Today the software developer Autodesk announced the launch of AutoCAD 2022 and AutoCAD LT 2022 on its blog. The long-standing digital drafting and drawing tool continues to be used by many architects and designers worldwide. The latest edition of AutoCAD offers several new features that streamline its use in today’s digital, interconnected workflows and incorporate automation to expedite the design process. Several design upgrades to the program’s user interface aim to improve the user experience. Autodesk also released AutoCAD 2022 and AutoCAD LT 2022 for Mac today.
AutoCAD 2022 and the existing AutoCAD web and mobile apps enable architects to design and draft on their desktops or in the field on their mobile devices. Users can also share and mark up drawings in the web and apps as well as upload drawing templates, plot styles, and other support files to create DWG files that follow their company’s or client’s drafting standards. A subscription to AutoCAD currently costs $220 per month with longer term plans offering savings.
Below are several other features introduced in AutoCAD 2022.
Industry-Specific Tool Sets
AutoCAD 2022 features several industry-specific toolsets, such as Architecture, Mechanical, and Electrical, that have libraries containing hundreds of thousands of intelligent parts, symbols, and features. Autodesk conducted productivity studies to track how designers can save time with these specialized toolsets.
Trace
Like its name suggests, Trace lets designers and collaborators review and mark up the AutoCAD DWG files on any device, including the AutoCAD web or mobile app, without altering the original drawing file. The feedback collected via Trace is then visible in the context of the DWG file when users reopen AutoCAD on a desktop to incorporate the changes.
Share
Share allows designers to send drawings securely and directly from AutoCAD and assign different levels of access and control—such as “view-only” or “edit”—to the recipients. Users can generate Share links from AutoCAD and the AutoCAD web app that open in the web app.
Count
This tool automates the counting of blocks or geometry in the AutoCAD DWG file, with the results exported to a dynamic table that can be updated quickly. This tool aims to help users count parts or conduct quantity takeoffs.
Push to Autodesk Docs
Architects can publish CAD drawing sheets to PDFs from AutoCAD to Autodesk Docs without having to save PDFs locally or uploading the sheets manually to the cloud. Through the AutoCAD web app, users can also connect to files stored in Autodesk Docs, Autodesk Drive, and other cloud storage sites, such as Google Drive and Box.
Floating Windows
And finally the capability for which many users have been asking: floating windows. The floating windows allows users to view and edit multiple drawings side-by-side at the same time without having to click between drawing tabs or closing and opening different AutoCAD files.
