Which free IFC viewers let you open, check and coordinate a BIM model without a Revit, Navisworks or Solibri licence, and where each one stops. An honest guide.
Slicers, print modelling, toolpaths, G-code simulation, CNC control and nesting: nine open-source tools, what each does well and where it stops versus paid.
INDEX Solar Fixing is a free browser tool for choosing a solar panel mounting system by roof type and panel size: tiles, flat roofs and metal sheeting.
INDEXwood is free INDEX software for designing structural timber connections with self-tapping screws to EN 1995-1-1, checking failure modes against loads.
INDEXmor Cloud is a free browser calculator that turns a list of drilled holes into a number of adhesive cartridges, from hole count, diameter and depth.
INDEXcal is free INDEX software for checking post-installed anchors in concrete to EN 1992-4, with modules for rebar, non-structural fixings, ETICS, railings.
MATSim is a free, open-source agent-based transport simulator: each resident has a daily plan, picks a route and mode, and the system settles over runs.
OpenSim from Stanford University is a free tool for modelling bones, joints and muscles and simulating movement from motion-capture and force-plate data.
VisIt is a free tool from Lawrence Livermore for large FEA and CFD results: slices, streamlines, isosurfaces, animation and a distributed mode against a server.
Fiji is a free ImageJ distribution for quantitative image analysis: scale calibration, lengths and areas, particle counts, grain size and porosity from photos.
Pyzo is a free, lightweight Python environment for scientific work: an editor plus an interactive shell where plots and arrays behave as in MATLAB-style work.
SciDAVis is free software for test data analysis and publication-quality plots in the Origin style: tables, linear and non-linear fitting, FFT and Python.
