Frequently asked questions.

A desktop CAD program for designing parts, assemblies and drawings, for Windows and Linux. It works the way parametric CAD does: sketches, a feature tree, ribbon tabs, mates and drawings. It runs on your own computer: no cloud, no account.

Kyle Chandler, one person in California. Every support email is read by the person who makes it.

The open-source OpenCASCADE geometry kernel (OCCT), used by many CAD programs, with Qt for the windows.

Yes. Crusade works and is used for real parts, but it hasn't been tested as widely as it will be. If something goes wrong, please report it. Your license stays valid when the beta ends, and every later version is included.

Not now. Crusade runs on 64-bit Windows 10 / 11 and 64-bit Linux. There is no ARM build yet either.

No. Crusade is closed-source software sold as a license. It uses open-source libraries (OpenCASCADE, Qt and others), listed on the Licenses page.

Yes. A license covers personal and commercial work.

Machined parts, 3D printed parts, sheet metal (with flat patterns for laser / plasma / waterjet), weldments with cut lists, gears, assemblies of moving mechanisms, and shop drawings as PDF or DXF.

$25 during the beta, $75 once 1.0 is released. It's a one-time payment.

No. You pay once and the license is yours. Nothing stops working if you never pay again.

No. A license covers Crusade as it is now and every future version, including 1.0 and the ones after it.

Crusade itself is free to download. Without a license it is a free viewer, with no time limit: it opens, measures, renders, prints and exports files. A license unlocks editing in the same installation.

On the Pricing page. The store is run by Lemon Squeezy, which handles the payment, sales tax / VAT and the receipt.

Lemon Squeezy runs the checkout and shows what works where you are: cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and more), PayPal, and Apple Pay or Google Pay on devices that have them, plus some local methods in some countries.

Check your spam or promotions folder for an email from Lemon Squeezy. Your key is also on your order page in Lemon Squeezy's My Orders. If it isn't in either, write to support@crusadecad.com with your order number.

In the email from Lemon Squeezy, and on their order page, which lists every order.

Yes, within 30 days of buying, once the license is released from every computer it's on: Help ▸ License ▸ Release This Computer… on each one, or, for a computer that broke or is gone, from your order page at Lemon Squeezy (My Orders). Then write to support@crusadecad.com with your order number. A refunded or charged-back purchase ends the license, and its key stops working. Lemon Squeezy may also refund under its own policy.

Lemon Squeezy works out and adds the tax for your country at checkout.

Not at the moment.

Yes. A license bought by a business can be used by the people who work there, on up to 3 computers at a time. For more computers, buy more licenses. Volume pricing is on its way; until then, write to support@crusadecad.com if you need several.

No. A license can't be sold, given away or transferred.

It thanks early users for trying a beta. The price goes up to $75 when 1.0 is released, and a license bought during the beta keeps covering every version after it.

Open Crusade, choose Help ▸ License, paste the key from your purchase email and choose Activate. Crusade goes online once and editing unlocks in every open window. Nothing needs reinstalling. The first-launch setup offers the same step ("I have a license").

Three at once, on any mix of Windows and Linux.

On the old computer, choose Help ▸ License ▸ Release This Computer… (save your work first; it becomes the free viewer). Then activate the new computer with the same key.

Free its place from your order page at Lemon Squeezy (My Orders). A Normal-mode computer that comes back online stops being licensed at its next check. An Offline only computer never checks in, so it wouldn't notice: once its place is freed, don't use it with the license again.

Yes: Help ▸ License ▸ Release This Computer… first (it goes online for a moment), then activate again afterward. If you forgot, free the old place from your order page at Lemon Squeezy (My Orders).

No. Uninstalling Crusade leaves its settings folder, license included, so a reinstalled Crusade is licensed straight away. Reinstalling the whole operating system is different: it gives the computer a new identity, so release the computer first (Help ▸ License ▸ Release This Computer…) and activate again afterward. The same goes for deleting Crusade's settings folder.

The usual mode. Crusade checks the license about once a month along with its update check. It needs a check at least every 6 months. From 5 months it reminds you (on Home and the license page). After 6 months it starts as the free viewer until a check gets through. It never locks in the middle of your work.

For computers that are rarely or never online. Crusade never checks the license and it never runs out. Switch with Help ▸ License ▸ Switch to Offline Mode… (this goes online once). Switch to Normal Mode… goes back. Release it with Help ▸ License ▸ Release This Computer… when it has internet. One that's never online, lost or broken is freed from your order page at Lemon Squeezy instead, and isn't used with the license after that.

Yes. On that computer, Help ▸ License ▸ No internet on this computer? shows a code (like ABCD-EFGH-JKLM). On any phone or computer, open crusadecad.com/activate, enter your license key and that code, and download the license file. Bring it over (a USB stick) and choose Load License File…. It is an Offline-mode license.

Only your license key, a computer code (a one-way scramble of the system's ID that says nothing about the computer) and the mode. crusadecad.com keeps none of it. The store keeps the activation (the key, that code and when) to count your computers.

Crusade becomes the free viewer. Your files still open, and nothing is lost. Activate again (or check again) and editing comes back.

No. There's no Crusade account. Your license key is all you need.

In the purchase email from Lemon Squeezy and on their My Orders page.

64-bit Windows 10 or 11, or 64-bit Linux with glibc 2.34 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 36 or newer and what's built on them). A graphics card with OpenGL. 8 GB of memory recommended. About 1.5 GB of disk space.

Ubuntu 22.04 or newer and what's built on it (Linux Mint 21, Zorin OS 17, Pop!_OS 22.04 …), Debian 12, Fedora 36, RHEL / Rocky / Alma 9, Arch, openSUSE Tumbleweed: any x86-64 Linux with glibc 2.34 or newer.

Download and run Crusade-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe. It installs for your user only (no administrator password) after you accept the license agreement. Crusade then appears in the Start menu.

Unpack Crusade-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz and run ./install.sh in that folder. It shows the license agreement, copies Crusade to ~/.local/opt/crusade and adds it to your applications menu. You can also start it with the command crusade.

No, on either system. Crusade installs for your user only.

Yes. The installer and every program file in it are signed by Kyle Chandler, so Windows (including Smart App Control on new Windows 11 PCs) recognizes them.

Your choice. The Windows installer's tasks page has Open these with Crusade. Left unticked, those files keep the program and icon they had. Crusade's own parts, assemblies and drawings always open in Crusade.

When a new version is out, the What's New button on Home becomes Update available: Crusade x.y. Click it to open the download page, then install the new version over the old one: on Windows run the new installer, on Linux run the new install.sh. Your documents, settings and license stay.

The What's New button on Home (a red present until you open it) and Help ▸ What's New list it. The website's What's new page has every version.

No. It tells you when there is an update, and you choose when to install it. Check for Updates on Home asks right away.

Only the app's name and version, to crusadecad.com. No license key, file names or usage data.

Windows: Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Installed apps ▸ Crusade ▸ Uninstall. Linux: run uninstall.sh in ~/.local/opt/crusade. Your documents and settings stay. Release the license first (Help ▸ License) if you won't use Crusade on that computer again.

Not supported at the moment: Crusade is tested installed on the computer's own drive. Running it from a USB stick is slow, its shortcuts stop working when the stick is out, and on Linux a FAT32 or exFAT stick doesn't work. Each computer it runs on needs its own activation either way (your license and settings stay on that computer, not with the program).

Open Crusade parts, assemblies and drawings, and STEP, IGES, STL, 3MF and DXF files. Turn, section, explode, play motion studies, measure, see mass and the bill of materials, switch configurations, hide and isolate parts, render and save render images, print drawings, and export PDF, STEP, IGES, STL, 3MF and DXF (if the sender allows it).

Editing: sketches, features, new documents, assemblies, drawings and saving. SimpleSim, Bolt Calculator, Analysis, Design Check, Cost Estimate and Print Orientation also need a license.

You're in the free viewer. The lock marks commands that need a license. Clicking one shows Buy a License and Enter License Key….

No. It's free for as long as you like.

No. Enter your license key in Help ▸ License and the same installation edits.

Yes. They download Crusade free and open your parts, assemblies and drawings to look at, measure, render and print, and export them unless you turn that off (File ▸ Properties ▸ Sharing).

No, except to activate a license once (and in Normal mode, a check about once a month). Everything else works offline. A computer with no internet can be licensed with a license file.

No. Your files stay on your computer. Even File ▸ Share only writes a file where you choose; nothing is uploaded or sent.

No. The update check sends only the app's name and version. The license check sends only the key, the computer code and the mode. Neither is stored by crusadecad.com.

They're used only to answer you. Only attach a part or drawing if you're happy to share it.

No. A file made with File ▸ Share has no version history, login or computer name, or folder paths.

Parts .cprt, assemblies .casm, drawings .cdwg and variable tables .kvar.

Not directly. In SolidWorks, save the part or assembly as STEP (or IGES) and open that in Crusade. The shape comes across exactly; the feature history doesn't (that's true of every CAD-to-CAD exchange). Direct editing (Delete Face, Offset Face, Move Face) lets you change imported parts without a feature history.

Export them as STEP (or IGES) from that program and open the STEP in Crusade.

STEP and IGES (as solid models, also into assemblies), STL and 3MF (meshes, in a viewing window), and DXF (viewed on its own, or imported into a sketch).

STEP, IGES, STL and 3MF from parts and assemblies; PDF and DXF from drawings; DXF of sketches and sheet metal flat patterns; PNG render images; animated GIFs of motion studies.

No. Save the DWG as DXF in your CAD program first, then bring it in with Sketch ▸ Import DXF (or open it in Crusade to look at it). (Crusade's own drawings are .cdwg files, which are not DWG.)

No. Meshes open for viewing and measuring only. Crusade models solids; to edit a mesh part, remodel it, or start from a STEP file if the designer has one.

Yes. In a sketch, Sketch tab ▸ Sketch Picture. Put two points on features of known distance and Scale Picture to size it.

Yes. Assemblies and drawings store their parts' paths relative to themselves, and if a part isn't where the path says, it's looked for by name next to the assembly or drawing.

Not always. A file that uses something an older version doesn't have says "<name> was saved by a newer version of Crusade" or "This part uses a feature this version of Crusade doesn't have". Update Crusade to open it. Updates are free.

Wherever you choose in Save As. Crusade's own folders: fasteners in Documents/KCAD/Fasteners, drawing templates in Documents/Crusade Templates, macros in Documents/Crusade Macros.

Home ▸ Part. Pick the Front, Top or Right plane, choose Sketch, draw a rectangle, Smart Dimension it (D), Exit Sketch, then Extruded Boss/Base. The User Guide (Help ▸ User Guide, or the Docs page) walks through everything.

Yes: Help ▸ User Guide in the app, and the Docs page on crusadecad.com.

Press F1 (Help ▸ Controls & Shortcuts). Press S for the shortcut toolbar at the mouse.

Search commands: the magnifier at the top, or Alt+C. Type part of its name or what it does ("unfold" finds Flat Pattern). It shows where the command lives and its keys.

Yes. Tools ▸ Options ▸ Mouse ▸ Onshape: middle-drag pans, right-drag turns. Keyboard shortcuts start Onshape-style and can all be changed.

SolidWorks style (default): middle-drag turns, Ctrl+middle-drag pans, the wheel zooms, a middle double-click fits. Middle-click a face, edge or vertex to turn about that point.

The units button in the status bar (bottom right) changes the open document's units. Tools ▸ Options sets units and decimals for new documents. The first-launch setup offers IPS, MMGS, MKS or CGS.

Yes. Value boxes take math (2*1.5+0.25), fractions (3/8, 1 1/2) and variables from Evaluate ▸ Variables.

Yes. Type the unit after the number and it's converted: 25mm, 1in, 1", 2ft, 3/8in, also inside math (1in + 5mm).

On Linux, yes (3Dconnexion and other 6-axis devices, through spacenavd). Not yet on Windows.

Yes. Tools ▸ Options ▸ Appearance: Aqua (default), Dark or Light, plus colors for nearly everything (accent, viewport, part, edges, sketch states, dimensions).

Yes. Tools ▸ Options ▸ Keyboard shortcuts.

Not yet. The User Guide (crusadecad.com/docs, also Help ▸ User Guide in Crusade), Support and this FAQ are the help for now.

Double-click a face it made, or right-click it in the feature tree ▸ Edit. Right-click ▸ Edit Sketch goes straight into its sketch.

Drag the blue rollback bar up the tree, or right-click a feature ▸ Roll Back.

Drag a feature in the tree (or right-click ▸ Move Up / Move Down). It can't go above what it uses, and a move that would break another feature is refused with the reason.

Right-click it in the feature tree ▸ Suppress.

Select it in the tree and press F2 (or right-click ▸ Rename).

Evaluate ▸ Configurations: a design table of variable values per configuration, all in one file.

Evaluate ▸ Variables (or the Variables button in the right-hand strip). Variable tables can be shared by many parts and edited in Excel or LibreOffice.

Features ▸ Hole Wizard ▸ Tapped Hole. Pick the size (UNC / UNF #0-80 to 1 1/2", metric M1.6 to M48), the depth or Through All, and click the face where it goes.

Features ▸ Thread (in the Hole Wizard drop-down): click a hole's or shaft's circular edge. Choose modeled or cosmetic.

Features ▸ Gear (spur, helical, internal, rack, face). For a pair that meshes at a given center distance, Assembly tab ▸ Gear Pair. For a gear outline to laser-cut, Sketch ▸ Gear Profile.

Make a Helix (Plane drop-down) on a sketch with a circle, sketch a small circle at its start, then Swept Boss/Base along the helix.

Sketch tab ▸ Text, then Extruded Boss/Base (emboss) or Extruded Cut (engrave). On a round face use Wrap.

Features don't merge with bodies they don't touch. Use the Bodies drop-down: Combine, Split, Move/Copy Body, Delete/Keep Body, Insert Part, Save Bodies.

Use direct editing: Delete Face (remove holes, fillets), Offset Face (thicker / thinner), Move Face (move a hole or boss). You can also sketch and add features on top.

Features ▸ Mirror ▸ Mirror the whole part (bodies).

Right-click the part at the top of the feature tree ▸ Edit Material, or double-click its Material row. Pick a finish (anodizing, black oxide, plating, paint …) and its color too.

It has no material yet. Set one with Edit Material.

Click it; the context toolbar has Appearance. Right-click ▸ Remove Face Appearance takes it off.

Evaluate ▸ Mass Properties (set a material for the mass).

Evaluate ▸ Measure (or the ruler in the right-hand strip). While it's open every click adds a face, edge or point. With two things selected, the status bar shows a quick measurement too.

They show how defined the sketch is. Blue: under-defined (it can still move; add dimensions or relations). Black (light gray in the Dark theme): fully defined. Red: over-defined (dimensions or relations conflict; delete one). The status bar names the state. The colors can be changed in Tools ▸ Options ▸ Appearance.

Smart Dimension drop-down ▸ Fully Define Sketch adds the relations and dimensions it still needs, at the current sizes.

Select the entities and click the relation in the Relations group, or use the context toolbar that appears by the selection.

Select its entity, pick the relation under Existing Relations in the sketch panel, and press Delete.

Press Q (Construction) and the next entity you draw is construction geometry. With entities selected, Q switches them.

Convert Entities: click model edges or earlier sketch geometry to bring it in, linked.

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V (pastes at the cursor), or Move/Copy, Rotate and Scale Entities, or the sketch patterns.

In an open sketch, Sketch tab ▸ Sketch Picture drop-down ▸ Import DXF. Choose its units and layers. Closed outlines extrude straight away.

Right-click the sketch in the tree ▸ Export Sketch as DXF…. Construction lines are left out.

Click it in the sketch: its diameter and radius show at the bottom right of the window.

Box select: drag to the right for a window (only what's fully inside), to the left for a crossing box (what it touches too). Ctrl adds to the selection.

Yes. Right-click the sketch ▸ Edit Sketch Plane…, then click another plane or flat face. Everything built on it follows.

Home ▸ Assembly (or File ▸ New Assembly), then Assembly tab ▸ Insert Components (Ctrl+I).

Click a face of one part, Ctrl+click a face of the other, and pick a mate from the toolbar (quick mates), or use Assembly ▸ Mate for the full list.

Standard: Coincident, Parallel, Perpendicular, Tangent, Concentric, Lock, Fastened, Distance, Angle (with limits). Advanced: Profile Center, Width, Symmetric, Path, Linear Coupler. Mechanical: Hinge, Slot, Cam, Gear, Rack and Pinion, Screw, Universal Joint.

Assembly ▸ Insert Fastener. Click a hole's rim first and the fastener is sized for the hole and mated into it. Ctrl+click several holes for one each.

Evaluate ▸ Interference Detection and Clearance Check. Collision Detection stops a dragged part where it would hit another.

Evaluate ▸ Bill of Materials in the assembly; in a drawing, Annotation ▸ Bill of Materials and Auto Balloon.

Assembly ▸ Motion Study: a rotary motor, a driven mate, or explode / collapse. Play it and Save GIF….

Assembly ▸ Exploded View, then Move Component sets each part's exploded place.

Yes. Insert an assembly into another one.

Assembly ▸ Fix / Float, or mate it to the assembly's own planes (View ▸ Reference Planes).

Tab hides the part under the cursor (Shift+Tab shows it again). Right-click a part ▸ Hide, Isolate or Change Transparency. Evaluate ▸ Section View cuts the assembly open.

Right-click the component ▸ Replace Part…. Mates find their faces again by geometry.

File ▸ Where Used… lists the assemblies and drawings that use it.

From a part: Evaluate ▸ Make Drawing from Part (or File ▸ Make Drawing from Part). Or Home ▸ Drawing, then View Layout ▸ Standard 3 View or Model View.

Standard 3 View, Model View, Projected, Auxiliary, Section, Detail and Break views, and a sheet metal part's Flat Pattern.

Third angle (as in ANSI drawings). First angle projection isn't available.

Annotation ▸ Smart Dimension (D), or Ordinate, Baseline and Chain dimensions, or Auto Dimension for a whole view in one go. Hole Wizard holes get their callouts.

Yes, on the Annotation tab.

Sheet ▸ Sheet Properties: title block layout (Standard, Compact, ISO 7200) and a company logo.

Yes. File ▸ Save as Template… keeps the sheet, scale, title block, logo, company, units and notes. New drawings start from the template chosen in Options ▸ Drawings; File ▸ Apply Template… puts one on an existing drawing.

Sheet ▸ Export PDF or Export DXF (also in the File menu).

File ▸ Print… (Ctrl+P). It fits the sheet to the paper.

No. Dark Sheet is for the screen only. Printing, PDF, DXF and thumbnails always use white paper.

Yes. A drawing's views are made from the part's file, so they show a change as soon as the part is saved. With Auto Save on (the default) that's right away.

Sheet Metal ▸ Base Flange/Tab from a sketch: a closed profile makes a flat tab, an open chain of lines makes a bent part.

Sheet Metal ▸ Flat Pattern shows it unfolded; Export Flat Pattern (DXF) writes the outline with bend lines. A drawing's Model View can also show the flat pattern with bend notes.

Yes. °, ± and Ø are written with AutoCAD's codes (%%d, %%p, %%c), which laser and CAM software reads.

Sketch the frame lines, then Features ▸ Structural Member (square / round tube, bar, angle, channel), mitered at the corners. Evaluate ▸ Cut List gives the lengths and angles.

A live strength check for beams, shafts, flat plates and frames. Set supports and loads, and it shows stress, deflection and the factor of safety, updated every time the part changes. It uses strength-of-materials formulas on the real geometry, with no meshing.

No. It's a quick, rough estimate while you design. Double-check the results and test the real part before you rely on it.

Contact, welds, plasticity and dynamics. Bolt fatigue and thread stripping aren't checked. Short, stubby parts and brackets are only approximate (it warns you). Printed plastics can be much weaker across layers.

Evaluate ▸ Bolt Calculator: preload, tightening torque and factors of safety for a bolt pattern, on its own, with no study needed.

Analysis colors the part by draft angle, wall thickness, curvature or zebra stripes. Design Check lists what will be hard to make by CNC or 3D printing.

It's a rough price from the part's geometry and your shop rates. Use it to compare designs, not to quote.

File ▸ Export 3MF (best: keeps colors and units) or Export STL.

Evaluate ▸ Print Orientation ranks the ways up by overhang, and exports 3MF that way up.

Features ▸ Scale (e.g. 1.02), uniform or per axis.

Export STEP (or IGES for older CAM software).

Yes. Features ▸ Split, then Save Bodies… makes each body its own part.

View ▸ Render. It sharpens while the view holds still. Save Render Image… saves a PNG at window size, 2× or 4K, in Draft, Good or Best quality.

Path tracing adds up random light paths, so the first passes are speckled. Keep the view still and it clears up.

Yes. View ▸ Render Options: Studio, Outdoor, White or Dark, plus perspective and depth of field.

File ▸ Share. One file makes a single file that opens on its own in any Crusade, free or licensed, with no parts to send. Pack and Go (zip) includes every file needed to edit it.

They can download Crusade free and open it in the free viewer. Or send them a PDF of the drawing, a render image, a GIF, or a STEP file.

Yes. Untick Let them export it in File ▸ Share (the same switch as File ▸ Properties ▸ Sharing).

File ▸ Pack and Go…: copies the document and every file it uses (and, if ticked, the drawings) to one folder or zip, optionally renamed.

No. Crusade is a desktop program, and two people can't edit the same file live.

Yes, once a document has been saved once. The Auto switch next to Save is green while it saves, and red for a new document that hasn't been saved yet.

Yes. File ▸ Version History… lists every saved version. Open one as a copy, or Restore it.

A version is every save. A revision (File ▸ Release Revision…) is a released state: A, B, C … with a description, shown in the drawing's revision table.

Unsaved work in an untitled part is kept as a crash-recovery copy and offered back at the next start. A document that's been saved once is saved by Auto Save as you go.

Copy your project folders to a USB drive or cloud storage regularly. Every file carries its own version history inside it.

Yes. File ▸ Properties…: summary, custom and configuration-specific properties. Values can link to the model (SW-Mass, SW-Material …).

Yes, in Python. Tools ▸ Macro Console works on the open document; Tools ▸ Run Macro… runs a .py file. Macros live in Documents/Crusade Macros, with an example.

Millimeters, always.

Read the User Guide (Help ▸ User Guide), check this page and the troubleshooting list, or write to support@crusadecad.com.

The version (Help ▸ About), Windows or Linux, what you did, what you expected, what happened, and a screenshot if it shows the problem. Attach a file only if you're happy to share it.

Write to support@crusadecad.com. Say what you did and what happened.

As soon as I can. Every email is read by the person who makes Crusade.

Not yet. Write to support@crusadecad.com, or suggest an idea at crusadecad.com/suggest.