Tech Tip Video #2: How to Access DraftSight, A Free 2D CAD Drawing Tool

Get more value from the solutions you own with Dassault Systèmes free 2D drawing software called DraftSight. Watch this brief video and learn how  to download DraftSight, a fully featured 2D CAD software that could handle your 2D CAD drawing needs.

Our Presenter
This Adaptive Tech Tip is presented by Brian Olsen @BEOlsen538.

The Adaptive Tech Tips video series is designed to help you discover the many features of CATIA that can save you time and effort in your project collaboration efforts. Be sure to check back often to see the latest Tech Tips.

Video Transcription

Hello everyone and welcome to Tech Tips by Adaptive. My name’s Brian Olson and the subject for today is DraftSight.

DraftSight is a 2D CAD system very similar to AutoCad -same types of icons, pull downs and the ability to open files like DWG and DXF. What makes this different is that it is a free product distributed by Dassault.

To get the product you go to the 3ds.com website under Products and Services and you’ll see an option called DraftSight. On this homepage for DraftSight you’ll see that there are three options: DraftSight for Free; Professional; and Enterprise. Professional and Enterprise do have a cost but also have many additional services.

But today we’re talking about DraftSight for Free and by selecting that we can scroll down and we can see we have three main steps: download, activate and the option of trying the professional. Scroll down a little farther (you’ll see) the various downloads you are familiar with for different OS’s and also a Resource Center where there are five choices (including):

• Getting Started
• Tips & Tricks
• Fundamentals

These manuals are free. Try filling in your required fields and the book will instantly be available to you.

At the beginning I did show you there was a Getting Started Guide and this is a 200-page manual that will 1). Get you started and 2). Teach you all you need to know about the basics of the tool.

More importantly is this is a 2D drafting tool that can be a replacement for what you currently have or if you have a need for a 2D CAD system.  Many of our clients have had success with DraftSight. It’s free and it works. And if you have interest go ahead and download it with the expectation that it will likely meet your basic and intermediary needs.

On that note thank you for joining us here at Tech Tips by Adaptive and have a good day.