The AutoCAD 2009 group of software was recently announced by AutoDesk Inc. This was done at AutoDesk’s yearly “World Press Days” event. The software announced includes AutoCAD 2009, the new version of the premiere software application for 2d and 3d design, technical drawings and conceptual design, drafting as well as detailing. AutoDesk is the leading company for the development of 2D&3D design software for use by the building and construction, manufacturing, entertainment and media markets. They are the makers of AutoCAD software and various other software tools.

The latest release of AutoCAD has many user interface enhancements to help AutoCAD users develop great design ideas and create compelling presentations. The modern Task-based User Interface of AutoCAD 2009 is intended to improve the efficiency and ease of Design and Drafting. It allows new and expert AutoCAD users to attain higher efficiency. The latest version also has automation tools, which do not require any programming knowledge. There are also new 3D navigation tools. The company says that this line of software will increase the efficiency and productivity of expert users and also will allow beginners to become productive rapidly.

New features and tools

AutoCAD software Integrates drawing and visualization and speeds up tasks. All the updates to each software in the AutoCAD 2009 group of software make routine CAD tasks quicker and make it a lot easier too find the less-common commands. AutoCAD 2009 software has a new ribbon interface which gives users the ability to see operations, which are pertinent to the workspace at hand in one compact place. The new interface is highly customizable and extensible and allows an easy transition from older versions of AutoCAD software. There is also a “classic workspace” option, which provides a conventional toolbar & menu interface. There are also other useful tools like enhanced tool tips that provide much more information on various commands, help and documentation links and “Show Me” animations for guidance. Relevant information is displayed quickly and in a visual manner, thanks to the menu browser, quick properties and quick view.

Apart from various user interface enhancements, there are some exciting new features, which include

1] The Action Recorder, which streamlines drafting tasks It does this by allowing a user to automate drafting tasks with no software programming. .

2] A modeless layer manager which lets a user view any changes to the layer settings without having to leave the Layer Manager.

3] 3D navigation is greatly improved in autoCAD2009, thanks to the new SteeringWheels and ViewCube tools. .

4] AutoCAD 2009 software has been certified for the 32/64 bit Windows Vista operating systems. Microsoft Vista standards for reliability, compatibility and security are met. .

A wide variety of software for many different fields

The family of software includes the AutoCAD 2009 range of Industry-specific applications, which are based on AutoCAD technology. Let’s take a look at the many diverse software in the AutoCAD 2009 family, in their glorious 2009 versions. .

1] AutoCAD Architecture 2009, which has tools for architectural design and drawing within a well-known AutoCAD workflow
2] AutoCAD Civil 3D software gives better surveying, design, construction documentation and analysis for civil engineering within a well-known AutoCAD workflow.
3] AutoCAD Electrical is software to design electrical controls systems in a fast and accurate manner with automated tasks, comprehensive symbol libraries, plus an electrical-specific workflow intended to aid controls engineers.
4] AutoCAD P&ID 2009 is a software for users to create, manage and modify piping and instrumentation diagrams. It gets user interface enhancements to help automate the regular tasks and streamline information access in a way that projects can be started easier, carried out better and finished quickly.
5] AutoCAD Raster Design is used with various AutoCAD 2009 software applications to provide raster editing, raster data preparation abilities and raster-to-vector conversion, which add to the value of maps, scanned drawings and satellite imagery.
6] AutoCAD LT 2009, the best-selling 2D drafting application has new software features incorporated which are intended to better the productivity of drafting tasks. These include user interface enhancements, streamlined annotation features, improved dynamic blocks plus improved publishing and data exchange abilities.
7] AutoCAD Map 3D acts as a bridge between geospatial information systems (GIS) and CAD information and provides direct access to all data. It also enables the utilization of the latest AutoCAD software tools to maintain a wide range of geospatial and design information.
8] AutoCAD Mechanical 2009, which is intended to speed up the mechanical design process It has standards-based symbol libraries, engineering calculators plus a mechanical-specific workflow developed to greatly improve productivity and efficiency of AutoCAD users in manufacturing field.
9] AutoCAD MEP 2009 is the AutoCAD software intended for MEP businesses [mechanical, electrical, plumbing]. It has intuitive system drawing and design tools as well as inbuilt design calculators to help create more efficient and accurate designs.
10] AutoDesk Design Review is software that can be downloaded for free at http://www.autodesk.com/designreview-download. It also ships with all AutoDesk design software. It allows members of a team to take part in every digital review process and provides them various tools to view, revise and mark up designs electronically.
11] AutoDesk Impression illustration software, which can be used to create presentation-ready graphics, is provided to subscription customers of AUTOCAD 2009. It enables users to create presentation-ready graphics quickly and easily. These graphics have a hand drawn look and can be created directly from AutoCAD .dwf and .dwg files. With this Impression functionality added to the AutoCAD set of features, an AutoCAD subscription customer can create excellent images and share them with clients as well as members of their design team.

You can get more details and examine various purchasing options for all these software at http://www.autodesk.com/purchaseoptions

Making the process of Building Design faster and easier

Autodesk highlighted how architects are adopting its design software, 3ds Max Design for 3D visualization and its Architecture software, Revit for BIM (building information modeling), at the recent VisMasters Conference. According to the company, around 300,000 designers, engineers and architects are using Revit platform for building information modeling.

3ds Max Design, the most recent version of the 3D graphics application 3ds Max is a product from Autodesk specifically designed to meet the needs of designers and architects. It runs exclusively on windows and possesses a highly flexible plug-in architecture plus strong modeling capabilities. It is widely used by architects and allows them to create everything from initial concept models to presentations that are fully animated and of cinematic quality, which allow them to creatively visualize and communicate their designs. Among its notable features are Exposure, a potent lighting analysis and simulation technology and Reveal, an iterative rendering technology which allows quick feedback and completed renderings

Revit Architecture is a windows based architectural BIM software that allows users to utilize parametric modeling & drafting elements in their design. BIM permits intelligent, parametric and 3d object-based design. A single file database, which multiple users can share among themselves, Revit Architecture helps keep the whole team’s work coordinated, free of clashes and errors. All views are automatically updated when a change is made anywhere, so documentation and designs are always complete and consistent. A building’s entire life cycle is contained in a BIM model, from concept and construction to its decommissioning. Revit’s relational database architecture or parametric change engine, as the company calls it makes this possible. Specially built for the purpose of building information modeling, Revit Architecture software helps to maintain all design information complete, free of errors and fully coordinated.

Working together

3ds Max Design has a new FBX-based scene-loading technology called Recognize, which allows the import of geometry, materials, cameras and lights from Revit scenes to Autodesk 3ds Max Design, in a quick and accurate manner. This makes it much easier to enhance visual BIM (Building information modeling) data. Moreover, the tools SteeringWheels and ViewCube strengthen interoperability across all Autodesk 3d products.

A potent combination

3ds Max Design plus Revit Architecture is a potent combination that enables designers to best utilize the power and capabilities of BIM over all their processes. When teamed together, 3ds Max design and Revit architecture allow users to easily aggregate additional scene elements, add special effects or animate objects and also offer advanced modeling and texturing tools for fast iterations of rendered images.

3ds Max may be used in the initial stages of a project for conceptual and pre-schematic design. Various aspects of a drawing set can then be produced in Revit Architecture, also including construction documents and design documents. 3ds Max can be later utilized to obtain photo real renderings that can be utilized to market projects effectively. The Revit model can be used for construction coordination. The daily presence of the architect firm on-site will be useful to ease the use of this model.

Much of an architect’s work depends on deliverables. The usage of Revit Architecture along with 3ds Max design reduces the effort and time and effort, which goes into a project’s various aspects. You can easily manage a drawing set utilizing Revit Architecture, because the software makes it easier for architects, by allowing them to focus more on a building, while worrying less about other issues. 3ds Max design gives the architects the ability to speedily and loosely model as well as render various building elements throughout the process of design. The usage of Revit Architecture along with 3ds Max on projects allows firms to test and analyze a variety of design options in a fast and easy manner. Referenced linked files and grouped components can be used widely for every modular unit in both Revit Architecture as well as 3ds Max design. This lets an architect update the model and make design changes, in a very short time period.

The conventional 2D drafting views and shaded 3D camera views of Revit Architecture can be used alongside extremely detailed photorealistic renderings made in 3ds Max to communicate design ideas for a project more effectively. When the time comes to go from conceptual digital sketches to high resolution photorealistic images for marketing purposes, high quality material can be provided in a very short period of time, which will leave clients highly impressed.

Thus, the two software’s complement each other well. Autodesk has taken steps to improve the interoperability between these two and is sure to introduce further enhancements in this direction. So 3ds Max Design & Revit Architecture is a useful combination for an architect.