The 16th Christmas CAD freeware giveaway by CAD Studio

It is that time of the year again. The grande finale of 2018 and Christmas time is coming and, as in the previous 15 years, CAD Studio traditionally gives out again a wrapped package of its free tools for all CAD users - so they can extend capabilities of their CAD and BIM software. Do not overlook also hundreds of other useful CAD applications, web tools and CAD/BIM libraries offered for free on our portal CADforum.cz.

As a part of the tradition, this year's Christmas-tree utilities by CAD Studio include (all can be downloaded from Freeware):

• MAZE (maze generator for AutoCAD)

  - a simple AutoCAD add-on that generates a solvable maze in a form of pseudo-random "corridors". Directly in the LSP program you can adjust the maze width and height. See the Tip 11914

  

  
  
  
• CurveAxis (axis of two curves)

  - an AutoCAD add-on that allows you to create an axis line midway between two general curves, lines - e.g. for a river flow axis, contour refinements, etc. Select both boundaries and specify the required accuracy. See the Tip 11025

  

  
  
  
• PaintSelect

  - an AutoCAD add-on for selecting objects by "painting". Allows you to select drawing objects by simple cursor painting, just like in Fusion 360 or in 3ds Max. The PICKBOX variable controls the size of the selection "brush". See the Tip 12040

  
  
  
• Sel2BlkRef (Blockify, common block replacement)

  - a useful add-on for AutoCAD that will simplify and shorten DWG drawings by replacing repeating objects (2D/3D) with references of a single block. The more complex objects you replace, the more drawing file size will you save and the shorter DWGs will you get. See the Tip 12036

  

  
  
  
• Tic-Tac-Toe (five inches, piskvorky, morpion, tris, cinq pouces, Fünf Zoll)

  - a familiar game turned into an add-on application for Inventor. You can run the application simply with an icon in the ribbon Add-ons. On the displayed gameboard you will then play against the computer - and watch out, it plays really good! The stones - IPT files - can be customized. Supports versions 2019-2017.

  

  
  
  
• UnFormat (de-format text)

  - a useful tool for AutoCAD - quickly removes formatting characters from selected texts, dimensions, leaders and tables. You will get rid of unwanted changes to the font, color, size, spacing in the text entities in your DWG drawing.

  
  
  
• Scatter

  - AutoCAD add-in for random displacement or for changing properties of selected objects. By nudging in small, random distances, you can achieve a more natural look of drawings in some types of projects. You can also randomly change the rotation, size, thickness, or color of objects from a given palette. See the Tip 9042

  
  see YouTube video
  
  
  
• TextHalo

  - a simple LISP AutoCAD macro to add contour (glow, halo) to selected texts. Helps to increase prominence and legibility of texts in overcrowded areas of a DWG drawing. See the Tip 11389

  

  
  
  
• Convert Mapping Coordinates

  - a new web tool on CADforum.cz converting mapping coordinates between WGS84 (GPS) coordinates, lat/lon, postal addresses, what3words codes, geolocation on a world map, your detected current position etc. Convert any geoposition to a different representation. See the tool at CADforum-GPS

  

  
  
  
• Christmas tree

  - for users of 3ds Max, we have a gift from one of our readers, Vladislav Mican - a detailed 3D model of a Christmas tree with decorations. The .max source file for Autodesk 3ds Max 2019 can be downloaded here (40MB), the resulting rendering in a higher resolution is available by clicking on the image.

  
  (click for larger)
  
  
  
• Mobile apps

  - we've developed two free apps now available on Google Play for users of Android phones and tablets. Units Converter is a universal converter of physical units, including international and historical units. CAD Studio DIRECT will connect you with the latest updates on CADstudio.cz and CADforum.cz. Both applications are available for download on CAD Studio @ Google Play
  

  
  
  
  

And as usual - all these CAD utilities (and many other) can be found for download on our Freeware download page, some also on Autodesk Apps - or you can still try to write a letter to Santa CAD Studio.

And - if Santa would bring these presents "in person" - here are the locations of the latest 50.000 registered users (from the total of 876.000) on CADforum.cz:

Merry Christmas and a happy and successful new year 2019!