Amazon.com: Autocad LT 2006 Upgrade From Autocad LT 2002: Software

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.

Product Description
Upgrade only; Previous version installation required Enhanced user interface for easier completion of formerly multi-step tasks