AutoCAD was derived from a program called Interact, which was written in a proprietary language (SPL) by inventor Michael Riddle. This early version ran on the Marinchip Systems 9900 computer (Marinchip Systems was owned by Autodesk co-founders John Walker and Dan Drake). Walker paid Riddle US$10 million for the CAD technology.

AutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting. The software supports both 2D and 3Dformats. The software is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc., first released in December 1982 by Autodesk in the year following the purchase of the first form of the software by Autodesk founder, John Walker. AutoCAD is Autodesk’s flagship product and by March 1986 had become the most ubiquitous microcomputer design program in the world, utilizing functions such as “polylines” and “curve fitting”. Prior to the introduction of AutoCAD, most other CAD programs ran onmainframe computers or minicomputers, with each user’s unit connected to a graphics computer terminal.

According to its own company information, Autodesk states that the AutoCAD software is now used in a range of industries, employed by architects, project managers and engineers, amongst other professions, and as of 1994 there had been 750 training centers established across the world to educate users about the company’s primary products.

The modern AutoCAD includes a full set of basic solid modeling and 3D tools. The release of AutoCAD 2007 included the improved 3D modeling that provided better navigation when working in 3D. Moreover, it became easier to edit 3D models. The mental ray engine was included in rendering and therefore it is possible to do quality renderings. AutoCAD 2010introduced parametric functionality and mesh modeling.

The latest AutoCAD releases are AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2013 for Mac. The release marked the 27th major release for the AutoCAD for Windows and the third consecutive year for AutoCAD for Mac.