Reply with QuoteI have downloaded it and hope to start playing with it soon... But I was concerned that they might offer the beta for free, but require a (hefty) license fee once the beta ends.
Have I misinterpreted their plans?
Draftsight - absolutely free CAD program
For those of you who like AutoCAD but don't have a license, Solidworks/Dessault Systemes is giving away Draftsight for free. From what I understand, they lost the license to DWGEditor, so they now offer Draftsight instead.
You will have to register with a name and email or you will get a pop-up asking you to register, but you don't have to have a seat of Solidworks to get it. You can use a fake name and disposable yahoo or gmail account if you don't want to give them your real email.
I prefer AutoCAD to DWGEditor, but I like this Draftsight to DWGEditor more because it has a few new features. Just like mouse gestures that they added to Solidworks 2010, you can hold down the right-mouse-button, move it up, down, etc., and you get an instant pop-up with the commands you want to use, such as Line, Dimension, etc.
Hint:
I like the crosshairs 100%, so go to Tools > Options > System Options > Graphics Area and check "Display cursor as crosshair" and change pointer size to 100.
Draftsight LINK
Edit: forgot to add screenshot.
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Last edited by CNC Lurker; 11-09-2010 at 03:34 PM.
I have downloaded it and hope to start playing with it soon... But I was concerned that they might offer the beta for free, but require a (hefty) license fee once the beta ends.
Have I misinterpreted their plans?
I just downloaded it myself as well and am really enjoying it.Originally Posted by doorknob
I was also wondering the same thing. Considering its from the creators of solidworks I doubt it will be free once beta testing is over.
It does say in the terms of service that it does send anonymous information back to 3ds for the purpose of testing. Those of us that have downloaded the beta may get an updated copy for free as a thanks for being guinea pigs but later versions will probably have a price.
Sent from my T-Mobile G1
From the FAQ, it will be free as long as you re-activate it every 6 months.
Quoted from the FAQS file DraftSight free CAD software: Learning Resources - Dassault SystèmesWhat is DraftSightTM ?
DraftSight is a free*, professional-grade 2D CAD product centered upon an open business model. Currently in public beta and available for download at DraftSight.com, DraftSight provides users with a better way to read, write and share DWG files.
How much does DraftSight cost?
The standalone, single-user version of DraftSight is free* to download at DraftSight.com
What is involved in downloading and activating DraftSight?
There is no information required to download and install DraftSight. When a user saves or prints a document for the first time, they will be asked to activate the product within 30 days using a valid email address and reactivate after six months and thereafter at 12-month intervals. Users will need an Internet connection to download and activate.
*Standalone License. Activation required.
Part of the reason Dessault Systemes offered DWGEditor and now Draftsight is to lure people away from having to use AutoCAD and other Autodesk products. If companies don't need to pay for a license of AutoCAD, then they can use that money they saved for Solidworks or there other products.
For those of you unfamiliar with Solidworks and DWGEditor, here is an article discussing the outcome of the lawsuit between Solidworks and Autodesk: Autodesk and SolidWorks Settle Lawsuit Over DWG
That also explains why DWG is not in the name of this program, Draftsight, and Solidworks is sticking it to Autodesk by giving it away for free.
In the end WE THE FREE USERS WIN.
I downloaded it and it looks to be fully active and lets you save to DFX after you register.
I purchased Autosketch v9 a few weeks ago for $19.00 on ebay and the two programs look a lot alike.
My first impression of Draftsight is vary good, it looks like it has a few more tool over Autosketch which has not been updated much in the last 5 years.
I also found 24 or more training videos on youtube which help a lot.
Nice find and just what I was looking for.
AutoSketch is made by Autodesk, and Draftsight is made by Germany-headquartered Graebert, developers of ARES.
We use Solidworks 2010 at work, and we export our parts to DXFs so we can import them to our Cincinnati program for use on our laser (that program sucks). We use Draftsight to verify that the parts are 1:1 scale and make sure there is nothing on the DXF that isn't requred, such as text, sheet metal bend lines, etc.
Thanks for the tip on the vids, there is a Draftsight Youtube channel here: Draftsight Youtube Channel
There are several video playlists, enough to help people create drawings from scratch. Of course what's great about it is that you can use the command line if you don't know where the icon is.
Glad this post helped someone, and hopefully others will find Draftsight useful too.
On a side note, even though we have a CNC wood router at work and laser for sheetmetal, they do not let us use them for personal stuff. That sucks, because that would help in making my first CNC router.
Not bad for the price.LOL Seems a lot like my $99 original AutoCad LT back in the '90's.
I miss a lot of the convenience of my Mechanical Desk Top not in Draftsight, but compare that price differential. I think it's a hell-of-a-deal for a 2D basic package @ $0000.00
Dick Z
DZASTR
The only problem I have found so far is plotting. I attempted to plot a drawing today on an HP plotter (Ansi D size) and it kept crashing.
I did notice this seems to be a beta bug on their forum and should be fixed shortly??
Art
AKA Country Bubba (Older Than Dirt)
Most users of Solidworks despise MDT, but there are a few features in MDT that were done better in MDT. The main one being able to use parametric equations in parts used in an assembly. Solidworks has equations, but it is more rigid, and you can't type in the equations directly into the dimension.
I think I still have a disc of AutoPol for MDT4 at home somewhere. Autopol is way more advanced than the sheetmetal program in any Solidworks edition, including SW 2010. It did square-to-rounds, reducers, etc. accurately.
This has nothing to do with Draftsight, but MDT is a curse word up here at work.
Did you print from model space or paper space? I wonder if switching to the other one would work. I haven't plotted anything yet.
I was trying to plot from model space as that is the way the original was setup. I didn't have time to set it up properly in paper space. So I was just trying to do it like I had done (with this drawing) before from acad and plot to the plotter.
Art
AKA Country Bubba (Older Than Dirt)
I have also downloaded this program and I have also found that the ploting feature is broken. I have not been able to print anything other than a very small object in the upper left side of the paper. Hope this is fixed VERY SOON.
Just an FYI, there has been an update to Draftsight and it is in Beta 2. Their email didn't say what exactly was fixed, just that some things were fixed:
Draftsight Beta 2In this version we resolved a lot of bugs that you told us about. Thank you for your feedback and for helping us make DraftSight better.
– The DraftSight Product Development Team
By the way, our plotter is down at work, so I can't plot anything, but I'm able to print to our standard A-Size 8 1/2 x 11 printer. Attached are some settings I used and it printed to scale perfectly. Not as user-friendly as it could be, but I've gotten my money's worth (haha, it's free).
On the Print screen, hit the "Additional Options" to see the , umm additional options.
Covered by the bottom text under the "Specify Window", check the checkbox that says "Print only area with specified window".
I like this program a lot. But I am having problems setting up my own styles on text for dimensions. It always restores itself to ISO-25. Anyone have some tips for me?
Martin
Draftsight is out of Beta now, latest download here:
Download DraftSight™ here! LINK
Sweet! The printer problem is fixed!
Rulers
I usually use Turbocad for making plot files to drive my plasma cutter but I have been experimenting with Draftsight since I understand it will create better dxf files. Anyhow, my question has to do with the model space display area. How do I turn on the rulers for the x and y dimension ? I can't seem to find anywhere to do this.
Thanks
I haven't seen that function, but what you could do is turn on Grid to use as guidelines.
Right-click the Grid button on the bottom, choose settings, and change the horizontal and vertical display spacing to 1", 6", or whatever works best for you.
As for the DXF, just save it as an r14 ASCII DXF and that seems to work with everything.
Plot
Thanks - I tried the grid solution but its not the same as a ruler. I saw in a previous post that you mentioned a plotter. I have not been able to output hpgl files nor print to a HP plotter in a file. When I select my plotter to print it only lets me select a ps or pdf file type. Am I missing something ? I do not have a real HP plotter.
Thanks
Anytime you want to print to a new printer you have to install a printer driver. Normally you don't save a HPGL file you print to a HPGL device. SO I always just loaded a HPGL plotter driver then printed to that as a print to file using that driver for the sudo plotter file.
Its been a while but it seems as if some of the old Tektronix drivers worked best..
Garry
