Review: Kung Fu Drafter Reviews AutoCAD Freestyle ...

Dan Shrader guest blogs for us and looks at the recently released AutoCAD Freestyle.

I bought AutoCAD Freestyle last week as more of an impulse buy. The chance to own a copy of an "AutoCAD" for $49.00 was irresistible. The fact that it opens and saves .Dwg files was just the icing on the cake. I have often needed a drafting program that can do quick drawings for around the house. Whether it be for landscaping sketches, or the furniture that I sometimes build in the shop, I couldn't swallow the $1100 for AutoCAD LT, or even the $299 that ProgeCAD standard currently sells for.

After making the purchase from the Autodesk website downloading the install file went very smooth, and I was up and running in a few minutes. At startup, users get a screen where they can choose to open an existing .Dwg or create a new drawing. Creating a new drawing brings up a screen to choose a drawing size. Almost any size drawing the hobbyist or landscaper might need is listed there. The workspace is basic, but has almost everything that might be needed to start creating drawings or sketches.

AutoCAD Freestyle ...Off to the side, there are four pallets listing layers, symbol library, fill styles, and settings. These pallets may be hidden, minimized, or moved according to preference. Something that stood out to me immediately is that AutoCAD Freestyle will automatically place all of the symbols, fills, text and line work on their own layer. This helps enforces CAD standards, or at least some sort of standard.

Users are also able to create and name their own layers, as well as turn them on and off. If you open a file created in AutoCAD (full version) or AutoCAD LT, all of the original layers will appear as “non-editable layers”. These “non-editable layers” can be turned on or off with a single click. AutoCAD Freestyle comes with an excellent variety of symbols in the symbol library so anyone can start making drawings that professional looking immediately. These symbols are pre-sorted into different categories ranging from electrical to landscaping. Users insert blocks by simple dragging and dropping onto the drawing. Symbols insert at a 1:1 scale (or close enough) and can be stretched or scaled by clicking and dragging with the mouse. The fill style pallet is a basic fill tool, allowing users to choose colors from the predefined pallet or make a custom color. Users may also use fill patterns that are changeable in color. The settings pallet houses on/off toggles for all of the basic settings such as show/hide grid, snap to grid, and the snap alignment tool. The snap and alignment tools work really well, allowing for quick snapping to corners, mid points and get all of your line work where it needs to be.

AutoCAD Freestyle pallets ...AutoCAD Freestyle comes with everything that users need to get a quick sketch jotted down with line, curve, text, and doodle tools. Aside from having a funny name, the doodle tool is quite useful. It allows users to make a spline that is quick and easy. Simply push the mouse button down and go! After releasing the mouse button, a smooth “spline like” object with grip edit points will appear. Users can also insert images to reference (these will default to their own layer also!) and place dimensions wherever needed. The select tool stretches or rotates almost any object in the drawing. Users can also use copy/paste or send to front/back with the select tool. The erase tool trims with a single mouse click and erases when holding down the “S” key. And yes, all of the color/pen weight settings are there along with all the other tools you might expect!

However, there are a few downsides to the software. For example, if you are disconnected from the internet (yes some people still do not have a wireless card) you won't have any access to help files. If you are filling complex objects, it can take some time. If you are importing from AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT make sure the lineweights are where they need to be since AutoCAD Freestyle displays them as non-editable objects. Just a personal note, an offset tool and properties box would be nice.

Overall AutoCAD Freestyle is a lightweight CAD package that is good for hobbyist, landscapers, electricians or anyone that needs professional looking drawings, but doesn't have the need for CAD full time. The learning curve is reasonably short, even to people who have never used CAD software. Seasoned drafters can find a use for it when they need to create quick renderings and maintain the .Dwg file format. The pre-made content, while limited, is enough to get the job done and that seems to be perfect for the market that it product is geared towards.

- DS -

~ Dan has been drafting everything from house plans to water mains with CADD for over ten years. Currently he drafting indoors, because it's hot outside. If you would like to reach Dan, please email him. ~

Comments

[Jessie]

Good review, makes the program seem easy to use... I'm surprised it's a CADD program since it's cheap!

[jerry r.]

it looks like "sketch up" which is free. i can not help but wonder about how well the interface with autocad would be. the interface between autocad revit and autocad does not happen. i gave up on revit when i discovered that. you get what you pay for. $50 is really cheap. autodesk does not give anything away. they constantly go after small time operators over pennies. not really nice people, like microsoft. use the trial version and see what happens. please note that "sketch up" is far from perfect. version 6 drawings will not work with version 7. what a load. i love google, but i am disappointed with my $450 pro version of sketch-up. autocad is the standard. it is really going to be hard to replace it. they make a little revision each year and call it new, but it is only a trick to get your money. you will get new bugs to deal with.