AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a drafting and CAD (Computer-Aided Design) program that was initially launched by Autodesk, Inc. in December 1982. It was the first CAD software offered on personal computers. AutoCAD is the universal microcomputer design program used by major industries and it is mainly used to assist people in designing structural spaces without drawing the plans by hand. This program offers various 3D and basic solid modeling tools. AutoCAD comes in different variations such as AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD WS, AutoCAD Freestyle and AutoCAD Student versions.

The AutoCAD program offers various designing tools. It has a Surface Curve Extraction tool used in extracting isoline curves throughout a particular point of a solid’s face or surface. A Context Sensitive PressPull tool is also available that can create solids and surfaces and extrude/offset curves. The program also offers a 3D Associative Array tool that can be used to define arrayed objects for 3D designing. The SketchBook Designer feature provides integrated painting, illustration and image manipulation tasks.

The AutoCAD application offers tools to assist in documentation workflows. It has Model Document Tools that can generate documentations for AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor program and other models. This tool can import different types of formats such as CATIA, SolidWorks and Rhino. The AutoCAD program also provides Autodesk Content Explorer that creates a data index used for finding design content.

Other features offered by the AutoCAD application are tools used to stay connected. The program is integrated with Autodesk 360 allowing the synchronization of files online. It also offers Social Media Sharing that has built-in links for Twitter and Facebook. The Autodesk Inventor Fusion program provides more options for 3D designing.

The AutoCAD software uses .dwg files as its native format. Autodesk then added support for this format for publishing all types of CAD data. The format .dwg has become the universal file format for all CAD data.