I've just downloaded the CadTools plugin from QGIS Plugins page (can't do this through QGIS itself as I'm behind a proxy) and after installation I keep getting an error saying that it "Couldn't load plugin cadtools due an error when calling its classFactory() method".
Looking further into this there appears to be a problem with a line in the cadtools.py file relating to self.localPtah.pluginPath. pluginPath seems to be set to look in the i18n subfolder but I don't appear to have this subfolder in my installation.
Good job Adobe for letting us know that. I wouldn't have upgraded if I had. And kudos to Hot Door for taking advantage of the situation and charging almost full price to upgrade CADTools to work with the new Illustrator. Congratulations all around folks.
the really sad thing about cadtools' pricing is that i personally only use the tracker and dimensioning tools. from those dimensioning tools, i only use the horizontal and vertical, point and by line. i don't care for any of the other features and have no use for them, so the price feels extra steep. i wish they had cadtools lite for people like me and bring down the price accordingly.
Hot Door did not "take advantage of the situation" with the Adobe Illustrator upgrade. Instead, Hot Door continued just as it has in the last 20 years, offering a new version every 18-24 months. CADtools 10 was released in April of 2016 and CADtools 11 was released 18 months later, in October of 2017. Each new release includes new tools and features, and also includes compatibility with the new Illustrator version. Many customers use more than just the basic dimensioning tools, but even for those who only use those features, an upgrade costs $229.00. As long as you have purchased one of Hot Door's three previous versions (CADtools 8, 9 or 10), an upgrade is all you need. If you must be on the latest version of Illustrator, and you purchase when Hot Door releases, it will be 18-24 months before you will need to purchase another upgrade to stay current with a new Adobe release. If it is 18 months, then Hot Door cost you $12.72 per month. If it is 24 months, then Hot Door cost you $9.54 per month. As much time as CADtools can save you, it is difficult to believe the time saved is not worth either or those prices. But that is something each user must decide. While Hot Door understands that everyone would like to purchase a license and have it remain compatible forever at no extra cost, that is not feasible for a company to remain in business, especially with the costly programming hours to create a new version. Each version is backwards compatible, as well. CADtools 11 is compatible with CC 2018, CC 2017, CC 2015.3, CC 2015, CC 2014, CC and CS6 -- seven versions of Illustrator! Your comments, concerns and complaints will always receive a response from the support team at Hot Door:
After downloading a package, check that the SHA-256 checksum matches the package's .md5 file. CADTools packages are signed by Julien Nadeau Carriere (ve...@csoft.net). Get this KEYS file along with the package's .asc signature, and verify using a tool such as gpg:
BSDBuild is a BSD-style build system which provides useful make libraries as well as the ability to generate GNU-compatible configure scripts. It's not necessary to install BSDBuild in order to build cadtools. BSDBuild is needed to regenerate the configure script from configure.in sources.
Users of the Vim editor may find the following syntax file helpful when developing with cadtools.
Users of valgrind may find this suppression file useful (FreeBSD).