The Complete CAD SDK Buyer's Guide
In architecture, engineering and design, document needs in software platforms go beyond text, images and spreadsheets. The right CAD SDK supports comprehensive functionality for working with technical drawings, giving all your users the tools they need, without external dependencies.
TL;DR
Architecture, engineering and construction software has different document processing needs than your typical business. Computer-aided design (CAD) is essential to core workflows across the lifecycle of the project, and software needs to handle the size, precision and complexity of CAD documents as seamlessly as it handles a brief, contract, or invoice.
For software developers and AEC leaders, this guide dives into why the right CAD document SDK matters, from what to look for, to getting started.
Choosing the wrong approach to CAD support in your application can lead to problems.
File size volatility
CAD file sizes can be unpredictable. Your SDK must offer the performance and scalability to meet your needs.
Vendor lock-in
Relying on proprietary design software, file formats or APIs can trap you in one ecosystem, limiting flexibility and increasing long-term costs.
Large-coordinate issues
Models with very large or distant coordinates can cause rendering glitches, precision errors, and slow performance.
Model corruption
Poor handling of CAD data can lead to broken assemblies or missing geometry, disrupting workflows and causing delays.
Security compliance issues
CAD files often contain sensitive IP. Inadequate encryption or access controls can lead to compliance violations and data breaches, especially on sensitive projects.
Collaboration pain points
Inconsistent formats and lack of interoperability push teams out of your platform to use inefficient, ad-hoc workflows.
What is a CAD Document SDK?
Expensive engineering software is used to design everything from the tiniest electronic component to the largest chemical plant, using file types like DWG, DXF, and DGN.
When it’s time to share technical drawings with external stakeholders, a CAD document SDK helps convert or display these complex file types to save time, improve performance and ensure compliance, especially on sensitive projects.
A trusted SDK such as Apryse is an excellent way to build needed functionality into your application with reduced developer overhead, comprehensive support, and feature extensibility for the future. For example, many of our CAD customers adopt Apryse for digital signature, redaction, or file comparison capabilities too.
When it’s time to share technical drawings with external stakeholders, a CAD document SDK helps convert or display these complex file types to save time, improve performance and ensure compliance, especially on sensitive projects.
A trusted SDK such as Apryse is an excellent way to build needed functionality into your application with reduced developer overhead, comprehensive support, and feature extensibility for the future. For example, many of our CAD customers adopt Apryse for digital signature, redaction, or file comparison capabilities too.
Expensive engineering software is used to design everything from the tiniest electronic component to the largest chemical plant, using file types like DWG, DXF, and DGN.
When it’s time to share technical drawings with external stakeholders, a CAD document SDK helps convert or display these complex file types to save time, improve performance and ensure compliance, especially on sensitive projects.
A trusted SDK such as Apryse is an excellent way to build needed functionality into your application with reduced developer overhead, comprehensive support, and feature extensibility for the future. For example, many of our CAD customers adopt Apryse for digital signature, redaction, or file comparison capabilities too.
What differentiates a true CAD SDK from:
An SDK offers more than a library. Our SDK includes the documentation, sample code, APIs, and support to get you up and running. And in addition to CAD viewing, Apryse enables users to convert to PDF, PDF/A, PDF/E-2, image file types, and more. The SDK also generates preview thumbnails, allows markup and annotation, accurate measurements, comparison, search, and PDF manipulation capabilities such as editing, watermarks, crop and reordering pages. All this and more is possible with Apryse SDK, with a fully customizable and WCAG accessible UI.
Importing and exporting CAD documents when users need to work with them in your platform is a workaround, and an inefficient one. Constantly converting documents may lead to version control issues, inaccurate conversions and artifacts, and workflow delays. Instead, Apryse SDK allows users to view and work with the original document, maintaining a single source of truth.
Using APIs or plugins to use the functionality of advanced CAD software, such as Autodesk, “inside” your application often doesn’t solve the problems that lead developers and product leaders to seek out a CAD SDK—namely, these APIs still require licenses or tokens to use, and don’t allow UI customization.
This is a bit like asking, “why buy a bus if I have a diesel engine in the garage?” The engine won’t get your team to work. Starting with a geometry kernel may be necessary if users need to interact with objects in virtual 3D space, but for AEC software designed to help users view, understand and collaborate on 2D technical drawings, starting with a geometry kernel may be overkill.
Key Considerations When Choosing a CAD SDK
Supported File Formats
Ensure the CAD SDK supports the file formats you need. There are many CAD file formats, including native formats for specific design sofware, and neutral formats that support greater interoperability. Apryse SDK supports several CAD formats: Autodesk AutoCAD® DWG™, DXF™, RVT™, DWF™ and Bentley MicroStation® DGN™, without you or your users needing any CAD software or CAD licenses. You can check out our large files demo to see how our WebViewer SDK handles large PDF files reliably.
Supporting Large Files
Platform Support
AEC projects span stakeholders from the office to the job site. Apryse SDKs support Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android to ensure your platform can meet the needs of all users.
Integration Ease
Saving time and costs during development is a key reason to choose an SDK over custom development. But how easy does your vendor make integration? Apryse is built for a variety of frameworks and languages, and can be integrated with many external systems using our APIs for C++, Java, .NET and Python.
Security
Apryse SDK supports your security and data privacy compliance with document security features like encryption, access permissions, digital signatures and secure redaction. In addition, choosing a secure SDK with quarterly releases reduces your external dependencies and vulnerabilities.
Why Apryse Core SDK for CAD?
Apryse offers several key advantages for CAD workflows in your application:
Broad Format Support
With support for DWG, DXF, DWF, DGN, and RVT, Apryse SDK supports a broad range of the most popular CAD formats, including conversion to PDF. Keep users in your platform, even when they bring different formats.
Flexible and Powerful
Apryse SDK is optimized for large-scale CAD files and large multipage, multi-layered PDFs. It works on desktop, mobile and server environments in the framework you need, with comprehensive documentation, sample code and APIs to get you up and running.
Advanced Features
Apryse goes beyond viewing CAD files, to complete your platform’s CAD offering with no external dependencies. Deliver CAD-to-PDF conversion, layer control and measurement tools, and collaborative features like annotation and sharing to complete more workflows.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Stay compliant with document security features, including encryption and digital rights management. Learn more about Apryse SDK document security features.
Measurement and Dimensioning
Accurate measuring and dimensioning tools for area, distance, perimeter, and more at any level of detail in PDF, CAD, and dozens more file formats. Scale and adjust your measurement units as needed. Add measurement annotations to your documents.
Arc Measurements
Measure curved lines using the arc measurement tool. Select a startpoint, a midpoint, and an endpoint to get arc length, arc radius, and the center angle measurements.
Object Snaps
Ensure accuracy with PDF measurement tools that snap to objects in drawings or plans. Snap to endpoints, midpoints, intersections, and more to get precise estimates and takeoffs from your software.
Image Overlay
With image overlay, review changes in your document with side-by-side, pixel-by-pixel comparisons of versions.
Layer Support
Create, edit, and modify layers in your plan. Toggle visibility of layers to declutter your view.
Apryse CAD SDK Capabilities
Markup & Annotate
Add or remove any type of PDF markup, including stamps, watermarks, callouts, free text, signatures, shapes, and more. Customize annotation appearances to fit your needs.
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Real-time Collaboration
View markups from multiple users on the same document in real time while maintaining the original drawing. Organize annotations in a dedicated XFDF layer and manage roles, permissions, or audit trails.
Measuring Tools
Enable users to measure distances, trace perimeters, or calculate areas with precision. Use snap-to-point for accuracy and adjust measurement scales to match drawing specifications.
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Compare Files
Quickly identify subtle visual differences with version comparison tools. Compare documents side by side or overlay versions with highlighted changes for easy review.
Produce high-quality vector printouts. Rasterize specific regions, subsets, or layers as needed. Programmatically bundle multiple files into a PDF portfolio for faster, large-scale printing.
Printing Documentation
Search
Effortlessly navigate documents by adding bookmarks, notes, and highlights. Power advanced searches by extracting text and annotations.
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Support for Brava! Annotations
Continue working on drawings marked up in Brava!® using Apryse’s native and web-based viewers. Convert Brava! annotations from XRL™ to XFDF, the ISO-standard format for annotation exchange. (Supported only for annotations on PDFs.)
Real-World CAD SDK Use Cases
Engineering Document Management
On large projects, engineers use document management software to control the flow of information across all stakeholders of a project. Keeping dozens or hundreds of drawings, documents and data secure and accessible across all these teams requires a platform with robust document processing capabilities. To learn more, check out our HEXAGON Asset Lifecycle Intelligence case study.
Manufacturing
For developers working on software for manufacturing operations management, ERP, MRP, and process-specific tools, the capability to open, view and interact with CAD files without an expensive design software license is important. Get your solution up and running with Apryse SDK.
CAD-to-PDF Publishing
Publish accurate, reliable PDF versions of CAD drawings for submissions, compliance, sharing, and archiving without relying on external tools. Maintain security and privacy with CAD-to-PDF conversion capability built in.
