Item: AutoCAD
Rating: 6
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with AutoCAD

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Currently, AutoCAD is being used throughout my organization across all departments, including architecture, interiors, and construction administration. In the past four years or so, it has slowly been phased out of architecture in favor of other programs like Autodesk Revit and Rhino. However, our interiors department is still using it to do their construction drawings, given their complex geometric design and AutoCADs ability to give the designer more control. It solves our issues of creating drawings when automation does not give the correct information.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Control Drawings
Universal Platform across disciplines

Cons

3D Modeling
User Interface

Return on Investment

Ability to transfer files across offices
Inability to coordinate efficiently

Alternatives Considered

Revit and Rhinoceros 3D

AutoCAD is honestly inferior to these products, given their ability to model complex geometries and generate automatic drawings. AutoCAD is the older generation of drafting software, and while still useful, is becoming less and less the go-to software to begin an architectural project. These other programs are more intuitive and user-friendly than AutoCAD, and I see them as becoming the dominant programs in the architecture industry.

Support Rating

A majority of support for AutoCAD comes from online tutorials and videos from third parties, not AutoDesk itself. This goes in hand with its lack of an intuitive user interface, which causes people to seek out third party help to do simple tasks. The complex functions are completely elusive, and I feel many people are not using AutoCAD to its fullest potential because of that.

Key Insights

Do you think AutoCAD delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with AutoCAD's feature set?

Did AutoCAD live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of AutoCAD go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy AutoCAD again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, SketchUp

Likelihood to Recommend

While I would recommend any company has AutoCAD available, I would shy away from beginning new projects in AutoCAD, given the transition towards AutoDesk Revit. AutoCAD is excellent for interiors projects where we need to convey complicated furniture plans or details that cannot easily be modeled and drafted accurately. However, for larger architectural projects that require substantial coordination, I would much rather use BIM software.

Comments

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