Software Companions - Gerber, PLT and HPGL Viewing and Conversion Software

ViewCompanion Standard Version 11 Updates

ViewCompanion Standard
Version 11 Updates

The latest version will always include all previous fixes and improvements

ViewCompanion Standard
ViewCompanion Homepage
Version What's New Released
11.21 Critical fix update.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
Conversion from PLT to PDF could cause most or all layers to be turned off by default.

18-Oct-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit
11.20 Feature update.
Changes:
  • Added load rotation options for CALS format.
  • Added circle support and higher resolution to SVG exporter.
  • You may now use an optional ini file to disable save, print, updates and other options.
  • Copied and pasted markup elements are now moved by a small offset to make the new element distinctly different from the original.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
1138A DWF file from customer was loaded with wrong extents.
1137Two DWF files from customer caused application crash.
1135Some filled areas in a DWF from customer were drawn outlined.
1133Transparent GIF files lost transparency after being added as a markup element.
1124PLT to DWF conversion: Some images lost transparency and did cover other drawing details.
1123A CGM file from customer caused application crash.
1122A DWF file from customer was loaded with wrong extents.
1121A PDF file from customer caused application crash.
1117A Step file was incorrectly identified as HPGL/2.
1115Missing filled areas in a DWF file due to a clipping error.
1113Some of the text in a PLT file had wrong placement and size.
1112Some of the text in a DWF file had wrong placement and size.
1111Several text elements in a DWF file should not be displayed.
1110A rectangle had wrong color after conversion from PLT to PDF.
DWF to PDF: Layers that are turned off will now be turned off in the exported PDF file too.

7-Oct-2018

Please download version 11.21 instead.

11.11 Maintenance update.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
1100Some of the text in a DWF file should not be displayed (clip error).
1098Missing a white text background after converting PLT file to PDF.
A few serial numbers that were purchased online, were incorrectly reported as expired.
Entering print preview a second time could sometimes display a blank page only.

5-Jul-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit
11.10 Feature update.
Changes:
  • Added Barcode definition to the Markup XML format.
  • Configurable maximum radius for each arc in a revision cloud.
  • You may now insert and remove points in polyline and polygon type elements.
  • If the scale, or unit, is changed, you will now be asked if all existing markup measurement texts should be updated to reflect the new settings.
  • Printing a multipage with different page sizes always used the scaling for the first page if scale to fit was enabled. Each page will now be scaled individually to fit the paper size.
  • Added option for enabling taskbar interaction. If taskbar interaction is enabled a separate thumbnail will be displayed for each open document.
  • Added a setting to open PDF files saved using "Save As" in the default PDF viewer.
  • Added dpi and bits per pixel settings for the PDF Load as Raster option.
  • New setting: Apply current transparency setting to new text elements. Transparent text is displayed with poorer quality and performance. By default new text elements will now be opaque.
Fixed issues and other changes:
IssueDescription
1097A DWF file from customer caused exception error during conversion.
1096A red text element in a PLT file became black after conversion to PDF.
1095Large Gerber files could cause a crash when running on 64-bit Windows 10.
1093Image in DWF file should be clipped to paper extents.
1092Some of the shapes in a CGM file were incorrectly filled with black solid color.
1091Most of the text was missing in a DWF file from customer.
1088DWF file from customer failed to open.
1084Printing multipage with different page sizes used the scale calculated for first page on all pages.
1083Some of the text in a PLT file were displayed at wrong position.
1082PLT file from customer caused an application exception.
1081Markup images (stamps) in a DWF file were placed far outside the paper area.
1080Most of the text in a PLT file was lost after conversion to PDF.
1078An image in a DWF file from customer should be partially transparent.
1077CGM file from customer failed to open.
1075Missing arcs in CGM file from customer.
1074Some of the text in a PLT file appeared too thick after converting to PDF.
1073DWF file should be centered on the paper.
1069PDF file from customer failed to open.
1068PDF file from customer failed to open.
1067Some of the text elements in a PLT file were displayed at wrong position.
1065Some of the layers should be off (invisible) by default in PDF from customer.
1063Some information was lost after DWF file was converted to TIFF.
106124-bit images in a DWF file were incorrectly displayed with transparency.
1057CGM file failed to open.
1056PDF file displayed as blank pages only.
1050DWF file should be centered on the paper.
Right click menu for Project Bar didn't show auto hide option.
Log files were not created when converting PDF to TIFF, or other formats, when using the command line interface.
PDF to raster conversion was not using the selected paper size correctly.
All control bars were turned on after print preview, even if they were turned off before entering it.
Markup element copy will now copy text content to the clipboard too, if the element has any.
Wide lines are now converted to DXF polylines because a line cannot have width (but polylines can).
Copying a selection to clipboard as bitmap, and then pasting back as markup picture failed on some systems.

2-Jun-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit
11.02 Maintenance update.
Changes:
  • The next and previous file buttons are again available next to the file open button on the ribbon.
  • The PDF exporter from version 10.00 can now be used instead of the new PDF exporter. You can enable the use of the older exporter in the Tools->Options->Conversion->Advanced dialog. The option is named "Use PDF Legacy Exporter".
    The legacy exporter may be faster for some files, but it doesn't support full transparency, so markup may appear different in the converted PDF compared to how it look on the screen. If you for example just want to convert TIFF files with huge extents (width or height more than 2 meters) to PDF, the legacy exporter will be faster.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
1055DWF file had missing border lines in title field.
1054DWF file had missing border lines in title field.
1053DWF file exported from Inventor was loaded with wrong extents.
1052The auto hide option didn't work for the page list control bar.
1048Some text in a plotter file was displayed as white rectangles.
1016DWFX file failed to open if the use paper size option was enabled.
984DWFX file failed to open if the use paper size option was enabled.
913DWF file had some drawing details outside paper area which should be clipped.

1-Mar-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit
11.01 Maintenance update.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
1046Converting a PLT file to PDF with searchable text enabled, caused line styles to be incorrect.
1044Conversion configuration file ROTATION setting had no effect if a PDF file was converted to TIFF.
1041Transparent markup text did become opaque after conversion to PDF.
1040Pressing a hyperlink in PDF file from customer caused an exception error.
1038A plot file with more than 3000 pages caused an exception error.
Markup stamp, symbol and arrowed text was sometimes not included during conversion.
Removed zoom in limit for 32-bit.
Conversion from PDF to TIFF used clockwise rotation instead of the correct anti-clockwise rotation.

18-FEB-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit
11.00 Major update.
New features and changes:
  • A rewritten core engine that gives much better accuracy for both conversion and measurement.
  • Modified GUI that allows all panels to be visible at the same time (panels includes layers, pages, bookmarks and project).
  • New PDF print engine which should work faster on most systems.
  • Added rounded rectangle markup element.
  • Markup arrow type is now drawn by selecting two points.
  • You may now change the size of the page thumbnails and force them all to be displayed.
  • Added command to toggle between stay in draw markup mode, or go directly to edit after a markup is completed.
  • Added command to toggle between line edit mode or move element mode.
  • Added Deflate and JPEG compression options to TIFF conversion.
  • Inserted symbols may now be rotated.
  • The GUI should now be completely hidden during command line conversions.
  • Several other minor changes and improvements.
Fixed issues:
BugDescription
1036Missing lines in DWF files from customer due to a clipping error.
1035Missing raster images in CGM files from customer.
1034A color image lost transparency after conversion to DWF (from PLT).
1033A PDF file from customer was not displayed correctly.
1030Chinese text in a CGM file was displayed as squares.
1022A PDF file from customer lost some of the content when zoomed in.
1021Running cleanup on an 8-bit image sometime created black only image.
1016Some text files were incorrectly identified as a Gerber file.
1013A PDF file from customer failed to open.
1009If you're printing a file with different paper sizes, and have fit to page enabled, ViewCompanion may now rotate each page to match the page layout.
1006A PDF file from customer had clipping errors.
1005Background command line conversion caused flickering, and any active window lost focus.
1004Missing image in CGM file.
997A white raster in a PDF file was loaded as black only.
990Missing user defined hatch fill type in a CGM file from customer.
989A DWF file was displayed with an inverted raster image.
986Two DWF files failed to open.
907Bad accuracy for a CGM file that was converted to PDF.
890Converting a CGM file to PDF gave low accuracy when doing measurements in Acrobat.
-Both export and display are now honoring Monochrome and Grayscale flags for raster image output.
-The DWF exporter now supports true type output.
-The DXF exporter should now always write polyline with correct line width.
-Eraser type element was not saved if XML format was used.
-Markup element line point editing can now be undone.
-A markup freehand element may now contain more than 1024 points.

30-JAN-2018

Downloads:

32-bit

64-bit

Older Updates:
Updates for version 10
Updates for version 9
Updates for version 8
Updates for version 7
Updates for version 6
Updates for version 5
Updates for version 4
Updates for version 3