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Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users Readers and editors share software tools and tips that are worth their weight in gold, but don’t cost a penny. “Free is a very good price!” ong-time residents of Portland, Oregon, know and love this catchy slogan from the low-budget television commercials of LTom Peterson. A home furnishings dealer who became such an icon that Gus Van Sant cast him in movies, Peterson lured custom- ers to his stores with every kind of freebie imaginable, from hot dogs and haircuts to wrapping paper and area rugs. Nearly every American community has had its own version of Tom Peterson at one 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, e-mail accounts, apps, games, you name it — the options are end- less. And nowhere are the freebies better than in the CAD world, where no-cost tips and tools are plentiful — and more often than From the editors of not, surprisingly practical. But finding great freebies in the vast online world can be a chal- lenge. To help you get to the gems that will make your job easier, we have compiled a list of indispensable freebies recommended by Cadalyst readers and contributors. Editor’s note: This guide was originally published in 2010, Editors have not tested each tool extensively; we encourage you then updated in 2014 and 2017. to evaluate the options according to your own needs. Nor can we For the current edition, editors guarantee that any particular site or download is virus-free, so validated and updated informa- please use caution. tion from the 2017 edition and Be sure to review licensing agreements before downloading to added new tools recommended ensure that you can comply with the terms of use. Some sites by Cadalyst readers in early 2018. require that users provide contact or other personal information in Do you have your own exchange for free tools; others suggest a small donation. fabulous freebie to share Now, let’s get to the free stuff! with fellow CAD users? Submit it to General-Purpose Tools [email protected] to be considered for publication in a CAD might be your primary software, but CAD managers and future edition! users alike call on a variety of general-purpose software to get their jobs done, including tools to make PDFs, convert units, orga- nize and rename files, and create videos and screen captures. Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users — 2018 Edition 3 The following free tools are among the best, according to our readers and contributors. PDF Tools A popular freebie that’s been around for more than a decade is CutePDF Writer. Use it with virtually any Windows application to create quality PDFs; Michael Gilroy reported that it works well with AutoCAD and with Microsoft Word. Marga Io said, “I could not survive a CAD workday without this tool. It saves paper too!” Icecream PDF Converter is one of Adam Clark’s favorite free tools: “Files can be dragged into the box and then converted with a sin- gle click. This makes it quick and easy to send and save large files.” “PDF995 is my favorite freebie,” reported Sharla Livingston. “It is the easiest PDF creator I’ve used.” The free version displays a Free (and Almost Free) Tools for Your Mobile Device Tucked into your pocket or bag, these tools can Archisketch (pictured below) enables users to go anywhere. To search for the titles below, sketch, draw to scale, and visualize ideas in 3D. visit iTunes or the App Store on your device for A full version with unlimited shapes, drawings, iOS apps, and the Google Play store for and projects is available for $9.99. (iOS) Android. Many CAD titles you’re familiar with from your desktop — such as AutoCAD, Onshape, eDrawings, ARES, CorelCAD, and GstarCAD — have associated mobile apps offering varying levels of functionality, and most are free. There is also an ever-expanding market of free and low-cost apps that can help you with specific CAD or related tasks; here are just a few. Autodesk SketchBook painting and drawing software is free; you can upgrade to Pro tools and more layers with in-app purchases. (iOS and Android) CAD Assistant is an offline viewer and con- verter for 3D CAD and mesh models. Saves CAD models as BREP, IGES, or STEP files. (iOS and Android) John Hebrank favors the ConvertPad unit converter: “This is an extremely easy-to-use and useful converter for everyday work-related Evernote lets users make notes and lists with calculations.” (Android) text, sketches, photos, and more; share them; Create vector drawings using solid or dashed and sync them across devices. Cadalyst contrib- lines in iPocket Draw Lite. The free version is uting editor Melanie Perry uses it in her facili- limited to 12 objects per drawing; the full ver- ties management work when she has to leave sion costs $11.99. (iOS) the office for meetings or site visits. (iOS and Android) Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users — 2018 Edition 4 sponsor page in your web browser each time you run the software; upgrade for $9.95 to eliminate ads. Chris Harris recommended PDFCreator. “It offers encryption for security, the ability to digitally sign documents, stamping, [and much more]. My favorite feature though, is the ability to create JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, and other formats from a program or an existing PDF. Plus, all these settings can be saved into profiles for easy switching.” Upgrades to the ad-free Plus version start at $10.30. Vernon Swigert uses PDFedit for converting PDF files to raster images, and for combining PDFs. Several readers recommended PDFescape, a free PDF reader, editor, form filler, and form designer that you use online, sidestepping any software installation. Viranjith Tilakaratne said, “The free, nonreg- istered version is a very powerful tool, similar to Adobe Acrobat Pro.” Doug Fett uses it primarily to crop and realign skewed PDFs received from customers. “It performs those operations easily, yielding documents that are much easier to work with.” » With the free version of PDFescape, users can fill and save PDF forms, create basic PDF forms, and review and annotate PDF documents — all online. Publishing forms for others to fill out requires an upgrade to a paid tier. Tom Pollard recommended PDF-XChange Viewer for viewing, modifying, and annotating PDF files, and PDFsam for splitting and merging PDFs. Go Pro. For more features at a price, trade up to the professional version of a freebie or check out products from companies includ- ing Adobe, Bluebeam, CADzation, and QuadriSpace. Unit Converters Sherry Roberts is one of many readers who like the Convert appli- cation, which is available for Windows, Linux, and UNIX: “It is so a very useful and easy to use.” According to Colin MacWilliam, another fan, ”[Convert] opens up in a small window that does not take up a lot of desktop space, and it is somewhat customizable as you can add your own units to it in case you work in a field with some uncommon values.” Eric Lawson commented, “I use this pro- gram daily — well worth a donation.” Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users — 2018 Edition 5 Chris Micallef recommended ESBUnitConv. “It can be installed as “In my daily a Windows utility or as a stand-alone program for removable USB drives.” For $19, the Pro version offers more features. workflow I have Go Pro. For more features at a price, trade up to the professional version of a freebie or check out products from companies includ- found it a great ing GEOMATE and PTC. time-saver to File and Text Utilities ArsClip is a favorite of Kelly Lasse, who said, “In my daily workflow have a more I have found it a great time-saver to have a more robust clipboard manager than the default Windows function. ARSclip provides robust clipboard a great way to keep information that is often reused (or even temporarily reused) immediately available for quick access through manager than either keyboard hotkeys or mouse button assignments.” the default Bulk Rename Utility is an easy-to-use file renaming program for Windows that offers many options and enables users to change Windows multiple file names at once, Drew Kertis reported. The free version is intended for personal use only; there is a paid version available function.” for commercial use. Kelly Lasse also recommended another kind of clipboard tool: Path Copy Copy, an add-on for Windows Explorer that adds con- textual menu items on all files and folders, allowing the user to copy the path(s) in various formats. “Need to let a colleague know where a file is located on the network? Simply right-click on the file and go to the Path Copy flyout menu — voila, there’s a com- prehensive list of options allowing the desired info to be copied to the clipboard. Quick and easy.” » Path Copy Copy makes it simpler to communicate the location of a particular file on the network. Fabulous Freebies for CAD Users — 2018 Edition 6 CKRename 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 attach the DWG layout name or Model(1) (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 want.” Can’t find a file? Ken Goldstein told us about Everything.