Autodesk announces 2012 products, streamlines packaging

Autodesk held a webcast Monday, March 21, 2011, to announce the 2012 editions of its subscription software products.

The San Rafael, Calif.-based company announced new “suites” for its bundled software, several interoperability enhancements, and a new digital delivery method that allows the company to ship individual programs and software suites to subscribers on USB keys rather than on writable CDs.

“From licensing to install to how they’re used, the whole thing will be an integrated experience,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of platform solutions at Autodesk.

Two new suites of software were created for the AEC market:

• The Autodesk Building Design Suite 2012, which features the entire AutoCAD or Revit family of products (depending on edition). All have new collaboration and construction modeling tools and support for point cloud technology to connect laser scanning directly into BIM modeling. New construction modeling tools allow manipulation of concrete pours, wall layers, and other items that were previously unavailable in a design model.
• The Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite features AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 with a deeper integration of tools from Autodesk 3ds MAX for better visualization and new roadway modeling tools. Autodesk has also added integrated storm and sanitary network analysis capabilities.

All new suites are available in a standard, premium, and ultimate editions.

Standard includes:

    * AutoCAD 2012

    * AutoCAD Architecture 2012

    * AutoCAD MEP 2012

    * AutoCAD Structural Detailing 2012

    * Autodesk Showcase 2012

    * Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2012

Premium includes all Standard features and adds:

    * Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

    * Autodesk Revit MEP 2012

    * Autodesk Revit Structure 2012

    * Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012

Ultimate includes Starnd and Premium features and adds:

    * Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2012

    * Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2012

    * Autodesk Inventor 2012

I’ll have more on the other suites and Autodesk’s new line in early early April. Hanspal said the entire 2012 product line will be available the end of next month.