SAN RAFAEL, Calif., March 15, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) today made it easier and faster for companies to turn their ideas into finished designs. With new versions of Autodesk(R) DWF(TM) Composer and DWF(TM) Viewer, design professionals can share and revise digital design documents with great accuracy and speed, and have confidence in the integrity of the underlying design data. Using this digital process, project teams reduce costs and the typical two-three-day lag associated with traditional design document delivery methods.

"For an average house design, we'd have to print out four sets of copies for the building department for permits, along with the usual two extra sets for the contractor and owner. A print run like that alone will run about $100 each time we need to FedEx a set. Using DWF files rather than printing means that we can now email sheet sets in many cases rather than messenger them. So not only were we saving hundreds of dollars on every job, we also increase productivity by emailing compact design files instead of loading them to an FTP site or sending paper versions for review," commented Mark Douglas, structural technician for MKM and Associates.

"The latest versions of DWF Composer and DWF Viewer respond to market demand for the capability to develop digital design processes, which can save thousands of dollars per project and accelerate time to market, " commented Amar Hanspal, vice president of Autodesk Collaboration Services. "With over six million users in just two years, DWF is becoming increasingly popular for sharing engineering and design data the world over."

New Products and Features Drive Efficiencies

Autodesk DWF Composer provides full 3D and 2D markup, measure, viewing and revision capabilities. DWF Composer now:

• Supports measure and markup of 3D DWF files published by most premier design applications, including Autodesk Inventor(R), Autodesk(R) Revit(R) and Autodesk (R) Civil 3D(TM) software
• Supports MapBooks published by Autodesk Map(R) 3D 2006
• Supports DXF(TM) functionality and all major raster images including multisheet TIFF, CALS and JPG.
• Includes latest DWG file support and viewing of Autodesk Inventor files
• Offers new custom symbols within the DWF Composer markup library, providing new ways for customers to annotate
• Provides a powerful, new snapshot tool that enables users to capture any onscreen information and bring it into the DWF file, creating a single file that contains all project-related information.
• Extends markup integration beyond the AutoCAD family of products to also include Autodesk(R) Revit(R) Building 8 and Autodesk(R) Revit(R) Structure.

Autodesk DWF Viewer software continues to provide a fast and free way for project team members to efficiently share complex design information across extended teams in different locations and coordinate design reviews within tight schedules. Autodesk DWF Viewer includes all of the basic viewing capabilities of Autodesk DWF Composer along with a new print preview function and access to deeper design intelligence, including user-defined block attributes published from the AutoCAD 2006 products.

Availability

The DWF Viewer and Composer products will be available in English in the first quarter of 2005 and subsequently in French, German, Italian Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. DWF Viewer can be downloaded for free at www.autodesk.com/dwfviewer-download, and Autodesk DWF Composer is available through Autodesk's reseller channel and at the Autodesk store. Purchase information is available at www.autodesk.com/dwfcomposer-buy.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With six million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage and share their digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage by becoming more productive, streamlining project efficiency, and maximizing profits.

Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/ .

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Map, Civil 3D, DWF, DXF and Revit are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Jennifer Giles, 415-547-2458

Email: jennifer.giles@autodesk.com

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

Jennifer Giles of Autodesk, +1-415-547-2458, or jennifer.giles@autodesk.com