Tuesday, October 22, 2013

AutoCAD 2014 for Mac - new apple-flavoured AutoCAD


Several months after the Windows version, Autodesk releases a new version of AutoCAD 2014 and AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac. The delay was caused mainly by aligning the release with the newly supported Apple operating system OS X Maverick, as well as by technological modifications for the future, including new features in Autodesk 360 cloud and top customer requests. AutoCAD 2014 for Mac is a now the top 2D/3D CAD software for the Mac platform.

At first glance, a distinctly visible new feature in version 2014 is the display quality which benefits from the Apple Retina technology. This can be observed not only in the drawing window (geometry, texts), but also in the user interface with finer icons. Compare the same display in versions 2013 and 2014 (click for closer detail):


Besides the new features in AutoCADu 2014, AutoCAD on the Mac platform brings the following enhancements:
  • enhanced hi-res display - Retina
  • performance enhancements
  • re-engineered Help system
  • cloud synchronization of drawings with Autodesk 360
  • new welcome screen with Lynda tutorials
  • Package drawing (eTransmit) for easier drawing distribution
  • enhanced user interface
  • setting a default save-as version for drawings
  • protection against malicious AutoLISP applications
  • support for OS X Mavericks

Autodesk video:


AutoCAD 2014 for Mac is available worldwide in English and French.

Monday, October 21, 2013

AutoCAD 2015 will not support Windows XP

Autodesk announced that AutoCAD 2014 (and the whole AutoCAD 2014 product family) is the last release officially supported in Windows XP. Microsoft itself will end Windows XP support already on 8th April 2014. So if you plan to stay on the WinXP platform for any reason, make sure you upgrade your CAD software in time to version 2014.

We recommend to move to more powerful OS platforms of Windows 7 or Windows 8. Beside new OS functions you will get also new AutoCAD functions on these platforms - functions which are not available in WinXP:
  • DWG and DWF previews in Explorer
  • Detailed DWG properties in Explorer
  • Search in DWG properties and in DWG contents (text, Mtext)
  • Support for touch screens (touch UI)