Any cheap alternative to CAD Tools

[manuelg62251421]

Hello all,

I wonder if there is any cheaper alternative to CAD Tools in Illustrator for measuring and scaling technical drawing.

the 380$ they ask for the license are a bit too much for the amount of technical drawing I do in Illustrato but still, I need it every now and then.

BTW, it would be great if Adobe would add those capabilities but.... we know.... Adobe likes to invest their time in giving us smart filters to age people in photos and those short of really sueful things...

[Monika Gause]

Please tell us exactly what you need to measure and how.

[Barbara Ash]

Would this one work for you? https://o2creative.co.nz/shop/Add_Dimensions_PowerScript_for_Adobe_Illustrator

By the way, the Illustrator features you require have been requested for years, but not added yet.

Two variations of a free script are described at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGf0zKF1Q0Q

[manuelg62251421]

Thanks so much for that Barbara.
I will give a go to both scripts. For what I have tried so far it is a pity that the dimensions are not recalculated if you reside the objects.

About this: "By the way, the Illustrator features you require have been requested for years, but not added yet."
I understood it was like so. It is so disappointing they don't add those capabilities. I understand that Adobe has to give some room to the plugin developers to make some business but... It has been already too long and when HOTDOORS software is asking for $400 for the license of CAD Tools without even offering free updates... Just a plugin.... It feels like a rip of for me. I wonder if Adobe is getting part of that deal from HOTDOORS and making some money that way.

The Adobe CC subscription is not a cheap one. Adobe should listen to their users a bit more.

Just my opinion.

[Silly-V]

Well, it takes a C++ programmer to do a plugin, and that's a high-level skill compared to other kinds of development so that's why it's going to be pricy for those. But in terms of work and support for this feature, it must mean to Adobe that implementing it would probably cost more than the other things which more users are looking for- mainly fixing existing bugs. So they let all these plugin developers handle the customer support for their own implementations and take all the phone calls, etc. I think if it was easy for the Adobe team to develop and keep up with, they would have added it a long time ago and made a big marketing fuss about it too.

[manuelg62251421]

We agree to disagree.

[Monika Gause]

Finding out how many users would really want this feature is an easy one.

Head over to http://illustrator.uservoice.com and search for it. Maybe someone has already posted it. If not, post it and wait for people to support it. And then count the votes.

[manuelg62251421]

Thanks so much Monika.

I just checked and is the 5th most popular request active since 2017.

Honestly....

[HenryBit_1978]

Wanted to say that as today, it can be consider the 3rd most popular request as top three requests have been implemented already. 

[Monika Gause]

You could check out the plugin Vectorscribe for measuring and the plugins  by rj-graffix.com for other CAD related things. They won't be able to cover everything CADtools has to offer (far from it), but maybe you can solve what you need.

[Creamer Training]

I think part of the issue is that Adobe thinks of Illustrator as an "art" program--not a business program. Hence the lack of auto-dimensioning, org. charts, upgraded graphs, etc. 

[Mario Arizmendi]

Very long feature requested with a high number of votes, and even Adobe team knows about it but never worked on it

Se this alternative

http://jlg.outils.pagesperso-orange.fr/videosdimensionfr.html

and this is the request on the uservoice forum

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/319...