I am looking to purchase the next software suite, any ideas?

[Carl.currie]

I am trying to evaluate some new drawing software, but some of the programs are all over the place with features and cost. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am also working to try to have something that will work with pointclouds whcih adds to the cost tremendously.

[edeyerl]

We really like Rhinoceros, Carl, and have been using it for years. While it doesn't directly process point clouds on its own, after a point cloud has been reduced in size (in outside software you can find cheaply or even free), it is nicely displayed for use in Rhino. We find Rhino's tools intuitive to use, and it's a pretty powerful 3-D modeler. It's also very reasonably priced, at around $1K.

Good luck,

Eric Deyerl
Dial Engineering