Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 1, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Autodesk, a leading provider of 2D and 3D software for design, planning, digital design and digital media, has published the results of a new study according to which designers and planners using AutoCAD 2010 for typical design and documentation tasks were able to increase their productivity by up to 63 percent. The study was conducted by the independent consulting and market research company Cambashi Limited and compares the time required to perform specific tasks using AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD 2007.
The institute concludes that “users can achieve considerable performance improvements with AutoCAD 2010. In addition to the reduced effort for various tasks, the new functions, particularly the expanded PDF functionality, also optimise collaboration within the extended team.” These results demonstrate that the new functions of AutoCAD 2010, one of the world’s leading solutions for design and documentation, can contribute to a rapid return on investment.
According to the study, the new functions of AutoCAD 2010 are directly related to productivity gains. The Cambashi study shows that the individual feature enhancements in AutoCAD 2010, when used in a typical planning process, can reduce repetitive workflows and simplify the documentation and communication of design ideas. Among other things, the study identifies the following average performance improvements:
• The publish-to-PDF function delivers better visual quality with smaller file sizes, as well as the option of attaching PDF files to a drawing as an underlay. With these functions, users achieved a productivity increase of 63 percent.
• AutoCAD 2010 includes new free-form design tools that can be used to create almost any conceivable shape simply by pressing and pulling faces, edges and vertices. These free-form modelling functions enabled a productivity increase of 62 percent.
• Dynamic block modelling makes it possible to create different modification variants based on previously saved block geometries. Because new geometries no longer had to be defined for every design alternative, the designers achieved a productivity increase of 44 percent.
• The new PDF import and underlay functions and the improved publishing functions in AutoCAD 2010 can simplify mutual communication within the extended planning team and provide a productivity increase of 43 percent in this area.
• New in AutoCAD 2010 is parametric drawing, which enables designers to establish permanent dependencies between objects. This made it possible to achieve a productivity increase of 35 percent in the area of 3D drawing.
“Due to economic conditions, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to achieve more with less effort. In the more than 27 years since AutoCAD was launched, Autodesk has continuously expanded the application with new, innovative functions to enable designers and engineers to plan and document their projects more quickly without having to compromise on quality and precision,” says Guri Stark, Autodesk Vice President for AutoCAD and Platform Products. “As this study shows, every new function in AutoCAD 2010 helps designers minimise the time spent on routine tasks, leaving them more time for more important activities.”
About the study
Autodesk commissioned Cambashi Limited, an independent consulting and market research company, to prepare a productivity study intended to examine the benefits of AutoCAD 2010. Cambashi chose a task-based approach and compared AutoCAD 2010 with AutoCAD 2007 in terms of the time architects needed to design a single-storey building. The project was selected as a typical example of an architect’s work. The complete study is available for download at http://www.autodesk.com/autocadpower.