic support
Monthly payments, perpetual licenses, and advanced support also are available – Contact for more pricing information
2. MATLAB @MATLAB
A high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming, MATLAB is an engineering design tool preferred by millions of engineers and scientists worldwide. With MATLAB, you can explore and visualize ideas and collaborate across disciplines to put your ideas into action.
Key Features:
Numeric computation to use mathematical functions to solve science and engineering problems
Core math functions use processor-optimized libraries to provide fast execution of vector and matrix calculations
Explore, visualize, and model your data
Share results as plots or complete reports
Cost:
Standard individual license: $2,150
Group license: Contact for a quote
3. CATIA @3DSATIA
A Dassault Systèmes pioneer brand, CATIA is the world’s leading solution for product design and innovation. This engineering design tool is used by leading organizations and is applicable in multiple industries. With CATIA, design engineers have the ability to model products in the context of real-life behavior, allowing them to “design in the age of experience.”
Key Features:
Social design environment accessible through powerful 3D dashboards that drive business intelligence, real-time concurrent design, and collaboration across all stakeholders
Provides an instinctive 3D experience with world-class 3D modeling and simulation capabilities that optimize the effectiveness of each user
Delivers an inclusive product development platform that easily integrates with existing processes and tools, to enable multiple disciplines to leverage powerful and integrated specialist applications across all phases of the product design and development process
Cost: Contact for a quote
4. ZW3D @ZWSOFT
ZWSOFT is a well-knwon CAD/CAM solutions provider. Their ZW3D is an all-in-one CAD/CAM solution that is designed for the complete product design and development process. This engineering design tool features an easy-to-use 3D CAD module that greatly reduces design time.
Key Features:
The fastest kernel for solid-surface hybrid modeling
Make full use of existing drawings with powerful data exchange when product planning
Multiple methods of verification to guarantee the quality of your design
Enhance internal and external cooperation with sample making
Available in several versions, including ZW3D Standard, ZW3D Professional, ZW3D Premium, ZW3D 2X Machining, ZW3D 3X Machining, ZW3D Lite, and ZW3D Student Version
Cost: FREE trial available for 30 days; Contact for a quote
5. MechDesigner
MechDesigner is an engineering design tool that was developed specifically for the design and analysis of machines and products that have moving parts, and for those parts to move the way you want them to move. With MechDesigner, you can ensure that your designs will move smoothly and with precision, even if your machine or product has complex motions, multiple interacting mechanisms, Cams, gears, or CAD designed parts.
Key Features:
CAD/CAE software for design and analysis of machines, cams, mechanisms, and motions
Design and build 3D machines with as many mechanisms as you need
Create, edit, analyze, and view your interacting mechanisms in a 3D environment, plus add solids to the model
Builds mechanisms with efficient kinematic equations that provide exact solutions
Cost: FREE trial available; Contact for a quote
6. PTC Creo @PTC
PTC seeks to enable manufacturers to achieve product and service advantage in the age of the Internet of Things. Their award-winning 2D and 3D CAD software, PTC Creo, is a scalable suite of product design software that promises fast time to value. With PTC Creo, design engineering teams create, analyze, view, and leverage product designs utilizing 2D CAD, 3D CAD, parametric, and direct modeling.
Key Features:
A robust, scalable 3D product design toolset
Greater power and more flexibility to help accelerate the product design and development process
Unite Technology – work more effectively with data from multiple CAD sources and convert data when you need to, as you need to, to work from a single CAD platform
Improved dedicated concept development toolset
Cost: FREE trial available; Contact for a quote
7. BricsCAD @bricsys
BricsCAD offers the familiar .dwg CAD features design engineers are accustomed to, but adds time-saving tools and 3D direct modeling at an affordable price. This powerful CAD platform “unifies advanced 2D design with the intelligence of 3D direct modeling,” for Windows, Linux, and Mac users.
Key Features:
Clean, consistent user experience with a familiar interface
Create 2D technical drawings quickly and accurately
Performs 3D direct modeling with assemblies in the standard .dwg format
Speed workflow with the context-sensitive Quad cursor
Collaborate and annotate projects in the cloud
Cost:
BricsCAD Classic: $520 – Powerful CAD functions, 2D constraints solving, full support of LISP, and Chapoo connectivity
BricsCAD Pro: $650 – All Classic edition features, plus direct 3D modeling, rendering, materials, and lighting, 3D constraints solving, and more
BricsCAD Platinum: $990 – All Pro edition features, plus 3D constraint creation, design intent recognition, assembly modeling, and more
8. Solid Edge @SiemensPLM
Solid Edge, a portfolio of affordable, easy-to-use software tools, addresses all aspects of the product design and development process for design engineers, including 3D design, simulation, manufacturing, design management, and more. With its synchronous technology, Solid Edge combines the speed and simplicity os direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design.
Key Features:
A growing ecosystem of apps and software tools that include Solid Edge Design, Solid Edge Simulation, Solid Edge Manufacturing, Solid Edge Design Management, and more
Exceptional tools for creating and managing 3D digital prototypes
Guide your projects toward an error-free, accurate design solution
Merges design management capabilities with the CAD tools design engineers use every day
Cost: Contact for a quote
9. Rhino @bobmcneel
Rhino 5 is the world’s most versatile 3D modeler, available for Windows and Mac. With thousands of modeling and editing tools, Rhino is a complete engineering design tool that enables you to create, edit, analyze, document, render, animate, and translate NURBS curves, surfaces, and solids, point clouds, and polygon meshes without any limits on complexity, degree, or size beyond those of your hardware.
Key Features:
Uninhibited free-form 3D modeling tools that enable design engineers to model any shape imaginable
Compatible with all other design, drafting, CAM, engineering, analysis, rendering, animation, and illustration software
Read and repair meshes and extremely challenging IGES files
Cost:
Full Rhino 5 for Windows: $995 – single user
Full Rhino 5 for Mac: $495 – single user
10. SolidFace @SolidFaceCAD
SolidFace is a 2D/3D parametric historic constructive CAD modeler. SolidFace enables design engineers to accelerate their designs, increase productivity, and reduce cost with its 3D solid modeling that delivers true visualization and real testing prior to manufacturing.
Key Features:
Speeds design development and detailing
Improves visualization and communication
Eliminates design interference issues
Checks design functionality and performance, without the need for physical prototypes
Built-in 3D direct modeling module
Built-in 2D/3D movement simulation module
Cost:
2D/3D Pro Lifetime License: Starting at $999
2D/3D Monthly License: $59.99
2D/3D Pro Students Version: $129
2D Drawing Lifetime License: $399
11. TopSolid Design @TopSolid
TopSolid seeks to help design engineers master the manufacturing process with CAD, CAM, ERP, and PDM software. Specifically, TopSolid Design offers “a revolution in CAD” so that you can “design complex assemblies in record time.”
Key Features:
Intuitive user interface
Totally integrated PDM
Interfaces with all the leading CAD tools on the market
Optimized management of large assemblies
Powerful modeling and simulation tools
Smart standard components containing machining information
Detailed and standardized drawings
Cost: Contact for a quote
12. Geomagic Design @Geomagic
Geomagic, a leading provider of 3D software, helps design engineers create digital models of physical objects for reverse engineering, product design, inspection, and analysis. With Geomagic Design, design engineers get comprehensive 3D CAD tools for design, engineering, and preparation for manufacturing. Geomagic Design ensures rapid, accurate product design and development in an easy-to-use environment.
Key Features:
3D model creation
3D printability tools
Create flexible designs that can be reused and customized using global parameters
Direct editing toolset
Photorealistic rendering
Cost: FREE trial available; Contact for a quote
13.SpaceClaim 3D Modeling Software @spaceclaim
SpaceClaim, a fast and innovative 3D direct modeler, helps design engineers solve geometry problems quickly. With SpaceClaim, you can work with 3D modeling software quickly and easily, anywhere in the workflow.
Key Features:
Edit, repair, and create any geometry, without worrying about where the file comes from
Increase productivity by removing the CAD bottleneck in your workflow
Manipulate geometry faster and more intuitively so you can spend less time with the geometry and more time on manufacturing, analyzing, and concept modeling
Cost: Contact for a quote
14. TurboCAD Designer @imsidesign
TurboCAD Designer delivers easy and affordable 2D drafting and design at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Design engineers can complete all of their technical illustrations with TurboCAD Designer, which provides access to hundreds of 2D drawing, modifying, and dimensioning tools.
Key Features:
Share your work in over 20 popular file formats, including the latest AutoCAD DWG/DXF
Use with snaps and drawing aids to speed design
Easily import existing designs or share your work with others
A complete set of 2D drafting and detailing tools
Annotation tools
Cost: $39.99
15. ANSYS DesignSpace @ANSYS_Inc
ANSYS, Inc. offers engineering simulation software, and ANSYS DesignSpace is the easy-to-use simulation tool that provides design engineers with the tools necessary for conceptualizing, designing, and validating their ideas right on their desktops. Even without advanced analysis knowledge, design engineers are able to perform real-world, static structural and thermal, dynamic, weight optimization, vibration mode, and safety factor simulations on designs when utilizing ANSYS DesignSpace.
Key Features:
Auto contact detection makes it easy to work with large assembly models
Superior CAD interface and robust meshing
Advanced numerical methods for nonlinear problems
Powerful solver capabilities
Advanced post-processing
Reporting
Cost: Contact for a quote
16. Patran @MSCSoftware
MSC Software provides simulation software for virtual product development. Patron is their complete Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeling solution for design engineers that provides solid modeling, meshing, analysis setup, and post-processing for multiple solvers including MSC Nastran, Marc, Abacus, LS-DYNA, ANSYS, and Pam-Crash.
Key Features:
Rich set of tools that streamlines the creation of analysis-ready models for linear, nonlinear, explicit dynamics, thermal, and other finite element solutions
Easily creates meshes on surfaces and solids using fully-automated meshing routines, manual methods, or a combination of the two
Built-in loads, boundary conditions, and analysis setup for most popular FE solvers
Cost: Contact for a quote
17. Simulia @3DS_SIMULIA
3DS SIMULIA, powered by Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, provides realistic simulation applications that enable design engineers “to explore the real-world behavior of product, nature, and life.” SIMULIA applications accelerate the process of evaluating the performance, reliability, and safety of materials and products before design engineers commit to physical prototypes.
Key Features:
Multiphysics simulation
Modeling and visualization
Design simulation
Design optimization
Cost: Contact for a quote
18. COMSOL Multiphysics @COMSOL_Inc
COMSOL Multiphysics is “the original multi physics simulation software.” COMSOL is a platform for physics-based modeling and simulation that serves as an engineering design tool. This general-purpose software platform is based on advanced numerical methods for modeling and simulating physics-based problems so that design engineers can account for coupled or multi physics phenomena.
Key Features:
More than 30 add-on products to choose from, to further expand the simulation platform
Dedicated physics interfaces and tools for electrical, mechanical, fluid flow, and chemical applications
Additional interfacing products connect COMSOL Multiphysics simulations with technical computing, CAD, and ECAD software
ANSYS Fluent software for design engineers contains the physical modeling capabilities needed to model flow, turbulence, heat transfer, and reactions for industrial applications. ANSYS Fluent is an engineering design software solution that includes special models so the software is capable of modeling in-cycle combustion, aeroacoustics, turbomachinery, and multiphase systems. ANSYS Fluent is considered an integral part of the design and optimization phases of global companies’ product development.
Key Features:
Advanced solver technology for fast, accurate CFD results, flexible moving and deforming meshes, and superior parallel scalability
User-defined functions allow for implementing new user models and extensively customizing existing ones
Easily pause a calculation, examine results with integrated post-processing, change any setting, and then continue the calculation within a single application, thanks to ANSYS Fluent’s interactive solver setup, solution, and post-processing capabilities
Cost: Contact for a quote
20. MapleSim @maplesoft
Maplesoft provides software for engineers, and MapleSim is their advanced physical modeling and simulation engineering design tool. Apply modern techniques to greatly reduce model design and development time, provide greater insight into system behavior, and produce fast, high-fidelity simulations with MapleSim.
Key Features:
Refine and optimize designs with a powerful, open analysis environment
Investigate your models, create and manage libraries of custom components, and use your models with other simulation programs
Cost: Contact for a quote
21. The Engineering ToolBox
The Engineering Toolbox is an online tool for design engineers that provides resources, tools, and basic information. The tool adapts for smartphones, tablets, and desktops so that design engineers always have the optimized version of the toolbox available to them. Electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers will find The Engineering ToolBox useful as an engineering design tool.
Key Features:
Charts and conversions
Capacitor and connection notes
Diagram templates
Cost: FREE
22. Femap @SiemensPLM
An advanced engineering simulation software program suitable for design engineers, Femap creates finite element analysis models of complex engineering products and systems and displays solution results. Femap virtually models components, assemblies, or systems and determines the behavioral response for a given operating environment.
Key Features:
Predict and improve product performance and reliability
Reduce physical prototyping and testing time and cost
Evaluate various designs and materials
Optimize designs and reduce material usage
Cost: Contact for a quote
23. Linear Technology Design Simulation and Device Models @LinearTech
Linear Technology offers several custom design simulation tools and device models to allow design engineers to quickly and easily evaluate circuits using high-performance switching regulators, amplifiers, data converters, filters, and more. These engineering design tools are available online, free of charge, and provide design engineers with fast, reliable simulations and models.
Key Features:
LTspice IV, available for Windows and Mac OS X, is a high performance SPICE simulator, schematic capture, and waveform viewer
LTpowerCAD II is a complete power supply design tool program
LTpowerPlay is a Windows-based development environment that supports a variety of tasks and can be used in offline mode
Cost: FREE
24. KeyCreator Direct CAD @KubotekUSA
KeyCreator Direct CAD is a complete direct CAD software for design engineers who are looking for a flexible, quick way to create, change, analyze, or communicate a mechanical part or design. KeyCreator makes it possible to master your geometry and quickly produce 3D design concepts without constraints.
Key Features:
Modify nearly any geometry as easily as if you were sculpting clay
Easily add fillets, Boolean additional shapes, and cut holes
Create geometry in real time and eliminate rebuilding errors
Add precision to your design with sophisticated modeling tools
Cost: Contact for a quote
25. FreePCB
FreePCB, a free, open-source PCB editor for Windows, is capable of producing professional-quality work for design engineers. FreePCB is a design tool that helps design engineers quickly create PCBs of 1 to 16 copper layers.
Key Features:
Board size up to 60 inches by 60 inches
Uses English or metric units for most functions
Design rule checker
Autosave
Exports extended gerber files and Excellon drill files
Cost: FREE
26. Power Supply WebDesigner @FairchildSemi
Fairchild is a global leader in power semiconductor and mobile technology. Their Power Supply WebDesigners is a suite of time-saving tools for designing and optimizing your power supply. This engineering design tool suite includes the models, calculations, and steps to make selecting, designing, analyzing, and simulating your power supply a much quicker process.
Key Features:
Created for novice and experienced design engineers
Industry-leading capabilities and flexibility in automated design and simulation
Eliminate the need for trial-and-error design with a hardware prototype
Provides complete converter designs to cover isolated or non-isolated AC or DC input configurations
Cost: Contact for a quote
27. KOMPAS-3D
KOMPAS-3D, a flexible 3D modeling system, is an engineering design tool that allows design engineers to create models using several methods. Create editable associate models easily using KOMPAS-3D and its powerful functions that can manage projects with thousands of sub-assemblies, parts, and standard library products.
Key Features:
Bottom-up modeling using finished components
Top-down modeling by designing components to match specific designs
Modeling based on layout drawings, such as kinematic diagrams
Supports all the capabilities of 3D solids and surface modeling, including intuitive creation of new geometry and importing and manipulation of surfaces, associative settings for element parameters, flexible parts and assembly editing, including characteristic points, and much more
Cost: Contact for a quote
28. WEBENCH Design Center @TXInstruments
WEBENCH Design Center, from Texas Instruments, offers powerful online software tools that help design engineers generate and simulate designs that conform to unique specifications. Optimize your designs and make value-based tradeoffs at the design, system, or supply chain level before committing your design to production with WEBENCH Design Center.
TinyCAD, an opens-ource program for drawing electrical circuit diagrams, or schematic drawings, is a handy engineering design tool that supports standard and custom symbol libraries. TinyCAD also supports PCB layout programs with several netlist formats and is capable of producing SPICE simulation netlists.
Key Features:
Flat or hierarchical schematic entry
Many popular PCB layout compatible netlist formats
Convenient support for embedding graphical images in drawings
Cost: FREE
30. CircuitLab @CircuitLab
CircuitLab is an in-browsewr schematic editor and circuit simulator that helps design engineers save time designing and documenting their projects. CircuitLab’s professional-grade schematics, wiring diagrams, and precise simulations make it the perfect engineering design tool.
Key Features:
Powerful, easy-to-use software for electronics designers and engineers
Build schematics faster with the unique, intelligent Smart Wires technology for connecting terminals and rearranging components
Presentation-quality schematics
Rapid symbol creation
Powerful plotting engine
Behavioral sources and expressions
Cost:
CircuitLab Pro: $399/year or $39/month
CircuitLab Platinum: $999/year or $100/month – Easily access new features and get CircuitLab Platinum Support
31. DraftSight CAD Software @DraftSight
DraftSight CAD Software allows design engineers to access existing DWG files and create new ones at an affordable price. DraftSight’s familiar user interface and ease of use make it a top CAD pick among design engineers. DraftSight CAD Software is available as a free download for students, hobbyists, and other individuals, in a professional pack for small and medium-sized companies, and in an enterprise pack for large corporations.
Key Features:
CAD software with powerful, time-saving functionalities
Includes industry standard content that you can add to documents with ease
Enables batch printing to print multiple files without opening them
DraftSight FREE – For students, hobbyists, and other individuals
DraftSight Professional: $299.00/yearly subscription – After 12 months, a yearly fee of $99 is due starting with the next billing cycle
DraftSight Enterprise: Contact for a quote
32. Engineering Power Tools Plus Edition
Engineering Power Tools Plus Edition is powerful software for professional engineers. Design engineers who use Engineering Power Tools increase their productivity and efficiency because they avoid looking up formulas and performing repeated calculations.
Key Features:
Solves a wide range of common engineering problems quickly and efficiently
Over 150 program modules and data tables, organized into a single package
Modules for math, HVAC, mechanical, electrical, materials, and structural needs
Cost:
Engineering Power Tools Plus Edition
Single-user license: $49.95
Limited site license: $149.95
Engineering Power Tools Standard Edition
Single-user license: $24.95
Limited site license: $99.95
33. INOVATE @IronCADTeam
IronCAD is a leading provider of innovative design collaboration solutions, which deliver productivity and design freedom. IronCAD offers INOVATE, a 3D design collaboration tool for design engineers that allows for creating, modifying, interrogating, and communicating 3D designs, from concept to production.
Key Features:
Drag-and-drop 3D environment
Powerful, high-end visualization and animation technologies that make the entire design process faster, more productive, and easier to understand
Includes CAXA EDM, an integrated and fully functional EDM solution to manage CAD and related engineering project data, both internally and externally across the internet
Cost: Contact for a quote
34. RecurDyn Professional @FunctionBayGmbH
RecurDyn Professional is a CAE software solution for design engineers that consists of three modules: modeler, solver, and ProcessNet. With RecurDyn Professional, design engineers can test various conditions, even when they are difficult to repeat. This engineering design tool is also able to detect problems and product defects and solve them.
Key Features:
RecurDyn Modeler is a pre-processor that creates analysis models
RecurDyn Solver performs fast analysis with the optimized integrator after constructing the equation of motion
Three types of contact: general contact, analytical contact, and toolkit contact
Separates subsystems from complex systems and analyzes each subsystem
Cost: Contact for a quote
35. SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer @SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer (SWID) is a concept design tool that helps design engineers quickly generate multiple industrial design concepts in response to a design brief. SWID includes unique tools for the rapid creation, manipulation, and modification of designs using both native and imported geometry. With SWID’s broad-based collaborative framework, design engineers accelerate their designs and reduce costs.
Key Features:
Capture your ideas digitally, quickly create 3D concept models, get feedback from stakeholders, and easily manage multiple concepts before committing engineering time to building a prototype
Combines subdivision surface modeling and parametric modeling, resulting in a flexible, instinctive solution
Include Platform Contributor to easily save information in a safe, secure environment
Includes intuitive freehand sketching, simplified design evolution, realistic rendering, and more
Cost: Contact for a quote
36. QCAD @qcad_org
QCAD is a free, open-source 2D CAD program for Windows, Mac, and Linux. With QCAD, design engineers are able to create technical drawings for mechanical parts, schematics, and diagrams. QCAD’s intuitive interface and ease of use make it a top pick among design engineers.
Key Features:
Layers
Blocks (grouping)
35 CAD fonts included
Over 20 modification tools
Printing to scale
DXF and DWG input and output
Part library with more than 4,800 CAD parts
Cost: FREE
37. Shark FX v9 @Punch_Software
PunchCAD offers tools for engineering designs that require 2D or 3D rendering. Their Shark FX version 9 features new and powerful 3D design capabilities for printing, rendering, animation, and precise manufacturing. Shark FX V9 also helps design engineers with rapid design iterations involving mesh and precise feature operations, with its ability to retain the control mesh as part of a feature tree.
Key Features:
State of the art technology converts meshes into optimized smooth NURB models suitable for solid modeling operations
Exports to DWG, IGES, and STEP file formats
Versatile, precise blending, chamfering, and shelling
Cost:
Mac download: $2,295
Windows download: $2,295
USB Flash Drive: $2,305
DVD in Sleeve – Mac/Windows: $2,295
38. EAGLE PCB Design Software @CadSoftTech
EAGLE PCB Design Software has been helping design engineers on a global scale for more than 20 years. An engineering design tool fit for a team of one or a large engineering department, EAGLE PCB Design Software offers the same core functions as expensive commercial software but at a fraction of the cost.
Key Features:
Schematic editor, layout editor, and library editor modules with identical user interfaces
Free service support through dedicated experts
Compatible with Linux, Windows, and Mac
Flexible ULPs enable custom features, including individual instruction sequences, simulation, data export, and import
Cost: Contact for a quote
39. PCSCHEMATIC Automation @PCSCHEMATIC
PCSCHEMATIC Automation is a top choice for electrical engineers looking for an intelligent electrical design software solution. This engineering design tool is a professional solution for drawing schematics for electrical wiring diagrams, control circuit diagrams, pneumatics, and hydraulics.
Key Features:
An advanced electrical CAD solution for automation, installation, pneumatics, and hydraulics
Easily maintain an overview of your electrical designs
Focus on the electrical design while the program handles the practical side
Provides a comprehensive series of functions designed for electrical projects and supports international electrical design drawing standards
Tim Edwards created XCircuit, a program for drawing publishable-quality electrical circuit schematic diagrams and related figures, that is available as an online engineering design tool. XCircuit also produces circuit netlists through schematic capture and writes both hierarchical PostScript output and hierarchical SPICE netlists.
Key Features:
Saves circuit components in libraries that are fully editable
Maintains flexibility in style without compromising the power of schematic capture
Serves as an excellent electronic design automation tool
Cost: FREE
41. Autodesk Digital Prototyping @autodesk
As an engineering design tool, Autodesk Digital Prototyping helps design engineers make great products by replacing siloed tools with integrated ones. Autodesk Digital Prototyping makes it possible for design engineers to streamline the entire product design and development process because they can explore their ideas before building them.
Key Features:
Gather design data from all phases of the process into a single digital model
Validate the design data against product requirements and reference it as you build deliverables for release
Implement design software that addresses your specific needs, including collaboration and communication needs
Create sketches and 3D concept models
Design, visualize, and simulate products before releasing them to manufacturing
Cost: Contact for a quote
42. SALOME
An open-source software that provides a generic platform for pre- and post-processing for numerical simulation, SALOME is an engineering design tool that is based on an open and flexible architecture made of reusable components. Design engineers use SALMOE both as a standalone application for generation of CAD models and as a platform for integration of the external third-party numerical codes to produce a new application for the full life-cycle management of CAD models.
Key Features:
Supports interoperability between CAD modeling and computation software (CAD-CAE link)
Easily integrate new components into heterogeneous systems for numerical computation
Create and modify, import and export, and repair and clean CAD models
Mesh CAD models, edit mesh, check mesh quality, and import and export mesh
Handle physical properties and quantities attached to geometrical items
Cost: FREE
43. GeckoCIRCUITS
GeckoCIRCUITS is a circuit simulator for modeling power electronics systems. This engineering design tool delivers fast circuit simulation capabilities, plus combines control modeling and thermal simulations.
Key Features:
An easy-to-use software package
Extremely high simulation speed
Open interface
May be integrated into MATLAB or other programming environments
Cost: FREE trial available
Single seat: €1980/year
Dongle: €2480/year
Universities: €540/year
44. 5Spice Analysis Software
5Spice is an easy-to-use analog circuit simulator for professional circuit designers. This engineering design tool provides Spice-specific schematic entry, as well as the ability to define and save an unlimited number of analyses and integrated graphic of simulation results.
Key Features:
Easy inclusion of Spice/PSpice models from a user-expandable library
Uses desktop simulation and local storage to ensure the security of your proprietary designs
Does not require an internet connection
Behavioral modeling
Multi-page schematic
User-defined parameters to set static and swept component values
Tool to make schematic into Spice subcircuit
Cost:
5Spice Analysis
Single copy: $210
3 or more copies: $190
5Spice Professional
Single copy: $319
3 or more copies: $277
45. Elecdes Design Suite @Elecdes
Elecdes Design Suite (EDS) is an award-winning electrical design and instrumentation software suite. EDS is engineering design software that integrates with CAD software to extend design capabilities with electrical concepts, thereby allowing design engineers to think and work with “breakers, circuits, and terminal strips” rather than “circles, lines, and arcs.”
Key Features:
Instrumentation, panel, and electrical CAD design software
Data-centric, allowing users to reduce the amount of work required for repetitive tasks
Global editing of electrical CAD entities, advanced reporting, and database-driven instrument management
Cost: Contact for a quote
46. NX for Design @SiemensPLM
NX for Design, an integrated product design solution, is an engineering design tool that streamlines and accelerates the product development process for engineers. Deliver innovative products in a collaborative environment using NX for Design.
Key Features:
Offers the highest level of integration between development disciplines in an open, collaborative environment
Leading-edge 3D product design solution
Flexible, robust computer-aided design and styling software that accelerates product engineering by providing fast concept design and modeling
Cost: Contact for a quote
47. Engineering Unit Converter
Professor S. Bhattacharjee of San Diego State University offers Engineering Unit Converter, a comprehensive engineering unit converter available for Android devices. This handy engineering design tool features an intuitive spinning wheel interface and helps design engineers convert units from anywhere, any time and has earned a 4.3 star rating from more than 2,370 Google Play reviewers.
Key Features:
Choose a category such as length, energy, entropy, electrical charge, or others from a list and spin the wheels to select a “From Unit” and a “To Unit”
Change the input value, sort units, or swap as needed
Additional information about measurements is displayed when you press the Help button
Does not require internet access
Download:Google Play – FREE
48. TechCalc100 Engineering Software
Designers west publishes TechCalc100 engineering and scientific calculation software that helps design engineers rapidly complete calculations. The practical calculations provided by TechCalc100 are useful for mechanical, electrical, structural, and physics calculations, making this engineering scientific software by Designerswest a handy engineering design tool.
Key Features:
Includes 100 practical calculations for structural, electrical, mechanical, and physics applications
Appropriate for use in all aspects of engineering design
Written in English units
Requires Microsoft Excel
Cost:
Single user: $49.95
2-5 users: $79.00
6-19 users: $149
20-49 users: $199
50-100 users: $299
49. Engineering Cookbook
The Engineering Cookbook is a convenient reference guide for mechanical designers. This engineering design tool is an Android app that provides access to information frequently needed by mechanical designers, in the palm of their hands.
Key Features:
Heating and cooling load estimation
Sound and vibration guidelines
Ventilation rates for indoor air quality
Design formulas and conversion factors
Download:Google Play – FREE
50. Electrical Engineering
An Android app, Electrical Engineering is an engineering design tool that provides three tools in one: an electrical calculator, an electrical circuit calculator, and electrical formulas. The app also covers a broad range of subfields including electronics, power engineering, telecommunications, control systems, radio frequency engineering, and signal processing.
Key Features:
Calculate the most important electrical sizes and the electrical power, electrical resistance, electrical charge, electrical work, and electrical current
Calculate the current in parallel circuits, the voltage in series circuits, and the resistance in parallel and series circuits
See formulas for electrical power, electrical resistance, electrical work, electrical current, and electrical charge
Calculate the stored energy in a capacitor, the inductance and the capacitance, and the output voltage of a voltage divider
Download:Google Play – FREE
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Mac home design software has all the tools you need to put your dream home down on paper, whether you want to build a brand-new house or renovate your existing one. This type of software can help you make detailed digital models of major landscaping projects and home remodels, and it lets you see how different wall coverings and upholstery look in new settings. You can arrange and rearrange furniture in your digital plan without breaking a sweat physically by moving the items around your home – just click and drag each piece to a new location to get a feel for what looks best.
The best home design software for Mac computers has a wealth of features, design tools, and customizable objects and materials to help you create your 3D floor model.
Best home design software overall
Home designer architectural
A great interior design software for beginners and veterans
Simple design
Virtual camera has a learning curve
Home Designer Architectural is a good program for beginner and veteran designers alike. Arguably the best feature for both groups is the Plan Assistant tool. It provides thousands of preprogrammed floor plans as a jumping-off point for your home design. It also contains a library of customizable house plans, another great way to get started. You also have the option to start a design from scratch or import scanned floor plans into the application.
The automatic roofing tool makes easy work of choosing the roof style for your design. The program automatically calculates and displays all your dimensions while your design is in progress. The program also calculates the materials needed to construct your design and gives you an estimate of the cost.
Walls, roofs and floor plans are just the beginning when designing a home. You can use this program’s pre-programmed library of 8,000 objects to populate your home design with everything from doors, windows and cabinets to furniture, appliances, fixtures and more. If you want something in your dream home, there’s a high likelihood this application has it.
Read the full review here: Home Designer Architectural
Best home and interior software for value
Home designer suite
A home designer software that offers a great value for price and content
Free hand drawing tool
If you want to design your fantasy home but don’t have a lot of cash, you can pick up this program for less than $100. It’s a great deal considering other programs we reviewed can cost twice that. There are programs that cost as little as $15, but there’s not much to them. This program is both affordable and gives you the tools to make an effective design.
Home Designer Suite comes with much of what’s included in Home Designer Architectural, such as a wide-ranging library of home objects. It’s not as comprehensive, but with 6,500 objects to choose from, you should be able to find what you’re looking for. You also get the cost estimator, so you’ll have a good idea how much it would cost to build your design.
One of the most useful tools in this home design software for Mac is the virtual walk-through. This allows you to plot a path through your home, and the computer will show you, in 3D, what your design will look like. This is a great way to see exactly what you can expect and provides a better idea where you can make improvements.
Read the full review here: Home Designer Suite
Best home design software for beginners
Punch home design studio complete
A great interior design software for beginners
Excellent landscape templates
Simple for beginners
Great customer service
Although the two previously mentioned products are simple to use and learn, Punch Home Design Studio Complete scored the highest in our ease-of-use tests. So, if you’re a greenhorn, this is a great program to start with. You can begin your design by choosing one of the sample room templates, complete with appliances and furniture, then customize it until it’s exactly what you want.
You can choose to start from scratch with the QuickStart tool, which allows you to drag and drop rooms and snap them together. This saves a lot of time and effort, because you don’t have to design the whole house at once. And it lets you shift your rooms around the house with ease until you figure out the layout that works best.
Punch Home Design Studio Complete comes with a library of 5,000 objects, including appliances and furniture, but far fewer choices than the best programs we reviewed. However, this program has more than 5,000 plants to place in your design. Other high-ranking products offer just 1,500 plant options. You can build custom fireplaces, cabinets, windows and doors. And the tools are all quite intuitive and easy-to-use.
Read the full review here: Punch Home Design Studio Complete
Interior design software: Mac vs Windows
These home and interior design programs work just as well as home design programs for Windows operating systems. The same tools and utilities are there and the functions are similar. In fact, many developers create programs that work on both operating systems.
What type of software do I need?
Home and interior design programs are all encompassing and typically used to creating new homes from the bottom up. However, if you have an existing home you want to update, either inside or outside, there are programs that are less cumbersome and have just the tools you need for a fraction of the cost of full Mac home design suites.
Interior design software focuses on the decorative aspects of your home. Xml query tool for mac. You can use it to simply change the curtains and rearrange the furniture or for a project as extreme as knocking out a wall and creating a more open floor plan.
If your only focus is updating your home kitchen, there are specific program dedicated to this type of project. Kitchen design software has advanced tools for creating custom cabinets and plumbing lines.
Why Trust Us?
We spent more than 160 hours using 12 home design programs to help you decide which is the best for you. We designed dozens of homes and hundreds of rooms. We carefully combed through all tools, and every program was subjected to a series of tests to measure utility, versatility, ease and user experience. Personal experience was also calculated into the scores. We took meticulous notes during our testing phase recording likes and dislikes. These were all weighed in reaching a final verdict for each product.
App Design Software For Mac
Every Mac home designer application we reviewed was either provided by the manufacturer or bought outright. Furthermore, the manufacturers were not provided with our testing methodologies, nor had any influence in our evaluations.
We also reached out to professional designers and asked their opinions about casual users designing plans. Trevor Broughton, lead designer of Mountain West Architecture, expressed some concerns about DIYers' abilities to make workable plans. “My biggest concern with anything brought to me is it scalable and accurate,” Broughton said, but he added that the products we reviewed can help.
“Consumer grade software could allow someone to really grasp how much space is absorbed by each architectural element,” Broughton said, while still cautioning that users need to understand how plans come together before trying to bring them into the real world. “From a bathroom to a stairwell, people struggle to understand the square footage required to make these elements function properly in any given plan,” Broughton said.
What to Look For
Home and interior design software has three main functions that we looked at closely during our review: construction design, interior decorating and landscape planning. Here is what we found helpful while using these programs.
Home and floor plan design
One of the main reasons to use a home design program is to create 2D floor plans that can easily be converted into blueprints. These plans include marks for windows and doors as well as separate levels with their own measurements.
Photo import features are really useful because they allow you to open one or more pictures of a home you like and save them to use as inspiration while constructing your own plans. These can be images you find online or pictures you snap with your camera when you see a home you like.
You can also use this feature to upload floor plans or copies of your current home’s blueprints. Programs like Live Home 3D include a tracer tool you can use to copy the images’ lines while the software automatically creates both a 2D image, or blueprint, and a 3D image to help you visualize how the two concepts mesh together. If you open a blueprint of your home in the program, the trace feature can help you attach a room addition that scales nicely to your existing home.
A cost estimator is another valuable tool. As you design your home, it provides you with a list of materials and the average cost of each, along with an estimation of the total project cost so you have an idea of what kind of funding you need to secure. Not all the programs in our review have this feature, but Punch Home Studio Design is one that does.
Other features we looked at closely while testing Mac home design software are roof wizards and electrical- and plumbing-planning tools. Most of the programs we tested included some variation of these tools, though some included extra feature that gave them an advantage over the rest.
For example, all the program we reviewed, except for Interiors Pro, have tools to place a roof over your home. However, most of the apps create a standard-looking gable roof over the entire structure. You must then use a cutaway tool to remove sections of the roof that overhang too much because of odd extensions, such as a garage, that aren’t exactly square with the rest of the house. Additional steps are required for more elaborate roof designs or to fuse several roofs over different home sections. Live Home 3D has a smart perimeter tool that instinctively knows if your home design has several different sections and places a perfect roof over your home so you don’t have to take extra steps to make it look perfect.
Electrical and plumbing planning tools also vary by program. Each interior Mac program we reviewed includes fixtures such as outlets, bathtubs, hanging lights and faucets. While this is helpful, especially when designing your home’s decor, more advanced tools let you indicate exactly where to place pipes or run electrical wires. If you are only using design software for interior decor updates, these advanced planning tools are not necessary. However, they are important if you need to make changes to a room, such as a bathroom or kitchen, where it may be necessary to move pipes and electrical wiring.
Interior and room design
Some interior design tools are used for structural changes – for example, when you want to open a room by knocking out a wall or to add or update stairs. However, most are fun tools that allow you to add custom-designed kitchen cabinets, textured walls or tiled hallways.
The object library houses 3D furniture and décor items you can set up to visualize what your new rooms will look like decorated in the latest craftsman, vintage or sleek stylings before you head out to the store. We really liked the object-placement and editing tools in MyFourWalls. They were the easiest to use and the most intuitive. With this software, you don’t have to highlight an object and then choose a resizing or rotating tool from the dashboard. Instead, you can grab the object, edit and rotate it freely in one step.
Each app comes with a set number of objects in its library, but you can add additional programs to increase it to an unlimited number of items. Most of these objects are found through Google’s SketchUp and the Trimble 3D Warehouse programs. In these third-party databases, you simply download and save an object file to your desktop, then import it using the home design software’s import feature. We note which home design software accepts objects from which database. Most only work with images from one or the other, though Home Designer Architectural is compatible with both.
Landscape and garden design
Landscape tools help you design the gardens and lawn surrounding your home. Look for a program that has a plant encyclopedia. This tool lists plants that thrive in your specific growing area to ensure you have a beautiful, healthy yard all year long. It is important to note that while each of the programs we reviewed has some plant objects available, not all of them are outdoor plants. You can always increase the plant object library by uploading additional items from various third-party object databases and creating an outdoor plant list.
Price of landscaping software
The best home and interior design software for Mac can cost as much as $200. And if you’re going to use the application regularly, we recommend getting the best product you can afford. However, if you’re planning on tooling around with a design from time-to-time or simply want to see what your dream home may look like, you don’t have to go with the top-of-the-line software. The cheapest program we reviewed, MyFourWalls, costs less than $30 and has a surprisingly large feature set for the price. If your ambitions are small, it may fit your needs.
We found that it took a long time to download the Mac design programs we tested because they contain thousands of objects and components. Some programs took only a couple of hours, while others took five or more. Once installed, though, there weren’t any issues with lag or function during testing.
Saving and sharing your designs
As you look at floor plan software for your Mac computer, you should try to find one that is easy to use but also renders your designs in a format you can share with professionals. Architects and contractors typically use professional Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs that create official blueprints. These blueprints are used to secure permits and licenses and also serve as the official instructions for building your dream home. The best 3D floor plan software for Mac computers lets you have fun creating designs and shows a good visual representation of what your dream home will look like as well as creates a 2D design that includes measurements for contractors to refer to.
Something to be aware of when choosing a program is the file types the finished designs can be saved as, especially if you intend to export and share your ideas with an architect, general contractor or interior decorator. Professional software is compatible with only a few types of files, and even then, it depends on the program. If you know the format your builder uses, you can look at our comparison chart to ensure the program you purchase creates a compatible file. Typically, CAD software accept DXF and DWG file formats.
Our final thoughts
Don’t let your lack of interior design experience keep you from undertaking a remodeling project. Even with minimal experience, you can plan kitchen renovations, bathroom makeovers, bedroom refreshes and color-scheme changes throughout your home using one of the packages we reviewed. You can even design landscapes, potentially changing the look and feel of your outdoor space and the exterior of your house. Using one of these programs, you can turn your digital designs into reality.
Contributing Reviewers: Renee Shipley, Noel Case, Linda Thompson, Danny Chadwick