PRODUCTS, Products, products...
Lately Autodesk has been deploying a large number of new software titles. I thought I'd take a few moments this week and update you on them, where to find more info on them, and what they do.
First you have probably heard that AutoCAD has been updated to 14.01. For most people this won't be worth the bother and headache of even trying to find it because for 99% of people out there it isn't needed. Few bugs are addressed and only a handful of items are updated. If you are thinking of upgrading from an older version of AutoCAD or are planing on taking your firm into today's technology, here's a Return on Investment Calculator from Autodesk. http://www.autodesk.com/products/acadr14... I found their beginning numbers a bit off, and considering the source, take it with a grain of salt. If you think you need 14.01, check out http://www.autodesk.com/support/autocad/... for the list of reasons to grab it from your reseller since it is 25 megs and is not available online.
The big news for most people is the new AutoCAD Desktops. For years, mechanical engineers have had Mechanical Desktop at their fingertips, which gave them expanded 3D capabilities. Now Architects and Civil Engineers both join the ranks with their own Desktop versions of ACAD. We now have Architectural Desktop for the AEC community and Land Development Desktop for the Civil Engineering field. Personally I wish Autodesk had come out with a single package that included everything in it, because I could probably use the added features and power of the other desktops versions.
Also, brand new this year is AutoCAD LT98, which was introduced with little fanfare. This is probably because so little has changed. In previous releases of AutoCAD there always seem to be over 100 new features, this release has less than a dozen. Of the new things added the most silly is the new drag and drop function of the hatch pattern, which seems sort of silly because most people will probably find themselves editing the hatch anyway to get the required results. Also included is the revision cloud function found in AutoCAD r14. This is nice, but is it worth the money? The real power of the new version is you can now do both multiple undo's, as well as multiple redo's. Also hot are the new dialog boxes for the array and purge commands. Personally I find many people keep away from the array command because it's too difficult trying to make it work correctly the first time out. Back on the minus side are the new Internet tools. From what I've seen, most people aren't using the Internet tools, so why would I want more of something I don't use? Next up is grouping of objects. I find that the way ACAD deals with them that they are more of a hassle than they are worth. How about some new features for drawing arcs and circles? Now, I like having new ways to draw, but quite frankly I find many people have a problem with drawing a circle or an arc as it is, due to the complexity of the commands. I think ACAD could have a "beginner mode" dialog box that would walk a person through the command like they now have with the array command. Lastly is the glorious new HTML help file... no offense, but so long as it is searchable text with hyperlinks, I don't care if its HTML or a normal help file. The only thing dislike about help files are those from companies who use PDF files for their helps. These are quite hard to work with. Overall, I find this one not really worth the upgrade cost, and several of the AutoCAD salespeople I have recently talked with had a hard time finding a real reason to buy it, much less come out with a new version vs. a simple update of what we already have. To see the discussion group on LT98 see news://adesknews.autodesk.com/autodesk.autocadlt.98general or for LT97 see news://adesknews.autodesk.com/autodesk.autocadlt.97general
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