The AutoCAD 2006 Program

Autodesk announced on March 15, 2005 that AutoCAD 2006 ® was the 20th release of it’s global design software.

In addition, the new AutoCAD LT ® was also made available.

Since it first launched in 1982 (version 1.0 – remember the good old days of installing from floppies) Autodesk has been addressing the wants and needs of the technical community by providing new features and modifications of its design software.

Our Favorite Features

Here are a few of the new features in AutoCAD ® 2006 that are on our favorites list:


Dynamic Blocks

Make your life easier and reduce the size of your block libraries with dynamic blocks. More control is given to the user to manipulate blocks.

In other words, where you used to maintain several blocks for different sizes, styles, etc., you can now utilize fewer blocks that can be dynamically changed to suit.

The extents in which the dynamic blocks can be changed are dependant on the block features; which can be specified by the user.

Improved Hatching

In previous versions of AutoCAD, if you tried to hatch a boundary that was not fully able to be seen on your screen, what happened? “Valid hatch boundary not found.” Now you can hatch with only a portion of the boundary visible.

You can also choose to hatch several boundaries at one time and have hatching separate from each other. That way if you need to erase some hatching, the entire previously chosen hatch area doesn’t disappear.

Other new changes include the ability to add and remove hatch boundaries and the capacity to specify where you would like your hatching origin.

What Was That Command’s Name Again?

Been there a few times. I knew the first few characters of that command (you know the command you use once or twice a year) but couldn’t remember the whole name. Well now you can type in those first few letters and, in conjunction with the TAB key, you can rifle through all the commands and system variables until the right one magically appears.

New Calculator

No more flipping back and forth from AutoCAD to third party calculators for basic calculations. The new handy calculator can be used transparently while using another command.

Input Where Your Eyes Are

AutoCAD 2006 ® also has a nice new feature that lets you input commands and information dynamically, right next to your cursor.

This way, your eyes are always on your work!

You never know, this may end up making the command line obsolete.

Enhanced Text Placement and Text Editing

On the spot text editing for both Dtext and Mtext. Mtext now also has the capacity to create bulleted lists.

Improved Modify Commands

Some of the basic modify commands, such as COPY, ROTATE, SCALE, OFFSET have also been tweaked with extra goodies.

Even More Features

You can read more about the AutoCAD 2006 ® features at the Autodesk forums.

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