3D-Tool vs CAD Viewer

3D-Tool is a Windows CAD viewer and converter for opening, inspecting, measuring, analyzing and converting 3D models and 2D drawings without a separate CAD system. It reads more than 30 3D formats and supports DXF, DWG and HPGL drawings, though available formats depend on license edition. Measurement tools cover distances, angles, radii, wall thicknesses and clearances, and calculate centers of mass, surface areas, contour lengths and minimum bounding boxes. Analysis includes tooling, wall thickness, collisions and model comparison, with results shown as heatmaps. Models can be exported as EXE files or 3D-PDF; Premium adds 3D-HTML conversion and native interfaces for listed CAD systems. The Free Viewer opens DDD, STL and 3MF files, has no time limit or registration requirement, and permits commercial use. Paid single-user licenses are one-time purchases: Basic is € 200, Advanced € 400 and Premium € 800, plus VAT. A 14-day trial unlocks all functions and import formats.

CAD Viewer is a free, open-source browser WebGL runtime for viewing and editing DWG and DXF drawings. It displays model space, layouts, layers, blocks, and external references. Write mode supports creating, editing, and deleting drawing entities with AutoCAD-style commands. Review tools place arrows, text, clouds, rectangles, circles, and callouts over a read-only drawing background. Measurement tools cover distance, area, angle, and arc length, with results exportable as a JSON sidecar file. The product can export a self-contained HTML viewer for offline use with pan, zoom, layers, and distance measurement; exports can be password- and expiry-protected. Full-viewer examples include HTML and PDF export, while the simple viewer offers lazy-loaded HTML, PDF, and SVG plugins. Parsing and rendering occur on the client, and drawings are not uploaded, cached, or mirrored to a server. It can be embedded through iframe or npm, and a Google Drive integration opens drawings from Drive. The responsive interface supports phones, tablets, and desktops, with touch operations documented for mobile. Read-only mode disables markup, drawing, and modification commands.