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software to interface with architect types

software to interface with architect types

software to interface with architect types

(OP)
I have an interesting problem that I need an answer to by this friday.
First, some background. I am very comfortable with acad, 2d applications with some basic boolean 3d stuff, in various versions up to 2000i.
I have used Mechanical Desktop briefly, still have it on one computer and never bother to fire it up anymore. Currently, I have SolidWorks 2001 and ACAD Lt97(spit-spit) on my machine.

The company I work for makes aircraft products, and has several thousand ACAD 2D drawings active currently.
We have 13 seats of ACAD, mostly Lt versions, some are 2002.
We have 3 seats of SW 2001 for 3d stuff.
Since the majority of our work is 2d, this mix has worked ok for us.

Now the kicker. Management has started a new sister company to fabricate building products (stairs, cabinets, etc) in support of a new series of building developments.
The new company has hired drafters and an architect to do the building design. The architect and I have been charged with (by Friday), of selecting the software for the new company and for a small interface team at the existing company.


The requirements are:
1) any data must translate cleanly to acad .dwg so we can use the cnc equipment/ software processes we have at the current company. (Laser, CNC punch, PCB layout, etc.)
2) The architect must be able to communicate with his supporting vendors (HVAC, windows, etc.)

The architect wants to get Architectural Desktop. Based on my experience with Mechanical Desktop, I have some reservations about this.
Is Architectural desktop the same as mechanical desktop with a different menu in it? ie, is it the same kludge packed on top of acad?
Does anyone know if Arch. Desktop will be maintained by Autodesk? (as opposed to MD, which is rumoured to be on the way out). Will there be an architectural version of Inventor coming out?
Is there an alternate software that would work better?


Thanks for any input. Sam

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