1. What is Autodesk Design Review?

Autodesk® Design Review software helps save time and money with easy-to-use tools for team members to review, mark up, and revise designs and 3D models. This free* tool is tightly integrated with all Autodesk design software products and enables project teams to move to a two-way design review process and gain timesaving functionality in their markup and approval processes. Specific timesaving functionality includes the following:

• Intuitive measure, markup, and annotation tools
• DWG™ file viewing, plotting, and publishing
• Ability to combine project data such as images and specifications in a single file
• Powerful status tracking to manage engineering change orders
• Round-trip markup integration with Autodesk design software products, so designers can overlay changes and comments on the original CAD file.

2. What’s new in Autodesk Design Review 2009?

Visit the Design Review features page to see a list of exciting new features.

3. Why is Autodesk Design Review free?

Autodesk used to deliver a free Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer product in addition to the “for-pay” Autodesk Design Review.  Autodesk DWF Viewer was a free version of Autodesk Design Review without measuring and markup capabilities. With the last release of Autodesk Design Review, we dropped the DWF Viewer product and now deliver the full viewer and design review functionality in the free* Autodesk Design Review.

This change was made at the request of our customers.  Now, instead of requiring team members to purchase software to review and comment on designs, all stakeholders have access to fully functional, free software to view, measure, mark up, annotate, print, and round-trip designs.

4. Can I share Design Review with others or deploy it across a network?

Yes. Autodesk allows you to redistribute Design Review software, subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies the download of the software. You can use this graphic

and link to http://www.autodesk.com/designreview-download. Or deploy the software silently across a network using this script:
msiexec /i SetupDesignReview.msi /qn

5. Does Autodesk Design Review support DWG or DXF files?

A stand-alone Autodesk DWG Viewer, DWG TrueView™ software, is available to download free* so users can work with DWG™ and DXF™ files, just as they would in AutoCAD® software. DWG TrueView is built on the same viewing engine as AutoCAD software, so users can view the latest DWG or DXF files with full fidelity. After converting DWG files to DWF format through the application’s Publish command, users can take advantage of powerful measure and markup capabilities, sheet set organization, and status tracking in Autodesk Design Review. Although other viewers may support viewing of DWG files, none is built on AutoCAD technology.

6. What is the Autodesk DWF Writer?

Free Autodesk® DWF™ Writer software enables users to publish to DWF format from CAD applications that do not offer built-in DWF publishing, such as Bentley’s MicroStation®, or Dassault’s CATIA® or SolidWorks® software. Autodesk DWF Writer is a certified Microsoft® Windows® system printer driver that enables users to quickly and easily convert files to DWF format. Simply create a DWF file by selecting Autodesk DWF Writer from the printer drop-down menu in any Windows application. The result is that the entire project team can standardize on a common file format to exchange and review designs and sheet sets, at no additional cost.

7. Which AutoCAD products does Autodesk Design Review integrate markups with?

Autodesk Design Review integrates with ALL Autodesk 2009 design applications including AutoCAD, Revit®, Autodesk® Inventor™, and AutoCAD® Map 3D products. See a complete listing of our design applications.

8. Does Autodesk Design Review support integration of markups into older versions of AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor software?

The integrated markup capabilities of Autodesk Design Review and AutoCAD software work with the 2005 and more recent versions of the AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor family of products and are part of the enhanced sharing capabilities of AutoCAD software.

9. How can I find technical support information for Autodesk Design Review?

Autodesk Design Review software has a built-in help system that contains a wealth of information about using the software, including an in-product tutorial. To access this information, choose Help from the main toolbar.

Visit online support to find a knowledge base of common support questions. Also, you can ask questions and read information about Autodesk products in the peer-to-peer discussion groups. Autodesk hosts topical discussion groups about specific products, including Autodesk Design Review, and about general topics, such as drafting techniques. Autodesk software manuals and documentation are also a great source of answers to your support questions.

*Free products subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies download of the software.