Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Final Update - On February 1, 2011, I went to the Autodesk website to check for additional updates and found that FreeStyle had been withdrawn from sale. Customer support stopped April 1, 2011.
Update 10/7/2010 - The first product update was released a couple of weeks ago. The major change fixes the first item below...you can now create custom symbols and store them in the library. I'm still in the process of evaluating the release and will update this note after I've used it a bit more.
Original Review:
The designers of a package like AutoCAD FreeStyle face a classic challenge: It needs to be easy to use for a novice, with enough features to be useful, yet not so powerful that it will cannibalize sales of the high-end (and much more expensive) AutoCAD systems.After spending a couple of days using AutoCAD FreeStyle, I think the designers set the bar way too low. The interface is simple and easy to learn, but far too many features are missing for FreeStyle to be a competitive program.That's not to say that FreeStyle can't be used to produce usable drawings; it just could be much better if it included basic features that are in other systems. Let me go through some of the areas that stood out...
Symbol Library - A library is a collection of symbols that are created once and then used on multiple drawings. FreeStyle comes with a collection of prebuilt symbols that are sufficient to get started, however it's not a complete enough library for a lot of projects - when I attempted to draw my sprinkler system, I discovered that there are no sprinkler components listed. In most CAD systems, this problem is addressed by allowing the user to build custom symbols. Once they're added to the library, they can be repeatedly used in future drawings. This release of FreeStyle doesn't have that capability. The symbols that come with the program are all that you've got, and that simply isn't enough. Incidentally, what's in the library is even a little strange... the Electrical Symbols tab includes five Gas and Water symbols along with the basic electrical symbols and the Building Components section only contains six fireplace facades...I'm sure that in real life there are more building components than just those.
Paper Size and Scale - When you start a new drawing, the program asks you to select the size of the paper and the object that you' re going to draw. e.g. you pick 8.5 x 11" paper and select that the page represents a 30' x 40' space. The scale shows that ¼" equals 1'. This makes perfect sense to anybody not used to using a CAD program, but is backwards from the norm...normally a designer would select a paper size and a scale.
Splines - Splines are a way of smoothly connecting a series of points. By adjusting the "handles", you can easily draw complex curves. FreeStyle doesn't have a way of drawing with splines. The menu allows you to draw with arc segments, straight lines and freehand "doodles". You can adjust the points of inflection on the doodle and eventually get to the desired curve, but it's not as easy as it seems. True spline capability would be easier.
Radius line joins - When drawing a floor plan, most lines meet with a sharp corner, but that's not always the case. Sometimes a drawing needs to have a rounded curve joining the two lines. Most 2-D drafting systems can do that automatically, but FreeStyle lacks that capability. You can manually accomplish the same thing by drawing a small arc, but why? You're only talking about a millisecond of computer time to have the program do it for you.
Double lines for walls - Often walls in architectural drawings are shown by two parallel lines, representing the inside and outside surfaces. Freestyle doesn't have that ability built-in. To do it correctly, it's a little more complicated that just having a double line as a selectable line type....you need to specify wall thickness, join corners correctly and scale appropriately as the drawing size changes. Again, all this can be done manually, but the basic idea is to have the program save time by doing the work for you. Incidentally, the work around is to simply draw a thick solid line for walls...look at all the sample drawings for examples.
Draw a wall of a house. Now drag a window or door from the symbol library and place it onto the wall. You'd think that the wall would break and allow the object to be inserted. It doesn't. OK, now manually break the wall into two separate line segments and drag the line ends apart to create the necessary break. That would work, if there was a way to break a line into two pieces, but there isn't. So you nuke the whole side of the house and redraw two separate line segments on either side of the door. That works...until you realize that the door is 6" to the left of where it should be.
The algorithm that calculates color fills is flaky. When you drag the fill icon over a fillable area, the area is highlighted with a light version of the fill color. It's a nice idea, so you can see exactly where the color's going. Unfortunately, a single open pixel prevents an area from filling. The highlighting, though, isn't nearly so discerning. It's not unusual to have an area highlight, but fail to fill when clicking on the mouse button. I also managed to fill in an object and then select the color and move it while leaving the outline behind...it was a little strange.
There's no instruction manual. You can get help for any of the commands by selecting that command and clicking the question mark icon. Clicking on the icon showing three stacked baby letter blocks takes you to the Freestyle website where there is more detailed information. It's annoying, though, not to have something you can skim through. I was trying to figure out how to color in a tree and it wasn't until I saw a picture in the on-line help that I realized that the color was coming from a filled in circle located behind the tree.
I could add more, but you get the idea. If the product manager at AutoDesk chooses, all of these can (and should) be fixed in a future release. Until then, though, I'm only giving FreeStyle two stars. The simple user interface is right on the mark for a non-technical consumer level product. The omitted features, though, cost it dearly in the ability to produce usable and functional drawings.
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AutoCAD FreestyleAutoCAD Freestyle is the simple design tool for smart ideas. It's easy-to-use, low-cost 2D drawing software ideal for creating professional-looking drawings, layouts, and plans that you can share. No training required. It has a simple user interface, just the tools you need, and pre-drawn symbols to start drawing right away. Then you can share your drawings with nearly anyone, because AutoCAD Freestyle produces files in the same format used by AutoCAD, genuine DWG, in addition to high-quality PDF, DWF, JPEG, PNG, or BMP files for digital communication, archiving, and reuse.
The Simple Design Tool for Smart Ideas
Clearly Communicate Ideas Use AutoCAD Freestyle to deliver highly polished drawings to clients, architects, contractors, and other project partners--it's better than a hand sketch any day. Share your drawings with nearly anyone, because AutoCAD Freestyle produces files in the same format used by AutoCAD: genuine DWG. You can also more efficiently create high-quality PDF, DWF, JPEG, PNG, or BMP files for digital communication, archiving, and reuse.
Get Started Quickly It's exceptionally easy for people unfamiliar with CAD software to use AutoCAD Freestyle. Download it and start drawing right away--without any training. AutoCAD Freestyle has a simple user interface and just the tools you need to draw floor plans and layouts quickly and easily, all in one place. Check out the AutoCAD Freestyle community site to get productive faster, with support from video tutorials and user-submitted tips.
Leave No Room for Error AutoCAD Freestyle lets you draw quickly without sacrificing quality. Create accurate, detailed plans and layouts to scale with a simplified toolset for creating standard shapes (lines, arc, circle rectangle), annotating your drawings (dimension, text, fills), sketching, doodling, and inserting images and symbols. The grid on your drawing surface helps you understand spatial dimensions, such as proportion and distance, to solve problems more easily. It's just like drawing on graph paper.
Don't Start from Scratch When you use AutoCAD Freestyle, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. To save time, select from a library of pre-drawn, commonly used symbols--such as doors and windows--or insert and trace over a photograph. If you don't want to start from scratch, start with one of the sample drawings provided or download one from the AutoCAD Freestyle community site.
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Key Features
Simple User Interface An intuitive user interface and straightforward icons make AutoCAD Freestyle easy to use.
No Training Required Integrated and online learning tools teach you how to use AutoCAD Freestyle while you're drawing. The AutoCAD Freestyle community siteoffers additional resources to help you get productive faster, including video tutorials and user-submitted tips.
Real-World Dimensions Create accurate, detailed drawings, plans, and layouts to scale.
Share Your Work Print your design or share it digitally as a PDF, DWF, JPEG, PNG, or BMP file.
Only the Tools You Need Start drawing right away with simple 2D drawing tools.
No Need to Start from Scratch Insert a photograph and trace over it to communicate your design ideas.
Hundreds of Predrawn Symbols Start designing right away with commonly used symbols, such as kitchen appliances, trees, and shrubs.
Create Files That CAD Professionals Use Whether you want to view files created in AutoCAD software or share your ideas with CAD professionals, it's simple because AutoCAD Freestyle is AutoCAD compatible. It produces files in the same format used by AutoCAD--DWG--which is also one of the most widely used design formats.
Windows 7 Support Use a touch-enabled device with support for Microsoft Windows 7 multi-touch functionality, including flicks.
What's New
Numeric Entry Adjust the size of an object--line, rectangle, circle, or arc--by simply entering a measurement. It's much easier than dragging the object to an exact size.
Flip Objects It's simpler to create symmetry. Make mirrored shapes by copying and then flipping objects vertically or horizontally.
Erase Using Windows Selection Erase just a selected section of an object.
DWG Support Open DWG files from AutoCAD software and other DWG-compatible applications.
Scale Multiple Objects No more dragging individual objects of a complex drawing to adjust their size. Simply select all of the objects and drag to the desired size, or right-click on it and enter a percentage.
Predrawn Content New symbols for trees, shrubs, stoves, and more help you draw faster than ever.
Rotation Grip Gives you more control while rotating an object, and provides easier-to-read feedback.
DWG Roundtrip Mode Buttons It's now easier to work with DWG files created in software other than AutoCAD Freestyle. New buttons allow you to toggle between the viewport mode and paper overlay mode so that you are always drawing to scale--even if your source DWG file is highly complex.
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