The release proved to be earth-shattering for the CAD industry, with AutoCAD being one of the first CAD packages on the market to run on PCs. The first version was demonstrated at the 1982 Comdex, and was released later that year in December. It was then acquired by Autodesk-a move that proved to cement Autodesk’s reigning status in the CAD industry. It was derived, in fact, from a program called Interact CAD-sometimes referred to as MicroCAD-before it was developed further by Mike Riddle. Before we get stuck into its incredible features, therefore, we’re going to give you a quick overview-looking at how one of the CAD industry’s favorite products came to be.Īlthough first released in 1982, AutoCAD was conceived much earlier. Then again, if you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent most of your time getting to grips with AutoCAD’s capabilities, rather than its history. In this guide, we’ll be examining AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT-looking at the differences in functionality, capability and much more.Īs one of the front-running products in the CAD industry, we’d like to think you’re already relatively familiar with Autodesk’s flagship product, AutoCAD. In a measure to broaden its customer base further, Autodesk created a ‘lite’ version in the form of AutoCAD LT. Offering solutions to a range of industries-from architecture to engineering to entertainment-there’s simply no way of avoiding it. None, however, have really been able to surpass the popularity and power of Autodesk’s flagship product, AutoCAD. A key player in the evolution of CAD, Autodesk has since released a range of top software packages.

Since AutoCAD’s inception in 1982, Autodesk has been a large and resounding presence in the CAD industry and beyond.

This week, we’re turning our heads to look at CAD giant Autodesk and its most popular products. It’s for this reason that we set out to create comparison guides for the top CAD programs on the market. With conflicting information-or none at all-there’s no real way of finding out what capabilities each program has. Scan2CAD knows all too well how difficult it can be for CAD enthusiasts and professionals alike to figure out the differences between CAD packages.

Autocad lite version