AutoCAD- A powerful tool for drawing and modelling

Work with AutoCAD begins at the conception stage (conceptual design, schematics, design development) through to construction (good for construction and as-built drawings) and completion. I have been using AutoCAD for the last ten years and honestly, I would not trade this software for any other. Our company uses AutoCAD for drafting two-dimensional layouts, editing, developing 3D models as well as using it to import and export to other compatible software such as Revit for BIM and IES for energy modelling respectively. It is a fundamental drafting software that has no competitor in the market, especially for the construction industry. I highly recommend this powerful tool for enhancing the quality of detailed architectural, mechanical, electrical and civil 2D drawings for better implementation on site.

Pros

There is no limit to what can be produced with AutoCAD, from architecture, product design, and landscape drawings, from the tiniest to scales to the largest. As an Architect, I feel that mastering this software has been an indispensable skill, and I will be using it for many many years to come.
Once you get a hang of it, developing layouts is simple, with a customizable interface and menus. I especially love the Object Snap command that helps me prepare drawings and details that are 100% accurate.
Being compatible with a majority of modelling software, exporting CAD drawings is quite straightforward too. There is a plethora of support online as well as provided by Autodesk, if things seem challenging or there is a glitch to fix.
The best part is that AutoCAD offers a fully functional free version for students, which is definitely a step in the right direction; not all companies do this.

Cons

The price tag associated with AutoCAD is steep, considering designers, architects, and engineers, all use it perpetually. To function without major glitches such as screen freeze, slow processing speed the software needs system rich in memory and RAM. A few commands like Trim and Hatch function slowly if your computer is (in my case) old or short on available RAM.
For new users, the entire interface can be quite overwhelming considering the number of commands available for varied functions.
I don't really have major issues with the 2D drafting feature, as it is comprehensive, accurate and user-friendly, but somehow the 3D feature isn't the best. In my opinion, there is other software available which can produce exceptional, presentation worthy and realistic 3D renderings as most have their own ray tracing, something that AutoCAD lacks.
Additionally, for complex projects, it can be challenging to update sections, elevations, and detail drawings even if there is a minor change in the plan/s. For this purpose especially, I prefer BIM software when working on large and challenging projects.

Help people to create architectural designs

AutoCAD Architecture takes the former AutoCAD to a whole new dimension. The program significantly boosts productivity, which allows a client to work more efficiently and effectively. In fact, I think this product is something essential in every office and home that frequently deals with architectural designs. I also think that companies that choose to adopt this particular program will most likely enjoy the added benefit of mechanization of complex drafting undertakings than before.

Pros

CAD software is tailor-made to help people create aesthetically appealing architectural designs and documents quickly and easily. On the other hand, AutoCAD Architecture adds more salient features for architectural drawing, schedules, and documentation. It's also easy to automate drafting tasks with just a few clicks, which makes life easier and fun at the same time.
This software program is fairly easy to use, especially when you undertake a few beginner lessons. It's an excellent option for basic floor plans, landscape studies, and elevations to mention a few. You can easily turn off multiple layers that you don't need, and choose the ones that suit your specific project. I love to use this as my schematic starting point before uploading them to other designing tools, such as Revit or Photoshop.

Cons

There's a small learning curve a person may experience in the beginning before they can start using the program efficiently and effectively. The keyboard commands are many and overwhelming, and there are so many ways of accomplishing a single task. Also, the functionality to organize large drawings or to organize repetitive elements is very limited. All these technicalities make it very easy for a person to get lost and confused, especially if you're sharing your work with someone who has a different layout preference from yours. Another thing I really dislike about this program is the 3D software part. Sure, you're able to create awesome designs with 3D, but the whole experience is time-consuming and a largely manual task altogether.

AutoCAD Architecture

In general involvement with this product AutoCAD Architecture takes AutoCAD to an altogether new dimension. AutoCAD Architecture significantly expands productivity, enabling a client to progress quickly. Firms embracing AutoCAD Architecture, gain the advantage of mechanization of complex drafting undertakings.

Pros

In this day and age customers continuously request greater productivity, more accuracy, and extra building information. Although AutoCAD has provided a beautiful work of expanding the efficiency of 2D drafting in Architecture. AutoCAD Architecture further improves efficiency via robotizing numerous regular tasks. The outcome is quicker Construction Document (CD) generation with expanded exactness and coordination. Autodesk AutoCAD is a PC helped configuration program for two-and three-dimensional illustration. It is a software perceived globally for its full editing abilities, which make it conceivable to draw building designs or reproduce 3D pictures carefully.
Advantages of using AutoCAD in Architect Designing
1. Increase in speed and generation of remodels
2. Enhanced and better documentation all through the drafting procedure
3. Saves time by expelling the need to make complex incline changes designs
4. Resume work all the more rapidly in the event of a tainted document
5. Increasingly productive work process with the assistance of new direction line seek highlights
6. Apply different completions to a surface and computerize tedious drafting assignments to lessen mistakes
7. Naturally, append property set definitions to design objects
8. Tidy up drawings and can move unused layers all the more effectively

Cons

1. The program is expensive, because of its permit.
2. Learning how to use the product entirely requires a ton of time since there are numerous capacities, and even that they are of little application since they are quite specific.
3. It needs a fantastic PC to work with handling speed and a high space on the hard drive.
4. A great many people who need to figure out how to utilize this program need to pay costly courses to figure out how to use them all together.

AutoCAD review

Has revolutionized virtually every engineering field in existence, and even almost single-handedly created an entire new industry: the CAD draftsman. Every draftsman must spend significant time and training specifying a field, but computer drafting is now virtually a career unto itself, almost secondary to the industry it supports. It is and always will be an imperfect tool, but is incredibly powerful and indispensable. There are other worthy competitors... but AutoCAD is the most widespread, and the best.

Pros

It is the industry standard - that alone counts for a lot, even though that means we're all contributing to its unofficial monopoly. Extremely powerful, customizeable, available in several specialized versions. It takes a while to learn the extents of what it can do - but that's not a negative, just a byproduct of its complexity. Learning the basics is fairly quick and easy, thanks to its intuitive setup, which has improved over the years.

Cons

Well known to be prone to frequent or at least unexpected crashes. Any seasoned AutoCAD user is well-trained to save work constantly. One brilliant tool Autodesk employed to help combat this is to save data across several separate files for any one drawing/project - that way if one of them becomes corrupt, it can be diagnosed, excised, and hopefully recreated. But again, any experienced user is accustomed to the frustration of occasionally losing hours of work and spending hours more investigating, backtracking, and rebuilding. It is also extremely expensive, which really cannot be avoided considering the vast and complex programming that goes into it, and also due to the security and monitoring necessary in today's ease of electronic pirating; this is a shame, because while in earlier decades it was perhaps expensive but not always prohibitively so, a novice can no longer attain a home copy to use/learn at their leisure.

Versatility mixed with complexity.

As complex as AutoCad is, learning how to use it is a very rewarding experience when you start to achieve sleek designs. Even though it takes time, I cannot really state that my experience is a negative one, for the contrary, the more I learn, the more excited I get. AutoCad's difficulty is very well balanced out with the quality you are able to achieve within the software, and the wide possibilities it offers. Becoming an expert is a must have for many fields, it will surely open many doors.

Pros

To state an opinion of AutoCad being as objective as you can is clearly a challenge, because it is very versatile software, with distinctive functionalities that adapt to many industries, but I will give it a try:

AutoCad has one of the most extensive tools set you can imagine, that allows to draft in a logical sense almost anything you could imagine through the space of your ‘canvas’. From package design, to wire and pipes, props, Architecture, Interior and Industrial design and even Printed Circuit Board designs (Even though there are more efficient softwares for that one).

AutoCad is all about precision and logical designs that follow a mathematical pattern, even though it might be catered towards some specific fields, the possibilities are wide and you may find it useful for something you never really imagined that follows a specific rational arrangement, I could basically describe it as a digital technical drawing software with almost no limitations.

Once you get a grasp of the most basic tools, it is fairly easy to keep everything neat.

Cons

AutoCad is a very complex software, and learning how to use it is not precisely an easy task, sometimes just exploring the tools is not enough. I needed to do a few courses before I was able to get a grasp of it, and I am still far from being an expert. You usually adapt your learning curve towards what you are looking to do, since there is not necessarily a unique way to approach your designs, and the tools logical functionality might feel abstract if you are unable to understand them properly.

The uses you can give to the software are as ambiguous as how you use your tools, and it adapts to your needs but at the same time you have to be aware of keeping your designs coherency at all times.

I believe they should definitely enhance the printing area configuration; it still gives me a headache every time that I am trying to print a one page designs and I end up printing 4 divided sheets because of a misinterpreted printing setting.

You need a high-spec machine if you are planning to design in 3D, it consumes a lot of RAM memory and might slow down or heat up your computer.

AutoCAD is the drafting and prototyping engineer's most extended product line of CAD stuff.

I've assisted others in establishing a gig basis context, and perhaps an appreciable self-serving basis and context of establishing themselves in a profession of architecture and product design, for example, in which they've had some appreciable experience in, and willingness to devote time on their own, as it were, to establishing a professionalism occupation on the merits of their pre-established education that would suit them in acquiring AutoCAD professional user experience for their future jobs and creations in life.

Pros

AutoCAD has one of the most long standing reputations and extensive product line offerings, bearing out from the basic context of AutoCAD itself, into various takes on what merits a CAD professionalism in the context od many different specializations of CAD-related industries, from fashion, to prototyping, to architecture, to building facets of the construction, development, piping and wiring context of getting into the various takes on AutoCAD releases that feature specializations suited to assist the specialist drafting engineering architect in building development contexts outside of a notably commonplace notion of CAD for architecture, [as I'd come to expect, from experience], whereas the standard AutoCAD is feature-worthy and extensible enough to merit its use in any sort of professional details-and-measurements-driven usage of a need to have access to all steps created during the drafting process, in exacting measurement contexts of producing goods for manufacture, for example.

Cons

As an ambitious digital muti-media artist snd various cottage industries aspirant, of several various pursuits in life, CAD has proven to be somewhat high on the prior-education and prerequisites of knowledge spectrum, as far as a considerably ad hoc entrepreneurial common fare other digital multimedia areas of specialization would not particularly merit a sit down and first off considerable user basis of know how and mastery within a CAD software context. It's obviously good software, but the learning context of being able to appreciably produce a professional product for actual manufacturing specifications would take more learning experience than I've devoted to CAD.

Industry Standard for Drafting and Designing

As I use AutoCAD on a near-daily basis in the engineering field, it has become a tool that is second-nature while drafting and designing. While AutoCAD is an extremely effective tool to help designers and drafters to create drawings that look great and are easy to manipulate, it can struggle to handle heavy project workload with many 3-dimensional objects in one drawing; if you are able to plan and predict what a project will entail, you can plan your drawings accordingly to make sure that there isn't too much content in a single drawing which seems to cause this issue. As a leading tool for engineers, AutoCAD remains an excellent software for drafting and designing.

Pros

AutoCAD is a great drafting tool that has some great built-in functions to assist the designer in efficiently designing and drafting engineering projects. The customization in AutoCAD allows for great consistency in drafting by having custom uniform text, styles, and general features (such as pipe networks, pressure networks, and profiles to name a few), though this customization can also be a detriment which I will mention below. The majority of the interface is designed for ease-of-use, having all of the commonly used features in the ribbon and on the taskbar, while retaining the text commands for quickly accessing features for more advanced users. AutoCAD has widespread compatibility in terms of files it is able to import and read, as well as output formats to other drafting softwares. As I use AutoCAD with the Civil 3D add-on, there are some very helpful 3-dimensional tools that make it easy to draft your intended design with ease and the functionality of having various levels of complexity such as 3-dimensional surfaces, 3-dimensional pipe networks, and all of the associated tools (roadway corridors, grading tools, and surface manipulation.) AutoCAD is an industry standard for a reason - it helps the designer to efficiently and effectively complete designs with a wide variety of tools and options.

Cons

Though AutoCAD offers some very useful tools, some of these tools are complex and there can be a steep learning curve for new users. The bulk of the issues encountered while using AutoCAD seem to happen on larger complex projects. For larger-scale projects where many different drawings and objects are referenced together, it is important for the user to understand efficient ways to link drawings and AutoCAD objects together to prevent file slow-downs and bloating of project files. The dreaded 'Fatal Error' is also not uncommon when working in larger complex projects, especially when using 3-dimensional functions in the software such as surface grading. As newer versions of the software cause older versions to become obsolete, it is crucial that you stay up-to-date with the newest version of AutoCAD if you are planning on collaborating with external parties or consultants. Ensure the machine you will be using AutoCAD on exceeds the minimum recommended software and hardware requirements, as it can be difficult to efficiently use this software on an under-powered computer.

My experience using autocad has been nice. I like the software

The benefits that I obtained with this software was the development of architectural projects in a short time. With good appearance and better image when I'm going to present it to clients.and not only use it for architecture but for my daily tasks, make drawings, figures for my friends, to cut and print graphic design forms. A few days ago I was teaching two people to make lines, polygons, curves in autocad. My two friends loved the tool, and are willing to take a course to explore the program. My two friends want to learn to get a job as an architectural draftsman and work as people for their children. The tool is very versatile, and friendly to the public. Without a doubt it is one of the best software that they have been able to invent. Every day I am surprised more of the things that I can do in that program. For now the only difficulty has been making 3d modeling with the three-dimensional version of autocad, because I still have trouble knowing which tools I can use and which I can not. Also my computer is not adapted so that the program can work properly and runs out of memory space. In the next few years I hope to get the opportunity to produce more money and install the current version of that year, and learn how to use the 3D tool of this program well. On some occasions I tried to make renders in that program and I have trouble adjusting all the lights. The photographs are dark or unclear. I would like to learn with some autodesk videos about how to manage the program in the right way to get along better in this category. I feel that in the future the autodesk company will have so many tools integrated into the program that they will not be able to resist, all the companies should have laptops with this program. Not only as a means of work, but as part of your lifestyle. For example, I benefit from doing my work as an architect and other extra jobs that have to do with furniture design. Currently autocad is the only tool with which I develop better. The time that I can spend designing and drawing is infinite, because I have a lot of fun trying out alternatives for clients. In addition you can save them in different formats, and the client can check it from his computer without having to go to my office. We can have long conversations about the different options and autocad lets me keep it comfortably as I want. This is one of the most important tools in the area of design and architecture.

Pros

I feel good exploring the tools of the program. Currently I like to use the PlotPDF tool that converts the pdf into lines and makes the drawings can be drawn in a more comfortable way. I am an architect and I recommend the program to all the people who work with me.

Cons

What I do not like about the program is that in each new version I do not know the added functions. The autodesk company should have an indicator with notifications indicating the new tools and commands that were added. In addition to that the steps to test the new commands. I would like to start a new version of AutoCAD with new tools notifications and view sample videos within the model.

I'm an Architectural Designer and Cad Draftsman in 6 years until now.

I help me to save a lot of time when deadline is coming. It works with the other software effectively, for example: 3dsmadx, sketchup, corel draw, photoshop. It is very useful for Architect, Cad Draftsman, Architectural Designer, Engineer, ect. I think we can not well without using Autocad. Although I started to use Revit Architecture for my work in about 1 year but I still need AutoCad. In my country, people still use Autocad for their work, it's effective, easy to use, fast and we can find the AutoCad tutorial on internet (in English and my mother language) without any difficult.

Pros

This is the first time I review for this software after using it in several years. In fact, I like this software because it's very easy to learn and use at the beginning level, anyone can learn it without taking a course. But if you want to become an advanced user with AutoCad, you must need some skills in IT area and get a course seriously. For the new interface, to be honest when I used it at the first time in several years ago, I didn't like it, I was familiar with the old one. But I tried and I found it is very effective and easy to use than I thought, because it gave me more chance to discover the other functions in AutoCad that I didn't know, for instance when I tried with dynamic block and parametric in the first time since a long time ago, I really felt in love with it. I also like the new purge function, it really didt good job. When I used Autocad 2013, I had to install AutoCAD_2013_2014_DGN_Hotfix to purge the large files. But the new AutocCad version already installed that function and I like it, it helped me so much when I worked with large files.

Cons

I have a big problem with the dimension in layout, it always change its value to larger, for example when I make dimension 200mm in layout, after I reopen the AutoCad file, the dimension will change to 1000mmm or more automatically, I tried to find many ways to fix it but I can't. I also change the computer or work with another files or create new dimension style but the problem was still the same. When I was trying to find a solution on the internet, I saw many people had the same problems like me and they didn't know know to fix it too.
I like to create dimension in layout but because of this problem I always have to check the drawing files again and again whenever I want to print or export it to pdf, sometimes I missed some places and I have to correct the dimension and print it again. I hate it so much. Now I have a change to tell to you (the AutoCad software developer), I wish I can know this page earlier, but I hope it's not late for me to contact to you now. Can you tell me how to fix that problem? I really appreciate if you can give me a solution.