Copy from wikipedia.
Autocad is a
CAD (Computer Aided Design)
software application for
2D and
3D design and
drafting, developed and sold by
Autodesk, Inc. Initially released in late 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on
personal computers, and notably the
IBM PC. Most CAD software at the time ran on graphics
terminals connected to
mainframe computers or
mini-computers.
In earlier releases, AutoCAD used primitive entities — such as lines, polylines, circles, arcs, and text — as the foundation for more complex objects. Since the mid-1990s, AutoCAD has supported custom objects through its C++ API. Modern AutoCAD includes a full set of basic
solid modeling and 3D tools, but lacks some of the more advanced capabilities of solid modeling applications[
citation needed]. With the release of AutoCAD 2007 came improved 3D modeling functionality, which meant better navigation when working in 3D. Moreover, it became easier to edit 3D models. The
mental ray engine was included in
rendering, it was now possible to do quality renderings.
AutoCAD supports a number of
application programming interfaces (APIs) for customization and automation. These include
AutoLISP,
Visual LISP,
VBA,
.NET and
ObjectARX. ObjectARX is a
C++ class library, which was also the base for products extending AutoCAD functionality to specific fields, to create products such as AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD Civil 3D, or third-party AutoCAD-based applications.
AutoCAD's native file format,
DWG, and to a lesser extent, its interchange file format,
DXF, have become
de facto standards for CAD data
interoperability. AutoCAD in recent years has included support for
DWF, a format developed and promoted by Autodesk for publishing CAD data. In 2006, Autodesk estimated the number of active DWG files to be in excess of one billion. In the past, Autodesk has estimated the total number of DWG files in existence to be more than three billion.
AutoCAD currently runs exclusively on
Microsoft desktop
operating systems. Versions for
Unix and
Macintosh were released in the 1980s and 1990s, but these were later dropped. AutoCAD can run on an
emulator or
compatibility layer like
VMware Workstation or
Wine, albeit subject to various performance issues that can often arise when working with 3D objects or large drawings.
AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are available for German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese Simplified (No LT), Chinese Traditional, Russian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian (No LT), Brazilian Portuguese (No LT), Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Vietnamese. The extent of localization varies from full translation of the product to documentation only.
