ParametrIQ makes parametric CAD for packaging and other trades that work from flat patterns: one model, every size. Here is what that comes to.

ParametrIQ CAD

The CAD program itself, with tool sets for packaging, labels, sign making and vinyl cutting, sheet metal, HVAC, pipework, structural steel, carpentry, picture framing, glass, carpets and flooring, sewing and leather goods, laser cutting, foam and inserts, gaskets, and stone and tile. Everything you draw is parametric: it follows the points you picked and the variables you typed, so a design redrawn at new sizes is still right. Its Run Parametric library comes with ready-made designs for each trade. See Industries and Run Parametric.

Around the drawing: 3D pages that fold a carton, bend sheet metal or assemble a pack, with a product in it (3D pages); New from Product, which starts from what you are packing; Make It, which writes your trade's machine files in one step; machine profiles for cutting tables, routers, lasers and more (machine profiles); and a start page, Simple mode, a command palette and guided tours to find your way (Simple mode).

ParametrIQ CAD, like every ParametrIQ desktop program, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. It is a subscription, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed.

PiQ Lang

Every drawing is a program in PiQ Lang, ParametrIQ's drawing language: a design can be written, read and changed as text. Five minutes with it, or try it in the Playground.

The Pack Designer

Cans, bottles, jars, tubs, tubes, cartons, stand-up pouches, crisp packets and sachets as 3D models from their sizes, in ParametrIQ's materials, with your artwork printed on them; exported in the 3D formats ParametrIQ CAD uses, ready to place in a carton or on a shelf. Free with an account. See Pack Designer.

The Machine Emulator

Plays the files ParametrIQ CAD writes (G-code, HP-GL, GP-GL, CF2, DDES3, DXF, LightBurn, laser SVG, DSTV NC) as the machine would run them, with its acceleration and jerk limits: the order of the cuts, the tool changes and how long the job takes, before anything is cut. Free with an account. See Machine Emulator.

Thirteen free apps

Small programs for the jobs around a design, each on CAD's own engine: the Viewer, Box Maker, Sheet Yield Calculator, Die Estimator, Cut List Optimiser, Batch Converter, Mat and Frame Calculator, Pallet and Case Planner, Spooler, Box Strength, True-Shape Nesting, Seam Planner and Sign Quote. Each is free with an account, in English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. See Free apps.

The API and this website

The ParametrIQ SaaS API runs ParametrIQ templates for your own programs: drawings, files for machines, measures and 3D folds, at the sizes you send. On this website, the Playground runs PiQ Lang, the Viewer shows templates in 3D and shares them for review, and the Dieline Check checks a dieline you upload, with nothing to install.

Everything is in English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese, and the help says how each part works.