Alibre, 3D Systems Team Up on 3-D Design and Print Bundle

First there were low-cost 3-D CAD programs. Then there wererelatively inexpensive 3-D printers. Now there's a pretty aggressively-priced3-D CAD/3-D printer bundle which just hit the market thanks to a partnershipbetween Alibre and 3D Systems Corp.

Alibre, which markets a professional 3-D CAD package forunder $2,000, has teamed up with 3D Systems to address what Alibre CEO PaulGrayson sees as a real opportunity to serve the needs of do-it-yourselfers(DIYers) and professional engineers who are looking for affordable ways tobring ideas from concept through prototype. The partners are offering twobundles: A $1,500 package that includes Alibre Design Personal Edition, whichincludes parametric modeling of parts and assemblies and 2-D drawings, alongwith 3D Systems' Rapman build-your-own 3-D printing kit; and a $4,999 packagefor professional use that includes Alibre's Professional Edition along with 3DSystems' BFB-3000 pre-assembled 3-D printer.

The bundles target the swelling ranks of hobbyistsinterested in soup-to-nuts DIY technology in addition to professional engineerswho either want a low-cost solution to perform on the job or who are looking todo projects at home and can't make use of their high-end CAD programs used inthe office due to licensing restrictions.

"This is the first time, for such a low price, someone canbuy a hardware and software combination and literally take an idea they have intheir head and turn it into a physical product that they can touch, feel andpass around in a matter of hours," says Alibre's Grayson.

Lingering economic woes probably won't hurt Alibre's pitchas engineers, especially those in small companies where budgets are tight, arelikely interested in any solution that delivers value for a reasonable price.There's also the public's growing desire for out-of-the-box experiences, drivenin part, by plug-and-play kinds of technology solutions that are nowmainstream. In either case, the bundle is likely to play well to the audiencethe partners have targeted.

Other companies in the design tool space have also amped uptheir low-cost offerings as of late. In addition to Alibre and SpaceClaim, Corel is the latest player torelease a low-cost CAD offering with its recentannouncement of CorelCAD. High-end player Dassault Systemes now has DraftSight, a free 2-D CAD product and community thatlets users read, write and share DWG files and Autodesk offers AutoCAD LT,among others.