What do you mean you can't read .wtf files?
November 16, 2010 6:56 AM Subscribe
I need a CAD file viewer that can view as many CAD file types as possible.
Our firm is always receiving CAD files from inventors and they all seem to have their own pet formats that they expect us to be able to read. Once upon a time there were no strings attached CAD viewers but that is becoming rarer and rarer. In addition, I don't like installing fifteen different programs on a user's computer for each file type.
The types of files I've seen the past include IGES, STP, AutoCAD, Solidworks, Cadenas, CATIA, JT, PRC, Parasolid, and STL. Maybe some others that I can't remember. Less expensive is better - I know Rhino has about everything I need but costs almost $1000 for license. Feel free to let me know if that's the only option I have, though.
Feel free to question my assumptions and all that other good stuff that usually pisses people off - I can take it as long as I know where I stand in the end.
Our firm is always receiving CAD files from inventors and they all seem to have their own pet formats that they expect us to be able to read. Once upon a time there were no strings attached CAD viewers but that is becoming rarer and rarer. In addition, I don't like installing fifteen different programs on a user's computer for each file type.
The types of files I've seen the past include IGES, STP, AutoCAD, Solidworks, Cadenas, CATIA, JT, PRC, Parasolid, and STL. Maybe some others that I can't remember. Less expensive is better - I know Rhino has about everything I need but costs almost $1000 for license. Feel free to let me know if that's the only option I have, though.
Feel free to question my assumptions and all that other good stuff that usually pisses people off - I can take it as long as I know where I stand in the end.
I too have to look at drawings from many different sources. I found that Solidworks E drawing viewer handles this task pretty damn well.
posted by walleeguy at 7:53 AM on November 16, 2010
posted by walleeguy at 7:53 AM on November 16, 2010
I've used both eDrawing Viewer from Solidworks and AutoDesk DWG TrueView, and PTC ProductView (which looks like it may have gone through a rebranding to be...Creo Elemenst View?) all of which are free.
eDrawing Viewer will open all Soildworks filetypes, .stl, all Pro/E file types, CALS files, and DWG/DXF natively. It may be able to open others that you listed, but you might have to research some of that.
It looks like DWG TrueView will only open native 2D AutoDesk files .dwg and .dxf.
PTC's ProductView offering used to open pretty much everything I needed, but I mainly work in the Pro/E, .stl, .sat, and .stp file types. I'm a bit blown away by their recent sudden rebranding, so I can't really tell you how it will perform now, or if it will still be free.
Rhino is pretty great too, but like you said, it's expensive. There are a bunch of free CAD viewers out there, although that's a big list of file types for one program to handle.
You might also want to look into file conversion tools, which would let you take any file type and convert it to a file type that your software will handle natively.
posted by This Guy at 9:34 AM on November 16, 2010
eDrawing Viewer will open all Soildworks filetypes, .stl, all Pro/E file types, CALS files, and DWG/DXF natively. It may be able to open others that you listed, but you might have to research some of that.
It looks like DWG TrueView will only open native 2D AutoDesk files .dwg and .dxf.
PTC's ProductView offering used to open pretty much everything I needed, but I mainly work in the Pro/E, .stl, .sat, and .stp file types. I'm a bit blown away by their recent sudden rebranding, so I can't really tell you how it will perform now, or if it will still be free.
Rhino is pretty great too, but like you said, it's expensive. There are a bunch of free CAD viewers out there, although that's a big list of file types for one program to handle.
You might also want to look into file conversion tools, which would let you take any file type and convert it to a file type that your software will handle natively.
posted by This Guy at 9:34 AM on November 16, 2010
I used to work for a company called Actify that built software to solve this very problem.
Their application is called SpinFire. There is a free version that reads their own native format (.3D), and a paid application, SpinFire Professional, that can import CAD files and export them as .3D files.
They have a number of different solutions - from individual applications that run on a desktop (starting @ $499/per license), to client/server solutions that integrate with a corp. intranet.
It may be worth looking into.
good luck.
posted by askmehow at 10:17 AM on November 16, 2010
Their application is called SpinFire. There is a free version that reads their own native format (.3D), and a paid application, SpinFire Professional, that can import CAD files and export them as .3D files.
They have a number of different solutions - from individual applications that run on a desktop (starting @ $499/per license), to client/server solutions that integrate with a corp. intranet.
It may be worth looking into.
good luck.
posted by askmehow at 10:17 AM on November 16, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions everyone. It looks like my needs are too much for a cheap solution so I'll probably stick to using different free viewers until there is more room in the budget.
posted by charred husk at 11:10 AM on November 22, 2010
posted by charred husk at 11:10 AM on November 22, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Blake at 7:23 AM on November 16, 2010