Autodesk Releases AutoCAD 2010 Family of Products
5 Feb, 2009Company says new features will help designers drive innovation.
Autodesk yesterday announced the release of AutoCAD 2010, the 2010 AutoCAD family of discipline-specific software, and AutoCAD LT 2010 software for professional drafting and detailing. The latest release of AutoCAD introduces new capabilities, including free-form design tools, parametric drawing, and enhanced PDF support.
The new free-form design tools will allow users to explore ideas in 3D models and create almost any shape, the company reports. New PDF import and underlay and enhanced publishing features can improve two-way communication with the extended design team. In addition, the introduction of constraint-based parametric drawing tools enables users to define persistent relationships between objects, accelerating design revision workflows. AutoCAD 2010 now also supports 3D printing, which the company says will make it easy to produce physical 3D models and physical prototypes by connecting to on-demand 3D printing services or personal 3D printers.
"Providing customers with the powerful 3D design tools that enable them to stretch the limits of their creativity was our priority for the 2010 release of AutoCAD," said Guri Stark, vice-president, AutoCAD and Platform Products Business Unit. "To the AutoCAD software portfolio we've added highly requested features from customers, like enhanced capabilities with the PDF file format in AutoCAD, and new 2D commands for AutoCAD LT. Taken together, the new version of AutoCAD provides the power and flexibility our customers have been demanding to take their documentation and design further."
The updated AutoCAD 2010 software portfolio includes the following industry-specific applications built on the AutoCAD platform:
AutoCAD Architecture 2010 software brings a variety of feature enhancements including a new, more streamlined user interface that offers optimized desktop organization, a larger drawing window, and quicker access to tools and commands.
AutoCAD Civil 2010 now has a streamlined user interface, a more complete field to finish surveying workflow, and roadway intersection modeling.
AutoCAD Electrical 2010's streamlined design environment and the new "one-line" circuit symbol library reportedly can increase the productivity of control engineers. Enhancements to the Circuit Builder tool enable designers to analyze the energy efficiency of circuits and make "green" engineering decisions.
AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 includes new survey functionality, enhanced data analysis capabilities, and a new workflow framework.
AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 also has a streamlined design environment and bills of material enhancements.
AutoCAD MEP 2010 software provides a variety of new features including more improved performance capabilities, the availability of new sloped piping tools, and content enhancements offering more piping options, and the ability to more easily create block-based MvParts from solids and mass elements.
AutoCAD P&ID 2010 includes an enhanced user interface, curved schematic lines, and project setup enhancements.
The latest release of AutoCAD LT 2010 incorporates PDF input and output enhancements, additional 2D drafting commands for viewing and editing drawings, and 2D drafting tools from AutoCAD to help increase productivity, including the ALIGN, Xref and Block Attribute commands.
Autodesk Design Review 2010 software is also available as a free download to users of any Autodesk product including the AutoCAD 2010 family of products. With tools to review, mark up, and measure documents, Design Review enables team members to participate in an all-digital design review process. The latest release includes updates that support viewing and markup of PDF files.
Product availability varies by country. Details and purchasing options will be accessible beginning March 24, 2009, at www.autodesk.com/autocad.
