Autodesk Inc has delivered the first of its promises for a new computer-aided design family strategy with the US release of Generic CADD release 6.1, due in the UK by the end of July. The Sausalito, California company says the upgrade includes the ability to write files in the AutoCAD .DWG format, meaning users of Generic CADD and AutoCAD can work together and swap two-dimensional files electronically when moving through different stages of the design process. Autodesk claims a 350,000-strong installed base for Generic CADD, which works on a standard laptop or desktop personal computer and offers drawing and editing tools and dimensioning capabilities for professional two-dimensional designs and drafts. Carol Bartz, Autodesk chairman and chief executive outlined the company’s plans for a more coherent and unified computer-aided design range a fortnight ago. AutoCAD, Generic CADD and Autosketch, the firm’s three top-selling drafting and design packages, are now targeted for integration with one another, as although architects and engineers may have used them separately, until now there has been limited scope to pool data between the packages, hence Generic CADD’s new ability to read and write files in the native .DWG format Autodesk designed for AutoCAD. Autosketch is set to have the same capability soon.
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