Why Buy AutoCAD LT?

Economic slowdown, credit crunch, sustainability - these once academic buzz words have become household language in the last several months. But the falling prices of oil and stocks hasn't affected the high price of AutoCAD and its limited feature version, AutoCAD LT. Professional engineering staff, including architects, civil, structural and industrial designers in various disciplines are affected. The American Institute of Architects reports, "The AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) recorded its ninth straight monthly decline in October. However, the October drop to 36.2 was the steepest decline in its history, surpassing the weakness reported last February and March as the broader economy was just beginning to decelerate".

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass admits, "We realize that there is no quick or easy response to the current economic environment." For years Autodesk enjoyed good profits from its popular brands in a lucrative industry. However, Autodesk has offered no significant initiatives at this point to ease the financial burden felt by many of their customers. Retail price for Autodesk's latest AutoCAD LT 2009 ("lite" version) CAD software still averages well above $1000.00 USD.

Seeking an affordable alternative that they can trust, CAD engineers are choosing to use progeCAD instead. progeCAD sales have increased a dramatic 400% over the past year in some areas. This may be partially due to the increasing reliability of the overall progeCAD program to read and write AutoCAD files, as well as to offer a user interface and commands very similar to those used in AutoCAD. But it may also have to do with the fact that a company can buy almost three licenses of progeCAD for the same price they would pay for one of AutoCAD LT.

The full version 30-day demo of progeCAD (save and printing are not disabled) can be downloaded from CADDIT. Try it yourself!

progeCAD 8.0.22 Upgrade Released with Improved AutoCAD Compatibility

Sydney, Australia – In partnership with progeSOFT CADDIT announced today announced the worldwide release of progeCAD Professional 8.0.22. This important upgrade offers several minor performance, reliability and DWG-compatibility enhancements. Over five months in development and testing has been invested in the release of 8.0.22. This upgrade is free to all progeCAD Professional 2008 stand-alone, network, USB and corporate customers.

progeCAD is used loyally by many professional architects, designers, mechanical and civil engineers, surveyors, builders and landscape artists around the world. progeCAD Professional offers important design features like robust AutoCAD DWG™ / DXF™ / DWF™ 2008 editing, Polar Tracking, eSnap (like oSnap™), PDF import / export, ACIS 3D solid design, raster to vector conversion and advanced hatching using a similar interface to AutoCAD - all at a small fraction of AutoCAD’s cost. Now progeCAD 2008 8.0.22 fixes several issues including:

• A known problem was fixed involving "create as new layout" with certain AutoCAD DWG files and "copy layout" commands, possibly causing the loss of existing layouts.
• Fixed progeCAD ETRACK behavior for entering the distance from command line
• Resolved issues around the progeCAD Express Tools "Copy M" in 2D regions
• "Copy quick" issue with "paste as a block" has been fixed.
• A bug regarding UNDO when used with REFEDIT has been addressed
• Print files extension is now ".plt"
• Solved a crash related to double-click with multiple entities selected
• Many other small improvements in performance and reliability...

A full version of this update in functionality can be downloaded from http://www.caddit.net/auto-cad/AutoCAD.php . There is also a smaller patch executable that will update a currently existing installation using the built-in progeCAD Professional update function. progeCAD Standard and progeCAD Smart upgrades will be released at a later date.

CADDIT Pty Ltd, an Australian owned company, locally supports progeCAD and many other CAD CAM CAE products. Their head office is located in the Liverpool Fairfax Building in western Sydney. They can be contacted via their website at http://www.caddit.net/ . The full version of this article can be found here.

progeSOFT Como, Italy has been specializing in CAD for the last 20 years and is an executive member of the IntelliCAD® Technology Consortium. They can be contacted via their website at http://www.progesoft.com/ .

Free progeCAD Upgrade Until 2009 Includes USB, Network and AutoCAD LT Upgrades

Sydney, Australia - Efforts are underway at progeSOFT to release the most reliable low cost alternative to AutoCAD ever. progeCAD 8.0.22-24 will be released free to all current progeCAD 2008 customers very soon. The 22-24 release will offer noticeable performance enhancements over the current version. The 2009 full release should be available by the turn of the year.

Like last year, CADDIT will continue to offer free progeCAD 2009 upgrades to each purchase of progeCAD Professional 2008 after October 1 2008 until the release of progeCAD 2009.

This free upgrade promotion offers AutoCAD and progeCAD users the best of both worlds. While having an immediate license now, users also receive an immediate upgrade for progeCAD 2009 upon release.

This special free upgrade promotion includes all forms of progeCAD Professional 2008 licenses purchased from CADDIT, including progeCAD network NLM, progeCAD USB, progeCAD 2007 upgrades, competitive upgrades and corporate licenses.

Corporate license and upgrade users will benefit the most from this special offer. A progeCAD Corporate license grants use on an unlimited number of PCs to a company in one or several locations. Upgrade users currently own legal licenses for any qualifying commercial product, including progeCAD 2007 Pro, TurboCAD Pro, AutoCAD LT, Microstation, Vectorworks, ArchiCAD, DataCAD, PunchCAD and Actrix. All corporate and upgrade buyers after October 1, 2008 will get free 2009 progeCAD upgrades.

progeCAD designers take part in a community of 100,000 users worldwide enjoying unparalleled CAD value. progeCAD offers full low cost DWG 2D and 3D compatibility, AutoLISP interpreter, AutoCAD style commands and interface, OLE and raster object embedding and quality support. CADDIT bundles forum & TSL1 support with all licenses, with additional professional support options available. progeCAD can be downloaded and tested 30 days for free here.

CADDIT is a professional CAD and CAM software consulting company based in Sydney Australia. The full version of this article can be found here.

IntelliCAD 7 Release Announced by ITC at Athens Conference

October 29, 2008 Athens, Greece - Today the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC) announced the release of IntelliCAD 7 to its members in Athens, Greece. The IntelliCAD 7 code base has been rewritten from the ground up to include objectARX-DRX compatibility, faster graphics and better maintenance. Apparently the goal is to start having end-user releases shipped to the public by June or July 2009.

The rewrite of the original IntelliCAD code base has been long in coming. Stability and speed issues have plagued some of the vendor releases. Additional support for ODA DRX will also mean more vertical applications for architecture, electrical, HVAC, land survey and engineering. An additional tool for porting legacy SDS applications to DRX was announced by the ODA just prior to the ITC conference.

For a while now the new IntelliCAD 7 code base will still need to run through an end-user testing cycle before it can be considered by many to be robust for commercial use.

Users can download and trial a current tested end-user release of IntelliCAD here.

CADDIT is a professional CAD and CAM software consulting company based in Sydney Australia. The full version of this article can be found here.

Busting Four Myths of 2D and 3D CAD Software Marketing

"Should my business be using 3D CAD software?"
Maybe the better question is "how exactly would using 3D CAD get my job done better?" Let's explore four myths about using CAD today.


Myth: everyone uses CAD already
42% of builders surveyed in 2006 still don't use any CAD program at all according to one survey. Should they be using CAD? Probably, and many are changing over. But statistics like this sometimes help us see through the "don't get left behind" marketing hype and be more realistic about our requirements.


Myth: CAD software is too hard for me to learn
That's only true if you choose the wrong CAD software for your needs. 3D CAD software might be exactly what you need, or exactly what you don't need. A successful CAD migration involves three steps: 1) identify your business requirements 2) identify CAD systems meeting those requirements 3) identify which vendors offer the support you need for the system you choose. When possible, try to buy a CAD system from a vendor that offers direct support for the system you choose. They should also be able to help you identify your requirements before you buy. Your vendor choice alone can make a big difference in the success of your CAD system. To help new CAD users, CADDIT has published a free CAD e-book.


Myth: 3D is always better
If you are working for a customer who wants a 2D drawing, give them a 2D drawing. According to a recent marketing report by the Aberdeen Group, there are several reasons people use 2D CAD in the first place, including demand for increased quality/reliability, shortened product development schedules, accelerating product commoditization and marketspace competition. The main reason that seems to prevent 2D CAD users from migrating to 3D CAD is "The current process using 2D works, no need to make a change (40% of surveyed)".

progeCAD is an example of robust 2D/limited 3D CAD that is helping thousands of businesses meet their mainly-2D design needs successfully. Many surveyors, builders, electricians and engineers have no real need for 3D CAD at this time.


Myth: Everyone is going to use 3D CAD soon
"Most CAD users still work in 2D, while 3D design is rapidly moving to the forefront.." - Business Wire, Nov 14, 1995 article "AccelGraphics announces first entry-level workstation-class 3D graphics accelerator; new board delivers high-performance 3D graphics for price-sensitive MCAD users". More that 10 years later, CAD software marketing is still warning the world about an impending obsolescence of 2D CAD. The reality is that designers have far more freedom of choice than ever before in finding a design package that fits their needs and budget.


The key is knowing the right CAD for the right job at the right price. A certain flexibility to adapt one's self to learning several systems is therefore practical, but we don't need to learn them all. Technology is just a tool that we create to help us get a job done. It should never become a religion that ironically blinds us from seeing a better way of getting that job done. CADDIT has already helped hundreds of companies find the right CAD software. What has surprised many of our customers is that the best system for them is often not the most expensive or complex system we support.

CADDIT is a professional CAD and CAM software consulting company based in Sydney Australia. The full version of this article can be found here.