Course Designer as a Free Viewer

Course Designer is the world's leading software for creating maps and 3D models of dog agility courses. However, if you do not wish to use all of Course Designer 4's features right now, you can still use Course Designer 4 to view courses that you receive from people, either as a course map, or in 3D. First, download and install Course Designer 4 onto your computer.

To view a course encoded within the body of an e-mail or message board message:

  1. While viewing the message in your e-mail application or web browser, use the Edit / Select All menu item to select the whole message that contains the course, then use the Edit / Copy menu item to copy the message to the clipboard.
  2. Open Course Designer 4, select the "Use Course Designer 4 for free for now" radio button on the "Course Designer 4 Activation" dialog box, and click the OK button.
  3. In Course Designer 4, use the Edit / Paste menu item to paste the course from the clipboard. The non-course parts of the message on the clipboard will be ignored. You will see the pasted course on the screen.

If a course file is sent to you as an e-mail attachment, you can view the course by simply opening the attached file.

During the first 30 days after you install Course Designer 4, you will also be able to create, modify and print courses for free. If you decide you would like to create and modify courses after the 30-day free trial period has expired, you will need to purchase an activation license. However, there is no time limit on how long you can use Course Designer 4 as a free viewer.

If you currently use Course Designer 3, you can use Course Designer 4 as a free viewer without it interfering with your use of Course Designer 3. Just open Course Designer 3 after using Course Designer 4, and Course Designer 3 will make .agl files again be opened with Course Designer 3 by default. You can also use Course Designer 4 as a free format conversion tool, so that you can edit and print courses in Course Designer 3 that were sent to you in the Course Designer 4 format.