DWG TrueView™ is now available for free from Autodesk.
http://www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview
Spread the word! You can view DWG files 100% just like AutoCAD can for free.
"Share AutoCAD® drawings easily and accurately among engineers and architects with DWG TrueView™. View and plot DWG and DXF™ files, and then publish them as DWF™ files for quick and easy review and markup in Autodesk® DWF™ Composer. And you’ll always get full drawing fidelity because the DWG viewer is built on the same viewing technology as AutoCAD® 2006 software."
Some of my own highlights:
- 100% RealDWG with visual fidelity
- It will view 2D and 3D DWG and DXF just like AutoCAD 2006
- Can read all DWG files from AutoCAD 2 to AutoCAD 2006 spanning 20+ years of files
- It will support custom objects like Autodesk Building Systems or Architectural Desktop. Since AutoCAD 2006 and DWG TrueView have the ADT Object Enablers included, it will view them just fine. It will also support other custom object enablers if they are installed.
- It supports layers, full plotting support and more with plot styles and drivers
- Publish to DWF. You could even Publish many DWG files to DWF.
- Familiar AutoCAD Publish, Plot and Layer dialogs and functionality.
- Uses support paths just like AutoCAD so you can path to your fonts etc.
- Supports the password protection
- Familiar interface even right-click menus
- 3D Orbit supported
- Shademode
- Layouts and Named Views
- Drawing preview in the file open or Windows Explorer just like AutoCAD
The download size is large at 100Mb but so is the functionality provided. It is available in English only right now but in the coming days/weeks there will be localized versions available.
This will be the first incarnation with some more updates coming in the future.