LT Architect - Architectural Add-on for AutoCAD LT 2000 - Review

Geoff Harrod

LT Architect is produced by CADlogic Ltd, of Litchfield UK, and provides a very effective yet low cost system for architectural drafting. Many architects and other building drafters use AutoCAD LT, but as delivered, it is not very well suited to architectural work. AutoCAD LT is of course a very good general-purpose 2D drafting system. While general-purpose, its tools and options are more angled toward drafting mechanical parts, and several architectural drafting tasks are rather laborious to carry out.

This add-on system provides many new tools to perform common architectural tasks easily and quickly, plus tools for drawing common building assemblies parametrically, by filling in dimensional and option details in dialog boxes. These items include doors, windows and stairs. The result is a system that makes architectural drafting with LT much faster and more convenient.

It is of course, not such a complete and automated system as the 3D building-modelling architectural CAD systems such as Architectural Desktop, ArchiCAD and Revit, but it is a very much lower cost system than those, and will also appeal to those experienced drafting people who not want to tackle the re-learning involved in moving to a modeling based design process. In short, LT Architect is a very cost-effective system for architectural drafting, particularly for smaller buildings.

Since it is produced in England, it is oriented to metric working and the architectural drafting practices normal in Europe and most of the world. American architectural CAD tools often provide only for American drafting practices, which are considerably different from those elsewhere, quite apart from still using feet and inches.

LT Architect implements the form of architectural dimensions that is normal in Europe and Australia/NZ, which are difficult to draw with normal AutoCAD dimensioning options.