As a junior in high school, I relocated from Pennsylvania to Michigan when my dad’s job moved. Adjusting to a new environment and school was not something I looked forward to, however, that became my reality.
My first exposure to Drafting was on a board, as with most people. I took a basic drafting class the first semester and I found it was just what I wanted as a career. I continued classes all year and was reading about the “CAD” technology that was really expanding at the time. I started with an introductory AutoCAD class. At the time, it was rare to see any “CAD” classes at all, so I considered myself lucky to have one in a nearby school. I took more drafting classes to improve my skills while taking the CAD classes. My first AutoCAD class was with version 1.4, a very different experience that today’s AutoCAD. After my first semester, I went strictly to AutoCAD classes, with additional classes on design and automation. I was hooked at that point.
My first AutoCAD experience was DOS based with too much typing and without the UI enhancements that are present today.
As an AutoCAD Beta tester and participating with Autodesk in their feedback and customer support efforts for many years, I have seen major shifts in the approach Autodesk has taken in the design and user experience of their software. I remember working with software that relied very heavily on keyboard input. Having had zero typing experience in either the real world or school until then, it was a challenge. The first computer that I worked with had a large CRT monitor that kept the room warm in the winter and took up a whole desk itself. As the software evolved with computers, tablets with pucks became the newest technology.
This is what I remember most about early versions of AutoCAD. As my classes were at a Community College, the equipment was not exactly new or the latest model. I was in my third or fourth class and the teacher was the type to give out assignments from the book and retreat to his office. I took to the CAD culture and quickly finished my assignments, wanting more challenges. The others in the class saw that I was semi-skilled (or I could find a solution if I were required to) in the software. As it turned out, the rest of my semester was spent helping others do their class work. The bane of my existence was the tablet and puck system. People would swap tablets from machine to machine when one failed, or the puck would not function properly.
The 386 powerhouse computers that we had at the time were another story. I started working with AutoCAD, as well as attending classes in the evenings in 1982. As I began using AutoCAD full time at work, I realized the areas that were “opportunities for improvement”, based on real world expectations and timelines. I started thinking that I will have to eventually learn to really be able to type. Then came a great innovation the RIBBON! I loved it. No more typing and having to set up shortcuts! With the ribbon, you could navigate anywhere and not need to type. It was the best thing since sliced bread at the time.
As I gained experience with the software, I realized that there could be some improvements made to the UI. I started to teach others AutoCAD at work. This exposed me to the frustration new users faced when navigating the ribbon system. As I could not modify the office software it was a challenge. When I started attending Autodesk University, I got involved in the Autodesk feedback group who had meetups there. I brought up my experience with users and the UI, and that started a whole new conversation. In my many AU events attended from then on, I brought up ongoing challenges or improvements I thought would help. Many others must have done the same thing, as my (sometimes crazy) ideas were put into subsequent versions of the software. Many UI features that exist today were added after feedback sessions and much beta testing.
Autodesk has, in my experience, been very user oriented in their approach to development of their software and has the end users experience as a driving factor. Today’s AutoCAD has improved by leaps and bounds over the initial releases. It has been an interesting ride, seeing the evolution of AutoCAD as we use it today. Previous versions of AutoCAD are fun to revisit on occasion, as I recently worked with someone or R2000. It is amazing how much has changed and how much more efficient the newer versions of the software are. I look forward to seeing the changes in the next ten years as AI and other developments affect the software.
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