Draft:DraftSight

DraftSight is a 2D and 3D CAD (computer-aided design) program for engineers, architects, construction contractors, designers, students, and educators. . Developed by Dassault Systèmes, the first version of the program was released in 2010, and subsequent versions have added new tools and functionality for a wider variety of users.

History
DraftSight launched in 2010 as a free DWG file-based 2D CAD software for maintaining legacy drawings and data, supporting traditional 2D processes or workflows, and creating, viewing, or editing any kind of 2D drawing.

In 2011, DraftSight Enterprise was established, first called Premium Pack, to support network licensing, access to DraftSight API and updates, and paid support through value added resellers.

DraftSight Professional with advanced 2D drafting functionalities and a paid, online API was launched in 2014.

DraftSight 2019 saw the repackaging of their entire portfolio to focus on paid versions only. Free versions of DraftSight ceased to run as of December 31, 2019.

Starting in 2019, 3D DWG-file capabilities became part of DraftSight’s offerings, introducing an option to go from 2D drafting to 3D modeling, and to support projects like 3D printing, manufacturing and laser cutting.

In 2022, DraftSight Mechanical and 3DEXPERIENCE DraftSight Mechanical were launched as part of the DraftSight portfolio. DraftSight Mechanical is designed to work with mechanical entities and objects in the DWG file format. With DraftSight Mechanical you can read and modify part references and modify bill of materials (BOM) previously created with other 2D mechanical tools, as well as create new part references and BOMs. It also has support for national and international standards for ANSI, ISO, DIN, JIS, and BSI. 3DEXPERIENCE DraftSight Mechanical, is a cloud-connected version with all the benefits of DraftSight Mechanical, that connects to the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which provides users with collaboration and data management capabilities.

Products & Licensing
DraftSight has four product packages for users based on their individual or organizational needs: DraftSight Professional, DraftSight Premium, DraftSight Enterprise, and DraftSight Enterprise Plus. In addition, DraftSight can be integrated with 3DEXPERIENCE to securely share drawings.

DraftSight provides flexible licensing and is available as a subscription or a perpetual license, giving users the option to rent or buy. Licenses can be used by a single user or multi-user networks.

File & system compatibility
DraftSight supports both DWG (Drawing) and DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) file types, regardless of the CAD software originally used to create them. Both formats are also compatible with SolidWorks

The following legacy DWG and DXF file formats are also compatible :


 * R2018 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2013 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2010 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2007 - 2009 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2004 – 2006 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2000 – 2002 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R14 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R13 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R12 Drawing (*.dwg)
 * R2018 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2013 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2010 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2007 – 2009 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2004 – 2006 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2000 – 2002 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R14 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R13 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R12 ASCII Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2018 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2013 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2010 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2007 - 2009 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2004 - 2006 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R2000 - 2002 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R14 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R13 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * R12 Binary Drawing (*.dxf)
 * Drawing Standards (*.dws)
 * Drawing Template (*.dwt)
 * ESRI Shape File (*.shp)

Systems
Windows Operating Systems support DraftSight Professional, Premium, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus versions.

MacOS - In September 2020, DraftSight became fully available for MacOS for DraftSight Professional and Premium. Except for 3DEXPERIENCE DraftSight, Drawing Compare, Image Tracer, 3D ContentCentral®, and HomeByMe integration, all features in DraftSight for Windows are also available for Mac.

Linux – DraftSight for Linux beta was available in DraftSight 2011-2019.

Supported languages
The following languages are supported in DraftSight: English, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Korean, Polish, Russian, Czech.

Market
DraftSight is used in several industries, including: construction, landscape architecture, facilities management, aerospace, machinery, electrical and electronic manufacturing, automotive,  oil and energy, industrial automation, and information technology and services. It is most often used by small companies with 50-200 employees and revenue from $10M-$50M US dollars.