AutoCAD LT 2006 Upgrade from LT 2004/2005

Other products by Autodesk

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00081PRD6
• Item model number: 05726-091452-9300
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 18, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,732 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Review
With the 2006 version of AutoCAD LT, Autodesk offers a more flexible and intuitive application designed to make professionals more productive than ever. Key features like more flexible hatching, improved dimensioning, and user-friendly text editing make AutoCAD LT 2006 a worthy upgrade from previous versions. Autodesk has also improved the user interface, enhanced the editing toolkit, and more--again, with the goal of increasing productivity for 2D drafting and detailing.

Dimension with greater ease: New arc length and large radius dimensioning.

Reduce waiting time: Plot jobs and spend more time drafting with background plotting, which allows you to continue working in the drawing editor while AutoCAD LT plots in the background.

Mark up: Easily coordinate projects throughout design review with the markup and redlining functionality of AutoCAD and Autodesk DWF Composer.

View DWF files: The free downloadable Autodesk DWF Viewer enables you to view DWF files that preserve design intent without requiring the original design application.

AutoCAD LT is aimed at design professionals in all industries who require full DWG file format compatibility but do not require 3D capabilities or advanced customization of their software.

Enhanced User Interface
New drafting features in AutoCAD LT 2006 make it easier than ever to get fast results. A new pointer input enables you to launch commands, read prompts and enter values right at the graphics cursor. This keeps your attention focused on your design, rather than on the command line. Meanwhile, the dimension input shows dimension values, such as length and angle, on the object being created or edited. New values can be entered and changed dynamically in the graphics window, which makes interacting with your design dynamic and allows you to explore alternatives "on the fly." There's also a new "Quick Calculator" that makes it easy to perform calculations, units conversion, and derive values from drawing entities all from within AutoCAD LT. This gives you the power of the CAL command without the complex command syntax required in previous versions.

Another user interface improvement, rollover highlighting, helps you avoid time spent selecting wrong objects in a drawing by dynamically highlighting objects in your drawing as you roll over them with the graphics cursor. The new interface also allows for easy customization of menus and toolbars, and automates migration of custom toolbars and menus for future releases. What's more, you can easily customize tool palettes for storing frequently used blocks and hatches. This feature is great for draging and dropping content directly into your drawing. It also makes it easy to quickly find and insert frequently used content, hatches, and solid fills. You can now pre-assign tool properties, as well, such as layer, color, and scale. Properties are automatically applied as you insert content into your drawings.

Text and table handling is dramatically improved in AutoCAD LT 2006, with a focus on intuitive WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interaction. Insert standard WYSIWYG tables with in-place editing and intuitive keyboard functionality, similar to that of Microsoft Word. In addition to standard grip editing, table editing options are available through the context-sensitive menu, and the properties window. Meanwhile, text is created and edited so it will appear exactly as it does in the drawing. Easily view, size, position, and edit text relative to nearby geometry, while adjusting text properties such as style and font as needed using familiar tools common in other text-editing applications.

Better Dimensioning
Drafting just got a lot easier with AutoCAD LT 2006's new dimensioning tools. First, variable dimension line types allow you to select different dimension and extension line types by using the dimension style or properties dialogs. This lets you to give your dimensions exactly the line type you prefer without spending the time to explode and edit them. Next, new arc-length functionality avoids current time-consuming work-arounds by directly dimensioning the length of an arc. You can also dimension large radii curves quickly and easily. This function creates a jogged radial dimension line to indicate the radius of an arc or a circle that is too large to fit on the drawing. Finally, moving dimension arrows manually is a thing of the past, as new flipping dimension arrows allow you to flip an individual dimension arrow from inside to outside of the dimension line and back.

Simplified Plotting
AutoCAD LT 2006's enhanced plot user interface conveniently places all page setup controls in one location, with the most commonly used controls on the left side. The preview option provides a full preview of how the current plot settings will be applied when you plot the drawing. You can also now enjoy the benefits of background plotting. Whether you publish your designs to DWF files or plot to paper, you can continue working in the drawing editor while AutoCAD LT plots in the background. You'll receive an unobtrusive notification when a plot job is completed, and you can follow the link to view the plot and publish details in the plot and publish details dialog box.

Easy Sharing with DWF
Getting your DWF files out to clients and colleagues is easier than ever with AutoCAD LT 2006. Publish intelligent design data with Autodesk DWF (Design Web Format) file format, and save time by simplifying collaboration with your design team. Because it can create files that can be one-tenth the size of files created in other formats, the DWF format is the fastest, easiest way to communicate design information while ensuring secure and efficient sharing at any stage of the project lifecycle.

Mark up designs and easily coordinate projects during the design review phase by replacing the paper process with Autodesk DWF Composer. Use DWF Composer to mark up drawings with comments, sketches, dimensions, text, and stamps before sending them on their way. You can also view DWF files with the free Autodesk DWF Viewer, which presents intelligent data preserved with accuracy, including drawing scale, coordinates, assorted views, hyperlinks, and more. Print to scale, fit to page, tile, or selectively print a variety of sheets from a DWF sheet set.


From the Manufacturer
The world’s number-one seller for 2D drafting and detailing, AutoCAD LT software is better than ever. With AutoCAD LT 2006, hatching is more flexible, dimensioning is improved, and text editing works the way you always wanted it to. Add a more intuitive interface, and the tasks you perform every day are streamlined with just one thing in mind--boosting your productivity. With enhanced editing tools, seamless document sharing, full DWG file format compatibility, and the elimination of tedious workarounds, you’ve never experienced a more efficient design process.

Features:

• Boosts everyday drafting productivity with full DWG file format compatibility, and improved dimensioning, tool palettes, and user interface.
• Dynamic input brings the power of the command line to the graphics cursor, giving you immediate feedback on the information you enter as you work.
• The plot user interface is streamlined, providing all page setup controls and full preview capabilities in a single location, enabling you to plot to paper in one step.
• Hatch multiple areas with a single command or calculate area with just one click with improved hatching.
• Launch commands, read prompts, and enter values at the graphics cursor.
• Perform calculations and derive values from drawing entities with Quick Calculator, and dynamically highlight as you roll over objects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars I Used To Enjoy Autocad LT, April 29, 2005

By	A. Parker (Sharon, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I used to enjoy Autocad LT so much more than the full version of Autocad. For someone like me who does production drawings, LT was a great thing. It simplified and sped up the process. When I recently purchased the upgrade from Autocad LT 2004 to LT 2006, all of this changed. I felt like I was back in the day, trying to install Autocad Release 8.

It took more than a few tries to install the upgrade to Autocad LT 2006. Once I did install it, I needed to uninstall it, since it was lethargic and crashed the computer.

Here are some of the major issues I had:
1. LT installs usually go smoothly. This install was as frustrating as they come. But not just because of the usual bugs. There were too many choices required and none of these choices was clearly explained.(A muddy explanation is hidden in the documentation)This leads to a fork in the install:
2. "Stand-Alone" or "Multi-Seat" install. I purchased a single license. Why is the "Multi-Seat" option even offered during this installation? I asked someone at Autodesk what would have happened if I had done the "Multi-Seat" install. I would have to pay to get the activation codes.
3. The activation codes are now 32 characters long and are only good for one use. If you need to re-install Autocad LT 2006 on a new computer or on the supposed second "allowed" computer with a "stand-alone" license, you must call and go through the same drill again. The on-line activation process didn't work. I talked to friends who said it didn't work for them, either. This process was very frustrating. If you want to avoid this for your second computer, you may use the "portable license" feature. This allows you to transfer Autocad LT from one computer to another, but then disables Autocad LT on the first computer after 24 hours.

The first installation went very poorly. There was some promise with the settings migration. This feature was nice and it worked. This was about the only thing that worked on the first installation. After the migration and the activation, the computer froze. After re-booting, I tried again. Autocad LT 2006 was extremely sluggish. No other programs could run at the same time. I uninstalled 2 programs, to no avail. It took 4 minutes to install a 1 megabyte drawing. I uninstalled LT 2006.

The next day, I tried again. It went a little better this time. The install was smoother. This time, LT ran more smoothly. When I got into the heart of the changes, I was very disappointed. All of that money for renamed old commands. An added calculator? I have a calculator, thank you, and it cost me a lot less than this upgrade. The previews from Autodesk lead one to believe there are truly good things about this version of Autocad LT. There aren't. I never had problems plotting prior to this. Now I do!

It seems the primary goal of these upgrades is not a better product for the consumer, but added security measures for Autodesk. The result is incredible frustration for the consumer.