I just saw that Cubify, a division/product line from 3D Systems has released Cubify Invent to support their Cubify 3D printer. For those who haven’t followed them, 3D Systems has bought a number of small compaines making software or low-end 3D printers in the past few years. One of the companies they bought was Alibre, makers of a very affordable parametric CAD program.
I’ve recommended the hobby version of Alibre for a long time because it gives you massive functionality for $199- from a value point-of-view, nothing can touch it. I think that changed with the announcement of Cubify Invent.
From what I can tell in the videos, Cubify Invent appears to be a reskinned version of Alibre, possibly with some features removed. What is amazing is that Cubify Invent is only $49. A commercial parametric CAD program for that cost is totally unbelieveable.
Invent can export STL files so it should work very well with MeshCAM. If you’re looking for a good CAD program then you should try the 14 day demo and see what you think.