AutoCAD

AutoCAD (Computer-Aided Design) is a two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer-aided design and drafting system from Autodesk. AutoCAD is one of the most common CAD systems in the world thanks to drawing tools.

Development tools and adaptation

The popularity of AutoCAD in the world is due to very advanced development tools and adaptations that allow you to create specialized applications such as AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrіc, AutoCAD Architecture, GeoniCS, Promis-e, PLANT-4D, AutoPLANT, SPDS GraphiCS, MechaniCS and others. There are more than 10,000 commercial AutoCAD-based products worldwide.

Macros

Macros in AutoCAD are one of the easiest adaptations available to most users. AutoCAD macros should not be confused with macros created using VBA.

Action Macros

Action Macros first appeared in AutoCAD 2009. The user executes a sequence of commands that is recorded using the Action Recorder tool. You can edit and save the recorded macro, and then transfer it to the toolbar, or run it from a special menu.

Menu Macros

The user has the ability to create his own buttons with which you can call a series of commands (macros) recorded in advance according to certain rules. Macros can include expressions written in DIESEL and AutoLISP.

DIESEL

DIESEL (Direct Interprietively Evaluated String Expression Language) is a string operating language with a small number of functions (a total of 28 functions). It allows you to form lines that must have variable text that depends on any conditions. The result is displayed as a string that AutoCAD interprets as a command. DIESEL is used mainly to create complex macros as an alternative to AutoLISP. This language is of particular importance for the version of AutoCAD LT that lacks all programming tools except DIESEL. DIESEL first appeared in AutoCAD R12.

Visual LISP

Visual LISP is an AutoLISP application development environment. Sometimes, Visual LISP refers to the AutoLISP language supplemented by ActiveX extensions. The Visual LISP development environment has been built into AutoCAD since AutoCAD 2000. Previously (AutoCAD R14), it was shipped separately. The development environment contains the AutoLISP language and the DCL language, and also allows you to create applications consisting of several programs. Despite the name, Visual LISP is not a visual programming environment.

AutoLISP

AutoLISP is a dialect of the Lisp language that provides ample opportunities for automating work in AutoCAD. AutoLISP is the oldest of the internal AutoCAD programming languages, first appearing in 1986 in AutoCAD 2.18 (intermediate version). In AutoLISP, close interaction with the command line is implemented, which contributed to its popularization among engineers working with AutoCAD.

AutoLISP ActiveX Extensions

ActiveX extensions significantly increase the functionality of AutoLISP, add the ability to work with files, the registry, and the ability to communicate with other applications. Additional extensions work directly with the AutoCAD object model through ActiveX features. ActiveX technology was first introduced in AutoCAD R14.

DCL

DCL (Dialog Control Language) is a language for developing dialog boxes for applications written in AutoLISP. DCL was first introduced in AutoCAD R12 and has not changed significantly since then. Visual programming is not used to develop dialog boxes and the ability to create dialog boxes is significantly limited. To eliminate these shortcomings and expand the capabilities of AutoLISP, third-party developers have created alternative environments for developing dialog boxes, such as ObjectDCL, OpenDCL and some others.

AutoCAD VBA

AutoCAD has introduced VBA (Visual Basic for Application) support since R14. Unlike VisualLISP, VBA is a visual programming environment, but VBA applications work with AutoCAD only through ActiveX, and interaction with AutoLISP is very limited. The advantages of VBA are more complete support for ActiveX and the ability to load DLLs.

ObjectARX

ObjectARX SDK is an add-on to the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment and contains special libraries, header files, examples, and support tools designed to create programs that run exclusively in AutoCAD. ARX applications can directly access the drawing database and the geometric kernel. You can create your own commands, similar to standard AutoCAD commands. For the first time, the ObjectARX package was implemented for AutoCAD R13, previously there were similar-purpose ADS packages (for AutoCAD R11) and ARX (for AutoCAD R12). The ObjectARX version number is the same as the AutoCAD version number for which this package is intended. Programs created for one specific version of AutoCAD are incompatible with other versions. The compatibility problem is usually solved by recompiling the program in the corresponding version of ObjectARX.

.NET

With Microsoft.NET Framework support, you can create AutoCAD applications in any application development environment that supports this technology.

AutoСAD LT

AutoCAD LT is a specialized 2D drawing solution. It is cheaper than the full version of AutoCAD (the cost of the LT version is about half the cost of the full version). AutoCAD LT lacks 3D modeling tools (however, it remains possible to view 3D models made in other systems) and system adaptation software (such as AutoLISP and VBA). A complete list of differences can be found on the website www.Autodesk.ru.

AutoCAD Versions

• Version 1.0 (Release 1) - December 1982
• Version 1.2 (Release 2) - April 1983
• Version 1.3 (Release 3) - August 1983
• Version 1.4 (Release 4) - October 1983
• Version 2.0 (Release 5) - October 1984
• Version 2.1 (Release 6) - May 1985
• Version 2.5 (Release 7) - June 1986
• Version 2.6 (Release 8) - April 1987
• Version 9 - September 1987
• Version 10 - October 1988
• Version 11 - October 1990
• Version 12 - June 1992 (last release for Apple Macintosh)
• Version 13 - November 1994 (latest release for Unix, MS-DOS and Windows 3.11)
• Version 14 - February 1997
• AutoCAD 2000 (R15.0) - March 1999
• AutoCAD 2000i (R15.1) - July 2000
• AutoCAD 2002 (R15.6) - June 2001
• AutoCAD 2004 (R16.0) - March 2003
• AutoCAD 2005 (R16.1) - March 2004
• AutoCAD 2006 (R16.2) - March 2005
• AutoCAD 2007 (R17.0) - March 2006
• AutoCAD 2008 (R17.1) - March 2007
•  AutoCAD 2009 (R17.2) — 2008
• AutoCAD 2010 (R18.0) - April 2009
• AutoCAD 2011 (R18.1) - March 2010
• AutoCAD 2012 (R18.2) - March 2011
• AutoCAD 2013 (R19.0) - March 2012
• AutoCAD 2014 (R19.1) - March 2013
• AutoCAD 2015 (R20.0) - March 2014
• AutoCAD 2016 (R20.1) - March 2015

History

2024: Blocking pirated versions of AutoCAD in Russia

On April 18, 2024, it became known that the American company Autodesk began to block the access of Russian users to its AutoCAD computer-aided design system. Moreover, we are talking, among other things, about pirated versions of the program.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the blocking affects the accounts of devices that are connected to the Internet. When you try to run the product on these computers, you receive a message that reads: "Autodesk has detected an invalid license and has blocked access to it." The restriction affects both licensed and compromised modifications of AutoCAD.

Unsplash

It is noted that when you disable Internet access, AutoCAD starts, but using the system in this mode "creates inconvenience for the workflow." In addition, users of the platform in Russia will no longer be able to receive updates. The head of "Philosopher" Ivan Vlasov emphasizes that "the problem is massive."

Market participants believe that blocking AutoCAD in the Russian Federation can lead to disruptions in the timing of construction projects and financial losses. Renat Lashin, executive director of the Domestic Software Software Developers Association, says that Autodesk products in Russia account for 40-50% of profile software in the construction segment as of April 2024. Thus, restricting access to AutoCAD can negatively affect the work of many companies.

On the other hand, says Lashin, most domestic counterparts support 100 percent compatibility of the format with AutoCAD, have a similar set of commands and a similar interface. And therefore, in his opinion, there should be no difficulties with import substitution of Autodesk products. The Russian alternatives are Compass Graphics and nanoCAD.^[1]

2018

Hackers launch new industrial espionage with AutoCAD virus

On November 29, 2018, company analysts Forcepoint discovered a unique malware campaign that targets AutoCAD-based companies ON. The researchers believe that this campaign has been active since 2014, and the attackers behind the attacks are engaged, industrial espionage as indicated by a specific distribution niche - malware AutoCAD is an expensive program used mainly by engineers and designers. Probably, hackers are mainly interested in the energy sector, although they attack companies and enterprises in different countries of the world, including China India, Turkey and the UAE.

AutoCAD Screenshot

To distribute malware, attackers use letters with infected archives, AutoCAD (.cad) files or links through which victims can independently download files. Links are used in cases where you need to bypass restrictions on the size of attachments attached to letters. As a rule, such messages contain already stolen data, documents and drawings so as not to alert the user, usually the documentation of large projects - hotels, factories and even the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

But ZIP archives contain not only AutoCAD (.cad) files, but also Fast-Load AutoLISP (.fas) modules, which will automatically start when the main file is opened. Although AutoCAD warns the user of the potential danger posed by.fas execution, as with Microsoft Office, users often simply ignore these messages.

Unfortunately, apart from the distribution vector, not much is known about the campaign. Forcepoint specialists continue to investigate, but have not yet received significant results. Everything that the specialists managed to find out: the control server of criminals works with the Chinese installation of Microsoft Internet Information Server 6.0, and similar services are located on neighboring IP addresses.

Forcepoint recommends that all AutoCAD users regularly review the AutoCAD Security Best Practices page for Autodesk to protect against malicious modules.^[2]

AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019 Announcement

Autodesk at the end of March 2018 announced significant changes to AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019.

Combining Industry Tools

Now the tools and functions of seven industry solutions are available in a single AutoCAD product - AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Mechanical,, AutoCAD Electrical,, AutoCAD Map 3D AutoCAD MEP AutoCAD Raster Design and. AutoCAD Plant 3D

• Architecture: specialized tools for building design and more than 8,000 architectural objects and styles that accelerate the development of architectural drawings and documentation;
• Mechanical: specialized tools for designing mechanical structures and more than 700,000 manufacturing parts, functions and symbols that speed up product design;
• Electrical: specialized tools for designing electrical systems and more than 65,000 symbols for designating electrical equipment that speed up the creation, modification and documentation of electrical systems;
• MEP: specialized tools for designing utilities and more than 10,500 mechanical, electrical and plumbing objects for drawing, designing and documenting building systems;
• Plant 3D: specialized tools for designing and designing production objects, allowing you to create diagrams of pipelines and devices and then integrate them into the 3D model of the plant;
• Map 3D - specialized mapping tools that allow you to combine GIS and CAD data for planning, design, and data management. The collection provides access to geospatial data stored in files, databases, and Web services and merges it with AutoCAD project data;
• Raster Design-Tools for converting a raster image to a vector image that allows you to edit scanned drawings and convert raster images to DWG objects.

According to the company, specialized sets of tools will allow you to use more than 750 thousand objects, styles, parts and symbols to create drawings. Designers can automate the creation of floor plans, integrate GIS data into the planning process, edit scanned drawings, and convert raster images to DWG objects. For example, Architecture lets you add architectural elements such as doors, walls, and windows instead of drawing lines and circles. Creating walls in basic AutoCAD consists of five steps, and with Architecture, three steps.

Mobile and web application

In addition, users who subscribe to AutoCAD 2019 will have access to applications for working in the browser and from mobile devices.

Save To Web & Mobile

The web application allows you to use AutoCAD directly in the browser - this does not require downloading and installing anything. It is enough to enter your personal account on the site web.autocad.com. This opens access to DWG and PDF files, basic 2D drafting and editing tools (Arc, Circle, Rectangle, Profile, Trim, etc.), including Xref support and layer management.

In turn, the AutoCAD Mobile application allows you to view, create, and edit drawings, and share them anytime, from any device. DWG files can be accessed even if there is no Wi-Fi by downloading them to your device. The mobile app is available on Windows, Android and iOS devices, and is optimized for iPhone X, iPad Pro and Surface.

DWG Compare

Other changes

• AutoCAD 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2019 will feature Save To Web & Mobile, Open From Web & Mobile, and DWG Compare.
  • Together, they will allow you to work on the project not only in a standard application, but, if necessary, through a web interface or mobile devices.
  • DWG Compare will help you determine the graphical difference between two versions of a drawing or Xref, quickly see changes, find collisions, etc. All changes can be highlighted so as not to miss any part.

• The Shared Views tool appears, expanding the Shared Design Views feature. It allows you to share project data without sending DWG or PDF files. Instead, you can send a link to a file by which you can view and comment directly in the browser from any device with Internet access. In this case, the comments of the process participants will now be immediately displayed in AutoCAD on the computer.
• Optimized 2D graphics performance. Operations that typically require redrawing or converting 2D graphics (such as reordering drawings or scaling, panning, and changing layer properties, especially in large or bitmap drawings) are now twice as fast.
• Improved icons in the Ribbon, Status Bar, Quick Access Menu, and Application Menu. They provide the best visual experience, especially on high-resolution monitors. The size of the icons is dynamically adjusted to the monitor resolution and pixel density.

Shared Views Tool

Availability

AutoCAD 2019 with specialized toolsets is already available for purchase. The collection for architectural design and construction, as well as the collection for the development and industrial production of products, will include AutoCAD with specialized sets of tools from April 1, 2018.

2017: Autodesk Expands AutoCAD Sales Partner Network

In March, Autodesk announced that AutoCAD was made available through an open channel. That is, now any partners will be able to sell it, regardless of the status of Authorized Reseller (VAR). The move is a continuation of Autodesk's strategy to democratize technology.

Russia is the first country in the world where AutoCAD has become available in an open channel. Over the past year, it was AutoCAD in Russia that showed one of the most significant growth in the number of subscribers. The lower licensing price associated with the transition to a subscription led to the fact that thousands of new users from medium and small businesses chose to purchase legal software for themselves instead of risks of piracy.

Autodesk formed an open channel in 2009 for companies that wanted to sell AutoCAD LT software, removing their authorization requirements. By opening the channel for AutoCAD, Autodesk also enables all three distributors in Russia (CSD, MONT, Point) to work with open channel partners.

The growth in the number of Autodesk software subscribers in the CIS countries in 2016 was 35%. Anastasia Morozova, head of the Russian office of the company, told CNews about this. The Russian office of Autodesk disclosed data on local users for the first time in at least four years^[3]. She attributes the growing interest in licensed products to Autodesk's withdrawal from the sale of perpetual licenses and the transition to a subscription software distribution model in February 2016, which lowered the initial cost threshold for users of the company's products. For more information on the 2016 results, see Autodesk CIS.

2013: Autodesk raises price of popular CAD for Russia

In August 2013 , Autodesk updated the Russian price list for AutoCAD 2014, AutoCAD LT 2014 (2D drawing solution), and AutoCAD LT 2012, increasing their recommended retail price by 10%.

Along with the increase in the price of these solutions, the AutoCAD 2012 position, which was available under the phased licensing program, also disappeared from the price list. The latter involves the initial purchase of Autodesk products at discounted prices with the expectation that in the future they can become the basis for purchasing more productive and functional versions.

The price list changes are "part of the company's plan to simplify and unify pricing," Autodesk said in a blog post on the matter.

It also notes that "the trend towards equalizing the price list with other countries will continue in the future as the purchasing power of Russian business develops and grows."

"When assigning and changing the cost of products, Autodesk takes into account the conditions of a particular market, including the general state of the economy, the cost of doing business, the cost of localizing products in a particular country, as well as the cost of competitive products," the Russian representative office of Autodesk told TAdviser.

The company also stressed that prices for Autodesk products in Russia and the CIS continue to remain at a lower level compared to the countries of the European Union.

The company could not provide data on the previous increase in AutoCAD prices for Russia at the time of publication of the material. A number of Autodesk partners, however, warned customers about the upcoming price increase for AutoCAD and other company software in 2012 by about 15%.

See also

• Autodesk
• DWF
• DWG
• DXF
• IronCAD
• CAD

Literature

• Шаблон:Book
• Шаблон:Book
• Шаблон:Book
• {{book|author = S.A. Zuev, N.N. Poleshchuk|title = AutoCAD-based CAD - how it is done|place = St. Petersburg|publishing house = BHV-Petersburg|year = 2004|pages = 1168|isbn = 5-94157-344-8}
• {{book|author = Ellen Finkelstein|title = AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008. User Bible|Original = AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008 Bible|Location = Moscow|Publishing House = Dialectics|Year = 2007|Pages = 1344|isbn = 978-5-8459-1310-4}
• Шаблон:Book
• Шаблон:Book