free autocad drawing 3d rescue training i beam platforms
100 Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users
18 Jul, 2010
Past: Cyrena Respini-Irwin,Nancy Spurling Johnson
Cadalyst Labs Report: Readers and editors share software tools and tips that are worth their weight in gilt, but don't toll a penny.
Editor's Note: Are you looking for the latest version of Cadalyst'south guide to free CAD tools? Click hither to download the 2022 edition of Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users!
"Free is a very good price!"
Long-time residents of Portland, Oregon, know and beloved this catchy slogan from the low-upkeep television commercials of Tom Peterson. A home furnishings dealer who became such an icon that Gus Van Sant cast him in movies, Peterson lured customers to his stores with every kind of freebie imaginable, from hot dogs and haircuts to wrapping paper and area rugs.
Nearly every American customs has had its ain version of Tom Peterson at 1 time or another, that noisy local retailer who tapped the marketing power of "Free!" Fast-forward to the Internet age, and freebies are more prevalent than ever: free Wi-Fi, free email accounts, free screensavers, free games, you name information technology — the options are endless. And nowhere are the freebies better than in the CAD world, where no-cost tips and tools are plentiful — and more often than not, surprisingly practical.
If yous're eager to start excavation for treasure on your own, you can head directly to the "Notice Your Own Fabulous Freebies" guide at the end of this article. Merely finding keen freebies in the vast online earth tin can be a challenge. To aid yous get to the real gems that will make your job easier, we asked Cadalyst readers to tell us virtually the freebies they can't live without. Those who submitted a favorite freebie that was selected for publication will be awarded a prize from the Cadalyst Store.
We share each of these tools based on the recommendations nosotros received from Cadalyst readers and contributors. Editors have not tested each tool extensively; we encourage you to evaluate options according to your ain needs. Be sure to review licensing agreements before downloading to ensure that you lot can comply with the terms of employ. Some sites require that users provide contact or other personal information in exchange for gratuitous tools; others suggest a small donation.
At present, allow's go to the free stuff!
General-Purpose Tools
CAD might be your main software, but CAD managers and users alike phone call on a variety of general-purpose software to get their jobs washed, including tools to make PDFs, convert units, and create videos and screen captures. The following complimentary tools are amidst the best, according to our readers.
PDF Converters . Chris Harris recommends PDFCreator. "It offers encryption for security, the ability to digitally sign documents, stamping, [and much more]. My favorite feature though, is the power to create JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, and other formats from a programme or an existing PDF. Plus, all these settings can be saved into profiles for easy switching."
"PDF995 is my favorite freebie," reported Sharla Livingston. "Information technology is the easiest PDF creator I've used." The gratis version displays a sponsor folio in your web browser each time you run the software; upgrade for $9.95.
A popular freebie that'south been around for years is CutePDF Writer. Use it with virtually whatsoever Windows application to create quality PDFs. Reader Marga Io said, "I could non survive a CAD workday without this tool. It saves paper as well!"
PDFescape is a free PDF reader, editor, form filler, and form designer that you use online, sidestepping any software installation. Viranjith Tilakaratne said, "The free, nonregistered version is a very powerful tool, similar to Adobe Acrobat Pro."
Go Pro. For more features at a price, trade up to the professional person version of a freebie or bank check out products from companies including Adobe, Bluebeam, Cadzation, Informative Graphics, and Quadrispace.
Unit Converters. Chris Micallef recommends ESBUnit-Conv. "Information technology can exist installed as a Windows utility or as a stand up-alone program for removable USB drives." For $19, the Pro version offers more features.
"I use a nifty application called Convert that I keep on my desktop and use every day," wrote survey technician Paul D. Werbicky, the first of a few readers to suggest the tool. Catechumen is configurable to your preferences, and you can create your own conversions by using a Custom tab. Information technology runs on Windows, Linux, and UNIX.
Cadalyst contributing editor Scott MacKenzie goes to CompliCad, a source of CAD and building information modeling (BIM) tools, which he calls his "favorite web site for CAD unit conversion."
Go Pro. For more features at a toll, trade up to the professional version of a freebie or check out products from companies including Invent Improve and Mathsoft.
File and Text Utilities. Cadalyst contributing editors Paul Aubin and Melanie Perry use ReNamer for batch file renaming. Select your files or folders, add and configure rules for the changes, preview your changes, so execute. "Love this product," said Aubin. It is costless, but donations are accepted.
CKRename besides performs batch file-renaming operations, such as sequentially renaming files, changing file extensions, changing case, and performing string substitutions. Guy Dow said, "AutoCAD, Adobe, FinePrint, and all the other PDF drivers I've looked at always adhere the DWG layout name or Model(one) (or something similar) to the PDF file name. With CKRename, I can strip out all of the extraneous words in the file names that I don't desire." (Bachelor from multiple sources; search for "CKRename" using any search engine.)
Melanie Perry likewise likes Ditto, a clipboard manager. "I tin copy many pieces of data at once, so paste them at my leisure. No flipping back and along between programs or files. You can even do a quick-and-easy search through the contents of past clips."
Can't observe a file? Ken Goldstein told united states of america about Everything. "This utility does one thing very, very well, which is to find files and folders by name as quickly equally you can type." Unlike the standard Windows search, this freeware tool initially displays every file and folder on your computer. Donations are appreciated for commercial utilise.
Get Pro. For more features at a price, trade up to the professional person version of a freebie or check out products from companies including Cadac, Motive Systems, and Trix Systems.
Imaging Tools. Oded Cohen was the offset to recommend Snagit, a popular tool for creating screen captures. "This great software tool is so helpful to communicate ideas, issues, or problems that y'all take with your software. You can salvage the screen from AutoCAD, and then highlight, label, and redline problems that you accept with construction DWGs and ship to your applied science section or your CAD manager. I utilise it all the time, and I love it."
Lori Dankovic likes IrfanView. "I put together training manuals, and this software allows me to chop-chop capture the screen prototype, crop the image every bit necessary, recopy the image, and paste into a document — all in a matter of seconds." It is free for noncommercial use, and $12 for commercial apply.
"Gadwin PrintScreen is my favorite application for capturing screen images," said contributing editor Melanie Perry. The freeware utility lets you lot capture just the portion of a screen that you specify — very helpful for users who accept multimonitor setups.
For photo editing that'due south a piffling more than robust than MS Pigment, Perry uses Paint.NET. "It supports multiple file types, layers, and special effects and does pretty much everything I need an image editor to exercise. It does not handle huge TIFF scans well, but luckily I don't have to utilise those ofttimes in my work."
Go Pro. For more features at a price, trade upward to the professional version of a freebie or check out products from companies including Adobe, American Systems, Etecad, and Hyperionics. TechSmith's Camtasia Studio is a popular option for creating screen recordings.
| Free Tools for the iPhone |
| These freebies go anywhere (itunes.apple.com, or admission the App Shop from your iPhone). SketchBook Mobile Limited. Cadalyst contributing editor Andrew Roe goes everywhere with the iPhone version of Autodesk's SketchBook Pro painting and drawing software. SketchBook Mobile Express is free; for $2.99, the full SketchBook Mobile adds options including the ability to save work in progress and to due east-mail images. Evernote. Cadalyst contributing editor Melanie Perry explained, "Evernote is a complimentary application for the iPhone that lets yous make notes in text, with photos and voice recordings." She uses information technology in her facilities management work when she has to leave the office for meetings or site visits. "Having this application on the phone I'd be conveying anyway makes my life a lot easier." Post-obit are a few other iPhone apps that are bachelor at little or no cost. |
CAD Freebies
Do y'all wish you could change AutoCAD just a fiddling to make it ameliorate suited to your needs? Yous can, of course — and probably without opening your wallet.
Tools for AutoCAD. "Non only do we utilize DWGgateway," wrote Alan Harmon, "but I suggest it for all our consultants when the mutual problem of not having the uniform CAD edition occurs. We haven't upgraded our CAD systems since 2005, but when someone sends me a CAD file from any year later that, I just open it up with DWGgateway and save it with my older version."
MDITabs from Autodesk — a tool that lets you see and quickly navigate open AutoCAD drawings in a series of tabs forth the top of the cartoon window — is a favorite of Rodney Lee. You can find a link to the costless download on Shaan Hurley'south web log: Get to autodesk.blogs.com and enter "MDITabs" in the Search field.
"I work for the Country of California, and near of the states use various versions of DocBar," said Cindy Dangles. "Information technology sets upwardly tabs for open up AutoCAD documents. I like it better than the taskbar option, as I can set up it to also path to open the templates or close them all at one time or relieve them all at one time. I can continue the designers on our current standards."
Vladislav Bronin submitted 3 freebies he has used with AutoCAD for the by v years. Cadig TableBar makes working with tables easy and user-friendly, and it lets you lot save table templates for reuse. Recent from DotSoft adds a pull-down list that shows the concluding 26 DWG files opened. And although the iComTools spider web site is in Korean, its iDwgTab freebie is available in English language. This freebie lets you organize open files in the guild you wish, create a list of favorite drawings, run batch file commands, and much more.
Cadalyst contributing editor R.K. McSwain, author of the popular "Hot Tip Harry" series and Hot Tip Harry Word Forum moderator, recommended DWG-icon.dll. "It'south kind of sometime, only then once again, in that location are a lot of people using older versions of AutoCAD. Information technology'south a shell extension for Windows that uses different icons for DWG files displayed in Windows Explorer, depending on the DWG version."
Captain LearnCurve (aka Cadalyst contributing editor Neb Fane) recommended his "Learning Bend" series of AutoCAD tutorials, too every bit the "Circles and Lines" AutoCAD tutorials by Lynn Allen. Both are published by Cadalyst, but two of many free tutorial series for a number of CAD software systems, including Autodesk Inventor, Ceremonious 3D, and Map 3D; SolidWorks; and more.
And twice a month, Cadalyst publishes a new AutoCAD video tip by Lynn Allen. These quick and easy options for maximizing AutoCAD productivity are archived in the Cadalyst Video Gallery.
LISP. Where in that location's AutoCAD, at that place's costless AutoLISP to make life easier. And if a certain routine doesn't do the play tricks for yous, undertake an Internet search to find what you need.
What is AutoLISP, and how do you use it? Nib Fane'southward free classic, "Learning to LISP," leads the way. While you're learning, hang out on Cadalyst'due south Hot Tip Harry Discussion Forum for free information and support.
Cadalyst'south ain CAD Tips site is ane of the about extensive sources of costless LISP code (plus some VBA code, hatch patterns, and general tips for AutoCAD and other software). It is domicile to thousands of tips that are searchable past keyword, author name, file name, and more. Browse tips by category, recently posted, most downloaded, or well-nigh highly rated.
Among the well-nigh ofttimes downloaded freebies on the site is AIA Standard Layers by Mike Stachulak. This utility aids architects who create drawing layers according to the 1997 AIA CAD Layer Guidelines. Also popular is Create Custom Linetype past Ron Perez, an AutoLISP routine that automates the steps needed to brand a custom linetype with embedded characters.
Readers sent several of their favorites from the CAD Tips site. Enter the tip championship in the Search field to locate any of these tips.
Jeff Plourde said he tin can't do without Al's Steel Mill, past Al Rogers, which draws all types of steel shapes in 2D and 3D. Search for Steel Shapes All Types and Sizes.
Jennifer Grande echoed the sentiment near Steel Shapes All Types and Sizes, saying "This is my all-time favorite tool," and shared a few others she uses about every day. "I've been using Multiple Offsets past Joon Hong since information technology was commencement printed in Cadalyst magazine. It allows you to alter the outset distance midstream, without exiting and restarting the control. Aught Radius Fillet by Paul Herman is perfect for squaring up corners or just making lines come across without irresolute your stored fillet radius. Scott Cunningham'due south Lock Layers makes it easy to isolate layers without freezing them like Layiso does (so yous can nevertheless see them). The second routine in this tip is fifty-fifty more than useful because you tin can use it even if you locked layers manually. Finally, Commencement Line by Will DeLoach lets you lot depict the centre line first and offset it to either side at one time with the option to go on or delete the center line — very handy."
You'll find a variety of free AutoLISP code beyond the CAD Tips site, including the following favorites:
Frequent Cadalyst tip contributor Len Nemirovsky says he can't alive without DDshapes, a routine by Albert Botton that automates steel shape cartoon.
Mike Hitt wrote, "John L. Merrick 3 of Covington, Louisiana, has the best costless programs I accept found. My favorite is the Welded Flange program," an AutoLISP dialog box–driven control that constructs 2D and 3D pipage weld flanges.
Tony Sparks gave a thumbs-up to MyGEARilla (formerly known as Hobmaster), by Leonard R. Miller. Co-ordinate to the web site, this LISP programme "enables the user to draw 2D involute spur gear teeth exactly how they're fabricated by graphically simulating the generating process."
Cadalyst contributing editor Scott MacKenzie suggested CRCWeb every bit a expert source of free LISP code. Formerly hosted by the CAD Resource Eye of Canada, the site is now dormant but offers a groovy deal of archived content.
Contributing editor Melanie Perry provided her list of LISP favorites. FIXBLOCK.LSP redefines all or selected blocks so all entities are on layer 0 (zippo), with color BYBLOCK. "Prior to AutoCAD's introduction of the SetBylayer command in version 2008, I used this free program from Owen Wengerd constantly." And JTB_TITLE-BAR.LSP by Jimmy Bergmark is fun, assuasive you to change AutoCAD's championship bar. Check out TXTEXPRT.LSP, which exports text objects from a cartoon to a TXT file ("in my case, a couple of hundred room numbers") and many other, more exciting LISP routines. Finally, Perry'southward web log outlines how Adam Wuellner came to the rescue with a routine to replace the Select Similar command that went missing from AutoCAD Map 3D a few years back. Go to mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com and search for "Wuellner."
| Tools for CAD Managers |
| Robert Green, Cadalyst'due south CAD management expert, shared several of his favorite freebies. Deejay defrag. Clean house using Smart Defrag, "a bully free disk defrag utility." Video capture. Record and share video for grooming and more using Jing. Anti-malware. Wipe out a reckoner virus with Green's recommended anti-malware solution. And CAD managers, don't forget the Cadalyst Criterion Exam, sponsored by Intel, for testing the operation of computers running AutoCAD. |
BIM Freebies
1st Pricing offers free toolkits for some versions of AutoCAD (standard, Architecture, and Map), Revit Architecture, and TurboCAD that allow users to select commercially available windows and doors to insert straight into CAD drawings. Products and comparative pricing information are listed in a schedule.
The ARCAT web site is chock-full of free resources for BIM users, including CAD details from 10,500 manufacturers, hundreds of BIM objects adult by ARCAT experts, specifications, and wizards.
Sketching and Visualization
SketchUp is Google'southward popular and complimentary 3D sketching and modeling tool for Windows and Mac.
Blender is a popular, open-source suite of 3D content creation tools for modeling, shading, blitheness, rendering, interactive 3D applications, and more, available for all major operating systems.
Kelly Lasse recommended LuxRender, another open-source renderer. "Information technology is designed to achieve physically accurate appearance and realistic lighting for CG [computer-generated] imagery. There are exporters for most of the major DCC [digital-content cosmos] apps."
Go Pro. For more features at a price, trade upward to the professional version of a freebie or check out products from companies including AutoDesSys, Autodesk, Caligari, Luxology, Okino Calculator Graphics, and Robert McNeel & Associates.
Find Your Own Fabulous Freebies
Numerous online resources offer free software tools for simply about every CAD-related chore imaginable. If your CAD workflow needs improvement, chances are there'south a free tool to help. Try a general Internet search (steering clear of sites you don't trust) or head to some of the bang-up stockpiles of freeware. Hither nosotros listing a few of those for browsing and a sampling of the freebies they offer.
Autodesk Labs
The software from Autodesk Labs is still in development, simply information technology'south serious technology that won't cost you lot a cent. Be sure to review the terms of utilize.
- 3D/second ShareNow. This add-in enables yous to quickly and easily publish DWF files of your designs from AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, the Autodesk Revit family of products, and Autodesk Blueprint Review software to the Projection Freewheel server.
- Alias Sketch for AutoCAD. Technology preview offers fully integrated painting, illustration, and image manipulation capabilities to enhance the AutoCAD design workflow.
- AutoCAD Freestyle. Depict to scale and nowadays your ideas to clients, subcontractors, architects, engineers, and municipal planning departments.
- Autodesk Showroom. Spider web application transforms 3D product models and domicile scenes into interactive "synthetic photographs" that look like the existent thing.
- Bridge Modeler for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010. Add together-in module tin create simplified bridges directly from a Civil 3D corridor object.
- Firefox Add-On for Autodesk Blueprint Review. View DWF files using Mozilla Firefox three for the Windows operating system.
- Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based projects. Applied science preview allows you to import a Google Earth image into AutoCAD, publish your 3D model to Google Globe, curtain a Google Earth prototype onto a 3D mesh in AutoCAD, and attach time-bridge information to your model.
- Project Freewheel. Project Freewheel facilitates collaboration across project teams without installing additional software. Blazon in a provided URL to view your design data interactively, then embed an interactive viewer displaying your existing pattern data.
- Solar Radiation Technology Preview. Use this applied science preview to analyze the furnishings of solar radiations on various surfaces of your conceptual building model.
- STL Exporter for Revit Platform 2010. This proof-of-concept project is designed to create an STL file from a 3D building information model, enabling easier 3D printing.
Brothersoft
An established site that reportedly evaluates every tool it offers, Brothersoft is a collection of freeware and shareware tools and games for Windows, Mac, mobile devices, and more. Here we nowadays a few CAD-related freebies. Type a title from the list below in the Search field.
- 3D Architecture past LiveCAD. "Design, brandish, present, and realize all your building projects," according to the site. Create 2D plans with quotations, grid, or 2d/3D simultaneous views. Apace utilise textures and materials to all elements of your projection.
- AutoCAD Version Explorer. A stand-alone program that provides a Windows Explorer–similar interface to quickly view AutoCAD previews and version information. Output selected files or an unabridged directory to HTML format.
- Autodesk Inventor View. Share native Autodesk Inventor software data with non-Inventor users with this freely distributable viewer.
- Clone. Use this freeware to create copies of an object. Information technology is similar to the Array tool in Autodesk 3ds Max, except that it's parametric.
- Envisioneer Limited. This architectural design program was created to introduce users to uncomplicated creation of flooring plans, 3D models, and interior blueprint concepts. The free tool uses real-earth objects such equally walls, doors, windows, and stairs.
- FrameXpert Frame Designer. Build equipment racks, server racks, custom aluminum enclosures and shelves, and other custom frames from T-slotted aluminum profiles.
- Mini CAD Viewer. Compact CAD viewer is designed to be easy to use for the non-CAD user. It supports DWG and DXF formats.
- ShortCAD Lite (for Windows Mobile). Create and edit 2d vector-graphic drawings and templates and save them in ShortDWG or DXF format to export to other vector-graphic editors.
Download.com
This site hosted by CNET holds endless freebies (and non-freebies) for every awarding nether the sun, for Windows, Mac, and mobile platforms. Hither are a few favorites for CAD-related use. Enter the name of your desired category or tool of choice in the Search field.
- A9CAD. This full general-purpose 2D CAD program supports manufacture-standard DWG/DXF drawing formats.
- Alibre Design Xpress. Parametric solid modeler creates 2D and 3D parts and assemblies; for business or personal apply.
- CAD.OCX. This ActiveX Control written in Visual Basic 6.0 performs AutoCAD functions such equally drawing lines, circles, arcs, rectangles, 3D spheres, and 3D cones.
- DesignWorkshop Lite (PowerPC) 1.8.five for Mac. Build and salvage your ain 3D models of homes, offices, or entire buildings.
- doPDF Free PDF Converter. Create PDFs from within whatsoever program — and nothing more. Supports a multitude of languages.
- DoubleCAD XT. IMSI/Pattern'due south DoubleCAD XT is a compact CAD utility that can double as a DWG viewer for those with older AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT versions.
- Free DWG Viewer. From Informative Graphics, this tool lets you lot view and measure AutoCAD DWG, DWF, and DXF drawings in a simple interface.
- PCB123. Design and order custom-printed excursion boards. A beginning-up wizard offers several choices for your board, including number of layers, use of plane layers, solder mask, and silkscreen. Adjacent, PCB123 presents a CAD design window. Information technology includes an extensive library of parts, devices, and layouts, and can import net lists from CAD vendors.
- ThreeDify Designer. A 3D modeling, 3D dimensioning, and view mark-upwardly awarding and ActiveX plug-in.
FreeCAD
This free site from TenLinks comprised 841 CAD freebies in 18 categories at the fourth dimension of this writing, including architectural, CAE, EDA (electronic design automation), MCAD, viewers, and more. Lists can exist sorted by superlative programs, nigh downloads, and what's new. The following are among the most contempo additions to the site:
- MeshMixer. Free experimental 3D modeling tool aims to make information technology easy to compose new 3D models from existing meshes.
- STP Viewer. Professional CAD model viewer is said to be fast and user-friendly even for nontechnical types, while providing a full range of tools for navigating and analyzing 3D objects.
- trueSpace 7.61. Full-featured solution lets you model, texture, light, animate, and render 3D content.
XANADU
XANADU is an Autodesk Premier Solutions Provider, Microsoft Gold Partner, and HP Preferred Gold Partner based in the Czechia. It offers solutions and services in the areas of CAD, GIS, IT infrastructure, and software development. The company's web site holds a bounty of free tips and tools for Autodesk products. The post-obit is a sampling of the about popular offerings:
- BUDWEISER benchmark. Benchmark drawing tests the DWG format compatibility of not-Autodesk applications.
- FLay (Force Layer). Customizable reactor tool for AutoCAD ensures that all hatches you draw will go to the layer Hatch, all texts will automatically go to the layer Annotations, all dimensions to Dims, and then forth.
- GeoRefImg. Automatically places raster images (maps) according to date from their georeference files (for example, TFW for TIFF files) so you tin hands reposition a set of tiled maps in a DWG drawing in AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture.
- GRP. A unproblematic, unmarried-click tool for like shooting fish in a barrel grouping and ungrouping of drawing objects in AutoCAD.
- srxTEXT. Find and supplant drawing text in AutoCAD using a Command-line office with many options. Use as a batch command, in scripts, or to perform advanced replacements with regular expressions or replacements of give-and-take pairs defined in an Excel table.
Source: https://www.cadalyst.com/general-software/100-fabulous-freebies-cad-users-13388
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