Software Companions - Gerber Viewers and Converters

ViewCompanion Pro Updates

The latest update will always include all previous fixes and improvements

ViewCompanion Pro
ViewCompanion Homepage


Version 15.51
October 10, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added support for opening JPEG XL files for viewing and conversion.
  • Added JPEG-XL as new output format.


Version 15.50
September 2, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added an option to disable the internal File Explorer (Settings->Advanced->User Interface). The default setting is off.
  • Added an option for selecting the PDF/A conformance level to use when PDF/A is enabled for output PDF files. Available settings:
    • PDF/A-2b
    • PDF/A-3b
    • PDF/A-2u
    • PDF/A-3u
    • PDF/A-4
    • PDF/A-4e
  • A setting for PDF/A conformance level was added to conversion ini file (PDFALEVEL).
Solved issues:

1620No longer opens XPS files as a ZIP archive. These files will now be tried loaded using the DWFX reader.
1619Excellon G84 command (Canned Circle) was not supported.
1618Markups were still being loaded in an added compare DWF/DWFX file even if the "Load Markup Created by Design Review" option was disabled.
1617A DWF file was loaded with invalid dimension.
1616Missing line style in DWF file from customer.
1615Some polygons that were the outside paper area was not clipped.
1612An image in a DWF file had wrong colors and was lost after conversion to PDF.
1611Missing line styles in DWF file from customer.


Version 15.40
August 1, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Microsoft Vista is no longer supported.
  • Added support for viewing and converting PSD (Adobe Photoshop) file format.
  • ViewMode (color,gray,mono) now also works while viewing and converting PDF files.
  • If the original file and the compared file have the same layer structure, the toggle layer visibility option will now affect both files.
Solved issues:

1608The Load markup created by Autodesk Design Review setting had no effect for DWFX files.
1607Design Review markups were displaced in DWFX files from customer.
1601Compare of two DWF files from a customer gave incorrect result for some text elements. Even if these elements were equal in both files, they were highlighted as new.


Version 15.30
June 14, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added support for opening password protected DWF and DWFX files.
  • Added support for hyperlinks in DWF and DWFX files.
    All hyperlinks from the source document will be added to exported PDF files.
Solved issues:

1600 Excellon drill files from a customer were not displayed correctly.
1596A CGM file from a customer was not displayed correctly.
1593DWF and DWFX hyperlinks were not supported.
1592Transparent markup images lost transparency after conversion to DWF.
1588Password protected DWF and DWFX files could not be opened.
1586A DWF file from a customer failed to open.
1585Some filled elements in a DWFX file were missing transparency.
1569Some of the text elements in a DWF file from customer were too narrow.
-Mouseover tooltip for page related links were missing.


Version 15.20
March 7, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added an option to enable creation of progressive JPEG files.
  • Added "Convert to PDF Raster" option to the Shell Extension context menu.
  • Added JPEGPROGRESSIVE setting to conversion configuration file to enable creation of progressive JPEG files.
Solved issues:

1584 Line merge mode was lost after converting a HPGL/2 file from customer to PDF.
1581Some of the images in a PDF file from customer were displayed with wrong background color.
1579PDF property settings didn't have any effect if PDFRASTER export format was used.
157832-bit HEIC images was loaded as 24-bit which caused transparency (alpha channel) to be lost.
1573Missing images in CGM files from customer.


Version 15.10
January 10, 2024
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added an option to set compression level for exported PNG files.
  • Added PNGCOMPRESSION setting to conversion configuration file.
  • Added JPEGQUALITY setting to conversion configuration file.
Solved issues:

1571 It was not possible to realign compared files after alignment was already done.
Pressing alignment will now reset any previous offsets before the user can select new points.
1570 Saving comparison to PDF could cause an exception error if the color selected for equal content was different than black..


Version 15.01
December 21, 2023
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added an option to set line style pattern length for exported HPGL/2 files.
Solved issues:

1567 A PDF file from a customer failed to open.
1564An Excellon drill file from customer was not displayed correctly.
1561Some of the text elements were not placed correctly in a DWF file from customer.
#Converting any 24-bit image file to a 32-bit PNG/BMP/WEBP/TIFF/HEIC file did create a blank image only.
#PDF merge will now keep the original file name, if pre conversion to PDF is required (for example from DWF to PDF).


Version 15.00
September 20, 2023
Major Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • ViewCompanion has been rebuilt using latest available development tools for full compatibility with the latest Windows versions.
  • Windows XP are no longer a supported platform.
  • Internal file explorer is now again available.
  • Added new sketch mode display option. This option can be useful if you're measuring geometry with wide lines.
  • Added a new option for setting a new serial number. This option can be found under the Settings tab.
  • Markup measure is now a separate panel with distance, area and counter options.
  • Added a new option to control if page rotation for DWF files should be applied (enabled by default).
  • Several other minor changes and improvements.
Solved issues:
1557Missing image in CGM file from customer.
1550A DWF file from a customer caused floating point exception error during loading.
1549DWF file loaded with wrong page rotation.
1547One of the pages in a DWF file was loaded with wrong extents.
1543Some Freehand text annotations in a PDF file were displayed using wrong characters.
1539Excellon files from customer loaded with wrong extents.
1538Missing markup text in a DWF file due to a clipping error.
1537Some of the markup text in a DWFX file were incorrectly rotated.
1536Some of the markup text in a DWFX file were missing due to a draw order error.
1535Some CGM files were not displayed correctly.
1534Missing points (polymarker element) in DWF file from customer.
1533Some CGM files were not displayed correctly and could cause a crash.
1530Raster images were missing in a CGM file from customer.


Version 14.20
March 31, 2023
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Saving a comparison to PDF will now include all pages in the files being compared.
  • Command line parameters /cm and /cmi can now be used to combine several single page DWF files into a multi-page DWF.
  • Added an option in Advanced Settings to control if all pages, or only the current page, should be saved by save comparison.
  • WebP images can now be added using markup add picture tool.
Solved issues:

152916-bit BMP files became black after rotation.
1526A JPEG image file was displayed using incorrect orientation.
1525Converting a 32-bit PNG to 24-bit PNG caused degrading of the quality.
1523A PLT file was converted with wrong color for some of the text.
1520A single page CGM file was loaded as two pages and was missing an image.


Version 14.12
January 5, 2023
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Compare of PDF files is now available in Pro edition.
  • Added an option to use temporary PDF files to avoid that the viewed file is being locked for use.
  • Added an option to force files being opened in separate instances when opened from Windows Explorer.
Solved issues:

  • If classic user interface was active the application could sometimes close when the file tab close (x) button was pressed.
  • It was not possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to file previous and next commands if classic user interface was active.
  • The height value in the markup property dialog was not remembered between sessions.


Version 14.10
November 30, 2022
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Information text showing the meaning of the different colors, are now added when a comparison result is saved as a PDF file.
Solved issues:

1514A DWFX file caused exception error during load.
1511Due a clipping error several images in a DWFX were displayed but should have been discarded.
1510Converting a PLT to DWF caused paper background to be flipped around Y axis due to extreme dimensions.
1506Missing Chinese characters after converting from DWF to PDF.
1503Missing raster images in a DWF file from customer.
1502Missing content on page 2 in a DWF file from customer.


Version 14.01
September 3, 2022
Maintenance Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added an option to enable appending all pages from an imported file if the active document is PDF.
    Previous versions would append only the first page from the imported file.
  • If a user tries to open a VCM file, ViewCompanion will now open the original file instead.
    This will only work if filename.ext.vcm naming is used, which is default.
Solved issues:

1497Now checks all pages in multipage files (for example DWF, DWFX or TIFF) for page sizes larger than 5x5 meter (or 200x200 inch) before conversion to PDF. If any page is larger than this, a suitable UserUnit will be added to the PDF file. This was required to avoid warning messages when the created PDF was opened in Acrobat.
1496Hebrew text inverted after conversion to PDF if TrueType text was enabled.
1493Printing HPGL file that contained only zero width pens caused some lines to be missing.
1492Using crop on a PDF file from customer failed, only a blank file was created.
1491Filled black rectangles in a DWF file were covering other information.
1490Markup approved symbol would be wrong after saving to a new PDF, if the original PDF had page rotation.
1489A raster image was covering other information in a DWF file.
1358A raster image was covering other information in a DWF file.
-Saving a single page from a multipage DWF/DWFX/PLT/TIFF file to PDF failed.
-If an arrowed text element had multiline text, it was not possible to edit the whole text after creation.
-If "stay in drawmode" mode was active the last snap indicator was not cleared when a new element was created.
-Measurement area: If both volume and perimeter values were enabled the total text area height was wrong.


Version 14.00
July 15, 2022
Major Update 		Downloads
32-bit
64-bit
News:
  • Added support for loading and converting HEIC file format files. You can read more about the HEIC format here.
  • Added support for export to HEIC file format.
  • Added splitpdf command line parameter for splitting a multipage PDF file into individual PDF files with one or more pages each.
  • Added splittif command line parameter for splitting a multipage TIFF file into individual TIFF files with one page each.
  • Added a slider to compare tab for adjusting the grayscale color for equal content to make differences more noticeable.
  • Added an option for the PDF exporter to control if TrueType text should be used if possible.
  • You may now crop PDF files.
  • The page thumbnail will now be updated after the crop command is used.
Markup Changes:
  • Added CTRL+D keyboard command for deleting all existing markup elements for the active document. You will be asked to confirm before anything is deleted.
Solved issues:
1488 A DWF file from customer failed to open.
1483DWF files create from PDF had wrong page size.
1482After converting a DWF file to PDF some of the images got a greyish background.
1481A DWF file converted to PDF was missing Chinese text.
1476A DWF file from customer failed to open.
1475Missing text in a DWF file due to a clipping error.
1460When the crop function was used on a DWF or PLT file it did reject all images. Now an image will be included if it is inside the crop rectangle.
1459Missing filled items in a DWFX file.
1456Some Arabic characters were using wrong form after converting a DWF file to PDF. DWF to PDF conversion is now using TrueType text output if possible. An option to enable/disable TrueType support has been added.
1455An extra line was visible in a HPGL file that should not be there.
1453An Excellon drill file was loaded using Inch even if Metric was defined in the file.
1452Numbers in a DWF file containing Hebrew text were displayed in wrong direction (1:100 became 100:1).
-If measurement unit set was set to mm on start and then changed to meter, the markup property pane still displayed mm as default height.
Updates for Previous Version:
Version 13