Although it has been out for several months already, we are just getting around to using Autodesk® Design Review 2008. This is free software that allows sharing of 2D and 3D CAD files. What’s more, it allows one to take measurements and to add markup and annotations. You can then save the file in the Design Web Format (DWF) or as a Microsoft XPS-Compatible DWF (DWFx).

The installation is straightforward. Registration is not required. The file to download is 39.1 Mb. Windows Vista, XP, and 2000 are the supported operating systems. Once the file is downloaded and ran, all one needs to do is to accept the software license agreement, approve the destination folder, and click the final “INSTALL” button. No icon was placed on the desktop. The first time the program is run a pop-up box indicated that “NEW DWF PRODUCT INFO IS AVAILABLE.” The following choices were given: Get it now, Remind me later, Remind me in 30 days, or Don’t show this again. Choosing “Get it now” takes one to a web site to complete a survey about on-line collaboration.

We also installed Autodesk DWG TrueView. As the name implies, this is the application to view DWG files. It does a bit more than this however – it can create PDF, JPG, PNG, or DWF files, it can plot the drawing, and it can convert the DWG to earlier or later DWG versions. Autodesk did require registration to download this program. This software is actually a much larger download; a 122Mb. file. The file unzipped to 990 files!

The features and capabilities of these free tools are outstanding. The quality of the viewed file is outstanding. The controls of Autodesk Design Review 2008 are intuitive and similar to AutoCAD. The semi-transparent “Navigation Wheel” is useful. The TOOLS –> COMPARE feature is useful in highlighting the differences between two versions of a drawing. The TOOLS –> SEARCH ONLINE feature allows one to search GlobalSpec or ThomasNet for suppliers, parts, and/or specifications.

There is also the capability to add “plug-ins”. Currently there are plug-ins for importing JT and DGN files, and one for batch printing.

Overall Autodesk Design Review 2008 should be beneficial as a design sharing collaboration tool for the professional engineer. It would seem that this tool should help a project be more successful – both by accurately disseminating information and by capturing needed feedback.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 10:55 pm and is filed under Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.