Software you can use to develop your invention & create patent drawings.

These are programs QuickDraw has found to be efficient, easy to use and free, or they have a free trial period.  You can use these programs to develop your design and or draw your own patent drawings.

3D Modeling

Alibre - Sketch based 3D modeling software that can handle most projects and is FREE!  If you need more functionality than the free version offers, Alibre offers several upgrade paths ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

IronCAD - Extremely easy to use 3D modeling software that will run for 30 days.  Go through the tutorials and you will be able to model your design very quickly.  When your design is done, save it as STEP, Parasolid or ACIS file so it can be opened in another CAD program.

2D Drawing

Visio - Microsoft Visio is very common among law firms and some patent illustrators.  The demo version will start 30 times (tip: start the program and use File, Open to open multiple files without using up the trial period).

CorelDraw - Offering all the tools of a professional vector drawing program, CorelDraw may be a bit harder to learn than some programs but it is very powerful.  QuickDraw uses CorelDraw for most of the 2D drawings we create.

Think3 - Think3 offers a free 2D CAD program named Free 2 Design.  This is not as easy to use as Visio but it can be used to create real engineering blueprints.

File viewers

Adobe Acrobat - Free PDF viewer.  You probably already have this but if not, download it today; odds are you will need it today.

AlternaTiff - Free TIFF image viewer required to view images on the USPTO web site.

Myriad Viewer - An excellent free 3D viewer that may be useful if you hire a company to create a 3D CAD model of your invention.  With ModelPress you'll be able to view most types of CAD files in 3D and select which parts are hidden or visible, create exploded views and more.

Cortona VRML viewer - A simpler 3D viewer best suited to simple models.  If you have or can get models in VRML format, you will be able to view it in 3D without purchasing any special CAD programs.  Use the manual install option to get more powerful viewing options.

Other utilities and services

CutePDF - This is a free virtual printer driver that will save the output from any program to a PDF file.  PDF is a very stable and convenient method of transferring digital documents.

FileZilla - Free FTP client that works great with QuickDraw's FTP server.  This is a must have if your source files exceed 5mb or if you prefer to exchange files using something other than email.  Request an FTP account.

SPX Instant Screen Capture - The demo only runs for 15 days but this program is well worth the money if you need a way to capture what's on your screen, add a few comments and email them to a friend or service provider.  On the download page, select the first option, SPX Bundle for the greatest functionality.

MaxEmail - An affordable internet fax service that enables you to send and receive faxes via email.

Xdrive - On-line disk space you can use to transfer files up to 50mb for free.  For a monthly fee you can rent several gigabytes of space.  You can also invite new members and transfer large files among your contacts who have Xdrive accounts.  (QuickDraw has an Xdrive account and can send and receive files through Xdrive)

WinZip - Allows you to combine multiple files and folders into one .zip file for easier emailing and transfer over the internet.  If you use Windows XP you can achieve the same results by right clicking a folder and selecting Send To, Compressed Folder.