The most amazing CAD software that I have yet seen is the new
Geomagic Spark. It'll set you back ten thousand US dollars though! :laughing:
I'd have to say that Solidworks is the most loved among CAD software. I tried a demo of it once and liked how it taught you how to use it AS YOU WERE USING IT! Autodesk products are popular cuz Autodesk has been around forever, I tried Mechanical Desktop once and didn't like it at all. By the way there is a watered down version of Autodesk Inventor you can get for free called 123D. I tried it out a little and I guess it's ok.
Then there are the big names used by big corporations and government agencies, like SpaceClaim, Dassault Systèmes CATIA and PTC. Of these, PTC has a really great deal. They'll give you FOR FREE their Creo Elements Direct Modeling Express 4.0, which is a slightly limited version of their full software in the hopes that you will want to upgrade at some point in the future. Go
here to get it. For doing engineering CAD, with lots of documentation, extremely capable, and scalable for if you want to do huge assemblies someday, it just can't be beat I think. I've used it and I liked it. The main limitations are, It's limited to 60 assemblies and you have to be connected to online to start it up.
As for myself, I've mainly always done art stuff, so I've always used all of the free polygonal modelers.
James
[EDIT] I meant to say Unigraphics, not Spaceclaim.