CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
15 March 2005
Product News
20th Version of Autodesk's Market-Leading Software, AutoCAD 2006, Enables Design Professionals to Bring Ideas to Reality Faster than Ever Before
Autodesk, Inc. announced the 20th release of AutoCAD® and the latest release of AutoCAD LT® software, with features that advance core drafting functions for more intuitive and faster design and drafting capability than ever before. With more than five million active licensed users worldwide, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are a popular design software for projects as diverse as a state-of-the-art roller coaster in Las Vegas and the new Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. With the latest releases of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, design professionals can create, manage and share design information more efficiently to increase productivity and achieve their design and business goals simultaneously.
"I have been using AutoCAD for 18 years and with each release comes a new level of innovation that makes designing easier and more efficient," said Darren Myles of LHT, a building design office in New Zealand. "The new drafting features in AutoCAD 2006 help us produce construction drawings more efficiently and accurately, which will save LHT countless hours in drafting time with improved productivity. AutoCAD is by far the best choice for design and drafting, from basic conceptual design representations to visual presentation."
New Products and Features
For 20 years, Autodesk has responded to customer and technological demands to evolve AutoCAD software with features that optimize digital design efficiency. Recent AutoCAD releases have been developed based on a roadmap that addresses themes or major categories of functionality that incorporate both design and process features to help users improve productivity by spending more time designing and less time drafting. Two-dimensional drafting remains the cornerstone of productivity in the design industry, and the enhanced conceptual design capabilities in AutoCAD 2006 offer functionality and productivity features that set new standards for the industry.
AutoCAD 2006 is the latest in a series of releases that focused on solving significant customer challenges associated with a certain set of user issues. The new software focuses on minimizing the tedious tasks associated with everyday drafting and includes features such as:
• Dynamic input, which gives customers the power of the command line at the graphics cursor, allowing them to focus on the design. Dynamic input displays dimensional information during geometry creation and makes it easy to edit.
• Dynamic blocks, which allow access to multiple variations on a single block. Dynamic blocks dramatically reduce cumbersome block libraries and make it easy to modify block geometry during and after insertion for faster design changes.
• Data Extraction Wizard, which automatically creates tables such as schedules, bills of material and price estimates. Users can sort and filter block information quickly and easily and combine it with their company's standard table styles, for accurate tables of data.
• Annotation enhancements, which include easier text placement, improved hatching and enhanced table functions that perform common math expressions in and across cells, rows and columns.
• One-click migration of customized files from earlier releases of the software to AutoCAD 2006.
AutoCAD LT, 2D drafting and detailing software, is optimal for design professionals in all industries who require full DWF file format compatibility and core functionality without extended customization and visualization features.
"The 20th release of AutoCAD marks an important milestone for the company and our customers," said John Sanders, vice president of Autodesk's Platform Technology Division. "What began as a software tool to help designers graphically represent their designs has evolved into an innovative solution used worldwide. Our customers have been extremely progressive in the ways they use AutoCAD, and we continue to advance the AutoCAD platform to serve their design needs."
Availability
Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD 2006 LT are available on March 22, 2005, in English, German and Japanese. U.S. and Canadian customers can purchase the software via Autodesk's reseller channel and the online store at http://www.autodesk.com/autocad or http://www.autodesk.com/autocadlt .
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