LibreCAD is a

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD) application for 2D design. It is

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

, and available for

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

operating systems. Most of the interface and handle concepts are analogous to

AutoCAD AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software application developed by Autodesk. It was first released in December 1982 for the CP/M and IBM PC platforms as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics control ...

, making it easier to use for users with experience in this type of commercial CAD application.

History

Around 2010, the QCAD Community Edition 2.0.5 was forked to start the development of what is now known as LibreCAD. Originally, the GUI was based on Qt3 libraries.

CADuntu

''CADuntu'' — was the initial ''QCAD CE'' fork project name. It was used for a short time and, after discussion with users, has been replaced by ''LibreCAD'', as to not be associated with

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

and

Canonical Ltd Canonical Ltd. is a privately-held computer software company based in London, England. It was founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. ...

LibreCAD 1

The main feature of ''LibreCAD 1'' was porting of its

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

(GUI) code to Qt4, so it can run identically on several platforms.

LibreCAD 2

''LibreCAD 2'' implements Qt5 and Qt6 library support. As of 2024, LibreCAD development split into two branches: * 2.2.1.x — actual release with bug-fix updates; * 2.2.2_alpha — alpha version of the future release, with many new experimental feature, not for regular use yet.

LibreCAD 3

''LibreCAD 3'' — is an experimental fully rewritten from scratch LibreCAD version, designed to be GPLv3 compatible with LibreDWG, with Lua-scripting, Ribbon UI. Development mostly done during 2018–2023 GSoC sessions, in the collaboration with BRL-CAD team. Latest commits and test builds built in September 2023, and since development stalled. LibreCAD team has actually frozen this project, and are focusing on ''LibreCAD 2'' and libdxfrw library development.

Version history

Version history data are taken from official Web site, project pages on Sourceforge and GitHub.

Features

LibreCAD is available in over 60 languages. It uses the

AutoCAD DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a computer-aided design (CAD) data file format developed by Autodesk to enable CAD data exchange and interoperability between AutoCAD on different computing platforms. His ...

file format internally for import and save files, as well as allowing export to many other file formats.

File formats

As of version 2.2.0, LibreCAD is capable of reading and writing the following

file format A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

s: Open File or Import Block * CAD:

DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a computer-aided design (CAD) data file format developed by Autodesk to enable CAD data exchange and interoperability between AutoCAD on different computing platforms. His ...

, DWG, ,

Shapefile The shapefile format is a geospatial vector data format for geographic information system (GIS) software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a mostly open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other GIS software product ...

(deprecated) * CAD font: LFF, CXF Import Image * Vector image: SVG, SVGZ * Bitmap image: BMP, CUR,

GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , ) is a Raster graphics, bitmap Image file formats, image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released ...

, ICNS, ICO, JPEG, JPG, PBM, PGM, PNG, PPM, TGA, TIF, TIFF, WBMP,

WebP WebP is a raster graphics file format developed by Google intended as a replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as animation and alpha transparency. Google announced the WebP ...

, XBM, XPM Save File * CAD: DXF (2007), DXF (2004), DXF (2000), DXF (R14), DXF (R12) * CAD font: LFF, CXF Export *

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

(or sent drawing to printer for direct print) * Vector image: SVG, CAM (Plain SVG) * Bitmap image: BMP, CUR, ICNS, ICO, JPG, PBM, PGM, PNG, PPM, TIF, WBMP, WEBP, XBM, XPM

libdxfrw

As the GNU LibreDWG library is released under

GPLv3 The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

, it cannot be used by GPLv2-licensed LibreCAD and

FreeCAD FreeCAD is a general-purpose Solid_modeling#Parametric_modeling, parametric 3D computer-aided design (CAD) modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software application with finite element method (FEM) support. It is intended for mecha ...

, because their licenses are incompatible. A request also went to the FSF to relicense GNU LibreDWG as GPLv2, which was rejected. The problem was eventually resolved by writing a new GPLv2-licensed library called ''libdxfrw'', with more complete DWG support, which is now also used in other software. ''e.g.'', in SolveSpace, that is also uses LibreCAD's unicode.lff font as built-in default font for UI and dimension labels).

LFF (LibreCAD Font Format)

Due to copyright issues with QCAD CE's fonts in CXF format, initially used in LibreCAD, it was decided to create own font format. ''LibreCAD Font Format'' — is a plain text file format (with *.lff file extension) for single stroke vector fonts. There is a way to edit LFF fonts directly in LibreCAD or create fonts from fonts in other formats. Converters to LFF format are designed for the next formats: * TTF (TrueType fonts) — converter available online on official site and as a CLI utility; * JHF (

Hershey fonts The Hershey fonts are a collection of vector fonts developed c. 1967 by Dr. Allen Vincent Hershey at the Naval Weapons Laboratory, originally designed to be rendered using vectors on early cathode ray tube displays. Decomposing curves to connecte ...

) — converter implemented as CLI utility; * Shx ( Shapefile Index fonts) — converter designed by 3rd party developer. LibreCAD Font Format adopted in SolveSpace CAD, and LibrePCB software designed ''FontoBene'' (*.bene) font format for PCB, which is derived from LFF.

Usage

LibreCAD is in use in many countries for educational purposes at schools and universities, in production at firms and factories for design and manufacturing various items, architecture design, garden and landscape design, etc. Due to free licensing, in some countries LibreCAD is used for decreasing budget expenses on software licensing by replacing commercial CAD at state and governmental organizations, public schools, etc. Also, LibreCAD is chosen in cases where there are no reachable official dealers of commercial software, or all available commercial CAD solutions are too expensive. In some countries LibreCAD is used to circumvent international sanctions; for example, in Russia it has been used in light of international sanctions implemented in response to the invasion of Ukraine. LibreCAD has been included into CAELinux distribution, targeting engineers and makers.

European Union

In 2011, for the e-LIFE education project, organized by

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

for disabled people, a manual was provided with few chapters on learning LibreCAD and other free CAD programs, which has been translated into

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Spanish, Slovak, Turkish and Romanian.

Ukraine

Since 1990s, most of the Ukrainian schools, universities and factories have used licensed Russian CAD

KOMPAS ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper published in Jakarta, founded on 28 June 1965. It is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is part of Kompas Gramedia Group. The paper's head office is located at the Kompas Multimedia ...

, that is designed for

GOST GOST () refers to a set of international technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC), a regional standards organization operating under the auspices of the Commonwealth of I ...

standards, but after the beginning of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

since 2014, and after sanctions on Russian software has been implemented by the President of Ukraine in 2017, Ukrainian users are switching from KOMPAS to other CAD software, including LibreCAD. During 2016—2019, in Ukraine there was reviewed and declined use of GOST standards, that is the base of the Unified System for Design Documentation, and since then most of GOST standards was replaced by and by adopted

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

standards, which LibreCAD is adapted for. At educational institutions of Ukraine LibreCAD often used in such courses like

Geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

Descriptive geometry Descriptive geometry is the branch of geometry which allows the representation of three-dimensional objects in two dimensions by using a specific set of procedures. The resulting techniques are important for engineering, architecture, design an ...

Technical drawing Technical drawing, drafting or drawing, is the act and discipline of composing drawings that visually communicate how something functions or is constructed. Technical drawing is essential for communicating ideas in industry and engineering. ...

Graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

, Engineering graphics,

Informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...

Mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

Analytical mechanics In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related formulations of classical mechanics. Analytical mechanics uses '' scalar'' properties of motion representing the sy ...

Design and Technology Design and Technology (D&T) is a school subject taught in the United Kingdom to pupils in primary and secondary schools. It first appeared as a titled subject in the first National Curriculum for England in 1990. It has undergone several reviews w ...

Materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

Woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked b ...

Metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

Automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

, etc. Since 2019, LibreCAD is included in the list of permitted software to install on computers at departments of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine as the only CAD software permitted to use, according to SESU Head's Order №425 (Appendix 1, p.2), signed on 19 July 2019. Ukrainian scientists, researchers, design bureaus, freelancers, and single and small manufactures use LibreCAD. LibreCAD has been included into educational edition of the Ukrainian Linux distribution for schools .

United States

In 2021, LibreCAD has been used for student research works challenge CELERE (''Capillary Effects on Liquids Exploratory Research Experiments'') organized by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

for the collecting and choosing experiments on research into

capillary action Capillary action (sometimes called capillarity, capillary motion, capillary rise, capillary effect, or wicking) is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of external forces like Gravitation, gravity. The effe ...

to be tested in low gravity conditions on ISS. For the participants a user handbook on LibreCAD was created and provided by employees of NASA

Glenn Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park, Ohio, Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a s ...

References

External links

*
LibreCAD User Manual

LibreCAD Forum
* *
ttf2lff
(online TTF to LFF font converter) {{DEFAULTSORT:LibreCAD 2011 software Computer-aided design software for Linux Computer-aided design software for Windows Engineering software that uses Qt Free computer-aided design software Free software programmed in C++ MacOS computer-aided design software Software that uses Qt Software using the GNU General Public License