dalimd Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 My boss is thinking about getting LT for the folks in the office who just need to view files. Do any of you use LT primarily as a viewer, or do you use one of the free viewers out there? Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana W Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 LT costs $1,200 retail for ONE seat. It would be ridiculous to purchase it for simply a viewer. Download AutoDesk TrueView straight from the AutoDesk website. It's free, It IS a viewer, it prints drawings, and it can convert the newer format dwg files to be compatible with AutoCad versions all the way back to 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Should your boss balk at getting something for nothing I know of an inexpensive viewer he could buy instead. Let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBP Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Volo view is an option and free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Is Volo View even available any more? I would tend to think not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBP Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Is Volo View even available any more? I would tend to think not. Yep volo view is still on a few sites after searching the web but i believe the new the one from autodesk is better and also available called design review also freebee directly from Autodesk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I would not trust anything that is "on a few sites". The best bet is to download the latest viewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalimd Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Thanks all, that's helpful. Does anyone know anybody who uses LT as a viewer? I feel like I have heard about people doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 If someone is using LT strictly as a viewer then they wasted a lot of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven-g Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 We have one person who basically uses LT as a viewer, it is an older version that the company had on the computer, she uses it for pricing jobs and needs to check drawings, but I don't think any one would actually buy LT just to use as a viewer, and one word of warning, if you give a copy of LT to someone who has no idea how to use the program, how will you stop them accidently altering drawings by dragging grips etc. I'd go with the real deal and use a viewer program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalimd Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 We have one person who basically uses LT as a viewer, it is an older version that the company had on the computer, she uses it for pricing jobs and needs to check drawings, but I don't think any one would actually buy LT just to use as a viewer, and one word of warning, if you give a copy of LT to someone who has no idea how to use the program, how will you stop them accidently altering drawings by dragging grips etc. I'd go with the real deal and use a viewer program. That's an interesting point, I didn't think about that before. Are there any other cases of old software being repurposed as a viewer? Maybe some people even use old AutoCAD as a viewer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I'm having a difficult time understanding your boss's rationale for buying a $1,000+ program to use solely as a viewer compared to the free DWG TrueView or a low cost viewer like CADwizz. Does your company have money to burn or do you expect that down the road someone will actually use LT to create a drawing and you will have gotten your money's worth out of it? DWG TrueView http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=6703438&siteID=123112 Did we mention it is FREE? CADwizz Ultra http://www.cadwizz.com/index.htm Site licenses are on a sliding scale. The more you buy the lower the per unit cost. CADwizz starts at $49 for the first license. 2-5 users and the cost drops to $38 per license. AutoCAD LT 2015 http://www.amazon.com/AutoCAD-LT-2015-for-PC/dp/B00JN33K1Q $1,079 for ONE seat! You could buy 22 site licenses of CADwizz for the same price. Use what you need and give the rest away to your favorite clients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana W Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 That's an interesting point, I didn't think about that before. Are there any other cases of old software being repurposed as a viewer? Maybe some people even use old AutoCAD as a viewer... To reiterate, it is risky to give a non-CAD person a drawing editor to open in development or production drawings. It's dangerous enough letting the Drafting Manager do it. You can download TrueView for free, change the name of the desktop icon to CAD Light or something, tell them you turned off the editor part, and nobody will know for years. It looks just like AutoCad on the inside. Then take your boss' $1,000 and call it a bonus. It is still possible for the noob to mess up a drawing with TrueView though. They can convert it to an earlier version that can't handle dynamic blocks, multi-leaders, and multi-line text among other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalimd Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Thanks, that makes sense. CADwizz also looks interesting, I will make sure to check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana W Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Thanks, that makes sense. CADwizz also looks interesting, I will make sure to check it out! Do not try this part at home....change the name of the desktop icon to CAD Light or something, tell them you turned off the editor part, and nobody will know for years. It looks just like AutoCad on the inside. Then take your boss' $1,000 and call it a bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukecad Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Full list of Free viewers / editors available from Autodesk http://usa.autodesk.com/support/viewers/ (yes I know I also put this in another post today but it's probably helpful here too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pendean Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Some Bosses only feel safe buying software: I've seen it before. Software Auditing is critical at some firms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadvision Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 if they only need to view, never give them software that can edit! Asking for trouble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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