Project Freewheel is the Autodesk Labs version of the Freewheel service. It is experimental in nature. It should not be used for production purposes. Autodesk Freewheel™, the production version of the Freewheel service, is available at http://freewheel.autodesk.com.

Want to view a design, but don't want to install viewer software? Want to view a design on a Mac, a PDA, a Cell Phone, on Linux, or in Firefox? Would you like to embed a design in your own web page (HTML) and not require visitors to install anything? If so, then the Project Freewheel has the answer. It is both a web site where you can type in an URL for interactive design viewing, and a web service that allows you to embed an interactive design viewer in your own HTML pages.

The user interface in the technology preview only supports English at this time, though design files from any language may be used. Only Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (or higher) and Mozilla Firefox 1.5 (or higher) are supported at this time. Safari support is nearly complete: try it, but your mileage may vary. Other browsers are planned for future releases.

Project Freewheel is a technology preview. This means the service is not complete or supported. The performance, reliability, functionality, and quality of the service are not at production standards. The service is offered for your enjoyment, experimentation, and web site development. Interfaces, terms, and API's of this service are subject to change.

Currently this service only allows you to view design files which are publicly available on the internet and are addressable by a public URL. You can not currently view design files which are behind a firewall, are on your private network, are password secured, or are otherwise secured. The service works by downloading the design you specify (by URL) from the source web server to an Autodesk server which renders the content and delivers the result to a user's web browser. The Autodesk server may analyze, process, report on, and cache the design data provided to it.

Password protected, and DRM (measure-disabled and print-disabled) design files are not currently supported. 3D markups created by Autodesk Design Review are not displayed. 2D markups are. When uploading a local design file from your computer, the design cannot be "in use" by another application such as Autodesk Impression. Though it is not a Freewheel limitation, for the purposes of Project Freewheel on Autodesk Labs, the upload size for a design has been limited to 15MB.