design – TruXter Tech

Autocad Alternatives Test

Posted on2015/07/302016/10/17AuthorTruXterLeave a comment

Decided to try a few alternatives to AutoCAD and see if I can cut my next upgrade costs.
Here’s the list of programs I found that seemed like the best options for replacing AutoCAD
I tried a few but these are the only ones that made the list.

Specs for the test computer
Windows 7 Ultimate 64
16 gigs DDR3
AMD 6300 six-Core Processor 3.5 GHz

For test reasons I used one of my Fire Alarm templates. Since it is full of my most common blocks and xrefs. This allows me to see if I can operate normally (or better) without any slowdowns to my daily tasks at work. My template is in DWT format and 1=1 scale.The template has 4 layout views that have viewports set to 1/8 scale on print.
I design in 2d only. My job is for permitting process, so no need in 3d design software. So this is a 2d drafting and design test only.

ProgeCAD

ProgeCAD

Progecad’s website
Alternative to AutoCAD at a price range of just under $500
I installed the trial version so I can see if ProgeCAD has what I need for the drafting work I do
So far ProgeCAD does everything that autoCAD.

blocks inserted fine
Commands ran as they do in autocad

LibreCAD

AutoCAD vs LibreCAD

LibreCaD’s Website
Free Drafting software alternative to AutoCAD
This is a much slower program and seemed to only work (kinda worked) with DXF files.
LibreCAD opened very slow and zero of my commands worked.
No idea why anyone would work with DXF, since DXF files load so poorly it makes you feel like you are in the middle of a memory dump.
LibreCAD wouldn’t load my blocks and would not load the DWT template file.
Lines were very hard to draw between hesitations and jumps in the program.

FreeCAD

FreeCAD

Would not load a DWG file right away but would see one in folder.
Would not load DXF files and a message popped up saying to run some sort of importer, the first time I tried.
Import function in menu did nothing. Was not able to click that option.
I did however get a DXF file to open. Which opened very slowly.
The scroll function by use of the mouse wheel, worked smooth and fast. not hesitation whatsoever.
Weird thing is room labels and doors did not show up in the DXF file I used, though they are all there in other AutoCAD alternatives.
Could not copy symbols from autoCAD and paste them into FreeCAD.
No sign of layout tabs.

NanoCAD

Another Cad alternative that is on a “buy” only service.
I am currently using the trial version for testing and I have to say this one seems to run well and quite strong,
All commands and functions work.
If I want to insert a dynamic block, it inserts and the all of the options work as I designed them to.
NanoCAD looks like it has the best price range. From what I see the price starts at less than $200 and I see no higher prices so. NanoCAD seems to be the winner here.
Works with DWG and DWT template files. Good enough for me to like.
NanoCAD website.

Sketchup
Did not open dwg,dwt or dxf files
Sketchup is not able to be tested for my needs.
Inconclusive.

Fact is, for what I need, the free versions of AutoCAD alternatives just were not worth the download nor the install.

If I had to select one and someone else was buying, I would get the Progecad. The price is just a fraction of AutoCAD and every function I normally need is right there in ProgeCAD.
but if I was buying it for myself, I would pick nanoCAD. Everything just works flawlessly and the price is currently half the price of ProgeCAD.

Fire alarm Symbols Blocks – Free

Posted on2015/07/082017/05/03AuthorTruXter2 Comments

Addressable fire alarm initiating devices.

Fire Alarm Symbol Blocks

A few fire alarm cad blocks that have unique attributes and functions to simplify fire alarm design.
These are blocks that I have used in fire alarm design for a few years but recently revamped. These are the ones I backed up for just in case I don’t like my new changes. Since my new changes to the fire alarm blocks went well, I am going ahead and giving these away for free.
Please keep in mind that I also have more on my FireAlarmDWG.com website that are for sale. They have even more simplified and smoother functions.

If you are the designer for your company and you have sales members who need a better way to make bids, direct them to my Fire Alarm gimp brushes (free also) this will save you so much headache in designs.

Here are the fire alarm device symbols .

Fire alarm symbols Free

and just for fun here are some fire alarm blocks I made in Superhero fashion.

These autocad blocks can be dropped into your drawings or templates as you see fit.

The smoke detector and the pull station and the heat detector and duct detector symbols are all addressable. at the moment of insertion to drawings you will be prompted to title the device numerically that way you can get a running count from the moment you design. This allows your fire alarm system to have an exact format per plans. Not the other way around.

The horn strobe blocks have menus to select multiple options from. such as left facing or right facing. The horn strobe you see that is a typical wall mounted horn strobe, actually has a few features and the option to change to any fire alarm symbol you chose. This allows for change orders or changes per manager or ahj or customer.

Fire Alarm Template Update May 2015

Posted on2015/05/102017/01/02AuthorTruXterLeave a comment

**Update**
The Fire Alarm Template has been updated and is currently listed on This site with an updated photo.
Added an access control template (more robust that initial announcement).
If you are looking for the fire sprinkler template, please comment below.
**Update**

If you haven’t been following my other project, I have an Autocad template that I have been working for about 8 years. The idea of this template is to offer a low cost alternative to the people in the fire alarm industry and less costly alternative to simplifying their fire alarm designs.

The fire alarm Template I sell at The top of the page here Fire Design Blocks Is currently for sell.
Things that are being added to the next fire alarm template are blocks that have these features:
Horn/strobes-Strobes with candela rating and amperage, built in them.

Both “the last strobe” and “the last horn strobe”. These blocks are their own block with multiple devices inserted that way you can drop the single device in a location and select from a drop down menu to change the orientation of the device and the candela. Yes you can still just buy each of these independently if you are not in need of the full alarm template with all fire alarm blocks added.

Dynamic Title block. To change settings for all of the title blocks. Such as job name, jurisdiction, notes for technicians.

Initiating devices with addresses ready to type in.Smoke detectors,heat detectors,control modules,relays, and pull stations. You just insert their block and you will be prompted to type in the address. There is also a version of the fire alarm devices for each that does not have this option, if you are just doing a quick mark up.

All of the previous blocks and template features are still included in the new fire alarm template. The difference is a small handful of blocks have been altered a pretty good amount. In this case it would be in your best interest to keep both templates if you qualify for a the new template after purchasing the current template.
The date of launch for the new fire alarm blocks template will be June 1st. at that date the price will go up to $450. For now the price is reduced to $375.

The plan is to create a new post on this site explaining how to use the fire alarm Autocad template and insert the blocks to optimize your fire alarm design to reduce design time, and increase accuracy of fire alarm design.

The fire Sprinkler template is for title block and legend attributes to simplify the initial set up of fire sprinkler design.
The access control template works much like the fire alarm template.

Fire Alarm Template To Make Design Easy

Posted on2014/05/022017/01/23AuthorTruXter16 Comments

If you want to just skip ahead to the pricing
fire alarm template pricing
For a few years now I have been working on a fire alarm template. Actually a couple templates. I recently added a fire sprinkler template and an access control template.
In the templates I have tons of tools that I have created. They make my job much easier. I am continuously adding more features to the templates. The end goal is some day to own my own fire alarm company and be able to hire people who are in need of a job, yet have no skills. I can then hand them a computer with autodesk/autocad on it and turn the person into a fire alarm designer and I won’t have to worry about much to teach them and the jobs go as flawlessly as I can make them go.

Here’s the first version of this template from 2009

and here is the fire alarm template version from 2013

and here is the fire alarm template version from 2015 (Videos showing function) <– NEW
Also please notice I added a fire sprinkler template and an access control template with symbols.

Features of the fire alarm template
If you look click this image of a section of the fire alarm title block, everything that says “select one” has a drop down menu to select through the options I regularly have. Such as AHJ, Sales Person, Job type (new construct,add to existing) and so on.

I have also created Attributes for the site title and the address.

If you look at the fire alarm legend your will see I have parts numbers listed along with part count for relocated devices, existing devices and new devices. Also I made sure to show the little menu so that you can see when you click of the parts numbers of say …. for a Fire alarm Horn/Strobe you will see the little globe pop up next to the pointer telling you that you can click on it and get taken to the manufacturer’s website to download the cutsheets for the device. This cutting out the time it normally takes you to look up the devices on the web and find the cut sheets for each fire alarm device. Every place you see the word “select” there is a menu of items I regularly use pertaining to that mart of the legend. No sense in typing that stuff with every fire alarm I design.

Cool feature I added in Autocad/autodesk for fire alarm design

The goal is to be able to click the legend and a menu will come up asking you what vendor or parts distributor like genesis,system sensor, or firelite etc. you select one and the legend changes to the correct parts numbers. Then click the numbers on the left (parts count) and a drop down comes up of 0-1000. So if you have 43 pull stations , you go to the 00 to the left of the pull station in the legend and click once for the menu, then scroll to the number 43 and you now have your count as accurate as you need. Also the devices are on separate layers, this way if I want to not show my smoke detectors in the drawing, I just turn that layer off. It removes the smoke detectors from the drawing and the legend, and the theory of operation and the parts count. Kind of cool.

Now, there is a function that uses excel that I have been working on and “Table” command that is in progress. The goal to so that when you select your notification devices such as strobes or horn/strobes your counts change for your battery calculations. Yes you still have to manually do a few things to make this work so right now, that isn’t much worth mentioning unless someone has a better option they would like to share with me

I currently have three custom fire alarm templates that I use regularly and in their current state, It is BLISS. So much stuff you have to memorize about fire alarm design is a non issue while using these templates. Depending on task, location, manufacture and a few other issues, I will decide which template I need most for the job.

Many of the blocks and data links and attributes I have added to the fire alarm templates, are to remove human error, some are for my own security. Such as print time, creation date designer “Field” entries. Say if someone comes to me and asks me questions, I can see what date the drawing was printed and who’s computer printed the drawings. This is for my security and prevents people from tampering with my designs, and getting away with it. Yes I have worked in a pretty cut-throat office with people who tampered with my designs. These are great features.

Another helpful feature is the option to insert devices anywhere in a drawing with just a simple insert command. Then just hit the enter button as many times as you need to drop the same device. Example:
I typically start my design with initiating devices. Pull stations first so I just simply type “insert” or “i” and hit enter. Then a window pops up asking what I want to insert I type in “pull” and hit enter. and boop, a pull station as at the end of my pointer. Now I just find a place that the pull station needs to go and click that spot.. There it is… pull station. I notice a few more spots, so I just hit the enter button (repeats last command) little window pops up again, this time “pull” is already in there, so I just hit enter again. From here out with the pull stations I repeat this ; enter-enter-click, enter-enter-click, enter-enter-click, enter-enter-click. By doing that I have just placed 4 more pullstations in the time it usually takes someone to place 1 pull station.
Like this:

The Template can be found for sale right now at my other site under fire alarm templates and blocks

What is bad website design?

Posted on2013/11/012013/11/03AuthorTruXterLeave a comment

A few things about website design that people do not know right away about how you should not design your websites. Things that make search engines shun you like the twitching weirdo that no one wants to look at. You must never, ever try and trick the system. and you must always use effort, not shortcuts. There are no shortcuts to webdesign. Tidy is not a shortcut. Here are things you do not do.
Useless pages
Leaving default Template pages in the open to be crawled by web crawlers

1. Cras eleifend consectetur
2. Curabitur sollicitudin ornare
3. Nam ac auctor ipson tellus non risus placerat adipiscing etc…

Copy another website
Even if that website is gone, you can not copy your competitor.
Look at last sentence of first Paragraph
Look at first sentence of first paragraph while you’re there, go ahead and read the Next paragraph on that page and compare it to the second to the last paragraph here

Now, scroll down in this link to just below the second video. Takes a moment to load.

No telling who had it first. but I am sure betting it isn’t the sloppy site’s idea first. you know, the one with the Latin default template text on it.

Listing:
Do not post your website on one of this “get listed in a bazillion search engines” becaus ethat is garbage. Those sites harm your Search engine indexing.

How to Make a Template in Autocad

Posted on2013/08/132016/10/08AuthorTruXterLeave a comment

My Autocad templates are full of blocks that I have created and named to make the jobs that are repeated similarities, much easier and much more correct and uniform. I made these templates to simplify repeated drawings that have the exact same floor plans or layout and use the exact same equipment. The equipment is in separate blocks to be layed out per each individual locations unique requests. Maybe this is what you are looking for for your Autocad template.
For this “How to” I am using Autodesk Autocad 2014 in classic view.
If you have never made yourself a template file for Autocad and have a reason that you may need to use the same design on multiple occasions and be able to pull up the default version of the Autocad design with ease. Then this might help you.
In the most simple way, right click any cad file and select “rename” and change the file from DWG to DWT. save. Then place the file into your templates folder.

In a more complex way but not real bad.
Open a cad file, then go to the menu area and select “save as”. Now name the file and below the area you name the file is “file type” select “dwt”. This will automatically place the new Template file in your templates folder when you select “save”.

Now to load the template, you select file in top left of your screen, then select “new”. and in there will be your template file that you just created.
You can update the file as you go along, just be sure to select “dwt” each time you update the template.. And select “dwg” when you have designed something that will not be your default.

Fire Alarm Design Made Easier

Posted on2013/06/062017/03/04AuthorTruXter7 Comments

I have put together a collection of great homemade tools that I have been building for fire alarm design in Cad since 2007.
Over the years these tools have evolved and gotten better looking with deeper detail, yet increased design speed while keeping a nice uniform appearance to my fire alarm designs.|
The videos and pictures below are some of the earlier on functions. I have created so much more and still maintain a (better than) fair price for such a large collection of design tools.
Click the link below if you want to just skip right to the tools, or continue reading the article to get a better understanding. More recent videos are in the link to the fire alarm design tools website.
Fire Alarm drafting files for sale

Detail

This Fire Alarm Template, along with all of the addons mentioned, there are also a few items and hidden gems. Such noting in the printed fire alarm lay out, you will see original date that each specific job is started, and the date it was printed. This protects the fire alarm company and the fire alarm designer. Gives the designer proof of date of file creation and print out, if there is ever any wonder if someone else has messed with the fire alarm design. at the same time, you will also see the name of the person who printed the drawings. So if Dave grabs Bill’s file and edits fire alarm system and prints this fire alarm system out, Dave’s name will be on the printed file along with that date. If Bill goes back and prints that fire alarm layout, the drawings will now have bill’s name back on the drawings. Where this protects the company, is the date of file creation and date of printout. if you add that to the date your fire alarm drawings are submitted to plans review plus date of notification of acceptance, you have further support of your contract if the customer has any issues with your productivity time.

Titleblock

There is also a location with in the fire alarm template, with in a block that allows you to insert project numbers and permit numbers. The intention of this option is permitting purposes. County/City/State project numbers and building permit numbers to be specific. I did this for the occasional issue that would come up when our Plans and permitting department would have the random act of luck, and just not have everything with him. I make sure he has the permit number and project number in the exact same spot every time.
Also there is a spot to type in the AHJ. City/County/State information goes there. There is also a spot to note if the building is fully sprinkled (fire sprinkler existing) or not. Some jurisdictions this is needed. So when Permitting guy is at the plans review office, the answer to that question is readily available.

For organization efforts, there is a location to add the salesperson’s name. For the occasional moment when no one knows who sold a specific job, and no one wants to claim it. That person’s name is right there on the fire alarm drawings locked in a block. helps prevent many disputes, and possible conflicts of interest.

Candela

The candela tool is made for ceiling mount and wall mount visual notification devices. So a fire alarm designer can know exactly what candela setting the device should be. This helps with battery calculations and voltage drops.

Also allows you to not have a mess load of full on technicians at a location and allows the chance for a trainee/helper to get his hands on experience with less people standing over him while he works. This was to reduce failure at plan review in the city/county/state. This turned out to have many benefits for the company. This allowed us to work on a lower budget and kept us all free from common errors.

Legend
The legend has a space to show device count for new,existing and relocated devices. Helps with ordering. If there are certain devices in the legend that you are not installing with this design, you can just look for this symbol’s name in the layers menu and just click the light bulb to the left and turn that device off. This also helps if you have to make major edits( but the “already placed” fire alarm symbols will be fine where they are), you just turn them off for a moment, make your edit, then turn them back on.
If you made it this far here’s some free samples
Cad blocks

Gimp Brushes

——————————————————————————————

***THERE IS AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS FIRE ALARM TEMPLATE
and here is the fire alarm template version from 2015 (Videos showing function) <– NEW***
Also please notice I added a fire sprinkler template and an access control template with symbols.
Please like and share this post.

2009 , I created this post about a fire alarm autocad file I was giving away. I was steadily making changes to the cad file. Adding blocks, different fire alarm symbols, legend, battery calculation spreadsheet, Candela measuring tool, smoke array tool and many functions that just made the job easier. Every time I would get a new idea, I would add it to my template. After much time, I decided that I have way too much work in the thing to just give it away. So if you were not here through the beginning phases, Sorry.
(Here is the 2015 version of the fire alarm template)
Along with a fire sprinkler template and an access control template.

The fire_alarm.dwt file is no longer on the server for free, but here is where you can purchase it. Fire Alarm drafting files for sale.

Low Cost Website Host

Posted on2011/11/222011/12/08AuthorTruXter1 Comment

I Use Powweb Domain and Website hosting. ( in that link, Scroll to the bottom and see what the cost is. [$95 bucks two years].)
Simply because the cost is very low, and the storage is UNLIMITED . When they say unlimited, they mean it. I have well over 40 gigs worth of work online. My friends and other web designers who share tips and ideas with me, download and upload files files from my servers ftp channels, all of the time, at no extra cost to me or to them.
When you first register, the cost is half of their regular low price. I recommend you sign up for two years of the web host service from powweb. One year of service is very low, but after that year is gone, you back to the regular price of (not specific or 100% correct) just under $130 a year. So you register for two years and you come out dirt cheap for two years. and won’t have to mess with your domain updating for another year. Plus, search engines love websites that look like they will be around a while. Click the Low Cost Webhost link and just look at the cost.
It’s near impossible to beat that price. Unlimited emails,unlimited php scripts, Ftp logins you can build as big of a website as you want, with no limitations. You can build your website or have someone build your website for you, and never once be told that you can’t do something. You are fully unlimited on powweb.
This isn’t any Go-whatever Website with spammy banners. Don’t want banners? Fine, don’t make them.

If you have any questions of how to build your website Feel free to see my Webmaster tools Use that and come back as often as you need. I have many tips for website building.

How to Get Traffic to your website FREE

Posted on2011/07/102016/10/09AuthorTips Of Tech1 Comment

There is no single post that teaches you to get more traffic. I have multiple pages that explain search engine optimization, Google index and link submissions. The intention is to help you build a better website, gain traffic, and be listed correctly in Google to help you gain traffic, and reduce people who just like to call every page on their website, what ever it is that gets them traffic, while not related to the search terms at all.

We all want to know How to Get Traffic to your website FREE. I know I do. I always look for ways to Get Traffic to my website. be it cheap or free, or anything that doesn’t cost me much.
So over the years I have picked up a few ideas and tips. Most of the Webmaster Search engine optimization knowledge, I got straight from Google. Google’s guidelines are what showed me how to properly index my website in Google and get listed with other websites for specific correct categories.
I have also come up with tricks or shortcuts that cut out all of the webdesign chaos that we normally have to face when we want people to find our websites. All of these tricks, I have posted them on the web so that I can help others get their site seen and yo get traffic to their websites, and to make sure the internet is not so messy anymore.

Here is a list of previous posts on the topic of getting rank to your website.

Start with a good Website Template to work from. And of course a good website host (this is a sponsored link but I do use them)
Gaining Rank In Google
SEO KeyWord Analyzer
Selecting The Best Online Advertising
Search Engine Indexing
Site Submission Links
Always Check Page Rank
Check Site Owner Whois if you want to quickly see if a domain is available or soon to be.
SEO Tools

Main thing you need to know about getting traffic to your website, is make sure your content is something that a lot of people will want to read about, purchase, search for. If you are building a website for teaching puppies how to do tricks, you will have more traffic on your website than some guy who is teaching how to properly sort flea shampoos at Wal~mart. obvious which one will be searched more.

This is not all there is to Webdesign. Not by a long shot. It is great to have good graphics on your website.So good knowledge of graphics design is a good thing. Good content and well worded descriptions of your content. You must have pictures for everything you are selling or giving away. People like pictures. They like pictures a lot. If you do not stick to at least the basic rules, you will not make it to the full 12 second attention window that people have, if they can even find you.
Seo is a fun game, when you get into understanding how you can get rank and get your website seen and how to work on indexing your website with Google and other search engines.

On another lower note, for all of the SEO and web-designers who build for other people. This link powweb try it and look at the cost, to show thanks please note that you got that link from me, I will get a discount on my next payment. Look. The first two years are an amazing cost, and each follow up is pretty typical, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email accounts. So, thank me with saying you got the link from here.

Designers You sicken me

Posted on2011/07/062015/04/06AuthorTruXter

I am not talking about interior decorators who call themselves designers when all they do is coordinate color and move chairs around. I am not talking about the clowns who conceptualize stuff and grab an under-paid lackey to “make it happen”. I am talking about the over paid lackeys. The ones with autodesk or autocad and designing buildings for large corporations spitting out a building with perfect dimensions. Your drawings sir look wonderful. Your drawings breath the ever existence of symmetry while coordinating flow of traffic yet still staying well with in codes. but.
It’s the stupid stuff you do to your cad files. Why must you all use some strange blocks and layers with in the blocks. I understand the use of layers, but it only makes sense to use the layers if you do not put walls and furniture on the same layer while putting the doors and plants in the same block. You guys sicken me with your redundant over use of blocks. Okay… we get it. You can make a block. Any idiot that can right click can make a block.
And you no good for nothing designers who like to pull your practical jokes by going into paper space zooming way the heck out, finding some spot far from the display area and dropping a tiny dot …… You sir need to be kicked in the face.
and you Cad file creators who like to put xref within an xref within a dwg, but you only send out your dwg file in emails as if you are supplying the world with your greatness. You know that you are an idiot that likes to use xref files. everyone knows you are an idiot that likes to use xref files. Will you please for everything sane, if you send out that dwg,COPY EVERYTHING THAT YOU SEND, AND YES CREATE THE FOLDER THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN BECAUSE WE HAVE TO REBUILD YOUR USELESS LAZY CRAP WHEN WE GET IT.
And you idiotic people who hire them and say that you are happy the other guy is so thorough for going the extra distance in design, STFU, just STFU. Do not speak to someone who can work the damn program and have some authoritative mentality with your bulldog wanna be face, you have no idea what you are talking about. You need to be tripped and stomped for the level of disrespect you just displayed. You sir are an idiot, just give me my money like a good little monkey as I ignore you hoping you make another designer laugh at your arrogant ignorance.
Please. Quit milking the design with your redundancies. Unless you just do not want to share your cad files with others.
Fire sprinkler designers. You clowns have so far over complicated your designs to increase your purpose in the fire safety design business, it takes another add-on software to complete what you need, you can barely work that program and you can do nothing with out it. Stop making it look like it’s more than it is. Crap runs down hill, you get paid on Fridays. That simple.

Look designers. You just have to come out and say it ” I can do it, you can not, that’s why you pay me”. and raise your fee, no sense in this big dramatic show. You kind of bother other designers with this stuff.