Autodesk has launched AutoCAD 2013, a major update of its flagship design software. New to the program are links with the Autodesk 360 cloud service; this lets a user access a project anywhere with Internet access, as well as collaborate with distant coworkers. The emphasis on sharing in fact extends down to posting content on Facebook and Twitter.
Autodesk has announced that AutoCAD LT 2012 has been released on the Mac App Store. The LT release serves as a downsized edition of the full AutoCAD 2012 package, which is set to late in the week. Users can take advantage of 2D drafting and detailing tools for creating and editing technical drawings, saved in the popular DWG file format supported by the range of AutoCAD software for Mac and Windows machines.
Autodesk engineers are "working round the clock" on OS X Lion support for AutoCAD 2011 for Mac, according to a notice on the company's support pages. The developer in fact warns of "undesirable side effects" when trying to use the design suite in Lion. These include "issues with printing/plotting, Customer Error Reporting (CER), and more."
Autodesk on Tuesday said it planned to bring AutoCAD WS to Android-based smartphones and tablets before the end of the month. The version comes after the iPad and iPhone adaptation and will have the same basic editing and collaboration tools intact. Company Senior VP Amar Hanspal told AllThingsD it was a reaction to demand after the iOS version and that it would likely do well in "certain geographies" where Android was popular.
Dell has began shipping the Precision T1600 tower workstation it introduced at the start of February. It's meant for professional users with applications such as AutoCAD or Pro/Engineer and offers Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i3 processors or Xeon E3-1200 chips, at clock speeds ranging from 3.1GHz to 3.5GHz.
Autodesk has updated its flagship iOS app, Autodesk WS, bringing it to v1.2. The CAD tool has gained several critical upgrades, including layouts and the ability to cut, copy and paste text or objects. A feature called Snap Preview magnifies an area to help with selections or drawing.
Google on Friday gave Google Docs its first real file format update with 12 new standards. The release supports an Apple-specific format for the first time and will let users read Pages documents in-browser. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop images also now work, and modelling gets its first support through recognition of Autodesk's AutoCAD.
As promised in August, Autodesk has begun shipping the first new Mac version of AutoCAD to be released in over 18 years. The program carries over most features of the recent Windows editions, and uses similar interface tropes. Some notable differences include the ability to browse files through Cover Flow, or use multi-touch gestures on Apple controllers like the Magic Trackpad.
Autodesk has launched AutoCAD WS, an iOS version of the company's desktop CAD software. The app lets users view, share and edit DWG files. External references, layers, and image underlays are incorporated, and while editing users can move, rotate and scale objects. Special tools allow for shape creation, text annotations and distance measurement.
Autodesk has confirmed earlier reports suggesting AutoCAD will return to the Mac platform sometime in October, alongside a companion app for iOS devices. The popular 2D/3D design and engineering software spent the last 15 years as a Windows-only offering, although early versions were offered for both platforms.
AutoCAD is indeed coming to the Mac, a report says. In April, code comments in ObjectARX 2011 SDK files were noted to be pointing to a Mac port. These have been backed up with new screenshots of an early beta, codenamed Sledgehammer Beta 1. The release is said to be 64-bit native, and already supporting multi-touch gestures via a Magic Mouse.
Autodesk has released an online home and garden design application, Homestyler, and is rumored to be about to release a Mac-native version of AutoCAD 2011, according to Architosh. Homestyler is a cloud-based 3Ddesign application oriented toward non-professionals but capable of exporting 2D/3D info in Autodesk DWG and Revit versions. It quickly creates floor plans with manufacturer-based items, using drag-and-drop to relocate items. It has been released as a public beta and is free.
Ilexsoft today unveiled HighDesign 1.8, a major update to its professional CAD application, featuring over 50 new features and improvements. HighDesign Professional supports the AutoCAD DWG and DXB file formats, from v9.x to 2008, while both Standard and Professional versions support DXF from v12.x to 2006. The Professional version can export projects as high-quality TIFF images. HighDesign 1.8 Standard sells for $150, while the Professional version is available for $350.
Microspot has announced the release of Microspot DWG Viewer 1.6.6, a new Universal version of its popular 2D AutoCAD file viewer. The application allows users to view, annotate and print AutoCAD DWG Files on a Mac. In addition to the "Universal" application, the company said the update brings better support for the AutoCAD 2007 file format. DWG Viewer is an application based on Microspot MacDraft Professional that opens AutoCAD DWG files created on Windows PCs. Users can open the Layouts as well as the Model; it enables them to show, hide or grey the individual layers and zoom in and pan around the document.
