I just ran across another drawing viewer application called Myriad 3D/2D Viewer. I'm not trying to do a full review here, I just wanted to comment on some of its features with regard to viewing, printing and measuring 2D drawings.

1. Viewing and Printing - This application will open over 100 different file formats. I successfully opened several files of the following file types with no problems. DWG (r2007 version), DGN (v8 version), DWF, PDF, JPG, PNG, TIF, HPGL/2 (plot file), and DXF. This is an MDI application with optional tabs across the top like IE7 or FireFox web browsers. Controlling layer visibility, switching to monochrome mode, and changing the background color are all easily done using an icon in the status bar. You can pan, zoom and even rotate the drawing easily. My only complaint is that the mouse wheel zooms in and out using the center of the viewport as the basepoint, rather than the location of the cursor. Switching from model space to a layout is done with a drop down box in the status bar area. Other than the minor wheel zoom issue, this is an excellent viewing tool. In addition to the normal print options, there is a one button tool for printing to PDF, TIF, and DWF. You can also save the current view as a JPG file.

2. Measuring - Measuring is pretty simple also. You have to calibrate a known distance once before using the other tools. After that you can measure a line, polyline (continuous distance) for linear measurements, and a polygon or rectangle for area measurements. Turning on the "snap" will cause the cursor to snap to endpoints, midpoints, and centers.

Summary Of course, there are many more features in this application related to markup and 3D viewing that I didn't go over. It looks like the pricing structure is based on how many features are enabled. Bentley View has it beat as a pure DWG/DGN viewer simply because BV is free, but if you need other features at a reasonable cost, Myriad looks like the real deal.

I have updated my list of drawing viewers to include this application also.

Labels: Notices, Tips, Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 6/12/2007 05:56:00 PM      Comments (0)

Now that you have downloaded this beast, you may want to configure a silent install for it. You can do this using the same method as the Design Review 2008 Silent Install.

You can open this download using your favorite ZIP program. Extract all the files and the MSI file is there.

The string for your BAT or script file will be:

MSIEXEC /i "\\server\share\DWGVIEWR.msi" /l*v %temp%\DWGTrueView.log /qb!

NOTE: You may need to install other components prior to running this silent install. For example, without .NET 2.0, the DWG TrueView silent install will fail with an "Internal Error 2337". You can silently install .NET 2.0 with this string:

\\server\share\support\dotnetfx\dotnetfx.exe /q /c:"install /l /qn"

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 4/09/2007 11:47:00 AM      Comments (1)

DWG TrueView 2008 is available for download. If you want to read more about it and fill out a form prior to downloading, go to http://www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview

If you want to skip all that and just download it, click here: DWG TrueView 2008

The download is a little over 128MB.

As predicted, there are still no linear or area measuring capabilities. Why doesn't Autodesk enable two simple commands, AREA and DIST?

The ability to convert multiple drawings has been enabled in this version, in the form of the eTransmit command. When you run the DWG Convert routine, it executes a version of eTransmit with a couple of predefined "conversion setups". You can still convert back to R14. I prefer the older DWG TrueConvert 2007, since using eTransmit to simply convert formats is not as straightforward. But this move will at least make installation of the two products easier since they are now one.

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 4/06/2007 10:17:00 AM      Comments (0)

Here is a comparison of several DWG viewers. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but rather a collection of some of the popular drawing viewers, in no particular order. If you are using something that you think should be on this list, let me know.

Name	View DWG	View DGN	Measure	Plot	Markup	Cost
Autodesk DWG TrueView	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Free
Bentley View	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Free
Bentley Redline	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Free#
Solidworks eDrawings Viewer	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Free
guthrie CAD Viewer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	$
cimmetry AutoVue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes*	$
AutoDWG DWGSee	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes*	$
Trix DrawingCenter 5	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	$
progeCAD Viewer DWG	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	$
Brava DWG Viewer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Free
Myriad 3D/2D Viewer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	$
* = in certain versions # = certain conditions - check website

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 8/03/2006 09:23:00 AM      Comments (2)

This has proven to be a popular page, so I thought I would repost it at the top, with one corrected URL, and a few more applications I have run across.

The FREE Viewers are:
BIT-View: HPGL/2, RTL, TIFF, JPG
Oce Publisher: DWG, DXF, HPGL, HPGL/2, RTL, TIFF, CALS, DWF, PS, PDF, LDF.


The not-so-quite free ones:
SPLOT
View Companion Pro
RePlot
CERN HPGL Viewer
Fplot
EteCad
PentaLogix ViewMate
PloComp
CadSoftTools ABViewer
CadViewer (applet/API)
RxView

If you think you might want to convert a PLT file to a DWG or DXF file, check this out.

If you use any of these applications, let me know how it goes.

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 3/16/2006 07:04:00 PM      Comments (4)

This page has been updated, so to push it to the top I created a new "entry", please click on the link here: http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2006/03/update-plt-file-viewers.html

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 12/12/2005 08:23:00 AM      Comments (0)

This post is to expand on the tips over at JTB World regarding the silent install of DWG TrueView. Specifically, the tip below covers automation of the configuration.

If you need to add to the support file search path, you should keep the existing paths but since they are tailored to each user how do account for this?

I have found that you can substitute windows environment variables in the support file search path. For example, %appdata% instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\very_long_username\Application Data" and %programfiles% for "C:\Program Files".

If you are creating a REG file to import to other machines, use these variables in your REG file. My example REG file can be downloaded here.

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 11/02/2005 04:00:00 PM      Comments (1)

After installing the new DWG TrueView, I realized something. This is nothing more than the DWG viewer that comes with DWF Composer. (In fact, you cannot install DWG TrueView until the remove the DWG viewer that comes with DWF Composer).

You can open, view and plot, and that's about it.
No measuring capabilities.

Many firms want to provide an application for non-CAD users to view DWG files and allow for simple linear and area measurements. Free is not even a requirement.

So it looks like we have three choices.

1. DWF Composer - User (remember, a non-CAD user) must open DWG file in the included DWG viewer, then publish to DWF. Then open DWF in Composer to measure.
   
2. AutoCAD LT - Way overkill. These non-CAD users do not need all the functionality of LT
   
3. Third Party - Bentley View is one of many third party apps that can open DWG and provide tools for linear and area measurements.
   

Make your own conclusions using the viewer comparison.

BTW - If you turn off the command linein DWG TrueView, I don't see any way to get it back. The warning message tells you that Ctrl+9 will do it, but it doesn't. Oh well, you don't need it anyway.

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 10/24/2005 11:45:00 AM      Comments (2)

It's finally here.
Autodesk has released a new free .DWG file viewer.

Announcement | DWG Trueview

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 10/20/2005 03:44:00 PM      Comments (0)

This page has been updated. For the latest version, visit: http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2006/08/drawing-viewers.html

Since Autodesk quit providing a free application to view it's own DWG files, there has been a demand for said application. Plenty of other software vendors have provided a solution for this need.

1. Autodesk does offer a DWG viewer, but it's only available bundled with their DWF Composer $
   
   
2. guthrie CAD Viewer $
   
   
3. Bentley View FREE
   
   
4. Cimmetry Systems $
   
   
5. Informative Graphics $ and FREE versions.
   
   
6. AutoDWG $
   
   
7. Trix Systems $
   

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DWG Conversion...

Note that Solidworks offers an add-on to "Open and edit any DWG file using any version of AutoCAD". For example, install this utility and you can open AutoCAD version 2004 drawings using AutoCAD 2000. Read what Autodesk has to say about this utility.

Autodesk also offers their own Batch Drawing Converter that will "convert any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file to AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002, AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2005, and AutoCAD 2006 file formats..."

Labels: Viewers

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PermaLink       Posted 6/09/2005 06:01:00 AM      Comments (4)