Notes from an AutoCAD convert
July 17, 2019
Notes from an AutoCAD convert
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with DraftSight
It is used by an individual to open, view and edit .dwg files. We also use AutoCAD, and we find that the two products work well together.
- Editing CAD drawings in .dwg format
- Attaching reference files, such as PDF's, as background, and drawing over them
- Printing in a variety of formats
- Easy-to-use, intuitive interface
- I use DraftSight at work and at home, on different computers. I find that somehow the editor settings are different, and I haven't been able to determine what settings I need to change. For example, on one machine, I am able to select multiple drawing objects by clicking on them. On the other machine, I have to use shift-click or else it just selects the last one.
- Scaling drawings into standard hard-copy formats, such as A, B, C, D size paper, and inserting a border with title block, could be made easier.
- I find myself resizing the dimension text, spacing, arrowhead size, etc. each time I start a new drawing so that the dimensions are appropriately sized for that drawing. I go into the drafting properties and individually edit each parameter. I'd like an easier way to do this.
- All of our mechanical engineers use SolidWorks. As that product is fairly costly, it is not economical to buy a seat for everyone that needs to generate or view 2D CAD drawings in our organization. So DraftSight fills a gap, allowing 2D drafting of engineering and manufacturing drawings.
- DraftSight can be used by older engineers that are familiar with AutoCAD, from prior positions. The younger engineers all want to use SolidWorks because that's what they learned in college.
I use AutoCAD and DraftSight. They are both installed on my computer. My computer defaults to opening .dwg files with AutoCAD, so if it's an old drawing, I'll often just edit it in that environment. But both products are comparable in terms of productivity.